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68 The Michigan Daily Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Wednesday January 16,2008The Michigan Daily
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
_.... f.
Binding passion
An esoteric alternative to
graduate school
The Bessenberg Bindery is easy
to miss. It's a squat brick building
tucked between two big houses on
Fifth Avenue in Kerrytown. But
the unexceptional factory acts as
a second home for Jon Buller, the
owner, and houes all the tools of
the trade that has become his life
pursuit: bookbinding.
Buller has been binding books
since 1974.
He got started "by accident,"
he said. "I answered an advertise-
ment that said,'hand binder want-
ed, no experience necessarv,' and
I had always been very good with
my hands, so I went there for an
audition."
He's been binding ever;
For most, the binding c
seems unremarkable. It's j
glue holding a pile oftpape
er. But for a small group o
a book's binding is a piet
The cratt mnay draw tew ti
its tools, but when it does
adherents it can suppla
more conventional caree
Imagine a future lawyei
out law school applicati
sending a letter of intere
Ann Arbor branch oftthe A
Academy of Bookbinding
scenarios have happenedI
After his itroductini
craft, Buller rebound of
part-time for collector
he worked on an under
degree in engineering at
University. But he dropp'
school just a few classes
graduating to pursue b
ABOUT CAMPUS
since. ing full-time, "because I had a six
if a book month backlog of work and two
ust some part-time employees and a rented
r togeth- space, and it just seemed a whole
f people, lot more fun than doing engineer-
ce of art. ing work."
o pick up Buller said the craft has suf-
convert fered in recent centuries. He said
nt much when he moved his bindery opera-
ar paths. tion to Ann Arbor in 1982 there
r tossing were three other binderies in the
ions and city, but Buller saw all of his peers
st to the close up shop. Today, Bessenberg
kmerican is the last commercial bindery in
. Similar Michigan to do the full range of
before. bookbinding work, from sewing to
n to the typesetting to embossing - all by
Id books hand.
s while But the skill of fine binding,
graduate as Buller calls it, is coming backf
Oakland into style. "There's a whole lot
ed out of more interest being shown now, in
short of (bookbinding), than thirty years
ookbind- ago," he said. At that time, you
were "darn lucky" if you found strewn wit
someone to teach you to bind metal impler
books, he said. But now classes in spine of an o
bookbinding arc conmmon. "how to be a
Students here at the Univer- put it, On he
sitv can dabble with the craft in a her down at t
class called "Book Arts," offered of a book o
in the School of Art and Design. °grandparents
The class, which has about 25 knife, a need]
students, is led by localbookbind- was a little sc
er Jean Bartlett, and provides an who is 30, h
introduction to basic hand-bind- for four mor
ing techniques. restore an e
Buller has taught about 40 each day's f
people himself since coming to territory hol
Ann Arbor. Although his students Even as an
have varied in age, he attributes perception o
bookbinding's comeback primar- since she tool
ily to young people becoming bindery. Now
interested. Their youthful ideal- a bookstore,
ism compels them to breathe life differences b
into a craft often overlooked, he ible to most,]
said. techniques a:
Janie Brynolf is one of Buller's deckle was le
employees at the bindery. Book- The sames
binding never occurred to her as more than
a potential career while she was books apart a
studying fine arts and graphic together, he I
design in college, or even when of their stru
she saw it in the course catalogue thing that a
for her study abroad program in whenever the
Florence, Italy. said. Maybe o
"I looked at it, and I'm like, this understa
'Who the hell would want to do most fhely-b
book restoration? How boring!' " glass in libra
she said. "So I went over and took lections, he s
a painting class, and then five If you ask
years lar or sormething, I took est book he's
i uipsii Lkinrdeg ar] I'mIke, 'Oh, pull iiu a sa
ai tat ss i E
CCMatthew knew he
shouldn't be taking his
AK-47 to the 7-Eleven."
- LAURA ANDERSEN, a Las Vegas homi-
cide detective, about Matthew Sepi, a veteran
of the war in Iraq who experienced mental
trauma after serving there. When Sepi left
the store, he opened fire on two gang mem-
bers and later said his trauma made him snap
v
LAW
TALKING
POINTS
Three things you can talk about this week:
1. Huck's Army
2. Driverless vehicles
3. Celebrity scientologists
"There should be an end to the occupation that
began in 1967."
- GEORGE BUSH, during his first visit to the West Bank city of Ramallah, referring to the war
in which Israel seized the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Golan Heights. Bush used the trip to renew
calls for a peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians
And three things you can't:
1. Michigan's dismal economy
2. Graduation at EMU
3. Hannah Montana's body
double
h medieval-looking
ments, sewing up the
Ad book that outlines
good Catholic," as she
r first day, Buller sat
he same table in front
lder than her great-
s and handed her a
le and some thread. It
ary, she said. Brynolf,
as worked for Buller
nths and has yet to
ntire book herself, so
oray into uncharted
ds an allure for her.
avid reader, Brynolf's
f books has changed
k up the scalpel at the
, when she walks into
she notices minute
etween books, invis-
like various stitching
nd whether or not the
ft on the pages.
goes for Buller. After
25 years of taking
nd putting them back
has an intuitive sense
cture. "That's some-
ll bookbinders have
ey pick up a book," he
only bookbinders have
anding these days, as
ound books are under
iries or personal col-
aid.
Buller about the old-
evr worked on, he'll
hands a few times, it isn't hard to
imagine a University student fol-
lowing in Buller's path - dropping
conventional career goals to take
up the craft.
- SCOTT MILLS
The year in words
Linguistists sum up 2007
The Googleganger experienced
connectile dysfunction with the
vegansexual when he showed up
with a subprime strike beard.
In other words...
There are no other words, atleast
according to voters in the Ameri-
can Dialect Society's 2007 Words
of the Year nominations. In a din-
ing room of a Chicago hotel over
the weekend of Jan. 4, the society
called together linguistic aficio-
nados from across the country to
debate which words and phrases
best defined, or were best defined
by, the happenings of 2007. The
results of the nominations provide
a window into the hopes and fears
of the collective consciousness in
2007, but they also sanction the
composition of that first sentence
- something that could make you
worry about the devolution of the
English language.
VIDEO OF s
THE WEEK
Don't tease Baby
Charlie
In an attempt to amuse his father,
the older brother of the clip's star, a
baby named Charlie, proclaims in
his already well-developed British
accent, "Charlie bit mylfinger!"
After the father convinces the
brother to show just how it all went
down, the boy forces his finger in
Charlie's face. The boy's true motives
are unclear, but it appears that he
intends to make a fool of Charlie on
But it is Charlie, not his older
brother, who shapes the rules of the
game. For a moment, the boy seems to
be kidding when he talks about how
painful Charlie's bite is, but after a
few seconds, the smile is wiped clear
off his face as Charlie continues to
latch onto the finger.
"Ouch, Charlie," he yells.
"OUCH!"
Charlie finallyletsgo,butnotwith-
out getting a chance to gloat. After a
moment of silence, Charlie throws
his head back, laughing maniacally.
As his older brother fights back tears,
Charlie continues to laugh.
It's tooearlyto tell whatthebroth-
ers will grow up to be, but perhaps a
violent future is in store for young
Charlie.
- BRIDGET O'DONNELL
See this and other
YouTube videos ofrthe week at
youtube.com/useit/nichigandaily
"I felt really, really scared
inside the coffin and also
thought a lot about my
mom."
- LEE HYE-JUNG, a 23-year-old South Kore-
an student, on her country's mock funerals,
during which people are nailed into coffins for
15 minutes in order to reflect on their lives
BY THE NUMBERS
People who died of a prescription drug overdose in western
Virginia in 2006
Percentage increase in overdose-related deaths in the region
from a decade ago
Dollars one coal miner apent on prescription painkillers over a
span of two years
THEME PARTY SUGGESTION
Primary cool down - Michigan's primary was
confusing. What was the point of casting an
uncommitted vote? What's the situation with
Michigan's Democratic delegates? We recom-
mend you get together with some friends and
hash it out. It'll be too late to do anything about it,
since voting happened -Tuesday, but it'll feel good
to finally have it figured out.
Throwing this party? Let us know. TheStotementa-umich.edu
STUDY OF THE WEEK
International survey finds 15-year-olds have sex
A "substantial minority" of 15-year-olds worldwide h-a aged
in sexual intercourse, according to a study published this month in the
Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
The researchers surveyed 33,943 15-year-olds from 24 countries in
Europe and North America in an attempt to gauge sexual activity and
contraceptive use among adolescents. The data were gathered in 2002
from a questionnaire administered to students in their classrooms.
Percentages of students responding that they've had sex varie Iin
Croatia, 14.1 percent of students said they've engaged in sx cw'il in
England 37.6 percent reported they hav. tie Uniteci tate ama tio
included in the study.
Tle crce'acs disci I tt. at fi t st t wIa
se'ml ctive c indro a/ ri irt 1to l duin thers