Julianna Loera-Wiggins’ journey in standup comedy has been a bit more academically motivated than most.

A Ph.D. candidate in the University of Michigan’s Department of American Culture program of Latino/a Studies, Loera-Wiggins decided to write her dissertation about the Latina stand-up comedy scene in Chicago, where she moved to take stand-up comedy classes.

“I figured you can't really write about comedy without doing it,” said Loera-Wiggins. “I like the idea of being sort of unruly, because you’re brought up with these sorts of cultural expectations, especially as a woman, and comedy sort of breaks those a little bit, or you can lean into that.”

While Loera-Wiggins hopes her time in Chicago as a scholar could one day lead to publishing a book about her research, she has worked to create additional opportunities for representation in stand-up in the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti area during the completion of her Ph.D.

After returning to the area from Chicago, the Ypsilanti resident inherited Femme Feedback, a monthly comedy open mic in Ann Arbor that offers feedback for aspiring female, trans, and nonbinary comics.

While Femme Feedback has elements of a typical open mic where comedians can try out four to five minutes of new and old material, it also provides a teaching element courtesy of a headlining veteran comedian who gives feedback via written comments to less experienced joke tellers.

“It's one of the few places where we can talk directly to the femme and trans experience, where if we were to do this material elsewhere, we would get no reaction, or we're often kind of met with unfortunate circumstances,” Loera-Wiggins said. “So, this is definitely a safe place for people to do that. My goal as the producer is for femme and trans comedians to know how to advocate for themselves and their own needs.”

Loera-Wiggins will showcase what Femme Feedback is all about during a special showcase hosted during this week’s Tree Town Comedy Festival at 7:15 pm on Thursday, March 5, at 212 South Fourth Avenue in Ann Arbor.

UMS and the City of Ypsilanti are once again filling up the old Freighthouse with a month full of artists and musicians. "UMS at the Freighthouse" is a twice-annual residency in the historic building that offers a diverse lineup of local creatives putting on a variety of shows, all of which are all either free or pay what you wish. This year's spring residency runs April 9-25, and Ypsi residents get priority access with early registration starting Tuesday, February 24, at 10 am. The general public can register for shows beginning on March 10.

Here are the performers and events for the April residency; click on the performance to go to UMS's website page for the event:

The bleak midwinter is here, and there's only one way to cope:

Eat.

A lot.

Two upcoming foodie events in Ann Arbor will offer the succor your brain (and tummy) needs to get through this season.

If you're an Ann Arbor District Library cardholder, you receive a weekly email newsletter listing news, upcoming events, and a slew of recommendations from the catalog. Those recs are also available at aadl.org/reviews, and we're always happy to make suggestions for books, audiobooks, streamable content in the catalog, DVDs, board games, tools, etc., if you visit us at the branches.

But our 2025 Staff Picks allow the AADL crew to go beyond the library catalog—and the calendar year.

We don't limit our year in review to things that came out in 2025 or items that can be checked out from AADL; the staff comments on whatever favorite media and events they experienced this year, no matter when or where they originated. Maybe a favorite album of 2025 came out in 1973, or the best book someone read this year is so old that it's out of copyright. It's all good, and it all counts.

Here are the categories of AADL's 2025 Staff Picks:

➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Homepage
➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Screens
➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Audio
➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Pulp Life
 

AADL 2025 STAFF PICKS: WORDS
Books, audiobooks, graphic novels, comics, websites, and more:

➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Homepage
➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Words
➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Audio
➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Pulp Life
 

AADL 2025 STAFF PICS: SCREENS
TV, movies, DVDs, video games, YouTube, streaming, etc.

➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Homepage
➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Words
➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Screens
➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Pulp Life

AADL 2025 STAFF PICS: AUDIO
Music, podcasts, CDs, records, and more:

➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Homepage
➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Words
➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Screens
➥ AADL 2025 Staff Picks: Audio
 

AADL 2025 STAFF PICS: PULP LIFE
Games, apps, sports, outdoors, and any other kind of hard-to-categorize cultural and life activities:

Like semesters, student groups come and go at the University of Michigan. Concrete Canoe team? Seems to be on hiatus. Photonix, the Glo-Stick choreography ensemble? Also seems to be taking a break.

But if you're a student interested in diabolo, aka the art of the Chinese yoyo, then Revolution is the group for you—and it's still around, as it has been since its 2009 creation.

The troupe blends a traditional Chinese pastime with modern music and captivating choreography to promote Asian American and Pacific Islander culture. 

On November 23, 2025, Revolution came to the Ann Arbor District Library's Downtown location for a 30-minute performance followed by 10 minutes of Q&A with the audience. 

Below, watch the videos of Revolution's recent performance at AADL as well as the group's presentation outside Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor during the 2020 COVID year.

During a Friday evening class, Mahsa Khazeni describes to a small group of faithful Dzanc House attendees the instructions on how to approach their colored pencil and marker drawings, with suggestions of creating hybrid creatures or scenes from dreams or nightmares.

“Forget logic and make something new,” said Khazeni, whose artwork fills the surrounding walls of the Ypsilanti nonprofit’s gallery space as its monthly featured artist.

This is what a typical weeknight has looked like at Dzanc House since it opened in the spring of 2024 as a hub for anyone who has a desire to create, hosting nightly figure drawing, fiber arts, and “collage and chill” classes.