The Onion for Ann Arbor

continued

“First I was a reporter for the Bond Buyer in Washington, D.C., then I worked for the Statesman-Journal in Salem, Oregon, then for the Adrian Daily Telegram, then for the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus in Howell, then for the Ann Arbor-slash-Michigan Business Review from 2008 through 2009, then free-lance for Ann Arbor Business-to-Business and AnnArbor.com through March 2011. Thank God I landed a job at the University of Michigan. Since December 2009 I’ve been enjoying the largesse of our esteemed university.”

Launched in July 2011, the News of Ann Arbor wraps Meisler’s hyperbolic imagination in a deadpan style. “When I was involuntarily separated from gainful employment in the media industry, I did some thinking about what role I could play in the community I love,” Meisler says. “I settled on being a wise-ass.”

He’s found the city a tempting target. “I feel like the Ann Arbor community is ripe for satire,” Meisler says. “With its combination of ingrained NIMBY-ism and dogmatic liberalism, Ann Arbor is the most conservative liberal town I know. And aging baby boomers are not making the town more flexible or open-minded.

“My subjects are politicians and people in the public eye,” Meisler continues. “I target people I think can take it or who have a sense of humor. And I seem to have an eye for blatant hypocrisies.”