From Grand Rapids, I drive down to Ann Arbor, my hometown. Ann Arbor has changed quite a bit — for the better, I think. It is cleaner, prettier, wealthier. All spruced up. Damn near posh. How did that happen?

Some would say, I’m sure, that the place has lost “character.” I don’t know about that.

‐Ann Arbor is the home of the University of Michigan (the main branch of it, I should say). And a group of conservative organizations on campus has arranged for me to speak about my new book.

I’m delighted that these organizations exist at the U of M. The university needs it. The organizations contribute something precious: diversity. Diversity of thought. And the kids who run these organizations, and belong to them, are brave and admirable indeed.

‐The audience is full of family and friends. Reminds me of a wedding reception. I doff my cap to my niece Meghan — referring to her, in front of one and all, as “Meghapoo.” She seems not to mind.

‐My book is about the sons and daughters of dictators. I survey 20 dictators and their families, and I tell the audience that there are some others I could have included: among them Trujillo, the dictator of the Dominican Republic. (Who renamed the capital city after himself, megalomaniac that he was.)

Afterward, a student comes up and tells me she wishes I had included Trujillo. Her father and his family were persecuted by him. What she has to say is very moving.

And she is very much a freedom-loving student …

‐At dinner, I meet a student whose grandmother was Cornelia Kennedy — who was a Michigander and a federal judge. She was the first woman to be the chief judge of a U.S. district court. Then she was on a court of appeals. When Reagan picked Sandra Day O’Connor, Cornelia Kennedy was the other woman he had in mind, apparently. (He had pledged to nominate a woman to the Supreme Court, during the 1980 campaign.)

‐A student tells me that he took a class on environmental science — big mistake. The class was all politics, all activism, all ideology, and virtually no science. Fortunately, that class was exceptional: His general college experience has been positive.

‐After dinner, I see the crowd spilling out of Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor’s principal concert hall. The concertgoers are excited. “Did you like it?” one of them asks me. I say I didn’t go. Who performed? The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Riccardo Muti. “Better than the New York Philharmonic a couple of weeks ago,” says another concertgoer.

Everyone’s a critic!

‐In the place of the bus depot is a new hotel — just 13 days old. There is a painting of the bus depot above the main desk. The clerk tells me, “I had a man come in and ask to buy a ticket. Seriously.”

I can understand.

‐The University of Michigan’s quad, so to speak, is called the Diag. Years ago, a right-wing friend would say to me, “Let’s go to the Diag and watch the Left go by.” Alternatively, “Let’s go to the Diag and play Guess That Gender.”

Maybe we shouldn’t have talked that way. But it’s true, I’m afraid: Sometimes you really, really can’t tell.

‐On the Diag, there is a prominent sign: “Students for Choice Present the Abortion Speak-out.” In front of the Michigan Union, there is an even more prominent sign. A banner.

The Union, by the way, is a proud place. Central to the campus. It’s where John Kennedy announced the Peace Corps, during the 1960 campaign.

Anyway, the banner says, “1 of 3 Women Will Have an Abortion in Her Lifetime. Abortion Speak-out.”

If there is a god on campus — most any campus — it must be abortion. No, the number-one god is race, for sure. But abortion must be number two. It is what people positively worship. This is a deep sickness in society, one that rattles anyone who cares to look into it and contemplate it.

‐On South University Avenue, there is a Safe Sex Shop. Marriage, fidelity, love? Somehow, I don’t think that’s what they mean by that …

‐There is also The Blue Leprechaun. Very clever. Must be an Irish pub. And the university’s color is blue. So … The Blue Leprechaun. Again, clever, and nice.

‐I pass the Memorial Christian Church, where a dear teacher of mine once played the organ. It is now a frat.

Rightly or wrongly, I think of the Soviet Union: where churches were converted into Museums of Scientific Atheism.

‐Long ago, I was told that the Michigan Law School was modeled on Yale — I mean, the buildings. The look. Earlier this week, I was at Yale — and had this thought. Today, I am walking past the law school — and, of course, have the same thought.

‐On State Street, there is a 7-Eleven. A student told me, “This part of Ann Arbor is trying to get rid of all chains. When 7-Eleven came in, some people had a fit.” But students like it, apparently, because the store is convenient, diversely stocked, and inexpensive.

Years ago, a Blockbuster Video arrived on a certain street of San Francisco. The Left went nuts (against it). But people learned to like it, as happens …

‐How odd that the Borders is not where it should be! Ann Arbor was the birthplace of Borders. I wrote about my relationship with it, when the chain closed four years ago: “An End to Borders.”

‐At the Michigan Theater, the movie Truth is playing. It’s about CBS News, Dan Rather, and George W. Bush. From what I know, the movie should be titled “Lying Propaganda.”

‐But I like the sound of one title on the same street! Pieology. This is a pizzeria. How bad can it be?

‐There is a new artwork — new to me, at least: The Spirit of Ann Arbor. Accompanying it is an artist’s statement: “I believe that all animate and inanimate matter exists and operates in the service of nature equally.”

‐A souvenir shop sells a number of T-shirts, including one that has the shape of Ohio and the words “Worst State Ever.” Michigan has a longstanding rivalry with Ohio State University in football.

I think of my friend and colleague Kevin Williamson, with whom I have a disagreement (one of the very few): He doesn’t like Ohio — at all — and I do (though not when OSU plays Michigan). I will give you my pro-Ohio points another time. Because I wonder whether they belong in a Michigan Journal …

‐On the road to Lansing, I see a sign. It promotes Michigan tourism. The picture is of some beautiful stretch of the state in brilliant fall. The tag line is “Pick a color, any color.” Very nice.

‐At the University Club in Lansing — on the border of East Lansing, where the bulk of Michigan State University is — the Mackinac Center holds a luncheon. Formally, the center is the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. And it is one of those points of light: dedicated to the rule of law, liberal democracy, free enterprise, and the American Way. I love this group. I’m so glad it exists.

‐By the way, I should probably inform non-Michiganders: “Mackinac” is pronounced “Mackinaw.” Why, I’m not exactly sure.

‐Joe Lehman is the president of the center. He’s an Illinois farm kid, an engineering whiz, and a public-policy leader. He gives a superb speech — which includes a story about Lithuania.

Recently, Joe was there, speaking to the Lithuanian Free Market Institute. Sometime before the speech, he visited the Museum of Genocide Victims, which is housed in the old KGB headquarters. A plaque spoke of the persecution of “the otherwise-minded” — of thought criminals, in Orwell’s language.

The persecution of the otherwise-minded: Isn’t this a constant in human life? Don’t we have a little of that even on our college campuses?

In his speech to the Lithuanians, Joe mentioned his visit to the museum and the importance of democratic pluralism. Older people listened with rapt attention. They knew.

Will future generations know? Probably not. There is no such thing as “cultural DNA” or “national DNA.” (I have addressed this subject many times, and won’t belabor it here.) Values have to be transmitted, consciously, from one generation to another. And when the transmission belt breaks down …

Think of Scotland and its transformation. Think of Portugal and its transformation. (Portugal was one of the greatest maritime powers in history.) One could go on!

To read Joe Lehman’s Letter from the President in the current issue of the Mackinac Center’s magazine, Impact, go here. That letter is headed “What It Takes To Be Free, in the Long Run.”

‐Certain attendees at the Lansing luncheon have lapel pins in the shape of Michigan — Upper Peninsula included. I covet one. I have the gall to mention this, after the lunch. Joe Lehman takes his pin off and pins it on me. I feel I’m not entitled to it. I have a feeling that it’s for donors at a certain level. Joe and his colleagues are too polite to confirm that it’s true.

But I get it out of them: It is. I keep the pin regardless, with a pledge to try to be worthy of it!

‐On the drive to Metro Airport (Detroit), I listen to Dave Wagner — Dr. Dave Wagner — a longtime Detroit DJ (classical). He plays the Overture to William Tell. And then he quotes the old saying: “What’s the definition of an intellectual? One who can hear the William Tell Overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger.”

Years ago, I attended a New York Philharmonic concert with a friend of mine. On the program was Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2. Once it was completed, my friend turned to me and quoted the saying about the William Tell Overture. He then said, “Another definition of an intellectual is, one who can hear the trumpet movement of the Brandenburg No. 2 without thinking of William F. Buckley Jr.” — who used that music for his long-running show Firing Line.

Back to Dave Wagner. On the radio, he says, “What’s the definition of an intellectual? Someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger. And that’s me … because I think of Tonto.”

Thanks for joining me, Impromptusites — honorary Michiganders — and I’ll see you soon.