Host: Rob Prince (00:05)
In this episode of My Michigan Story, Life in the Great Lakes State.
Caitlin Shaw (00:17)
And she gets to the back of the bus and she turns to the guy next door and goes, which way is Lake Lansing? And he’s like that way. She goes, thanks. Kicks down the back emergency door and sprints like it’s the end of one flu over Cuckoo’s nest. And everyone’s cheering and the bus driver is swearing and the alarms are going off.
Host: Rob Prince (00:36)
Caitlin Shaw experiences a full-out mutiny on her McDonald Middle School bus in East Lansing. Ken Bieber advertises his unauthorized high school party in Frankenmooth in the only way one could back in 1990.
Ken Bieber (00:49)
My friend Greg and I were driving through town and I was waving bags of red party cups. So reminding people. So that was part of the lore of
Host: Rob Prince (00:58)
That’s how you that’s how you wanted people was you you drove through town waving red solo cups. That was like your
Ken Bieber (01:05)
Yeah.
Host: Rob Prince (01:07)
And Nathan Brown could describe in one word how it felt to be accepted as the only freshman into the esteemed Interlaken Summer Arts Camp.
Nathan Brown (01:16)
man!
Ken Bieber (01:18)
Yeah.
Host: Rob Prince (01:19)
I bet. Teen stories. Up next on My Michigan Story, Life in the Great Lakes State, I’m Rob Prince.
Thinking about my time in McDonald Middle School in East Lansing, I’m afraid to say does not bring up many positive memories. I don’t really blame the staff and teachers entirely for that. I largely blame the rotten kids I had to go to school with. That said, I’m pretty sure I was a schmuck in middle school as well. Anyway, our next storyteller is a fellow alumni of McDonald Middle School, and would agree that some of her former classmates weren’t angels, but she has a much more forgiving attitude about it today than I do.
Caitlin Shaw’s story pretty well summarizes how chaotic life can be when you pack a bunch of young tweens and teens into a middle school bus with limited supervision. I interviewed her about this story at our December seventeenth, two thousand twenty five live event at Schuler Books in Okamus. Here’s Caitlin.
Caitlin Shaw (02:32)
My story is about the day I swore to never take the public school bus again.
Host: Rob Prince (02:38)
boy.
Caitlin Shaw (02:40)
Okay. So I wanna preface this story with this happened in middle school and nobody is their best self in middle school. So please get everyone in like this story some slight there’s a lot of emotions. You have bad days. I’m sure these people wouldn’t act this way now.
Host: Rob Prince (02:57)
All right, sets a stage. Where did this happen and when did this happen?
Caitlin Shaw (03:00)
This was when I was in seventh grade. Yeah, like nine years ago. Like
Host: Rob Prince (03:06)
Right.
Wow, nine years ago you were in middle school. That’s impressive. And where?
Caitlin Shaw (03:11)
East Lancing, so McDonald Middle School. Did you go there? I went
Host: Rob Prince (03:14)
I went up that same boss.
Caitlin Shaw (03:16)
Same bus. Wow. Trauma bonded.
Host: Rob Prince (03:20)
Okay.
Nathan Brown (03:20)
you
Host: Rob Prince (03:22)
I am so invested in this story now. Tell me.
Caitlin Shaw (03:25)
Okay. I hated the bus because I was on the bad bus. Like I was the bus where we had to constantly get a talking to and people were misbehaving. And then they would try to kick people off the bus, which doesn’t work because they still live where they live, so they have to come back to the bus. So and this day was particularly terrible because I got like halfway to the bus and forgot like something in my locker. So that meant I couldn’t get my seat on the bus because I always sat in the absolute front front front of the bus. Because
Host: Rob Prince (03:55)
All the trouble happens in the back.
Caitlin Shaw (03:55)
Exactly. So it
wasn’t the end of the world. It wasn’t the end of the world. I sat in like the middle of the bus. So like not great, but it was gonna be okay. It gonna be okay. And my friend I wouldn’t say friend, I had like a bus acquaintance, Sam. And we had this like like we had barely spoken, but we had this like unspoken pact that like if we sit together on the bus, no one’s gonna like bother us. So it was like a mutual defense pact. So
Host: Rob Prince (04:24)
This is sort of the NATO of U.S.
Caitlin Shaw (04:29)
Okay, so the bus ride starts, everything’s fine. I mean I’m getting hit with a couple colored pencils, but those are hitting everyone, so like I know it’s not personal. And then we get to the first stop, and as we’re like starting to like stop the bus, I feel kind of this like breeze behind me, like there’s motion, and I’m like, well I’m in the middle of a bus and all the windows are closed. So like what is this? So I turn around, I’m like, there’s a fist fight in the seat behind me. So I
Like it full on like swinging, arms going everywhere. So I’m like, what do I do? What do I do? And the only thing my brain can think of is it’s like a tornado drill. So I duck down in my seat and I cover my head. Because I’m like, this is gonna save me. You call Exactly.
Host: Rob Prince (05:13)
Cross your hands behind your neck.
Caitlin Shaw (05:15)
So I do that. My Sam next to me is like, what on earth are you doing? She stands up, turns around, gets hit by a punch, and goes flying into the aisle. Sam was fine.
But at this point, the bus driver stops the bus and is like, what the hell is happening? And of course, his mistake is he left the bus doors open. So the people who started the fight run off the bus. Everyone who stopped it is run off the bus. He stops the bus and he starts like screaming at us about how we’re all terrible people. And we’re trying to explain to him, like, no, no, no, like the people who started the fight got off the bus. He doesn’t want to hear it. He’s like, Everyone sit down. I have to report this. He gets on the radio. And like a minute goes by, three minutes go by.
Five minutes go by, ten minutes go by, and it’s like hot out. The bus smells like nobody wants to be here, but we’re stuck here while he’s like complaining on the radio. I mean, I’m sure he was actually doing like important reporting stuff, like he was supposed to. But we’re sitting here, and this girl from the back goes up and she’s like, I wanna get off the bus. And I’m like, Yes, because none of us wanna be here. And he’s like, No, go sit down. And she goes, fine. In a voice that all middle school girls know to fear.
And she like, I don’t wanna say power walks, but she walks with intent and like everyone’s watching her as she goes to the back of the bus. Like, this girl means business. And the bus driver’s oblivious, he’s back on the radio complaining about how we’re ruining his life. And she gets to the back of the bus and she turns to the guy next door and goes, which way is Lake Lansing? And he was like that way. She goes, thanks. Kicks down the back emergency door and sprints like it’s the end of one flu over Cuckoo’s nest. And everyone’s cheering and the bus driver is swearing.
And the alarms are going off, and he’s running to the back of the bus, like through all the like revolutionized students, and he pulls the door shot and he’s screaming expletives. He is not supposed to be screaming. And he gets to the front of the bus, yells on the radio again, drives to the second stop, and every single person gets off the bus because we cannot take it anymore. And I’m a I’m a my good little like nerd self who sits in the front of the bus. So I go up and I’m like, Mr. Bus Driver.
Like I I know this isn’t my spot, but can I pretty please he’s like, just go and it’s like head in his hands and I get off and I have to walk like five extra blocks home, but it’s fine. I go in and I look at my mom and she’s like, How was school? And I’m like, Mom, I’m gonna bike home from now on. And thus started my love of bike riding as I bike to and from school every day.
Host: Rob Prince (07:37)
Caitlin Shaw. She shared that story at our December 17, 2025 live event at Schuler Books in Okamas. Super special thanks to Luke Freisinger, Amanda Strong, and the staff at Shuler Books and Okamis for making that event happen. This is my Michigan Story, Life in the Great Lakes State, the Teen Stories episode. I’m Rob Prince.
The legendary eighties teen movies of John Hughes present teen recklessness in a pretty appealing light. It’s no wonder that a teen at the time would be tempted to try and imitate the epic parties seen in those classic films. But you can’t really recreate those parties in the real world, right? Well, our next storyteller tried, and I dare say succeeded in doing just that in one of the most unlikely towns in Michigan.
A teenaged Ken Bieber decided he would say goodbye to the nineteen eighties in the most John Hughes way possible from his home in Frankenmouth, Michigan, of all places. Yes, Michigan’s little Bavaria, the home of the world’s largest Christmas store and two legendary family style fried chicken restaurants, was the scene of the most fairest Bueller esque eighties party I’ve ever heard of for one epic night in the summer of nineteen ninety. I spoke to Ken about it over the phone from his home in East Lansing.
Here’s Ken. You went to Frank and Mooth High School. my gosh, I have so many other questions because I love Frank and Moose so much. But anyway.
Ken Bieber (09:11)
Well,
I I graduated in nineteen ninety. My parents threw me a graduation party. We weren’t farmers, but we lived in a farmhouse with a with a barn and and then later that week they they left town. They went on a trip and I threw I threw a huge party trying to make it like, you know, it was spring of nineteen ninety and you know, grew up with all the John Hughes films and, you know, the the big parties and and so, and for me it was kind of like, well, it was the end of the eighties. I was trying to
throw this party that was worthy of an eighties teen film. You know, and to get out the word about, hey, am I having a party, you had to do it all word of mouth.
Host: Rob Prince (09:51)
Yeah, you didn’t like put out flyers or anything, you just started telling people.
Ken Bieber (09:55)
My one of my my friend Greg and I were driving through town and I was waving bags of red party cups. So reminding people. So that was part of the lore of
Host: Rob Prince (10:05)
That’s how you that’s how you ride people was you you drove through town waving red solo cups. That like your
Ken Bieber (10:13)
Yeah. Remind people.
Host: Rob Prince (10:16)
And they just are like they knew where you lived and that’s how they were like,
Ken Bieber (10:20)
Yeah, I guess yeah.
Host: Rob Prince (10:21)
right Like how many people would you estimate were there? How many kids?
Ken Bieber (10:26)
I think it was a r it was probably a hundred, I think. Okay. Actually I had I left for a while. I was walking down the road ’cause I was I felt like it was starting to get out of control and so I was walking with a couple of friends and my sister’s friend was kinda guarding the house ’cause people were trying to come in the kitchen and get glasses and stuff and and so she taped all the cupboards shut and was keeping them out of the house and you know, it felt like it was starting to get out of control. So
Host: Rob Prince (10:53)
The out of control you were feeling was was that it was it was now overflowing from the barn into the house and that was more than
Ken Bieber (11:01)
Yeah,
they were in the barn. Well, they’re mostly outside. It was it was decent weather. And I was trying to keep away from the barn in case anybody, you know, ’cause there were there’s a lot of old hay bales in there and if any and it was an old dry barn and if anybody, you know, flicked a cigarette in there, it could have just burned the the place down. And so they’re mostly in the yard, but somewhere in the barn. But yeah, peop some people were trying to get in the house and and I I probably was starting to get out of control. So I was I was getting nervous.
And the police said they they said they were miles away people were they could hear the noise, you know, from from this party. And so
Host: Rob Prince (11:40)
Did you have an amplifier? How was it so loud?
Ken Bieber (11:42)
I well actually I’d I’d invited a couple of bands to come and they were you know and and it’s just flat armland so the sound travels. I had actually talked to the police, they didn’t know I lived there and they they told me, Hey, you you you and your friends need to leave because whoever owns this place is gonna get in trouble and then I ran across the field and I was running to the barn and I was yelling, Cops and and when I got to the barn all these friends were trying to they’re dragging this peg.
around trying to hide it, you know, before the cops got to the barn. And then then my sister’s boyfriend at the time, he he threw it on his back and he ran out into the fields. One of my friends told me that his cops were writing me a ticket. They were they were crouched, you know, looking through the weeds and passing the tap around, you know, watching me get busted. No, he just
Host: Rob Prince (12:35)
He threw the keg on his back and just took off through the weeds and hid in the grass.
Ken Bieber (12:38)
Yeah.
Host: Rob Prince (12:40)
Wow that’s a solid
Ken Bieber (12:41)
And
actually went and Yeah, ’cause actually the original the original ticket was for selling alcohol or providing alcohol to minors, but then later it got changed because there was no proof of that. The you know, ’cause the keg was out on the field. And then, you know, I had to tell my parents what had happened and I told them on the phone they were up north and they were very yeah, disappointed, upset, and then but when they came home and I was gonna get punished, I I kind of
made a case for why I shouldn’t be punished. And
Host: Rob Prince (13:13)
What was your case?
Ken Bieber (13:14)
well I I I just I opened the the the ledgers of who’d been punished when for what wrongs in our family. And I I said, you know, when I compare it to these other situations in our family history, I haven’t done that bad. And so so I I got off probably more than I should have. But so
Host: Rob Prince (13:36)
Wow. You kinda use the what a whataboutism sort of response. Like how can you be bad about this? What about you know
Ken Bieber (13:44)
Yeah.
Host: Rob Prince (13:46)
So
basically your sisters had been so bad that that guy
Ken Bieber (13:49)
You
can sort of slap well I don’t I don’t wanna name names. That was the but I
Host: Rob Prince (13:55)
I anyway there was precedent that you were you were not the worst. And did this end up on your record or anything? Like
Ken Bieber (14:01)
No, it’s just it was a noise ordinance. So it was it was basically a ticket and my dad went with me and one of my sisters to court to pay the fine for violating the noise ordinance and my other sister was hiding in the house, so she didn’t get a ticket, but I had to stand before the judge and then I and then I had to pay the fine. So when it was time to pay the fine I I pulled out this wad of dollar bills, you know, because I had charged all these kids, you know, money and so
Host: Rob Prince (14:29)
How much was
Ken Bieber (14:30)
I I think it was probably it was about a hundred dollars total for me and my sister. And you can then can you know Yeah, yeah. Right before I went to Western Michigan University in the fall, I was at a gas station and this one kid who was a grade behind me, he told me, yeah, you know, at at the orientation at the high school, principal’s welcoming everybody. He he referred to your party, you know, and and he was saying that
If the cops had taken pictures, some of the athletes would have been suspended for being caught at a party. So don’t go to parties. But he referred to my party. So it had I guess it entered the, you know, the legendary history at the high school. Actually I did go back a few years later to the high school ca and I talked to that principal and s wanted him to know that I was actually a better person than I had been. And
So I did both from my parents and even from talking with him, I kind of came to understand grace better, you know. It was a learning thing for me and
Host: Rob Prince (15:34)
Has it like informed you as a parent of what what sort of grace to have with your children?
Ken Bieber (15:40)
Yeah. Part of it was on the one hand, my w my wife Carla told me to quit telling stories about my youth with a big smile on my face saying, you should never do this.
Host: Rob Prince (15:53)
But
Ken Bieber (15:54)
But yeah. I haven’t been as trusting like my my parents would leave us for a weekend and trust us and and
From my own example, I thought, Well, we’re probably not gonna do that. And then when we have said, Hey, just because I did this means you can’t, so you don’t get a pre pass because of that. Y you know, what’s funny is that that road, it was Southfire Road outside of north of Frankenmouth on the way to Saginaw. And it’s such a there there are a number of of houses on it, but it’s such a quiet road. And that night there were just par cars parked all up and down the road and you know, there were bands in the barn. It was it was really loud. It was like
the hottest place to be in Saginaw County that night when I go a little bit out of the way if I’m out there to drive by. It’s just still so quiet, like it was that just flat, quiet farmland.
Host: Rob Prince (16:46)
Except for one night in nineteen ninety.
Ken Bieber (16:48)
Yes.
Host: Rob Prince (16:51)
When when the s when the ground shook.
Ken Bieber (16:54)
Yeah,
yeah, definitely.
Host: Rob Prince (17:00)
Ken Bieber. He shared that story with me over the phone from his home in East Lansing. This is my Michigan Story, Life in the Great Lakes State, the Teen Stories episode. I’m Rob Prince.
Would you like to see my Michigan story, Life in the Great Lakes State, live and in person, and maybe share your own true story from Michigan with us? Well, lucky you, we’ve got all sorts of free events planned around Michigan in April. We’ll be in Lansing at the Fledge on Thursday, April 9th at 6 p.m. Then we’re headed to the Hastings Public Library on Thursday, April 16 at 6 p.m. And finally we’re returning to the Lit in Grand Rapids on Friday, April seventeenth at 7 p.m.
To stay fully in the loop, you can subscribe to our e newsletter at myMichiganStory.com. That’s michiganstory.com, and you’ll get about one email a month filling you in on all the latest scheduled events and other MyMichiganStory news. MyMichiganStory.com is also where you can contact us about sharing your own true story from Michigan. We’re looking for awesome true stories from Michigan told by the people who experienced them. They can be any length and any subject.
Just shoot us a message and we’ll be in touch to hear your story. Again, the website is myMichiganStory.com with an MI at the start. This is My Michigan Story, Life in the Great Lakes State, the Teen Stories episode. I’m Rob Prince.
Caitlin Shaw (19:02)
No
Host: Rob Prince (19:15)
Nathan Brown was a typical healthy athletic teenager when he suddenly developed a rare disease called autoimmune encephalitis at the age of fourteen. I interviewed him about his story of going from a promising musician on the oboe to being confined to a wheelchair at our December seventeenth, two thousand twenty five live event at Schuler Books in Oakamith. Sadly, the disease affected his ability to speak, so I will break in at points in the story to help set the stage for what’s happening.
His story begins when he was in elementary school and decided to join his school band. Here’s Nathan.
Nathan Brown (19:51)
Back when I was only 10 I joined my school
And I’m back the moon
They ain’t fuckers
Interment When
and the old boy and I got really amazed
Host: Rob Prince (20:54)
Good
Nathan Brown (20:55)
Ha ha ha
Host: Rob Prince (20:56)
a you liked playing it?
Nathan Brown (20:59)
How you?
Host: Rob Prince (21:01)
Good.
Nathan Brown (21:02)
Yeah, I got really great hair.
Host: Rob Prince (21:13)
Nathan stuck with the Oboe through middle school, and after he finished the eighth grade, his father drove him to the famous Interlakin Center for the Arts to audition for their Oboe program. They returned home, and Nathan waited to find out if he had been accepted.
Nathan Brown (21:28)
For a year, month, or later, I found out that I won’t accept it.
Host: Rob Prince (21:53)
Wow, congratulations. How did that feel?
Nathan Brown (22:00)
man!
Ken Bieber (22:02)
Yeah.
Host: Rob Prince (22:02)
I bet.
Nathan Brown (22:03)
you
Host: Rob Prince (22:06)
Nathan had been accepted as the only high school freshman at Interlaken that year, and it seemed like his music career was off to a fabulous start. But one of the things Nathan liked about going to Interlochen wasn’t just getting to improve his musicianship.
Nathan Brown (22:21)
Well, had a lamp on my own without my mom and dad.
Host: Rob Prince (22:38)
be careful. Your mom is right here. But it is nice. I mean, we both have our moms. We like our moms, but sometimes it’s fun to be on our own, right?
Ken Bieber (22:48)
Ha ha ha.
Host: Rob Prince (22:51)
I get it, man. Give me a give me a fist bump.
Ken Bieber (22:53)
Ha ha ha.
Host: Rob Prince (22:56)
So you got to be on your own. How did that feel?
Nathan Brown (23:00)
It was a damn horror. But I really like it.
Host: Rob Prince (23:15)
While Nathan was at Interlaken, he suddenly became very sick. He started having tremors and trouble walking and had to leave the camp early. At the hospital, he and his family learned that he had a very rare brain and spine disease called autoimmune encephalitis. He spent six months in the hospital, and the disease left him with very limited mobility and affected his speech.
Your condition or or what it’s like to be you?
Nathan Brown (23:49)
Well, it has eased a bit, but my life has never been the easy one. Hey.
in the world I write my own money in there and I use it to
Host: Rob Prince (24:41)
While Nathan was no longer able to play the obo due to the disease he developed at just fourteen years old, he was able to continue to write music and get that music produced thanks to help from some talented musicians at Michigan State University. Can you give me a fist bump?
Nathan Brown (24:58)
Hell yeah!
Host: Rob Prince (25:01)
boy, that’s gonna be big one. Yay All right, Nathan Brown, ladies and gentlemen. Nathan Brown, he shared that story at our december seventeenth, twenty twenty five live event at Schuler Books Hinochamas. He turned twenty two years old three days after that event, but it is with a very heavy heart that I tell you that just a few days after his birthday, Nathan Brown passed away.
So we dedicate this episode of My Michigan Story to Nathan Brown and his family. While I only got to have that one brief conversation with Nathan, I can tell you that he made a powerful impression on me and everyone who attended that event for his joyful attitude and his delightful and friendly personality. Here is one of the songs Nathan composed before he passed away, called Music on My Mind.
Some people would think of it as a curse, but I know it is a blessing have music always on my mind. Some people would think of it as a curse. But I know it is a blessing have music always on my mind.
The way it just flows through my veins, and the way it makes me feel so good It’s almost like a faucet I turn it on And lyrics just come pouring out
Music.
That was Music on My Mind composed by Nathan Brown. You can hear more of his music on YouTube at Nathan Brown and Friends. That’s Brown with an E on the end.
Thanks for listening to this edition of My Michigan Story: Life in the Great Lakes State, the Teen Stories edition. My Michigan Story is produced by Luke Freisinger, Jonah Beauchamp, Leah Halberk, Tess Reed, Everett Getchter, Evie Ansari, Brooks Blackledge, and myself, Rob Prince, and edited by me as well. My Michigan Story is presented by WKAR in East Lansing, Michigan.
Remember, I can’t make my Michigan story without your Michigan story, so get me your story today at my MichiganStory dot com. That’s mychiganstory dot com.