Author: East Village Magazine
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Library reopens after $30 million renovation with three-day celebration
By Jan Worth-Nelson A two-year-long, $30 million renovation of the Flint Public Library culminates with a three-day celebration beginning Thursday, reopening the 90,000-square-foot facility to the public after a long wait made even longer by the COVID pandemic. A ribbon cutting begins the festivities at 10 a.m. Thursday on the lawn, followed by self-guided tours…
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“Phenomenal” threat to abortion rights a “major wakeup call,” longtime pro-choice advocate asserts
By Jan Worth-Nelson In the wake of the leak of a draft opinion suggesting the U.S. Supreme Court is about to overturn Roe v. Wade, some have suggested men should, as the memes go, “STFU,” or “Shut the F–k up.” But if any area man has a voice worth hearing on the matter, it is…
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“Heinous,” “scary,” “devastating”– Area women react to possible end of Roe v. Wade
By Jan Worth-Nelson I set out to try to find out how some area women view the possibility that Roe v. Wade might be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. The 1973 decision gave women the right to decide whether they wanted to continue a pregnancy; at long last, first trimester abortions were made legal.…
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“Defend Roe Rally” draws 250 to downtown protest: “It’s not just about protests — VOTE!” speakers say
By Jan Worth-Nelson, Tom Travis and Paul Rozycki Chanting “We are not your incubator,” “No uterus, no opinion,” “Keep your laws off my body,” “My body, my choice,” “Abortion is health care,” “We want Roe,” and “We’re not going back” among others, about 250 Flint-area citizens marched from the Flat Lot in downtown Flint Saturday…
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Arbor Day means “Tree City USA” again for Flint, many new trees for Pierce Park
By Jan Worth-Nelson A dozen retirees from the College Cultural Neighborhood Association (CCNA) worked alongside a half dozen professional tree lovers more than half their age to celebrate Arbor Day in Pierce Park Friday. The day also marked the City of Flint’s 22nd year as a “Tree City USA,” a national designation of the Arbor…
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Fundraiser for Ukraine shows “Americans will always come through,” organizers say
By Jan Worth-Nelson A little more than halfway through a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for Ukraine at the Dom Polski Hall Wednesday night, the kitchen ran out of food. Almost everyone added extra cash to the donations box, and blue and yellow “Support Ukraine” and “Stand Up for Ukraine” signs sold briskly at a side table.…
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Profile: “What if he had opened his eyes?” Kelsey Ronan on grief, healing, breaking a curse in “Chevy in the Hole”
By Jan Worth-Nelson Twelve years ago, Kelsey Ronan found her longtime partner Bryan dead of a heroin overdose in their Flint apartment. Out of what she describes as an onslaught of grief, anger, loss, and finally, a hard-won, unsentimental hope, the novel Chevy in the Hole was born. For Ronan, the book emerged from one…
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Writer Gary Gildner looks back on a Flint that “gave joy to my youth”
By Jan Worth-Nelson To understand how writer Gary Gildner feels about his Flint childhood in the 1950s, some Latin is in order. Flint — specifically Flint’s legendary Holy Redeemer Catholic Church and school and its devoted diaspora — is at the heart of the second essay and central to many of the others in Gildner’s…
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Re-greening Flint: New city trees coming next spring via Mott Foundation grant
By Jan Worth-Nelson Last year, in light of threats from an aging tree canopy in the city, the C.S. Mott Foundation contributed $208,000 to the Genesee Conservation District (GCD) to remove more than 330 dangerously cracked and dead trees in the traffic islands, medians, and “parkways” between streets and sidewalks. Now, the foundation is granting $140,000…
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Pierce Park restoration underway with community collaboration
By Jan Worth-Nelson An 80-acre park in Flint which had been overrun by neglect, arson and invasive species is getting a big dose of love and hoped-for restoration from a partnership between the College Cultural Neighborhood Association (CCNA), the Genesee Conservation District (GCD) and the City of Flint. Pierce Park, owned by the city since…
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