Category: Commentary
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Commentary: What’s the new normal for 2016 and 2017?
By Paul Rozycki Looking back on 2016, it is strange how quickly the abnormal became normal. One of the most worrisome aspects of the Flint Water Crisis is how normal certain things have become. I’ve gotten used to having the house littered with water bottles and having cases of water piled all over the kitchen.…
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Commentary: Post-mortem on the 2016 election poses a “Top Ten” list of questions
By Paul Rozycki We all thought it would be over after Nov. 8. Almost everyone expected Hillary to win by a close, but decent margin. She had a half dozen ways she could win the Electoral College. Trump barely had one. Yet after the shock and dismay of this unprecedented and vicious campaign, we are…
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Village Life: Buckle up for the pursuit of truth
Amendment I. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. By Jan Worth-Nelson There’s a room in our…
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Book Review: NOBODY: Casualties of America’s War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and Beyond
By Robert R. Thomas In the January 2016 issue of EVM, I wrote a book review of Demolition Means Progress (2015) by Andrew Highsmith, a definitive account of the reality of Flint’s last 80 years. The book arrived in my life at a time when I desperately needed to understand the Flint I had returned…
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Community Commentary: Why I quit singing the Star Spangled Banner
Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt of a column reprinted with permission from Woodside World, a newsletter issued to the congregation of Woodside Church of Flint, where Rev. Conrad is senior pastor. She wrote it partly in response to NFL star Colin Kaepernick’s recent national anthem protests. This is not offered as the editorial position of East…
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Straight talk on the “straight ticket”
By Paul Rozycki There are at least two ways to win an election. Obviously, the best is to have a great candidate, put on the strongest campaign, sell your ideas to the voters and hope they support your views. At least that’s the classical democratic view of winning an election. The other way is to…
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The August primary: not as much fun as a barrel of monkeys, but probably more important
Commentary by Paul Rozycki I planned on writing about the upcoming Republican national convention, the desperate attempts to block Donald Trump’s nomination, Trump’s latest outbursts and how it all promises to be more fun than a barrel of monkeys. However, I’ve since learned that the monkeys are deeply offended and resent the comparison to Trump.…
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View from a grass-roots table: people coming together to cope with Flint water
By Teddy Robertson We sit in a rectangle of tables, old manila file folders halved and then creased so we can write our names and prop them up in front of us. I’ve found my way to the basement of the Unitarian Universalist church for the meeting of a group called Communication/Publication. It’s something to…
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Commentary: It’s not the city charter…it’s the people
By Paul Rozycki After several weeks of high profile hearings, criminal charges, and the governor guzzling Flint’s water, perhaps the greatest risk for the average citizen has been the danger of being poked in the eye by someone pointing a finger at someone else, as the Flint water crisis unfolds. Whatever the resolution of the…
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Column: While we were dealing with the water crisis…
By Paul Rozycki As Flint works its way through its water crisis, the range of problems seem overwhelming. Every time it looks like we’ve solved one problem, another rears its head. At first it seemed that all we needed to do was replace the old lead pipes in the homes that had them, as difficult…
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