Category: Essays
-
Supt. Derrick Lopez on Flint’s resilience, coming together for students: “Coronavirus must not fracture who we are”
Commentary By Dr. Derrick Jones Lopez Superintendent, Flint Community Schools The Flint community has a long and storied history of coming together to support one another. This commitment to assisting neighbors and friends has been critical throughout the water crisis, and we must continue to demonstrate unwavering support as we face a challenge that is…
Written by
-
Village Life: Every day, I dream of Down Time
By Jan Worth-Nelson Every day I keep dreaming of Down Time. I used to crave adventure, no day complete without a conscious tablespoon at least of risky business, a routine to kickstart adrenaline, an agenda to keep me in the loop – the loop of life, baby. I aimed to be a player. If I…
Written by
-
Village Life: The Flint River dumped us, but we got a story (or two)
By Jan Worth-Nelson I told Sarah Carson the river would give us solace—that was how I talked her into it, for my part always wanting an accomplice in my adventures. Two writers who revel in sedentary hours alone. Two writers—one young, one old—rampantly hopeful but almost comically expecting the worst. Two writers who’d never…
Written by
-
Village Life: A raptor crash heralded my life with birds
By Teddy Robertson Smack! The front legs of my chair leave the floor, my hands pop off the laptop keyboard; I jerk backward. A split second, then a tinkling sound ripples over my left shoulder. I turn and look: in the storm window beside me fissures radiate outward as if pushed by an invisible hand. …
Written by
-
Village Life: In LA or Flint, tai chi yields gifts of challenge, elation, peace
By Teddy Robertson “Breathe from the diaphragm,” says Beverly, my tai chi instructor. “Clear your mind; try to go slowly,” she reminds us before we begin. We never go slowly enough. We stand in two rows in a large room, the dining hall in a senior center. Some wear the thin-soled martial arts slippers that…
Written by
-
I love Flint: Baker’s dozen reasons why my town is NOT the 11th “Worst City to Live In”
By Harold C. Ford I’m an unabashed, unashamed, scream-it-from-the-rooftops supporter/defender of Flint. And yet once again, my hometown was put on another “worst” list. This time it was a publication called 24/7 Wall St. Using “an index of over two dozen measures to identify the worst cities to live in,” Flint was ranked the 11th…
Written by
-
Village Life: Of elusive joy, lamentations and “wanton love”
By Jan Worth-Nelson Sometimes you have to fight for joy. At a recent East Village Magazine party at my house, wine flowed and four kinds of pasta from Flour and Eggs, comfort food extraordinaire, disappeared in thick hunks from trays on the big table, two extra leaves put in for the occasion. I’d put…
Written by
-
Thanksgiving memoir: Temple of the City — a story of Atwood Stadium
By Gary L. Fisher NOTE: Gary Fisher, a local historian, spoke on the history of the venerable Atwood Stadium at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15 at the Genesee County Historical Society at the Durant-Dort Carriage Company office, 316 W. Water St., Flint. My first trip to Flint’s Atwood Stadium is seared in to my brain.…
Written by
-
Commentary: Bent but not broken–remember Flint’s history of fighting back
By Ted Nelson This is a lightly edited transcript of Ted Nelson’s speech at the Flint Institute of Arts on Oct. 21, 2018 When the makers of “JFK: The Last Speech” arrived in Flint to shoot scenes for their award-winning documentary movie recently shown at the Flint Institute of Arts (FIA), they were eager…
Written by
-
For a Las Vegas native, difference between virtual and real hit home
By Dylan Doherty I was hesitant when my fiancée, Kelsey Ronan, suggested I write for East Village Magazine. Unlike her, I was not born in Flint, Michigan, or even the Midwest. I didn’t have the fascination and dedication to the city where I spent twenty years of my youth that Kelsey displayed for Flint. Instead…
Written by
