Dean's blog

A Sunday of Entertainment in Detroit

Submitted by Dean on Tue, 2010-01-26 11:41

Here is what $30 could get you this Sunday afternoon in Detroit.

12:00 noon Detroit Historical Society, including the new "Corktown Works" exhibit: $6

2:00 pm The American Astronaut @ Burton Theatre: $7

5:00 pm The Room @ Burton Theatre: $7

Bring a few extra bucks for concessions and you're looking at a museum and two movies for, that's right, under $30.

Anybody wanna go with me?

- Dean

Gardening Begins in Earnest!

Submitted by Dean on Fri, 2009-07-17 23:38

This is a partial cross-post from Dean's website. Because our web audience doesn't tend to access both sites on a regular basis, we wanted to post the information here as well:

"Here we are, living in the city and working to make a difference in our community. One of the most-immediate needs we noticed was the lack of grocery and produces options. Couple that with the amount of poverty and homelessness in our city and we've got a serious problem. And so, I'm a gardener.

There is a piece of property in our neighborhood that has sat vacant for several decades. It was once used for parking for Detroit Tiger games, but that has long since passed. Along with my friend and mentor, I spoke with the owner of the lot yesterday. He was excited that we are interested in doing something with the lot. We're working to draw up some layout graphs and images to "seal the deal" with him, but our hope is to do the foundational work and build some raised beds before October is over."

 

If you'd like to help out in any way, please contact us through the NWC contact form. You may also designate your support to this community project. Full details of the people, structure and processes involved will be forthcoming in a matter of days, so please stay tuned.

Roosevelt Park, etc.

Submitted by Dean on Wed, 2009-06-24 19:04

I had the opportunity last week to lend a hand at the renovation of Roosevelt Park. This is an exciting time, considering that we have targeted parks and community green space as immediate community needs since Day 1. The renovations are supposed to wrap up tomorrow with an appearance by local leaders, those who helped fund the work, and many of the volunteers who chipped in lots of work over the past two weeks.

Now that we are firmly "on the ground" in Corktown, we're able to see exactly what needs to be addressed from a resident's point of view. Things like grafitti, street/alley/sidewalk cleanup, and lots of abandoned homes and commercial blight will need to remedied in a timely manner. Of course this requires things like volunteers, time, and in many cases, funding, but we're pushing forward in any case despite the many, many hurdles of living in Detroit.

Teaching in Flint

Submitted by Dean on Sun, 2009-05-24 11:09


We have been given the opportunity to teach at New Wine Anglican Mission in Flint, Michigan in July. We will be teaching on July 12 at during the 10:30 am service on missional Christian living in the urban context.

Like Detroit, Flint has experienced the brunt of the impact of the automotive industry changes in the last thirty years. Flint was home to many automotive factories until the 1980s, when company changes left factories and tens of thousands of employees empty and jobless (Michael Moore's Roger & Me discusses this topic in great detail, for better or worse). Flint has yet to recover.

The good people at New Wine Anglican Mission have asked us to come up and handle the Sunday morning service including the teaching, having some time to share our vision and calling for the city of Detroit. It should be a great Sunday morning, and everyone in the area is invited to come out that morning and worship and fellowship with us.

Service location, etc. is all available at the New Wine Anglican Mission website. Service notes will be posted as the date approaches

Moving into Corktown

Submitted by Dean on Wed, 2009-05-20 22:19

After months of planning, Giles and I have officially started the process of relocating into the Corktown neighborhood. We are renting a house in the southern part of Corktown (the area generally referred to as the historic district) and we are living in a house that was built in 1894. It is twice the size of our Novi apartment but the cost of living is very comparable. We will be fully moved in by the end of May but are currently in that state of living between two places.

Twoshirts.org


Recently we have been introduced to Twoshirts.org, an innovative site designed around the understanding that we all have things that can be better utilized by someone else. Users can post items they are looking to give away as well as things they need. The beauty is that items are posted by geographic location so that shipping, etc. is not involved. Building relationships and giving away your extra crap seems like a healthy approach to life, period. We encourage you to go sign up and post some items. If you do, you should also join the NWC group we created. This way you'll be notified anytime another member posts an item on the site.

Hope that gives you something to think about today.

Blessings!

Dean












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