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Detroit Winter

My blog was down for a second while servers got moved around, and while I was gone landed in beloved Detroit for the romantic half of my vacation trip, I got my first reading, Israel launched air strikes on Gaza, the new year came, and Spaceman Spiff broke his leg.

Snapshots of Detroit (Notes From My Phone):

– There’s a place called Motown Kabob. Only in Detroit.
– We just passed an ambulance driver smoking a cigarette.
– On my first night in town, we were awoken just after 4am by someone trying to kick in the door, which has apparently been happening here and there in the neighborhood. The neighbors all got on the phone to confirm that’s what happened. Shortly after that, an electrical storm started, and then the power went out. As we explored the house with a serrated bread knife, I was thinking of every creepy horror movie I’ve ever seen. Once it was established no one had broken in and no monsters were under the bed, fell asleep; woke up to a freezing house like 340,000 other Detroiters.
– Driving with a car full of young people catching up about all the people they know who’ve been killed in the past couple of months. Strangely, the conversation becomes semi-humorous, and then one of the young women says, “I’m numb to it now, there’s too much to even feel it. Someone could walk by me one day and say I’m dead, I’d say…Oh really? Damn, how will I pay my rent?”
– After a great meeting with local organizers for a national project, a community organizer laughs and tells me I’m too sane for Detroit.
– We’ve cooked a LOT this trip – made a Vegetable Turkey soup and Ilana used the remaining ground turkey to create amazing meatballs, she made the Lavender Honey Salmon and I made Candied Brussel Sprouts, I made my Golden Lasagna, and yesterday for the Detroit Summer Retreat, Ilana made her famous secret Orange Porridge. One major step towards health is starting to cook much much more!

My Reading:
The skeptic got a reading! While I was in Philly the last time I got a STRONG recommendation to try this psychic there, to get a reading. I don’t quite believe (and don’t quite not believe) in such things. But I made a phone appointment with her, and gave her the info she needed, and she broke me down! I felt like my whole life was just a book opened to her, she reflected on what’s happened in the past year, and then spoke of the patterns that are going to emerge in the next year and beyond. She uses astrological charts with the planetary system, and a Hindi system, says that you kind of have to combine eastern and western approaches to see as much of the picture as can be seen. I can’t get into the specifics, but I was wholeheartedly convinced of the power of the charts, and the information she gave me made me lean into the next years of my life 🙂

Gaza:
While I was gone, Israel began bombing Gaza, and in trying to understand what is happening, a lot of clarity came to me about place, and the limitations of being a US citizen trying to understand a struggle that is space-based. The U.S. already went through the process Israel is going through now, relative to Native Americans. It’s all a learning experience, but I wanted to write about why folks here in the U.S. – especially people of color – should care about this. I wrote about it, and reposted a powerful piece comparing Gaza and the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, at RaceWire.org.

The New Year:
On New Year’s Eve I went to a wonderful show – No Man, a local Detroit band; then Finale, with Invincible and 5 Ela as guests, then Monica Blaire – where I brought in the new year dancing with Jenny, Starlet, Diana, Mike, KC, Wes – Detroit!! The sound wasn’t great, they didn’t have monitors, but lots of great energy and just brilliant performers. In most cities, if you go out for a night of local music, you get a mixed bag. Every time I go out for a night of local music in Detroit, it’s one mega-talent after another.

I just got a text that Spaceman Spiff, my coworker’s dog who we’re all falling in love with, tried to jump from too high a height and broke his leg 🙁 – poor Spliff!

And finally, my favorite store I have ever seen:

a REAL robot store!!
a REAL robot store!!