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Community Foundation of Greater Flint makes final push for 2024 neighborhood small grant applications
By Kate Stockrahm The deadline to apply for the Community Foundation of Greater Flint’s (CFGF) 2024 Neighborhoods Small Grant Program is fast approaching, with all applications due March 15 by 3 p.m. The available grants, which range from around $1,000 up to $25,000, are intended to encourage community members to “actively engage in community change efforts,” “view themselves as stakeholders that can partner with institutions to address critical issues,” and “have pride in their neighborhoods and the motivation to continue their work,”...
read moreCity of Flint to hold vigil for late Councilman Eric Mays, Clerk’s Office shares interim appointment information
By EVM Staff The City of Flint will host a candlelight vigil in memory of Flint City Councilman Eric Mays, who passed away on Feb. 24, 2024. The vigil will take place in front of Flint City Hall at 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 2, according to a city press release on March 1. “A voice like Councilman Mays’ can never be replaced,” said Mayor Sheldon Neeley, whom Mays had often disagreed with publicly and sued multiple times in the last four years. “In this moment when many are grieving the loss of Councilman Mays, who meant so much to them, I send...
read moreHelpful information for today’s Presidential Primary in Flint
By EVM Staff It’s Election Day in Flint. According to a City of Flint press release, parking adjacent to Flint City Hall will be free today, Feb. 27, 2024, to support residents voting in the Presidential Primary election. Voting precincts, including City Hall, opened at 7 a.m. and will close at 8 p.m. Flint has 29 voting precincts. The most up-to-date map of those precincts can be found by clicking here, and the voting location for each of those precincts can be found here. Voters who elected to vote absentee but have not mailed their...
read moreFlint City Councilman Eric Mays dies at 65
By Kate Stockrahm Flint City Councilman Eric Mays has passed away at age 65. The City of Flint confirmed the 1st Ward councilman’s death late on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024 in a press statement, which also noted that the Flint City Hall flag would be lowered to half-mast beginning Feb. 26 in Mays’ honor. “I am so going to miss My Colleague, My Friend,” Councilwoman Tonya Burns posted to Facebook after news of Mays’ passing broke. “The City of Flint lost the ‘Realest Councilman’ in the world who...
read moreEducation Beat: Teachers continue protests; no settlement yet with Flint school district
By Harold C. Ford “We’ve got a heck of a job ahead of us.” – Joyce Ellis-McNeal, president, Flint Board of Education, Sept. 21, 2024 Following a five-hour meeting of the Flint Board of Education (FBOE) on Wednesday, Feb. 21, no settlement was reached on a new agreement with the United Teachers of Flint (UTF). About half of the meeting was spent in closed session with Timothy Gardner, an attorney with the East Lansing-based Thrun Law Firm that is advising the school district during this period of negotiations with the UTF. As during the...
read more$400K paid so far to 350 Flint moms in first month of pathfinding Rx Kids program
By Miriam Zayadi More than $400,000 has been paid to approximately 350 mothers in Flint in just over the first month of pathfinding program, Rx Kids, the program’s coordinators announced at a celebration Feb. 14. The initiative, which launched Jan. 10, is the first city-wide maternal and infant cash prescription program in the nation and was designed by pediatrician and public health advocate Mona Hanna-Attisha and Luke Shaefer, inaugural director of poverty solutions at the University of Michigan. Aiming to reach and support every expectant...
read moreEducation Beat: Teachers’ unrest hits Flint school board, ALA building next one to close
By Harold C. Ford “I was kind of overwhelmed today.” –Michael Clack, Vice President, Flint Board of Education “Obviously tonight, and the past couple of weeks, are very emotionally charged.” –Dylan Luna, treasurer, Flint Board of Education At the Feb. 14 meeting of the Flint Board of Education (FBOE) , scores of teachers protested a scuttled tentative settlement of a grievance filed by the United Teachers of Flint (UTF) against Flint Community Schools (FCS). A crowd of UTF members and supporters, estimated by the union at about 200, picketed...
read moreNancy Dash presents ‘The Centennial Prints’ show at Mott Community College
By Paul Rozycki Nancy Dash has worked at Mott Community College (MCC) for over half of its 100-year history. During that time she has been a coach for men’s tennis and women’s basketball and volleyball, as well as a professor of psychology since the early 1970s. But before she did any of those things she was an artist. So, on Thursday Feb. 15, 2024, as part of its regular Art Talk series, Dash explained her process of creating woodblock prints of the many buildings that have been a part of MCC’s century-long story. The college...
read more‘Into the Side of a Hill’ brings step to The Rep
by Patsy Isenberg Though “Into the Side of a Hill” made its world premier just this February at the FIM Flint Repertory Theatre, playwright James Anthony Tyler had been thinking about writing it since 2016. According to the playbill, Tyler said the idea “stuck with me” for a few years, even as he composed a different play before he set to work on penning this one. “Into the Side of a Hill” is directed and co-choreographed by Ken-Matt Martin, and takes place at a historically Black college/university (HBCU) in 2004. In an interview with EVM’s...
read moreTotem Books offers Flint-area writers a Leap Day plan
By EVM Staff Totem Books will host its “second quadrennial” Leap into Writing event on Leap Day, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. According to a Feb. 15 press release, Totem Books’ first Leap into Writing event was held in 2020, when it “brought together writers of all genres and styles from across the Greater Flint area to write together and get to know one another’s work.” This year, organizers said, the event promises to be another evening “of creative writing games, prompts and...
read morePassed over by state in December, Flint public schools seek debt relief
By Harold C. Ford “Change must happen in Flint Community Schools, but we cannot do it alone.” – Kevelin Jones, superintendent, Flint Community Schools, Jan. 26, 2024 press statement Six financially distressed school systems in Michigan stand to benefit from debt relief legislation passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Governor Gretchen Whitmer in December 2023, but Flint Community Schools (FCS) is not among them. Late last year, Michigan’s lawmakers approved $114 million from the state School Aid Fund to pay off the legacy...
read moreRep. Dan Kildee announced as next leader of Community Foundation of Greater Flint
By Kate Stockrahm The Community Foundation of Greater Flint (CFGF) announced today the selection of soon-to-be-retired U.S. Representative Dan Kildee as its next president and CEO. In a press release on Feb. 9, 2024, CFGF noted that Kildee’s selection followed “an extensive search process,” and he was chosen “given his proven record in significant leadership roles in government and non-profit sectors.” Kildee announced his retirement from U.S. Congress in November 2023, citing his cancer diagnosis and subsequent...
read moreFlint Councilman Quincy Murphy schedules 3rd Ward Town Hall event
By EVM Staff Flint City Councilman Quincy Murphy will host a town hall event for 3rd Ward residents on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024 at 5 p.m. According to Murphy’s announcement, the town hall will be held at Lakeview Grill, located at 2713 Layton Blvd. During the event, the councilman plans to cover an array of topics, including the establishment of a Rollingwood neighborhood association and subcommittees, an update on Ashley Capital’s work at the former site of Buick City, and information on a coming Catholic Charities’...
read moreCatholic Charities receives $500k grant to support bungalow development for unhoused veterans in Flint
By Kate Stockrahm Catholic Charities of Shiawassee and Genesee Counties has received a $500,000 grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to support the creation of a housing development for local veterans. The overall $3.5 million development, called Sacred Heart Village, will serve as transitional housing for area veterans. It promises trauma-informed design, like clear lines of sight, no shared walls, and a bathroom door that does not extend to the floor in each home, and is slated to start construction at 719 E. Moore St. in Flint,...
read moreGenesee Health Plan, Huntington Bank to provide free financial literacy classes
By EVM Staff Genesee Health Plan (GHP) will provide two free financial literacy classes with Huntington Bank through its emPOWER Genesee program this month. The first class, “Recovering from the Holidays” will take place on Thursday, Feb. 8. The second, “Getting your Debt in Check,” will take place the following Thursday, Feb. 15. Both classes are scheduled for noon at the GHP office, located at 2171 S. Linden Rd. According to a GHP news release on Feb. 1, the emPOWER Genesee program aims to help Genesee County...
read moreThe East Village Magazine – January / February 2024
The latest edition of The East Village Magazine is available for download and viewing here: View...
read moreCity of Flint to offer cash for guns at buyback event while state police work on destruction solution
By Kate Stockrahm The City of Flint Police Department will offer residents cash for guns turned in during a gun bounty event on Feb. 3, 2024. The buyback, which will take place from 12 to 5 p.m. at Cathedral of Faith Church, is the first the city will host since a New York Times investigation found that some companies contracted to destroy guns after such events end up destroying just the regulated segments of the firearms and selling the remainder for reuse. Formerly, the city’s process was to turn over collected guns to Michigan State...
read moreTesting the bonds of brotherhood: ‘Into the Side of a Hill’ premieres at Flint Rep this weekend
By Canisha Bell “Into the Side of a Hill,” a play about the bonds and bounds of fraternity brotherhood by nationally-acclaimed playwright James Anthony Tyler, will make its world premiere at the FIM Flint Repertory Theatre on Friday, Feb. 2, 2024. Developed during the Rep’s 2022 New Works Festival, the play follows six fraternity brothers as they rehearse for a homecoming step show. During their practice though, mental illness, toxic masculinity, and war bring the young men into battle with one another, and their brotherhood is tested. In an...
read moreKate Stockrahm joins East Village Magazine as new editor
By Jan Worth-Nelson Kate Stockrahm, an experienced journalist already well-attuned to issues in the Flint community, has joined East Village Magazine (EVM) as editor, the publication’s board of trustees have announced. Stockrahm, 32, a Dearborn, Mich. native, came to Flint in 2021 as a reporter at Flint Beat, part of the national Report for America program. In that role she developed the newsroom’s economic development beat, covering affordable housing, brownfield redevelopment, business openings and blight elimination efforts....
read moreFlint ReCAST mini-grant applications open for 2024
By EVM Staff Local nonprofits can now apply for this year’s Flint Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma (ReCAST) mini-grants of $5,000 to $25,000. Flint ReCAST grants are awarded annually and meant to support evidence-based violence prevention and youth engagement programs as well as trauma-informed behavioral health services, according to a City of Flint press release on Jan. 29, 2024. This year’s mini-grant applications opened on Jan. 29 and will close on Feb. 20 at 5 p.m., with the program implementation period running from...
read moreMott Community College receives $340k grant to increase students’ degree, certificate completion rates
By EVM Staff Mott Community College (MCC) today announced a $340,000 grant to support increased degree and certificate completion for the college’s adult students. According to a press release on Jan. 29, 2024, MCC plans to use the grant, awarded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, to partner with Diploma Equity Project, a Michigan nonprofit with a mission to eliminate the state’s gap in college degree completion based on race, income, family education and age. The funding will cover the costs of testing an “Adult Students Support System...
read moreMTA seeks public feedback about routes, sets six meeting dates
By Kate Stockrahm The Flint Mass Transportation Authority (MTA) is seeking public feedback as part of an ongoing fixed route study. The study, originally announced in June 2022, aims to understand how the MTA’s 14 primary routes serve the Flint community after recent years of population loss and decreased ridership following COVID-era restrictions. “After COVID our ridership numbers haven’t really responded like the rest of the [transportation] agencies in the nation,” Paul Mattern explained in an October 2023 meeting of Flint...
read moreFive candidates certified for 7th, 9th Ward council elections, Worthing opts out
By Kate Stockrahm Five candidates are now certified for this year’s 7th and 9th Ward Flint City Council elections. Flint City Clerk Davina Donahue confirmed today that two candidates will be vying for the 7th Ward seat, and three candidates are in the race for the 9th Ward seat. For the 7th Ward, the two certified candidates are current Councilwoman Candice Mushatt and Jan Marie Arbor. Mushatt has been serving in the role by council appointment since former Flint City Council President Allie Herkenroder resigned in summer 2023. For the 9th...
read more“Building the Dream”: Mayor Neeley partners with Financial Plus to help Flint kids access bank accounts
Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley is launching a new partnership with Financial Plus Credit Union to expand a youth financial literacy program for Flint kids. The “Building the Dream” program began with Mayor Neeley challenging Flint schoolchildren to fill up piggy banks, with the promise to help them open a bank account and will contribute $5 to their accounts. Financial Plus Credit Union is building on that promise by offering a $10 deposit for every new Kids Club membership, with an additional $5 for students who bring in their full...
read moreMTA offers free fare MONDAY Jan. 15 in Honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day
By Miriam Zayadi The Mass Transportation Authority (MTA) in Flint is providing free fare for local Fixed Route and Your Ride services Monday, tomorrow, Jan.15, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, according to a press release from the MTA. The Free Fare Day offer only applies to the Fixed Route and Your Ride services effective during normal business hours. Certain limitations can apply as transportation guidelines and eligibility criteria remain in place. Those eligible for Your Ride services need to schedule their ride at least 24 hours...
read moreCommentary: 2024 ushers in “interesting” times — will it also bring a curse?
By Paul Rozycki As the 2024 election year begins it reminds one of the ancient curse, often attributed to the Chinese, which says “May you live in interesting times”, suggesting that those interesting times will arise from much conflict and turmoil. There is little doubt that 2024 will be an “interesting” one politically. Whether it is a curse or not remains to be seen, but the threat will be there on the national, state, and local levels. On the national level we are looking at a rematch of the 2020 election, with both candidates...
read moreEducation Beat: Flint Schools start 2024 with new board president, two new rules for students, remodeled website
By Harold C. Ford Flint Community Schools (FCS) moved into 2024 with a new Flint Board of Education (FBOE) president, two new rules for students that ban possession of cellphones and hoodies, and a newly-remodeled website. President, vice president switch chairs; secretary and treasurer incumbents return to positions Joyce Ellis-McNeal was chosen the FBOE’s new president at the board’s annual organizational meeting Jan. 10. McNeal had served as the FBOE’s vice president during 2023. Two board members were nominated for the FBOE’s top spot:...
read more“Shadows of the 60s Motown Holiday Tribute”: Motown Magic coming to Flint
By Linkin Carlson and Miriam Zayadi The “Shadows of the 60s Motown Holiday Tribute,” led by Motown legacy and visionary Dave Revels, is poised to ignite the spirit of holiday cheer in Flint on Thursday, Dec. 14, at 8 p.m. at the Flint Institute of Music Capitol Theatre. Revels and his team are building the anticipation and setting the stage not only for a fully interactive performance but what he calls “a grand celebration of life” striving to immerse his audience in a “euphoric bubble of love, happiness, and generosity. With this...
read moreCommentary: You can’t “right size” a district by only closing buildings
Guest commentary by Paul Jordan To survive in the long term, the Flint district must provide every neighborhood with a local elementary school. Children can be well-educated in buildings that consist of only a few classrooms. (My parents, and perhaps yours, were educated in them.). Given the low density of potential students in the district, elementary schools should be both numerous and small in capacity. [State of Michigan School Superintendent] Rice’s basic points in a recent conversation with the Flint school board are well-taken:...
read moreDowntown parking update: 4,200 tickets issued per month, 22 per cent disputed; cost/benefits to the city unclear
By Liz Ireland-Curtis Continuing downtown metered parking, despite being extremely unpopular with the public, appears to be supported by the Downtown Development Authority (DDA). But the cost-benefit to the city is unclear, an ongoing investigation by East Village Magazine suggests. Details about revenue from downtown parking meters specifically have been elusive, as actual figures have not been forthcoming. Some answers emerged at an Oct. 25 Downtown Development Authority (DDA) board meeting, and EVM connected via email with a source to...
read more$324,000 grant allows for open enrollment for health care through Genesee Health Plan
By Miriam Zayadi GHP offers aid to community with CMS grant Genesee Health Plan (GHP) is set to aid residents of Genesee, Saginaw, and Bay County with their 2024 open enrollment from Nov. 1 to Jan. 15, 2024. Funded by a $324,365 grant from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), GHP offers residents education on healthcare coverage and assists in selecting affordable plans. “In Congress, I will continue to deliver federal resources home to ensure no mid-Michigan family has to choose between paying their medical bills or keeping...
read moreEducation Beat Analysis: Flint School panel counters “we are the best board” after state superintendent warns there are too many buildings, financial crisis on horizon
By Harold C. Ford A takeaway that emerged from the Nov. 8 (Committee of the Whole or COW) and Nov. 15 (regular board meeting) meetings of the Flint Board of Education (FBOE): Link to Nov. 8 meeting Link to Nov. 15 meeting Michigan Superintendent of Instruction Michael Rice told the board that the Flint Community Schools (FCS) has too many buildings for too few students, that the flush of COVID-era cash will soon disappear, and, without rightsizing the school district, the district is likely headed for a financial crisis. State superintendent...
read moreThe East Village Magazine – November / December 2023
The latest edition of The East Village Magazine is available for downloading and viewing here: View...
read moreReview: “That’s My Moon Over Court Street — Dispatches from a Life in Flint” resonates with “improbable happiness” and moving beyond ghosts
By Robert Thomas That’s My Moon Over Court Street: Dispatches from a life in Flint is an intimate time capsule of a life in Flint composed of Jan Worth-Nelson’s collected columns from East Village Magazine, 2007- 2022. “My adult life in Flint,” she writes in her Introduction, “has had some dark times, and I haven’t been spared from hard and stupid things. These essays describe the improbable happiness I have found so often here. How could that happen in a town like this, even through some of its toughest times? These columns, one by one,...
read moreCommentary: The Flint water crisis criminal prosecution ends — landing another blow to the public trust
By Paul Rozycki What if the next winner of the Super Bowl was determined, not by players scoring touchdowns or field goals, but one team winning because of a referee’s ruling over someone being offside or taking too much time in the huddle? There would be an outcry that the game was decided by the officials and not the players. The officials may have been following the rulebook, but the results would be very unsatisfactory to the fans in the stands. Yet that seems to be what happened with the criminal lawsuits tied to the Flint water crisis....
read moreEducation Beat: Flint Schools seek Mott Foundation partnership for Holmes-Brownell campus upgrades
By Harold C. Ford The snarl(s) – those visible to the public, and those unseen – in ongoing effort(s) to upgrade the aging lineup of school buildings shepherded by Flint Community Schools (FCS) untangled a bit with the unanimous passage of a proposal by the Flint Board of Education (FBOE) to seek a $14 million grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to further upgrade the Holmes-Brownell campus on Flint’s northwest side. Voting in favor of the proposal, introduced to the public on Oct. 16 at a special meeting of the FBOE, to ask...
read moreFlint City Hall now a “Gun Free Zone” — Councilperson still open carrying
By Tom Travis Update – since publication the Mayor’s office has issued a statement clarifying the location of the 67th District Court within City Hall. The statement is located at the end of this article. ~ Editor Monday afternoon Mayor Sheldon Neeley declared City Hall “A Gun Free Zone.” At the front entrance a sign posted just outside the front door announced City Hall as a “Gun Free Zone.” In the lobby, two armed and bullet-proof-vested Flint police officers stood by stanchions with rope between them...
read moreEmma’s Revolution Concert Friday to Support FEM Alliance Uganda
Emma’s Revolution Concert to Support FEM Alliance Uganda Emma’s Revolution, an American folk music and social justice activist duo, will perform a concert at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Flint (UUCF) at 7 p.m. Oct. 29 to support FEM Alliance Uganda, a social justice organization that, according to its website, advocates for “the needs of the growing LBTQ community.” Emma’s Revolution Emma’s Revolution, consisting of Pat Humphries and Sandy Opatow (a.k.a. “Sandy O”) is named after human rights activist Emma Goldman who is reputed to...
read more“I don’t feel safe” Councilperson Ladel Lewis says at press conference after receiving violent threats against her and her family
By Tom Travis Update: Since publication Councilpersons Tonya Burns (Ward 6) and Jerri Winfrey-Carter (Ward 5) have emailed statements to EVM. Those comments have been included in this article. Councilperson Quincy Murphy (Ward 3) has told EVM that he has not received a threat. ~ Editor “Unfortunately we are experiencing some unprecedented events at City Hall. A place that is known as the city center. A place where businesses come to do business with the city and place where the business of the city of Flint takes place has now turned...
read moreCommentary: A Genesee County property sale could have a dire impact on Flint residents
By Patrick Hayes Editor’s note: East Village Magazine and Flintside.com are happy to cross-publish this commentary written by local writer and Flint resident Patrick Hayes. Flint and its surrounding areas claim a long and colorful history of government corruption that has often resulted in the collective subversion of the needs of the city’s people, especially its most vulnerable or voiceless people, in service to the whims of those in elected positions here. Government corruption isn’t really unique to Flint, obviously – even...
read moreTribute: Remembering Flint Central’s Ray Bearden, teacher of “Truth, Beauty, Love, Justice, and Faith”
By Tim Retzloff Ray Bearden’s long career as a teacher at Flint Central High School left an indelible imprint on thousands of students whose lives he transformed. Mr. James “Ray” Bearden died in August at age 84. His obituary circulated on Facebook but, sadly, his passing did not receive mention in the Flint Journal or on MLive. I was privileged to have Mr. Bearden more than four decades ago for 12th grade humanities. This capstone course of the Flint Community Schools’ Magnet Program took a deep dive into Truth, Beauty, Love, Justice, and...
read morePierce School to close in 2024-25, Neithercut in 2025-26 as Flint school board moves toward “right-sizing”
By Harold C. Ford At a special meeting Oct. 5, the Flint Board of Education (FBOE) voted to close two elementary schools in the next two years. The FBOE voted 6-1 to close Pierce Elementary to students on Flint’s near east side at 1101 W. Vernon Dr. in the 2024-25 school year. Votes for closing Pierce came from: Michael Clack, president; Joyce Ellis-McNeal, vice president; Claudia Perkins, secretary; Laura MacIntyre, assistant secretary/treasurer; Dylan Luna, treasurer; and Terae King, trustee. The only vote against the motion to close...
read moreThe East Village Magazine – October 2023
The latest edition of The East Village Magazine is available for download and viewing here: View...
read moreEducation Beat: Mixed results on post-pandemic assessment data for area schools
By Harold C. Ford Area student performance in the first post-pandemic year, 2022-2023, offers a mixture of good and bad news, according to data provided by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), with Flint students showing a small gain in one area and losses in two others. In all three cases, Flint area student performances were far below state percentages, consistent with the numbers before the pandemic. Data collected during 2022-2023 roughly showed an equivalent number of area schools posting gains and losses in the following...
read moreCommentary: What lies ahead for Flint’s colleges? — Centennials, conflict, change, and challenges
By Paul Rozycki The University of Michigan-Flint has a new chancellor; Mott Community College’s president is applying for a position in Kentucky; Kettering University has a new vice president, is looking to a “transformational decade”; and, since 2005, the Flint Community Schools have had eight superintendents and are facing dramatically declining enrollment while dealing with empty and crumbling school buildings. It may be time for Flint’s educational institutions to hit the books (or the laptops). With all the recent changes and threats,...
read moreTaliah Abdullah, new Gloria Coles Flint Public Library director: “Community is at the heart of who I am”
By Canisha Bell and Jan Worth-Nelson “I believe in community – community is at the heart of who I am as an individual, what I believe in and why I became a librarian.” That’s how Taliah Abdullah, executive director of the Gloria Coles Flint Public Library since July 24, described her commitments and values in a wide-ranging recent interview with East Village Magazine. Abdullah, finishing her second month as the library’s top executive, said one of her most important priorities as she delves into her work is listening — listening to how...
read moreUM – Flint enrollment up for first time in a decade: reaches 6,130
News from University of Michigan – Flint Director of Marketing and Communications Robb King: “For the first time in nearly a decade, the University of Michigan-Flint has recorded an increase in total fall enrollment as 6,130 students are enrolled at the downtown campus, reflecting a gain of 154 students (3%) from one year ago. The increase in total enrollment is the first since fall 2014. “The numbers come from UM-Flint’s release of its official 10-day count of students used for state and national reporting purposes....
read moreCouncil allocates $5.2 million from ARPA fund for home repairs; Berston Field House $30 million renovation capital campaign announced
By Tom Travis Editor’s note – this article has been updated correcting Councilperson Eric Mays’ return to council meetings on Sept. 6 after being removed for 30-days by a council vote in August. City council approved $5.2 million allocated from the city’s ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) to fund three local agencies (GCCARD, Metro Community Development, and Habitat for Humanity) for home repairs and improvements. The council also allocated $326,000 from the city’s ARPA fund to be used for lead abatement for houses...
read moreVillage Life: If a mouse could take a shower, what does a naked guy do?
By Tom Travis Both the mouse and I were upset with the positions we found ourselves in. I flipped on the light inside my shower and turned the water on as I’ve done every morning. But this morning a mouse scampered across the bottom of my tub/shower. It was clawing desperately to get out of the tub. I jumped back with a startled scream. It turned and looked at me, I stared at the mouse. I could see his little mouse heart beating rapidly. I could feel my own heart beating rapidly. There we stood staring at each other — me naked and...
read moreVillage Life: the ballet of brick laying
By Tom Travis About 11 years ago I moved into a 100-year old house in Flint. The decision was made to remove all the big, heavy radiators that were connected to the old boiler heating system. There were a lot of them. What do you imagine is the heaviest thing ever? Looking at a radiator it seems easy enough to wrap your arms around and hoist out of the house. Wrong! I’ve moved and helped move a fair share of pianos in my life, including grand pianos. I’ve always thought those monstrosities were the heaviest thing around. But old radiators by...
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