Five-day “Freedom Festival” honoring Juneteenth kicks off June 15
By Jan Worth-Nelson A five-day long Juneteenth "Freedom Festival" in north Flint starting Friday aims to honor the June 19, 1865 freeing of the slaves in Texas. But that's not all. Organizer April Cook-Hawkins says after a bruising four years of the water crisis,...
Commentary: Beyond the water crisis, another Flint crisis looms
By Paul Rozycki In its own clumsy way the Flint water crisis seems to be slowly drifting to some sort of resolution. Most scientific reports are showing a significant reduction in the lead levels in our water. As a result the state has ended its distribution of free...
Review: “JFK: The Last Speech” juxtaposes power, the arts, and eloquence with a local angle
By Ed Bradley The reflective new documentary JFK: The Last Speech recalls a time when not only could it be assumed that the American president knew how to spell the word “poetry,” but also that he could recite verse at an important event without an eyebrow being...
East Village Magazine – June 2018
The latest issue of the East Village Magazine is available for download here:
Genesee County Medical Society departs from Hurley docs on “lead-poisoned” word choice
By Jan Worth-Nelson Emphasizing, "there is no safe amount of lead to be ingested by children, pregnant women, or any person daily for 15 months without any risk to health and/or development," the Genesee County Medical Society has chosen not to concur with a recent...
Review: Politics, misused power, poverty all play a role in Anna Clark’s riveting “The Poisoned City”
By Robert R. Thomas A current Flint kerfuffle is the Hurley Medical Center controversy about whether we Flintstones were “lead-poisoned” or “lead-exposed.” Anna Clark’s riveting reply to that question and many more is The Poisoned City: Flint’s Water and the American...
Activists’ letter aims grievances at Marc Edwards; he calls it “science anarchy”
By Jan Worth-Nelson Note: This piece was updated Saturday evening, June 2, to add several paragraphs from flintwaterstudy.com's response to the flintcomplaints.com letter, received after the article was originally written. A Virginia Polytechnic Institute professor...
New Evolution Center opens summer project with $64,000 from African-American fraternity
By Harold C. Ford The New Evolution Education Center (NEEC) will open its doors to 50 youth in grades kindergarten through 8th grade this summer for six weeks running from July 9-Aug. 17. The nonprofit NEEC will focus on literacy, science, and math, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m....
Citizens to Hurley board: “lead-exposed” word change “preposterous,” and devastating to trust
By Jan Worth-Nelson Six Flint residents, all of whom described searing effects from the Flint water crisis, spoke up at the meeting of the Hurley Medical Center Board of Managers Wednesday night to say, "Words matter." They asserted that a recent statement by a group...
Public comment open on Hurley docs’ “exposed/poisoned” word change at today’s board of managers meeting
By Jan Worth-Nelson There is no item on the agenda of the Hurley Medical Center Board of Managers meeting today (Wednesday) pertaining to the recent decision by Hurley's doctors to substitute the word "lead-exposed" for "lead-poisoned" for children who experienced the...
A look at the city’s new economic team: the “director” is his company, Rodrick Miller explains
By Jeffery L Carey Jr. Does the City of Flint have a director of economic development or not? And is the position, financed as part of a $2.9 million Kellogg Foundation grant, being filled by a person or a company? Is there a conflict of interest built into the way...
Boil water advisory lifted
BOIL WATER ADVISORY LIFTED BY THE CITY OF FLINT The City of Flint has lifted its precautionary boil water advisory. This information has been received through a memo from the University of Michigan - Flint.
Drinking water warning issued for City of Flint residents: Boil even your filtered water before using
The following is a word-for-word notification from the City of Flint: DRINKING WATER WARNING The City of Flint water system lost pressure and contamination may have occurred BOIL YOUR FILTERED WATER BEFORE USING Due to a drop in pressure in the City of Flint water...
JFK documentary with Flint/East Village Magazine connection airing on PBS June 2
By Jan Worth-Nelson A documentary about John F. Kennedy's last major speech, which spotlights, among others, a Flint man present at the speech and the effect it had on his life, will be aired on two local PBS stations at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, June 2. In the interest of...
Local Grocer part of network striving to end “food apartheid” and address lead toxicity
By Darlene C. Carey Erin Caudell, co-owner of The Local Grocer on Martin Luther King Boulevard and a longtime farmer and food activist, chafes when she hears the term “food desert” to describe Flint’s food availability challenges. “A desert is a diverse, thriving...
Flint residents getting first looks at $55.8 million proposed 2018-19 city budget
By Meghan Christian A proposed City of Flint 2018-2019 budget of $55.8 million, of which $23.2 milion, or roughly 59 percent, is earmarked for public safety, and a proposed 2019-2020 budget of $56.6 million, was presented by Chief Financial Officer Hughey Newsome for...
As Woodside takes on new life in its MCC era, neighbors praise, question and complain
By Jan Worth-Nelson A small patch of trees known for decades as the Woodside Woods has become a point of contention since Mott Community College bought the historic Woodside Church on the southeast side of the campus eight months ago, with neighbors in the College...
Flint Roller Derby team pairs competitive sport with high-energy fun
By Dylan Doherty and Meghan Christian Grace Seymore had been a roller derby skater for a year before her team dissolved as she was considering moving from Clarkston to Flint. Looking to join a team again, she dropped in on a practice session of the Flint Roller Derby...
The “universal good medicine” of Flint artist Pauly M. Everett
By Jeffery L Carey, Jr. In Flint artist Pauly Everett's work, a mixed media mash-up of pop culture icons and comic book details are delivered in exuberant primary colors and a hip-hop street art flavor. He calls his signature style "city psychedelic art," and from...
Resist “siren call of sameness,” attract internationals to help Flint thrive, experts say
By Jeffery L. Carey Jr. For Flint to thrive, the city needs to become a diverse international community, economic experts told a lively crowd of about 60 at The Ferris Wheel downtown May 7. In fact, one speaker asserted, creating an ethnically diverse team produces...
Review: Extraordinary NatGeo issue upends what we think we know about race
By Robert R. Thomas Marcia and Millie Biggs grace the cover of National Geographic’s April 2018 special issue titled “Black and White.” They are fraternal twin sisters, daughters of a bi-racial couple. As the subtitle indicates, “These twin sisters make us rethink...
Review: McCree Theater concludes trip down “Gospel Highway”
By Patsy Isenberg The McCree Theatre’s latest show, “Give Me That Old Time Religion,” is an original musical written by Executive Director Charles Winfrey. It’s the story of music that originated with African Americans through the ages. The cast consists of three...
East Village Magazine – May 2018
The latest issue of the East Village Magazine is available for download here:
UM-Flint Jazz Combo performance Saturday May 12 to raise funds for Puerto Rico trip
By Harold C. Ford "Uplifting Spirits," a benefit concert for Puerto Rico featuring the University of Michigan-Flint Jazz Combo will take place at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Flint on Saturday, May 12, 2018 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. The church is located at 2474...
Review: Jazz song stylist mellows crowd at Totem Books
By Patsy Isenberg Local singer Jymi Dill performed jazz and pop standards on a recent Saturday to an appreciative crowd of about 40 at Totem Books, 620 W. Court St. His refreshingly smooth and mellow voice and selection of "torch songs" and jazzy touches got some...
