KWA chief: water decisions mired in parochialism and politics
By Jan Worth-Nelson Attempting to explain the the City of Flint's probable move to stay on "Detroit water" for the next 30 years, Genesee County Drain Commissioner Jeff Wright, who also is chief executive officer of the Karegnondi Pipeline Authority (KWA), said what...
Andrew Custer awarded a Fulbright for work in Colombia
By Jan Worth-Nelson Andrew Custer, 27, a Michigan State University graduate from Flint, has received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award to Colombia from the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Custer, an alumnus of The...
Review: “The Kremlin Playbook” depicts eroding democracies, prompting heebie-jeebies
By Robert R. Thomas While looking for a Canadian hockey channel between the interminable rash of mind-numbing commercials during the final two minutes of a basketball game, I stumbled upon the conclusion to a C-SPAN telecast of a federal intelligence hearing. I never...
Former Mayor Walling responds to NOVA film: “It was hard to watch”
By Jan Worth-Nelson Former Flint Mayor Dayne Walling, an omnipresent and embattled figure in the Flint water crisis until his defeat for re-election in November, 2015, sat quietly with his wife near the back of the auditorium last week as producers from the PBS...
Free chamber music series kicks off June 9 at the FIM
By Jan Worth-Nelson The annual June chamber music series of the Flint School of Performing Arts and Flint Symphony Orchestra kicks off at 7 p.m. June 9 in MacArthur Hall at the Flint Institute of Music, 1120 E. Kearsley St. The free concerts will continue every Friday...
“America owes Flint a huge debt of gratitude,” Edwards tells NOVA premiere audience
By Jan Worth-Nelson In Flint for the premiere of the upcoming NOVA production, "Poisoned Water," towering and sometimes controversial water crisis figure Marc Edwards of Virginia Tech leaned into the near-capacity crowd at the Flint Institute of Arts theater and...
First-ever Flint Literary Festival to take flight this summer
The inaugural Flint Literary Festival will be July 21-22 and feature several noted authors with Flint roots who have achieved critical and commercial success with their writing. Hosted at the Flint Public Library, the literary festival will also include panel...
City expands water bill assistance up to $350 for one-time match
By Meghan Christian A program to provide one-time "match payments" of up to $350 for water bills has been approved by Flint city officials. Along with some community partners and a donation from the United Way of Genesee County, officials have expanded the Water Bill...
EVM welcomes new managing editor, Meghan Christian
Meghan Christian has joined East Village Magazine as managing editor. Her responsibilities will include developing story ideas, coordinating assignments, working one-to-one with reporters, and managing the magazine's social media interfaces. Christian, 23, who...
Review: From “Flint coney” to “Chevy in the Hole,” Flintstones, Michiganders have unique lingo
By Jan Worth-Nelson Ted McClellan, author of the regionally hot-selling How to Speak Midwestern from Belt Publishing can utter accents from Buffalo to Minneapolis and dissect how those accents came to be. He can also spell out origins of dozens of beloved and often...
Immigration officer describes ICE processes, but offers few local details
By Jan Worth-Nelson Editors' Note: This story has been modified to include information offered by Valentina Seeley about ICE enforcement actions at "sensitive locations." If an undocumented person is accused of a crime in Flint or elsewhere, he or she likely would...
East Village Magazine – May 2017
The latest issue of the East Village Magazine is available for download here:
This Month in the Village: May events
By Meghan Christian Thursday, May 11 Needle in a Haystack: the Story of the Velvelettes 7 p.m. The New McCree Theatre, 2040 W. Carpenter Rd. Admission: $7 – $50 The world premiere event of the original musical telling the story of the Velvelettes. The Velvelettes...
Rodin exhibit offers earthy look at the human condition, with a whiff of controversy
By Jan Worth-Nelson A roomful of bronze sculptures by the famed artist Auguste Rodin might suggest to viewers that the human condition is full of muscular beauty and also struggle. In a city where toxic water has taken politics right into our bodies, it seems timely...
Windy work day yields hopeful results at Pierce Creative Arts Elementary
By Jan Worth-Nelson The Pierce hoop house is back. First a sign of hope, then a source of despair after vandalism, the structure was rescued back to its hopeful role at Pierce Creative Arts Elementary School Saturday. A work day drew neighbors, community volunteers...
Central Park Neighborhood residents still waiting to meet with Flint schools chief
by Harold C. Ford Residents of Flint’s Central Park Neighborhood Association (CPNA) are seeking to meet with Flint Schools Superintendent Bilal Tawwab about the district’s plan to open a new Flint high school at the location of the now-abandoned Flint Central High...
Uptown plans $17 million residential-business complex, “The Marketplace,” at site of old YWCA
by Harold C. Ford A new, $17 million, residential-commercial project is being planned at the site of the old YWCA in downtown Flint according to Kyle McCree, director of Core Initiatives for the Flint and Genesee County Chamber of Commerce. The project is spearheaded...
Village Life: If it’s Tuesday, that means jazz at Soggy Bottom Bar
By Teddy Robertson Tuesday night in downtown Flint and that means jazz at Soggy Bottom. On this cool April evening a gust of wind propels people through the front door just as the smiling drummer John Hill grabs the mic and announces, “We’re going to do some spring...
Commentary on Flint’s water: Is the glass half full or half empty?
Oh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son? Oh, what’ll you do now, my darling young one? ... I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest… Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters… And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard It’s a hard...
Three poems
Editor's note: Here is something a bit different from EVM -- a sampling of thoughtful poems from one of our young neighbors. By Ruby Spademan Pretty Girls Eat Flowers She's standing behind me. My neck in her hands and her mouth to my ear she whispers to me. She says...
Trees are good, everybody agrees, but money is scarce
By Jan Worth-Nelson One thing everybody agreed on last night at the Flint Area Public Affairs Forum at the Flint Public Library: trees are good. That was easy. But in matters of how to maintain them, how to assess them when they're in aging decline, how to...
Michigan Radio comes to Flint: good, bad, hopeful and angry narratives emerge
By Jan Worth-Nelson Is Flint a city rich with art, a beautiful recuperating river and a school district offering first-rate primary school education, or is it a traumatized community rife with fear, anger and damage, where nobody drinks the water? It turns out it's...
Calling town hall arrests “unfortunate,” Mayor disputes “separation of church and state” criticism
By Jan Worth-Nelson Responding to the discord and six arrests at a town hall last night at the House of Prayer Missionary Baptist Church, Mayor Karen Weaver said she found the events of the evening "unfortunate" but that assuring orderly process was necessary....
Commentary: Woodside pastor weighs in on town hall, separation of church and state
By Jan Worth-Nelson Following last night's town hall in a North End sanctuary, one who responded was Deb Conrad, pastor of Woodside Church. In a personal blog post shared with East Village Magazine today, Conrad said, "the building isn't the problem -- city...
Volatile town hall erupts with old wounds as officials try to explain water source decision
By Jan Worth-Nelson Near the end of the two-hour-long town hall Thursday night at the House of Prayer Missionary Baptist Church, a teenage girl, Tiara Lee Darisaw, stepped up to the mic. "I realized that the more and more we speak about Flint, the less and less you...
