Two-to-one “yes” votes usher in new charter; City Council incumbents face challengers
By Jan Worth-Nelson The Flint Charter revision, developed after two years' work by a nine-member elected commission and a multitude of community hearings and forums, passed with a whopping 64% of the vote in the Tuesday election. The new charter, set to take effect...
Review: Love’im or hate’im, Michael Moore remembers Flint in rambunctious Broadway debut
By Donald Harbin Michael Moore is either loved or hated by people familiar with him. As a filmmaker (12 films) and author (8 books), television producer (3 shows) and outspoken political activist, he has produced enough material to offend many people, endear him to...
18 Flint people on the water crisis: A Village Life gathering at Woodside Church
By Jan Worth-Nelson A visit to Flint by a Boston film crew in July led to a gathering of 18 Flint residents invited by East Village Magazine to talk about their lives in the city and their reflections on the water crisis and its effects. Their comments that night, all...
Commentary: Vote “yes” on the new city charter
As Flint residents get ready to vote on a new city charter, prepared after two years' work by an elected nine-member charter review commission, EVM received two last perspectives, the one below advocating a "yes" vote, the other a "no" vote--that view, by Sally...
Commentary: Vote “no” on the new city charter
As Flint residents prepare to vote on a new city charter, prepared after two years' work by an elected nine-member charter review commission, EVM received two last perspectives, the one below advocating a "no" vote, the other a "yes" vote by Richard and Betty Ramsdell...
Planetarium manager: Why Christians should believe in science
By Jan Worth-Nelson Longway Planetarium manager Buddy Stark is a scientist with a degree in science education who routinely describes to students how evidence from dendritic tree rings to stalactites suggest the world is millions of years old. He also is a Nazarene...
Solar eclipse big day is coming: Here’s how to see it in Flint
By Jan Worth-Nelson The sun’s greatest show on earth in years will be Monday, Aug. 21, and Flint’s Longway Planetarium, the largest planetarium in Michigan, is ready. Even though the first total solar eclipse in 40 years will reach only 82 percent totality in Flint,...
Village Life: Only slightly in mourning, my husband becomes a full-time Flintoid
By Jan Worth-Nelson If you see my husband Ted around town anytime soon, be especially kind. He is going through a trauma. He’s moving on, after four decades as a Californian, to become a fulltime Flintoid. He’s giving up his cherished “AWRDMKR” California license...
Commentary: Murder a harsh dose of reality in East Village
By Paul Rozycki Some years ago, one of our favorite programs was “Murder, She Wrote,” where mystery writer Jessica Fletcher solved the latest murder in the small New England fishing village of Cabot Cove. At the time, my reaction was that for all of Flint’s crime...
Pipe replacement crews dig in: “This is personal”
by Harold C. Ford Almost any day recently on a beat-up block of Copeman Boulevard in northwest Flint, beyond the cacophony of politics, lawsuits, economics, and science that is the Flint Water Crisis, you’ll find a gritty band of workers laboring to resolve a tragedy....
Flint “booming in the literary world” as writers convene, commiserate, celebrate
By Megan Ockert “There is such a literary presence in Flint,” Carmen-Ainsworth high school teacher and writer Jes Mathews told her audience at the Flint Literary Festival during its inaugural run July 21-22. “People don’t realize that Flint is booming in the literary...
As five water PODs close, officials declare city water “improving” despite trust deficits
By Jan Worth-Nelson Flanked by a handful of state officials, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver announced this week that five of the city's water distribution sites, called "PODS," will be closed by the end of the summer -- two Aug. 11 and three more Sept. 5. The closures...
Commentary: Why to vote “Yes” on the Charter: Placing the collective interests of residents first
Placing the collective interests of residents first: an interloper’s support for proposed Charter By Ashley Nickels, Ph.D. On Tuesday, Aug. 8, Flint residents will vote on whether or not to adopt revisions to their city charter for the first time since 1974. As an...
Commentary: Why to vote “No” on the Flint Charter revision: existing one already is “masterful”
Flint voters will be asked to vote Aug. 8 on whether to approve a new charter for the city. As Paul Rozycki explained in his July column in EVM, the current city's charter was last revised in 1974, when Flint's population was nearly 200,000 and there were still...
Creative neighbors implement plan to water parkway trees
By Jan Worth-Nelson Mike Keeler and Andy Everman are two of the city trees' best friends. Keeler, president of the College Cultural Neighborhood Association, and Everman, a board member of the Genesee Conservation District and ardent advocate for city trees, are...
East Village Magazine – July 2017
The latest issue of the East Village Magazine is available for download here:
This month in The Village: July features storytelling, folk music, Lit Fest, Rumplestiltskin
Compiled by Meghan Christian "This Month" highlights a selection of interesting events available to our readers -- beginning after our hard copy publication date of July 6. It is not an exhaustive list, rather a sampling of opportunities in the city. Minecraft July...
Village Life: Flint Pride community says, “You are safe here,” offers welcome and celebration
By Meghan Christian I have always considered myself to be an ordinary person. I did well in school, but wasn’t the smartest kid. I was in theatre and choir, but never got the lead or a solo. I have always had great friends, but I wasn’t one of the popular kids. I...
Commentary: In Gov. Snyder’s RTAB decision on a tax lien moratorium, more than just finances are at stake
The following essay was written by Dr. Ben Pauli, Ph.D., an assistant professor of social science in the Department of Liberal Studies at Kettering University in Flint. Thanks to Chris Savage at Electablog, where this essay first appeared, for allowing us to reprint...
Book Review: Sing for Your Life, a Story of Race, Music, and Family
by Harold C. Ford In 1994 at the age of 12, Ryan Speedo Green was taken forcibly to Virginia’s infamous DeJarnette Center after he threatened to kill his mother and his brother. The lowest point for Green at DeJarnette may have been when his downward spiraling...
Literary Festival to feature acclaimed writers, workshop, book fair and more
By Megan Ockert The first ever Flint Literary Festival takes flight July 21-22 with a lineup of four acclaimed writers with Flint roots, along with panel discussions, book-signing receptions and a fiction writing workshop. The festival’s featured authors, all...
Flint residents face water uncertainty amid council chaos, state lawsuits, indictments
By Jan Worth-Nelson The month of June delivered a series of blows to progress toward clean drinking water and restoring trust for the city’s weary residents. At a June 26 meeting, after four hours of raucous infighting, the City Council declined to sign on to Mayor...
Commentary: Flint’s Aug. 8 primary affects the city and your life
By Paul Rozycki In light of recent terrorist threats at Bishop Airport, criminal indictments of state water officials, continuing squabbles between the Flint City Council and the mayor over the source of Flint’s water, the hype over a $50 million election in Georgia,...
Flint native, photographer Dan White, comes home to capture larger-than-life “Flint Folks”
By Jan Worth-Nelson Pulitzer Prize winner Dan White, 60, has spent decades photographing Kansas City jazz musicians, cowboys, the Lost Boys of Sudan, Zapotec women of Oaxaca, and aboriginal peoples of Australia. And now he's come back to Flint, where he grew up in a...
The Whiting’s new season opens curtains to live performance, community support
By Megan Ockert The Whiting, Flint’s Cultural Center performing arts venue, has announced its 2017/2018 schedule. It features shows such as Kinky Boots, Rain: a Tribute To The Beatles, Peter Pan, and Black Violin. According to Whiting Executive Director Jarret Haynes,...
