Review: Connor Coyne’s serial Flint allegory “Urbantasm” continues with”ambitious, authentic” Book Two
By Robert R. Thomas Flint author Connor Coyne’s Urbantasm is a serial novel composed of four books. Last year I read and reviewed Book One: The Dying City (EVM July 2, 2018). So surprised had I been by Coyne’s ambitious allegorical teen noir serial novel that I approached Book Two: The Empty Room with something akin to an elderly version of the unabashed exciting curiosity the Saturday matinee movie serials at the Roxy Theater brought...
Commentary: Are Flint foundations replacing city government? Does it matter?
By Paul Rozycki Editor’s Note: This story was updated Sept. 3 to clarify that the C.S. Mott Foundation, in the fourth year of its five-year $100 million water crisis commitment, has awarded $93.5 million. East Village Magazine’s Mott Foundation grant is separate from that commitment. Also, we have clarified that over the last decades the Ruth Mott Foundation has paid out between $4 million and $7 million annually in...
Commentary: Flint City Council meetings a long day’s journey into night
By Paul Rozycki On a recent Monday evening, of the approximately 96,448 residents in the city of Flint, 96,423 were most likely spending their time doing worthwhile, rewarding, or satisfying activities. The other 25 were at the Flint City Council meeting. To be sure, some of them had to be there. Nine were elected from their wards as members of the council. Perhaps another half dozen were city employees who were expected to be...
Book Review: “American Dialogue” offers indispensable conversation between “then” and “now”
By Robert R. Thomas In assessing the here and now, history offers an indispensable perspective. American Dialogue is an enlightening example. As author and historian Joseph Ellis puts it, “The study of history is an ongoing conversation between past and present from which we all have much to learn.” Subtitled The Founders and Us, his book’s focus is a dialogue between America’s founding fathers and our current historical state. “We...
Village Life: A raptor crash heralded my life with birds
By Teddy Robertson Smack! The front legs of my chair leave the floor, my hands pop off the laptop keyboard; I jerk backward. A split second, then a tinkling sound ripples over my left shoulder. I turn and look: in the storm window beside me fissures radiate outward as if pushed by an invisible hand. Something’s struck the plate glass almost dead center. I’m out the door — scanning the front porch for a clue — but the missile...
Commentary: A funny thing happened on the way to the election
By Paul Rozycki Note: This column has been updated for a correction via City Clerk Inez Brown: it was the city’s Finance Department that initially omitted the $320,000 in the budget for this year’s election, not the City Council–Ed. For most cities, villages, and townships, an election is a pretty routine thing. Candidates file, their names go on the ballot, they campaign, voters go to the polls, and the next set...
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