“Hate is heard when love is silent,” interfaith audience affirms at vigil for New Zealand victims
By Teddy Robertson Flint-area residents filled the Al-Rayyan Banquet Hall at Flint Islamic Center (FIC) Tuesday evening, March 18, to remember the victims of the mass shooting at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15. Dr. Luay Alkotob of the FIC community presided at the service of reflection and prayer. The welcoming message by Dr. Aisha Aslam of FIC stressed personal remembrance as she read the names of 26 of the 50...
Paddlers Landing crowd-funding campaign succeeds, exceeds state match for thriving Mott Park Recreation Area
By Jan Worth-Nelson Flint River buffs are celebrating today as a partnership of the Flint River Watershed Coalition (FRWC) the Mott Park Neighborhood Association, the City of Flint and 600 other donors topped a $50,000 goal to match an equivalent contribution from the State of Michigan for construction of a paddlers’ landing at the Mott Park Recreation Area. FRWC staff and representatives from the many partners and...
Understanding white privilege “like trying to explain water to a fish” at first 2019 Tendaji Talk
By Jan Worth-Nelson Trying to understand white privilege and power is “kind of like trying to explain water to a fish,” one panelist, a white woman, admitted to a circle of 25 Flint neighbors grappling with the kickoff topic of the 2019 Tendaji Talks Tuesday evening at the Flint Public Library. If you grow up like she did, in a white suburb of Detroit, Judy Alexander said, “You don’t see it because everybody...
Young playwrights festival keeps youth in The Rep with four statewide winners
By Patsy Isenberg Four young playwrights, either getting to see their very first play read by actors or just getting started in their playwriting careers, were featured in the inaugural Young Playwrights Festival at the Flint Repertory Theatre (The Rep) over St. Patrick’s Day weekend. The statewide contest invited submissions from any Michigan student 22 and younger in three categories, 10-minute plays, one-act plays, and...
Artwork, fundraising begin to add women “Heroines and Humanitarians” to Flint’s sculpture pantheon
By Paul Rozycki A heroine of the Flint water crisis, a matriarch of civil rights, an Olympic gold medal boxer, an ardent advocate for the poor, a benefactor of a major library, and a tireless champion in the NAACP: all these Flint women are deserving of sculptures in their honor, a Flint Institute of Arts sculptor and a Mott Community College trustee contend. Jane Trotter, Flint Institute of Arts sculpture instructor, her students,...