Published: 10/6/2010
Types: Culture, Health & science
Just because the Detroit Election Commission chose not to put the question of legalizing marijuana on the Nov. 2 ballot doesn't mean there's no cannabis drama in this election. At least for Michigan medical marijuana activists, the contest for attorney general is crucial. "We're concerned abou...[MORE]
Published: 9/29/2010
The first phase of Mayor Dave Bing's planning process for reinventing Detroit is done. The five forums for citizens to voice concerns, issues, gripes and goals were attended by some 4,000 people — more than the city initially anticipated. That was a great show of civic involvement by Detroit...[MORE]
Published: 9/15/2010
As I was watching TV the other night, my dog started growling and pacing around the room. I know from experience that means someone's approaching the house. I looked out the front window but didn't see anyone. Then I heard a tapping sound at the back door. I went into the kitchen and peeped out. The...[MORE]
Published: 9/15/2010
Types: Arts, Performing arts, Dance
The dream of becoming a dancer led Aku Kadogo away from Detroit a year after graduating from Cass Tech High School. After more than three decades of achieving that dream and numerous others — more than most would dare to dream — she returned home to teach another generation what she had ...[MORE]
Published: 9/1/2010
Last Saturday, there were three big political rallies related to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Aug. 28, 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered the famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial. Most of the media attention went to the "Restoring Honor" right...[MORE]
Published: 8/18/2010
Types: News, Government
This stuff is stranger than fiction. Detroit's newest text-message scandal, involving interim Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee, takes things even further off the charts for Detroit's beleaguered police force. I say beleaguered not because I have any particular sympathy for a department whose leade...[MORE]
Published: 8/4/2010
I was eying the goods at a local mall recently when I glanced in the window of a high-end men's clothing store. To my surprise there stood Mulenga Harangua, my conspiracy theory-believing, gossip-mongering pal, dressed in a suit while perusing the jewelry case. I was shocked. Mulenga favors giant, b...[MORE]
Published: 7/21/2010
In the spring of 1985, I had just returned to Detroit after a couple of months traveling in Mexico and Guatemala — with current Metro Times editor W. Kim Heron. I needed a job and checked out the want ads in Metro Times. The paper had been around a few years and some of my friends had been wri...[MORE]
Published: 7/7/2010
Types: News, Government
Last week I rode my bicycle over to Palmer Park to check out a demonstration against Mayor Bing's announced closing of 77 Detroit parks to help bridge a city budget gap. As I pedaled along, I wondered how many people it would take to adopt the park and keep it neat, clean and usable. When I got ther...[MORE]
Published: 6/23/2010
Types: News, Environmental
Right smack dab in the middle of town I've found a paradise that's trouble proof —"Up on the Roof" by Gerry Goffin and Carole King Standing on the roof at 71 Garfield St. on a recent late afternoon, the sun beat down mercilessly on our small group and reflected off the white rub...[MORE]
Published: 6/9/2010
Types: News, Transportation
After a rather depressing month of hearing about killings, assaults, Detroit Public Schools wars and general economic mayhem (let alone the oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico), I decided it was time to focus on some of the good things going on in Detroit. It wasn't that hard. As I once lived sout...[MORE]
Published: 5/26/2010
Types: News, Government
Last October, I participated on my neighborhood radio patrol's special Angel's Night crew. A Channel 7 news team rode with neighborhood activist Sheila Ward and me as we drove slowly through Detroit's Green Acres area. The reporter asked me about the importance of patrolling that particular night. I...[MORE]
Published: 5/12/2010
Ron Scott said the wrong thing last week and took a shellacking for it. It started after Detroit Police Officer Brian Huff was fatally shot when responding to a report of gunshots inside one of the city's numerous vacant houses in the early hours of Monday, May 3. Four other officers were also sho...[MORE]
Published: 4/28/2010
Hey, Detroit, help's on the way. On April 4, a group of progressive activists started out from Mississippi's Gulf Coast, headed for the Motor City — on foot. They expect to arrive here in time for the June 22-26 United States Social Forum 2010. There's a group pedaling here from Washington st...[MORE]
Published: 4/7/2010
Types: News, Science & technology
Last week's sunshine and warmth had me out raking and picking up the yard in anticipation of getting my garden growing. I even started some seeds germinating indoors and wondered if it was too early to put lettuce seeds in the ground. Lettuce does well in cooler weather and is one of the first thing...[MORE]
Published: 3/24/2010
Things have been pretty testy around Detroit the past couple of years with the political fallout from the Kilpatrick text-messaging scandal, federal investigations into bribery, Detroit Public Schools upheaval, economic recession and all. If it's up to the folks at Community Development Advocates of...[MORE]
Published: 3/10/2010
Types: News, Environmental
When I was a kid, my mother used to make a big jar of honey and fresh-squeezed lemon juice every winter. The thick, bittersweet concoction was our cough medicine, and we would gladly line up for a spoon of that rather than cod liver oil or castor oil — both of which were also freely passed out...[MORE]
Published: 2/24/2010
Well, it looks like we still have Sam Riddle to kick around. Somehow, the government case against the political operative (should that be former?) didn't impress one Angela Woods, the lone black juror hearing the Riddle trial. Since then, Riddle has sneaked off to Birmingham to meet girlfriend, form...[MORE]
Published: 2/10/2010
Times were so giddy in the winter of 2009. Barack Obama, the first black president, a liberal Democrat, had taken office after a campaign about change. Along with his Democratic majority in Congress, he seemed poised to sweep away the very odor of right-wing malfeasance left behind by the Bush admin...[MORE]
Published: 1/27/2010
I stopped in at the office of Project BAIT the other day. No, I wasn't looking for worms or minnows. BAIT stands for Black Awareness in Technology. At least that's what it stands for today. In 1970, when BAIT's For My People black public affairs television show first aired on Channel 50, it stood fo...[MORE]
Published: 1/13/2010
I fall solidly on the "L" side of the political spectrum. You can translate that to liberal or leftist, however you please. Let's just say that I'm not ashamed to come from that side. Never was, even when folks tried to hide behind the "P" (populist or progressive) monikers back ...[MORE]
Published: 1/6/2010
The last two decades have been economically characterized by bubbles. The 1990s brought us the tech bubble. You remember that don't you? That's when all your computer-savvy friends were walking around with smug grins making all sorts of pronouncements about the dawn of a new era and claiming to be m...[MORE]
Published: 12/30/2009
Types: News
I haven't heard any crazy conspiracy theories lately, so I thought I'd drop in to see my pal Mulenga Harangua and catch up on the latest paranoid rumors. I figured there is plenty of fodder out there with the recent arrest of Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab for allegedly attempting to blow up Nor...[MORE]
Published: 12/16/2009
Types: News, Government
The devil came to my hometown Made everything fall down If you ain't seen chaos and destruction Just take a look around The frigid weather that swept in this past week has folks zipping up their overcoats, slipping on gloves and pulling their hats down tight. Which in Detroit begs the question: ...[MORE]
Published: 12/2/2009
Everybody has some sort of screen for calculating just how bad things have gotten around here. When I started hearing about people breaking into houses and stealing food, I knew the desperation level had ramped up. I got more peeks at the carnage the past couple of weeks. First, I heard about a grou...[MORE]
Published: 11/18/2009
Boom, boom, boom, boom, gonna shoot you right down. —John Lee Hooker I was taking a brisk health walk on Belle Isle, avoiding the goose dung that seems to be everywhere, when a van with tinted windows pulled up next to me. The window rolled down and my pal Mulenga Harangua waved from behind...[MORE]
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