Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 12,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 20 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

What brings Detroit Half Full out of hibernation?  Sweet potato waffles with bacon and salted caramel ice cream created by the Batata Shop.  What you say?!  Yes, and it was amazing.  Thank you to The Bottom Line Coffee House for not only being open on a Sunday, and late during the week, but for also providing amazing food on my working Sunday.

The Bottom Line Coffee House is a neighborhood coffeehouse featuring the best local bakery products and produce items.The best coffees from around the world, prepared with love and flair.

Mon – Thu:	8:00 am – 10:00 pm
Fri – Sat:	8:00 am – 1:00 am
Sun:	9:00 am – 7:00 pm

Make sure you stay in touch with both!

The Bottom Line Coffee House

Website

Facebook

The Batata Shop

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Thanks to Shaun Moore-Bey‘s newest album, which you all should own for $10, (only $10?!), here’s a list of local, Detroit, African American owned businesses that you should check out.  Please email me if I have any of the links wrong.  Support local businesses!

1)   1917 American Bistro (Detroit) – http://www.1917americanbistro.com/

2)   MBAD African Beat Museum (Detroit) – http://www.mbad.org/

3)   Metro Foodland (Detroit) – http://www.metrofoodland.com/

4)   Liberal Arts Gallery (Detroit) – http://www.liberalartsgallery.com/

5)   Rhyme N Reason Lounge (Detroit) – http://calendar.metrotimes.com/Venues/v9647/Rhyme_N_Reason_Lounge

6)   Conscious Corner Café Detroit (Detroit) – http://michigancitizen.com/conscious-corner-kercheval-and-mcclellan-p9893-1.htm

7)   Goodwell’s Natural Food Market (Detroit) – http://www.yelp.com/biz/goodwells-natural-foods-market-detroit

8)   Flo Boutique (Detroit) – http://www.flowingflava.com/

9)   Textures (Detroit) – http://www.texturesbynef.com/

10) Sweet Potato Sensations (Detroit) – http://www.sweetpotatosensations.com/sps.html

11) SanKofa House (Detroit) – http://sankofahouse.net/

12) The Water Station (Detroit) – http://thewaterstation.us/

13) Urban Network Cyber Café (Detroit) – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Urban-Network-Cyber-Cafe/246804272026561

14) Stef-N-Ty (Detroit) – http://www.facebook.com/stefnty

15)  Source Booksellers (Detroit) – http://www.sourcebooksdetroit.com/

16) Nandi’s Knowledge Café (Highland Park) – http://www.facebook.com/pages/NANDIS-KNOWLEDGE-CAFE/346045723389

17) Truth Bookstore (Southfield) – http://truthbookstore.com/

18) Grandfather’s Place (Detroit) – http://www.grandfathersplace.net/

19) Dell Pryor Gallery (Detroit) – http://www.dellpryorgalleries.com/

20) The Raw Café (Detroit) – http://therawcafe.com/

21)  Crown’s Royalties (Detroit) – http://www.facebook.com/crownsroyalties

22) Fancy Schmancy Cupcakes (Detroit) – http://michigancitizen.com/fancy-schmancy-says-let-them-eat-cupcakes-p9865-1.htm

23) Peace Project (Detroit) – http://www.peaceproject.us/

24) City Wings (Detroit) – http://citywingsinc.com/

25) It Takes a Village (Redford) – http://www.itavinc.org/

26) The Untitled Bottega (Detroit) – http://www.facebook.com/TheUntitledBottega

27) Urban Style Comics (Detroit) – http://www.urbanstylecomics.com/

28) Channel 33 (Detroit) – http://www.tv33whpr.com/

29) D-Town Farm (Detroit) – http://detroitblackfoodsecurity.org/

30) Detroit Impact (Detroit) – http://www.detroitimpactcenters.org/main.htm

31) Sheila Everett Institute (Detroit) – http://www.everettes.com/

32) Baker’s Keyboard Lounge (Detroit) – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bakers-Keyboard-Lounge/100894720015368

33) Black History 101 Mobile Museum (Detroit) – http://www.blackhistory101mobilemuseum.com/

34) MOOR Love Enterprise (Detroit) – http://www.facebook.com/pages/MOOR-Love-Enterprises/216305635054087

It’s that time again!  The Red Bull House of Art Opening is tonight, showcasing a new group of artists from 6-11pm.  If you went back in May, you already know what you’re in for and you’re stoked.  See you there Detroit!

Allison Vince / make-up
Bryan Baker / print making
Corey Birdwell / non-traditional photography with mix medium

James Collins / oil and acrylic on linen
DelVona Johnson / acrylic on wood
Kobie Solomon / mixed media
Michelle Tanguay / oil on canvas
Ray Domzalski / acrylic on wood panel

Multi-disciplinary and collaborative art project with the participation of undiscovered artists. Red Bull House of Art Detroit is an art incubation project providing up and coming artists with a creative environment to develop new works and innovative ideas.

Eight artists from the Metro Detroit area were chosen by our curator Matt Eaton.

Gallery Hours are every Saturday from 10am-3pm.

Address:

Eastern Market
1551 Winder St.
Detroit, MI 48207

Please contact houseofart@us.redbull.com or @redbullDET for any questions

*Parking is available in all of the Eastern Market Lots.

4th Annual Collin Hubbell Memorial Bike Ride

In 2008, the Detroit community lost a great advocate, Colin Hubbell, after a heroic battle with cancer. In an effort to remember Colin’s spirit and passion for Detroit, Colin’s friends and family established the Colin Hubbell Fund. The Fund continues the work Colin did every day to support and promote the renewal of Detroit.

On Saturday August 11, 2012 we will come together and celebrate a lover of all things Detroit. Come out and ride with us as the Hubbell Fund continues to seed growth and opportunity in Detroit.

Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.Ride begins at 9:30 a.m.

$25 per person
$20 per child (Age 12 and Under)

Tickets available at Eventbrite
http://colinhubbellride.eventbrite.com/

The ride begins and ends at the Traffic Jam & Snug Restaurant
511 Canfield Ave. (Corner of Second)

Registration includes lunch, music and a guided tour.

For more information go to…
http://midtowndetroitinc.org/mdi-programs-current-incentives/colin-hubbell-fund

Heidelberg Street is heating up this August, as the Young Adults of Heidelberg bring some of Detroit’s rising talents to the street!Local Musicians, Visual Artists, Culinary Artists, and Stage Performers will showcase their skills for the city to see! Did we mention Detroit Art-Industry greats will be on hand to provide feedback and insights? It’s all about connecting the Dots!

Live music, from rock to soul, will entertain family and friends, along side Visual Arts and live cooking expos. Detroit’s Got

Talent will also feature local, fine dining food trucks (think El Guapo, Treat Dreams, Frank’s Anatra, The Green Zebra and Ned’s Travel Burger!) serving it up curb-side all day long. The kids will love the Children’s Corner, open from noon – 5 pm! Story telling by Ivory Williams, arts and crafts activities with face painting, and exciting presentations by DAKA (Detroit Academy of Kinesthetic Arts) are sure to please!We hope you’ll join us in celebration of the talent that’s right here in our backyard! Food, Art, & Friends like you- is it August, yet?

The 2012 Ribs R&B Jazz Festival will welcome tens of thousands of enthusiastic festival goers to this years event. Its back and it’s BIGGER and BETTER than ever!

The Ribs R&B Jazz Festival, will bring three days of outstanding mouth watering barbecue, live entertainment and consumer exposition to the Philip A. Hart Plaza in Downtown Detroit.

This highly anticipated event has hosted more than 2.3 million attendees in its 16-year history and it continues to attract tens of thousands annually. Attendees eat, drink, shop and revel in a festive atmosphere while enjoying the sounds of musical greats.

A major highlight of the event is the Ribbers, creating the best barbecue ribs, chicken, and other delectable dishes to satisfy the appetites of attendees. The Ribbers will again compete in the “Rib Cookoff” competition to determine the Ribs ‘n’ Soul’s “Best Ribs and Best Sauce”. This year the Ribs R&B Jazz Festival supports the Matrix Human Services a 501c3 organization that is changing lives in this community.

Rep Your City

RepYourCity.com aims to be a hub for all community activity online and offline. We will utilize the free flow of the broad Internet and promote our technology as a tool to propagate offline community engagement through. Our overall goal is to redefine social networking and what it means to truely represent one’s city.

 

Positive Detroit

First Website That’s Sole Mission is to Highlight the Nice Things People Say About Detroit.

 

Model D Media

Model D is a web-based magazine creating new narratives for Detroit since 2005. We tell stories of development, re-development, creative people and businesses, vibrant neighborhoods and cool places to live, work and play.

 

UIX

The Urban Innovation Exchange is an initiative to showcase and advance Detroit’s growing social innovation movement. Led by Issue Media Group withData Driven Detroit, The Civic Commons and a coalition of media and community partners, UIX is made possible thanks to funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

 

I Am Young Detroit

Since 2009, I Am Young America, L3C has published I Am Young Detroit, an online publication and movement created to attract, retain, and empower young Doers in Detroit through relevant content, resources, engagement and funding opportunities. With IAYD 2.0 we’re also working to empower citizens everywhere to champion them by providing their own using our CitySpotters App at htttp://www.thecityspotters.com.

 

Detroit Je T’aime

An interactive documentary on Detroit’s DIY culture, featuring inspiring stories & cool tips for you to create your own projects.

The People of Detroit

The mission of TPOD is to use vivid portraiture accompanied by earnest, engaging essays to reform the popular notion of what it means to live in Detroit.

By doing so, TPOD exists to stimulate Detroit-directed investment, retain and attract residency, and serve as a counterbalance to national and global media coverage fixated on despair and disrepair in the storied city.

 

Awesome News Taskforce

A microgranting foundation promoting news and civic media in Detroit.

 

 

It’s always inspiring to hear about organizations who really have an interest in the youth of Detroit.  Horatio Williams Foundation is one of these organizations making a difference in the lives of Detroit kids.  From donating space to local schools in need, to participating in events such as Arise Detroit, Horatio Williams Foundation is one actively working to affect change.

Mission Statement: The Horatio Williams Foundation is dedicated to helping local youth realize personal success and achievement through a series of developmental leadership programs that will engage students in education, sports, and community service activities.

Pledge: We are dedicated to addressing and meeting the needs of under-served inner city youth by developing their leadership skills in the concentrated areas of sports, education, and community service. We promise to emphasize the importance of leadership through education and teamwork by providing programs that instill discipline, confidence, and high self-esteem.

Mission: To teach our children character-building life lessons and encourages them to take on leadership roles throughout their lives. HWF parallels the philosophy of our schools, which is that every child is important, every child is special and every child can learn. Once we recognize the similarities and differences between our goals and our children’s goals then we can find the common ground to reach one – teach one. We are committed to providing our youth with leadership, discipline, organizational, and the life skills required of them to become more effective life-long leaders. To that end, our focus is to provide a structured program that will help cultivate their leadership skills so that each year they accelerate their potential and build upon their skills from the previous year.

Who We Are: The Horatio Williams Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 2005 by passionate and great leader who always wanted to find a way to Give A “SECOND CHANCE”. Our goal is to be life long vehicles to helping children become leaders. Our teamwork approach requires every participant to develop trust, build integrity, and give as a servant to our community, while participating in our events and programs. Through this end we set goals that are attainable both individually and with teammates. It is clear to us at HWF that changing the lives of our children can change the world. Leadership development can build children of high character, who lead, preserve, overcome adversity and function as productive/effective members of our society. We are helping change the world; one child at a time and we accept the challenge.

Horatio Williams believes it is easy to reach kids – just show them some attention. That’s the idea behind his eponymous foundation, and he sees results every day.

“Kids don’t respect older people because they think they don’t care,” says the 42-year-old Grosse Pointe resident. “If we show them we do care, these kids will turn their way around and change the way they think.” Williams saw this firsthand when he was visiting a group of teens at a local gym. One he calls “the toughest one” was being disruptive and uncooperative, so Williams warned he’d have to kick him out. “I said, ‘I don’t want to because I love you,’ and the kid started crying. He said, ‘No one has ever said I love you to me before,’” Williams says.

That kind of response keeps Williams, a single father to an 11-year-old son, motivated to continue the success of the Horatio Williams Foundation. The Detroit-based organization is dedicated to helping innercity youth realize personal success and achievements, primarily through sports and education.

Williams never envisioned that philanthropy would become a large part of his life. As a freshman on a basketball scholarship at Tuskegee University, he fully expected to turn pro after graduation. That plan was shattered when he was hit by a drunken driver one night while biking home from practice. Williams broke numerous bones and spent two weeks in a coma. His playing days were over, and, 15 surgeries later, he says he’s still recovering.

“It was devastating when I woke up from the coma,” Williams recalls. “I asked God, why me? But I think He put me in a better position. You know the struggle of pro athletes – they come and go. But now I have a successful transportation company and foundation.” Williams founded that company, On Time Transportation, in 1992 after learning the business from his former employer. The non-emergency medical transportation firm employs 32 people and has serviced more than 3,000 clients.

While he was building the business, Williams liked to drop by the gym at his alma mater, Butzel Middle School in Detroit, where the basketball rims were broken, nets were missing and balls were scarce. He started buying equipment for the school, and after hitting up his friends for donations, they encouraged him to secure non-profit status. In 2005, the Horatio Williams Foundation was born as a 510(c)(3).

The organization gets disadvantaged kids involved in a number of ways, including basketball camps, field trips, SAT/ACT tutorials, turkey giveaways, and the annual Second Chance Basketball Game where high school seniors who did not receive college scholarships play in front of coaches and scouts from across the country. “We get 16 to 17 scholarships every year,” Williams says proudly.

The foundation also buys uniforms and sneakers for student athletes at cash-strapped schools. “The families can’t afford it, and I don’t want these kids to do anything wrong to get gym shoes,” Williams says. He admits to great irritation with the constant travails of Detroit Public Schools. “No one is stepping up to help these kids – they are all bickering about contracts,” he says. “I feel frustrated because I don’t feel the kids are first.”

Williams pledges to continue putting youth – who call him H or Mr. Williams – in the forefront. “Every kid on earth has some kind of talent,” he says. “If we can step up and give these kids opportunities, they will do better in school, and it will cut out the violence. We can start rebuilding communities.” – Joyce Wiswell

As always, make sure you show them some love on their Facebook page, follow them on Twitter and check out their website.

Only 4 days left to donate and help them reach their Kickstarter goal!

Since spring 2011, Nora Mandray and Hélène Bienvenu , two French filmmakers, have been working on “Detroit Je t’aime,” an interactive documentary about the city once known as “the Paris of the Midwest.” This is their story, as told by Mandray.

Bonjour, Detroit: Falling in love with a 300-year old city

I’m a French filmmaker and journalist. In 2009, I came to the U.S. on a Fulbright scholarship to do an MFA at UCLA film school, in Los Angeles. I discovered Detroit for the first time thanks to my boyfriend (and now fiancé), also a filmmaker, who’s originally from Okemos.

We came to spend New Year’s Eve in Detroit, to visit his best friend from college, who was then doing his Ph.D. at Wayne State. Little did I know that I’d become his neighbor in Woodbridge two years later.

What I saw during my short stay back then stuck with me. I swore I’d come back to make a film in the city.

I wasn’t aware of all the documentary hype that existed around Detroit at that time. Detroit is a very cinematic city, which explains why so many fiction and nonfiction films have been shot here, also driven by the film incentives that Michigan had been providing in recent years.

Detroit’s ruins are beautiful old buildings and the vacant lots each contain a story of their own. As cliché as it might sound, you just can’t help but reflect on the past when you pass by the Michigan Central Station.

Detroit’s ruins have also made me wonder what my role in the present can be.

Shortly after my first stay in Detroit, I started reading about the city’s history while I was enrolled in a documentary class at UCLA. The more I’d discovered, the more I got fascinated. When I found out that Detroit had been founded by a Frenchman, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, in 1701, that was it!

I was inspired to make “Detroit je t’aime” (“Detroit, I love you”), an interactive documentary about the city.

In spring 2011, right before graduating from UCLA, I was awarded a new media development grant from the French Film Institute. This allowed me to move to Detroit to do field research and write the film’s screenplay together with my co-producer Helene Bienvenu — also a French journalist.

Reimagining Detroit: Far from a blank canvas

Only weeks after I arrived, I was very lucky to meet with several Detroiters from all walks of life. I set all the books and articles I had read about the city aside. I focused on meeting people and actually “feeling” the city.

Detroiters took the time to explain their own views of the city to me. But first, my soon-to-be-buddies were always eager to find out themselves what in the world a Frenchwoman would come to Detroit for.

Soon enough, I was told personal stories, as Detroiters shared with me the challenges they faced and their hopes for the future. I’d just sit and listen for hours and hours.

Meeting with people such as the legendary Grace Lee Boggs (97-year-old activist and philosopher), Malik Yakini (from D-Town, the largest urban farm in Detroit) and Olayami Dabls (from MBAD’s African Bead Museum), among many others, was definitely life-changing. Thanks to this Detroit crash course, I quickly stopped calling Detroit a “blank canvas.”

I realized how instrumental the activist community was and I also learned about African-American history and culture, which I had never been exposed to before.

This grass-roots approach definitely transformed my work. I felt an urge to pay tribute to the amazing efforts of the Detroiters I met and was told about, those who had worked continuously through the roughest times to keep their community together through the simple power of “reimagination” — those whom I had never heard of in the articles and books I read prior to coming to Detroit. As I decided to stay on for a full year in order to work on my project, I became part of the Detroit community.

I spent the first two weeks of my stay in New Center. That neighborhood looks like most of Detroit: There are several abandoned houses, some streetlights are broken, and there is little access to fresh food. There’s also a very strong sense of community. It was very important for me to have that first exposure, because that made me aware of how different downtown, Midtown and Corktown are, in comparison. Racially, too.

There’s a clear line that’s drawn in the city. It’s rare to see different communities coming together in Detroit. That still surprises me to this very day. It feels like remnants of segregation. On the other hand, urban farms, such as Feedom Freedom, D-Town and Earthworks, as well as the Fender Bender bike shop or the Recycle Here recycling center, are counted among the rare places where I’ve actually seen people really come together. Through this do-it-yourself attitude, I think that Detroiters have found a unique way to build strong and sustainable communities.

This is truly what other cities can learn from Detroit.

‘Detroit je t’aime’: Talking to Detroiters, not at them

The wisdom Detroiters have shared with me has inspired me to develop my documentary as an “open-source” project. “Detroit je t’aime” is going to be an interactive documentary. This means that it will exist on the Internet, free for everybody to see, as long as you have a connection on a computer or a smartphone. While watching the story, you’ll be able to “dig in” to specific themes. I’ve imagined creating a “DIY toolbox” that will pop up during the film — it will include guidelines and tools for the audience to start DIY initiatives, similar to those that will be in the film itself.

This form of nonlinear storytelling is a new way to take advantage of the power of the Internet. The audience will be able to share quotes and DIY projects with their friends through social networks.

Ultimately, my wish is that “Detroit je t’aime” will bridge Detroit and Europe by calling for people from both sides to submit personal stories and share ideas.

About the filmmakers

Nora Mandray (director/producer) and Hélène Bienvenu (co-producer), collaborators on “Detroit je t’aime,” met while in school at the Institute of Political Science in Paris. Mandray is a Fulbright scholar and holds an MFA from UCLA film school. Thisyear, she was selected at the Berlin Film Festival as an “emerging talent.” Bienvenu is based in Hungaryand works as a foreign correspondent for the daily French newspaper La Croix. Together they’vebeen writing about Detroit for French magazines such as Glamour, Usbek & Ricaand Les Inrockuptibles.
They’re currently raising funds online to finish their film. Their campaign until this Monday, July 30th. You can see it at: http://tinyurl.com/detroitjetaime

Tickets can be purchased at www.downtownyouthboxing.org and at Supino Pizzeria

If you buy tickets online you ticket will be waiting for you at check-in the night of the event!!

Thank you Tunde Wey and Model D for this great article!! We appreciate the support!

In a sport as explicit and intense as boxing, there is little room for ambiguity. There is an understanding between two fighters, an agreement that the outcome of their square-off will result in a winner and a loser. When those two gloves touch in the middle of the ring, both know there is no gray area, no second place.

Neither diplomacy nor negotiation guarantee victory in the canvassed boxing ring, only an abiding resolve to destroy.

Carlo Sweeney’s plain-spokenness is the result of a stark youth and over three decades of boxing. Sweeney, 42, who goes by “Khali,” grew up on the city’s East Side. Hemmed by Poletown and Hamtramck, Sweeney says his neighborhood had no real name. It was an unpretentious place known by the confluence of two streets – “Harper and Van Dyke.”

Sweeney says growing up, there was little in the way of constructive recreation. At the few venues he and his friends would visit, the threat of unexpected and total violence loomed. Fights, gunshots and sometimes murder would interrupt an evening of skating at the local rink or a round of bowling.

In founding the Downtown Youth Boxing Gym in 2005, Sweeney wanted to offer an avenue for the city’s youth to be more meaningfully engaged. His goal, he says, was to “give kids something positive to do with their lives” — something he didn’t have himself growing up.

The Gym instructs kids in three areas; physical (boxing training), academic (tutoring and counseling) and community service (volunteering). With a current enrollment of 65 students (ages 8 to 18, all who attend at no cost), the program is determinedly maintained, with limited resources, by a small staff of two: Sweeney and Jessica Hauser.

Hauser, a former elementary school teacher is the Gym’s administrative director, managing its operational affairs. Hauser played an integral role in transitioning the organization to a registered nonprofit, formalizing its program offerings and slowly building its funding base. Hauser’s focus on running the Gym allows Sweeney to do what he does best: motivational speaking.

“The best way to dodge a right is to lean into it,” offers Sweeney in response to the apparent paradox of teaching boxing – a violent sport – to a young urban population overexposed to violence. Sweeney’s hope is that the kids he teaches choose the controlled violence of the boxing ring over the destructive and wanton violence of the streets.

Indeed, “leaning into a punch” — as a counterintuitive reaction to danger — is an apt metaphor for Sweeney’s approach to teaching, which has helped the Gym produce more champions than many better-equipped and staffed facilities.

While proud of their champions, the Gym does not require all students to box. They must participate in the training, as well as the academic programming and community service work. Boxing, Sweeney explains, is their entree into other learning.

Consequently, the kids enrolled in the Gym have seen a marked improvement in their grades and overall self-esteem. Sweeney believes a fundamental factor in this is trust. The kids know they can count on him being available, and this allows for an environment of learning that is comfortable and non-judgmental.

This trust is critical because the stakes are high. Sweeney knows there are dire consequences for kids who are not positively stimulated. “Every kid is at risk of going to jail,” he says, including the youth enrolled in his gym.

The antidote to this uncomfortable reality is what he refers to as “release points” — activity that harnesses their energies, frustrations and anger into productive outcomes. He speaks of boxing as a release point, no different from basketball or chess, where kids expend their fury responsibly.

Without these outlets, Sweeney warns of a grim future. “By the time they rebuild Detroit, we will be dead,” he says with a brutal frankness that is hard to ignore. For him, the real fight is showing others another way.

Originally published for the Urban Innovation Exchange (@UIXDetroit). Profile and photo by Tunde Wey. Video by Stephen McGee Films.

To support the Downtown Youth Boxing Gym, visit Detroit Big F Deal to donate to their training and tutoring programs and buy tickets for their charity boxing event “Rumble on the River” this Friday, July 20, at 6:30 p.m. at the Detroit Yacht Club. 

Portrait of Carlo Sweeney by Marvin Shaouni