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Distribution StaffDirector: Edwin D. Custer. Staff: Kim Bargy, JaneBingham, Casey & Nic Custer, Emma Davis,Marabeth Foreman, Andrea Garrett, Charlie &Linda & Patrick & Terrance & Christan & JillianneGoldsberry, Ingrid Halling & Bob Thomas, RobertJewell, Andrew Keast, Carol LarzelereKellermann, Jo Larzelere, Mary LeRoy, Bill &Carol Leix, James & Lillian & Livia Londrigan,Alan & Julie Lynch, Ron & Mary Meeker, Robert& Nancy Meszko, John Moliassa, Keith Mullaly,Mike Neithercut, Ted Nelson, Edith & JohnPendell, Dave & Becky Pettengill, Lori NelsonSavage & Pat Savage, Barbara & RichardSchneider, Mike Spleet, and Gina Stoldt.

Board of Trustees• Jane M. Bingham • Edwin D. Custer

• Bella Kritz • Jack D. Minore• Robert R. Thomas

• Jan Worth-Nelson, ex officio720 E. Second St.Flint, Mich. 48503(810) 233-7459

Web Site: eastvillagemagazine.orgE-mail: eastvillage@sbcglobal.net

Layout by Ted Nelson. Printing by Riegle PressInc., 1282 N. Gale Rd., Davison, Mich. 48423.The East Village Magazine is a program of the

Village Information Center Inc., a nonprofit corpo-ration. We welcome material from readers, but allsubmissions become the property of the publicationand if published will be edited to conform to the edi-torial style and policies of the publication. Allinquiries about the publication should be mailed toEast Village Magazine, Village Information Center,720 E. Second St., Flint, Mich. 48503. Distributionis the second Saturday of each month. Displayadvertising rates are $34.00 a column-inch plus anyother costs. Unclassified ads are $2.50 a printed lineor part of a printed line. Rates subject to changewithout notice. The deadline for advertising is 10days before each publication date.

(Continued on Page 7.)

East VillageMagazine

Cover: Not spring yet

Before last November’s election therewere many who wondered if Dr. KarenWeaver, running for her first elective office,was ready for prime time. It seems that wehave our answer. In just a little over threemonths, has anymayor of a similar sized cityhad as much national, state and local air-time? Indeed, has any Flint mayor ever got-ten so much media coverage? But, after allthe interviews, RachelMaddow appearances,CNNnews interviews, newspaper quotes andcelebrity photo ops, has it served herwell andhas it served the city of Flint well?

Certainly, the city has benefited (at leastin the short run) and has garnered muchnational sympathy and support (both finan-cial and otherwise) from around the nation.For better or worse, we are the poster childof the urban water crisis and the nation ispaying attention to Flint’s problems. Andthe response has been generous.

But has the mayor’s celebrity statustaken her away from the more mundaneaspects of city hall?

Conflict with the CouncilIt was about time for the powers of the

mayor to be restored, and the state finallydid, giving her the power to hire and fire herown team. Yet, the firing of Police ChiefJames Tolbert, Fire Chief David Cox andCity Administrator Natasha Hendersonraised more than a few eyebrows. There isno doubt that Mayor Weaver has the powerto pick her own team, as all mayors do, butmany wondered about the wisdom of sucha dramatic upheaval just as we are startingto get a grip on the water crisis. Police ChiefTolbert, seemed especially well regarded inthe community. Though the council didapprove former police officer Tim Johnsonas replacement for Tolbert and RaymondBarton as the new fire chief, Weaver’s dis-missal of Henderson was voted down bythe city council. Several on the city councilfelt they were left out of the loop and notinformed of the mayor’s plans.

All of the new appointments still needto be approved by the Flint ReceivershipTransition Advisory Board (RTAB). Oncethe TV cameras are gone the mayor willneed to establish a working relationshipwith the council (and the RTAB).

When to Replace the Pipes?However the frictionwith the councilworks

out, there is one conflict that might be easilyresolved. Recently the mayor and GovernorSnyder seemed at odds over the timetable forremoving and replacing the lead pipes in Flint.The mayor wants them fixed NOW, while thegovernor wants to wait for a full scientific sur-vey of the city to locate the lead pipes.

There is perhaps no better time to applyYogi Berra’s maxim “When you see a fork

in the road, take it.”On one hand there is no reason why the

mayor can’t show immediate results. Wealready know of some houses that havelead pipes that need replacing. Why nottake care of a few of those houses ASAP?Have a photo op with the mayor, local res-idents and water activists surrounding theearthmoving equipment breaking groundfor the first replacement pipes. Over thelast six months or so there has been a lotof talk, many studies, panels and presen-tations on the water issue. That’s all good,but now people are looking for action.The anger and frustration over the Flintsituation was apparent in a recent forumwith presidential candidate BernieSanders at Woodside Church. Immediateaction could be an initial response to thatanger and it might be a first step in restor-ing trust.

On the other hand, there is still a lot wedon’t know about who has lead pipes andwho doesn’t (though the UM-Flint andRowe Professional Services seem to bemaking real progress with the issue).Let’s do this right and use solid science todecide where we need to dig. It may takea little more time, but the last thing weneed to do is run around digging up thecity like a demented squirrel on speedlooking for lead pipes willy-nilly. Theodds are that by the time we’ve finishedwith the lead pipes we know about, we’llknow about the rest. (One suggestion toemerge from the Woodside Church forumwas that some of the funds coming toFlint for the water problem should be setaside for computer software to trackfuture problems with lead service lines.)

Beyond the CrisisIn the end, we will solve the water

issue. However, there are both challengesand opportunities beyond the current cri-sis.

One long-term worry is the decline inproperty values caused by the water issue.One recent projection suggested a declineof as much as 25 percent in Flint. Thosedeclining property values not only hurtindividuals and businesses, they reducerevenue to a city that is starving for fundsand has already lost huge amounts of itstax base. Even if future property valuesbounce back up, state law limits a compa-rable rise in tax revenue.

A similar concern is that the symbol ofFlint as “the city that poisons its kids” may

CommentaryBeyond the water crisis

By Paul Rozycki

Vol. LIV No. 3Founder

EditorManaging Editor

Copy EditorReporters

Columnists

Business ManagerÉminence GrisePhotographer

Poets

March 2016Gary P. Custer

Jan Worth-NelsonNic CusterDanielle WardNic CusterAndrew KeastLori Nelson SavageStacie SchermanAnne TrelfaJan Worth-NelsonTeddy RobertsonPaul RozyckiBob ThomasCasey CusterTed NelsonEdwin D. CusterGrayce ScholtNic Custer

4

Photograph by Edwin D. CusterPhoto of the Month

Local poets, singers make art from water crisis at “Powers of Witness”By Stacie Scherman

(Continued on Page 7.)

Kimberly Brown, of Flint, steps up to themic at the Unitarian Universalist Church inFlint (UUCF) in the warm glow of spotlightsilluminating the stage, and launches into apoem.

“We are so vulnerable to what happensto the waters that nourish us,” she reads.“It was always the other creatures thatneeded saving, never us. We thought.Now we rethink; the water is life.”

Afterward Brown said her reaction tothe water situation is very personal and thather poem is part of her grieving process.

Along with 11 other performers and anaudience of 60 that late February night, Brownhad been given an opportunity to confront thecity’s water crisis through the spoken word.

Flint artist David Aaron sings about hisexperience with Flint’s water crisis.

The eventwas the secondof three in a seriescalled Spotlight Poetry of Witness, or POW,co-sponsored by theUUCongregation of FlintandArtisticVisions Enterprise (AVE).The twoorganizations have partnered to “cross cultural,ethnic, religious and racial barriers,” accordingto UUCFmember Rayna Bick.

The series’ three events, all featuringlocal poets and artists, are being held atUUCF, located at 2474 S. Ballenger Hwy.The first POW event focused on racism, thesecond on the Flint water crisis, and the finalone, set for March 18, will explore theschool-to-prison pipeline.

UUCF’s collaboration with AVE beganin November 2015 when UUCF minister,

Reverend Claudene F. “Deane” Oliva, metDeWaun E. Robinson, CEO of AVE.According to Robinson, 29, AVE, a Flint-based organization, primarily focuses onproviding a “positive outlet and platform foryouth creativity and innovation” in Flint.

Bick said that after meeting Robinson andlearning about his organization, Oliva told theUUCFboard that shewanted to do somethingwith Robinson and the youth he works with.According toBick,UUCF’s visionwithPOWis to “do something in the community to bringdifferent people together and build relation-ships, especially with younger people.”

Robinson said that his mission for POW istobring the community together and toprovideanoutlet for communitymembers to share theirperceptions about social issues. “What betterway to express yourself than through poetry,art, and creative writing?” he asked.

Flint resident Lawrence Washingtonuses spoken word poetry to introducehimself: “They call me the poet minister.”

Robinson added that one of his goals withthe POW series is to help Flint communitymembers have fun in the midst of the watercrisis. He said, “We’re still going to enjoyourselves. We’re going to stay active, we’regoing to stay positive, we’re going to be opti-mistic and we’re going to make sure thelong-term solution is done. We’re going tobe fighting on it during the day and havingfun by evening.”

POWperformers, including poets and visu-al artists, each receive a free meal provided by

UUCF and a $10 gift card. Bick said thatUUCF has held poetry slam competitions inthe past, but this time they wanted to supportall of the artists equally. Non-performers pay$5 for admission and $5 for dinner duringintermission. Additional proceeds also go toAVE, the videographer and the photographer.Bick said, “Our goalwas not tomakemoney,”but rather “to co-sponsor in a way that wewould cover our costs.”

Robinson said the POW series is part ofAVE’s “tour around Flint” that began inDecember 2015 at the Greater Flint ArtsCouncil.

The first POW event, held in January,focused on racism, and had about seven per-formers, according toOlivia Johnson, 23, whohelps with marketing for AVE. She said plan-ners found POWperformers throughword-of-mouth, flyers and socialmedia. Johnson addedsome people who attended the first POWevent as spectators were inspired to sign up asperformers in the second POWevent.

The 12 performers at the second event,including Brown, addressed personal,political, environmental and global per-spectives through poetry, spoken word,song and visual art.

John Straw, 70, a former science teacher,read a poem connecting Flint’s water crisisto global pollution. “If you think the lead cri-sis in Flint is bad,” he said in his introduc-tion, “the future based on hydraulic frackingwill pollute the water for everyone.”

Flint water-themed visual art was also

5

TheFebruarymeetingof theCarriageTownHistoric NeighborhoodAssociation (CTHNA)focused on a review of the communityimprovement projects affecting the area.Projects discussed included Chevy Commons,Hamilton Dam, Spencer’s Art House, theStatue Garden and a Carriage Town FleaMarket.Chevy Commons project progressesCTHNA president Michael Freeman said

the Genesee County Land Bank and the cityof Flint are working together to turn the for-mer Chevy in theHole site into a natural parkalong the Flint River. The park will includewetlands, woodlands and other green areas toform a vegetative cap.

Freemanexplained thepublicparkwill havelooped walking paths surrounded by low-maintenance plants.According toFreeman, theplant life will help filter and clean the contami-nated soil left after the removalof theChevroletFlintManufacturing complex.

Hamilton Dam study reviewedJanet Van De Winkle, director of the

Flint River CorridorAlliance, presented theresults of an engineering study displaying asafe and controlled method of removing theHamilton dam and Fabridam.

The study includes a plan to replace the

dams with a series of rock rapids, eachwith a one-foot drop, that will create smallrapids available for recreation. The designalso takes access into account – creatingareas to put in kayaks and canoes.

According to Van DeWinkle, if the fund-ing was all in place, the project could becomplete in eight months. Project directorsare still seeking state and federal funding.

Zacks steps downFreeman announced news affecting

Spencer’s Art House, formerly Spencer’sMortuary. He said Stephen Zacks hasstepped down as executive director of theFlint Public Art Project, and CarriageTown Historic Neighborhood member JoeSchipani was named interim director.

Spencer’s Art House is an alternativeart space and design incubator situated onthe edge of downtown Flint. CarriageTown (CTHNA) owns the building andhas partnered with the Flint Art Project.

“After working so hard to keep this proj-ect alive,” Freeman said, “we are very opti-mistic that something will happen here.”Freeman continued, “We are conceptuallylooking at something that’s bigger than onehouse – a bigger plan that might include res-idence and sales space. We need something

Spencer’s Art House leadership changes in Carriage TownBy Lori Nelson Savage

Street light upgrades, zoning changes highlight CPNA meetingBy Nic Custer

TheCentral ParkNeighborhoodAssociation(CPNA) discussed grant applications, mobilemeetings, Riverside Tabernacle playscapeimprovements, Kearsley Street zoning andwater distribution updates at their Februarymeeting.

Norma Sain, executive director of theCourt Street Village Non Profit HousingCorporation, outlined plans for grant appli-cations and asked residents for other sugges-tions of improvements to apply for. She willbe applying to the Community Foundationof Greater Flint (CFGF) for a $5,000 NextLevel grant to fund installation of additionalstreetlights on the bridges over Interstate 475on Second and Third streets.

She said Second Street currently only hasone light and she wants to make college stu-dents and nearby residents feel safer as theycross the bridges.An additional $1,000CFGFgrant proposal seeks to fund food for neigh-borhood clean-ups and possibly T-shirts.

She said she is also looking for $10,000in grant funding to install 10 additionalLED streetlights in the neighborhood. Shereported she met with city of Flint offi-cials to discuss options.

Sain toldmembers shewouldbeapplying totheGeneseeCountyLandBank for theCentralPark and Fairfield Village neighborhoods tobecome a Clean andGreen site again this year.Last year the program funded regular mowingof 14 vacant lots in Central Park and 36 in

Fairfield Village by a neighborhood resident.She also said the group may seek funds

to take down five crumbling garages inthe neighborhood and for propertyimprovements on handrails and porches.

Amber McDonald, neighborhood programassistant for Court Street Village, reported thatlast summer the Grand Traverse DistrictNeighborhoodAssociation held two of its regu-larmeetings outdoors in vacant lots to get neigh-bors interested and involved in the group. Themobile meetings were short and participantsbrought snacksand theirownchairs.Shesaid theFairfield Neighborhood Village Council will betrying out a couple ofmobilemeetings this sum-mer and suggested CPNAalso try it. The groupdecided to move its regularly scheduled Junemeeting to the vacant lots at 606CrapoSt.

Bev Bergler from Riverside Tabernacletold members that a new playscape thechurch ordered has been delivered and willbe installed when the weather warms up.

Vice President Ed Custer reported that thetwo homes at the corner of Kearsley andCrapo streets, east of the alley, will be zonedMR1 alongwithmost of the rest of the neigh-borhood. Kearsley Street, west of the alley,will have denser zoning as MR2 and MR3,including the stone-covered home at the cor-ner ofThomsonStreet, facingKearsleyStreet.

In other news, McDonald reported therewere 250 cases of bottled water and 200 testkits delivered to the CSVNP Neighborhood

House for neighbors to pick up during regularbusinesshours, 10a.m. to6p.m., onweekdays.

The group meets next at 7 p.m., March10 at Court Street Village Non ProfitNeighborhood House, 727 East St.

Nic Custer, East Village Magazinemanaging ed i t o r, can be reached atNicEastvillage@gmail.com.

great to happen over there.”Statue Garden improvements eyedStatue Garden is located at the river

entrance to the Carriage Town neighborhood.DavidWhite, aCarriageTown resident, askedif a flagpole could be put in the middle of thegarden. He also asked if neighbors wouldcontribute flowers to put around it. Freemansaid it was beautiful until theweeds took over.This year, the group will put down a weedbarrier before planting flowers to help reducemaintenance of the garden. Freeman said,“now that they have fixed and opened thebridge it will be a beautiful gateway into theneighborhood.”

Carriage Town Flea MarketThe neighborhood association is planning

to open a flea market in Carriage Town heldon the first Saturday of each month. Freemansaid he would like to see musicians, foodtrucks and a variety of artists selling theirproducts. He suggested the group hold one ortwo flea market events this year to see how itgoes. Yasmin Ladha, board member, offeredto chair this project. Further information willbe available on the CTHNAFacebook page.

Staff writer Lori Nelson Savage can bereached at lorinelsonsavage@gmail.com

Ph.: 810-407-6402

Mo-Th: 7am-6pmFr: 7am-9pmSa: 10am-9pmSu: 11am-6pm

6

Syracuse, NY galvanizes city-wide response to Flint water needsBy Stacie Scherman

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Four hundred miles from Flint, DarenJaime, pastor of the People’s AME ZionChurch of Syracuse, New York, recently“had a vision in the middle of the night”about helping Flint residents cope withthe water crisis.

The next morning he reached out not justto his congregation but to the superintend-ent of the Syracuse City School District,who agreed to make every school in the dis-trict a drop-off site for water donations.

The campaign caught on in a big wayin the city of 144,000. Soon the Syracusemayor and county executive made all citybuildings available for drop offs.

Jaime also invited help from anotherNew York city and others of his acquain-tance. He invited Buffalo City CouncilPresident and True Bethel Baptist Churchpastor, Darius G. Pridgen, to join thewater campaign. Pridgen responded bylaunching “Operation H2O,” a city-widewater donation drive led by True Bethel.

One donor included the Buffalo com-pany ROAR Logistics, who volunteeredto arrange the water delivery to Flint andto cover all of the transportation costs.

The result was an initial delivery of4,500 cases of water, with plans for ongo-ing deliveries and storage in a Flint ware-house and established collaborations withseveral Flint-area churches.

People’s AME and True Bethel original-ly planned to work with the Red Cross todistribute the water. However, Jaimeexplained that as his church began to pro-mote the initiative, he heard from sisterchurches in Flint, including Joy Tabernacleand Blackwell AME Zion, that many Flintresidents were “running into challenges”with the Red Cross water distribution.

Jaime said he heard similar reportsfrom former Flint residents in his congre-gation who were in contact with familymembers still living in Flint. “We hadboots on the ground to find out what someof the challenges were,” Jaime said.

According to Jaime, reported chal-lenges included alleged ID requirementsto receive water as well as rationed waterdistribution, leaving many residents look-ing elsewhere to fill their water needs.Jaime was also told that certain areas ofFlint had only been visited by the stateand federal distribution agencies once.

Residents in those areas who are unable totravel to water pickup sites, like the elderlyand thosewithout a vehicle, have been relyingon outside help to receive bottled water.

Questions about the Red Crossresponse in Flint are being directed to aMichigan.gov website. According to aMichigan.gov press release from Jan. 22,identification is not required at any of the

five official state water distribution loca-tions to receive free bottled water, filters,water replacement cartridges and watertesting kits. Members of the NationalGuard are instructed to ask residents fortheir home addresses but according to thepress release do not deny water resourcesif residents do not provide their addresses.

Because of reports and concerns about theRed Cross, however, Jaime and his partnersin Syracuse and Buffalo decided to workwith their sister churches in Flint to distrib-ute their water donations directly to the com-munity. Jaime explains that they wanted to“fill the gaps left by the Red Cross” and todeliver water “to people who may be under-served and have tremendous need. We felt itbest to get the water to the people.”

Twenty-four volunteers from Syracuseand Buffalomade their first trip to Flint at theend of January with 1,500 cases of water.Jaime explained that when they returned toSyracuse, he went to the local news and radiostations “to show the devastation peopleweregoing through on a personal basis,” whichmotivated more people to donate water.

Over the following three weeks, People’sAME and True Bethel collected enoughwater to make a second trip with 3,000cases, twice as many as the first trip. Thetwo churches, along with 35 volunteers,traveled back to Flint at the end of February.

Water distribution began on a Thursdayafternoon. Volunteers from New Yorkwere led by the pastor and some churchmembers of Joy Tabernacle to homes thatJaime said did not have access to othermeans of water distribution.

Distribution continued that Saturdaymorn-ing at the North Flint Plaza at the corner ofPierson Road and Martin Luther KingAvenue. Several Penske trucks full of water,dozens of volunteers from New York andFlint, and hundreds of cases ofwater filled theparking lot.Volunteerswith “freewater” signsstood at the side of the road waving vehiclesinto the lot. The cases of water were stackedin a long row, and driverswere directed to lineup on either side. Volunteers loaded, on aver-age, two cases of water in each vehicle.

The water convoy then moved toRosewood Manor, a low-income housingcomplex about a quarter of a mile north ofPierson Road off of Martin Luther KingAvenue. Volunteers continued loading waterinto vehicles and also delivered water door-to-door. Jaime said residents of Rosewoodincluded women and kids and families. Oneelderly resident with a cane was greeted byvolunteers with water and hugs.

People’s AME is also planning to rentenough space in a Flint warehouse to store upto forty-five pallets of water. Jaime explainedthat it is difficult for churches to receive and

store large donations of water because ofspace limitations. “Where do you put 20 pal-lets if someonewants to donate and bless youwith 20 pallets of water?”

The stored water would then serve as aback-up supply if donations of water donot meet demand. “There will be a time atsome point in the future that the water willstop trickling in,” Jaime said. “At leastthey will have something to fall back on.”

Jaime said that People’sAMEwill replen-ish the supply as it is used. “People willmove on to the next cause,” Jaime said. “Atleast you have a place that you can go, andyou haven’t distributed all the water out.”

The pastor at Blackwell AME said hischurch is covering the cost of the ware-house and will oversee the storage anddistribution of water from Flint.

Full disclosure: Staff writer StacieScherman also works for Flint DistributingCompany, the warehousing company in Flintwhere thewater is being delivered and stored.

Staff writer Stacie Scherman can bereached at sscherma@umflint.edu.

7

... Crisis(Continued from Page 3.)stick with us long after the pipes are replacedand the water is fine. (Howmany people stillmention “Roger and Me” when they hearyou are from Flint? And that movie wasalmost 30 years ago.) The long-term imagewill make selling Flint even tougher.

Finally, there are the lawsuits arising out ofthe water crisis. Already it’s a rare eveningwhen there aren’t a half dozen TV ads to callthis or that law firm to file a suit over the leadissue.Whatever the justification for the claims(and there certainly is much to sue for), isthere any possibility the city will be able payfor those suits and remain financially viable?The shadow of litigation may hang over thecity long after the pipes are fixed.A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to WasteSooner or later we will solve the water

problem. Pipes will get replaced. Waterwill again be safe to drink. But if that’s allwe do, we’ll still be a declining, industri-al, rustbelt city, with a bunch of newpipes. We need an “After the Crisis Team”to take a longer view. Flint needs toemerge from this, not only with a collec-tion of new pipes and restored water, butwith the wisdom to show other cities howit’s done and a vision of our own future.

We already have a pipe plant in the city.Could that become a growth industry? (PipeCity?) Could Flint’s colleges and universi-ties become centers of expertise in mappingand engineering solutions? Could the locallegal community develop remedies to fairlycompensate those harmed, without bank-rupting the city? Could the “water activists”stay active and require greater accountabili-ty and trust from future elected officials?

Couldall themediaattention, celebrityvisits,campaign promises and financial assistancebecomeaspringboard toanewcity that ismuchmore than just new pipes and drinkable water?

Let’s hope so.

Paul Rozycki is a retired professor of politi-cal science from Mott Community College.He has lived in Flint since 1969 and hasbeen involved with and observed Flint poli-tics for many years. He is author of Politicsand Government in Michigan (with JimHanley) and A Clearer Image: The Historyof Mott Community College. He can bereached at paul.rozycki@mcc.edu.

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presented, including a mural painted byyouths in the local community art project,“Gallery on the Go.” Three children alsopresented water-related drawings theycreated during the POW event.

The third and final POWeventwill be heldMarch 18 and will focus on the school-to-prison pipeline in Flint. Robinson explainedthat they chose this topic because “this issomething we should be talking about. We’retalking about the water, but [we need to] talkabout incarceration and the school-to-prisonpipeline because there is no public educationthat is impactful here in the city. We reallywant to put that subject at the top and in theforefront of everyone’s minds.”

Robinsonadded that“theyouth feel like theyhavebeen forgotten, andwe reallywant to havesome young people express how they feel.”

AVE is also working with citizensreturning from prison to provide them witha platform to share their experiences. “Theyjust need an opportunity,” Robinson said.“If there were opportunities in place before,they would have had a different outcome intheir life. We want to make sure we providethat opportunity; even though that is not atthe top of the line of things to do right now,we need to make sure it’s there.”

Staff writer Stacie Scherman can bereached at sscherma@umflint.edu.

... Witness(Continued from Page 4.)

every day. I think I have a problem –don’t know if it’s a Flint addiction or aFacebook addiction – or both.

Because what I usually do is readabout Flint. Flint, Flint, Flint. How didthis city burrow itself so intractably intomy brain? I can look to my left and seethe whole LA harbor – its lumbering con-tainer ships, gleaming white cruise ships,the lit-up parallel cranes and the “bluebra” of the Vincent Thomas Bridge – butall I think about is Flint.

On post after post, my Flint neighborsanguish about lead testing and compareprices for lead filtration systems. Theyrepeatedly note acts of kindness – howsomebody snowplowed their driveway,how they enjoyed a snow day with theirkids.

They are fulminating now about a pro-posed pot dispensary in the old FamilyVideo on Court, and I read with relish thegive and take – some horrified, someangry, some telling stories about grand-mothers and brothers helped by medicalpot. They are teaching each other.

On another site, everybody’s talkingabout the so-called water “credit”: thisweek the State sent out a text message –from an website cloyingly labeled“helpforflint.com” announcing the 65percent refund about to kick in. Eventhe way it went out ticks people off –half of my neighbors got it, half didn’t,and nobody knows or trusts the State’smethods.

“Why is it only 65 percent?” oneneighbor asserts, “It should be 100 per-cent, because we couldn’t drink ANY ofit!” He is readily joined by “likes,”including my own. Many comments fol-low, most people excoriating the Stateand over and over, sharing their disgust,weariness and suspicion.

My neighbors are both opinionatedand considerate. I love their passion andI love them. And apparently I love mycity. One night, when I see artist andwater activist Desiree Duell dancingwith Stevie Wonder at WhitingAuditorium on a Facebook share, myheart bursts a little bit – that’s it! Amoment of happy Flint.

But waiting for the take-out chickenTed and I ordered for supper tonight, inthe privilege of my life as the lights comeup on this LA hillside, the twinge returns:I should be in Flint.

I apologize for being somewhere else.If it is possible to be innocent and guiltyat the same time, that’s me.

Jan Worth-Nelson is the editor of EastVillage Magazine. She can be reached atjanworth1118@gmail.com.

... Guilt(Continued from Page 8.)

Flint artist David Aaron

Photo byStacie Scherman

HHee aa ll tt hh yy HH oomm eeCC oo ookk ii nn gg !!

Tuesday-Saturday 7-3810-235-1968

Flint Farmers’ Market

8

Village LifeFlint’s water story triggers writers’ unease

By Jan Worth-Nelson

LIV:3 (635 issues, 6,347 pages)(Continued on Page 7.)

Scene One: I’m sitting under a yellowumbrella with Andrew Highsmith and myhusband Ted in a sunny plaza at a Californiauniversity. The yellow makes our faceslook like we’ve smeared ourselves withdandelions. It’s a chilly but sunny 63.

Highsmith has just gone back for secondson his drink. “This diet black cherry soda isunbelievably good,” he says. I’m finishing myavocado and quinoa salad and Ted is leaningback after a BLT made with artisanal wheatbread. Yeah, I know: it’s Southern California.

Highsmith looks more relaxed thanwhen I met him in Flint in October, whenhe gave three public talks based on hisessential 2015 book Demolition MeansProgress: Flint, Michigan and the Fate ofthe American Metropolis. Today he’s inhis Steve Earle concert teeshirt and has

scooted over from the UC-Irvine historydepartment for lunch.

We’re having a good day: a nice marinelayer this morning, almost no traffic onthe capricious 405 or the bustling 110. Butthere’s an undercurrent and a subtext.

We almost whisper it: it’s guilt. We were there to talk about Flint, of

course. Even 2,400 miles away, whenev-er I get together with other people fromFlint, it’s all we talk about.

Highsmith’s book has sold out andgone into a second printing. No one ismore astonished than he.

But there’s a tinge of discomfort for himin the way the Flint crisis has benefitted hisbook’s fortune and his professional cachet.

“I always understood that if criseswere going to happen in Flint, the stagewas set for them,” he says, asserting inhis book and in numerous interviews thisyear that Flint’s woes are the result notjust of the immediate water debacle but ofdecades of infrastructure neglect and pol-icy and leadership failures.

“But the whole chain of misfires thatled to this, who could have expected allthat? And the timing of it so soon after thebook came out is just remarkable.”

Just beginning a new job as assistantprofessor, Highsmith at first resisted inter-views, trying to put his faculty roles first.But university officials, barraged withrequests for Highsmith’s expertise, finallytold him, “You really have to do this.”

So he has been busy, fielding manyrequests, he says, and he is glad to do it.

But he wishes it was a story he didn’t haveto tell. When I describe how some parents inFlint these days are bathing their children inbottled water, he shakes his head sadly.

“I just can’t imagine what they’re goingthrough,” he says. “It must be so grueling.”

Highsmith wrote his book over a peri-od of years, beginning with three yearsliving in Mott Park in the early 2000’s – aproject which grew from his dissertationfor a UM doctorate.

He remembers the moment the projectemerged. He was sitting on his porch onPaducah Street in Mott Park, a house heand his wife bought when she was doing amedical residency in Michigan. They hadjust uncovered the home’s original deed,that prohibited its transfer to anyone butCaucasians.

The discovery set him off on a journeychronicling among other troublesomeelements the city’s long history of realestate and institutional discrimination.

After they moved out to be closer toher job, the house was broken into andthe pipes stripped. Highsmith says they

eventually sold it for “what you’d pay fora car these days.”

“Oh my god, that’s awful,” I say,watching the glossy, robust studentsamble by.

Scene Two: I’m sitting in a booth atSpaghettini, a fancy restaurant just offRodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. I’m sip-ping my second gin gimlet – my favoritecocktail – and I had to borrow moneyfrom Ted for the second one: $13 a pop.

We’re at a fundraiser for Flint put onby L.A. publicist Howard Bragman andother Flint expatriates, and it’s a wonder-ful afternoon. Bragman and his crew flewin Koegel’s hotdogs, Angelo’s coneysauce and Vernor’s ginger ale. DeeDeeBridgewater is talking about the FlintRiver and singing Miles Davis blues asthe afternoon light dims to dark.

Gordon Young, author of the 2013classic Teardown: Memoir of a VanishingCity, is sitting next to me in the booth.He’s holding court – a stream of fans areasking him to sign their books, and every-body wants to talk about Flint.

“I’m not from Flint but my wife is,”one man says, “and we keep asking our-selves, how could this happen?”

In a pause between fans, Gordie leansover and says, “I have mixed feelingsabout all this.” I know what he means.What’s happened in Flint has given himand his book an unexpected boost. LikeHighsmith, he has been doing many inter-views, and in Gordie’s case, as a journalisthimself, he has penned several op-ed andanalysis articles.

But he understands that for the story tobe there, people are suffering. He’s agood Catholic kid, a Powers High gradu-ate. “It feels uncomfortable for me tobenefit from what’s happening,” he says.

On stage, DeeDee Bridgewater remembersbeing told you if you caught a fish from theFlint River you had to throw it back. Whenshe heard Flint was getting its drinking waterfrom the river, she was shocked. “That has tobe one of the most criminal acts that I know,”she says. (A full description of the fundraiseris available at eastvillagemagazine.org)

And there’s that slight unease. Ted and Isay goodbye to Gordie and drive in thesparkling LA dark back down the 405, underhuge jets gliding too close overhead towardLAX. We watch a full moon come up and welisten to old Nilsson-Schmilsson and TalkingHeads and Joan Baez and try to feel okay.

Scene Three: I am sitting cross-legged in my favorite upright chair, avid-ly scanning Facebook. It’s what I do

MOON MANBy Grayce Scholt

Moonlight streams across my bed,it should bring dreams,instead my head hears moon rhymeslune-rune-tune rhymes,boona-croona-noona-rhymes,luna--luna--lune--And then I think of all the eyesthat minded that festoon of light pleading that the rulers of the nightthe Kingus, Kronas, Phoebes, Manos-- lover-hunter-huntress-gods might bless--And then one nighta moon man tookone step andstuck his flag uprightinto the lightand said look what I’ve done, its mine now, mine--this poor dependentof the lady sun...and then he left ten footprintswhere he’d roamed,picked up some rocksfor souvenirsto show his kids,and came on home.Grayce Scholt is a retired English professor fromMott College who wrote art reviews for the FlintJournal. Her book of poetry, Bang! Go All thePorch Swings, is available online from Amazon. Apersonal narrative of the poet’s life in Europe in theearly 1950s, Vienna, Only You, is available atgscholt09@comcast.net. The author’s new book ofpoems, Night Song, is available from FriesenPress (www.friesenpress.com) and Amazon.