Convivial Places

Dufferin Grove Park in Toronto had a wonderful idea. They had a park bordered by distinctly separate neighborhoods and built an oven in the middle.
The confluence of food and fire draw people together, to sit, to eat, to talk.

Friends

Patrick at EarthWorks; Sharon at The Day House

zender and other places

At the intersection of Mt. Elliot Street and Zender Place on the east side of Detroit sits this structure. It is one of a number of gathering places built by residents and neighbors through the very local association of block clubs. Essentially like they sound, block clubs are somewhere between a block association and a loose confederation of friends depending on the organizers. The Zender Place sign (on an earlier post and across the street from this structure) which announces its welcome, subtitles itself "a great place!' (exclamation point is on the sign.

I love this enthusiasm--I value the hands that put this structure together, the folks that gather under its roof to talk, to grill out, to have a beer, and the joyous proclamation of the sign.

I have been reading The Great Neighborhood Book, put together by The Project for Public Places in New York that advocates for this sort of block level activity. Zender Place is fairly elaborate--the four poster with pitched roof and the grills speak to a relative permenance. Many of the other less formal spots around town do what Project for Public Places (PPS) suggests--offering a place to sit.
If you know of a block club or a structure of welcome or a good place to sit, send it this way--a photo, an intersection, your thoughts on what makes this a great place.
For the meanwhile, from the City's website if you're interested in starting a block club:
Block Clubs

hanging at the Wendsters

so I'm spending the weekend house sitting for Wendy. It's so weird being here without the rest of you - I walked into Lolita's yesterday half expecting you guys to just be there hanging out, but you weren't :(

Everywhere I've gone since being here just reminds me of our month here: I walked to the tigers game last night, went to the market this morning, had delicious food from the Louisiana soul food place for dinner tonight...

However the thing that made me miss our time here the most was who I ran into this morning at the market...JODI!!! It was so crazy and awesome to see her. I met her fiance and his parents, they were shopping for stuff for the wedding next weekend.

I wish I could put into words how much I wish you all were here - I fell in love with Detroit when we were here but I don't think I realized how much of that love for being here was also due to the community we had.

I hope you are all enjoying the adventures your summers are bringing! We have to have a reunion as soon as everyone is back in Ann Arbor. Miss you all!!

convivial places

Welcome someone.
Make a place for people to sit.
Direct actions to turn a corner into a gathering place.

More on block clubs and benches in Detroit soon.

Poem

OK, I finally figured out how to do this with a little help from Nick. So Here's my poem in response to the wonderful haikus posted by Farrah. This is an acrostic poem created using the initial of everyone's first name.


To the Detroit Twelve

All praise to you who came full of
Ardor looking for flora between
Broken whiskey bottles and ragged fauna that
Cover the Park most times and other areas we
Crisscross daily in the D wondering how to
Escape the sad present and then you
Fell in full of vip and vim working your special
Juju, yeah, pointing us to the bright future right here
Jumping in full techno color beats
Knocking us off dead center zoned
Now we sense possibility
Something blowing in the wind

a good well in the city: another kind of corner store

Whenever I can I stop by Goodwells on 422 W. Willis, just west of Cass Avenue. There, next to the Communist bookstore and a couple of doors from Avalon Bakery is a different sort of small neighborhood store--one that is part of building a healthy community through a thoughtful and well priced selection of wholesome foods. Started 2 years ago by Paul Willis (center in photo) and business partners James Wells and Gary Mixom, Goodwells is, as its name suggests, a good well in the city.
Appropriately situated next to Revolution Books, GoodWells is both a radical act and a great place to eat. Recognizing a need for access to better foods as well as role model for what a neighborhood business can be, GoodWells serves a small selection of excellent prepared foods (the Famous Pocket Sandwich at 3.95--a soy patty in a huge whole wheat pita pocket with sprouts, cucumber and a soy dressing--add avocado or cheese for an extra 50 cents is my favorite.) Good Wells also offers a comprehensive selection of dry grocery items in their compact space--you'll find hard to find items like coconut oil and Michigan Cherry Juice alongside dried beans--and a well-stocked small freezer with good fish and other staples. In the refrigerator are incredible juices made locally--Ginger Sun (ginger, honey and lemon) or the dark purple sorel (also with ginger and honey) fill out the West Indian fare and either make standard commercial juices seem thin and bland.
As noted in earlier posts, and plain to see from a wander in most Detroit neighborhoods, access to healthy food is a challenge. Besides corner stores, chain drugstores pop up with tax incentives since, theoretically, they sell grocery items.
Scratch the surface and you will find a selection geared towards processed cheese, high fructose drinks and chips. The legacy of poor nutrition, obesity and diabetes this food leads to has its counterpart in the pharmacy options of these same stores that offer medication to offset the effects of this diet.
Sit outside GoodWells at lunch or on a quiet Sunday and you'll see a broad cross section of the Cass Corridor neighborhood come in and out the welcoming screen door. The place and the staff are inviting, offering one of the greatest alternatives to suggest that small local businesses can provide services that depart from the patterns of high sodium/high sugar to whole grains, locally baked goods, organic produce and cheese. Plans are afoot to offer more and more opportunities for locally grown and produced foods.
If GoodWells can be the model for every neighborhood's corner store, we've got a good revolution cooking.