Blogs

ReROOTing The Motor City: Notes on a City in Transformation

I went out to Brooklyn last night to the Myrtle Village Green to attend the New York premiere of "ReRooting The Motor City, Notes on a City in Transformation," a new documentary produced by the video collective Paper Tiger Television. It was well worth the trip. Myrtle Village Green is a coalition of neighborhood groups that has gotten temporary access to a vacant DEP water tunnel shaft on the border of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Clinton Hill. The coalition is committed to insuring there is an inclusionary process in deciding what will happen with this potential green space in the middle of prime Brooklyn real estate. So, it was a perfect venue for the screening of a film about transformations happening in Detroit.

Detroit 2012: Re-Imagining the World

In July I returned to Detroit for the fourth time to continue shooting Detroit 48202: Conversations Along a Postal Route. My producer, Rachel, and I had spent a productive week shooting with Wendell in April, but I wanted to explore more of the vibrant grassroots activism happening in Detroit. The fact that the Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership had organized Detroit 2012 provided me with the perfect opportunity to capture the energy, creativity, commitment, and political insight of local Detroiters and activists who had come to Detroit from across the country. Two young women had ridden bikes from Baltimore! The visiting activists spent two weeks assisting on work brigades, engaging in community dialogues, and enjoying cultural events. I was glad to be there with my camera.

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