Winter

2025

Megan Douglass: Editorial – The Dialectic of Grief and Healing

If you’ve spent any time in Detroit in the social justice world, you’ve probably heard of thinking dialectically as a way to engage with, analyze, and contend with big ideas… Read More

One Single Rose®️: Bag Lady

Bag lady, I know your shoulders are weighed down from weight of the world residing inside your bags— Pain Discrimination Racial profiling Heartache Low self-esteem... The stitching is coming apart… Read More

Perseis Skipper: Healing, healing

Healing, healing is something we all must do. if it’s for a sinking heart, or grief, maybe self reflection? I too, want to heal the inner child that is crying… Read More

Kim Redigan: On Picking Apples in a Time of Genocide

It’s one of those autumn afternoons in Michigan when October holds its breath as the brilliance reaches its fleeting peak. Bent branches drop flecked apples to the earth while leaves… Read More

Veronica Trevino: The world is coming to an end

The world always feels like its ending I have to be everywhere at once and everything feels impossible I am unprepared, a mess, and am rushing at all times I… Read More

Mary Gagnon: Deir Al-Baleh

Benjamin eats burning tents for breakfast. Smoldering and braided with decay. Soaked in the oxidized blood of children. His arteries are clogged with melted I.V. lines and the last breaths… Read More

Danielle Thompson: Disaster and Deafness: Centering Community Support And Disability Awareness in the Age of Climate Change

The World Health Organization estimates that now roughly 1.3 billion people suffer from some form of disability and warns that disability prevalence is on the rise. However, the exact statistics… Read More

Marcia Lee: 20 years of grace – a love letter to Detroit

Dear Detroit, You were my first love, my heart’s home. You have helped me to come home to myself. You have shown me, through your waterways, the way you grow… Read More

Hadassah Greensky: Indigenous Peoples Day in Detroit

Detroit, Michigan — otherwise known as Waawiyaatanong — where the curved shores meet, the area between Windsor and Detroit — along the Detroit River corridor, occupied territory of the Anishinaabek.… Read More

Jenny Teed: Charity Hicks Memorial Tree Reflection

I have deep gratitude for Hadassah Greensky for including a stop at Charity's Tree, as part of the Water Walk on Waabizii Mnising (also known as Belle Isle) as part… Read More

Kristian Davis Bailey, Feedom Freedom Growers, and Ghazzah Comrades: iamWe – A Cross-Pollination Trip from Detroit & Ghazzah to Puerto Rico

In early January, I booked a last-minute ticket to Puerto Rico with one of my closest friends and comrades - RG. At that point, RG had suffered through three months… Read More

Sacred Spaces: Boggs School 5th Grade Class

Ian Dickinson These healing works come to us from members of the 5th grade class at the James and Grace Lee Boggs School in Detroit. This November they came to… Read More

Ru Colvin: Wisdom

You ever think of how wise trees must be? Some of them have been here for hundreds of years.. can you imagine the stories they’d tell if they could talk?… Read More

Andrew Kaplowitz: Home Sick on Saturday Night

“May we all heal at the speed of land” -meital yaniv The sound of the bath running blends with the pitter patter of my fingers on the keys. A cup… Read More

Hrishika Makker: Invincible

I am broken pieces of diamond, Broken, but still shining in the dark They managed to break me To carve Words I don't want to believe onto me Switched the… Read More

Birch Kemp: An Experiment in Hope

Land. Instead of holding it back let’s give it back. What does it mean to hold land in a bank? Land Bank? What a perverse concept. However, Land Bank is… Read More

John Telford: ‘ZEITGEISTIAN WISHES THREE’

Tomas Garberding: The Emerald Dream

Lush emerald surroundings sing their tune in the morning A betrodden but comforting scene, peaceful times Soft and sensitive conversation taking place, fresh with an evoking sensitivity The trip is… Read More

Monica Isaac: George Jackson

Monica is a mixed media artist living on the eastside of Detroit. Recognizing art as a tool of education and resistance shapes my creative work. Specifically, I use Film photography… Read More

Madison Katrina Flood: Naked Like Water

Naked Like Water unlearn and remember you can swim sinuously surrender to serendipity breathe simultaneously… Read More

Joanne Coutts: Mapping Detroit Buried Waterways – Part II: Building Relationship with the Creeks

Editor’s Note: This article is part 2 of a series. Part I was published in the Fall 2023 edition of Riverwise. Read it online @bit.ly/waterwayspartone or by going to riverwisedetroit.org… Read More

Gigi Boyd: Gathering The Pieces

The night after the results came in, I sat alone, a heaviness pressing against my chest. The air felt different, colder, chauvinistic as if the sun had burned through the… Read More

© Safara Parrott: Eulogy for a Stone Fruit Tree

I woke up to find you already kissing the ground from which you were raised /blood rush and overwhelmed / I did nothing/ but let out a small earnest sigh… Read More

Josmine Evans: Collard Greens and the Politics of Resilience

Editor’s Note: As an offering to the Riverwise Community, over the next four editions we will feature a special recipe and it’s story from the community inspired kitchen of Josmine… Read More

Lauren Silver: Found Objects, Found Connections: Art As A Pathway To Healing

Ghosts, mixed-medium collage with sticks and fibers 2024 My Melody, mixed-medium fiber assemblage with found objects, dried botanicals, and feathers 2024 Nest, Self Portrait, mixed-medium, found object assemblage with mini… Read More

Gay Hergert: Tapping Away The Pain: The Healing Power of The Emotional Freedom Technique

Editor’s Note: The information provided here should not be considered as providing medical advice or a cure for any particular ailment you may be experiencing. Always consult with a medical… Read More

Safiyah Basir: Demystifying Diabetes: Ending Stigmas One Story At A Time

I’m a mom to six-year-old twin boys, balancing motherhood, my studies, and my advocacy. I believe, as I often say, “There is nothing I cannot do, I just have to… Read More

Toi Theriot: Peace Returns Home

Peace taps gently and places a toe just over the threshold... Peeking into the house as it cracks the front door... "Hellooo... hellooo... hellooo... hellooo...." It's echo resounding off the… Read More

Dain Evans: Zine – What is Eco-Grief

From a Queer Death LGBTQ+ End of Life Doula Care Warning We’re gonna get in our feelings! This zine might bring up some anxiety or depression around grief. It is meant… Read More

A Home Birth Story On a Detroit Urban Farm: Olori OKO

"It is this sweetness that has become so bitter in their mouths." A Home Birth Story On A Detroit Urban Farm: Olori Oko By Atieno Nyar Kasagam I was… Read More

Rethinking Government Assistance: Steps To Keeping Your EBT

RETHINKING GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE: STEPS TO KEEP YOUR EBT By Denguhlanga Julia Kapilango It’s an oft-repeated narrative that says, many of the problems in our Black communities are due to… Read More

Cass Corridor Commons: Sanctuary For Changemakers

Sacred Sites The Cass Corridor Commons: Sanctuary for Changemakers The aging grey edifice at the corner of Cass and Forest has sheltered visionary activists and artists for nearly two centuries.… Read More

Fire Cider As Resistance: For Immunity and the Community

Fire Cider As Resistance: For Immunity and the Community By Lottie Spady ‘Fire cider’ is the name given to an apple cider vinegar-based, spicy-sweet tonic that helps decongest a stuffy… Read More

Detroiters Fighting Back Against Housing Insecurity

Detroiters Fight Back Against Housing Insecurity By Dominic Sweeney Detroit Action member Donna Price has been organizing throughout this year to conduct a listening campaign around shelter conditions and affordable… Read More

From Silos To Sustenance: Claiming the Harvest of Memory and Migration

From Silos To Sustenance: Claiming the Harvest of Memory and Migration By Megan Douglass What does it mean to build sustainable coalitions? Thinking about this question is one of… Read More

Brightmoor Youth Work To Democratize Water Distribution

Brightmoor Youth Work To Democratize Water Distribution article by Eric T. Campbell photo by Keviyan Richardson Now that temperatures are dropping below the freezing mark, the youth builders have… Read More

On the Cusp of Transformation

Riverwise Winter 2020 Editorial On The Cusp of Transformation As the new year arrived we may have watched the ball drop, the calendar flip, the clock count down,… Read More

North End Festival Lends Itself To Collective Healing

North End Festival Lends Itself To Collective Healing Interview with Jamii Tata By Eric T. Campbell The 'North End Urban Expressions Art Festival: The Healing' is more than just a… Read More

Uprooting Legacy of Racism In Dearborn

Uprooting Legacy of Racism in Dearborn By Denguhlanga Julia Kapilango Dearborn is often thought of as a community unwelcoming to African Americans. The legacy of Mayor Orville Hubbard lingers. Hubbard… Read More

‘Work For Me DTE’ Campaign Demands Accountability

‘Work For Me DTE’ Campaign Demands Accountability By Michelle Martinez DTE Energy bills arrive every month. For many Detroiters they come with a feeling of dread. Our homes are old,… Read More

The Well-Formed Practice of Negus Vu

Developing Leadership from Within: The Well-Formed Practice of Negus Vu By Johnny Ricks If you want to have a sit down with Negus Vu, chances are you’ll have to do… Read More

Pam McGhee’s Winding Path To Community

Pam McGhee's Winding Path to Community Riverwise Interview by Eric T. Campbell While city officials clamor over how much to concede to corporate interests and private real-estate poachers scavenge for… Read More

We Shall Return, For It Is Our Birthright

We Shall Return, For It Is Our Birthright By Imani Ma’At AnkhmenRa Amen If your ancestors were enslaved, it is your birthright to make that voyage to their native lands.… Read More