Summer

2025

Megan Douglass: Editorial – Memory Fuels the Movement

There is a grounding exercise that I have loved ever since it was introduced to me at a National Council of Elders convening by Shea Howell, a revolutionary elder and… Read More

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Dr. Hoda Amer: Palestine in Chains

Palestine In Chains is an illustrated story of survival, bravery, pain, and resilience. In this drawing, a woman sits cross-legged on the floor. She cries tears of barbed wire, symbolic… Read More

Anjelica Jade: The Pulse of Eternal Knowledge: Memory and Mycelium

When considering memory in relation to nature, trees often come to mind. The rings inside each tree tell us exactly how long it provided the precious oxygen we need to… Read More

Leslie Cieplechowicz: A Conversation with Ramiro Alvarez, Communications Director of the Detroit Disability Power

“Honestly, straight up, the biggest problem people with disabilities face is that people do not care enough. People don’t even like the word disabled. We've been called everything in the… Read More

Dom Witten: Hair and Lineage

It’s been nine months since I’ve wanted to [ ]. I could’ve birthed a copy of myself but one night I saw my body unzip crown to heel. Thick… Read More

Fatou Sow: Art, Poetry, and Prose

Fatou Sow is a creative writer, poet, and professor with Senegalese and African American roots from Detroit, MI. Her work focuses on familial connection, self-reflection, and humanistic experiences shared across… Read More

Hank Kennedy: What’s in a Name? Stop honoring fascists and bigots in civic infrastructure.

“It used to be called Dondero.” “Yeah, I went to Dondero.” “Hey, remember Dondero?” Dondero. Dondero. Dondero. When I worked and shopped in Royal Oak, I heard that name a… Read More

Joanne Coutts: In Search of Solidarity: Reflections on a weekend of Search and Recovery in the Sonoran Desert

Introduction By April 2020, as the world grappled with the harsh reality that the COVID pandemic was not going to be over quickly and that not everyone who contracted the… Read More

Megan Douglass: Celebrating Our Roots, Cultivating Our Collective Consciousness: A Conversation with Elder Baba Simmons

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Katelyn Rivas: Ecology of Migration on Detroit River

Midnight passage over water. Blushing strawberry moon. A litany of stars reflecting the deep blue story curving into my Black body. I hope to see my mother on the other… Read More

Katelyn Rivas: The Longing of Migration

When I see the bodies of Gazan children pulled out from an ocean of rubble, I often think of the humpback whale who carried her lifeless calf on her head… Read More

Mary Gagnon: Everything That Hurts

Artwork by Mary Gagnon Acrylic on birch. 4 feet by 3.5 feet. It is called "Right of return" and it depicts two sisters who, after being displaced by war into… Read More

Josmine Evans: Sassafras – A Spring Tonic for Healing

Editors Note: This is recipe #2 in a series of recipes graciously offered from the community inspired kitchen of Josmine Evans, founder of the Detroit based Indigo Culinary Co. We… Read More

Making Room for Abolition

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Laura Bailey “LB” Brandon and Charles “Buddy” Smith: The Soul of Charles Buddy Smith

Part 1: The Migrating Memory of Music Article & Inquiries by Laura Bailey “LB” Brandon Music, Poetry, & Stories by Charles “Buddy” Smith A direct link to music history in… Read More

Mary Gagnon: The Art of Remembering: A Defiant Act of Resistance

References: Clarke, K., & Yellow Bird, M. (2020). Decolonizing pathways towards integrative healing in social work. Taylor & Francis Group. ProQuest Ebook Central. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/wayne/detail.action?docID=7245245 Decolonizing Pathways Towards Integrative Healing in Social… Read More

Russ Bellant: TALKING ODE TO A SNOWFLAKE

Today a beautiful snowflake flew through the sky and fell on the land that I call home. I tell it that its artful unmatched design is a gift of its… Read More

Nancy Poprafsky: UNSUITABLE

Very rarely did I see my grandpa wear a suit. He was a farmer. A farmer’s most important business was taking care of the land so he could take care… Read More

Triniti (iii): 26

"Pieces of Me" collage art by Trinity (iii) Teach me Inner technologies And circuit my mind back to Source Remind us of how we arrived dancing with light And that … Read More

Demetric Walls, aka DWallsCanTalk, aka Shabazz Shakur: Turning Pain into Pathways Through the Power of Music and M.O.T.I.V.E.

Every single person walking the earth is a music producer. It’s no coincidence that human body parts share the same name as music instruments (organs, eardrums, vocal chords, heartbeat). I… Read More

Tanya Martinez: Las Manos de Generaciones

In my piece, Las Manos de Generaciones, I aimed to express the importance of immigrant families in adapting and persevering. I was inspired by my own family and the millions… Read More

Community Win!

Community win! Congratulations, Detroit Disability Power! Read More

Tap In Times

Find your people! Read More

Katy Nightingale: Migration is an Act of Courage

Riverwise back cover Katy Nightingale (she/they) is a semi-nomadic woman of Western European immigrant descent who grew up in the Great Lakes region. On her travels she has learned from… Read More

YVAK: A Meditation on Modern Movement Organizing

Richelle Still (she/her) is a passionate young person dedicated to making a difference wherever she finds herself. As a recent graduate of the University of Miami, she is making her… Read More

Disconnect Goes Even Further Than Water Shutoffs

Photos by Valerie Jean Disconnect Goes Even Further Than Water Shutoffs by Eric T. Campbell (interview with Reverend Roslyn Bouier recorded on April 16, 2020) The shelter-in-place order mandated by… Read More

Riverwise Podcast: Self-Determination With Reverend Joan Ross

In the third installment of the Riverwise Podcast, Eric and Amas talk with Reverend Joan Ross from the North End Woodward Community Coalition, WNUC community radio, and… Read More

During and After COVID-19 Crisis: Detroiters Continue Struggle Against Water Shutoffs

Photo credit: Valerie Jean Like most people in the world right now, the Riverwise family is grappling with the new paradigm that the covid-19 pandemic has brought to us, so… Read More

Thinking For Ourselves: Water Games

Thinking for ourselves By Shea Howell Water Games April 5, 2020 Mayor Duggan assured the city that he has restored water to everyone who has been shut off at… 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