jesus cares. do you.

i have always loved found poetry. it may be part of the reason i love found magazine? ( i am still indebted to judith for turning me on to that periodical produced right here in southeastern michigan).

at any rate, i had plenty of fodder for lines today trolling through ypsilanti, dearborn and detroit on an environmental justice tour (aka an "ej tour" aka a" toxic tour") of southeastern michigan. the tour was organized and led by my colleague dorceta's students. i was really impressed with the program they established. and more i was overwhelmed by the work of these organizations, especially access and detroiters working for environmental justice. the other in the troika was growing hope, but i have been wowed by amanda et al in the past when she/they worked with my students during winter term.

the extreme levels of environmental pollution and environmental racism here is really outrageous. there are few moments when i feel overwhelmed with despair. today was one of them.

how do you even begin to organize against the big 2.5 (is it still the big 3?) how do you begin to fight for yourself and your friends and family and home?

access is an incredible social service and cultural resource in southeastern michgian. i had known about them chiefly through julie and ish's presentations and talks on their various efforts in the arts. i vaguely knew that they began as a social service agency that provided help to arab americans and arab immigrants in dearborn and environs. i guess i figured that meant -- well i don't know what. but they run typical well-meaning non-profit efforts -- food and housing assistance, immigration advice, voter registration campaigns, WIC materials, preschools and aftercare and drop-in centers for the youth, etc.

oh. and they also run counseling programs for refugees and victims of torture and violence, educational initiatives on climate change, and a museum.

my head was pounding as i stood in there and gobbled my baklava and listened to an 18 year old named nasar talk about his plans to reduce the level of particulate matter in the neighborhood (right next to ford's river rouge factories). he spoke with all the bravado that one may expect in an 18 year old boy --except instead of talking about the box scores or girls or the rims on his car, he was talking about how to organize against the company who employed his parents and grandparents.

i actually felt the most heartbroken as we wheeled through detroit. it may have been something about all those brownfields and superfund sites and all the empty containers and truck traffic and abandoned and boarded up property.

last year on this very day, i left my seminar classroom and i went to hell, michigan to celebrate 060606. this year, i glimpsed a different kind of hell in michigan. i was frightened last year, but tonight, i am way more and way more profoundly disturbed.

i will reframe my own thinking on this. i know and teach about the bronx, and diamond, louisiana and warren north carolina, and similar sites i really really admire women like majora carter and dollie burwell. (even more than kathy griffin). but still, the foes are so huge and so well-funded.

the next three days at the conference better help me to find hope. or else.