Detroit

Resisting and organizing through creative media

Debbie Rasmussen — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:42:31 -0400

I'm back in Portland, still processing and reflecting on my trip to the Midwest. I'll be posting more about that soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to share this video about displacement/gentrification in Detroit, featuring Detroit-based female hip-hop artist, Invincible. It's a beautiful example of how powerful a story becomes when different forms of media are combined.

Trying to keep up

Debbie Rasmussen — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:27:37 -0400

Clearly I'm not one of those people who can keep my blog up-to-the-minute, but I want to mention two more things about my visit to Detroit, even though I'm actually two states beyond at this point.

Before I left town, I had lunch with some staff members of Labor Notes, an incredible and radical organization/magazine that provides a forum for union activists to honestly examine problems within the labor movement (i.e., not just ever-weakening labor laws and employer offensives, but problems like weak unions and union leaders not doing their job). Similar to Bitch, they're a nonprofit organization that publishes a magazine. They also publish pamphlets and books (including one of my favorites, The Troublemakers Handbook: How to fight back where you work and win) and organize a bi-annual Labor Notes conference. I highly encourage everyone to read what happened at their most recent conference in April. There's some f'd-up stuff going on in union organizing these days.

Feminism In/Action: Detroit report back

Debbie Rasmussen — Thu, 08 May 2008 10:43:11 -0400

Chicks (not girls) in Detroit

Debbie Rasmussen — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:26:06 -0400

Saturday night in Detroit was a night of animals. I wanted to share some photos because I imagine many people don't think of farms when they think of Detroit. So. First I visited some chicks at the TrumbullPlex, where Sunday's discussion was to take place (more on that later).

Alice the cat lives upstairs from the chicks.

So many reasons to love Detroit

Debbie Rasmussen — Sat, 03 May 2008 22:23:38 -0400

Our Midwest fundraising/outreach tour is off to a fabulous start...

This post is gonna be in the form of a conversation with the amazing Jess Hauser, who organized one incredible dance party/fundraiser last night at the Temple Bar here in Detroit.

Debbie: Okay, Jess, tell me how you came to choose the location for the fundraiser and why you picked a dance party.

Jess: When I had the opportunity to help plan a Detroit Bitch event, I immediately thought of the Temple Bar because it's true to the energy and vibe of the city. I'd been intrigued by the bar since I moved to Detroit five years ago, but it took me a while to check it out. It's located in the heart of the Cass Corridor, and is considered one of the "seedier" areas of the city. I used to work in the (now defunct) food co-op garden which is right around the corner, so I felt just as comfortable and safe in that part of town as I did in any other neighborhood, but I'd never taken it upon myself to find out what the bar was all about.