“’Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.’ Those are the words of Frantz Fanon,” says Keesa V. Johnson (MDes ’21). “And I’m not going to betray anything.”

Suddenly his idyllic safe haven was a soul-crushing prison. Visceral memories of crime, poverty, injustice, and interactions with Detroit police resurfaced with a vengeance. Ward stopped sleeping. He cried in therapy. He refused to watch the Floyd video.

Woodworking equipment whirs as teens turn out the latest in creations and consumer products that have come from years of making things at the Brightmoor Maker Space in Detroit.

An accurate portrayal of Detroit’s history and current development must include mention of the city’s diverse Arab and Muslim populations. Sally Howell,  associate professor of history at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, addresses this gap with her Halal Metropolis project. 

Three University of Michigan faculty members are part of a team who won an international design competition that will unite 12 cultural and educational institutions located in Detroit’s Midtown and change the way visitors and Detroiters experience the area.

“I mean, I think if we’re honest, we originally thought we could, at the least, change the nature of the conversation by putting our ideas on the table. And then we got through to the final three, and then we were selected as winners—and I’m just really proud that all the stakeholders appreciated our knowledge and perspective and trust us to carry it through.”

More than 150 community members gathered to celebrate a year of “making” at the Brightmoor Maker Space recently. The Detroit Community Schools and the University of Michigan’s Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design hosted the open house to celebrate its first academic year in operation.

Nick Tobier has spent a lot of time on the Detroit People Mover. Teaching, exploring, observing, escaping.
On a rare sunny day in February, sandwiched between snow and ice storms, we boarded the city’s iconic monorail together at the Grand Circus Park station, just outside the David Whitney building. Tobier happily paid my 75 cent fare (he prefers buying the tokens — “I feel good when I have them in my pocket,” he says) and led me up the escalator to the platform.

When Craig Wilkins looked out into the audience during his team’s presentation at the Detroit Institute of Arts on Wednesday, he was happy to see many of his University of…