Metro Times, 04/24/2024

Feedback

We got a lot of feedback in response to last week’s 4/20 Issue, which looked at how Michigan communities are using tax funds raised by the cannabis industry.

Good to hear!! Now, take some of that money and fix up I-94 and the pot holes —@sschnaufer46, Instagram

Also can we talk about unregulated businesses taking advantage of workers via low wages and terrible working conditions??? I’m all for legal pot but the receipts are adding up at the people’s expense YET again —@jessbeeshit, Instagram

Over saturated Out here selling Oz for less than a 100 , while Dte energy keeps raising my rates ..Next winter I’m trying grow lights to stay warm instead of space heaters.

Ken Low, Facebook

The only entrepreneurship that conservatives don’t like...

Jeff A. Johnson, Facebook

Jeff A. Johnson you’d be surprised how many of the GOP that fought against legalization now invest in dispensaries and grow facilities.

Brian Matthew Tamm, Facebook

Comments may be edited for length and clarity: letters@metrotimes.com

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People seem to like the I-94 sign now

Maybe that new Detroit sign along I-94 isn’t so bad after all.

A week after the city was hammered with criticism on social media for spending more than $269,000 on the big, blocky letters, many people warmed up to the sign once it was illuminated last Monday night.

The city installed the “Hollywood”style sign ahead of the NFL Draft in Detroit planned for April 25-27.

At first, the sign was mocked for falling short of expectations, especially considering its hefty price tag.

But that criticism — and there was a lot of it — gave way to admiration when the chunky, eight-foot-tall letters lit up along I-94 eastbound between Central Street and Cecil Avenue.

“See it’s cute yall,” one woman exclaimed on Instagram after a video of the illuminated sign was posted.

“That looks way better,” another user posted with a fire emoji.

One person added, “I know they was like wait until they see this bitch light up.”

“Perfect example for Detroit — people talk about you and don’t fuck with you until you shining,” one post read.

Another wrote, “It’s actually nice, yall horrible people.”

The city is adding landscaping to the sign this week.

“Once the landscaping is done its gonna be dope,” one person wrote.

The city spent an additional $135,900 on five smaller “Welcome to Detroit” signs that will be erected on M-39 at Eight Mile Road, M-39 at Ford Road, I-75 at Eight Mile Road, I-96 at Telegraph Road, and I-94 at Moross Road.

The signs were built by the Fairmont Sign Company, which for 50 years has been a Detroit-based, family-owned business.

Detroit property values soar, study shows

Detroit’s economic recovery from its 2014 bankruptcy has resulted in nearly $3 billion in real estate wealth, a boon to the city’s Black and Latino homeowners, according to a new study from the University of Michigan.

Released last week by the University of Michigan Poverty Solutions, the report, titled “The Growth of Housing Wealth in Detroit and its Neighborhoods: 2014-2022,” found that the largely Black homeowners in Detroit amassed $2.8 billion in added home value between 2014 and 2022, an 80% increase.

Mayor Mike Duggan credited the gains to a number of city-run beautification and blight-fighting programs, as well as the Detroiters who stuck it out and invested in their communities.

“For the past nine years, the active members of 600 organized block clubs and neighborhood associations in the city have been working to rebuild their neighborhoods,” Duggan said in a statement. “The $3 billion in new home wealth they have created and earned is

a direct result of their dedication and hard work.”

The study was authored by Jeffrey D. Morenoff, a professor and associate dean at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and professor of Department of Sociology and Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan, and Kurt Metzger, demographer and founder of Data Driven Detroit.

It found that home values in Detroit grew the most from 2014 to 2022 in neighborhoods with the lowest property values and highest poverty rates in 2014.

According to the study, the net value of all owner-occupied homes increased from $4.2 billion in 2014 to $8.1 billion in 2022, a 94% increase.

The study also estimates Black homeowners realized the vast majority of gains, but that the largely Latino neighborhoods in Southwest Detroit experienced some of the largest increases in home values over the same period, too.

For example, in the Condon neigh-

borhood in Southwest Detroit, the average home sale price in 2014 was about $7,500. By 2022, the price rose to more than $71,000 — an 853% increase.

Neighborhoods like Jefferson/Mack, Kettering, Springwells, and Davison saw increases of 300% or more.

The study also found that the real estate growth was dispersed across the city, not just concentrated in Midtown and downtown, where much taxsubsidized corporate investment has occurred over the past decade.

“There has been a huge shift for the better in Detroit’s home values, driven largely by the improvements being made in neighborhoods,” Ken Scott, president of the Greater Detroit Realtist Association and Detroit Association of Realtors, said in a statement. “My [fellow] realtors and I have been seeing this shift for years. Black owned homes are rising in value and Black families are gaining the most family wealth. And while home values have risen dramatically, there is a lot of growth yet to come. Detroit homes are beautiful and dollar-for-dollar still a great value.”

Mayor Mike Duggan blamed the criticism on confusion caused by an unofficial image shared on social media that was likely created by AI and depicted an enormous sign towering over the freeway. That image was never intended to be a rendering of the actual sign, but it sure seems to have raised expectations.

—Steve Neavling

Scott credited programs like Detroit’s Down Payment Assistance Program with creating nearly 500 new homeowners in Detroit, most of them Black. Census data from 2022 shows that a narrow majority of Detroiters now own homes as opposed to renting.

Still, Detroit’s real estate boom is not without its problems.

Black residents are still denied mortgages at a higher rate than white applicants, and a study by the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy found that Detroit illegally and disproportionately overtaxed homes worth less than $35,000.

Last month, Detroit City Council unanimously passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on owneroccupied foreclosures on houses valued at less than $30,000, a move that was rejected by the Wayne County Treasurer.

And Census data shows that since the turn of the century, Detroit has lost nearly 300,000 Black residents — more than any other U.S. city.

—Lee DeVito

The large Detroit sign illuminated at night. CITY OF DETROIT, FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS

Anti-Trump campaign highlights voices of disaffected Republicans

Tom Moore is a self-described “Reagan Republican” who loves his country but is worried about the future of democracy.

After voting for Donald Trump in 2016, the soft-spoken probate court clerk from a small town near Grand Rapids no longer supports the former Republican president.

Now he’s speaking out in hopes of convincing other conservatives to abandon Trump.

Moore, 53, added his voice to Republican Voters Against Trump, a coalition dedicated to opposing Trump. The group is in the midst of a $50 million ad campaign featuring homemade testimonial videos of disaffected Trump voters.

Moore says Trump acts more like an aspiring dictator than a public servant.

“When he talks about retribution and going after his enemies, he’s coming across as a mafia boss,” Moore tells Metro Times. “This is the United States of America. I really love my country. I can’t have somebody using the power of the government to go after their enemies. That’s what Vladimir Putin does.”

Many political analysts believe Michigan is one of a handful of states

that will determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. That’s why Republican Voters Against Trump is making Michigan “a top priority.”

“Michigan is a huge state for us — 100%,” Gunner Ramer, political director for the group, tells Metro Times

Ramer estimates that 15% of Republicans “are up for grabs” and can still be persuaded to abandon Trump. Many of them have college degrees, earn higher incomes, and live in the suburbs.

While most Democratic groups focus on promoting President Joe Biden’s record in office, Republican Voters Against Trump criticizes the former president through the voices of his previous supporters. The group has collected more than 200 video testimonials and is urging others to add their voices.

“The message is important, but the messenger is even more important,” Ramer says. “That’s why we have the testimonials. These are people who used to be Republicans, and they say, ‘I didn’t leave the Republican Party. The party left me.’ They don’t recognize the party of today. They are the difference makers.”

In Moore’s nearly two-minute video, he talks about the importance

“The message is important, but the messenger is even more important,” Ramer says. “That’s why we have the testimonials.”

of democracy and respecting the U.S. Constitution. He also points to Trump’s pro-Russia rhetoric and his failure to support Ukraine, a position that Moore believes will empower former Cold War foes.

“What he did was repugnant, it was disgusting, and I want a president who’s going to ensure that freedom thrives throughout the world,” Moore says in his homemade video.

Republican Voters Against Trump is funded by the Republican Accountability PAC. Some of its main contributors are billionaires such as Reid Hoffman, Seth Klarman, and John Pritzker.

“Our campaign is about maintaining and expanding on the anti-Trump campaign that propelled Biden to victory in 2020,” Ramer says. “There is a crucial segment that needs to be

reminded why they and other likeminded people have rejected Trump in the past. This is the heart of the persuasive universe.”

Other conservatives who want to add their voices to the testimonials can do so at rvat.org/add-your-voice.

In 2016, Trump won Michigan by 0.3%, or fewer than 11,000 votes. In 2020, Biden beat Trump by 154,00 votes.

This year, Biden is at risk of losing supporters over his handling of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. In Michigan’s Democratic primary election in February, a campaign to voice disapproval with Biden by voting “uncommitted” earned some 100,000 votes.

Recent polls show Trump has a narrow lead over Biden in Michigan.

—Steve Neavling

RFK Jr. secures ballot access in Michigan

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a potential spoiler candidate who has spread misinformation about vaccines and COVID-19, will appear on Michigan’s presidential ballot.

Kennedy, 70, gained access to the ballot after the Natural Law Party nominated him to be the party’s candidate.

Michigan is the eighth state where Kennedy, the nephew of slain President John F. Kennedy, secured ballot access.

The Michigan Secretary of State’s office confirmed to Metro Times that Kennedy qualified for the ballot.

Kennedy’s running mate is Nicole Shanahan, a 38-year-old Silicon Valley attorney and entrepreneur who falsely suggested last month that “pharmaceutical medicines” such as vaccines and prescription drugs are linked to the surge in autism in children.

“He’s the most qualified candidate in the modern-day history of America,” Natural Law Party Chairman Doug Dern said in a news release. “We welcome Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Shanahan to the party.”

“Kennedy is good for Michigan,” Bill Costantino, western Michigan regional coordinator for the Natural Law Party. “As an environmental champion for more than 40 years, Kennedy will work to restore our Great Lakes region,

which holds 20% of the world’s freshwater. He will ensure a thriving fishing economy and ecosystem for commercial fishermen and individual anglers.”

Kennedy is working to win over disgruntled Americans who are tired of the two-party system. He has drawn support from the anti-establishment crowd, and his appeal spans across party lines.

In a swing state like Michigan, where Donald Trump narrowly won in 2016 and Joe Biden triumphed in 2020, Kennedy’s spot on the ballot could impact the outcome.

Kennedy was polling at 13% in Michigan, according to a survey conducted earlier this month by Marketing Resource Group. The same poll found Trump received 37%, and Biden got 34%.

According to the survey, Kennedy had more support among self-described independents than Biden in Michigan. That poll showed Trump got 33%, Kennedy had 22%, and Biden received 21%.

Whether Kennedy will draw more votes from Biden or Trump is the subject of much debate and speculation. Kennedy is known for his famous name and environmental work, and he began his run for president as a Democrat,

which could take votes from Biden.

In March, Trump called Kennedy’s bid “great for MAGA.”

But Kennedy’s anti-vaccine campaign and tendency to spread conspiracy theories could appeal to Trump voters. Kennedy and his nonprofit have been removed from social media sites for spreading misinformation.

In September 2023, Kennedy resurrected a conspiracy theory about 9/11 and refused to say that al-Qaeda was behind the attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.

He also criticized the U.S. for funding Ukraine.

His own family prefers Biden. At a campaign rally in Philadelphia on Thursday, about a dozen Kennedys gathered to support the current president. They included Kennedy’s siblings Joseph, Kerry, Rory, Kathleen, Maxwell, and Christopher.

“He has us thriving again, believing again, behaving like good neighbors again,” Kerry Kennedy said of Biden as five siblings looked on from the stage, The New York Times reports. “Nearly every single grandchild of Joe and Rose Kennedy supports Joe Biden. That’s right, the Kennedy family endorses Joe Biden for president.”

—Steve Neavling

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Whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will draw more votes from Biden or Trump is the subject of much debate and speculation SHUTTERSTOCK

NEWS & VIEWS

Lapointe

For visitors, your NFL Draft city is the bedrock of the big leagues

By Joe Lapointe

Welcome back to Detroit, National Football League. Your 2024 draft festival marks the first time you’ve gathered en masse here in the Motor City since the Super Bowl of 2006.

So let’s re-introduce you to a peculiar American sports town with deep roots in the Big Four pro leagues. Over the decades, those seedlings gradually sprouted nationwide like branches on family trees over generations and geography.

You might have noticed last season when Detroit boosters declared the Lions to be “America’s Team” (for the moment) with an overall record of 14-6.

Around here, our pro teams, our sports heroes, and our memories are monumental and both are revered.

Consider: Over the Detroit River, we are building a new bridge to Canada and naming it after a hockey player. Downtown, where most draft visitors will stay, our most distinctive civic monument is a four-ton clenched fist outside City Hall, honoring a boxer.

If you guessed their names to be Gordie Howe and Joe Louis, you passed the quiz. Along with baseball’s Ty Cobb, this trinity of local icons reflect Detroit’s longevity on America’s pro sports scene. The Tigers (1901), have been in

the American League longer than the New York Yankees (1903).

Predating even the A.L., the Tigers are Detroit’s senior class, the varsity, established here about the time Henry Ford first started making horseless carriages. The junior class would be the Red Wings, established in 1927, members of the mythical “Original Six” of the National Hockey League.

They arrived during the American sports boom of the Roaring ’20s, when Detroit was flush with money, manufacturing jobs, and migrant factory workers, Black and white, moving here from the southern states for jobs. By

1950, Detroit had nearly 2 million citizens and many auto companies.

The classical home uniforms of these two teams — the blue, old English “D” of the Tigers on a white background; and the white, winged wheel of the Red Wings on red — are almost like vestments, the dignified formal wear of their respective sports, practically tuxedos.

The Lions — currently the toast of the town — are the sophomore class, arriving from Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1934. Last and clearly least at the moment is the freshman franchise, the Pistons, who moved here from Fort

At last! The Lions make Detroit sports fun again.

Wayne in 1957, a mere 67 National Basketball Association seasons ago.

They lost 28 straight games on the way to their final record of 14-68 this season. That is the worst in Pistons’ history, worse than the 16-66 of the 1979-80 season, when Dick Vitale was fired as coach and general manager and the games were played in the Lions’ Silverdome.

Both Vitale and the Pistons went on to better things. Detroiters realize that other regions have more big-league teams. New York, for instance, has nine franchises and Los Angeles has eight. And 10 other locales also enjoy the Big Four sports.

But only New York has had the same four franchises in the four sports (as a group, continuously) longer than Detroit. The generational loyalty that bonds Detroit teams and their followers goes back further than it does for fourteam arrivistes like Phoenix or Seattle or even Dallas.

So the joy around here for the Lions mixed with melancholy memories because this region and these sports clubs have paid many dues in many ways.

When they won two, post-season victories and came within 30 minutes of a Super Bowl berth, the Lions’ triggered local glee by ending a Motor City sports recession that began shortly after the city itself went bankrupt in 2013.

Until the Lions last season, no Detroit team had prevailed in a postseason round since the Red Wings and the Tigers each won one round in 2013. The Pistons last won a round in 2008. The Wings this spring missed the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season but their fans celebrated them because they almost qualified.

During the last decade, some days have seen all four Detroit teams in last place in their respective divisions at the same time.

As for the historic Lions, they dominated much of the Eisenhower era, when some helmets lacked faceguards. Their most recent NFL title came in 1957, ten years before the first Super Bowl. That’s part of the reason Detroiters went so daffy last season.

Fans expressed pent-up desire to cheer up and chat about something positive in common. When people left home wearing team colors of Honolulu blue and silver, they sparked spontaneous, friendly conversations among strangers at gyms, in the stores, and after church.

It was something to share, like a solar eclipse. Perhaps we overdid it a bit, but this is not a glitzy coastal city full of showbiz celebrities and lots of money and major distractions. Sports here make up a large percentage of our civic self-image. And history gives it depth.

Last fall, casual conversations sometimes drifted to shared Lions’ memories of long-ago games watched with siblings, parents, and grandparents (some long gone) at Ford Field, the Silverdome, Tiger Stadium, Briggs Stadium, and maybe even the University of Detroit stadium.

In addition, a particular phenomenon became evident during Lions’ road games in places like Tampa, Carolina, Los Angeles, and Dallas: All those blue-clad people cheering for the visiting Lions. Other teams have fans at their road games, too, but the size of the Detroit diaspora is disproportionate.

Why?

In part, it’s evidence of Michigan’s economic decline over the last 40-plus years, ever since the domestic automobile industry staggered badly in the 1980s. Since then, many jobs have left the state and so have the workers.

Since 1990, Michigan ranks 49th in population growth.

Plus, the 2008 recession further wounded the economics of an aging state and a mature industry. Unlike in the early 20th Century, Detroit is no longer a boom town; the migration in Michigan is outward.

The publication Bridge Michigan recently cited numbers from The Michigan Center for Data and Analytics — the state demographers — predicting that Michigan’s “deaths are projected to out-number births by 25,000 per year within a decade.”

In addition, the state population — now 10.1 million to rank 10th among the 50 states — could plummet by 700,000 in 20 years, it is forecast.

So it is likely that the blue shirts at road games were worn by Michigan migrants or their descendants. This became noticeable with Tigers’ road games of the 1980s, when the Tigers got good, followed by, first, the Pistons, then the Red Wings.

Because it is now pro football’s turn, it is more noticeable and we’re four decades down the road. As a native Detroiter from a big family, I have siblings and kids in California, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, and New York (and Michigan).

This is not uncommon for natives of the Great Lakes State. So you touch base. What better way to reopen a dormant conversation than “How ‘bout those Lions? (Or Tigers, or Wings, or Pistons?)”

You can argue that such extended loyalty makes Detroit America’s best, hard-core sports town, bedrock terrain for four leagues, anchored in a different century.

When the Motor City and its burgeoning car industry went big-league, baseball had 16 teams, football 12, basketball eight, and hockey six. Now, the Big Four sports have 124 franchises. Think further in cold numbers as if pro sports leagues were, run, say, like the auto business.

If those leagues were scouting for expansion franchise sites right now, the metrics and demographics of metro Detroit would not point them this way. Older fans on fixed incomes or those of modest means may love their sports. But they buy very few season seats or luxury suites.

By getting in on the ground floor, Detroit got grandfathered in, at least for now. Maybe that is why Detroit fans are so grateful for what little they get. I’ve worked in New York and Chicago, too, and reported about sports from other places.

Few cities are as tolerant as Detroit fans and media, which may come as a surprise to sensitive Lions’ quarterback

Jared Goff. They don’t mind when a “rebuilding” phase goes on for five years or for a decade. They don’t boo or heckle as much as they used to and still do in some towns.

Detroiters are less demanding and more humble than folks in other places because their loyalty has been beaten down and tested. Visitors might notice those shirts around town that proclaim “Detroit vs. Everybody.”

If that suggests we have chips on our shoulders, well, yes, and Detroit sports fans have good reasons for them.

In 1935-36, the Motor City was the “City of Champions” with the Tigers, the Lions, and the Wings all on top. Despite the revival of the Lions last season, recent overall achievement ranks Detroit one of the losingest sports markets on the continent.

A website called “Champs or Chumps” evaluated 52 North American sports markets by the success of their current teams. L.A. is first, followed by Tampa and Kansas City. Detroit comes in 31st but our fans would shrug and say “So?” in a way that will not knock the chips from their shoulders.

Fans here figure that if you keep buying tickets and watching the games on TV, eventually, your generation will get its just reward and enjoy a championship or two, from one or more of the four franchises, like the “City of Champions” teams of the mid-1930s or the 1984 Tigers or the “Bad Boys” Pistons or the “Hockeytown” Red Wings of the “Russian Five” era.

Now, it is the Lions’ turn to thrill and did they ever. They led San Francisco by 17 points with 30 minutes left in the NFC championship game and then they let an apparent Super Bowl appearance slip through their fingers like a greased pigskin, losing by 34-31.

In most cities, after such a collapse by the local team (Dallas, for instance), their fans would weep and gnash their teeth and point fingers in the blame game, and there was plenty of blame to share in Detroit. But there was little anger from Lions’ fans or media, even on talk radio.

It was more like stunned disbelief at a new generation’s new experiences — new highs, new lows — for the first time in a decade or more

The Lions just weren’t ready to win and maybe their fans weren’t either. After two or three days of mourning, the town returned to normal, the mood was one of gratitude and the upbeat buzz resumed.

Hey, how ‘bout those Lions? What about next year? Who should they draft, trade, cut or sign? Lo, the clouds have cleared and the future is bright. Even in a domed stadium, the skies above us are Honolulu blue.

DOWNTOWN DETROIT PARTNERSHIP

ART IS RESISTANCE FOR THESE ARAB ARTISTS IN METRO DETROIT

Dance, music, and painting become ways to fight for an end to occupation in Palestine despite censorship and backlash

BY RANDIAH CAMILLE GREEN

“There is a genocide going on in Palestine. This is a Palestinian dance and song,” Ayman Aboutaleb told the crowd before his dance troupe Thowra Dabke performed to “Zareef Al Toul.”

As Aboutaleb explains it, the Palestinian folk tune is a love song about wanting to return home. For him, it represents Palestinians who have been displaced by Israeli forces and long for

their homeland. A five-foot Palestinian flag hung in the background.

According to Aboutaleb, a Jewish man walked out during the performance, which was part of a multicultural event hosted by Detroit’s Congress of Communities. He told organizers the flag offended him because it showed “opposition to [Israel’s] existence.”

Aboutaleb says he was asked to take the flag down and refused.

Thowra Dabke keeps Palestinian folk traditions alive. Thowra means “revolution.”

“I had a new [dancer], a Palestinian lady who had moved here less than a year ago from the West Bank performing with me… and I could feel her pain,” Aboutaleb says looking back on that day. “In her country back home, that’s what the occupational force does. They take down flags. She’s like, ‘How come I’m in a supposedly free country and now the same thing is happening?’ So I talked to the organizer and told him, ‘No, I’m not gonna take it down.’ This is part of my performance. It’s gonna stay here as long as we’re here.”

Aboutaleb is one of many Arab artists in metro Detroit using his art to raise awareness about concerns of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Dance, music, and visual art are ways for these artists to share their culture while ensuring that others bear witness to the atrocities committed against Palestinians by Israeli forces.

On October 7, Hamas in Gaza launched an attack on Israel, with Israel’s retaliation plunging the war into overdrive. However, the conflict stretches back at least 75 years to when Zionists violently forced more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homeland between 1947 and 1949 to create a Jewish-majority state, aka Israel. May 15, 1948, the day Israel was founded, is recognized by Palestinians as the Nakba, which means “catastrophe.”

“We commemorate al-Nakba, the massacred villages, and ethnic cleansing [to] establish the Zionist entity,” Dearborn-based Palestinian artist Jenin Yaseen tells Metro Times. “We often describe post-1948 as the ongoing Nakba because the ethnic cleansing project has continued since then.”

Dabke is an Arab folk line dance that originated in the Levant — a region comprising parts of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and others. The dance started with people in the Levant stomping on clay roofs to set the clay and over time it was synchronized to music as a celebratory dance, Aboutaleb explains. Dancers often link arms to form a line and hop or stomp to the music.

Aboutaleb, who is half Egyptian and half Lebanese, grew up on Detroit’s west side. He first started doing dabke in elementary school on a youth dance team and later joined the dabke team at the University of Michigan. He started Thowra Dabke in 2019 after teaching it at the Arab American National Museum (AANM). Thowra means “revolution.”

“I grew up in the Joy-Southfield area [and] went to Renaissance High School,” he says. “I had Arab culture at home, so I guess it’s something I sought out in my later adult years because I

grew up in a different community.”

Thowra Dabke has 11 active members that include both men and women, though the troupe typically performs with six dancers. Aboutaleb is intentional about using authentic Arab music, clothing, and movement in his performances. Dancers sometimes wear the keffiyeh and clothing decorated with tatreez, a sacred Palestinian style of embroidery.

“Everything about this is Arab,” he says. “These are Arab melodies and Arab folk movements. I’m doing this for cultural preservation.”

While Aboutaleb says he has only had a few instances of people taking offense to him flying the Palestinian flag, Yaseen has had her paintings censored for mentioning Palestine.

Her piece “Indeed, to our love we will return” was supposed to be featured in a traveling exhibit called Death: Life’s Greatest Mystery at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in October. The exhibit showcased burial rites across various cultures and Yaseen’s painting was part of an Islamic burial display. But the museum took issue with a small sliver of it that featured tatreez symbolizing a grave and the ghost of a Palestinian being pulled from the grave by soldiers. Inside the Palestinian person’s body, Yaseen painted a red poppy — the national flower of Palestine and symbol of resistance against Israeli occupation. The poppy colors (red, green, and black) resemble the Palestinian flag.

“There’s a saying that every poppy

that you see on the ground is because the blood of a Palestinian has touched it,” Yaseen says. “The whole piece was around the sacred Islamic ritual that we do, which is burying the body almost immediately after they die... But it didn’t make sense to me to paint it without educating folks that Palestinians don’t have the privilege to even practice that sacred ritual because the Zionist entity practices this thing where they hold Palestinian bodies hostage. Their families don’t get the opportunity to bury their loved ones and grieve them properly.”

The ROM asked Yaseen and a group of fellow Arab artists in the Muslim display to remove “offensive” language and depictions. This included replacing “Palestine” with “West Bank” in personal anecdotes accompanying the display.

The artists refused, so the museum produced censored versions of the work without their knowledge.

When she arrived for the opening, Yaseen was pulled aside and showed a cropped rendition of her piece the museum intended to display instead. So she and the others staged an 18hour sit-in until the museum agreed to show the unedited artwork. During the protest, Yaseen held a painting of the “controversial” section from her original piece with words added: “We deserve to grieve too. We deserve to live. We deserve to bury our dead too.”

The museum also altered a Jewish display in the exhibit in an attempt to be “fair.”

Following the demonstration, the

ROM displayed the uncensored version of Yaseen’s piece with a trigger warning added. “The nearby panel includes an image dealing with death during conflict that some might find disturbing. If you prefer not to see this content, please go past this area,” a placard in front of Yaseen’s piece read. The museum also added additional disclaimers near Dina Omar and Malak Kanan’s displays of their family’s personal items and stories, saying the accompanying testimonies were based on “the experience of the contributors and not the museum’s.”

“There was not that type of disclaimer [on] any other pieces,” Yaseen says. “It was very blatantly racist.”

Yaseen was commissioned by Chicago’s Field Museum to create “Indeed, to our love we will return” for the Death exhibit and it had been displayed there with no issues before traveling to Ontario. Initially, she says, the Field Museum installation did not include Islamic burial rites, and Yaseen’s work was added as an afterthought. The Death exhibit was shown at the Field Museum in April 2023 and moved to the ROM in October. Yaseen says she was told by a ROM staffer they couldn’t show her work because “times are different now.”

“She said that my art incited hatred,” Yaseen remembers. “And that the Field Museum [was] able to display my art before October 7 but now, after October 7, it’s an entirely different experience. And I remember yelling, ‘For you, maybe! But we’ve been getting massa-

Dearborn-based artist Jenin Yaseen says her painting, right, was censored for mentioning Palestine. SE7ENFIFTEEN

cred for years. It’s not new to us.’”

Yaseen comes from a family of artists including her father and grandfather. Her cousin Ahmad Muhammad Yaseen went viral for painting on cactuses in his West Bank village.

Locally, she says most metro Detroit galleries reject her paintings for their political content. She has, however, exhibited at Detroit’s Swords Into Plowshares Gallery and organized shows at her alma mater, the University of Michigan Dearborn, with Students for Justice in Palestine.

“I work so hard on them and they’re just stuck here,” she says looking over the paintings crowding her Dearborn apartment. “It’s not always blatant but sometimes I find out later that it was [rejected] because I’m Palestinian and my art is deemed as hateful… As long as Zionism exists, I’m always going to be targeted. My identity is always going to be targeted and that’s just a privilege that I don’t have until, I feel like, Zionism and white supremacy [are] abolished completely.”

Her work often includes imagery like the poppy, handwoven tatreez patterns, and lions wearing the keffiyeh. She also paints portraits of Palestinian martyrs like Mohammed Sami Qariqa, an artist who was killed in October during an airstrike on al-Ahli Baptist hospital in Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinians had taken shelter in the hospital as the Israeli military retaliated following October 7.

According to Al Jazeera, more than 33,700 people in Gaza have been killed since then, including more than 13,800 children with around 76,400 people injured and more than 8,000 missing; at least 465 people have been killed in the West Bank with over 4,750 missing. Roughly 1,100 Israelis have also been killed with at least 8,700 injured.

The United Nations is investigating allegations that Israel’s actions in Gaza are genocidal, or “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.”

Qariqa’s last post on Facebook before his death reads, “If something happens to us, remember that it is from the river to the sea.”

“We have a very strong martyrdom culture in Palestine,” Yaseen says. “Every life lost is more than just a number, and it’s an honor to die on your land.”

Despite some backlash, Yaseen and Aboutaleb hold steadfast in sharing their culture through their work and using it as a vehicle to talk about Palestine. Both stress that supporting Palestinians is not antisemitic.

“There’s a difference between antisemitic and anti-Zionist,” Aboutaleb

says. “We’re anti-occupation. What we’re doing is against an occupational force. Talking about the people who live there is not going to take away from Jewish people. There were Jews living in Palestine before the concept of Israel, before 1948. It’s a holy land, all three religions passed through that area and all three religions were living in harmony… Arabs are also Semites. Arabic is a Semitic language. So as soon as that comes up, I say, ‘Why does this offend you?’ I try to challenge their way of thinking instead of just being like, ‘You’re an asshole.’”

On the other side of town, Spot Lite provides a haven for creative and marginalized communities on the Eastside of Detroit. The combination art gallery, record store, and nightclub often feels like a beacon that beckons communities of color, queer, and radical folks to gather as one. It also happens to be Arab-owned and managed.

Spot Lite resident DJ and general manager Aboudi Issa says he wanted to do something to try and help, or at least raise awareness, but it didn’t feel right to throw parties while Palestinians were being murdered. So instead, the shop organized several call-athons in late 2023 where more than 100 people called elected officials to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.

“We brought chairs and folding tables and everybody was straight up for hours, non-stop, just calling,” he remembers. “It was intense but it felt like we were doing something here that’s very small, but it felt good.”

Spot Lite also hosted screenings of documentaries like 1998’s Children of Shatila. The film follows two Palestinian children living in the Shatila refugee camp south of Beirut in Lebanon. Both children were displaced following the 1982 Israel invasion of Lebanon and the Sabra and Shatila massacres that left between 2,000 and 3,500 Palestinian refugees and Lebanese dead. Palestinians living in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps had fled to Lebanon during the Nakba in 1948.

Issa is from Lebanon and came to the U.S. at the end of 2000. He remembers the horrific massacres and that information was not widely spread as it was before the time of social media. It’s part of the reason he feels called to make people aware of what continues to happen in Gaza.

“I grew up in Lebanon, and we had this happen more than once,” he says, adding, “It’s important to be in this movement of solidarity with the Palestinians… because I’m sure when it was happening in the ’80s and the ’90s, people had no idea. Seeing what’s happening over there and how the world sees it, is so eye-opening. The internet

wasn’t that great [and] there wasn’t social media back then… but this is like the most heinous thing that ever happened in that area since it started back in ’48.”

He adds, “First, I’m a human being. That’s the number one thing. Being able to show it and raise awareness is very important, not just because they’re Arabs. Anywhere that it happens, we need to stand together. ”

But Issa is also a DJ, and music is his way of putting joy into the world. He’s been spinning Detroit-influenced house music mixed with Middle Eastern instruments for nearly 15 years. He started at house parties before his first official gig at the old Boom Boom Room in Windsor and has played all the regular spots around town like the Old Miami, Exodus Rooftop Lounge, TV Lounge, the former Grasshopper in Ferndale, and now Spot Lite.

While there may be a bit of survivor’s guilt — remorse for living a safe and comfortable life while Arabs in the Middle East are being bombed — he says he had to do what he’s always done as an artist, and that’s bring people together with music. So Spot Lite hosted a night of all-Arab DJs on February 10, with Barcelona-based Palestinian producer Maher Daniel as the headliner.

The night was part of A Real Arab Blueprint (A.R.A.B.), a series showcasing contemporary Arab art curated by Spot Lite owner Roula David and artist-curator Noura Ballout. The pair started the A.R.A.B. series in 2021 and hosted a slew of events under its banner featuring visual art, film, spoken word, and music.

Similar to Yaseen, Daniel saw the repercussions of speaking in support of Gaza on social media. He told Resident Advisor that he was bombarded with hateful messages after posting an Instagram story condemning both Hamas and the Israeli occupation of Palestine back in October.

Issa says he wanted to host the A.R.A.B. event to support Daniel on his U.S. tour in addition to raising money for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF).

“Usually, we kept it educational and more serious but you can’t let them win both ways. You gotta have your fun too [and] sometimes people need some relief,” he says. “This is our line of work. This is what we do. We can’t just stay home. When you’re making [art], you want people to feel better. You want people to be happy. You want to be able to express yourself.”

That night Issa, Daniel, and Detroitbased DJ Salar Ansari played feel-good house music. Sweaty bodies swayed, shimmied, and bounced with joy, as friends embraced, held each other

close, and shared collective gratitude for being alive. The event raised $2,000 in collaboration with food pop-up Dawat for PCRF.

“I just want people to know the reality of what’s going on over there,” Issa says. “We want people to feel like they’re a part of something that’s bigger than us and, hopefully, leave more loving, more kind, and more openminded. And for the people struggling who want to get some relief, I hope they can do that with dancing.”

After some thought, he adds, “Arabs, Palestinians — we’re all people. We all just wanna live and have a good time.”

Yaseen thought showing her work at the Field Museum would be her “big break” where she would finally be “a real artist.” Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case but it hasn’t stopped her from using art as a revolutionary tool.

“A lot of [Palestinians] are in diaspora, a lot of us are stuck in refugee camps, a lot of us are still back home, [and] a lot of us are in refugee camps back home a few feet from where [we] were forcibly displaced,” she says. “We don’t have the language sometimes to communicate with one another because we’re all so spread out. But it’s art that’s able to connect us. It’s these symbols that have been embedded in our culture and our traditions that are able to connect us… I have a duty as an artist to keep producing… to bridge the gap between the diaspora and our people back home that [the] Zionist entity and white supremacists are trying so hard to break.”

Aboutaleb also sees himself as a cultural ambassador.

“I don’t want it to be another thing that gets taken as someone else’s culture and they try to claim it,” he says of dabke. “That has happened with food, music, garments…. I want enough people to know that this is an Arab folk dance and it stays that way.”

Aboutaleb teaches a three-monthlong dabke workshop at Dearborn’s AANM. The four-week-long classes are separated into three levels — beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Once a student completes all three levels, they can join the Thowra Dabke team. The only caveat is that Aboutaleb refuses to teach Israelis.

“I can have Jews on the team, but not people who believe that Israel is their homeland because if you believe that, you’re part of the occupation,” he says. “If you own property there, you are displacing people who are there. I’ve had Filipino, Asian, white, Black, Mexican, Cuban, people from all over taking my classes. I have nothing against letting non-Arabs perform [dabke]. It’s not to be exclusive, it’s just for cultural preservation.”

WHAT’S GOING ON

Select events happening in metro Detroit this week. Be sure to check venue website before events for latest information. Add your event to our online calendar: metrotimes.com/ AddEvent.

MUSIC

Wednesday, April 24

Live/Concert

Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams 7 p.m.; Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $35.

MIKE. 7 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $24.

Jelly Roll 7 p.m.; The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $123.

Woodbridge Pub & The Preservation of Jazz Presents Just Jazz & Blues Every Wednesday Night 7-11 p.m.; Aretha’s Jazz Cafe, 350 Madison St., Detroit.

Thursday, April 25

BLP Kosher, Certified Trapper, Trapland Pat 7 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $27.50.

BoyWithUke 7 p.m.; Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak; Detroit Opera Resident Artists: Season Finale 7-9 p.m.; The War Memorial, 32 Lake Shore Drive, Grosse Pointe Farms; $15-$360.

Hannah Wicklund, Lyons Lane 7 p.m.; The Loving Touch, 22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $20.

bbymutha, Fly Anakin 7 p.m.; Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $22.

Ripped To Shreds, Nucleus, Exploding Zombies, Life of Suppression 6 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $15.

STRFKR, Ruth Radelet, Happy Sad Face 7 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $25-$65. Tusk (Fleetwood Mac cover band) 8 p.m.; Flagstar Strand Theatre for the Performing Arts, 12 N. Saginaw St., Pontiac; $25-$55.

Friday, April 26

Bela Fleck 7 p.m.; Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak; $35-$75.

Coco Montoya, Jim McCarty 7:30 p.m.; The Token Lounge, 28949 Joy Rd., Westland; $25-$140.

DANCING QUEEN: An ABBA Sa-

lute, Wisteria 7 p.m.; District 142, 142 Maple St., Wyandotte; $18-$28.

Howie Day 7 p.m.; Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $35.

The Floozies: Porty Hord Tour with BUKU & MZG 7 p.m.; Diamondback Music Hall, 49345 S. Interstate 94 Service Dr., Belleville; $29.50-$35.

The Ghost Inside, Bleed From Within, Great American Ghost 7 p.m.; Majestic Theatre, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $17.50-$20.

Godsmack, Bastian da Cruz 8 p.m.; Caesars Palace Windsor - Augustus Ballroom, 377 E. Riverside Dr., Windsor; $53-$128.

What Lies Below, A Sense Of Purpose, Our Vices, Sever The Crown, The Shotgun Message 6 p.m.; Pike Room, 1 S. Saginaw, Pontiac; $15.

Saving Throw, Glass Hearts, Central Dogma, Lunch 7 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $13.

DJ/Dance

MI HOMEcoming Tailgate 2-6 p.m.; Batch Brewing Company, 1400 Porter St, Detroit, Detroit; no cover.

Saturday, April 27

Alpha Wolf, Emmure, UnityTX, Chamber 6 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $18. Detroit x Detroit 7 p.m.; The Loving Touch, 22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $10.

Fixation: A Weekend of Dark Music 6:30 p.m.; Small’s, 10339 Conant St., Hamtramck; $43.50.

Guns N Roses Tribute - Paradise City, AC/DC Tribute - Powerage, Animal 7:30 p.m.; The Token Lounge, 28949 Joy Rd., Westland; $15-$80.

Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers, Bad Magnets 7 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $17.50-$20.

Sadie Jean 7 p.m.; Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $20.

Night of Soul with Anthony Hamilton, The Ton3s, Rahsaan Patterson 8 p.m.; Detroit Opera House, 1526 Broadway St., Detroit; $79$199.

Patsy Cline dinner & a show 7 p.m.; New Baltimore Trade Center, 35248 23 Mile Road, New Baltimore; $45.

Satisfaction - The International

April 24-30, 2024 | metrotimes.com

Rolling Stones Tribute Show 8 p.m.; Emerald Theatre, 31 N. Walnut St., Mount Clemens; $20-$1,000.

Symphony of the Soul: A Night of Music and Mindfulness 8-11 p.m.; FIM Capitol Theatre, 140 E 2nd Street, Flint; $15-25.

Tom Sandoval & The Most Extras 7 p.m.; District 142, 142 Maple St., Wyandotte; $30.

The Scofflaws, J. Navarro & The Traitors, The Dirty Notion 7 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $10.

Sunday, April 28

408, Telltale, Crooked Teeth, Definitely Maybe 6 p.m.; Pike Room, 1 S. Saginaw, Pontiac; $18.

Annual FSPA Showcase Concert 3 p.m.; The Whiting, 1241 E. Kearsley St., Flint; $8-$15.

Enterprise Earth, Inferi, Crown Magnetar, Tracheotomy, Living Dissection 6 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $20.

Floyd Nation 7:30 p.m.; Sound Board, 2901 Grand River Ave., Detroit; $34-$47.

Joanne Shaw Taylor 7 p.m.; Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak; $29-$99.

Muruga’s Cosmic Boogie, Martha Reeves 7 p.m.; The Token Lounge, 28949 Joy Rd., Westland; $10-$90.

Panchiko, They are Gutting a Body of Water, Weatherday 6:30 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $27.50.

Monday, April 29

Knocked Loose, Show Me The Body, Loathe, Speed 6 p.m.; Russell Industrial Complex-Exhibition Center, 1600 Clay St., Detroit; $39.50.

The 502s, Daniel Nunnelee 6 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $25.

DJ/Dance

Adult Skate Night 8:30-11 p.m.; Lexus Velodrome, 601 Mack Ave., Detroit; $5.

Tuesday, April 30

Des Rocs, Jigsaw Youth 7 p.m.; The Shelter, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $25.

Jesse McCartney 7 p.m.; The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $33-$63.

Volcandra, MICAWBER, Illusion of Fate, Darkeater 6 p.m.; Sanctuary

Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $15. DJ/Dance

B.Y.O.R Bring Your Own Records Night 9 p.m.-midnight; The Old Miami, 3930 Cass Ave., Detroit; no cover.

THEATER

Performance

Detroit Repertory Theatre Annabella in July; $25 in advance, $30 general admission; Fridays, Saturdays, 8-10 p.m.; Saturdays, 3-5 p.m.; and Sundays, 2-4 p.m.

Planet Ant Theatre TurboTeen: Live and Reloading; $20-$25; Friday, 8:30 p.m.; and Saturday, 8:30 p.m.

Rosedale Community Players

An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley; $18; Friday, 8-10 p.m., Saturday, 8-10 p.m.; and Sunday, 2-4 p.m.

Tipping Point Theatre The Squirrels; $39; Wednesday, 2 p.m.; Thursday, 8 p.m.; Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 8 p.m.; and Sunday, 2 p.m.

The Whiting MOMIX: Alice; $19-$74; Wednesday, 7:30-9 p.m.

Musical

Fisher Theatre - Detroit Mamma

Mia; Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, 7:30 p.m.; Friday, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, 2 & 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 & 6:30 p.m.; Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, 7:30 p.m.; Friday, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, 2 & 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, 1 & 6:30 p.m.

Meadow Brook Theatre Route 66

$43 Wednesday 8 pm, Thursday 8 pm, Friday 8 pm, Saturday 6 pm and Sunday 2 & 6:30 pm.

SPORTS Baseball

Comerica Park Detroit Tigers vs. St. Louis Cardinals; Friday, 1:10 p.m.; Saturday, 6:10 p.m.; Sunday, 1:40 p.m.; Monday, 6:40 p.m.; Tuesday, 6:40 p.m.

COMEDY

Improv

Go Comedy! Improv Theater Go Comedy! All-Star Showdown; $20; Fridays, Saturdays, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m.

Stand-up

Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle

Ian Bagg, Paul Montanier; $30; Thursday, 7:30-9 p.m.; and Friday, 7:15-8:45 & 9:4511:15 p.m.

Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle

Jeff Allen, Sal DeMilio, Chris Young; $29; Wednesday, $40-$50; Sunday, 6:30-8 p.m.

Sound Board Frank Caliendo wsg Rick Mahorn sponsored by OSEF; $45-$58; Wednesday, 8 p.m.

Sandwiches For Everyone!

MISC.

Garden Theater 3C’s Sports Conference Kickoff: Inside the NFL Draft featuring NFL legend, Jerome Bettis and Hall of Fame friends and private cocktail reception with all-inclusive food and beverages for VIP guests and sponsors; $150-$300; Wednesday, 6:30-9 p.m.

One Campus Martius Sports Business Titans by Benzinga featuring more than 20 esteemed athletes, each ready to delve into the world of investing and business; $47–$147; Thursday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; benzinga.com/nfldraft.

USA Wheelchair

Football League All Star Game; o cobver but registration is required; Friday, 10

Detroit School of Arts Ford TheEisenhower Dance Detroit presents “E-V-O-L-V-E”; $1-$50 (pay-what-you-can ticketing is available); Saturday, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

The Music Hall Music Hall Center Present Parsons Dance Company; $30$50; Sunday, 3 p.m.

FILM Screening

MSU Detroit Center The Great Detroit Documentary; no cover; Thursday, 4-6 p.m.

Planet Ant Theatre Double Feature: Ozone/Side Effects; $10; 7 p.m.

ARTS

Artist talk

Public Lecture: Aspen Golann & Christopher Kerr-Ayer The deSalle Auditorium at Cranbrook Art Museum; no cover; Sunday, 3:30-5 p.m.

Art Exhibition

Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) MOCAD Annual Teen Art Exhibition: SELFish organized by MOCAD’s 2023–2024 Teen Council. Through May 26.

PARC Art Gallery The Nature of Art Exhibit; through May 6.

NFL Draft Concert Series

MUSIC: Detroit will be the center of the sports universe when it hosts the NFL Draft downtown this week, and guests will be able to enjoy some of its rich music culture, too. An NFL Draft Concert Series will feature performances from homegrown acts. Big Sean will perform at 6:15 p.m. on Thursday, followed by the Detroit Youth Choir at 6 p.m. on Friday. A post-Draft fireworks show is planned for Friday, which will include a tribute to Detroit music. The festival wraps up on Saturday with a performance by Bazzi, a Lebanese-American singer who grew up in Canton and blew up on social media in 2018 with his hit “Mine.” Other acts set to perform during the NFL Draft include artist Angela Davis, who will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and Caleb Carroll, a Detroitarea native and regular performer at Detroit Lions games who will sing the national anthem to kick off the event. Admission is free and standing room only, but fans must register ahead of time by using the NFL OnePass app or on the web at NFL.com/DraftAccess. —Lee DeVito

Art in the Trees

The NFL Draft Stage is located near Campus Martius Park in downtown Detroit; more information is available at nfl.com/draft/event-info. No cover.

ART: To celebrate Earth Day, Detroit’s Palmer Park is hosting its inaugural “Art in the Trees” event, which will feature large art installations and solo musicians throughout the park’s 70-acre Witherell Woods. Some of the art to be showcased was made out of recycled trash and natural elements, created by local artists including Donald Calloway, Tim Burke, Dale Teachout, Dick Druger, Cheryl English, and Kelly O’Neill. Most of the pieces will be for sale at the upcoming Palmer Park Art Fair from June 1-2. Along with the oneday-only art and music show, a big piece of the Earth Day celebration will be a spring clean-up. Community members will have the opportunity to help by picking up trash, weeding, sweeping, and raking. For volunteers, the nonprofit People for Palmer Park will provide gloves, trash bags, tools, and hand sanitizer. Since the event is family-friendly, there will also be many activities for children to enjoy, including the Aziza Fairy Forest Trash and Treasure Hunt. For this, local youth can sign up to search for prizes around the park while helping with trash pick-up. The day-long community celebration will also include face

painting, flower giveaways, recycling education, refreshments, and more. Neighborhood groups and community members can sign up to volunteer at palmerparkearthday2024. eventbrite.com. —Layla McMurtrie

From 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday, April 27; Palmer Park, 1121 Merrill Plaisance St., Detroit. No cover.

Detroit x Detroit XII

MUSIC: If there’s one thing Detroit loves, it’s Detroit — and one way the city celebrates itself is through its rich musical legacy. At the annual Detroit x Detroit festival, now in its twelfth year, local artists cover other local artists in a circle jerk of Motor City music love. Fifteen acts will play short three-song sets, alternating between two stages, including Kalysta as Aretha Franklin, Matt Dmits as Bob Seger, Bluhm as Madonna, Rose St. Germaine as Suzy Quatro, Gold Van as Rodriguez, Lucid as Aaliyah, Acoustic Ash as Eminem, and more. The show is all ages and proceeds will support a scholarship at the School of Rock to help raise the next Motown musician. —Lee DeVito

Starts at 7 p.m., on Saturday, April 27; The Loving Touch, 22364 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; thelovingtouchferndale.com. Tickets are $10.

Big Sean will kick off the NFL Draft Concert Series on Thursday

Sound Board Frank Caliendo wsg Rick Mahorn sponsored by OSEF; $45-$58; Wednesday, 8 p.m.

MISC.

Garden Theater 3C’s Sports Conference Kickoff: Inside the NFL Draft featuring NFL legend, Jerome Bettis and Hall of Fame friends and private cocktail reception with all-inclusive food and beverages for VIP guests and sponsors; $150-$300; Wednesday, 6:30-9 p.m.

One Campus Martius Sports Business Titans by Benzinga featuring more than 20 esteemed athletes, each ready to delve into the world of investing and business; $47–$147; Thursday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; benzinga.com/nfldraft.

Huntington Place USA Wheelchair Football League All Star Game; o cobver but registration is required; Friday, 10 a.m.-noon.

DANCE

Dance performance

Detroit School of Arts Ford Theater Eisenhower Dance Detroit presents “E-V-O-L-V-E”; $1-$50 (pay-what-you-can ticketing is available); Saturday, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

The Music Hall Music Hall Center Present Parsons Dance Company; $30$50; Sunday, 3 p.m.

FILM

Screening

MSU Detroit Center The Great Detroit Documentary; no cover; Thursday, 4-6 p.m.

Planet Ant Theatre Double Feature: Ozone/Side Effects; $10; 7 p.m.

ARTS

Artist talk

Public Lecture: Aspen Golann & Christopher Kerr-Ayer The deSalle Auditorium at Cranbrook Art Museum; no cover; Sunday, 3:30-5 p.m.

Art Exhibition

Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) MOCAD Annual Teen Art Exhibition: SELFish organized by MOCAD’s 2023–2024 Teen Council.

Through May 26.

PARC Art Gallery The Nature of Art Exhibit; through May 6.

NFL Draft Concert Series

MUSIC: Detroit will be the center of the sports universe when it hosts the NFL Draft downtown this week, and guests will be able to enjoy some of its rich music culture, too. An NFL Draft Concert Series will feature performances from homegrown acts. Big Sean will perform at 6:15 p.m. on Thursday, followed by the Detroit Youth Choir at 6 p.m. on Friday. A post-Draft fireworks show is planned for Friday, which will include a tribute to Detroit music. The festival wraps up on Saturday with a performance by Bazzi, a Lebanese-American singer who grew up in Canton and blew up on social media in 2018 with his hit “Mine.” Other acts set to perform during the NFL Draft include artist Angela Davis, who will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and Caleb Carroll, a Detroitarea native and regular performer at Detroit Lions games who will sing the national anthem to kick off the event. Admission is free and standing room only, but fans must register ahead of time by using the NFL OnePass app or on the web at NFL.com/DraftAccess. —Lee DeVito

The NFL Draft Stage is located near Campus Martius Park in downtown Detroit; more information is available

at nfl.com/draft/event-info. No cover.

Art in the Trees

ART: To celebrate Earth Day, Detroit’s Palmer Park is hosting its inaugural “Art in the Trees” event, which will feature large art installations and solo musicians throughout the park’s 70-acre Witherell Woods. Some of the art to be showcased was made out of recycled trash and natural elements, created by local artists including Donald Calloway, Tim Burke, Dale Teachout, Dick Druger, Cheryl English, and Kelly O’Neill. Most of the pieces will be for sale at the upcoming Palmer Park Art Fair from June 1-2. Along with the oneday-only art and music show, a big piece of the Earth Day celebration will be a spring clean-up. Community members will have the opportunity to help by picking up trash, weeding, sweeping, and raking. For volunteers, the nonprofit People for Palmer Park will provide gloves, trash bags, tools, and hand sanitizer. Since the event is family-friendly, there will also be many activities for children to enjoy, including the Aziza Fairy Forest Trash and Treasure Hunt. For this, local youth can sign up to search for prizes around the park while helping with trash pick-up. The day-long community celebration will also include face

painting, flower giveaways, recycling education, refreshments, and more. Neighborhood groups and community members can sign up to volunteer at palmerparkearthday2024. eventbrite.com. —Layla McMurtrie

From 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday, April 27; Palmer Park, 1121 Merrill Plaisance St., Detroit. No cover.

Detroit x Detroit XII

MUSIC: If there’s one thing Detroit loves, it’s Detroit — and one way the city celebrates itself is through its rich musical legacy. At the annual Detroit x Detroit festival, now in its twelfth year, local artists cover other local artists in a circle jerk of Motor City music love. Fifteen acts will play short three-song sets, alternating between two stages, including Kalysta as Aretha Franklin, Matt Dmits as Bob Seger, Bluhm as Madonna, Rose St. Germaine as Suzy Quatro, Gold Van as Rodriguez, Lucid as Aaliyah, Acoustic Ash as Eminem, and more. The show is all ages and proceeds will support a scholarship at the School of Rock to help raise the next Motown musician. —Lee DeVito

Starts at 7 p.m., on Saturday, April 27; The Loving Touch, 22364 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; thelovingtouchferndale.com. Tickets are $10.

Big Sean will kick off the NFL Draft Concert Series on Thursday SHUTTERSTOCK

FOOD

Turkish delights

By Jane Slaughter

Turkish Village

21931 Michigan Ave., Dearborn 313-914-2107

turkishvillagecuisine.com

Appetizers $9-$15, kebabs $22-$26, pide with toppings $13-$17

I of course googled “Turkish cuisine vs. Middle Eastern cuisine” and found commenters willing to call me and other inquirers “ignorant,” “arrogant,” and “stupid.” (Turkey is next door to Syria, Iraq, and Iran, if you need a hint, but also to Greece and Bulgaria.) One well-informed Reddit user pointed out correctly that Turkey boasts various regional cuisines, just as there’s no one “Mexican food.” She or he was able to single out overlaps between Turkish dishes and those eaten in particular parts of the vast Arab world, though they are “only a minute part of the larger Turkish cuisine.” This erudite person concluded that such a question was “part of the Turkophobic agenda.” And I thought I was just eating out.

Without attempting to get into the finer points, I’ll just assert that a metro Detroiter accustomed to our many Middle Eastern restaurants will feel at ease at Turkish Village. A staffer there tells me the clientele — which was full-house during Ramadan — is largely Dearborn Middle Easterners who’ll sometimes say a dish reminds them of home.

So think of nohut koftesi as falafel and yaprak sarma as grape leaves, and you’ll be fine. Kebabs abound.

The expansive space seats 260, with several rooms and a lot of staff, a few of them attired in red fezes. There’s a good amount of sparkle, red cloth napkins, no alcohol but a long drinks menu.

To start, a trio of dips is brought with your pide (flatbread). I found the flatbread a little stiffer than pita but with less flavor. This was truer one night than another, so this staple may vary with who’s staffing the brick oven. The dips are haydari, which is yogurt with a strong mint flavor, with a bit of garlic (I thought of toothpaste); pembe sultan, yogurt with beets turning it a bright pink, with garlic for sharpness; and ezme, which reminded me of pico de gallo, but grassier

— emphasis on the parsley. You can taste each of the very fresh ingredients separately: tomatoes, cucumbers, crushed red peppers, and tomato paste. I could have shoveled up ezme all night if other dishes hadn’t swiftly appeared. I found the humus bland, not enough garlic (it comes with lavash) but the baba ghanouj is appropriately smoky, and the pide they brought with it was warm, which is a good bonus. Portions are generous. Other appetizers are ksir, described as Turkish tabbouleh with pomegranate vinaigrette; cabbage rolls; and humus topped with beef sausage.

Our voluble server urged us to order the “family style tasting platter,” serving two to four for $84, four to six for $126, or eight to ten for $210. The smallest was plenty for our party of four, all of us hungry: beef and chicken shish, beef and chicken kebabs, lamb kebab, beef

and chicken doner. Kabobs are ground meat pressed around a skewer, shish are chunks of meat on a skewer and doner is our familiar gyros, shaved from a vertical spit. They were all juicy, tender and toothsome, with the flavors all pretty similar; as always, I tried to eat more than my share of the lamb. They come with a generous under-layer of rice and hummus, plus salad.

Another night we ordered pistachio beef kebab, served with raw onion and a roasted pepper, and could see but not taste the ground nuts. Asked the difference between two different lamb kebabs, adana and urfa, our server said, “This one tastes like lamb, the other one tastes like lamb, they don’t tell me.” I’m sure they’re both luscious. Another possibility is batenjan, alternating skewered kebabs of eggplant and beef.

Although I liked all the dishes, one

that stood out was kusbasili, which is tiny cubes of lamb, cubanelle peppers, tomatoes, and mozzarella atop pide, toasted. It’s pizza-adjacent, and I don’t know if it’s the lamb or the cheese that makes it so welcoming.

Drinks include raw juice of mango, orange, pineapple, carrot, watermelon, strawberry, and more; a dozen virgin mojitos with the same fruit juices and ingredients like crushed peppermints and Red Bull; milkshakes; and ayran, a yogurt drink with salt or mint leaves. My ginger mojito was quite sweet despite the sharpness. I ordered a mango smoothie and found it as thick and satisfying as any I’ve had. Hot or iced Turkish and Yemeni teas and coffees are on offer, such as coffee with cardamom or with cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, and sesame.

Desserts including baklava are made in-house, with ingredients imported from Turkey. The most popular, kunefe, is baked in front of the customer and served warm. There are many kinds, involving pistachios, walnuts, cream, and shredded phyllo. The one I took home puts “fatty cheese,” according to the menu, between layers of crisp pastry threads; it’s a very simple sweetness, but somehow hard to stop eating.

Turkish Village came about because some Detroit-area Yemeni businessmen were vacationing and liked what they found. They hired Turks for the kitchen crew, and the restaurant, which opened March 5, was jammed throughout Ramadan with iftar reservations. Outdoor seating is planned, and additional locations in Michigan.

Final note from a Reddit commenter on “Turkish/Middle Eastern”: “All food belongs to God and emanates from his grace. To say it’s Turkish, Arab or British is redundant. It fills your belly and nourishes you. That’s all there is about food.” Nuff said! We restaurant reviewers can hang it up.

Turkish Village was founded by Detroit-area Yemeni businessmen who went on vacation and liked what they found. JOE MAROON

The clientele at Turkish Village often say dishes remind them of home. JOE MAROON

CULTURE

A first look

The Little Village arts hub is coming to Detroit

By Layla McMurtrie

Detroit’s East Village neighborhood is undergoing a transformation with the implementation of “Little Village” — a hub of arts and culture featuring a variety of projects. Library Street Collective co-founders and partners Anthony and JJ Curis have been announcing plans for the area over the past few years, and parts of it are finally ready to open.

We recently got a tour of the numerous facilities included in Little Village including the Shepherd and LANTERN, among many others. We heard from the Curises and renowned architects about how each piece of the puzzle was designed and came together.

The plans are big and there’s a lot to know, so here’s a breakdown of some of the most important pieces of Little Village and a sneak peek at the interior and exterior of some of the facilities before opening day.

The Shepherd

Previously the Good Shepherd church, which was built in 1912 and closed in 2016, the Shepherd will serve as the anchor of Little Village, reimagining how a religious space can be utilized. The cultural arts center will host a grand opening on May 18 from 5-8 p.m., with performances by the Detroit-Windsor Dance Academy, Urban Arts Orchestra, and Dames Brown. The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited, so registration is required on Eventbrite.

ALEO Detroit

Inside The Shepherd’s former rectory is a bed and breakfast coined ALEO, offering a beautiful interior covered in work by local artists. The six guest suites are meant for artists visiting Detroit from out of town who want to be at the center of the city’s creative community.

McArthur Binion Foundation

ALEO’s third floor serves as the headquarters for the nonprofit organization Modern Ancient Brown, which provides residencies, mentorship, and resources to local BIPOC artists and writers. One artist resident a year will have a full private apartment in ALEO to live and work at during their time in the program.

Little Village Library

On the other side of the building, in the former church’s beautiful main space, there will be a library curated by Asmaa Walton of Black Arts Library.

Available books will include artist monographs, exhibition catalogs, and research materials focused on artists of color who have made contributions to the arts in Michigan. The area includes tables and chairs to sit and read at with a group, as well as former confessionals turned personal workspaces. In the near future, Black Arts Library has

plans to also open a standalone community bookstore in the East Village neighborhood, which will be its firstever brick-and-mortar.

Art & Music in the former church’s nave

Apart from the Little Village library, the central nave and adjacent transept of the space feature two gallery spaces that will display rotating artworks. Each entrance/exit of the galleries serves as its own sort of frame to view the intricate architecture in the building. Additionally, the church’s former altar will serve as a stage for big events, with seating at the lower level, as well as above the main gallery.

Charles McGee Legacy Park

The theme of the Shepherd’s grand opening will be “Charles McGee: Time Is Now,” honoring the late Detroit artist, in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Arts Detroit. Outside

The Charles McGee Legacy Park features sculptures inspired by the late Detroit artist. JASON KEEN

of the building is a Charles McGee Legacy Park, which features sculptures inspired by McGee’s work. Inside the Shepherd’s gallery spaces is the work that the sculptures were based on, which will be displayed for the grand opening and throughout the following month.

‘It Takes A Village’ Skate Park

Beside The Shepherd and the sculpture park is a skate park designed by Tony Hawk and McArthur Binion. It was one of the first completed installations of Little Village, so it is the piece that has gotten the most use so far.

BridgeHouse

Directly across from the Shepherd are two former residential homes that have been transformed into commercial spaces centered around the culinary arts. One will be home to a new location of Warda Patisserie, run by James Beard award-winning chef Warda Bouguettaya. She says that this location will serve as a pastry hub and a place where she hopes to host culinary classes for the local community. The other BridgeHouse space will be a restaurant, but it is yet to be announced what eatery it will house.

Father Forgive Me cocktail bar

Attached to the Shepherd, right across from BridgeHouse, a new cocktail bar will eventually open dubbed “Father Forgive Me.” Between the two structures used to be an alleyway, but the space is now covered in multicolor evenly-leveled gravel to make all food and drink spots walkable and accessible. Beside the spaces is a small green space that will serve as a stage and seating for entertainment events, with benches carved from local white oak trees.

Louis BUHL & Co.

On the adjacent corner behind the Shepherd and BridgeHouse, a currently disheveled building will become the new headquarters for the contemporary art gallery and project space Louis Buhl & Co. Uniquely to its sister gallery Library Street Collective, Louis Buhl & Co. focuses more on special projects with artists, such as first-hand involvement in the printing process.

IM Weiss Gallery

In conjunction with Little Village, some artists have moved into the neighborhood including Toronto designer Brian Richer of Castor Design and Isabelle Weiss, among others. Weiss is opening a gallery inside of her home as a way to showcase the art of houseware in a domestic setting. Additionally, Romeo Okwara, a 28-year-old who recently

retired from the NFL to focus on art, is planning a three-story artist resource hub structure in the same area that is currently under construction.

LANTERN

Down the street from the Shepherd at the corner of Kercheval and McClellan is another mixed-use arts facility dubbed “LANTERN,” which was formerly home to Bluebird Bakery. The space’s name comes from the over 1,300 circular glass windows covering the walls of the building, allowing light to come in from all angles. Throughout this year, a bar, a cafe, and a boutique will open in the space. All are brought together through an outdoor courtyard and event space. The building consists of three connected structures, the other two which will belong to two local arts nonprofits.

Signal Return

Letterpress nonprofit Signal Return has found a home in the center structure of the three buildings, which is already open to the public. Signal Return focuses on preserving and teaching traditional letterpress printing to Detroiters. The new location provides opportunities for further programming such as hands-on workshops, exhibitions, educational partnerships, and the sale of prints and gifts focused on Detroit’s artistic community.

Progressive Arts Studio Collective (PASC)

Next door to Signal Return, PASC will open a new headquarters providing studio space, workshops, and a gallery to showcase the work of artists participating in the program. PASC, a program under the disability services organization STEP, is the first art studio and exhibition program dedicated to supporting adults with developmental disabilities in Wayne County. The opening for the PASC gallery is currently set for May 9.

Artist residencies

The upstairs of LANTERN offers three artist studios for local artist residencies. One local artist, Davariz Broaden, recently moved in as part of the new Detroit Tyrrell Winston (DTW) Arts Scholarship. The program, started by renowned artist Winston, offers yearlong studio space, monthly material stipends, and mentorship to one fellow annually.

And more is coming soon…

More specifics on a lot of these Little Village projects, plus even more initiatives and big plans for the area, will be announced in the coming months and years.

CULTURE

Savage Love

Mask 4 Mask

By Dan Savage

: Q I’m a cis gay man in Canada. Other than my supportive enby partner of five years and a few close friends, most people in my life don’t know that I’m a fetish content creator. My stuff delves into the foot porn/macrophilia (love of giants) space. I don’t make enough to live off, but it’s a good side hustle; I earn enough to help with bills and groceries. Plus, creating this content has resulted in meeting people with the same paraphilias and fantasies that I have. Being a kink content creator has many more pros than cons and it allows me to share my sexual interests with willing and understanding people — which is a great thing, as my combination of fetishes is pretty rare. I do all of this faceless. Save for the handful of times I’ve posted a glimpse of my face on my OnlyFans account, I’ve never shown my face on public platforms. I am self-employed, so I don’t have to worry about my boss finding out and firing me, since I am my own boss. But the “internet is forever” and I fear repercussions if I change careers in the future. How best to navigate this?

—Fearful About Coming Employment Situation

A: “The internet is forever,” said Aaron, a 30-year-old gay man and BDSM content creator. “I see news articles every week about people losing their jobs after someone sent their OnlyFans account to their employer.” Which is why Aaron and his fiancé John, a 25-year-old gay man who shares his love of bondage, both wear masks in the videos they post on their joint JustForFans account. “Until we live in a world where no one is shamed for their sexual interests and what they choose to do in our free time,” said Aaron, “showing our faces is not worth the risk to our careers or to our relationships with friends and family.”

The couple had been posting short bondage clips on Twitter before the pandemic hit and then — like a lot of people stuck at home during lockdowns — they decided to get on OnlyFans.

“At the time we figured, ‘Why not,’” said Aaron. “People seemed to like the stuff we enjoyed posting for free and anyone who wanted to see more of us could subscribe and we might make some money doing

what we love.” Aaron and John promised each other that they would stop if creating content started to overwhelm their sex life. “But four years later, we’re still sharing our kinky faceless content and it has not only broadened our exploration in the world of kink, but — just like FACES — creating and sharing fetish content has led to many wonderful IRL connections.”

Some fans have begged Aaron and John to show their faces — a few have offered to pay them more if they remove their masks — but their reasons for remaining anonymous are sound, FACES, and may resonate with you.

“The extra money is a huge perk — we earn between two and three thousand dollars per month — but it’s not consistent money,” said Aaron. “For example, our original [OnlyFans] account was pretty short lived. The company’s stance on porn changed one day, and suddenly all our content was banned for being ‘extreme,’ and that money disappeared. We’ve also been suspended from Twitter after posts got reported as ‘violence’ by people who don’t understand consensual BDSM. So, unless FACES has some other means of support besides his foot porn and macrophilia content, putting his face out there for the sake of a little extra cash that may or may not be there next month probably isn’t worth it.”

For the record, not all of Aaron and John’s fans hate their masks.

“We each wear a particular mask while filming,” said Aaron, “and to our surprise, some of our subscribers have started to fetishize the masks we wear. Now we’ve got people asking where they can buy masks and hoods like the ones we wear in our videos!”

Normally I share the socials and/or links to my guest experts’ websites here. But Aaron and John wanted to remain masked in the column.

: Q I’m a 45-year-old gay man in a monogamous relationship. It’s the best relationship of my life. My partner and I have decided to become fluid bonded. (A term you probably haven’t heard in years!) However, he has a condition called hypospadias, and I’m wondering whether it is something we need to factor into our decision to have condom-free sex. He has an extra hole near the head of his cock. It’s like he removed an enormous Prince Albert, and the second hole remained open. It’s weirdly hot. But this second hole is very wide and uncovered by foreskin when he’s hard. So, I’m worried if he fucks me without a condom, he could be at heightened risk of infection. Or worse, could he get santorum in there?

—Hoping Our Love Endures

A: Your boyfriend’s condition — let’s not call it a disorder — puts him at greater risk of urinary tract and bladder infections, which occur when harmful bacteria creep up the urethra. Cis women, due to their shorter urethras, get UTIs and bladder infections more often than cis men. So, with that bonus hole effectively shortening your boyfriend’s urethra, he should take the advice cis women are giving to prevent UTI/bladder infections: piss immediately after sex well, not immediately after (he might wanna withdraw first) — and maybe take a quick shower or an even quicker whore’s bath just to be on the safe side. As for santorum, i.e., “the frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex,” douche before your boyfriend fucks your hole, HOLE, and you won’t get a visit from the disgraced (and disgraceful) senator. : Q I’m writing because I feel lonely and wrong. Short story: I’m a thirty-something Italian lesbian and I’ve broken up with my lover of nine years because there have been too many dicks involved — including the dick of a good friend (ouch!) — and while I’ve tried to let her be free to do whatever she wanted because I deeply love her and I want her to be happy, I’ve realized that it’s too much for me. Polyamory isn’t really an option for me. We have a deep and strong relationship, with a lot of love and sex, and we constantly helped each other and our views about life are very similar. I don’t want to lose all of this, but I can’t see a solution. She needs to go in a direction I can’t go. So, I have decided to set her free, but I’m suffering so badly. One thing — one of the many things — that I can’t get out of my mind is being told that only liking girls was an “illness” and that I was missing out on half of humanity. But I can’t help liking women. Am I so wrong? After all of this, I feel totally empty and not right at all, badly alone. My self-esteem is so low right now and I worry about being sad and lonely for the rest of my life because I am not open to polyamory and have no interest in the other half of humanity. I know who I am and what I like but everything seems really confused and confusing.

—Utterly Gutted Homosexual Exiting Relationship Suddenly

A: It’s normal to feel sad and lonely after breaking up — I would be worried if you didn’t feel sad and lonely right now — but you shouldn’t feel bad about your sexual orientation. If you have the bandwidth to feel anything else right now, UGHERS, you should feel angry at your ex-girlfriend. Not wanting to fuck all of humanity doesn’t mean you’re missing out on half. I’m sure there are lots of men in your

life you like and one or two you love. You love your dad, UGHERS, maybe you have a brother or two you love, and friends, neighbors, and coworkers who are men that you like very much. While I’m exclusively attracted to males, I loved my mom and I love my sister and I have friends, neighbors, and coworkers who are women that I like very much. Nothing about being romantically and sexually attracted to one sex exclusively — in your case or in mine — means we’re missing out on half of humanity. It was manipulative, disrespectful, and unkind of your ex-girlfriend to blame the conflict that doomed your relationship on your hard-wired aversion to dick and love of pussy. And it’s not like things would’ve worked out if you had somehow come to love dick as much as she did: you wanted monogamy, she wanted the freedom to fuck anyone she wanted — including good friends — without having to take your feelings into consideration. Even if you were sexually compatible, which you weren’t, you were romantically incompatible.

So, you had a good run, you had some good times, you tried to make it work, but it wasn’t going to work out you were never going to happy — and you called it. Basically, UGHERS, you reached that tipping point where staying with someone causes more pain than moving forward without them. But unlike the slowly accumulating pain of staying, the pain moving forward without someone — the pain of dumping someone you wanted to be with comes crashing down on you all at once. But trust me: that pain becomes more bearable with every passing day, every late-night phone call to a friend, and every letter you send to an advicecolumnist. In a year or two you may be able to reconnect with your ex and enjoy the kind of loving friendship so many lesbians have with their exes — it’s the lesbian superpower — but you need time away from her for now. And don’t make the rookie heartbreak mistake of waiting until you feel like you’re completely over your ex before you start dating again. When you feel like you’re almost ready, UGHERS, you’re ready.

P.S. For the record: Most men have dicks, most dicks have men but not all men have dicks, not all dicks have men; most lesbians aren’t into dick, some lesbians like it fine; most gay men are into dick, not all gay men require it; bisexuals exist and they’re valid; homosexuals exist and they’re valid; straight people exist and don’t require validation, etc., etc., etc.

Got problems? Yes, you do.

Send your question to mailbox@savage. love! Podcasts, columns, and more at Savage.Love.

CULTURE Free Will Astrology

By Rob Brezsny

ARIES: March 21 – April 19

Have you ever gotten your mind, heart, and soul in sweet alignment with the spiritual beauty of money? An opportunity to do that is available. During the next four weeks, you can cultivate an almost mystical communion with the archetype of wellearned wealth. What does that mean? Well, you could be the beneficiary of novel insights and hot tips about how best to conduct your finances. You might get intuitions about actions you could take to bring more riches into your life. Be alert for help from unexpected sources. You may notice that the more generous you are, the more the world’s generosity will flow your way.

TAURUS: April 20 – May 20

Bordering the Pacific Ocean for a thousand miles, Chile’s Atacama Desert is a place of stark and startling beauty. Unfortunately, its pristine

landscape is also a dumping ground for vast amounts of discarded clothes that people bought cheaply, wore out quickly, and didn’t want anymore. Is there any other place on earth that more poignantly symbolizes the overlap of sacred and profane? In the coming weeks, Taurus, you will possess a special aptitude for succeeding in situations with metaphorical resemblances to the Atacama. You will have an enhanced power to inject ingenious changes wherever messiness is mixed with elegance, wherever blemished beauty requires redemption, and wherever lyrical truths need to be rescued from careless duplicity or pretense.

GEMINI: May 21 – June 20

My Gemini friend Alicia thrives on having a quick, acute, whirlingdervish-like intelligence. It’s one of her strong points now, but it wasn’t always. She says she used to be hyperactive. She thought of serenity as boring — “like some wan, bland floral tea.” But after years of therapy, she is joyous to have discovered “a kind of serenity that’s like sweet, frothy hot chocolate spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg.” I’m guessing that many of you Geminis have been evolving in a similar direction in recent months — and will climax this excellent period of relaxing growth in the coming weeks.

CANCER: June 21 – July 22

about how we affect others. We are wise to learn from them about how we can be our best selves. Our “freedom» includes the discernment to know which ideas people have about us are worth paying attention to and which are best forgotten and ignored. In my opinion, Leo, these are important themes for you to ruminate on right now.

VIRGO: August 23 – Sept. 22

The city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia is a holy place for Islam. Jerusalem is the equivalent for Judaism, and the Vatican is for Catholicism. Other spiritual traditions regard natural areas as numinous and exalting. For instance, the Yoruba people of Nigeria cherish Osun-Osogbo, a sacred grove of trees along the Osun River. I’d love it if there were equivalent sanctuaries for you, Virgo — where you could go to heal and recharge whenever you need to. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to identify power spots like these. If there are no such havens for you, find or create some.

LIBRA: Sept. 23 – Oct. 22

In my astrological opinion, you are entering a period when you can turn any potential breakdown into a breakthrough. If a spiritual emergency arises, I predict you will use it to rouse wisdom that sparks your emergence from numbness and apathy. Darkness will be your ally because it will be the best place to access hidden strength and untapped resources. And here’s the best news of all: Unripe and wounded parts of your psyche will get healing upgrades as you navigate your way through the intriguing mysteries.

interesting and don’t provoke much personal growth. They use up psychic energy that could be better allocated. Thankfully, I don’t expect you to suffer this bland fate in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. You will entertain high-quality quandaries. They will call forth the best in you. They will stimulate your creativity and make you smarter and kinder and wilder. Congratulations on working diligently to drum up such rich challenges!

CAPRICORN: Dec. 22 – Jan. 19

In 1894, a modest Agave ferox plant began its life at a botanical garden in Oxford, England. By 1994, a hundred years later, it had grown to be six feet tall but had never bloomed. Then one December day, the greenhouse temperature accidentally climbed above 68 degrees F. During the next two weeks, the plant grew twice as tall. Six months later, it bloomed bright yellow flowers for the first time. I suspect metaphorically comparable events will soon occur for you, Capricorn. They may already be underway.

AQUARIUS: Jan. 20 – Feb. 18

Spring has sprung, the sweet sound of motorcycles and birds fill the air. The aroma of stink bud and lilacs, tickle the nose. And yes, we can put on the Tigers.

All Cancerians who read this oracle are automatically included on the Primal Prayer Power List. During the next 13 days, my team of 13 Prayer Warriors and I will sing incantations to nurture your vigor, sovereignty, and clarity of purpose. We will envision your dormant potentials ripening. We will call on both human and divine allies to guide you in receiving and bestowing the love that gives your life supreme meaning. How should you prepare for this flood of blessings? Start by having a long talk with yourself in which you describe exactly why you deserve these gifts.

LEO: July 23 – August 22

A meme on Instagram said, “The day I stopped worrying about what other people think of me was the day I became free.” This sentiment provokes mixed feelings in me. I agree it’s liberating not to be obsessed with what people think of us. On the other hand, I believe we should indeed care

SCORPIO: Oct. 23 – Nov. 21:

According to my astrological perspective, you are entering a phase when you could dramatically refine how relationships function in your life. To capitalize on the potential, you must figure out how to have fun while doing the hard work that such an effort will take. Here are three questions to get you started. 1. What can you do to foster a graceful balance between being too self-centered and giving too much of yourself? 2. Are there any stale patterns in your deep psyche that tend to undermine your love life? If so, how could you transform or dissolve them? 3. Given the fact that any close relationship inevitably provokes the dark sides of both allies, how can you cultivate healthy ways to deal with that?

SAGITTARIUS: Nov. 22 – Dec. 21

I feel sad when I see my friends tangling with mediocre problems. The uninspiring dilemmas aren’t very

Have you felt a longing to be nurtured? Have you fantasized about asking for support and encouragement and mentoring? If so, wonderful! Your intuition is working well! My astrological analysis suggests you would dramatically benefit from basking in the care and influence of people who can elevate and champion you; who can cherish and exalt you; who can feed and inspire you. My advice is to pursue the blessings of such helpers without inhibition or apology. You need and deserve to be treated like a vibrant treasure.

PISCES: Feb.19 – March 20

In his book Attention Deficit Disorder: A Different Perception, Thom Hartmann theorizes that distractibility may have been an asset for our ancestors. Having a short attention span meant they were ever alert for possible dangers and opportunities in their environment. If they were out walking at night, being lost in thought could prevent them from tuning into warning signals from the bushes. Likewise, while hunting, they would benefit from being ultra-receptive to fleeting phenomena and ready to make snap decisions. I encourage you to be like a hunter in the coming weeks, Pisces. Not for wild animals, but for wild clues, wild signs, and wild help.

Homework: Is there any important situation where you’re not giving your best? Fix that, please.

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