NEWS & VIEWS
Feedback
We received feedback in response to last week’s cover story by Nina Ignaczak from Planet Detroit about PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” found in the environment.
PFAS are everywhere. Can we stop arguing about WHERE they show up and focus on the actual issues that continue to create and contribute? Why does the remotest suggestion that we should consider ways to not further or expedite the poisoning of our planet immediately incite political defensiveness? Baffling. We are NOT caring for this life sustaining organism in the least and continue to be offended and outraged if even the tiniest move
is made to suggest we could maybe just a tiny bit think about not being disgusting greedy egocentric life forms and do ANYTHING to even TRY and be mindful of our impact. Gross. —AnnMarie Colarossi, Facebook
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that removing fat and skin from fish could help reduce PFAS exposure. This is true for some contaminants, like PCBs. However, research finds that PFAS is absorbed in all tissues in fish, and cooking fish does not remove PFAS. Limiting consumption and following fish advisories is the best way to reduce exposure from fish.
Sound off: letters@metrotimes.com
NEWS & VIEWS
Opinion: Help us, Gretchen Whitmer. You’re our only hope.
There’s no spinning it — Thursday night’s presidential debate was just plain painful to watch.
Donald Trump spouted a firehouse of lies that President Joe Biden, plagued with a cough, was too frail and feeble to properly fend off. Too many clips saw Biden mumbling meandering non-sequiturs in a near-whisper or trailing off as he repeatedly lost his train of thought.
Both candidates were cringe-inducing when faced with the task of discussing issues like abortion or immigration, and both also spent a disturbing and reckless amount of time talking about war. Incredibly, at one point, they even argued about who has the better golf game.
Unsurprisingly, many Democrats are reportedly now freaking out with fresh concerns over Biden’s fitness for office, even though pundits like Ezra Klein and Jon Stewart were lampooned for raising this very issue months ago, in February. At 81, Biden is the oldest U.S. President ever.
As soon as the debate ended, nearly the entire panel of anchors at host news organization CNN seemed to be in agreement that Biden’s performance was poor, with many suggesting he should drop out of the race for the good of the nation. It was a similar situation even at the typically Democrat-friendly MSNBC. We didn’t tune in, but we’re sure Fox News had an absolute field day with the clips. Other outlets joined the pile on, with The New York Times opinion section churning out at least five columns urging Biden to step down in the ensuing hours.
There’s no debate over the fact that Biden is vulnerable against Trump, 78, who the President and other Democrats maintain poses an urgent threat to democracy due to his role in the attempted coup on Jan. 6, 2021. Polls have found the candidates to be neck and neck, with Trump having an edge in swing states like Michigan.
Of course, it’s too late for another Democratic candidate to formally run against Biden since the primary election is over (though we’ll save for another day a discussion about how more Democrats should have stepped up to respectfully challenge the incumbent; voters deserve
choices based on merit, not a system that defers to seniority). There is, however, an alternative option, albeit a somewhat farfetched one.
As many pundits have pointed out, the party could choose to run an open convention at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. But Biden would have to first willingly step aside, something he has not yet indicated he would do. If he did, however, the delegates who have pledged to nominate him at the convention could vote for someone else.
This would likely kick off a free-for-all of candidates scrambling for the nomination and could get messy. There would likely be large protests from anti-war activists opposed to continuing to support Israel’s attacks on Gaza, for example. Plus, the idea of delegates choosing a candidate and not the American voters feels undemocratic.
This hypothetical scenario echoes the infamous 1968 DNC, which descended into chaos after incumbent Lyndon Johnson dropped out due to the unpopular war in Vietnam. That convention was also held in Chicago, and sparked seven days of protests and a police crackdown that resulted in one death and hundreds of injuries. The eventual Democratic nominee, Hubert Humphrey, would go on to lose to Richard Nixon in November.
If Biden were to drop out, a number of names have been floated as possible
alternatives. Vice President Kamala Harris is the obvious choice from a succession of powers perspective, but Democratic governors like California’s Gavin Newsom, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, and Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer have all also been floated as strong contenders for the Oval Office.
As Biden struggled to answer a question about abortion on Thursday night — which should have been a slam dunk considering the widespread backlash to Trump’s Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022 — it was hard not to imagine how much better it would have been if someone like Whitmer was up there on stage instead. An articulate, energetic orator, Whitmer has made reproductive rights one of her signature issues, dramatically revealing her own experience with sexual assault to oppose a controversial “rape insurance” bill as a state senator in 2013 and repealing Michigan’s 1931 abortion ban in the aftermath of Roe v. Wade in 2023. And Whitmer, 52, who has a propensity for hopping on viral social media trends like last summer’s Barbie-mania, would likely have a much better time connecting with the ever-elusive bloc of young voters, who we can’t imagine are excited to cast their ballots in November.
For now, though, it seems such a scenario is unlikely. The Biden campaign says he’s not dropping out, and on Friday, the
President doubled down on his reelection effort while also acknowledging his poor performance.
“I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious,” he said. “I don’t walk as smoothly as I used to, I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to, I don’t debate as well as I used to, but I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. I know how to do this job. And I know how to get things done. When you get knocked down, you get back up.”
And Whitmer, a co-chair of Biden’s reelection campaign and staunch supporter of the President, has also said she stands by him. On Friday, she released a statement in defense of Biden’s campaign.
“Joe Biden is running to serve the American people,” she said. “Donald Trump is running to serve Donald Trump. The difference between Joe Biden’s vision for making sure everyone in America has a fair shot and Donald Trump’s dangerous, self-serving plans will only get sharper as we head toward November.”
Whitmer has also been hailed as a serious contender for the White House in 2028, so maybe we just have to wait until next time. Still, we hope that Biden and those closest to him give serious consideration to what’s at stake in November. We deserve better than what we got on Thursday evening.
—Lee DeVito
After Biden’s disastrous debate performance, the clock is ticking for the Democrats to find a new candidate. Michigan’s governor could be just the woman for the job. COURTESY PHOTO
DPD to overhaul facial recognition techncology
Civil rights activists on Friday announced a “groundbreaking settlement agreement” in connection with a lawsuit filed by a Black man who was arrested by Detroit police based on a false facial recognition match.
Robert Williams was arrested in front of his wife and young daughters at his Farmington Hills home in January 2020 after the facial recognition system incorrectly flagged him as a shoplifting suspect. He was locked up for 30 hours in an overcrowded detention facility where he was forced to sleep on a cement floor.
Based on two blurry surveillance photos, Williams was accused of stealing watches from a Shinola store in Detroit in 2018.
In April 2021, the ACLU of Michigan filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Williams, alleging the police department violated his Fourth Amendment rights and that his wrongful arrest was in violation of the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.
Williams is among at least three innocent Black people who have been arrested by Detroit police due to a false facial recognition match.
Featured in the far-reaching settlement are restrictions in how the Detroit Police Department can use facial recognition technology.
The core components of the settlement include:
• Prohibiting police from arresting people based solely on facial recognition results or photo lineups following a facial recognition search.
• Banning police from conducting lineups based solely on facial recognition leads without independent and reliable evidence linking a suspect to a crime.
• Mandating police training on the risks and dangers of facial recognition technology and highlighting its higher misidentification rates for people of color.
Requiring an audit of all cases in which facial recognition technology was used to obtain an arrest warrant since 2017.
Over the next four years, the U.S. District Court will retain jurisdiction of the case to ensure the agreement is enforced.
“The Detroit Police Department’s abuses of facial recognition technology completely upended my life,” Williams said. “My wife and young daughters had to watch helplessly as I was arrested for a crime I didn’t commit and by the time I got home from jail, I had already missed my youngest losing her first tooth and my eldest couldn’t even bear to look at my picture. Even now, years later, it still brings them to tears when they think about it.”
Civil right activists say the settlement
is important because facial recognition technology is significantly flawed, inevitably leading to false arrests.
The technology has come under increasing fire after studies have shown that the software misidentifies people of color more often than white people, which Metro Times reported in a cover story in July 2019.
While Detroit has embraced the technology, at least 25 cities have banned it.
“This settlement finally brings justice to Detroit, and the Williams family, after years of fighting to expose the flaws of this dangerous technology,” Phil Mayor, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Michigan, said. “Police reliance on shoddy technology merely creates shoddy investigations. Under this settlement, the Detroit Police Department should transform from being a nationwide leader in wrongful arrests driven by facial recognition technology into being a leader in implementing meaningful guardrails to constrain and limit their use of the technology.”
Nationwide, at least six people have reported being falsely arrested based on flawed facial recognition matches. All have been Black.
Three of those cases were in Detroit.
In February 2022, Porcha Woodruff was eight months pregnant when six cops arrested her at her home in Detroit based on a false facial recognition match. She spent 11 hours at the Detroit Detention Center and was charged with robbery and carjacking. A month later, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office dismissed the case. The technology also misidentified Michael Oliver in July 2019. Oliver was arrested and falsely accused of stealing a teacher’s cellphone and throwing it. He also filed a lawsuit against the city.
“We hope this groundbreaking settlement will not only prevent future wrongful arrests of Black people in Detroit, but that it will serve as a model for other police departments that insist on using facial recognition technology,” Michael J. Steinberg, director of the Civil Rights Litigation Initiative at the University of Michigan Law School, said. “We are also thrilled that Mr. Williams, who has become a face of movement to stop the misuse of facial recognition, will receive some measure of relief.”
In a statement to Metro Times, Detroit Police Chief James White said his department raised the standards for making an arrest based on facial recognition matches after Williams was misidentified. Under the newer policies, police can only use matches as a tip to further an investigation, and matches cannot be the sole basis for an arrest.
But even under the new policies, police arrested the other two Detroiters who were later found to be victims of faulty matches.
“The Department is pleased with its work with the ACLU and University of Michigan over the last year and a half and that our new facial recognition policy, we firmly believe will serve as a national best practice and model for other agencies using this technology,” White said. “While the work DPD and the ACLU may differ, our goals are similar — to ensure policing is done in a fair, equitable, and constitutional manner.”
Less than a year before Williams was arrested, Detroiters urged the city’s Board of Police Commissioners to ban the technology, saying it would lead to false arrests. But the commissioners and Mayor Mike Duggan stood behind the technology, saying it wouldn’t be abused.
Detroit’s facial recognition software is especially pervasive because it’s used on an ever-expanding surveillance network of high-definition cameras under Duggan’s Project Green Light, a crimefighting initiative that began in 2016 at gas stations and fast-food restaurants. Since then, the city has installed more than 500 surveillance cameras at parks, schools, low-income housing complexes, immigration centers, gas stations, churches, abortion clinics, hotels, health centers, apartments, and addiction treatment centers. The city also installed high-definition cameras at roughly 500 intersections at a time when other cities are scaling back surveillance because of privacy concerns.
Williams said everyone should be worried about facial recognition.
“The scariest part is that what happened to me could have happened to anyone,” Williams said. “But, at least with this settlement, it will be far less likely to happen again to another person in Detroit. With this painful chapter of our lives closing, my wife and I will continue raising awareness about the dangers of this technology.”
The ACLU still supports a ban on the technology. “The multiple wrongful arrests by police in Detroit and other American cities show that face recognition technology is fundamentally dangerous in the hands of law enforcement,” said Nathan Freed Wessler, deputy director of the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. “The most effective way to avoid abuses is for lawmakers to ban police use of the technology, as city councils from Boston to Minneapolis to San Francisco have done. But in jurisdictions where lawmakers have yet to act, police departments should look to Detroit’s new policies, which will seriously mitigate the risk of further false arrests and related harms.”
—Steve Neavling
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Blue Bird Inn gets $1.9M grant
The historic Blue Bird Inn on Detroit’s west side is getting closer to reopening.
The building at 5021 Tireman Ave., once a renowned music venue where jazz legends like John Coltrane and Miles Davis performed, was abandoned by the early 2000s and faced the threat of demolition.
In 2019, however, the Detroit Sound Conservancy purchased the old neighborhood jazz club and has been advocating for its rehabilitation ever since. Now, the nonprofit has received a grant of $1.9 million from the Mellon Foundation to help fully realize the vision over the next four years.
“We are profoundly grateful to Detroit’s legacy of cultural champions who have paved the way for this substantial philanthropic support,” Jonah Raduns-Silverstein, DSC Director of Operations, said in a press release. “After years of work and advocacy, The Blue Bird Inn will once again become a welcoming home for Detroit’s ongoing musical story. These resources allow us to fully restore the Bird to its historic, sonic, and cultural excellence.”
When restoration is completed, the Blue Bird Inn will not only serve once again as a music venue, but will also become a cultural heritage center and space for community programming. The rehabilitation will merge historic character with modern updates,
including recreating the original seating layout and lighting, reinstalling the salvaged stage, rebuilding the bar, installing archival shelving, and detailing historic finishes.
While originally an acoustic-only venue, the new space will integrate a state-of-the-art sound system to amplify the full spectrum of Detroit music.
State Senate finally passes FOIA reform
Michigan is one of only two states that shields the governor’s office and the Legislature from providing records under the Freedom of Information Act.
That could soon change after the state Senate on Thursday passed bipartisan legislation aimed at expanding FOIA to include the executive and legislative branches of state government.
Lawmakers approved the two bills by a 36-2 vote, with Sens. Jon Bumstead, R-North Muskegon, and Jonathan Lindsey, R-Allen, voting against the legislation.
It has been a long time coming. Sens. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, and Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, first introduced the bills nine years ago while they were in the state House.
Finally, the bills are headed to the state House for a vote. But the legislation will have to wait until the House comes back from its summer break.
“We can no longer sustain any more scandals in Lansing that are made possible by the dark areas in law in which they can exist,” Moss said in a statement. “We have finally reached the elusive Senate vote to expand FOIA and our majority is beginning a new chapter of openness in our state.”
If passed by the House, as expected, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will likely sign the bills into law. When she was running for her first term in 2018, Whitmer said expanding FOIA would be a priority.
McBroom said the legislation will shine more light on elected officials.
“There are many ways to help our state government be more accountable and this is one that should have been in place years ago,” McBroom said. “I hope we will get this passed and keep working to put the citizens first in how the government actually operates.”
“We will support community-based activism and tell untold stories,” Michelle Jahra McKinney, DSC Director and Director of Collections, says. “We will empower our community and support our partners to join with us, supporting our efforts to preserve, make accessible, and secure Detroit’s true gift to the world: our music!”
DSC plans to complete the renova-
tion, reopen the Blue Bird Inn, and hire new full-time staff members over the next four years, plus grow programming and communications. The nonprofit encourages community members to get in touch to learn more about their work and ways to get involved. You can find more information at detroitsound.org.
—Layla McMurtrie
The governor and Legislature have been exempt from FOIA since the law was enacted in 1976.
Michigan and Massachusetts are the only states in the country that allow the governor’s office and Legislature to bypass FOIA.
Michigan’s state government faces significant trust issues with voters and was ranked last in the nation for integrity in a 2015 report from the Center For Public Integrity.
In November 2022, after state lawmakers failed to act, Michigan voters approved a measure that created new financial disclosure requirements for the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and state lawmakers. Under Proposal 1, state elected officials are required to file annual reports detailing their assets and sources of income, positions held outside of state government, and agreements or arrangements regarding
future employment, gifts, and travel payments received.
State lawmakers said the FOIA legislation is an important step in restoring trust with voters.
“The passage of this bipartisan legislation demonstrates our staunch commitment to increasing government transparency and accountability, and in turn, restoring public trust in our institutions,” Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, said.
Additional action is needed to create more transparency and trust, said state Sen. Michael Webber, R-Rochester Hills.
“We still have a lot of work ahead of us, and I will continue to advocate for more transparency at all levels of government,” Webber said. “Government that is for the people, by the people works best out in the open for all to see.”
—Steve Neavling
A Blue Bird Inn Ground Blessing ceremony took place on Sep. 10, 2023.
COURTESY PHOTO
NEWS & VIEWS
Lapointe
Mass shootings, the Surgeon General, and the Supreme Court
By Joe Lapointe
When they took the kids to the splash pad that hot mid-June day, the grownups of Oakland County didn’t expect the splash to come from bullets that drew blood.
But that’s just what happened in Rochester Hills when a paranoid man who owned an arsenal of weapons opened fire with one of them at the water park. He wounded nine people before dropping that gun and heading home with another gun to kill himself.
And when an Oakland County detective tracked a stolen car into Detroit at night a week later, he didn’t expect an ambush from as many as three men leaping from the vehicle with guns blazing. But that is what happened to deputy Bradley Reckling.
He died due to bullet wounds to the head, neck, and chest. His funeral was Friday. The nine-year veteran leaves behind three young daughters and a pregnant wife. Referring to both shootings at a news conference, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said: “Things like this are soul-crushing.”
They were part of a blur of mass shootings across metro Detroit and the United States that greeted a heat wave, a summer solstice, and a full moon like holiday fireworks exploding in the night sky. Oh, but let’s not overreact.
The National Rifle Association has taught us that gun violence cannot be solved with an “attack on the Second Amendment.” Of course not. That’s because this ambiguous, 18th-Century ad-on to the Constitution amounts to holy writ with people who profit and otherwise benefit from the gun culture’s fear, paranoia and bloodshed.
In other words, the gun dealers and the paranoid right-wing demagogues. So a different idea came last week from the Surgeon General of the United States, Vivek Murthy, who urged Americans to regard gun deaths not as an issue of constitutional “rights” but rather as a “public health crisis.”
In the manner of tobacco warnings on
packs of cigarettes, he suggested guns come with labels about their dangers. Perhaps they could pacify the gun lobby with a passive construction like: “WARNING: Proper use of this constitutionally legal and profitable product often results in cessation of human life.”
“There are solutions here, we don’t have to live like this,” Dr. Murthy said on CBS. “This is an issue that has infiltrated the psyche of America. People are scared.”
He also called for a ban on civilian use of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines.
“Firearm violence is an urgent public health crisis that has led to loss of life, unimaginable pain and profound grief for far too many Americans,” Dr. Murthy said in a public statement. His philosophy is catching on around Michigan, where a few straws in the wind suggest a shift in public mood.
One big clue came earlier this year in Oakland County when Prosecutor Karen McDonald successfully convicted the parents of Ethan Crumbley for involuntary manslaughter. Their son is serving a life sentence for killing four fellow students at Oxford high school in 2021.
His folks were his gun groomers. Another hint is how Michigan’s “red flag” law won support even in the U.S. Supreme Court in a Texas case when it
ruled, 8-1, in favor of a law that allows for temporary seizure of firearms from people under restraining orders regarding domestic violence.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel saluted that decision.
“The right to bear arms is not unlimited,” she told Fox 17 in Grand Rapids. “Common-sense gun laws are consistent with the Second Amendment . . . We don’t have to live the way we’ve been living.”
Her opinions dare to challenge the radical extremism of the “originalist” philosophy of Justice Clarence Thomas, who believes no law can contradict what the Founding Fathers had in mind way back when in the musket era.
And Thomas knows what they were thinking because he enjoys frequent séances at the Heritage Foundation with Founding Father James Madison.
“The Court and the government do not point to a single historical law revoking a citizen’s Second Amendment rights based on possible interpersonal violence,” Thomas wrote in his glib, one-person dissent.
This is the same Justice Thomas who sees nothing wrong in accepting, from rich men, gifts worth millions of dollars. Although his wife was an active participant in former President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” lie and insurrection, Thomas refuses to recuse
himself from cases stemming from Trump’s violent coup attempt.
This is also the same Justice Thomas who wrote gleefully the 6-3 majority opinion in the case forbidding the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from banning bump stocks, the firearm toys which turn regular semi-automatic guns into de facto machine guns.
Thomas found a convenient technicality pushed by the gun industry.
“Nothing changes when a semiautomatic rifle is equipped with a bump stock,” Thomas wrote. “Between every shot, the shooter must release pressure from the trigger and allow it to rest before re-engaging the trigger for another shot.”
Bump stocks like these helped a gunman kill 58 people and wound more than 500 others in Las Vegas in a 2017 massacre. To override even the Trump administration, which opposed bump stocks, Thomas no doubt consulted Founding Father Alexander Hamilton on the Ouija board.
No, wait. Hamilton died in a gun fight despite no bump stocks. However, modern historians speculate that Hamilton chose dueling pistols equipped with “hair triggers,” uncommon in 1804. This may have helped Founding Father Aaron Burr get off the killer shot. Justice Thomas would have approved.
Bullet barrages just part of the summer blur in metro Detroit.
DANIEL MEARS/DETROIT NEWS VIA AP
INTO THE I GOT SUPER-DUPER HIGH FOR 7/10, OR “DAB DAY”
By M.F. DiBella
So I’ve been writing a cannabis column for about two years now, focusing primarily on the dispensaries in Washtenaw County. My mission: to find the cleanest smoke in the Great Lakes State. Lately, I’ve been getting closer to the holy grail, but I haven’t done it all or smoked it all. When I lived in Philadelphia we used to use a gas mask, we called it the Stan Ipkiss. It got you fried for a whole day and you definitely fell out of the time-space continuum. It dawned on me that a Cali-based cannabis company called Stone Road sent me a sample of their powdery concentrate last year ahead of 7/10, known among stoners as “Dab Day,” or a celebration of cannabis oils and concentrates. I did some bong rips of it and it definitely got me way too high but Dabney Coleman (RIP), I’ve just never been that guy. It just so happened it was finally time to do an actual bloody dab ahead of all this year’s Dab Day festivities. DaBella, step right up. There was probably no need to ever do another. One dab to rule them all.
Not sure what sorts of things
dabbers get into on their holiday, I have a strong suspicion it involves dabbing their ever-loving brains out. Invariably, every dispensary in the area will have some sort of special. High Profile looks like it has some good deals and the artwork is cool and accurate. House Of Dank has a
whole gang of activities, too, including some Dab Day giveaways. A dab is mostly a fear and loathing high for an old-head doper like me. Don’t get me wrong: I prefer to smoke a mini-bong, a high-powered cartridge, or flower that is minimum 20% THC, but the dab is simply not
for everyone — THC content tends to be around a minimum of 80% for dabs. I’m glad I finally did one but a record heatwave descended with a brimstone summer storm just prior to my dab debut. It was a lot to contend with around my mild anxiety. I met with accomplished Detroit-area bartender, Andy Garris — a purveyor of high-end experiences, in terms of his attention to detail in the fading art of hospitality. Garris has been doing dabs for years so I sought him out as the ganjalier for this endeavor. He welcomed me into his Ann Arbor home while he was doing delicate knife work on produce for dinner. The preferred live rosin for the evening was from Information Entropy in Ann Arbor. Andy and I discussed our smoking habits and rituals before he got to torching up his dab rig for a quick demo. I generally don’t do edibles; Andy does it all. He had two kinds of live rosin on offer: Organic Mechanic was preferred for the novice over the nameless top-shelf IE jar adorned only with artwork from The Boondocks Treading on new ground can be both
The dab rig: where the magic happens.
M.F. DIBELLA
exhilarating and frightening, but I felt a kindred comfort with Andy who has been serving me royally at his establishments over the years. Tailored drinks and a ticket to ride every time.
From the outset of this “assignment,” my feeling was don’t let this interrupt your preferred consumption methods, but surely it is finally time to be intrepid enough to embrace a phenomenon (albeit over a decade late). The first I’d heard of dabbing was in 2010 when early adopters warned of its lethal punch. I heard things like, “Dude, I hit a dab and landed on the floor immediately,” or, “Yeah, it felt like the room was collapsing and I was just free-falling in a one-toke-over-theline echo chamber.” These reports were reason enough to swerve the business altogether and I really didn’t travel in a circle that sponsored extreme marijuana thresholds. At the same time, I duly noted Action Bronson regularly firing up dabs on his impactful show, Fuck, That’s Delicious (VICE Network, unfortunately).
Andy ignited his custom black flamethrower and thoroughly warmed the marble glass rosin housing; the rig itself was intricately bong-shaped, with several colors of pyrex and hand-blown glass. As instructed, I took a small portion of the yellow flake Organic Mechanic rosin on the tip of a scalpel-like implement. I swabbed the silver metal instrument into the bowl in a circular fashion and took a pretty long pull while the glass filled with a milky cumulus cloud. I was ambitious but I surely didn’t have the green lungs to clear all the billowing contents in one take. It took two hits. Lift off.
The origins of international Dab Day are murky and elusive, which is pretty apropos. It doesn’t seem like the dab community can really articulate its history but at this point it doesn’t really matter. Apparently the Grateful Dead lived at 710 Ashbury in the late ’60s and a rapper from the online cannabis community named TaskRok is credited with flipping the word “OIL” over in a dab chat room in the early 2010s.
A lot of the lore seems to be specula tive but it’s all part of the collective cannabis consciousness now, and it is truly an egalitarian affair. Essentially, all are welcome to get epically zooted.
A dab has legs, perhaps tentacles that stretch in devilish directions long after the hit. For me, I was stuck on a lasting high hours after doing one. I wouldn’t recommend being too far from your comfort zone to start out with, but my dabbling safari is most likely at its end. Maybe I’d try another one if I stumble upon it again, but I’m afraid I’d never sincerely seek it out. My head space wasn’t exactly liberated at the time of this exercise but my decision is essentially final. The dab didn’t make me go dark, but it was still 90 degrees in the shade well after 8 p.m., which surely didn’t help matters as I tried to come down from the stratosphere. This didn’t feel like Aldous Huxley’s Doors of Perception , it just felt like something to endure, more Interzone than a step towards nirvana.
Andy and I got to talking about
local dispensa ries and while he’s been to many in Washtenaw County, I recom mended Apothecare and Winewood Organics in Ann Arbor and Planet Jane in Ypsilanti. Dispensaries that use the caregiver model and ones with their own onsite grow are the best. The only dispensaries I’ve hit in the Detroit area are the excellent Flower Bowl on Warren Avenue and the Dispo in Hazel Park, which has great prices at all their branches. I’m still learning about dab culture and supply sourcing but for Washtenaw County I highly urge you to check
Planet Jane in Ypsilanti.
M.F. DIBELLA
out Winewood Organics: they use living soil and have an onsite grow. Apothecare has certified organic cannabis and also uses living soil. Planet Jane also has its own grow house and has the best flower in the state for me. Never tried their rosin, but I’m guessing it’s bang-for-your-buck stuff. Andy recommended Herbana for rosin in Ann Arbor.
As for flavors, there’s a bit of a consensus around the hash-based Peach Crescendo which was recently on bud menus at Quality Roots and Skymint; these are chains, so surely you can find one close to you. I’m not sure how the hash-based stuff will go over with dab connoisseurs. Hash is a tangent here and I’m a fan of the old-school chocolate Afghan, Moroccan, or Lebanese varieties. These are very hard to find now but you can get bubble hash-infused prerolls at most dispensaries. Winewood in Ann Arbor is the only dispensary I’ve found to sell bubble hash in jars.
I decided to stop into Winewood and talked briefly with owner and grower Eric Parkhurst, who said they were re-upping their rosin stock with a caregiver-driven Tropicana Cookies-based strain, but he had plenty of live resin on hand. You can get a gram of this Lemon Slushee live resin for 45 bones. Looks pretty primo. Peachy Hash Co. has also developed a following in the rosin ranks, probably something you need to order online but their products look tasty. Superb Cannabis Co. seems to have a bit of a strong following and does have products in Detroit-area dispensaries. Metro Times readers
have awarded a Best Concentrate four times in the Best of Detroit poll; the reigning holder of the title is Concentrate Kings with previous winners being Mitten Extracts, Green River Meds, and Uncle Morty’s Extracts.
I couldn’t tell you much about the actual flavor profile of the dab, it just tasted like a very strong bong hit. However, there is a very stonery aroma and aura from the dab; I think back to Stacy Keach’s cop character in Cheech & Chong’s Nice Dreams It’s a rabbit hole and I’m fairly certain I don’t want to go down there again.
Maybe it says something about our end-phase capitalist culture that kids want to get so fucking astronomically high to escape the terrors of the modern age. I don’t blame dabbers at all for that sentiment.
An hour into the dab hit, I felt sorely upset having not secured a proper dinner for the evening. It wasn’t a fiendish attack of the munchies but rather a notion that a good meal would have helped balance the high. Andy wondered aloud if what we were smoking was potentially detrimental to our health since neither of us could accurately
pinpoint the exact ingredients of the rosin or process used to make it. At the end of the day, “It gets you super high,” was the mantra. Winewood actually has a fairly indepth synopsis of dabbing (including preparation methods) but not being very scientific, I still don’t fully understand how concentrate is made. Maybe the dab blew out the last scientific brain cell in my aging, blunted head.
When I woke up the next day from a relatively deep sleep, I still felt groggy and some of the effects of the dab lingered. After some coffee and kombucha, I was finally exiting the dabiverse. So for me, it was a high that peaked about an hour after the dab but lasted for some 17 hours in total. It’s a bit of a commitment, shall we say. The other lasting thing I’m finding is olfactory hallucinations, like out of nowhere I get a heavy aromatic essence of the dab experience. It’s actually more pleasant than the dab was itself.
Maybe the final takeaway from this dab experiment is Andy’s notion that once you smoke something on that level, everything else you smoke doesn’t quite compare. I would tend to agree though the next day I hit my hippy stick vape pen loaded with a Sweet Tart strain from Herbal Solutions in Ypsilanti clocking 86.4% THC and it basically was a dab flashback, taking me back to that deathdefying interstellar mental space.
So I can say I was a Dabbage Patch Kid for a day. I celebrate cannabis in all its forms. Party on, dab dudes and dudettes. Enjoy your day.
Winewood in Ann Arbor is the only dispensary I’ve found to sell bubble hash in jars.
M.F. DIBELLA
M.F. DIBELLA
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, July 3
Live/Concert
Regina Belle, Jonathan Butler, Jarrod Lawson 7:30 p.m.; The Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre, 2600 E. Atwater St., Detroit; $15-$60.
Matt Lorusso Trio & Special Guests 8-11 p.m.; Northern Lights Lounge, 660 W. Baltimore St., Detroit; no cover.
The Kid LAROI, glaive, Chase Shakur 6:30 p.m.; The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $38.50-$78.50. The Ongoing Concept, Oyarsa, Ogemaw County, Ravenswood X 7 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $13.
ULTRAVIVID, EXXITWORLD 8 p.m.; Blind Pig, 208 S. First St., Ann Arbor; $10.
Thursday, July 4
Live/Concert
Not Our Independence Day: Concert and recitation of Frederick Douglass’s Speech, “What to the Negro is the Fourth of July ?” featuring the In The Tradition Jazz Band noon-4 p.m.; Shrine of the Black Madonna #1, 7625 Linwood St., Detroit; $20.
Karaoke/Open Mic
DARE-U-OKE 9 p.m.-midnight; Northern Lights Lounge, 660 W. Baltimore St., Detroit; no cover.
Drag Queen Karaoke 8 p.m.-2 a.m.; Woodward Avenue Brewers, 22646 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; no cover.
Friday, July 5
Live/Concert
Clint Black 8 p.m.; The Music Hall, 350 Madison Ave., Detroit; $65-$89.
Every Avenue, MAKEOUT, Rookie of the Year, Plainview 6 p.m.; The Shelter, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $20.
Sada Baby 8 p.m.; Diamondback Music Hall, 49345 S. Interstate 94 Service Dr., Belleville; $40-$60.
The Beach Boys, John Stamos 7:30 p.m.; Meadow Brook Amphitheatre, 3554 Walton Blvd., Rochester Hills; $29.50-$125.
Not Another Metal Show 7:30 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $15.
DJ/Dance
Dillon Francis b2b Good Times Ahead, GTA, QURL, Gina Maria 9 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $30-$35.
Saturday, July 6
Live/Concert
Deadlands, SEPTEMBER
MOURNING, Final Confession, Creeping Night 6 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $15.
Panda House, Death Dance, Something Missing, Normal Park, Loud Fox Cult 6:30 p.m.; Pike Room, 1 S. Saginaw, Pontiac; $15.
The Supersuckers, The Lord’s Of Altamont, Ravagers 7 p.m.; Small’s, 10339 Conant St., Hamtramck; $20.
Bossman, DLow, YTB Fatt, Babyface Ray 8 p.m.; The Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre, 2600 E. Atwater St., Detroit; $55-$175.
Whiskey Myers, Whitey Morgan, Reid Haughton 6:30 p.m.; Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill, 14900 Metropolitan Pkwy., Sterling
Heights; $29.50-$99.50.
Sunday, July 7
Live/Concert
Helion Prime, AfterTime, Wisher, Plethora 7 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff St., Hamtramck; $15.
Sarah Shook & The Disarmers 7 p.m.; Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $20.
Pet Mosquito, the Scummies, Disturbio Social 313, 3 the Hard Way 8 p.m.; Garden Bowl Lounge, 4120 Woodward Avenue, Detroit; no cover.
Monday, July 8
Live/Concert
Daryl Hall, Elvis Costello & The Imposters, Ch 6 p.m.; Detroit Masonic Temple Library, 500 Temple St, Detroit; $39.50-$129.50.
Sombr 6:30 p.m.; Pike Room, 1 S. Saginaw, Pontiac; $20.
DJ/Dance
Adult Skate Night 8:30-11 p.m.; Lexus Velodrome, 601 Mack Ave., Detroit; $5.
Tuesday, July 9
Live/Concert
Global Sunsets, Blackman & Arnold Trio 7-10 p.m.; Northern Lights Lounge, 660 W. Baltimore St., Detroit; no cover.
Jazzy Tuesdays on the rooftop
featuring the Denise Edwards Trio 8-11 p.m.; Godfrey Hotel, 1407 Michigan Ave,, Detroit; no cover. jxdn, GUNNAR, Lolo 6:30 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $29.
DJ/Dance
B.Y.O.R Bring Your Own Records Night 9 pm-midnight; The Old Miami, 3930 Cass Ave., Detroit; no cover.
Karaoke/Open Mic
Karaoke w/ The Millionaire Matt Welz 8 p.m.-midnight; Bowlero Lanes & Lounge, 4209 Coolidge Hwy., Royal Oak; no cover.
THEATER
Performance
Detroit Repertory Theatre
Between Riverside and Crazy; City Hall is demanding more than his signature, the Landlord wants him out, the liquor store is closed — and the Church won’t leave him alone. For ex-cop & recent widower Walter “Pops” Washington and his recently paroled son Junior, when the struggle to hold on to one of the last great rent controlled apartments on Riverside Drive collides with old wounds, sketchy new houseguests, and a final ultimatum, it seems the old days are dead and gone.
Detroit rapper Sada Baby performs at the Diamondback Music Hall on Friday. KAHN SANTORI DAVISON
Winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The theatre lobby opens 1 hour before showtimes for food & drinks; $25 in advance, $30 general admission; Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 3 & 8 p.m.; and Sundays, 2 p.m.
COMEDY Improv
Go Comedy! Improv Theater Go Comedy! All-Star Showdown The All-Star Showdown is a highly interactive improvised game show. With suggestions from the audience, our two teams will battle for your laughs. The Showdown is like “Whose Line is it Anyway,” featuring a series of short improv games, challenges, and more; $20; Fridays, Saturdays, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m.
Stand-Up Opening
Caesars Palace Windsor - Augustus Ballroom Anthony Jeselnik: Bones and All; $33-$88; Sunday, July 7, 8 p.m.
Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle
Blain Hill with Jacob Russell and Madison Thomas Blain Hill is a comedian, writer, and podcaster from Detroit. A mainstay of the Detroit comedy scene for more than a decade, Blain has entertained audiences all across the country with his sharp, original writing and deadpan delivery. Blain is a regular performer at Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle, the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase, and The Detroit House Of Comedy and has shared the stage with greats like Barry Crimmins, Jimmy Pardo, and Sam Morril; $25; Friday July 5, 7:15-8:45 p.m.; and Saturday July 6, 7-8:30 & 9:30-11 p.m.
Continuing This Week Stand-up
Blind Pig Blind Pig Comedy FREE Mondays, 8 p.m.; no cover.
The Independent Comedy Club at Planet Ant The Sh*t Show Open Mic: Every Friday & Saturday at The Independent. A weekly open mic featuring both local amateurs and touring professionals. Doors open at 8:30 p.m. and the show begins at 9 p.m. The evening always ends with karaoke in the attached Ghost Light Bar! Doors and Sign up 8:30 p.m. Show at 9 p.m. $5 suggested donation. Attached bar Ghost Light opens at 7 p.m. $5 suggested donation
The Unorthodox Business Club
The Love to Laugh July Comedy Series, hosted by Comedian T.Barb, will feature a new funny set of comedians each week at the beautiful Unorthodox Business Club. Known for her “Only In Detroit” viral series, T.Barb is bringing her funny friends with plenty of surprises. Boasting great drinks and food (vegan options available) with a comfortable patio for summer vibes, Monday will be your favorite night
in July with sounds by DJ SkyeHigh! 20 Mondays, 8 p.m.-midnight.
FILM
Screening
Longway Planetarium First Friday Through the Looking Glass: A Discussion of the Art of Microscopy; From the earliest rudimentary lenses to the marvels of modern science that are today’s stateof-the-art microscopes, microscopy has revolutionized our understanding of the natural world. Beginning with the Nimrud (Layard) lens, a piece of rock crystal that dates back to the 8th century BC, through modern-day devices like electron microscopes and scanning probe microscopes, we will explore how microscopes have been used and improved over time. Join us on this enlightening voyage through the annals of microscopy as we celebrate the minds and inventions that have shaped our understand; $8; first Friday of every month, 6-7 p.m.
ART
Performance art opening
Spread Art One Single Rose 2nd Poetry Love Festival. The 2nd Annual Poetry Love Festival celebrating love for Detroit poets and spoken word artists in an afternoon of poetry with workshops, audio, video and performances led by Detroit poets. Workshop and readings by Michigan Poet Laureate Nandi Comer, 2019 Kresge Eminent Artist Gloria House, and other phenomenal wordsmiths as well as special presentations presented for the love of the word. No cover; Sunday July 7, 2-6 p.m.
Continuing This
Week
Detroit Shipping Company 313 Comedy Show; Your host to Live Comedy in The D. This show features rotating lineups of some of the best comedians in the country and globally. Shows are every Sunday at 7 p.m. No cover; Sundays, 7-8:30 p.m.
Art Exhibition
Cranbrook Art Museum Constellations & Affinities: Selections from the Cranbrook Collection “Constellations and Affinities: Selections from the Cranbrook Collection” is now open at Cranbrook Art Museum! Sampling from the Cranbrook Collection, this ongoing exhibition gathers a broad and eclectic sampling of objects made by artists, architects, and designers associated with Cranbrook Academy of Art. Arranged like a contemporary curiosity cabinet, the works on view span numerous media and represent a broad range of practices
26 July 3-9, 2024 | metrotimes.com
taught at the Academy. Works have been arranged in various constellations to compare and contrast certain affinities in materials, processes, and approaches among the artists while acknowledging the singular artistic vision of each maker. Museum Admission, Free on Thursdays Wednesdays-Sundays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) Thursdays at the Museum: Highlights of the Permanent Collection Free TuesdaysSundays, 1 p.m., Fridays, 6 p.m. and Saturdays, Sundays, 3 p.m.; no cover; Thursdays, 1 p.m.
Habatat Galleries 52nd Annual International Glass Show (GLASS52); Habatat Galleries Complex, in Royal Oak, the oldest and largest art gallery dedicated to contemporary glass, presents Glass52, The International Glass Exhibition that is the largest exhibition of contemporary art glass in the world. This breathtaking exhibition, featuring 400 examples of stunning studio glass art, is the highlight of the year for Habatat. Through Aug. 30.
PARC Art Gallery The Light Show; PARC Art Gallery announces a new art exhibit, The Light Show. It includes 27 artists and over 55 one-of-a-kind pieces of art. The gallery is open daily 10am to 8pm, except for holidays. This show will be on display until Aug. 1. Featured artists: Molly Bell, David Bowling, Cheryl Chidester, Tina Creguer, Ellen Doyle, Jaclyn Gordyan, James Guy, Tim Haber, Terri Haranczak, Kseniya Hauptmann, Vanessa Howson, Susan Hunt, Michaele Kadell, Alexander Kautz, Mike Kroll, Dawn Krull, Mary Lane, Jen Muse, Brian Peck, Thomas Rosenbaum, Bill Schahfer, Valerie Shelton Miller, Victor Spieles, Leonid Tikh, Nancy Wanchik, Joan Witte, and Lori Zoumbaris. Through Aug. 1.
Stamelos Gallery Center, UMDearborn Piece by Piece: Recent Work from Regional Fiber Artists; The Stamelos Gallery Center is proud to share Piece by Piece: Recent Work from Regional Fiber Artists with the campus and greater community. Fiber lends itself to an exploration of the potency of being human. The familiarity of a frayed edge, a softness to comfort us, or a thickness to protect us; fabric reminds us of how we need to be held. It takes us back to the ways we care for each other, the ways our ancestors have blended need and beauty by weaving, knotting, spinning, dyeing, and making for centuries. This medium is not only artistic in practicum, but holds a necessity in its utility in our lives. How can we learn from textiles to weave our communities more strongly? In a place like Southeast Michigan, where so many holes have been torn, threads left frayed, reaching for a hand without the tools to stitch us back together - fiber
art is helping piece together a vibrant community, reminding ourselves that we all hold vibrancy in our individuality. Piece by Piece explores what contemporary fiber making in the area looks like today, and where it will take us in the future. The exhibition features work by Yeager Edwards, Taylor Jenkins, Shaina Kasztelan, Bella Kiser Kit Parks, Kayla Powers, Jessie Rice, Leslie Rogers, Katie Schulman, Melissa Webb, and Maggie Wiebe. This exhibition will be on display until August 18. For further information and disability accommodation, please contact Laura Cotton, Art Curator and Gallery Manager at lacotton@umich.edu and check the website www.umdearborn. edu/stamelos. Through Aug. 18, 5-7 pm.; Fiber is not only artistic in practicum, but holds a necessity in its utility in our lives. How can we learn from textiles to weave our communities more strongly? In a place like South East Michigan, where so many holes have been torn, reaching for a hand without the tools to stitch us back together – fiber art is helping piece together a vibrant community, reminding ourselves that we all hold vibrancy in our individuality. Piece by Piece explores what contemporary fiber making in the area looks like today, and where it will take us in the future.
University of Michigan Museum of Art Unsettling Histories: Legacies of Slavery and Colonialism Trace the fascinating and sometimes. troubling stories behind the world’s most desired ceramics. The technology and taste for blue and white porcelain originated in China in the fourteenth century, and quickly set off a worldwide craze that lasted five hundred years. Installed across four different galleries at UMMA, this exhibition explores that history and tracks the influence of blue and white ceramics across the globe. free Tuesdays-Sundays.; Following years of research into the Museum’s and University of Michigan’s relationships with Africa and African art collections, We Write To You About Africa is a complete reinstallation and doubling of the Museum’s space dedicated to African art. free Tuesdays-Sundays.; This exhibition proactively engages with debates about restitution and the ethics of museums’ owning African heirlooms collected during the era of colonization. The investigation and research into 11 works of African art will be conducted publicly — visitors will have access to documents, photographs, and correspondence that will help UMMA develop a better understanding of each object’s history, grappling in real time with questions surrounding legal and ethical ownership of these artworks. Though complex, this project presents exciting opportunities for museum transparency and creating new pathways for relationship-building with partners in Africa and its diaspora.
FOOD
A new, yet familiar, Dutch Girl Donuts
By Tom Perkins
Dutch Girl Donuts
19000 Woodward Ave., Detroit 313-826-6005
instagram.com/dutchgirldetroit $18 for a dozen
Wheelchair accessible
By now it’s pretty widely known that Dutch Girl Donuts, the iconic shop on Woodward that occupies a spot in the metro Detroit food pantheon alongside the greats like Faygo, American Coney Island, and Loui’s Pizza, is once again open under new ownership.
The obvious question is: “Is the new Dutch Girl as good as the old?” We decided to investigate, and ate more doughnuts in a week than most people probably eat in a year.
When it comes to new owners restoring a favorite old food business, there are plenty of pitfalls and questions. Did they get new equipment? Does the old seasoned equipment simply impart that classic flavor in a way that the new does not? Did they use the same recipes? Did they use the same kitchen staff? Did they decide to buy ingredients from a different supplier, either because they
cheaped out or upgraded or wanted to use a friend’s company? Did they cut any seemingly unnecessary corners?
Even the subtlest change can screw up the end product.
The new owner is Paddy Lynch, who among other ventures is behind The Schvitz bathhouse, and he brought on a team that includes Jarred Gild, who helped run Western Market in Ferndale for 14 years. They decided to keep all the original recipes, but Gild concedes they didn’t know much about making doughnuts, and there are a lot of ways to screw up a yeast-raised doughnut, which is what a deceptively complex treat.
One has to consider humidity, barometric pressure, and temperature. If they are under-proofed then they come out too dense, if they are over-proofed they suck up oil and are heavy, greasy, and gross. So among the first things Lynch’s team did was track down re-hire as much of the old Dutch Girl crew as possible.
“It’s very much a craft to get the doughnuts right and that expertise of the staff coming back — that’s what made it work,” Gild says.
They also stuck with the same sup-
pliers, and felt no need to upgrade as Dutch Girl already used high-quality ingredients, Gild says. They would have used all the original equipment, he adds, but someone stole a bunch of it while the restaurant was closed. Since there aren’t a ton of doughnut shops opening annually, the new equipment had to be custom made.
So what’s the verdict? Yeah, it tastes like the OG Dutch Girl that I remember. It’s awesome.
Dutch Girl does yeast-raised doughnuts, which are lighter and airy, and cake doughnuts, which are a bit denser and crumblier.
Among the highlights was the Bavarian cream, with rich filling and a lovely chocolate frosting slathered across the top. The red velvet doughnut hole, which Gild said is sort of a combination of yeast and cake styles, is also excellent. Dutch Girl is partnering with Berkley’s Ray’s Ice Cream to do a red velvet doughnut ice cream, which they’ll be sampling it at the shop on the weekend of July 5.
The sprinkle doughnut, a new addition to the roster, comes coated with a thick layer of sprinkles and frosting, and is as bright in flavor as it is visually. The
glazed doughnut with apple filling is relatively chill in comparison and I loved it. A surprise was a cinnamon raisin doughnut with a nice sweet and mellow flavor, and interesting texture with the pops of raisin.
Those I didn’t love were more a matter of taste than quality. Folks — I don’t care who is making it, lemon filling in doughnuts is weird and unnatural. Ditto for the coconut.
The fruit-filled strawberry and raspberries doughnuts are solid with the right ratios of filling and casing, and the chocolate doughnut with chocolate frosting is super intense — my kind of dessert.
Dutch Girl is still getting its footing and nailing down consistency, Gild says, and there have been a few naysayers who claim the doughnuts aren’t the same as when their grandpa brought them some in the 1980s. The new owners can’t bring grandpa back, Gild jokes, but all in all, he and Lynch and the old team did it right. Dutch Girl is still Dutch Girl, and Detroit is blessed to have the institution restored by a crew that didn’t feel the need to mess with a winning formula.
Is the new Dutch Girl Donuts as good as the old? We investigate.
TOM PERKINS
CULTURE
The day Detroit fell without firing a shot
An excerpt from Raw Deal: The Indians of the Midwest and the Theft of Native Lands
A little background: Detroit has a long history with the Indians of Michigan. It was established by the French in 1701 as a fortified trading post in the wake of 60 years of warfare between the Iroquois and the tribes of the Midwest. Dubbed “the straits” (détroit) by the French, early Fort Pontchartrain was intended as a friendly meeting ground to establish trade between various tribes who were no longer enemies. Acquired by the British during the French and Indian War, it was passed on to the United States after the American Revolution.
By the early 1800s, Detroit was still a dismal frontier outpost surrounded by swamps and far from the military power of the newborn United States. In 1812 a powerful confederation of tribes under Shawnee war chief Tecumseh gathered to reclaim their land with the help of British troops. Little did American authorities realize that the fall of Detroit was imminent…
The carving of the Michigan Territory began in earnest with the Treaty of Detroit, signed in November, 1807 by 30 chieftains of the Odawa, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Wyandot along with Revolutionary War hero General William Hull, who was governor of the newly-created territory and its superintendent of Indian Affairs.
The treaty ceded a pie-slice of southeastern Michigan extending from present-day Toledo north to the state’s “thumb” and then west to what is now the city of Jackson. For this massive purchase of eight million acres, the U.S. Government paid just .0012 dollars per acre — a little over one-tenth of a cent — possibly the equivalent of about two-and-a-half cents per acre today. As was the case with other treaties signed with the Indians, the United States government paid pennies per acre — or less — to Indian tribes for their land and then sold the acreage at a huge profit to white settlers.
Written out in elegant script on two
By Robert Downes
pages of parchment and approved by President Thomas Jefferson, the 1807 Treaty of Detroit guaranteed the Indians small parcels of land to live on within the ceded territory and provided them with “ten thousand dollars, in money, goods, implements of husbandry, or domestic animals...” The tribes were promised the services of two blacksmiths for a ten-year period. They were also guaranteed hunting and fishing rights on the ceded land, “as long as they remain the property of the United States.”
The treaty became a template for many treaties to come throughout the Midwest. It also became a template for broken promises, since Congress often fell far short of delivering the cash, supplies and services that had been agreed upon.
What could it hurt?
One might wonder why Native peoples opted to cede their ancestral lands when the threat of removal to west of the Mississippi was still more of a rumor than a reality. Simple economics forced the issue in 1807. Egged on by traders, the Indians had scoured southeastern Michigan clean of fur-bearing animals and there was nothing left to trade for muskets, kettles, blankets, tools, and other necessities except for their land. Then too, they had little understanding as to how many white settlers were waiting in the wings, or what ceding their land would actually mean. To some it may have seemed as nonsensical as the idea of ceding the sun or the wind; what could it hurt? In time, Native emissaries would travel to New York, Philadelphia, and Washington to learn to their dismay that the whites were as numerous as the leaves of the forest, but the ramifications of this onslaught may not have been anticipated by the Indians in 1807. Not all of the Indians were happy with the treaty, however. Some of the Native signatories sided with the British soon thereafter as part of Tecumseh’s alliance in the War of 1812, while others stayed neutral, taking a wait-and-see approach as to which side
would come out on top, the Brits or the Yanks.
Rebuilding Detroit
Sealing the deal in 1807 was one of the high points of Hull’s career. He had arrived in Detroit only two years earlier just after the whole town burned down as the result of sparks flying out of a baker’s pipe and igniting a pile of hay. Together with newly-arrived judge Augustus Elias Brevoort Woodward, the two masterminded the rebuilding of Detroit, with Woodward designing the streets arranged like spokes from the waterfront. From this pinnacle of achievement Hull’s career and reputation plummeted to the bottom five years later when he was duped into surrendering Detroit to a lesser force of the British and their Indian allies during the War of 1812.
The war had a number of causes. For years the British Navy had been kidnapping sailors off American merchant ships on the slimmest of pretenses, and then even from a U.S. warship, impressing them into lives of virtual slavery aboard their own ships. American trade with Europe was also suppressed amid the Napoleonic Wars, causing economic turmoil at home. Add to this, the Brits were rabble-rousing the Indians, who raided American settlements from the safety of British Canada. The administration of James Madison declared war after Britain refused to end its practice of plundering American ships. Unfortunately, news that Britain intended to end the impressment of American sailors arrived weeks after the war got underway.
Surrender at Mackinac Island
The capture of Detroit was preceded by the bloodless surrender of Mackinac Island on July 17, 1812.
In mid-July, fort commander Lieutenant Porter Hanks noticed that the normally-friendly Odawa had developed a certain “coolness.” A friendly Odawa also told him that large numbers of Indians from many tribes were gathering at the British fort on St. Joseph Island lying thirty miles to
the north. Hanks dispatched Michael Dousman, the captain of the local militia company, as a “confidential person” to find out what was going on.
Dousman had paddled his canoe about 12 miles across the gray-green waters of Lake Huron when he spotted an armada of 70 war canoes flying pennants of eagle feathers and streamers of cloth and willow fronds, filled with 600 warriors painted for war. Accompanying them were 50 British soldiers aboard the schooner Caledonia and ten bateaux bearing 150 Canadian militiamen. Taken captive, he was pumped for information by British Captain Charles Roberts, whose force landed on the north end of the island at 3 a.m.
Wishing to avoid bloodshed, Captain Roberts sent Dousman to warn the residents of the town below the fort to take shelter, making him promise not to spill the beans to the American troops. Roused at 6 a.m. by Dousman knocking on their doors, the townspeople fled to a stout distillery for safety. Their flight was reported to Lt. Hanks by the post’s surgeon, who lived in town. Lt. Hanks mustered his troops and prepared to make a stand.
Meanwhile British Captain Roberts and his force made their way along a rough track across the island to the heights above the fort, setting up a 6-pounder cannon, which was capable of firing an iron ball about the size of a softball. Easily maneuvered and capable of knocking down walls, firing shrapnel or canisters full of slugs like a giant shotgun, or skipping a ball across a field of troops, the 6-pounder was the artillery of choice in battles ranging from the Revolution to the Civil War. Even so, its 870-lb. barrel and carriage of several hundred pounds hauled without the aid of horses or oxen made for a tough slog up the rough trail to the heights above the fort.
Down below, Lt. Hanks and his 61 men had seven cannon, but all of them were trained on the harbor, and in any event, their cannon could not fire uphill even if they’d been wheeled around. Nor was withstanding a siege possible, since the fort’s only well was
located outside its walls. Later that day, three townspeople arrived and talked Hanks into surrendering — an easy decision, considering the odds. He and his men didn’t even know that war had been declared. As was a common practice at the time, Hanks and his men were set free by Captain Roberts after swearing a gentleman’s agreement that they would not take up arms against the British.
Siege of Detroit
Weeks later in August, British Major General Isaac Brock laid siege to Detroit with a force of 1,300 soldiers, 600 warriors, and two gunships, bombarding the town from across the river in Canada. For his part, American General Hull had 2,500-3,000 troops and militia and 700 civilians sequestered behind Detroit’s palisaded walls. Alas, their supply lines were cut off and they were far from any hope of rescue.
Hull had accepted the order to secure Detroit with great reluctance, and then only because no other general was available. His orders included attacking the British Fort Malden at Amherstburg across the river in Canada. The American strategy called for conquering Canada in order to end Indian attacks on U.S. soil from their sanctuary beyond the border.
But Hull was the wrong man for the job. Nearly 60, he had suffered a stroke and was debilitated by additional health problems and personal tragedies. With supplies from Ohio cut off by Tecumseh’s warriors and British troops, Hull began to crack, speaking in a trembling voice and dribbling tobacco juice down his beard and clothes. Worse, 400 hand-picked men, the cream of his troops, had gone off to try re-opening the supply lines to Ohio and had elected not to return to Detroit’s defense.
Psychological warfare played a major role in the siege of Detroit. General Brock had arranged for a British courier to be captured along with a bogus document, which claimed that 5,000 Indians were preparing to attack the fort. Learning that the fort at Mackinac Island had been taken, Hull said its defeat “opened the Northern hive of Indians, and they were swarming down in every direction.” In a panic over the Indians and his blocked supply lines, he abruptly canceled the attack on Fort Malden, outraging his officers and crushing troop morale. “He is a coward and will not risque his person,” said one of his soldiers.
A good laugh
Huddled behind the log palisade of Detroit, Hull and his men watched as long lines of Shawnee war chief Tecumseh’s warriors paraded past the fort, uttering hideous war cries and gesturing with their weapons before sneaking around unseen behind a low bank of earth to repeat the charade. One can imagine the warriors had a good laugh back in their camp as the subterfuge went on.
Prior experience with Indian warfare had shown that native warriors might be content to simply plunder their foes and knock them about a bit if they surrendered, but a bloodbath was almost certain if they took losses in battle. Native war chiefs were far less cavalier about the loss of a single man compared to commanders in the Napoleonic and American Civil wars, who sent tens of thousands to their deaths in mass attacks and then slept well at night. The loss of a single warrior was devastating to his family and his band; for who then would care for his wife and children? A war chief was judged by how many men he brought home safely, perhaps even more than the victories he scored.
Of course, the slaughter of innocent non-combatants was hardly confined to that of Native warriors. Across the ocean amid the war with Napoleon, hundreds, if not thousands of unarmed Spanish citizens who refused to surrender to the British were killed by Lord Wellington’s troops at the towns of Badajoz and San Sebastian in an orgy of mass rape, murder, and arson that went on for days even while the war in America was being waged. An appalled British officer wrote that, “Men, women and children were shot in the streets for no other apparent reason than pastime; every species of
outrage was publicly committed in the houses, churches and streets, and in a manner so brutal that a faithful recital would be too indecent and too shocking to humanity.”
Surrendering to the Indians in the hope of being spared was a reasonable option, and Hull would have learned that not a soul was harmed by the warriors at Fort Mackinac. Gen. Brock played on well-known fears of a massacre, advising Hull that he had little control over his Indian allies, whose blood was up. “It is far from my inclination to join in a war of extermination,” he wrote to Hull, “but you must be aware, that the numerous body of Indians who have attached themselves to my troops, will be beyond control the moment the contest commences.”
Horrified
“My God! What shall I do with these women and children!” Hull exclaimed on receiving Brock’s message. Horrified at the thought of a bloodbath, he was bamboozled into surrendering Detroit on August 16, 1812 without firing a shot or even consulting his officers.
Outnumbered two-to-one, British General Brock had nonetheless crossed the river with 330 British regulars, 400 militia, and 600 Indians. His force captured 2,500 American troops, thirty-three cannon, and the Adams brig of war, including the entire Michigan Territory. An admiring Tecumseh exclaimed, “Now this is a man!” But a man for only a short time; Brock was killed in battle at Niagara two months later.
Hull later claimed that Detroit had been running low on ammunition and cannon balls, but Brock’s troops were astonished to find more than five thousand pounds of powder and huge quantities of shot at the fort. Hull was court-martialed in 1814, convicted of cowardice and dereliction of duty, and sentenced to die by firing squad. He dodged those bullets, however, after President James Madison pardoned him in lieu of his age and service in the American Revolution.
One of the ironies of the fall of Detroit was that three days later, Hull’s nephew, Captain Isaac Hull, would capture the British warship, Guerriere while commanding the U.S.S. Constitution, sending shock waves through the mighty British Empire. Isaac Hull was hailed as a national hero, while his uncle’s reputation went “hull down.”
The 1807 Treaty of Detroit signed with clan marks.
COURTESY PHOTO
CULTURE
Savage Love Allowances
By Dan Savage
: Q For the longest time, I’ve been into the feederism kink. It’s specifically the weight gain aspect of this kink — making myself or others bigger — that turns me on. I’ve always felt uneasy about this due to the health risks and have kept it hidden. I recently got a wonderful girlfriend, our relationship is great, and we have really great sex. She’s curvy but wants to lose weight. I also want to lose weight with her and for both of us to be healthy. But occasionally, I’m overcome with the urge to get into weight gain kink play. I told my girlfriend about my kink, and although she accepts it and accepts me, she doesn’t want to pursue anything related to it. When I feel the need to indulge this fetish, I scratch the itch with strangers I meet online. I wish I could just turn this part of me off and enjoy the wonderful relationship that I have. Can a fetish like this be made to fade over time, or am I just going to try and focus on other things when these urges come on?
—Can I Yuck My Own Yum?
A: For a kinkster, finding a romantic partner who shares your kink is wonderful but rare; finding a romantic partner who doesn’t share your kink but who’s willing to indulge you — finding someone who’s GGG (and being GGG in return) — is the next best thing. But people with truly niche kinks typically wind up in relationships with romantic partners who don’t share their kinks and are unwilling or unable to indulge them. Some kinks are too extreme for even the most GGG partner and, in some cases, a kink — however mild — may be a libido killer or an emotional trigger for a vanilla partner. Someone who suffers from claustrophobia can’t spend the night in a bondage box; someone with food issues won’t be able to indulge a feeder/gainer kink. (For the record: I’m not suggesting your partner has food issues just because she wants to lose a little weight.)
But unlike old soldiers, kinks don’t fade away, CIYMOY, and like Alex Forrest, they will not be ignored. So, a kinky person — particularly a kinky person in a relationship with a vanilla
partner who can’t or won’t go there — needs an outlet that allows them to explore their kinks in a safe and controlled manner. Without that outlet — without that allowance — a kinkster will seize or create an opportunity to get their kink on, often with a disinhibiting assist from drugs and alcohol, and these seized opportunities have a much greater chance of blowing up lives and destroying relationships.
Seeing as your girlfriend already knows about your kink, CIYMOY, she must know — she should assume — that you’re having a wank about it once in a while. And if not getting to act out your fantasies IRL is the price of admission you’re willing to pay to be with her, allowing you to explore your kinks with strangers on the Internet — allowing you to swap feeder/gainer stories and memes with people you’re never going to meet IRL — is the price she should pay, and pay happily, to be with you.
: Q I’m a woman in my mid-thirties dating a man in his late thirties. From the beginning, my boyfriend has struggled to come from PIV with me and has to jack himself off in order to climax. He also never comes from my blowjobs or my hand jobs. This has obviously led to a lot of animosity and finger pointing. He says this has never been an issue for him in the past, and the problem is that I lack sexual stamina. He says we have poor sexual chemistry. He has also said he can’t feel much during PIV sex and suggested I start doing kegels. He said this after I had already tried introducing toys, sexy outfits, and having discussions about what he likes. I suggested he stop watching porn and that he should masturbate less and use a pocket pussy when he does to help loosen the death grip, as I cannot compete with what I see him doing when he jacks off. He refused. I feel like I have been making all the effort here, and he isn’t making any effort at all. Am I the problem? His sex life prior to me involved a lot of BDSM and group sex, which concerns me. If that’s what he needs, I can’t provide it. He tells me that he doesn’t need all that but part of me doesn’t believe him. What I know for sure is that I can’t be solely responsible for his orgasms. Is this a problem I can solve on my own or does he have some role to play here? We have been seeing each other for seven months and nothing has improved this situation.
—Boyfriends Rejects All Sexual Suggestions
A: Jesus Christ, break the fuck up already.
While some men who suffer from death-grip syndrome (DGS) manage to retrain their dicks using pocket pussies and/or a lighter touch during masturbation — and are now able to have “look Ma, no hands” orgasms — not all men who appear to have DGS actually have DGS. Just as some women require the sensations only a vibrator can provide in order get off, BRASS, some men require the kind of intense pressure only a fist can provide in order to get off. And just as women who rely on vibrators aren’t broken and don’t need to be fixed, men who rely on their own hand to finish and/or get themselves to the point of orgasmic inevitability before plunging back aren’t broken and don’t need fixing either.
Now, maybe your boyfriend used to get off from PIV alone during those group BDSM sex sessions and maybe he didn’t — he could be lying when he said he’s never had this “problem” before (again: It might not be a problem, it might just be how his dick works) — but he doesn’t seem to be enjoying the sex he’s having with you anymore than you’re enjoying the sex you’re having with him. So, unless you two share a secret kink for slowly shredding another person’s ego and sexual self-esteem, I can’t understand why you’re still fucking each other.
To be clear, BRASS, I don’t think you’re the asshole … or I don’t think you’re the only asshole. A lot of people make the mistake you did — a lot of people assume that a male partner who needs to touch themselves to get off isn’t attracted to them or is somehow broken — but your boyfriend responded to your mistaken-but-made-in-good-faith “suggestions” with the most demeaning shit he could possibly say. If he didn’t feel any sexual chemistry and/ or your pussy really didn’t do it for him, he could’ve and should’ve ended the relationship with a face-saving/ ego-sparing banality (“It’s not you, it’s me”) or with the truth, gently told (“I don’t feel like we click on a sexual level”). Opting to blame your pussy was a choice — a mean-spirited and vindictive choice.
TLDR: the sex is bad, the guy’s an asshole, and it’s not getting any better. DTMFA.
: Q My husband is into fetish and BDSM. I am not. I tag along with him to kink events and play parties — at his request — and sometimes play matchmaker by striking up conversations with guys he thinks are hot. The issue is that some of these guys only
want to “play” with me or with us if we’re a package deal. This doesn’t happen that often, but it hurts my husband’s feelings when it does, and since he can’t take his disappointment out on some guy who walked away, he takes it out on me. He’s very socially awkward, which seems pretty common among the kinky gay men I’ve met through him, so he doesn’t want to go to these events alone. But I don’t want to go if he’s going to blow up at me because some random rubber twunk wasn’t into him. The have been plenty of times when I played matchmaker successfully, and he wound up having a great time with someone, but he obsesses about the times he got rejected and will be — if I may be blunt — kind of an insufferable asshole about it for weeks. A big fetish event is coming up, and I have to decide whether to go, and I’m leaning against it. If it matters, I never play with anyone else, as I have a very low libido, and I’m satisfied with the vanilla sex I have with my husband. So it’s not like I’m getting anything out of this sexually. I’m content to let him do his thing and to help out. I’m fine being the “bait.” I’m just sick of being the bad guy.
—Vanilla Whipping Boy
A: here’s a middle ground between going to these events with your husband to play the matchmaker and not going to these events at all — and that would be going to these events and refusing to play the matchmaker. But if you were to go to this upcoming event and chatted people up and didn’t include your husband in conversation, he’s almost guaranteed to blow up at you about that. So, as trivial as the issue might seem, I’m gonna suggest booking a session or two with a kink-positive couples’ counselor. Hearing from someone else — hearing from a credentialed expert he’s paying hundreds of dollars to see — that he should be showering you with gratitude for tagging along to these events, not giving you grief when some rubber twunk isn’t into him, might help your husband realize how good he’s got it (you’re the good thing he’s got) even when he doesn’t get it (the rubber twunk who wasn’t interested).
Got problems? Yes, you do! Email your question for the column to mailbox@ savage.love!
Or record your question for the Savage Lovecast at savage.love/askdan!
Podcasts, columns and more at savage.love.
CULTURE Free Will Astrology
By Rob Brezsny
ARIES: March 21 – April 19
The “nirvana fallacy” is the belief that because something is less than utterly perfect, it is gravely defective or even irredeemably broken. Wikipedia says, “The nirvana fallacy compares actual things with unrealistic, idealized alternatives.” Most of us are susceptible to this flawed approach to dealing with the messiness of human existence. But it’s especially important that you avoid such thinking in the coming weeks. To inspire you to find excellence and value in the midst of untidy jumbles and rumpled complexities, I recommend you have fun with the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi. It prizes and praises the soulful beauty found in things that are irregular, incomplete, and imperfect.
TAURUS: April 20 – May 20
You are coming to a fork in the road — a crux where two paths
diverge. What should you do? Author Marie Forleo says, “When it comes to forks in the road, your heart always knows the answer, not your mind.” Here’s my corollary: Choose the path that will best nourish your soul’s desires. Now here’s your homework, Taurus: Contact your Future Self in a dream or meditation and ask that beautiful genius to provide you with a message and a sign. Plus, invite them to give you a wink with either the left eye or right eye.
GEMINI: May 21 – June 20
VIRGO: August 23 – Sept. 22
On those rare occasions when I buy furniture from online stores, I try hard to find sources that will send me the stuff already assembled. I hate spending the time to put together jumbles of wood and metal. More importantly, I am inept at doing so. In alignment with astrological omens, I recommend you take my approach in regard to every situation in your life during the coming weeks. Your operative metaphor should be this: Whatever you want or need, get it already fully assembled.
LIBRA: Sept. 23 – Oct. 22
then. Are there key events from the old days that you have repressed or ignored? Raise them up into the light of consciousness.
CAPRICORN: Dec. 22 – Jan. 19
When Adragon De Mello was born under the sign of Libra in 1976, his father had big plans for him. Dad wanted him to get a PhD in physics by age 12, garner a Nobel Prize by 16, get elected President of the United States by 26, and then become head of a world government by 30. I’d love for you to fantasize about big, unruly dreams like that in the coming weeks — although with less egotism and more amusement and adventurousness. Give yourself a license to play with amazing scenarios that inspire you to enlarge your understanding of your own destiny. Provide your future with a dose of healing wildness.
Last year, you sent out a clear message to life requesting help and support. It didn’t get the response you wished for. You felt sad. But now I have good news. One or both of the following may soon occur. 1. Your original message will finally lead to a response that buoys your soul. 2. You will send out a new message similar to the one in 2023, and this time you will get a response that makes you feel helped and supported. Maybe you didn’t want to have to be so patient, Gemini, but I’m glad you refused to give up hope.
CANCER: June 21 – July 22
Happy Independence Day, my Red White and Blue Brethren!! Enjoy this one to the fullest…it could be our last. Now light that sombitch Bobby!!! OPEN THE 4TH 3PM-2AM
The Fates have authorized me to authorize you to be bold and spunky. You have permission to initiate gutsy experiments and to dare challenging feats. Luck and grace will be on your side as you consider adventures you’ve long wished you had the nerve to entertain. Don’t do anything risky or foolish, of course. Avoid acting like you’re entitled to grab rewards you have not yet earned. But don’t be self-consciously cautious or timid, either. Proceed as if help and resources will arrive through the magic of your audacity. Assume you will be able to summon more confidence than usual.
LEO: July 23 – August 22
All of us, including me, have aspects of our lives that are stale or unkempt, even decaying. What would you say is the most worn-out thing about you? Are there parts of your psyche or environment that would benefit from a surge of clean-up and revival? The coming weeks will be an excellent time to attend to these matters. You are likely to attract extra help and inspiration as you make your world brighter and livelier. The first rule of the purgation and rejuvenation process: Have fun!
SCORPIO: Oct. 23 – Nov. 21:
“Your horoscopes are too complicated,” a reader named Estelle wrote to me recently. “You give us too many ideas. Your language is too fancy. I just want simple advice in plain words.” I wrote back to tell her that if I did what she asked, I wouldn’t be myself. “Plenty of other astrologers out there can meet your needs,” I concluded. As for you, dear Scorpio, I think you will especially benefit from influences like me in the coming weeks — people who appreciate nuance and subtlety, who love the poetry of life, who eschew clichés and conventional wisdom, who can nurture your rich, spicy, complicated soul.
SAGITTARIUS: Nov. 22 – Dec. 21
The coming weeks will be prime time for you to re-imagine the history of your destiny. How might you do that? In your imagination, revisit important events from the past and reinterpret them using the new wisdom you’ve gained since they happened. If possible, perform any atonement, adjustment, or intervention that will transform the meaning of what happened once upon a time. Give the story of your life a fresh title. Rename the chapters. Look at old photos and videos and describe to yourself what you know now about those people and situations that you didn’t know back
In 1972, before the internet existed, Capricorn actor Anthony Hopkins spent a day visiting London bookstores in search of a certain tome: The Girl from Petrovka. Unable to locate a copy, he decided to head home. On the way, he sat on a random bench, where he found the original manuscript of The Girl of Petrovka It had been stolen from the book’s author George Feifer and abandoned there by the thief. I predict an almost equally unlikely or roundabout discovery or revelation for you in the coming days. Prediction: You may not unearth what you’re looking for in an obvious place, but you will ultimately unearth it.
AQUARIUS: Jan. 20 – Feb. 18
Aquarius-born Desmond Doss (1919–2006) joined the American army at the beginning of World War II. But because of his religious beliefs, he refused to use weapons. He became a medic who accompanied troops to Guam and the Philippines. During the next few years, he won three medals of honor, which are usually given solely to armed combatants. His bravest act came in 1944, when he saved the lives of 70 wounded soldiers during a battle. I propose we make him your inspirational role model for the coming weeks, Aquarius. In his spirit, I invite you to blend valor and peace-making. Synergize compassion and fierce courage. Mix a knack for poise and healing with a quest for adventure.
PISCES: Feb.19 – March 20
What types of people are you most attracted to, Pisces? Not just those you find most romantically and sexually appealing, but also those with whom a vibrant alliance is most gracefully created. And those you’re inclined to seek out for collaborative work and play. This knowledge is valuable information to have; it helps you gravitate toward relationships that are healthy for you. Now and then, though, it’s wise to experiment with connections and influences that aren’t obviously natural — to move outside your usual set of expectations and engage with characters you can’t immediately categorize. I suspect the coming weeks will be one of those times.
Homework: Who is the most important person or animal in your life? I invite you to give them a surprising gift.
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