Metro Times 04/19/23

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EDITORIAL

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NEWS & VIEWS

the scenes that make up your wonderful magazine that I cherish. Keep up the good work. —Screamin

In an email sent to our Press Club members, we shared that Metro Times was granted top marks by NewsGuard, a journalism tool that fights misinformation by ranking publications for credibility.

Picked up the most recent issue at one of my favorite watering holes Three Blind Mice in downtown Mount Clemens. Just want to take a moment lots of people take time out of their daily lives to complain about things this is not one of those messages. Just want to say after all these years how much I still enjoy reading every issue as well as following the local music scene. This is the tip of my cap to the writers photographers and people behind

Scott Randall, WCSX, email

Congrats on your stunning Newsguard rating! I subscribe to Newsguard because misinformation has spread like a plague; I don’t like to be duped (e.g. Clarence Thomas has been a part of this plague). I’ve enjoyed Metro Times since the 90’s. I like the candor and investigative skills of the writers. I do not take the quality of the Metro Times for granted. —Deborah,

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Many special blessings & congratulations!!!! A longtime Detroit reader/supporter. —Nzingha MasaniManuel, email

Wed

EMPLOYMENT

Thu

Fri

SAP IT Project Manager, Brose North America, Auburn Hills, MI. Plan, develop, configure, integrate, test, launch, &deliver large scale SAP ERP implementation including support packages of Logistics &Production modules, &perform Logistics &Production project management of SAP modules including Qlty Management (QM), Production Plng (PP), Sales &Distribution (SD), Warehouse Management (WM), Extended WM (EWM), &Transportation Management (TM) at N.A. mechatronics cmpnts mfg plants. Implement SAP QM, PP, SD, WM, EWM, &TM modules at plants to eliminate waste &optimize production (incl. excess inventory management, inefficient movement/motion &use of eqpmnt in plants, technical downtime, transportation, rework &scrap, &headcount etc.), improve logistics &production critical processes incl. plant machinery &equipment, &JIT/JIS logistics processes, etc. Provide daily training in all facets of integrated SAP QM, PP, SD, WM, EWM, &TM modules appa used to collect, store, manage, &interpret key Logistics, Production, Quality, Finance, &Purchasing data across mfg ops to Logistics &Production Key Users (Logistics Planners, Materials Planners, Industrial Engineers), Logistics Managers, &Production Managers in NAFTA region plants. Required travel to plants in US/ CAN/MEX to implement/train personnel in SAP QM, MM, PP, SD, WM, EWM, &TM modules, up to 16 wks P/A. Bachelor, Information Systems, IT, Computer Sci., Bus. Informatics, or related. 24 mos exp as SAP Bus. Analyst, SAP Consultant, SAP Proj. Mgr, SAP Consultant Intern, or related, performing root cause analysis, from incident investigation &diagnosis to resolution, recovery &message monitoring, to promote SAP system sustainability, &troubleshoot SAP programs using ABAP Debugging, runtime analysis, &SQL Trace, or related. Mail resume to Ref#23110, Brose, Human Resources, 3933 Automation Ave, Auburn Hills, MI 48326.

EMPLOYMENT

Software in the Loop (SIL) Simulation Integration Engineer, Milford, MI, General Motors. Gather technical reqmts, &design, using IBM RTC tool, Battery Electric Vehicle embedded SW focusing on serial data commn., diagnostics &other features for Electronic Control Units (ECUs) in Electronic Brake Control Module (EBCM), Traction Power Inverter Module, &8+ related vehicle modules, following SAFe methodology. Dvlp, integrate, debug &release EBCM Functional Mockup Unit, in Embedded C, using SIL Instrumentation Builder &Eclipse IDE, to migrate EBCM Simulink plant models to FMU according to industry standards, &improve sharing of module dvlpmt w/ Chassis &Brake Calibration teams &suppliers. Set technical objectives &tasks to implement production intent SW for infrastructure &platform SW cmpts supporting commn. for ECUs in Embedded C &Python, using Git, Gerrit, Jenkins, Eclipse IDE, IBM RTC tools, &following Motor Industry Software Reliability Association (MISRA) CERT C standards, &GM SW dvlpmt process. Bachelor, Electrical, Computer, Electronics &Communication Engrg, or related. 12 mos exp as Engineer, dvlpg features &integrating SW for ECUs, in Embedded C &Python, &following MISRA CERT C standards, or related. Mail resume to Ref#48880, GM Global Mobility, 300 Renaissance Center, MC:482-C32-C66, Detroit, MI 48265.

Whitmer signs gun-control bills

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER signed a package of guncontrol bills on Thursday that were introduced after the mass shooting at Michigan State University left three students dead and five others injured in February.

The bills require background checks for all gun purchases and the safe storage of firearms.

“Today, we are turning our pain into purpose and honoring those we have lost with commonsense gun violence prevention legislation supported by a majority of Michiganders,” Whitmer, a Democrat, said. “Universal background checks and safe storage are long-overdue steps we are proud to take today that will save lives by keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and domestic abusers and children in the home.”

Whitmer added, “We will keep working together to prevent mass shootings, reduce gun violence, and save lives.”

Before the legislation was signed, Michigan law only required background checks for people buying guns from private sellers. Now, all firearm purchases must get a background check.

Another bill requires gun owners

with children in the home to use a locking device or store their firearms in a locked container. If a child injures themselves or someone else with an unlocked firearm, the gun owner would face up to five years in prison on a felony charge.

“Every gun death is preventable, yet so many Michiganders, including me, have lost people they love to the senseless tragedy of gun violence,” Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II said. “Today, we are taking action on commonsense reforms supported by a majority of Michiganders. Universal background checks and safe storage laws will save lives and help keep families and kids safe at home, in the streets, at school, and at work.”

The bills mirror similar measures that Republicans have blocked over the past few years.

The latest legislation passed without Republican support.

For the first time in nearly 40 years, Democrats control the state House and Senate, allowing them to pursue legislation that Republicans have long resisted.

“The prevalence of gun violence is exhausting and frustrating, and for

a very long time it felt like there was no hope for progress,” Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, said. “But the thousands of Michigan voices calling for change never gave up, and today – in our first hundred days of the new majority –that call for change results in new laws that will make our state safer.”

Gun control advocates, law enforcement officials, and community and religious leaders applauded the legislation.

“For years citizens from across the country have been crying out for common sense gun laws mostly to no avail,” Barry Randolph, pastor of the Church of the Messiah Detroit. “Michigan will now lead the way with the signing of this bill. Michigan residents can now rest assured knowing that steps have been made to make our communities much safer! Parents, students, teachers, seniors, clergy, activists, and all Michigan residents now know that their pleas and cries for common sense gun laws have heard, validated, and acted upon!”

Celeste Kanpurwala, chapter leader for the Michigan chapter of Moms Demand Action, said the state is leading

the way in gun safety.

“These laws will save lives, and we couldn’t be more proud to work hand in hand with the gun sense champions in the statehouse and the governor’s mansion to get this legislation across the finish line,” Kanpurwala said. “Today, we celebrate this life-saving progress and recommit ourselves to the work to make Michigan safe for all of us.”

Democrats aren’t done yet. Democrats in the House passed so-called “red flag” bills, which would allow a judge to order the confiscation of guns from people deemed dangerous.

A recent study of more than 6,700 red flag cases found that nearly 10% involved threats to kill at least three people.

Last year, Congress passed legislation to provide $750 million for state crisis intervention programs, including red flag laws.

“Michigan has not been spared from our nation’s plague of gun violence,” state Rep. Brenda Carter, D-Pontiac, said. “For years now, the legislature in Michigan has been paralyzed to act. No more.”

—Steve Neavling

COURTESY PHOTO

Detroit Reparations Task Force hears public proposals during first meeting

THE DETROIT CITY Council

Reparations Task Force heard ideas from the public during its first meeting on Thursday in downtown Detroit.

They included remedies designed to address home mortgage foreclosure, various tax credits, repaying city retirees who took pension losses during the city’s 2013 bankruptcy process, as well as direct cash payments to African American city residents.

“Black folks in Detroit need to be compensated,” Cecily McClellan, a retired city of Detroit employee told the task force.

Eighty percent of Detroit voters approved a 2021 measure that called for the creation of a task force to study and address the issue of reparations. Detroit is 77% African American. The 13-member task force was appointed by the Detroit City Council. The task force has been allotted $350,000 for administrative operations for the upcoming fiscal year that begins July 1.

Keith Williams, who serves as both Michigan Democratic Party Black Caucus chair and Reparations Task Force cochair, said he wants to see a reparations effort that addresses Black people who lost residential and commercial property in the Motor City’s Black Bottom community several decades ago.

In the early 1950s, an all-white Detroit city government seized private property in a lower east side neighborhood in the name of urban renewal.

“I feel that we must acquire the land in these backward sections that we must

remove the buildings there from and sell the property back to private individuals for development,” then-Detroit Mayor Albert Cobo said in January 1950.

The effort displaced Black city residents, many of whom were poor. Black Bottom was replaced with Lafayette Park, a middle-class and largely white residential district, according to 1970 U.S. Census data.

Williams, a former Black Bottom resident, believes that Black descendants should receive government economic reciprocity.

“That should be part of the repair,” said Williams.

Detroit isn’t the only city to consider reparations. In Evanston, Ill., a Chicago suburb, elected officials approved a 2019 resolution to create a reparations funding stream. Last year, 16 Evanston residents were selected to receive $25,000 each in reparations to address harms from slavery to discriminatory housing policies.

Meanwhile, Detroiters’ perceptions of the racial wealth gap, the legacy of slavery and other forms of racial inequity are strongly connected to their support for reparations and policies that address racial inequity, according to a 2022 study by the University of Michigan.

Overall, 63% of Detroit residents support some form of reparations, and 70% say addressing racial inequality should be a high policy priority for elected officials.

The analysis of survey findings emanates from the U of M’s Detroit Metro

Area Communities Study and the Center for Racial Justice, with support from Poverty Solutions.

“There is a strong link between awareness of racial inequality and support for reparative policies,” said Erykah Benson, a U of M doctoral student in sociology and research fellow at the Center for Racial Justice, who analyzed the survey results. “We’re in a moment of national debate about how to think about, teach and resolve historical and contemporary injustices. How we collectively remember and understand our history shapes how we think about appropriate solutions for generational and ongoing injustices.”

Among the 73% of Detroiters who believe the average Black person is worse off than the average white person in terms of income and wealth, 71% support reparations and 75% say policies that address racial inequality should be a high priority. Among the 14% of Detroiters who believe the average Black person is equally well off as the average white person, 38% support reparations.

The survey was fielded between June 16 and Aug. 26, 2022, and captures the views of a representative sample of 2,339 Detroit residents. Results were weighted to reflect the population of the city of Detroit.

The Detroit City Council Reparations Task Force will provide recommended action steps to the City Council in no later than 18 months.

—Ken Coleman, Michigan Advance

Detroit finally begins offering benefits to overtaxed residents

THE CITY OF Detroit took the first steps toward partially compensating homeowners who were overtaxed by at least $600 million between 2010 and 2016.

Last Monday, the Detroit City Council unanimously approved a series of benefits for the overtaxed homeowners.

Activists have called on the city to reimburse residents with cash payments, but Mayor Mike Duggan’s administration insists that such payments are illegal under state law.

Activists and Council President Mary Sheffield disagree, and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is reviewing the issue to give her legal opinion.

In the meantime, the council agreed to the following remedies:

• Overtaxed homeowners will receive up to $6 million in discounts on sales of auction houses and lots through the Detroit Land Bank Authority.

• Prioritization in any city home repair

Detroiter charged with a felony for allegedly burying dog alive

A 20-YEAR-OLD Detroit man has been charged with animal cruelty for allegedly burying a dog alive.

Jacob Xavier Kasper faces up to seven years in prison on a felony count of second-degree killing/torturing of an animal and abandoning/cruelty of an animal.

The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office alleges Kasper buried the dog alive on the 1700 block of Evans Street in Southwest Detroit. Detroit animal control officers were dispatched to the house on Sept. 30. They found the dog with extensive injuries, forcing them to euthanize it.

“Dogs are living and breathing beings,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a news release Monday. “Dogs should be attended to even if they are sick and especially if they have been abused. No living being should ever be buried alive in lieu of proper medical or other standard care. This is not rocket science.”

Kasper was originally charged on Nov. 10 but failed to show up to his arraignment. Detroit police tracked down Kasper earlier this month and arrested him.

He was given a $5,000 personal bond.

program allowed under law.

• Preferential access to the $6 million down payment assistance program.

• Financial and technical assistance for small business owners through the Small Business Launcher Program, formerly known as Motor City Match.

• Preferential placement in the $12 million Grow Detroit’s Young Talent program.

• Preferential access to buy or lease property that is part of an affordable housing development that received tax incentives from the city.

“It really has been a challenge to find remedies and relief for people who are over-assessed,” Sheffield said before the council approved the benefits. “The work does not stop here.”

In a news release, Sheffield said the benefits are “just an important first step towards restoration.”

“Council President Mary Sheffield is

proud to be joined by her colleagues in the passage of this monumental resolution which represents an embarkment down the road to providing real and tangible relief to those in need and who have suffered the most throughout this travesty,” the news release states. “She looks forward to the broader and even more impactful benefits and resources to come.”

The illegal, inflated property tax assessments resulted in an estimated 100,000 Detroiters, most of them Black, losing their homes to foreclosure. The Michigan Constitution prohibits property from being assessed at more than 50% of its market value.

Between 2010 and 2016, the city assessed properties at as much as 85% of their market value.

Until Monday, residents had not been compensated in any way for losing their homes or paying more than they owed in

Kasper is at least the second Detroiter to be charged with a felony count of animal cruelty in the past month. Leonard Maurice Shaw, 29, is accused of viciously beating a pit bull puppy and then dumping her in a garbage can outside his house because she had chewed his Cartier sunglasses.

—Steve Neavling

property taxes.

The Coalition for Property Tax Justice, a group of advocates for impacted homeowners, is leading the charge to reimburse overtaxed residents. In a survey of more than 200 overtaxed residents, the coalition found that most Detroiters prefer cash payments as compensation.

The findings were published in a report released in April 2022.

—Steve Neavling

Nandi Comer makes history as Michigan’s second poet laureate ever

IN THE LATEST episode of “Detroit girls do it better,” in walks Nandi Comer.

Comer, an award-winning writer, was announced as the Michigan poet laureate on Wednesday. Didn’t know Michigan had a poet laureate? Neither did we, and that’s probably because the state hasn’t filled the position since the 1950s.

In her new role, Comer will promote poetry and literary arts at schools and libraries across the state in collaboration with the Michigan Department of Education and the Library of Michigan.

Until now, Michigan was one of only four states without a poet laureate.

Comer tells Metro Times by phone that she’s most excited about working to inspire the next generation of young writers.

“I came into poetry as a youth and to have someone come into a classroom, or teachers that were interested in valuing my voice is really what set me on this trajectory,” she says. “Since I was 19, I’ve been teaching kids to write and teaching kids to express themselves, tapping into their own authentic voices. There’s so much enrichment that I get from interacting with youth.”

The 43-year-old poet is no stranger to community building. She’s worked in Detroit Public Schools as the Writer in Residence at InsideOut Literary Arts, has facilitated programming with YArts and Room Project, has done youth curriculum consulting for several arts organizations, and received the 2018 Williams Wiggins Award for Outstanding Teaching at Indiana University.

Her dedication to uplifting young writers is part of what landed her the poet laureate role.

“A big part of the poet laureate program is the outreach component, so we were looking for someone who was skilled at programming and reaching out to libraries and places where they could not only talk about their work, but the impact poetry can have on reading and literacy,” State Librarian Randy Riley tells Metro Times. “Nandi is already doing that, especially when we look at the work she’s done in the Detroit area.”

Comer’s writing has appeared (or is forthcoming) in Callaloo, Crab Orchard Review, The Journal of Pan African Studies, Sycamore Review, and Third Coast, among others. She’s authored two poetry collections — American

Family: A Syndrome and Tapping Out, which won the 2020 Society of Midland Authors Award and the 2020 Julie Suk Award. She’s also a Kresge Literary Arts Fellow, Cave Canem Fellow, Callaloo Fellow, and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellow.

Comer has also served as guest editor of the Metro Times 2022 Fiction Issue and the forthcoming 2023 edition set for publication next month.

Comer says she’s always been a writer but her love for poetry was stoked at Communication and Media Arts High School in a class with InsideOut founder Terry Blackhawk.

“Prior to actually launching InsideOut she had already set the framework by inviting professional writers into her classroom,” Comer remembers. “She pulled me aside after my first semester in an English class with her and asked if I wanted to be in her creative writing class. That’s when I started learning what it meant to write poems and publish them. I published for the first time with her on the editorial staff of our first literary magazine.”

Michigan’s first poet laureate (and up until now, only) was Edgar A. Guest,

who held the title from 1952 until his death in 1959, according to the Michigan Department of Education.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer first approved a state budget that allocated funds for the role in 2021. Riley confirmed to Metro Times that a total of $200,000 ($100,000 for each year) had been earmarked for the poet laureate position and a public program surrounding the role. Prior to Wednesday’s announcement, the Detroit Free Press launched a months-long investigation into how tax dollars for the program were being spent since the position had yet to be filled.

“Even though we didn’t have the poet laureate in place, we were doing things to establish this program for when Nandi came on board and was officially announced,” Riley tells us. “We’ve bought online poetry that will be accessible, all kinds of books by Michigan poets that we will make available and hand out for free at these poetry events. We’ve done some sponsorships promoting reading poetry working with Poetry Out Loud also.”

He says they are still working out how much Comer will be paid for the role.

“I honestly don’t know why it took this long to name a new poet laureate,” he says. “I know we at the Library of Michigan have brought this up periodically, and I’ve been at the Library of Michigan for 33 years... I think maybe it’s because poetry and what is good poetry are so subjective that getting agreement on any poet as being the person we’re gonna focus on can be challenging.”

Comer will serve a two-year term as Michigan’s poet laureate and hopes the state doesn’t go another long spell without filling the position when her time is done.

For now, you can catch her reading on Saturday, April 15 for MARS Marshall’s FLOWER BOI book release party at Detroit’s Room Project. Brittany Rogers, Tommye Blount, and La Shaun phoenix Moore will also read alongside Marshall with music from Sophiya E.

She’ll also be at Missouri’s Unbound Book Festival on April 20-23, and the Multilingual Midwest literary event in Hamtramck on April 30.

For more information, see nandicomer.com.

—Randiah Camille Green

Nandi Comer.

COURTESY PHOTO

Detroit sues nonprofit for demolishing building

THE CITY OF Detroit is suing a Grosse Pointe Park nonprofit that has brazenly moved forward with construction of an arts center along a historic stretch of land without getting the proper permits and approvals.

The suit filed in Wayne County Circuit Court alleges the Urban Renewal Initiative Foundation violated city ordinances when it began demolishing a building last month that is partially located in Detroit and Grosse Pointe Park at the corner of East Jefferson Avenue and Alter Road.

The nonprofit failed to get a demolition permit and does not have authority from the city’s Historic District Commission (HDC) to build the A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Center for the Performing Arts on the historic land, the lawsuit states.

In a report in 2021, Detroit’s Historic Preservation Director Garrick Landsberg recommended that the HDC reject the nonprofit’s proposal to build on the Jefferson-Chalmers Historic Business District, saying the project is “historically inappropriate” and “destroys the historic character of the property.”

After the report was issued, the Urban Renewal Initiative Foundation withdrew its proposal but continued to

move forward with the plan, insisting that Mayor Mike Duggan’s administration was on board.

Duggan’s administration tells Metro Times that the mayor has not approved the project and can’t override HDC’s authority.

Without permission from the commission, it’s illegal to modify the land.

Despite the failure to get the proper permits and approvals, a crew hired by the nonprofit “almost completely demolished” the former Grosse Pointe Park Department of Public Works building, which is partially in Detroit, according to the lawsuit.

The nonprofit’s decision to move

forward is “in stark derogation of the law,” the suit states.

By continuing the work, the city warned in the suit, the nonprofit “is subject to a civil fine and may be ordered by a court to pay the costs to restore or replicate a historical property.”

Under the plan, the Urban Renewal Initiative Foundation would build the performing arts center and an adjacent art gallery, with a parking lot and loading dock on Detroit’s historic land.

The land is now bounded by a chainlink fence and blue tarp. Affixed to the fence is a rendering of the art center and gallery, with the words, “Opening: Fall 2025.”

Coalition takes aim at factory farms

WITHIN THE LAST 20 years, Lynn Henning’s family farm in Lenawee County has become encircled by a dozen new corporate animal agriculture factories. They dump manure into open lagoons that drain into the headwaters of Lake Erie, causing massive algae blooms. Henning has reported many violations of environmental regulations, yet the state has never enforced these laws.

Instead, the answer to her activism is direct and frightening: She says she’s found dead animals in her mailbox and on her porch, and that someone fired a gun and shattered her granddaughter’s bedroom window.

The factory farms are heavily subsidized by the federal government — a massive yet rarely publicized form of corporate welfare that keeps meat cheap in Big Macs and KFC buckets. The powerful agribusiness lobbies in Lansing and Washington have made it very hard for her small farm to compete.

In Michigan, there are about 300 factory farms in Michigan, with the number skyrocketing in recent years. They are officially called CAFOs — concentrated animal feeding operations. Besides the environmental damage to land and water resources, they are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

Henning recently gained new allies with a very ambitious agenda. Michiganders for a Just Farming System (MJFS) is a newly formed coalition of sixty environmental and animal rights organizations working for a state moratorium on CAFOs, a new federal farm bill that does not so heavily subsidize corporate animal agriculture, and better enforcement of existing Michigan regulations on factory farms, which are currently hamstrung by a legal challenge backed by the powerful Michigan Farm Bureau, says Bee Friedlander, president of the group Attorneys for Animals, which is part of the MJFS coalition.

At the federal level, a new farm bill is enacted every five years, and work on it has begun. A national CAFO moratorium has already been introduced by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, who is a vegan. Given the current political landscape, it’s a longshot. But efforts for state moratoriums are already underway in Oregon and California. And the more states that enact such bans, reform on the federal level begins to seem possible.

State Senator Sue Shink (D-Ann Arbor) is in discussion with MJFS about introducing a bill here modeled on the Oregon legislation. Given that Democrats control both houses in. Lansing for the first time in 40 years, “now is the time” to launch this uphill battle against the farm lobby, says Thomas Progar, president of Veg Michigan. This is the first time that group has worked openly toward a common goal with others whose members aren’t all vegans or vegetarians.

—Michael Betzold

Developed largely in the early 1900s, the commercial strip on Jefferson is one of the few remaining early 20th-century neighborhood commercial districts and contains architecturally significant buildings. It has been targeted for revitalization and is the site of the popular Jazz on Jefferson Festival. The district is surrounded by intact neighborhoods and includes more than 50 buildings, including two ballrooms, retail stores, banks, apartment buildings, and four churches.

—Steve Neavling

Romance novel cover modelturned-insurrectionist sentenced to 3 years in prison

A MICHIGAN BODYBUILDER who posed for romance novel covers was sentenced to three years in prison for dragging a police officer down the steps of the U.S. Capitol and using the base of a flagpole to assault other officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Logan Barnhart, 42, of Holt, pleaded guilty in September to assaulting officers using a dangerous weapon.

He was arrested in August 2021.

Barnhart admitted he was part of a mob that assaulted officers at the archway leading to the building.

Barnhart climbed over a banister to reach the steps, where he grabbed an officer by the neck of his ballistic vest and dragged him down the steps and into the crowd, where other rioters beat the officer with weapons, including a flagpole and baton. The officer was injured in the attack.

Online sleuths helped identify Barnhart using a facial recognition website. They found Barnhart on Instagram, bodybuilding websites, and on the covers of several romance novels.

After the riot, Barnhart didn’t go into hiding. He often posted videos and photos on Instagram, mocking the FBI and Black Lives Matter and suggesting the insurrection was part of a deep state conspiracy theory.

Barnhart had faced up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on March 9.

He is among at least 23 Michigan residents to be charged for their involvement in the insurrection.

—Steve Neavling

STEVE NEAVLING

NEWS & VIEWS

racial justice.

We tend to react to images and remember viscerally their impressions. Think of the airplanes hitting the Twin Towers on 9/11; the filmed and still images from the Holocaust; the full Zapruder film that shows frame 313, when President Kennedy’s head explodes into a blurry, gray-red spray of brain matter and blood.

Images of recent gun massacres –and they do exist — would look much worse. After all, we now have highdefinition video.

But most gun scenes we absorb from our screens merely soothe our fears and sanitize the carnage. In cowboy western movies and TV cop shows, the good guy with a gun always wins. He might suffer a flesh wound — you can tell by the little, red hole in his shirt — but he’ll be OK and he’s a hero, too.

Lapointe

Michigan momentum runs against guns

After grisly gun massacres at Michigan State University and Oxford High School, news media showed poignant images of flowers, candles, stuffed animals, and people hugging each other while in tears.

Not shown were still photographs or videos showing how high-powered bullets mangle the flesh, blood, brains, and bones of human beings who are slaughtered by hand-held murder machines.

In between two more mass killings — first in a Nashville school, next in a Louisville bank — there came a fusillade of fiery questions from a pro basketball coach, Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs. He wondered whether the public needs to see these gory images to comprehend the crisis.

“What will it take?” Popovich asked. “Do we have to show it?”

He mocked Senator Marsha Blackburn and Governor Bill Lee, two Tennessee Republicans, for their meaningless platitudes belched after six killings there in a Christian church-school.

Blackburn said her staff was “ready to assist.”

“Ready to assist? In what?” Popovich asked. “They’re dead. What are you going to assist with? Cleaning up their brains off the wall? Wiping the blood off the schoolroom floor?”

By Joe Lapointe

When Lee said he was “monitoring” the aftermath, Popovich responded with “What are you monitoring? They’re dead. Children. They’re dead.” Popovich predicted that gun-excusers would soon “cloak all this stuff (with) the myth of Second Amendment freedom.”

He added, “Is it ‘freedom,’ for kids to go to school . . . and be scared to death that they might die that day?”

While some states stubbornly defend and even expand gun “rights,” Michigan goes in the opposite direction. Its progressive Democrats are early in a coherent and reasonable counterattack to multiple human slaughters.

Last Thursday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed two pieces of commonsense gun legislation.

The first is for expansion of universal background checks for gun purchases. The second requires safe storage of firearms. A proposed third piece of legislation would improve “red flag laws” to keep firearms away from disturbed and dangerous persons.

“This [is] from a state where many of us grew up with guns,” said Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a Democrat. “[We] don’t need to accept the false choice between gun ownership and gun safety for our kids . . . Gun violence can rip a hole in the heart of a community.”

To answer one of Popovich’s questions: Certainly, it would take courage and motivation for the family of a murdered relative to show in public the crime-scene pictures of a gun massacre. People would be appalled, horrified, and disgusted.

What if such photos or videos appeared on TV, in newspapers, or even on billboards?

It’s been tried. The movement against abortion used images of fetuses on leaflets and signs in public places to advance that cause. Even if these tactics had no effect, a Supreme Court packed with religious fundamentalists abolished the constitutional protection of choice last year. That side won that one.

Consider another historical precedent. A corpse image 68 years ago helped galvanize the Civil Rights movement. These were the photos of Emmitt Till, a 14-year-old, African-American male murdered by Mississippi racists in 1955 for allegedly flirting with a white woman.

Instead of a closed coffin at his funeral in Chicago, his mother insisted on displaying the mutilation of her son, who’d been beaten, shot in the head, and dumped in a river. Jet magazine and other publications circulated the pictures. The images both horrified the public and motivated the cause of

Meanwhile, back in the real world, we now have a six-year-old bringing a weapon to school and shooting his teacher. One of the more preposterous arguments of the right wing is that teachers need to pack heat. Why, for gunfights with first-graders? Maybe we should arm cops with books and blackboards.

Whatever the tactics chosen by the gun-safety lobby, the moment and the momentum in Michigan favor Democrats, liberals, and progressives. It is time to push that edge and acknowledge that there can be little compromise, reasoning, or negotiation on guns with right-wing Republicans.

These folks whine about “weaponizing the FBI” while they weaponize their weapons. There are none so blind as those who will not see the connection between gun massacres and guns. They call up right-wing radio stations to trumpet their “God-given right” to own, carry, and fire guns.

And they foul the air with bad-faith arguments like “just enforce the laws already on the books” or “we must do something about mental health.” Yeah, right. Elected legislators pose with their smiling families while holding weapons of war for Christmas cards. Ho, ho, ho!

In the Capitol, on their lapels, they wear assault-rifle pins. Ha, ha, ha! Way to own the libs. Debating them is like arguing with barking dogs. The primary purpose of a gun is to end lives. On that they are obtuse. They say they fear that new and stronger gun laws will lead to a “slippery slope.”

On this narrow point, they are absolutely right. Hell, yes. Right now, the death dealers of the gun culture stand at the top of that slippery slope, at least in Michigan. It is time to give them a big shove downhill. Maybe this state — newly blue again — can, for a change, lead the way.

Would massacre pictures help or hurt the gun control cause? SHUTTERSTOCK

WEED, WEED EVERYWHERE

Michigan’s cannabis industry has exploded since voters approved Proposal 1 in 2018, with more than $1.8 billion in sales reported in 2022. But it turns out there can be too much of a good thing: in this issue, we look at some of the problems caused by the state’s glut of ganja.

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING

HOW BOTH GROWERS AND REGULATORS ARE CONFRONTING MICHIGAN’S OVERSATURATED MARKET

Michigan has a weed problem — and consumers are loving it.

More than three years after legal recreational marijuana sales began in the state, the market is saturated with cannabis at bargain-basement prices.

The average price of an ounce of adultuse flower dropped from $512 in January 2020 to $80 today, according to the Michigan Cannabis Regulator Agency.

By Steve Neavling

Not even the black market can compete with those prices.

But the plummeting prices have an enormous downside for cannabis businesses, many of which are struggling to survive. Growers, processors, and dispensaries are often selling their products at or near cost, hoping that prices rebound in the near future.

Not even the largest dispensary

chains are immune. In July 2022, Lume Cannabis closed four dispensaries across the state. Skymint, which operates 24 dispensaries and three indoor grow operations, entered receivership earlier this year following a lawsuit from a Canadian investment firm that alleges the company owes it more than $217 million. Growers are also struggling. In early 2021, they were selling

flower to dispensaries for nearly $4,000 a pound. Now, they’re fetching under $1,000 a pound.

One of the most significant contributors to the plummeting prices is the over-saturation of cannabis. In January 2021, there were fewer than 350 active grower licenses in Michigan for recre -

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY PAIGE BRUBECK

ational marijuana. Today, that number has grown to more than 825.

Those businesses were growing about 261,500 plants in January 2021. By contrast, more than 1.2 million plants were growing in February 2023, and it’s far more cannabis than the market can sell.

A 130-acre marijuana industrial park in Windsor Township named Harvest Peak was ordered into receivership this month after one of its lenders sued the developers over unpaid loan payments. At least four other marijuana companies in Michigan are under the direction of a court-ordered receiver.

That’s even as the number of recreational dispensaries continues to grow, with 75 new licenses issued just last month. Today, there are roughly 740 recreational dispensaries in the state, compared to 440 in January 2021.

That number should only increase as recreational dispensaries continue to open in Detroit. The city only began issuing its first licenses for adult-use cannabis businesses last December.

Michigan is far from alone. Other states where recreational marijuana was legalized are experiencing record-low prices, and they’re struggling to find solutions. Over the last two years, the price of flower dropped by more than 50% in Colorado and 36% in Massachusetts.

In Michigan, the prices plummeted by nearly 85% since January 2020.

Stop issuing licenses?

To combat the plummeting prices, some in the industry are calling for a moratorium on licenses for new growers and dispensaries. Doing so would address the over-saturation of cannabis, which in turn would make the prices more fair, they say.

“I don’t think the state realized that the market was going to mature so fast and become oversaturated with product,” Nick Hannawa, chief legal counsel for Puff Cannabis Co., which has multiple dispensaries in the state, tells Metro Times. “If there was a moratorium on licenses across all license categories, you wouldn’t have this problem. There are more than enough dispensaries and product to go around.”

Hannawa says people invested in the cannabis industry early on because they expected a more stable market.

“People invested millions of dollars thinking they would be selling marijuana for $3,000 a pound, but today can’t sell it for $1,000 a pound,” Hannawa says. “There are a lot of businesses that are really struggling, and that’s sad.”

Trouble is, a moratorium would not be easy to impose. The 2018 ballot initiative that legalized recreational marijuana in Michigan called for unlimited licenses. To override the initiative, a

moratorium would need the approval of three-quarters of lawmakers in the state House and Senate.

In Oregon, where prices also have plummeted, lawmakers imposed a moratorium last year on new cannabis licenses to address oversupply issues. Despite the moratorium, prices continued to fall to record levels this year.

Lawmakers in Oklahoma and Montana also passed moratoriums on new commercial licenses last year because too many cannabis businesses were opening for state regulators to oversee.

Other states, including Massachusetts and Colorado, are considering moratoriums to address the plummeting prices.

Unlike Michigan, those states only need a simple majority to impose a moratorium.

Industry leaders in Michigan are split on the issue. The Michigan Cannabis Industry Association (MCIA), which represents marijuana businesses, has not taken an official position because no legislation has been introduced.

Cracking down on scofflaws

MCIA executive director Robin Schneider says the most effective way to address plummeting prices is to crack down on illicit activity in the legal market. That activity includes importing cannabis from other states like California or using marijuana from the unregulated market.

Cannabis businesses that get marijuana from the black market aren’t buying it from licensed growers and processors, depriving them of business.

The state has stepped up enforcement actions under the leadership of the Michigan Cannabis Regulator Agency (CRA) executive director Brian Hanna, a former law enforcement officer who took the helm in September 2022.

Before his appointment, the CRA took an average of 5.3 disciplinary actions a month. Since his appointment, disciplinary actions have risen exponentially, peaking at 80 in October 2022.

Between January and March, the agency issued 60 fines for non-compliance.

In February, state regulators suspended the licenses of several marijuana businesses for using illicit cannabis extracts to manufacture some of their products.

Green Culture, a dispensary in Flint, was hit with an indefinite license suspension for allegedly selling unlicensed products in September.

In October, CRA temporarily suspended and fined the House of Mary Jane, a Detroit dispensary that was accused of having duffel bags full of

untagged and potentially black-market marijuana for sale.

“Enforcement has been one of Brian Hanna’s top priorities since he became executive director last fall,” CRA spokesman David Harns tells Metro Times. “The CRA is focused on making sure that illicit product doesn’t find its way into the regulated market.”

The actions taken over the past few months are already having an impact on prices, according to multiple people interviewed for this story. For example, the price of distillate, the base ingredient for many edibles and dab rigs, has nearly tripled after businesses were busted illegally importing the product.

“We are seeing a rebound in pricing right now, and it’s happening quickly,” Schneider says. “I would attribute that entirely to the Cannabis Regulatory Agency and their crackdown on the regulated market. They’ve done a very good job regulating our markets and increased their enforcement on businesses ten-fold.”

Schneider adds, “It’s the most important thing that our industry needed, which is to make sure everyone is playing by the same rules, so we are grateful for their work.”

For the first time since recreational marijuana sales began, the average price of an ounce of flower rose slightly in February and March, providing some hope that the market will rebound. But the price is still far below what growers and dispensaries say is profitable — $86 an ounce.

Discouraging the black market

Another potential solution for growers is to encourage more communities to permit dispensaries to open. About 1,400 of the roughly 1,700 cities, townships, and villages in Michigan still do not allow recreational sales.

Although some in the industry believe there are too many dispensaries, they note the stores are clumped together in communities that allow recreational sales. That means people in communities where recreational sales are banned either have to drive out of their way or rely on the black market.

It’s unclear how strong the black market is in Michigan, but a 2021 study by the now-defunct Michigan Cannabis Manufacturers Association estimated that about 70% of residents still buy marijuana illegally.

In February, state police busted an illegal, large-scale cannabis growing operation in Ogemaw County, seizing more than 5,400 plants and more than 100 pounds of processed cannabis.

But reigniting the war on drugs to help the legal market does not have a lot of support among cannabis ad-

vocates. Plus, they say, the regulated market is far too large and robust for the black market to keep pace.

“As the quality of the product is better, and the price goes down to a level consumers can afford, then the regulated market wins over the customers, and the illicit market reduces itself,” Schneider says. “You can get the same or superior product in the regulated market, and it’s easier and more convenient, and you have a better selection. That’s naturally happening over time.”

Standing out in a sea of green

Not everyone in the regulated market is worried. Ryan Jundt, managing partner of STIIIZY, a popular cannabis brand with dispensaries in Ferndale, Kalamazoo, and Battle Creek, says his company is thriving because it was built on producing original, quality products with a recognizable brand.

The company produces its popular line of vape pods and infused blunts and pre-rolls in Orion Township and soon will launch prepackaged flower. The products are sold at dispensaries across the state.

What’s the secret? Jundt says STIIIZY is not just a company trying to make money. Behind the operation are passionate cannabis advocates who know what consumers want.

“We’re very blessed to have a viral brand,” he says. “At STIIIZY, I feel like we truly represent the cannabis industry to its core. We never sacrifice our standards. We understand cannabis culture because we live it. We give a lot back to the communities that we work in. It’s a lot of commitment, hard work, and not waverings from the brand.”

All too often, some in the industry say, growers and dispensaries are solely focused on mass-producing inexpensive marijuana with high THC. They say the result is a predictable, humdrum product that can be purchased anywhere.

At HighHello, a Michigan business that launched a weed subscription club, cannabis aficionados deliver a curated box of marijuana products. Part of the goal is to introduce cannabis users to a variety of products that go beyond cheap and potent, says Vadim Shiglik, HighHello’s co-founder. “You have consumers who are coming in and looking for $80 ounces with high THC,” Shiglik tells Metro Times. “That’s the kind of stuff that is killing quality growers who are putting out high quality products. It’s not sustainable. You’re just rewarding people who are growing a narrow amount of strains that are high in THC. It limits the results people get from cannabis. The best way to serve the customers is to have a broad variety of genetics on the market.”

WEED WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE

CANNABIS INDUSTRY EMPLOYEES SAY THEY’RE BEING LEFT BEHIND

By Lee DeVito

For many, the “green rush” of Michigan’s blooming cannabis industry seemed like an exciting new career opportunity.

That was true for one woman, who says she left a corporate job in 2019 to work as a trimmer with dreams of learning the basics and one day owning her own company.

“When I started, I was full of hope,” she says.

But she soon found out working in Michigan’s cannabis industry wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. She requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation, so we’ll call her Mary.

Eventually, she found work for a company that sends workers to grow operations across the state to harvest cannabis. For Mary, who lives in the Detroit area, that meant waking up as early as 6 a.m. to drive two hours one way and work shifts that could be as long as 10 hours. When she got home, she would plan her next day.

Still, Mary was determined to make it work. “If you’re invested in it, you’re really treating it as if it’s a 24-7 kind of role,” she says.

At first, Mary says she enjoyed the opportunity to travel across Michigan and meet new people in the industry. And the money was good — she says she could make $1,000 or more for just three or four days of work.

“There was what we kind of call the ‘golden age’ when work was plentiful,” she says. “There was a lot of need for help.”

But as more grow operations cropped up and the price of cannabis plunged, Mary says she noticed a decline in working conditions. Corners started to get cut. Some facilities didn’t have the proper tools or even working restrooms.

The worst day, she says, was when she drove more than an hour to a grow operation only to find out that the company didn’t even have the proper packaging for the harvested products. The job was canceled without pay.

A fellow trimmer, let’s call her Jane, agrees. “I think that as the price of the

product started to decline … people started to panic, because they really wanted to continue to make that money. And so there was more pressure on the trimmers, or the contractors in general, to make the most product for the most profit.”

The price drop resulted in lower compensation and some grow opera-

and curbside delivery. Not only were workers’ concerns about health and safety dismissed, she says, but they were subject to grueling conditions and not even allowed to take bathroom breaks.

“There were multiple people crying at work a day,” she says.

Like Watrobski, a lot of her coworkers previously worked in restau-

Board, Watrobski says the union-busting tactics began — a campaign that included weeks of mandatory meetings and even the CEO taking workers off-site to talk to them one-on-one, Watrobski alleges.

Union interest diminished, and Watrobski decided to withdraw the petition. She says she was later fired and believes it was because of her union activities.

But Watrobski is still working to organize cannabis workers. She eventually became an organizer and intern for the UFCW, helping with unionization efforts at cannabis companies across the U.S.

“I talked to workers literally all over the country that were contacting the union and discovered that mostly everywhere, there’s a lot of the exact same root problems,” she says. She thinks part of the issue is that the promise of the industry has attracted executives from other industries who don’t necessarily care about cannabis.

“One of the main things that they’re bringing over from all these different industries is their bad practices,” she says.

tions and other cannabis businesses closing up shop, which led to fewer opportunities for work.

“You kind of have to roll with the punches and continue to refuse jobs at a lower rate, because there’s not a lot of other options,” Jane says.

Stacey Watrobski says she had similar experiences while working as a budtender at a Hazel Park dispensary. She was hired in 2020, just as Michigan’s cannabis industry was taking off. Things seemed too good to be true, she says.

“We were doing like $300,000 a week,” she says. “There was one single day that was $85,000 cash in sales.”

But Watrobski began to have doubts during the COVID-19 pandemic and the company pivoted to online ordering

rants, which were closed because of the pandemic. Many seemed to tolerate the worsening conditions because they were desperate for work.

“It was like, ‘Oh, well, yeah, it’s not nearly as much as I would make bartending, but at least it’s a steady paycheck,’” she says. “Coming from hospitality, I was very familiar with what worker abuse was like and what chaotic and toxic environments were like.”

Eventually, she began leading a unionization effort at the dispensary to join the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union’s cannabis division.

But within 48 hours of filing a petition with the National Labor Relations

Now, Watrobski serves on the board of the organizations Americans for Safe Access’s Michigan chapter and the Michigan Weedsters, and recently launched The Official Cannabis Workers Resource. Geared toward workers across the country, the site includes guides on filing complaints, training, health and safety, and more.

Watrobski hopes that instead of quitting their jobs or silently tolerating them, more workers will talk to each other and speak up. “There are ways to improve your workplace, and coming together with your co-workers is a main way to do that,” she says.

She’s hopeful that recent developments, including Michigan Democrats repealing anti-union “right-to-work” laws and new leadership at the UAW, could mark a turning point for labor writ large.

“This year is going to be an interesting one,” she predicts.

Cannabis trimmers say work used to be good, but conditions have worsened. SHUTTERSTOCK

DASHED DREAMS

IS THERE ROOM FOR DETROIT-GROWN ORGANIC BIODYNAMIC CANNABIS IN MICHIGAN’S SATURATED MARKET?

By Randiah Camille Green

Marilyn Manson must have predicted the future of legalized cannabis when he sang, “We’re all stars now, in the dope show.”

That’s according to James Meyers, an architect, farmer, and cannabis grower living in Detroit. Meyers is the owner of ROI Urban Farms, which includes a biodynamic marijuana grow operation off W. Chicago Boulevard and a homestead near Palmer Park.

“The industry is like the dope show,” Meyers tells Metro Times. “Nobody cares about quality. You’ve got Snoop Dogg and all these famous people, huge companies, and everyone just wants to be a star. Nobody really cares about what they put in their body. When it comes to the recreational, habitual user, all they’re looking for is drugs instead of self.”

Everything — including the watermelons, bananas, vegetables, and cannabis grown between Meyers’s homestead and grow operation — is planted in soil made from compost using horse manure from Detroit’s Mounted Police Division in Palmer Park. The Chicago Boulevard facility, just off the forthcoming Joe Louis Greenway, is the first USDA National Organic Program and Demeter Certified biodynamic compost operation in Michigan.

Yet despite his dedication to growing clean cannabis, Meyer hasn’t been able to sell an ounce of weed to any Michigan dispensaries.

“All of the dispensaries that we’ve gone to and tried to develop a relationship with, none of them want our product on their shelves,” Meyers says. He says they’ve opted to stock products parading as organic without the proper certifications instead. “All the people that front that they’re organic are B.S.”

Meyers says some dispensaries have cited the potential smell as a reason not to buy his product since the plants are grown with horse poop compost, but we didn’t smell anything odd when we visited the operation.

There’s an abundance of weed in Michigan, but for Meyers, growing marijuana is spiritual work.

The concept of biodynamic farming is based on a series of 1924 lectures by Austrian occultist and philosopher Rudolf Steiner. It combines organic farm-

ing with esoteric practices like spraying the plants with ground quartz crystal and harvesting during the full moon. Meyers feeds his plants with biodynamic preparation #500 (manure), #501 (silica prepared with quartz powder), and #508 (horsetail tea).

These methods are thought by biodynamic farmers to enhance the life of the soil, strengthen photosynthesis, and prevent fungal disease, though some say biodynamic farming has no scientific merit.

“Biodynamic farming is a spiritual renewal to the foundations of agriculture. I always tell people that my boss is the holy spirit, Mother Nature. That’s who I work for,” Meyers says. “The moon regulates the levity or density of water in all living things so as [the plants] rise up to the full moon, it pulls all the water into the top of the plant. We harvest every full moon while we have all of that activity and water in the flowers.”

Yet the next full-moon harvest at ROI Urban Farms may be its last — Meyers says he hasn’t made any profit from indoor cultivation, and he’s listed the grow building for sale.

He tells us he’s “spiritually invested over $2.5 million,” which includes paying his employees a minimum of $20 an hour.

“I didn’t give up my caregiver’s license, so I have one or two people a week who need to have an ounce of something to help them with their pain, but there’s been no [return on investment] other than karma, which I guess is kinda beautiful,” he says. “After our next harvest in May, we’re not going to grow indoors anymore. I’ve got a $1 million facility that I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to make real nice that’s up for sale now. We just can’t continue to do this. People think I’m crazy for continuing this long.”

Meyers started growing vegetables in Palmer Park in 2009 and then began cultivating cannabis at his homestead as a caregiver a year later. He purchased the building now used for his indoor grow five years ago, hoping Detroit would approve recreational-use cannabis after Michigan legalized it in 2019. By the time the city finally passed

its recreational cannabis ordinance in 2022, following years of lawsuits and controversy, it was too late for Detroit growers like Meyers to compete. Meyers got a Class B license to grow up to 500 recreational plants in October.

An oversaturated market has left the state with plummeting prices and small growers struggling to stay afloat. The average price of an ounce of flower has dropped to $80, according to the Michigan Cannabis Regulator Agency, a drop of more than $430 from three years earlier.

Meyers plans to continue growing his Sun + Earth-certified cannabis outdoors at his homestead. It’s the first such certified regenerative homestead farm and compost facility in Michigan. The Sun + Earth certification is given for cannabis that is “grown under the sun, in the soil of mother Earth, without chemicals, by fairly paid farmers,” according to the organization’s website.

“I’ll still grow at the homestead in the hopes that maybe the market might change, but come October, if it doesn’t, we’re not even going to renew our license,” he says. “You can’t grow cannabis indoors, pay the city fees, pay for the licenses, do everything legally, and sell it for $800 a pound and make a penny. That’s all they’re offering people.”

Seeing a grim-looking future in the cannabis industry, Meyers is looking to focus more on projects that benefit the greater Detroit community.

He says he is working with Grosse Pointe Park Mayor and Belle Isle Conservancy President Michele Hodges to build a botanical garden at Belle Isle. ROI Urban Farms also provides produce to The Congregation and has planted fruit trees and shrubs around the coffee shop.

“If we can’t get some cash flow, there’s just nothing more to do,” he says. “I’m gonna go back to landscape architecture. My background is in landscape architecture, system design, and planning. I kind of walked away from that career to do something spiritual, I thought, for the citizens of Detroit… At least the kids that go to Gordon Park [across the street from The Congregation] can eat the strawberries, raspberries, and boysenberries and it’s there for the families to enjoy.”

ROI Urban Farms hasn’t been able to sell even an ounce of weed. COURTESY PHOTO

“You can’t grow cannabis indoors, pay the city fees, pay for the licenses, do everything legally, and sell it for $800 a pound and make a penny. That’s all they’re offering people.”

FROM COMEDY TO CANNABIS

PLEASANTREES’ CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER IS MORE THAN JUST A LAWYER

By Alex Washington

Jerome Crawford is a man who wears many hats.

There are times you can catch him on stage doing improv and stand-up comedy and others where you can find him in front of a classroom teaching law at Wayne State University. If those two vocations aren’t different enough, Crawford also works as the chief legal officer at Pleasantrees, a growing Michigan-based cannabis company.

Growing up on Detroit’s westside, Crawford first got interested in entertainment through his middle school drama club and later became involved with improv at Renaissance High School. He always had an affinity with law, largely due to his father’s work in the military and as a private investigator, but didn’t understand the full scope of careers in the field until a classmate’s birthday.

“One of my classmates came to school, and for her 16th birthday, she pulled up in a two-seater Benz. I remember joking with her, like, ‘What does your dad do for a living?’ and she said he was an entertainment lawyer. I didn’t know that was such a thing, but it was a blend of my worlds,” Crawford says.

After high school, Crawford attended Michigan State University for both his undergraduate and law degree. Although his background in improv and standup comedy may seem unrelated to his occupation, he feels it gave him skills that he uses in the boardroom and allows him to teach other litigators how to deploy them in the courtroom as well.

“Before the Young Lawyers Summit, I would teach the Improv for Lawyers class; it was about speaking on the fly and reading and reacting to people. Emotion, I found, is such an essential skill,” Crawford says.

So how does someone go from comedy and practicing corporate law to working at a budding — all puns intended — cannabis company?

For Crawford, it was because of his friendship with Benjamin Sobczak. The two met in 2010, when Sobczak was Crawford’s point of contact for an interview at a local law firm. From there, they formed a good friendship, and when Sobczak left the firm to join Pleasantrees, he encouraged Crawford

to consider working in the cannabis industry.

“We go back almost 13 years, and ironically, he’s a rapper. You have this white rapper from Waterford, and I’m a Black standup comedian — we’re both like super black sheep,” Crawford says.

“Coming into Pleasantrees, it wasn’t because of an affinity toward cannabis. It was a burgeoning industry, and it was a chance to work alongside somebody who I loved and respected — a real brother to me. What locked me in was the social equity side of what I do.”

When Crawford joined Pleasantrees in November 2020, it was as the director of legal operations and social equity. However, at the time, Crawford says he didn’t quite understand what social equity meant or what it would shape up to be. He was new to the industry, the industry was still new to Michigan, and the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing.

“I didn’t even really understand the concept of social equity. I knew the war on drugs wasn’t a real thing, that [it] was more of a war on people and poverty,” Crawford says. “There was actually a perversion around social equity, where people were saying it’s not real or that it was lip service, and you know what I wasn’t doing? Playing. I told my company, ‘With all due respect, I’m not your token Black guy.'”

He quotes a prominent former TV journalist based in Detroit and Michigan Cannabis Industry Association board member: “Anqunette Sarfoh described social equity in the most eloquent and simple way. She said social equity is giving the people a cut. We all acknowledge that the war on drugs was a tool of oppression. How do we give people the necessary cut? The people with disproportionately impacted backgrounds or communities, how do

we give them the equity?”

The legal cannabis industry is a predominately white industry, although historically many of those who were most affected by the war on drugs were people of color — specifically Black and Hispanic communities. It’s a fact that can’t be ignored, and when asked how it feels to be Black and navigating this space, Crawford says life prepared him for it.

“I went to Michigan State,” he says. “I’m not unaware of what it feels like to be the only Black speck in a room. Even though I grew up in Detroit on the westside, and went to predominantly Black schools up until college, my parents put me in activities where I was around more diverse backgrounds, and that sometimes meant being the only one.

“To walk in these rooms, they didn’t give me a lot of qualms, because how is it any different than what I have to do every day?” Crawford continues. “I’m at a point where I want to live as authentically as I can. My colleagues call me ‘Rome’ in emails, that’s never happened. Some of that, I have to give Ben credit for, because he created a license for authenticity, and I think you need that from your allies, your champions, and those who don’t look like us.”

When it comes to making the cannabis industry more inclusive and progressive in social equity, Crawford says that change has to be woven into a company’s overall foundation, including hiring practices, organizational partnerships, and community development.

“To me, the way you make some change in social equity is to really think about all [the] areas where you can make an impact instead of griping about the things you cannot do. I really believe in showing grace and giving people opportunities, and being intentional,” Crawford says. “I have a team that doesn’t really look like me, but they know my intention. They know what I’m about and that I want us, as a company, to do our best and beat those statistics.”

Jerome Crawford.

COURTESY PHOTO

“I went to Michigan State. I’m not unaware of what it feels like to be the only Black speck in a room."

WHAT’S GOING ON

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

MUSIC

Wednesday, April 19

Live/Concert

August Burns Red 7:30 p.m.; Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak; $29.50+.

Big Something, One Time Weekend 7 p.m.; The Loving Touch, 22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $20.

Pink Talking Fish celebrates Dark Side Of The Moon 50th Anniversary 7 p.m.; Tangent Gallery & Hastings Street Ballroom, 715 E. Milwaukee Ave., Detroit; $30.

The Black Dahlia Murder 6 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $29.50.

zzzahara, Telesonic 9000, Fake Plants 8 p.m.; PJ’s Lager House, 1254 Michigan Ave., Detroit; $15.

Thursday, April 20

Live/Concert

Alex Williams 8 p.m.; District 142, 142 Maple St., Wyandotte; $15-$20.

BROTHER NATURE 420 FESTIVAL with The Santana Project, The Detroit Doors 7:30 p.m.; The Token Lounge, 28949 Joy Rd., Westland; $15.

Cardboard Tubes Celebrate 4/20

8:45-9 p.m.; Berkley Coffee & Oak Park Dry, 14661 West 11 Mile Rd., Oak Park; no cover.

Grand Finale Showcase - Cover Song Contest LIVE Performances 6 p.m.; Sound Board, 2901 Grand River Ave., Detroit; $62-$147.

Schaffer the Darklord, Coolzey, Mark Cooper 7 p.m.; Parts & Labor, 17993 Allen Rd, Melvindale; $13.

Screaming Females, Generacion Suicida, The Mimes 7:30 pm; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff, Hamtramck; $20.

Supercrunch with Ben Allemon 7 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $15.

Tink 7 p.m.; Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak; $40+.

Trevor Hall - An Evening In A

Blue Sky Mind 7:30 p.m.; Saint Andrew’s Hall, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $34.50.

The Detroit Spiritual Festival ; Westminster Church of Detroit, 17567 Hubbell, Detroit; $20.

Friday, April 21

Live/Concert

The Detroit Spiritual Festival Westminster Church of Detroit, 17567 Hubbell, Detroit; $20.

100 gecs 8 p.m.; Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak; $29.50.

ANTHONY GOMES • The Stone Blossoms 8 p.m.; The Token Lounge, 28949 Joy Rd., Westland; $20-$120.

Bee Gees Gold 8 p.m.; Andiamo Celebrity Showroom, 7096 E. 14 Mile Rd., Warren; $35-$65.

Chaos & Carnage 2023 4 p.m.; Pike Room, 1 S. Saginaw, Pontiac; $30.

Gully Boys, Thumper, The Antibuddies 7 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff, Hamtramck; $12.

Ram Miriyala 7:30 pm; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $25-$65.

Reid Haughton: Nashville Hits the Roof! 8 p.m.; Tin Roof, 47 E. Adams Ave., Detroit; no cover.

Songwriter Showcase: Steve Taylor, Julianne Ankley, Nicholas James, Scotty Darda 7-9 p.m.; Berkley Coffee & Oak Park Dry, 14661 West 11 Mile Rd., Oak Park; $10 suggested door.

The Mega 80s Prince Remembrance 8 p.m.; Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $20.

The Picassos + Tears of a Martian 8 p.m.; Bowlero Lanes & Lounge, 4209 Coolidge Hwy., Royal Oak; no cover.

The Detroit Spiritual Festival ; Westminster Church of Detroit, 17567 Hubbell, Detroit; $20.

DJ/Dance

Mau P 9 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $20.

Saturday, April 22

Live/Concert

The Detroit Spiritual Festival -22; Westminster Church of Detroit, 17567 Hubbell, Detroit; $20.

DET X DET 7 p.m.; The Loving Touch, 22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $10.

DIRK KROLL BAND Live! @ Alley

Cat Cafe 7:30-10:30 p.m.; The Alleycat Cafe, 31 N. Saginaw St., Pontiac; $20. GayC/DC 8 p.m.; Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale; $17.

Hollywood Casino Greektown Present Chris Botti 8 p.m.; The Music Hall, 350 Madison Ave., Detroit; $50-$75.

Infinity & Beyond Journey Tribute with Teddy Petty and The Refugees 8 p.m.; Emerald Theatre, 31 N. Walnut St., Mount Clemens; $27-$200.

Jim McCarty & Mystery Train

8-10:30 pm; Berkley Coffee & Oak Park Dry, 14661 West 11 Mile Rd., Oak Park; $15 suggested.

KASHMIR “The Led Zeppelin Show” 8 p.m.; District 142, 142 Maple St., Wyandotte; $18.

Kovax: Komplex Release Party with DJ Los, Sankofa and more! 7:30 p.m.; Pike Room, 1 S. Saginaw, Pontiac; $15.

Laura Rain and the Caesars 8-11 p.m.; Cornerstone Village Bar & Grille, 17315 Mack Avenue, Detroit; $15.

Legacy Five Gospel Concert 6 p.m.; Bethany Bible Church, 810 E. Huron River Dr., Belleville; Artist Circle $20 GenSeating $15 pre sale $16 door. Luke Combs, Riley Green, Lainey Wilson, Flatland Cavalry, Brent Cobb 5:45 p.m.; Ford Field, 2000 Brush St., Detroit; $124.50.

Micky Dolenz 7 p.m.; Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W. Fourth St., Royal Oak; $54.50.

Music Night at Wiltsie’s: Mike Ward: Psychsongs and Kyle Rasche 8-10 pm; Wiltsie’s, 21 North Main St., Clarkston; $20.

Sleep Signals 7:30 p.m.; The Token Lounge, 28949 Joy Rd., Westland; $15. SNOW THA PRODUCT - THE QUINCE I NEVER HAD TOUR 7 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $29.50.

Spring Breakdown 6 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff, Hamtramck; $10.

The Joe Perry Project 7 p.m.; Pike Room, 1 S. Saginaw, Pontiac; $400-$455.

DJ/Dance

SORTED! Dance Party w/ DJs ALR!GHT and Mike Trombley 9 p.m.-2 a.m.; Bowlero Lanes & Lounge, 4209 Coolidge Hwy., Royal Oak; no cover.

Tinlicker 9 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $30.

Sunday, April 23

Live/Concert

Brandon Lake - Miracle Nights Tour 7 p.m.; Northridge Church, 49555 N. Territorial Rd., Plymouth; $25-$85.

Cal Scruby 7 p.m.; The Shelter, 431 E. Congress St., Detroit; $20.

Kill Alters, Deli Girls, Murder Pact 7 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff, Hamtramck; $17.

Lizzy McAlpine - The End of The Movie Tour 7 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $29.50.

Lumino & Stoehr 4-6 p.m.; Grosse Pointe Unitarian Church, 17150 Maumee Ave., Grosse Pointe; $30 at the door, $25 in advance, $10 for students.

The Dramatics featuring L.J. Reynolds 7:30 p.m.; Sound Board, 2901 Grand River Ave., Detroit; $39-$51.

VIAL, Killing Pixies, Lily Bones 8 p.m.; PJ’s Lager House, 1254 Michigan Ave., Detroit; $14.

Monday, April 24

Live/Concert

The Pentagram String Band, The Lowcocks, Meat Authority 7 p.m.; Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff, Hamtramck; $13.

Whitechapel 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 25

Live/Concert

The Wallflowers 7 p.m.; The Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $36.50-$99.50.

WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE with special musical guest Mal Blum 8 p.m.; Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; $35.

Karaoke/Open Mic

Karaoke with The Millionaire Matt Welz 8 p.m.; Bowlero Lanes & Lounge, 4209 Coolidge Hwy., Royal Oak; no cover.

THEATER

Cathedral Theatre at the Masonic Temple Boulet Brothers, Friday 8 pm.

Fisher Theatre David Sedaris ,$58.50$68.50. Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.

Fox Theatre Bluey’s Big Play, $15-$70 Friday, 7 p.m., Saturday, 12, 3:30 & 7 p.m. and Sunday, 1 p.m.

The Music Box Detroit Symphony Orchestra Saturday, 8 p.m.

April 19-25, 2023 | metrotimes.com

Riverbank Theatre Steel Magnolias, $35. Sundays, 3-5 p.m. and Fridays, Saturdays, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

Musical

Annie (Touring) Tuesday, 7:30 p.m; Fisher Theatre, 3011 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit; $35-$1,011.

COMEDY

Improv

Go Comedy! Improv Theater

Fresh Sauce, $20 Every other Friday, 8 & 10 p.m.; $20.

Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle

Jeff Allen with Paolo Busignani and Ron Rigby. $35. Sunday, 6:30-8 p.m.

Planet Ant Theatre Ants In The Hall present “THURSDAY.” 8-9 p.m.

Stand-up

Andiamo Celebrity Showroom

Jeffrey Ross, $35-$79, Saturday, 8 p.m.

Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle

The Day Players live Jen Fulwiler. $55. Saturday, 1-2:30 p.m.

Blind Pig Blind Pig Comedy, free, Mondays, 8 p.m.

The Independent Comedy Club at Planet Ant The Sh*t Show Open Mic: Fridays, 11 p.m. and Saturdays, 11 p.m.

DANCE

The Music Hall Complexions Contemporary Dance, $30-$45 Sunday, 3 p.m. Artist talk

Visiting Artist Lecture: Gordon

Hall Saturday, 12-1:15 p.m; Cranbrook

Art Museum, 39221 N. Woodward Ave., Bloomfield Hills; no cover.

ART

Art Exhibition Opening

Bankle Building Rebecca Goldberg: It’s Pop. Thursday, 5-9 p.m., Friday, 6-11 p.m. and Saturday, 12-6 p.m.

Continuing This Week

Color & Ink Studio Marat Paransky: The Files on Gutwald Emargut. Free Fridays, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and MondaysThursdays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Cranbrook Art Museum Constellations & Affinities: Selections from the Cranbrook Collection Free on Thursdays Wednesdays-Sundays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Museum of Contemporary Art

Detroit (MOCAD) Gina Osterloh: Her Demilitarized Zone.

Norwest Gallery of Art Mieyoshi

Ragernoir Presents Portal 27: I’m Coming Out. Through April 30.

Local buzz

By Broccoli and Joe Zimmer

Will Sessions takes over Spot Lite: Will Sessions could be considered a Detroit super-group of sorts, featuring a roster of musicians that would make the event flier look like an artist showcase if everyone was listed individually. Of course that wouldn’t be good for the Instagram algorithms, so instead we will list them here: The lineup on April 21 at Spot Lite will feature both Sam Beaubien and Ian Fink on the keys, Tim Shellabarger on the bass, Amir Edwards on the drums, Ryan Gimpert on the guitar, Dez Andrés on percussion, and Marcus Elliot on the saxophone. Phew! Of course you never want to assume such a thing, but perhaps we can hope for some additional special guests as well given the band’s history of collaborating with other artists. Either way, if you’re looking for an evening of funk, jazz, and soul on Friday, Spot Lite is the place to be. Presale tickets are available via Resident Advisor. —Broccoli

BLDG01 brings a fury of b2b sets: When it comes to queer music programming in Detroit, BLDG01 is surely a top contender. Whether it’s at SPKR BOX, TV Lounge, or anywhere else in the city, the crew always

puts together intentional lineups that highlight the boundless amount of queer talent in Detroit, in turn cultivating a community that values inclusion, representation, and having a hell of a good time. On Saturday, April 22, BLDG01 is taking over Marble Bar to present Double Groove, a night of back-to-back sets from some killer combinations of music selectors, featuring Ashton Swinton b2b something blue, Coop b2b Julian Abel, and Tylr b2b Jaco Matthews For those that aren’t familiar, a backto-back set, or b2b, is a masterclass in real time collaboration where DJs go back and forth track by track, simultaneously showcasing their own unique styles while also trying to curate a set that is cohesive, danceable, and maybe even a little chaotic. If any of this sounds interesting to you, head over to Resident Advisor and grab your tickets before they’re gone. —Broccoli

Celebrate Eid al-Fitr the Detroit way: The roaming Laylit party has been spreading the new sound of the SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) diaspora for over four years. The founding duo Wake Island is touching down from Montreal for a special edition at Spot Lite, which also happens to fall on the first night of Eid as Ramandan ends. Detroiters Aboudi Issa and Yara Bey will be

holding it down behind the decks, for an extra celebratory night. They will be lighting the dance floor on fire on Saturday, April 22, with tickets on Resident Advisor. Presales are encouraged, as these parties tend to fill up. —Joe

Smoke Buddies gets Extra Crispy: Of course, every cannabis-adjacent person will be throwing some kind of event for the highest of holidaze this Thursday. While there won’t be a shortage of businesses playing top 40 playlists and handing out complimentary pre-rolls, there are a few events that actually seem like they’d be worth attending even if they weren’t hosted on this High Times phenomenon of a holiday. One in particular that sticks out to us: Extra Crispy Studios is hosting Smoke Buddies on Thursday, April 20, presented by Signature Gardens and Detroit Hiatus. The event will feature a great lineup of music from Donavan Glover, A-List, Actually Mae, Swoozy Dolphin, and Mr. Ease, as well as food by Biscuit Babes and a variety of other goodies. So if you need a place to celebrate between the hours of 5-11 p.m., head on over to extracrispy4u.com to grab your presale tickets today. —Broccoli

Got a Detroit music tip? Send it to music@metrotimes.com.

Will Sessions. DOUG COOMBE

MUSIC

A Made-in-Michigan love story

Husband-and-wife duo the War and Treaty captures live energy on ‘Lover’s Game’

By Aaron Irons, Last Word Features

The War and Treaty, the husband and wife duo of Michael and Tanya Trotter, return with Lover’s Game, an all-in spectacle of soul, rock ’n’ roll, and country rhythm & blues that shakes and simmers in just the right spots. For those that have followed the Trotters’s emotional story since 2018’s Healing Tide and its follow-up, 2020’s Hearts Town, the new record’s gumbo of influences should come as no great shock, but there’s plenty to relish for new and seasoned admirers alike.

“Our intention in creating this whole album was to show what people feel when they see us live and that it can be translated on record,” says Michael Trotter in a late-February phone interview.

Opening with a blast of pure rock, a filthy guitar lick that gives way to FAME Studio-era Duane Allman slide guitar wrapped around the tandem line, “Margarita, hot chicken, strawberry wine, I’m lookin’ for your lovin’ to be mine all mine,” the title track heralds the outfit’s rowdy designs.

“‘Lover’s Game’ is how we would naturally open the show — really pumping and really setting the tone for a good time,” Michael says.

“Blank Page” softly rolls in on a Spooner Oldham-esque piano that leaves ample room for the Trotters to stretch

out vocally, delivering a beautiful love story in the midst of being written that defies any skip-to-the-happy-ending defiance of real life.

“I think that’s human nature — we want to get to the good stuff, we don’t like the hard stuff,” says Tanya, who joined her husband for the interview. “But the hard stuff is what makes the good stuff worth it! If you can get to the other side of it all then you can really start over.”

Lover’s Game marks The War and Treaty’s major label debut with Universal Music Group, an exciting development for the couple who have long recorded independently with the help of their friends in Nashville. The band was formed in 2014 in Albion, Michigan.

“When you’re independent, most of the creative ideas, I would say 90% of the ideas come from you. You’re inspired by a lot of different things, so whatever marketing people see, that all comes from you,” says Tanya, a seasoned recording artist whose previous label experience includes runs with Polydor Records and Bad Boy Entertainment. “The priority is always about staying true to yourself. One of the things I love about being at Universal and being with Cindy Mabe [chair and chief executive of the label group] and the team that we have

now is we have to stay true to who we are and they understand that and they encourage that. The difference is you don’t have someone trying to shape you into the next [whoever]. They want you to be the best War and Treaty.”

To do that, the Trotters teamed up with GRAMMY-winning, golden-eared producer Dave Cobb.

“In 2017, we met on Cayamo [a music cruise] and the rest was history from there,” says Michael, an Iraq War combat veteran whose career as a musician has been a second life of challenges as well as blessings. “We’ve been threatening to work together for a while now, and Universal provided the opportunity for that threat to become real. We’ve created something beautiful and special. Aside from that, we have a bond, a friendship, and I love it!”

On Healing Tide, the Trotters worked closely with producer and songwriter Buddy Miller while fully grasping the reins for Hearts Town and its wealth of special guests including Jerry Douglas and Jason Isbell. For Lover’s Game, Cobb made it a priority not to rely on a particular vision, but to encourage and develop the artists’ core strength – each other.

“It’s funny because we tried to let go, but Dave doesn’t allow that,” reveals Michael. “He’s like, ‘This is yours. Hold onto

this, this is you. But here’s something interesting about you — don’t think that it’s the band, don’t think that it’s the guitar riffs, don’t think that it’s all about the hype-ness of the music and how loud that can get. You’ve got to know that the magic is in two voices operating as one.’ That is what he gave us, the encouragement to know that Tanya and I are just enough.”

With the release of Lover’s Game, the War and Treaty are embarking on an extensive North American tour that will link up this summer with Chris Stapleton’s All-American Road Show.

“Michael, he’ll come up with [a set list] but when we’re on stage, everyone has to know at least 50 songs because, at any moment, any of them could be pulled out,” Tanya says. “We stay on our toes and it’s really about what he feels the audience needs. We get on stage and you can feel the energy, what the audience is asking for. You may want to come out and do a laid-back folk Americana set but the crowd, they want a party. So you have to give them what they want. And that’s what we do!”

The War and Treaty perform on Friday, April 21 at El Club; 4144 Vernor Hwy., Detroit; elclubdetroit.com. Doors at 7 p.m. Tickets are $40.70.

Tanya and Michael Trotter perform as the War and Treaty.

COURTESY PHOTO

Casual Chemistry 101

There’s no specific recipe for success for restaurateurs. Aside from the good food and service essentials, the mix of elements that can make for a long run in this business get muddled. Dining trends come and go. Success can be fleeting when feeding fickle consumers. One day, you’re getting five-star Google reviews galore. The next, you’re a vape store.

Since 1996, Steve’s Family Dining in Livonia has earned its keep catering to family dining crowds, serving up an ambitious breakfast, lunch, and early dinner menu that’s part Polish at heart and entirely homespun and hearty. After three squares thoroughly enjoyed there over the course of as many visits, I’m left sated with a sense of appreciation for what the Nedanovski family makes work for them — a neighborly approach to mom-and-pop hospitality that’s timeless, tasty, and welcoming.

Let’s start with Felicia, the waitress who made me feel right at home the first time I wandered into Steve’s. Her Slavicsounding accent — along with the Polish Eagle coat of arms I saw hung above the front counter and the all-Polish meal I ordered — led me to suspect she and I shared a heritage. Turns out, she’s Romanian, and charming as can be, calling me and everyone else in her

By Robert Stempkowski

station “my dear,” giving quick back rubs to (presumably) her regulars, and then sending folks on their way with an absolutely sincere, “Have a good day to you.” While Felicia didn’t give me a back rub (too soon), she fed me heart and soul with a cup of classic czernina ($1.69!), that prune and raisin-sweetened broth notorious for its poultry blood component, as a prelude to my Polish combo: a bun-length segment of boiled, garlicky kielbasa, served with gravy-smothered city chicken (tender, breadcrumbed veal and pork kebab), puckery stewed cabbage, and three palm-sized pierogi (potato, kraut, dry curd cheese). Smaczne! (“Yum,” more or less, in the native tongue.)

On a Friday visit during Lent, I started with Steve’s onion rings ($4.49). Talk about value perception. My four bucks and change afforded me a plateful of the lightest and crispiest (hand-battered, by the way) onion rings I’ve ever devoured. Continuing on with the former-goodCatholic theme, I followed up with “Friday Special #1,” netting myself two plump and piping hot portions of deep fried cod, two potato pancakes as big as pickleball rackets, and nalisniki (stuffed crepe), not classically filled with cheese and fruit in this incarnation, but a jam that tasted just like strawberry Pop-Tart

filling. No complaint there. Finishing up, I noticed a few of my fellow customers doing the same: two old friends, laughing and pointing at each other’s bellies as their empty plates were picked up, and a woman I might have gone to high school with circa 1980 with frosted Farrah Fawcett hair, refolding her newspaper. People linger over coffee and close conversation here. Steve’s is that kind of place. If the food’s not haute cuisine, everything’s rock-solid and well-seasoned with convivial service. Prices are right. Portions are more than generous. And that’s all added up to something sustainable for the restaurant’s longtime owner-operators and a customer community that continues to support a place where they’ve found such sustenance in abundance.

By my third sitting at Steve’s, I’m already sold on what they’ve long been selling. This time, I’m blown away by the best corned beef hash ever ($8.99, with two eggs, hashbrowns, and toast). Loosely and lightly sauteed, it’s spectacular. If, like me, you’ve always been satisfied with the pancaked, hard-grilled kind, you seriously need to try this version. A classic Greek gyro that I ordered afterward was as good as any, with fragrant slivers of grilled, ground lamb hammocked in a warm

pita, served with tzatziki as garlicky and herbaceous as the Greek food gods intended.

Again, I catch my breath a moment. And that’s when I caught Willie, one of Steve’s cooks, out of the corner of my eye, face down on a table next to the kitchen. He looked dead to the world. When I asked Connie, my server, if he was OK, Willie heard me, sat up, introduced himself, and explained.

“I’m just on break is all,” he chuckled. “Workin’ a 9-8 shift.” When he got up to get back to it, I noticed his limp, just like mine.

“Yep, just had knee replacement,” he said. “But it’s coming along.” Hope this review finds you well and rested, Willie.

Dessert wouldn’t have happened for me at Steve’s had it not been for Felicia, who wasn’t my waitress that day. Nonetheless, she made me feel special again.

“Here. Free sample,” she said. “Polish baklava.” Felicia plunked a nice little chunk of pastry in front of me, which she’d plucked from a private luncheon breaking up in the dining room near where I’d been seated. It was flaky, dripping with honey, and flecked with walnuts. Yes, please and thank you so much.

“What was the occasion over there?” I said, making small talk with my new friend.

“Pickerel party,” Felicia shrugged. “Enjoy. Have a good day to you, my dear.”

The last group I noticed before leaving Steve’s was a family taking up another big table close to mine. A grandmother was gushing over her toddler grandson’s “healthy appetite” as he shoveled bacon into his mouth like so many branches into a woodchipper. Their waitress stood tableside, admiring right along, addressing both Grandma and the little boy by name.

On the way out, I approached a young teen bearing a strong resemblance to one of the owners. I’d watched him busily bus tables during all of my visits. Now, he’d paused to look out a window and watch three guys his age playing outside in the snow. The wish-I-was-them look on his face was apparent.

“The difference between you and them is,” I tapped him on the shoulder to whisper a prediction. “You’re going to grow up and run a great place like this.”

Steve’s Family Dining has the family restaurant formula down to a science.

TOM PERKINS

‘Weird’ chain Pizza Cat is opening a Westland location

WITH A PROMISE to “keep pizza weird,” the Pizza Cat chain has offbeat toppings like Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and Grippos potato chips — pies seemingly tailored for stoners with a serious case of the munchies.

Ferndale’s Bakehouse46 opens

FERNDALE’S FORMER CUPCAKE

Station has reopened as Bakehouse46, a collaboration with fellow Michiganbased company Blake Farms.

The new cafe and bakery, located at 301 W. Nine Mile Rd., opened for business on Monday.

The menu includes a mix of Cupcake Station’s desserts and Blake’s apple cider and doughnuts. You’ll also find items like coffee, bagels, sandwiches,

and caramel apples.

The new store also has plans for a grand opening celebration starting at 8 a.m. on Saturday, April 22.

Grand opening festivities include $46 gift cards for the first 46 customers, a doughnut-eating contest hosted by drag queen Jade in Black, and a happy hour from 4-6 p.m. with 46% all items.

The name comes from 1946, the year Blake Farms was founded. Located in

Armada, the 800-acre working farm and orchard includes a cider mill, tasting room, a family Funland, and production facilities.

The brand also has stores in Ann Arbor, Birmingham, Grosse Pointe, Rochester, and Plymouth, with plans to further expand.

More information is available at bakehouse46.com.

Dutch Girl Donuts building is up for sale

IT WAS EARLY September 2021

when Detroit doughnut staple Dutch Girl Donuts announced it would be “temporarily” closing due to staffing.

Later that month, Dutch Girl owner Gene Timmer died at age 75 due to complications from cancer.

And now, in a social media post last week, Dutch Girl Donuts announced

that the building with the iconic blue and white awning at 19000 Woodward Ave. is up for sale.

The announcement comes as a shock to many, despite the bakery having been closed for the last 19 months. In the comments of the Facebook post, many Dutch Girl fans are hoping the shop sells its business along with the

Jet’s Pizza brings back BLT topping following outcry

DUE TO POPULAR demand, Jet’s Pizza says it’s bringing back its BLT Pizza.

The item was first introduced in June 2002 and removed nearly 20 years later in February 2021, leading to outcry among customers.

In a press release, CEO John Jetts said the menu item is back for good.

“I guess it’s true, ‘you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone,’” Jetts said. “We were overwhelmed with the number of customers who reached out to us, posting on social media, and even starting petitions to bring

the BLT back. We are so excited to add this fan favorite back on the menu for good.”

He added, “We know many of our customers have been eagerly anticipating this announcement.”

As you can probably guess, the BLT Pizza includes bacon, shredded lettuce, and tomatoes as toppings, with mayo drizzled on top.

The Sterling Heights-based Detroitstyle pizza chain said it expects to introduce other limited-time pizza toppings later this year.

—Lee DeVito

—Lee DeVito

building, so that the legacy can continue.

“Sell the recipes!! Don’t let them die out!!! No one can make them the same!!!” wrote one Facebook user.

Currently, there is not a listed asking price, but the bakery is accepting offers through Friday, April 14.

—Alex Washington

The company seems to be leaning into that demographic for the grand opening of its latest Detroit-area location.

Pizza Cat will celebrate the launch of its latest store in Westland on Thursday, April 20 with a $4.20 deal for a small cheese and pepperoni pizza. The deal ends at 4:20 p.m., naturally.

The store is located at 30915 Ann Arbor Tr., Westland.

It’s the chain’s third metro Detroit store, following a Greektown location that opened in 2022 in the former Ready Player One arcade and a Madison Heights carry-out only store that opened last month.

The Westland store is operated by entrepreneurs Andre (Dre) Styles and Brian Jackson, aka DJBJ 3525.

Founded in Ohio in 2017, the company says it’s planning to open more locations in the area, and that it has opened corporate offices in downtown Detroit.

—Lee DeVito

WEED

Dispensary launches ‘cannabis casino’ believed to be only of its kind in U.S.

One of the first cannabis dispensaries to open in Detroit has now unveiled what it believes could be another first. The Reef on Eight Mile Road has pivoted to include what it calls a “cannabis casino,” where customers can win prizes by playing games like blackjack, craps, roulette, slot machines, and more.

“As far as I know, nobody in the country has done it,” spokesman Tim Campbell tells Metro Times.

Campbell says the cannabis casino came from a partnership with Jason Kouza of Dort Hwy Dispo, a Flint-area dispensary that came up with the idea and started developing the games used at The Reef.

The Reef decided to make the pivot while adult-use cannabis licenses got held up in Detroit in recent years. Though Detroit was one of the first municipalities in Michigan to allow medical cannabis dispensaries following the passing of Proposal 1 in 2008, it was one of the last to allow recreational dispensaries, which Michigan voters approved in 2018. That’s because a city ordinance was designed to help give a leg up in the new legal industry to

By Lee DeVito

Black Detroiters, who were disproportionately harmed by the war on drugs. But the Detroit social equity plan for cannabis backfired, held up for years by lawsuits.

“I’ve said this a lot of times, Detroit really built the bus for recreational — and then it missed the bus,” Campbell says. “There’s so many other cities that opened up for years before they could do it.”

A modified version of the city ordinance was passed in 2022, and the first adult-use dispensaries in Detroit opened earlier this year. The Reef finally reopened for adult-use sales earlier this month.

“We shut down the shop, figured it was as good a time as any to give the place a facelift,” Campbell says.

Campbell says the cannabis casino concept didn’t require any additional legal considerations because customers don’t gamble real money. The prizes include cannabis products or store credit. However, after this story was published, a spokesman for the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency said that it was being investigated.

“We structured how many reward

points you get at a ratio of how much you purchase,” Campbell says. “For instance, there’s days that you come in and you spend $25, you get either a ball to go down the Plinko machine, or a pull on the roulette wheel, [or] a roll at the craps table. So you win prizes, and you can win pretty much no matter what. And if you spend $50, you get two of these chances; for $75, you get three; and so on and so forth. Or you can let your points accrue and and sit there and get hot on a game of blackjack, or get hot on a game of craps.”

He adds, “You can sit there for a half hour to use your points all at one time.”

The company also recently released its own take on the McDonald’s “Monopoly” game promotion where customers can win prizes like $100,000 cash, free pot for life, a Caribbean trip for two, or a kit to grow your own cannabis plants at home.

That’s in addition to other promotions like pull tabs and scratch-off cards.

“There’s kind of something for everybody,” Campbell says. “It’s a little bit of that ‘dope and dopamine’ effect.”

Campbell says another factor that led to The Reef’s cannabis casino idea was the plummeting price of cannabis in Michigan. “We have the cheapest prices in Michigan,” he says, adding, “We’ve got some real good pricing, but you know, a lot of people have good pricing. So you got to set yourself apart from and have the experience above and beyond just for coming in and purchasing a product. We want to make it a little bit more of a fun and enjoyable experience from top to bottom.”

Now that adult-use is allowed in Detroit, Campbell says The Reef can continue its plans for expansion. He says the company will bring the cannabis casino concept to its Muskegon Heights location as well, and the company also plans to soon open additional dispensaries in Detroit and Hamtramck.

“We had a couple other shops that were going to open that we just couldn’t open,” Campbell says. “It just didn’t make sense to open them until the recreational came online.”

The company says it’s planning to hire between 20 to 30 new employees in the coming months.

A scene from a previous edition of the 420 Cannabis Music Festival in Lansing.

COURTESY PHOTO

CULTURE

Artist of the Week

Blight Hernandez’s trippy world of positivity

By Randiah Camille Green

This feature highlights a different local artist each week. Got someone in mind you think deserves the spotlight? Hit us up at arts@metrotimes.com.

Angels with machine guns, Hindu goddesses, and indigenous liberation frequently appear in the work of Blight Hernandez.

The budding Detroit artist’s first solo show, Signs and Symbols debuted at Pontiac’s Gallery 46 in early April. As always, he’s using his work to spread joy in strife, perseverance through the human matrix, and a connection to the higher self that can only be found within.

Hernandez uses spray paint, collage, digital graphics, and screenprinting to explore spirituality and consciousness. He’s most known for his clothing brand “Be the Light.”A self-described “upcycled thrifter maniac,” he screenprints his designs on vintage button-ups, outerwear, jeans, and whatever else he can get his hands on.

That upcycled craftiness transfers to his paintings with scavenged street signs often becoming the canvas.

On a “Southbound Woodward closed at Larned” sign, a viscous Kali sneers, a blade raised in her right hand while the blood of a man’s severed head in her left cascades onto a plate she holds in a third hand. The multi-limbed Hindu goddess with wild hair dons garlands of skulls and barbed wire, a skirt of dismembered arms around her waist. This is Hernandez’s painting “Kali Through Detroit.”

She is both the supreme creator and destroyer. In an endless loop, she creates, destroys, and recreates anew bestowing upon humankind the ego death we must undergo to reach moksha — the soul’s liberation from the cycle of reincarnation.

“The symbolism combines religious and spiritual mystery,” Hernandez says about his work. “My paintings are modern metropolis inscriptions, a meditative introspective journey. It’s strong anarchism, freedom from man-made religions and yearning for

higher consciousness through the study of all faiths, complete abandonment of wars, mockery of GOA [Gun Owners of America], and an end to victim mentality reality… Everything in life is a choice, a balance between all good and evil.”

A sign from Wyandotte, where Hernandez lives, that reads “this property for sale” is painted over with the face of an indigenous chief, blood dripping in the background. We’ve seen this piece before, aptly titled “It Was Never Yours To Begin With,” at Chroma’s inaugural You Belong exhibit last year. This time he’s added a companion piece, “It Was Never Yours To Begin With Princess Edition” featuring an Indigenous woman.

He describes his work as “symbolic pop art/abstract expressionism.” His rough designs coupled with the found materials he uses give the work a street art feel, though he doesn’t consider himself a

graffiti artist. In contrast to his blackand-white T-shirts, his paintings are often bright and colorful, representing the duality of life and surrender to it all.

Signs and Symbols is a tribute to Hernandez’s grandmother Linda, who he says always supported his journey as an artist. The exhibit opened on April 8, the anniversary of her death.

“I remember sitting in my grandma’s middle room because the all-white living room was off limits to everyone,” he recalls of his childhood. “I’m drawing swans and hearts into my version of corny Hallmark cards that always expressed my undying love and appreciation for her. Her encouragement and raving encore for more always inspired me to keep creating. That’s my first memory of art.”

Though he has been drawing since childhood, growing up in Southwest

Detroit, Hernandez began pursuing art full-time and sharing his work in 2019. He uses it as a way to heal from childhood trauma as he observes it with nonattachment.

“My main objective for creating art is to simply exist, because without it life is pointless,” he says. “Hopefully I can evoke an emotion within someone else that can resonate as a reminder of their own alignment and light within their journey they call life.”

Where to see his work: Signs and Symbolism is on display at Gallery 46 until May 8. The gallery is open Saturdays 2-8 p.m. and Sundays 12-6 p.m. His oneof-a-kind clothing and screen-printed T-shirts are sold at shops around metro Detroit including the Luckenbooth, Old Soul Vintage, Dancing Eye Gallery, and his website bethelight222.com.

Hernandez describes his style as “symbolic pop art/abstract expressionism.”

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CULTURE

Sympathy for the devil

By MaryAnn Johanson

I’m gonna get pedantic for a moment: Aren’t all “exorcists” — at least in the Catholic tradition — technically the Pope’s exorcist in the same way that all Catholic priests are technically the Pope’s priests? They all work for and ultimately report to that Big Guy in their slice of our corporeal realm, right? (Not forgetting the even Bigger Guy in the ultimate Upstairs, of course, if you believe in that sort of thing.) I’m no theologian, but I can be pretty orthodox about grammar, vocabulary, and language, and this bothers me.

Unless... The Pope’s Exorcist sounds cool, though, I guess, and might even fool some moviegoers into thinking that this is a movie about the Pope himself needing to be exorcized. Like, woo-hoo, head of the biggest criminal conspiracy on the planet is actually possessed by a demon. Makes sense! But that’s not what’s going on here. What is actually going on here isn’t so far removed, in fact... but it’s not clever or grimly funny like the movie seems to think it is. It’s not an intriguing twist on the usual exorcist-movie bullshit. It’s genuinely pretty appalling, if you’re not a believer. If you are a believer, it might feel like a get-out-of-jail-free

card, literally as well as figuratively. Which is even more appalling.

Mostly, The Pope’s Exorcist is more of the same old religious-horror nonsense, the sort of unconvincing hoohah that it’s difficult to see how anyone could take it seriously, or be scared by it. The year is 1987, and the young American family of mom Julia (Alex Essoe) and her kids, teen Amy (Laurel Marsden) and gradeschooler Henry (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney), have just moved into the Spanish abbey they’ve inherited via their husband and dad, who died the year before. The necessary renovations have apparently unleashed some sort of demon — you don’t often see that in the DIY reality shows! — that is now possessing poor little Henry. Which involves the usual tripe including lots of swearing and throwing poor lowly priests across the room, even though the evil spirit is also seemingly unable to get a scrawny little kid out of bed. (Some days I don’t wanna get out of bed, either, and I pursue swearing as a hobby. Might I be possessed by a demon? I’m sure some people would say it’s likely!)

These sorts of movies need to be, well, hella engaging to make us see past their preposterousness, and this one is

not hella engaging. I think it thinks it is, because its actual protagonist is not that poor family but the Vatican’s Chief Exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, played by Russell Crowe — Academy Awardwinner Russell Crowe, the marketing hastens to remind us — hamming it up, complete with terrible Italian accent and, for real, flirting with nuns in the Vatican. (Crowe has always been a charismatic screen presence, and that’s still true, but it feels desperate here.) The lazy script doesn’t inform us how poor Henry’s plight comes to the attention of the actual Pope (Italian legend Franco Nero, for some reason), but it does, and he sends in Amorth to investigate, because evidently this is even worse than yer run-of-the-mill possession. (Amorth was a real person — he died in 2016 — which kinda feels ever worse. Like, a lot of people who absolutely should know better really think demonic possession is a real thing.)

Gallons of blood will be spewed from various orifices. Ladies’s boobies will be deployed, because nothing is more evil and tempting in our culture than a woman’s breasts. There will even be some mucking around in catacombs, and seeking out of ancient tomes in libraries with cool vibes, and ominous

The Pope’s Exorcist

Rated: R

Run-time: 103 minutes

appearances of mysterious symbols; Indiana Jones and Dan Brown should call their offices forthwith. And all of it, ultimately, down to the ending that may or may not be attempting to be ambiguous in a wannabe-menacing way, wants you to ponder whether the greatest crimes of the Catholic Church, both historical and far more recent, might just be the work of the Devil himself, and not the doings of horrible human beings and the even more awful people who covered up the crimes of their peers for the protection of themselves and the institution they serve.

I mean, the greatest trick the Catholic Church ever pulled is convincing the world that bad shit is down to a mythical creature called Satan, and not down to terrible human creatures who don’t need supernatural prompting to be bad. And more than any other movie in this genre that I am aware of, The Pope’s Exorcist wants to convince you of that, too.

Daniel Zovatto and Russell Crowe in The Pope’s Exorcist

JONATHAN HESSION/SCREEN GEMS

CULTURE

Savage Love

Shameful

By Dan Savage

I’m away this week. Please enjoy this column from June of 2018. –Dan

: Q I’ve been married to my husband for two years. Five months into our relationship (before we got married), he confessed that he was an adult baby. I was so grossed out, I was literally ill. (Why would this great guy want to be like this?) I told him he would have to choose: diapers or me. He chose me. I believed him and married him. Shortly before the birth of our child, I found out that he’d been looking at diaper porn online. I lost it. He apologized and said he’d never look at diaper porn again. Once I was free to have sex again after the birth, it was like he wasn’t into it. When I asked what the deal was, he told me he wasn’t into sex because diapers weren’t involved. I broke down, and he agreed to talk to a counselor. But on the day we were supposed to go, he was mad about every little thing I did and then said he wasn’t going! I went crazy and called his mom and told her everything, and she said she found a diaper under his bed when he was 7! After this crisis, he agreed to work things out, but then I found adult-size diapers in the house — and not for the first time! I took a picture and sent it to him, and he told me that he was tired of me controlling him and he is going to do this when he wants. He also said he was mad at me for telling his mom. I told him no, absolutely not, he cannot do this. Then I found adult-size diapers in the house

again this morning and freaked out. He says he never wants to discuss diapers with me again, and I’m afraid he might choose them over me! Please give me advice on how to make him understand that this is not him! This is who he chooses to be! And he doesn’t have to be this way!

—Married A Disgusting Diaper Lover

: A First, MADDL, let’s calmly discuss this with a shrink.

“There’s a fair bit of controversy over whether people can suppress fetishistic desires like this — and whether it’s healthy to ask them to do so,” said Dr. David Ley, a clinical psychologist, author, and AASECT-certified sex therapist. “Personally, I believe in some cases, depending on the support of their environment and personal relationships, it is possible, but only when these desires are relatively mild in intensity.”

Your husband’s interest in diapers — which would seem to go all the way back to at least age 7 — can’t be described as mild.

“Given the apparent strength and persistence of her husband’s interest, I think it unlikely that suppression could ever be successful,” said Dr. Ley. “In this case, I think MADDL’s desire for her husband to have sexual desires she agrees with in order for her to be married to him is a form of sexual extortion, i.e., ‘If you love me and want to be with me, you’ll give up this sexual interest that I find disgusting.’ Without empathy, mutual respect, communication, unconditional love, and a willingness to negotiate and accommodate compromises and win-win solutions, this couple is doomed, regardless of diapers under the bed.”

Now let’s bring in a voice you rarely hear when diaper fetishists are being

discussed: an actual diaper fetishist.

“The common misconception with ABDL (adult baby diaper lovers) is that they are into inappropriate things — like having an interest in children — and this couldn’t be more wrong,” said Pup Jackson, a twentysomething diaper lover and kink educator. “AB is not always sexual. Sometimes it’s a way for a person to disconnect from their adult life and become someone else. With DLs, they aren’t necessarily into age play — they enjoy diapers and the way they feel, much like people enjoy rubber, Lycra, or other materials. To understand her husband, MADDL needs to ask questions about why her husband enjoys diapers and figure out how to deal with it — because a lot of people want/need these kinds of outlets in their life.”

OK, MADDL, now it’s time for me to share my thoughts with you, but — Christ almighty — I hardly know where to begin.

“Great guys” can be into diapers; this is not who your husband “chooses to be,” since people don’t choose their kinks any more than they choose their sexual orientation; outing your husband to his mother was unforgivable and could ultimately prove to be a fatalto-your-marriage violation of trust; a counselor isn’t going to be able to reach into your husband’s head and yank out his kink. (“I absolutely hate that therapists are seen as sexual enforcers who are supposed to carve away any undesirable sexual interests and make people ‘normal,’” said Dr. Ley.)

You’re clearly not interested in understanding your husband’s kink, per Pup Jackson’s advice, nor are you open to working out an accommodation that allows your husband to explore his kink on his own, per Dr. Ley’s advice. Instead you’ve convinced yourself that if you pitch a big enough fit, your husband will choose a spouse who makes him feel terrible about himself over a kink that gives him pleasure. And that’s not how this is going to play out.

Your husband told you he was into diapers before he married you — he laid his kink cards on the table at five months, long before you scrambled your DNA together — and he backed down when you freaked out. He may have thought he could choose you over his kink, MADDL, but now he knows what Dr. Ley could’ve told you two before the wedding: Suppressing a kink just isn’t possible. So if you can’t live with the diaper lover you married — if you can’t accept his kink, allow him to indulge it on his own, and refrain from blowing up when you stumble onto any evidence — do that diaper-loving husband of yours a favor and divorce him.

Follow Dr. David Ley on Twitter @ DrDavidLey and Pup Jackson on Twitter @pupjacksonbitez.

: Q I’m a 33-year-old man, and for years I’ve practiced edging. Recently I’ve experimented with long-term edges, where I’ll withhold coming for days or weeks while still maintaining a daily masturbation practice. I love living on that horny edge, and I’ve even learned to love the ache in my balls. But is this safe? Am I setting myself up for prostate/testicular trouble down the road? —Priapus Precipice

: A A study conducted by researchers from Boston University School of Public Health and Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health found that men who masturbated at least 21 times per month — masturbated and ejaculated — were at lower risk of developing prostate cancer than men who ejaculated less than 21 times per month (“Ejaculation Frequency and Risk of Prostate Cancer,” European Urology). Read the study, PP, weigh the slightly increased risks against the immediate (and horny) rewards, and make an informed (and horny) choice.

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

CULTURE Free Will Astrology

ARIES: March 21 – April 19

In English, the phrase “growing pains” refers to stresses that emerge during times of rapid ripening or vigorous development. Although they might feel uncomfortable, they are often signs that the ongoing transformations are invigorating. Any project that doesn’t have at least some growing pains may lack ambition. If we hope to transcend our previous limits and become a more complete expression of our destiny, we must stretch ourselves in ways that inconvenience our old selves. I’m expecting growing pains to be one of your key motifs in the coming weeks, dear Aries. It’s important that you don’t try to repress the discomfort. On the other hand, it’s also crucial not to obsess over them. Keep a clear vision of what these sacrifices will make possible for you.

TAURUS: April 20 – May 20

Satirical Taurus author Karl Kraus defined “sentimental irony” as “a dog that bays at the moon while pissing on graves.” Please avoid that decadent emotion in the coming weeks, Taurus. You will also be wise to reject any other useless or counterproductive feelings that rise up within you or hurtle toward

you from other people, like “clever cruelty” or “noble self-pity” or “sweet revenge.” In fact, I hope you will be rigorous about what moods you feed and what influences you allow into your sphere. You have a right and a duty to be highly discerning about shaping both your inner and outer environments. Renewal time is imminent.

GEMINI: May 21 – June 20

In his poem “October Fullness,” Pablo Neruda says, “Our own wounds heal with weeping, / Our own wounds heal with singing.” I agree. I believe that weeping and singing are two effective ways to recover from emotional pain and distress. The more weeping and singing we do, the better. I especially recommend these therapeutic actions to you now, Gemini. You are in a phase when you can accomplish far more curative and restorative transformations than usual.

CANCER: June 21 – July 22

SAfter careful analysis of the astrological omens and a deep-diving meditation, I have concluded that the coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to indulge in an unprecedented binge of convivial revelry and pleasure. My advice is to engage in as much feasting and carousing as you can without completely ignoring your responsibilities. I know this may sound extreme, but I am inviting you to have more fun than you have ever had — even more fun than you imagine you deserve. (You do deserve it, though.) I hope you will break all your previous records for frequency and intensity of laughter.

LEO: July 23 – August 22

In 1886, Vincent van Gogh bought a pair of worn-out shoes at a Paris flea market. When he got home, he realized they didn’t fit. Rather than discard them, he made them the centerpiece of one of his paintings. Eventually, they became famous. In 2009, a renowned gallery in Cologne, Germany, built an entire exhibit around the scruffy brown leather shoes. In the course of their celebrated career, six major philosophers and art historians have written about them as if they were potent symbols worthy of profound consideration. I propose that we regard their history as an inspirational metaphor for you in the coming weeks. What humble influence might be ready for evocative consideration and inspirational use?

VIRGO: August 23 – Sept. 22

Gliding away from the routine for rendezvous with fun riddles? I approve! Delivering your gorgeous self into the vicinity of a possibly righteous tempta-

JAMES NOELLERT

tion? OK. But go slowly, please. Size up the situation with your gut intuition and long-range vision as well as your itchy fervor. In general, I am pleased with your willingness to slip outside your comfortable enclaves and play freely in the frontier zones. It makes me happy to see you experimenting with AHA and WHAT-IF and MAYBE BABY. I hope you summon the chutzpah to find and reveal veiled parts of your authentic self.

LIBRA: Sept. 23 – Oct. 22

The German word Sehnsucht refers to when we have a profound, poignant yearning for something, but we quite don’t know what that something is. I suspect you may soon be in the grip of your personal Sehnsucht. But I also believe you are close to identifying an experience that will quench the seemingly impossible longing. You will either discover a novel source of deep gratification, or you will be able to transform an existing gratification to accommodate your Sehnsucht. Sounds like spectacular fun to me. Clear some space in your schedule to welcome it.

SCORPIO: Oct. 23 – Nov. 21: Most of us have at some time in the past been mean and cruel to people we loved. We acted unconsciously or unintentionally, perhaps, but the bottom line is that we caused pain. The coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to atone for any such hurts you have dispensed. I encourage you to be creative as you offer healing and correction for any mistakes you’ve made with important allies. I’m not necessarily suggesting you try to resume your bond with ex-lovers and former friends. The goal is to purge your iffy karma and graduate from the past. Perform whatever magic you have at your disposal to transform suffering with love.

SAGITTARIUS: Nov. 22 – Dec. 21

The blues singer-songwriter B. B. King wasn’t always known by that name. He was born Riley B. King. In his twenties, when he began working at a Memphis radio station, he acquired the nickname “Beales Street Blues Boy.” Later, that was shortened to “Blues Boy,” and eventually to “B. B.” In the spirit of B. B. King’s evolution and in

By Rob Brezsny

accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to identify areas of your life with cumbersome or unnecessary complexities that might benefit from simplification.

CAPRICORN: Dec. 22 – Jan. 19

Proboscis monkeys live in Borneo and nowhere else on earth. Their diet consists largely of fruits and leaves from trees that grow only on Borneo and nowhere else. I propose we make them your anti-role model in the coming months. In my astrological opinion, you need to diversify your sources of nourishment, both the literal and metaphorical varieties. You will also be wise to draw influences from a wide variety of humans and experiences. I further suggest that you expand your financial life so you have multiple sources of income and diversified investments.

AQUARIUS: Jan. 20 – Feb. 18

It’s challenging to track down the sources of quotes on the Internet. Today, for instance, I found these words attributed to the ancient Greek philosopher Plato: “I enjoy the simple things in life, like recklessly spending my cash and being a disappointment to my family.” That can’t be right. I’m sure Plato didn’t actually say such things. Elsewhere, I came upon a review of George Orwell’s book Animal Farm that was supposedly penned by pop star Taylor Swift: “Not a very good instructional guide on farming. Would NOT recommend to first-time farmers.” Again, I’m sure that wasn’t written by Swift. I bring this up, Aquarius, because one of your crucial tasks these days is to be dogged and discerning as you track down the true origins of things. Not just Internet quotes, but everything else, as well—including rumors, theories, and evidence. Go to the source, the roots, the foundations.

PISCES: Feb.19 – March 20

In accordance with astrological omens, I’m turning over this horoscope to Piscean teacher Esther Hicks. Here are affirmations she advises you to embody: “I’m going to be happy. I’m going to skip and dance. I will be glad. I will smile a lot. I will be easy. I will count my blessings. I will look for reasons to feel good. I will dig up positive things from the past. I will look for positive things where I am right now. I will look for positive things in the future. It is my natural state to be a happy person. It’s natural for me to love and laugh. I am a happy person!”

Homework: Make a guess about when you will fulfill your number one goal.

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