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University District: A whole new world

Hi!

We're Roshelle Vogel, Mike Martinez, and Natalie DeBoer and we are students at the University of Detroit Mercy, taking Mike Happy and Jon Morgan's Community Journalism Course.

College can be a scary place when you're a freshmen, especially when you're told not to go outside the gates of the university or you'll get shot.

Because of this class and despite the better judgment and advice of priests, professors and friends we finally ventured outside of the iron gates.

We found out they were wrong.

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El Central - Mexicantown's community newspaper

Standing inside the courtyard of El Club Mexicantown Fiesta Center at 4114 W. Vernor Highway, in southwest Detroit’s Mexicantown, one feels as though they are in old Mexico.

Networks of ivy grow up exposed brick walls and a variety of flowers planted from seed seem to pop out from everywhere among scattered decorations and ornaments that were saved from the trash.

One of the barriers of the garden, a fence with barbed wire wrapped around the top of it, however, reminds visitors of the realities of the surrounding urban area.

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Southwest Detroit and Mexicantown

My name is Anthony Minne, and I am covering Southwest Detroit, including Mexicantown.

Driving southw/southwest along Michigan Ave., heading out of downtown Detroit, one first sees historic Corktown, with its cobblestone streets and strong history of Irish communities.

But as you head further out of town, the landscape quickly changes. More of the storefronts here are boarded up and the city's former train station rises up to greet you, a monstrous structure that is falling apart before your eyes.

It makes you think the community is crumbling and wonder what caused it to get this way. Take a left at the train station, though, on W. Vernor Ave., and after driving by the station and through a dark tunnel under the remnants of its railroad tracks, the area quickly turns into a burgeoning community, filled with local restaurants grocers and community centers that radiate with human energy.

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