Going Home

New Center: Hats off

I am Leslie Cleage and am enrolled in the Community Journalism class at the University of Detroit Mercy. My reporting beat is the New Center Area.

While becoming familiar with the area, I noticed a cluster of shops that filled one block of Woodward between Milwaukee and West Grand Boulevard. I also noticed Mr. Song Millinery. Several weeks later I learned that this same hat shop created a hat for a famous client.

Local hat maker Luke Song created a strikingly odd hat for the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. Franklin wore that hat while singing at the inauguration of President Obama. Song's creation will be placed on display in the Smithsonian Institute.

I wonder if he thought that this personalized creation for Franklin would find its way into American History?

The Virginia Park neighborhood, in Detroit

My name is Stephanie Zerweck, and I am covering Virginia Park in Detroit this semester.

Walking from 3rd St. & Philadelphia, around the Virginia Park area, back towards Wayne State campus a few weekends ago, beautiful flowers were everywhere, especially in the community gardens within the neighborhood.

It was a beautiful day, and a young girl set the tone, with light, airy intonations, as she practiced her flute.

However, back on Woodward, this main street was and is infested with trash - in the grass, meshed into fences, around the Burger King on Seward and on the edges of the local Methodist church’s lawn - almost everywhere.

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Worshiping in Brush Park

My name is Carrie Cunningham, and I am working in Brush Park in Detroit this semester, just north of downtown along Woodward.

The Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Brush Park, at 2930 Woodward, is an interfaith seminary that specializes in training people to minister in cities. It also is used by the Resurrection Christian Center for services. Here is an idea of what worshiping there is like:

The congregation was mesmerized. In an authentic and consoling voice, the Reverend Tony Henderson gave a sermon at the Resurrection Christian Center’s Sunday service, held at Brush Park’s Ecumenical Theological Seminary.

Born and raised in a single parent home in Birmingham, Alabama, Henderson is versed in the tenets of the Bible and the inspiring ways of Jesus. He spoke about respecting God’s will and resisting selfishness and narrow-mindedness.

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