Dear Nicholas,
Hopefully by this point you have ran as much of Detroit as possible and anything you could not see you biked to or got a ride to. Honestly I expect you (me) to make the most of my time here. I hope that I get accepted into the communities that I am working in and that working there and with the people there results in a lot of real relationships. That I am on a genuine level with everyone. That goes for everyone in the program as well. I just hope that this summer leads to a lot of connections with people who, because of how big u of m is and just where my life takes me outside of this program, I would have not met. Though judging by the collection of group photos we have, one of which you can see below and the other in Haley’s first blog, we are already close. 
There is also the experience that I will gain from working at the Sierra Club, I have already learned so much about environmental justice. I hope that as I learn more through my job that I can do more in my own life to contribute to environmental justice. I hope that all of the things that I am helping work on now with the Sierra Club only come closer to fruition as I work there, because this job is not pointless. As of right now this job seems incredibly rewarding, in terms of actual real world change, and I hope that continues as the work goes on. What I want to contribute is my fair share, I just want to help with the work that needs to be done. Understanding that I am not going to save Detroit, because that’s idiotic for me to think, but I hope I can help a few people out during the run of this program.
I ran down Woodward Monday and I started out with a Whole Foods two blocks away, a bunch of new apartments going up, a few trendy pet shops nearby, and I ended up just ten minutes later surrounded by vacant lots. It seems like there is a lot of development in Detroit though a lot of it is concentrated in certain areas and other areas are left not feeling any of the benefits of the resurgence of Detroit. I feel like my current perception of Detroit is not very deep, considering I have only been here a week, but I think that Detroit is sitting at a point where it can go down two paths. One of inequality and divisiveness where it is just a continuation of the status quo, or a second path of inclusiveness and justice. That second path is being helped along by all the wonderful people and organizations working within this program and I think for each example of injustice in the area there are people in Detroit fighting against that with a message of hope and justice, working to make Detroit a better city for everyone.
Hope everything only gets better.
-Nicholas
We used the same picture but I’ll let it slide just this once 🙂
I appreciated your outlook on how Detroit has the potential to go down two different paths. It is a frightening idea to think about, especially because the work that I am participating in doing is trying to economically develop an area without creating that divide. While trying to push Detroit onto the “better” or more “equal” path, it is hard to ensure that things will always work out the way we want them to.
Really nice picture