This has been a week of various little things coming together for me. Before starting this program and working in the local food-justice community, “food dessert” was a word I used without much thought; I knew there were economic and social disparities in Detroit and I just assumed describing the city as a food dessert was fine and even accurate, but luckily, this mentality changed when we heard Devita Davison speak at Good Cakes and Bakes on Tuesday. I realize now, even more than before, that prior to this internship I had been given a single story (buzzword!) about Detroit and I had not been challenged nor had I challenged myself to look beyond that. That’s one of the many reasons I am so grateful to be a part of this program.
Now that that’s out of the way, I guess I should get to answering the question in a more direct way. During my experience at Fresh Corner Café in Detroit, I have observed a lot of really passionate people working to improve the lives of community members. Just yesterday we went to the MOTION Coalition meeting and heard various speakers present what they are doing to combat the obesity epidemic in Michigan and how people can work together to take the efforts further. This on top of what we heard from Devita inspired me. Truly, I left both events fired up and excited to have the opportunity to be a part of the work. However, I’ve also noticed a cognitive dissonance of some form; I’m conflicted. I’m learning a lot very quickly about gentrification and its implications and I wonder if this work is feeding into it. I don’t believe it is, because we try to go out into the communities and we do, in fact, venture outside of Midtown, however our office is located right here in the Green Garage and many other people working there don’t actually live in Detroit. I’m not saying that’s innately a bad thing, but I do think it requires some additional thought in order to be fully understood.
I’ve also observed and been a part of some really awesome conversations. Here in 324 we’ve talked about many topics: recycling, gentrification, socio-economic class, education, personal histories, and compost, to name a few. This group has proven to be full of really smart, passionate, caring, and curious people and even just “observing” their experiences and hearing what they have to say has added immense value to my experience. It sounds vague, but I can’t count on one hand how many times I’ve left a late-night conversation on the floor of our living room with a new perspective. I’ve been challenged to look at a situation from outside of my original lens, and though it’s uncomfortable and difficult at times, I know it is teaching me a lot and I hope it’s making me a better person.
I was going to post a picture and write the following:
Here is a picture of Maddy, our bosses, and I at a gas station where we sell Fresh Corner Café’s products along with fresh produce in an attempt to bring good food to underserved communities. I like that we do this because it forces us, as outsiders, to venture into parts of Detroit that aren’t midtown instead of sitting comfortably and expecting people to come to us to get affordable, high-quality food.
but the website won’t let me post the picture. Sad.
