Week 8 – Already??

When this program started, I was somewhat overwhelmed by the fact that we had to attend meetings twice a week. But I quickly realized they’re hardly meetings – a lot of times they are things I would do on my own anyway. But I’m glad they are required so my lazy self is pushed to do these things. I loved the social justice centered events we attended, because it exposed me to opinions and information about Detroit that differed from what I heard at work or in my circle of people I know in Detroit. I really loved the tour we did around downtown early on in the program. Usually tours bore me because the history is expected and normal. But our tour guide was a great storyteller and he told the real history behind downtown – the black people who did work that a white person got a statue for, the corruption behind the formation of government in the city, and more. I loved when he took us to a statue of the first mayor of Detroit and basically said “This is bull, he wasn’t the first mayor” and told us a story about the man who really was.

The Thursday group meetings are good because it brought together everyone, and gave us chances to have fun with people we haven’t hung out with much. Like yesterday, I had a ton of fun joking around with Jean and Ayat, and I’m like why haven’t I hung out with them more outside of the program??

I’m glad the meetings are part of the DCBRP program, because it helps make it more than just a normal internship. It makes it a whole experience of Detroit and social justice.