A Spring Equinox Missive

I want to take a moment to recognize the turning of the Wheel of the Year and, with the utmost sincerity, the return of spring.

Sharing my birthday every other year with the Winter Solstice brought a heightened awareness of the seasons at an early age. This year, our son Aya's arrival and the rather brutal winter intensified the importance of this morning's Sunrise for me.

I hope to encourage each of you, regardless of your station or belief, to add a bit of weight and meaning to the day as well. This time around, spring can be taken as a great deal more than the already vital return of local produce and bearable, even downright enjoyable, temperatures. Spring can bring rebirth on many planes. I suggest this spring be taken as a call to action.

If you're tuned into some of the same channels we are, and a starling number are, then you're witness to a very far-reaching shift in certain aspects of our culture. Though some of this is due to regime change, the changes that resonate for me are the changes arising within and from individuals and small groups. Almost everyone we share with admits that they can almost taste the potential.

I believe Detroit is experiencing the first rumblings of an exclusive local economic and cultural heyday. This spring, as Detroit becomes thick with more farms, community-based projects, DIY micro-industries, activists and artist, we have a great opportunity to build, inspire and assist in its recreation. Our city is changing quickly and, through our active participation, the Detroit of the not so distant future can and will reflect and respect each of our personal visions.

As the Wheel of the Year turns, I also want to note the importance of diligence as we navigate the coming changes in ourselves and in our communities. We all know that spring, summer and fall lighten our load emotionally and physically, but they can also lighten our energy usage and consumption. We can more comfortably walk, ride bikes and easily lighten our diets with local produce. With many of us tightening up financially this turn can give us self-determined economic relief.

While taking advantage of this relief, I recommend being mindful of the three seasons we have to prepare for next winter. This is certainly not a gloom and doom prophesy, but rather an aspect of the call to action that this spring heralds. Learn how to grow and store food, research and implement DIY home and health care, and make your living and work space more energy efficient. A few generations ago these practices were not only common sense but also considered boons to the development of character and self-respect. I've seen the act of taking up these practices assist to change attitudes and perspectives in so many, but most importantly in myself.

Finally, I urge you to take the coming of spring as a call to get out into your community, wherever that may be, and share your skills and expand your knowledge. Take this time to adapt to the quickly changing world around you and strive to anticipate future change through active participation. Working together inspires creative genius, or what Burroughs and Gysin would call the Third Mind, and I think we can use all the creative genius we can get at this point.

For me, as inspired by Angela and Aya, 2009 is a year of reconnection, to myself, to the communities and groups I share with, to the earth and all the realms I can muster. I am honored to be connected to so many incredible people and want to express my great gratitude for each of you no matter your level of engagement. Even the most minimal attention or awareness makes all the difference in the world. I look forward to working and playing with you all in the trenches. It’s going to be a great spring in Detroit!

Detroit's Sublime Sundays

Sundays have taken on a rather sublime, bordering on sacred, edge for me in the past year. I write about the Eastern Market church bells all the time because they really send me. It's not all angels and halos though, these mornings can be a deep philosophical jaunt that intertwines those church bells and an almost rural stillness with a beneficent skinny ragged drunk stumbling and stuttering down Service St. Maybe Sundays are when Detroit's almost pastoral agricultural energy and it's urban blight come into stark, awe inspiring contrast. Regardless of the factors, as the freighters chime in from the river, Sunday mornings here in the Lab are life affirming and vital. I adore this city.

With that written I am off to the vital work of composing the new Evolve Detroit. We hope to get it out today to share some exciting news. Plus, with Bioneers this coming week, we need to stay on task. Evolve Detroit going out early will help us to do that. Enjoy what is going to be an incredible day! The entire length of the Lab just flooded with sunlight!

Detroit Thanksgiving Day Parade Photos

This parade was the grand marshal of the best long weekend of my life. The Lab is a block away from the parade route, so why not, right? The weather was incredible! I got all dolled up and headed out to see if I could find the Burning Man vibe in the hearts and minds of Detroiters. I walked through the crowd screaming that I didn't get the memo about the ladders and asking everyone if they brought scissors to emancipate the poor balloons. I explained that if thirty of us bum-rush the balloon handlers we could make it happen and solicited pledges from folks that they would certainly bring scissors next year. Everyone loved the fact that I kept asking if that was Kwame dressed as a wrestler riding the back of Clifford the Big Red Dog! We were so done up the police let us cross the line and become a part of the parade for a while. Speaking of the police, not to mention all the parade workers, I walked up to everyone of them I saw and personally thanked them for helping to make all these people happy. As I approached in my long black dress, fur vest and cowboy hat they'd look a bit concerned but my gratitude won them over and they were all smiles by the time I walked away. I seriously can't want for next years parade. Bring your scissors folks, even though it's a parade there's still a revolution going down!

Here are just a few of the photos taken: