Gannon University's Detroit ABST: "When it's cold outside, I've got the month of May."

March 2^nd, 2017

Well, it’s officially past the halfway point of the trip and we are definitely in the swing of things here in Detroit. Today was bitterly cold compared to the last couple of days and we were rather ill prepared. We often had to take breaks to walk around in the greenhouse in an attempt to feel our fingers and toes again.that

Halfway through our morning of work, Patrick came out and told us to take a break inside (evidently we were acting as frozen as we felt). Inside, a group of us got to work on building bee boxes. Another group headed outside to clean out old bee boxes, taking them into the greenhouse for more work.

We were served another lovely lunch and that afternoon, we sat down with Shane to have a conversation on food justice. For two hours, we dove into the depths of food security, food justice, and food sovereignty. It was eye-opening to discuss all that we deal with in our capitalist society that further pushes these divisions.

Today was Shane’s last day with us as he will be heading to Chicago for business. It was wonderful to meet such an inspirational character. He taught us so much about the work they do at Earthworks and how we can take back lessons we have learned to Erie with us.

After leaving, we headed over to the Motown Museum on Grand Boulevard. Here, we were given a tour of where it all began for music legends like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and the Temptations (along with many, many others). Even though we weren’t able to take pictures within the museum, it was so amazing to stand in the downstairs studio where they once stand and sing the lyrics to “My Girl.” Our singing might not have been on point, but the experience definitely was.

Tonight we will be meeting with the head of the Detroit Urban Retreat Center to discuss the water crisis that areas in Michigan have been facing. We can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds (hopefully with some warmer weather included).