The High Cost of Higher Education By Grace Lee Boggs May 12-19-2012 At Oakland University’s commencement ceremony on April 28, I was awarded the degree of Doctor of Humanities Honoris Causa “as a distinguished political activist, agent of social change, writer and speaker” who “has had a lasting, positive impact on communities in the Detroit [...]

Thinking for ourselves Reimaging Education By Shea Howell May 12-19, 2012 The walkout of students from Western International High School is continuing to reverberate through the city. Emergency Financial Manger (EFM) Roy Roberts has vigorously denied charges this week that he intends to disband the elected school board because some members supported the walk out. [...]

Thinking for ourselves Budget Questions  By Shea Howell April 24-May 5, 2012  The first round of budget cuts under the newly evolving Consent Agreement is unfolding. It is not pretty. Mayor Dave Bing is proposing to cut 2,566 city jobs. He is also calling for an across the board 10% pay cut for all city [...]

Thinking for ourselves Women Creating Caring Communities By Shea Howell April 18, 2012 Nearly 200 women gathered on April 14th in Detroit to celebrate Women Creating Caring Communities. This was the second gathering bringing together women from unions, block clubs, churches, schools, and community organizations to engage in collective thinking about how to strengthen our [...]

Thinking for ourselves New Democracy By Shea Howell April 10, 2012 Detroiters will soon learn who plans to run our city. Under the newly approved Consent Agreement (CA) a nine member Financial Advisory Board will be appointed and Mayor Bing will create positions for a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Program Office management director (PO). [...]

Thinking for ourselves Democratic pretense By Shea Howell April 3, 2011 In the unfolding efforts of the State Governor to take over the city of Detroit the ruling from Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Joyce Draganchuk is welcome. The Judge ordered the state’s financial review team not to meet or vote on any issues until [...]

Thinking for ourselves Reading truth By Shea Howell March 27, April 31, 2012 Amidst all of the pressing issues facing Detroit, it is understandable how the mainstream media missed a very important article about adult literacy published this week by Data Driven Detroit. The article challenges the oft repeated statistic that 47% of Detroit’s adult [...]

Thinking for ourselves City honors By Shea Howell March 6, 2012  I looked forward to hearing Angela Davis and Grace Lee Boggs discuss philosophy and revolution last week at the Empowering Women of Color Conference hosted by the University of California-Berkeley. It was because of Angela Davis that I came to Detroit and because of [...]