Summer In The City - Detroit

Even though, last summer, I was overwhelmed and stressed about finding a job, I felt a pull to do something in the community. I dreamed of finding a place that I could donate my time, make a difference, but still take vacation without issue, and to do this all during the week.  I wanted to have my cake and eat it too. 

Needless to say I didn't search for anything along those lines my first summer in Detroit - blame it on being lazy, stressed, or convinced there was nothing of the sort.

Fast forward a year. My second summer in Detroit and that nagging feeling returns - perhaps out of boredom, perhaps out of a need to be more... more.... more than just me?

In any case, I was surfing Detroit websites and somehow ( I can't seem to recreate how I got there) stumbled upon Summer In The City. It was everything I was looking for: volunteering during the weekdays, painting, planting, playing, and only a day to day commitment.

I immediately registered to be a volunteer. I realized as I was filling out the online registration that clearly this organization is geared at people younger than I (mostly high school). I like youth and figured why not- the website said they had volunteers as young as 40.

My first few days were..... different. Not bad, but different. Somehow I thought that it was going to be like a Disney movie. I was going to go the first day and be moved to tears about all the good I was doing. I think, without knowing it, I was expecting some kind of music montage.... None of this happened. Instead I was someone who showed up amongst many, many high schoolers. I did not volunteer with anyone I knew- so, me being the shy person I am at first, I only had a few introductions to main crew people and did as I was told.

Even though my first few days were a little lack-luster - I kept going. I don't know if this was out of boredom, or if I knew somewhere inside that I needed to be there - for me. (It also had to do with Ben and Liz - who pretty much called or texted me the first few days telling me where to go and introducing me to people.)

Fast forward, again, to this evening:
It has been a few weeks of volunteering at multiple paint sites around Detroit and I finally get it. I finally get why I kept going back, why I am growing to love Summer In The City.

Before Summer In The City

Currently, it is not for the friends (as I am still getting to know people and I am still pretty quiet)- it isn't for the amazing bright paint we use (which is pretty cheerful). I keep going back because I am learning about Detroit.

I am learning about a truer side of Detroit, a side the news doesn't show, a side the burned out buildings can't show. I am learning about a side of Detroit that only people willing to feel can understand.

During/After Summer In the City

I started Summer In The City very cautious of where I was going - afraid of the neighborhoods. I actually remember wondering what I would do if someone showed they were mad I was painting over their tag.....

Instead of being presented with hostile neighbors, as I somehow expected - I have had nothing but positive comments and interactions.

People drive by and honk and shout things like, "great work" "keep it up" "looks awesome" "thank you" "keep up the fight"..... It goes on.

People stop by and ask how to get involved or who we are. More than once in the last few weeks people have made on the spot cash donations, brought water or snacks.

I am learning about a side of Detroit that is hard to explain with words. The people in the neighborhoods are passionate about the city and want it to be beautiful and safe - these people are strongly passionate, but in a completely different way than I expected.

I keep returning to Summer In The City because it is bigger than me, it is bigger than the paint- it is a small step in helping people reclaim their city. The bright murals help people smile, which helps people have hope, which then leads people to care. I keep going to get over my fear and assumptions of the city- to meet people in the neighborhoods that I am changing.

Summer In The City is becoming more than a place to spend my extra summer time - it will be a place I will return to each summer for years to come.

Thank you Summer In The City for being awesome and welcoming me so earnestly and freely.

Kindergarten and 2nd Grade - Coral Reef Mural

I have been really wanting to do a mural for a long time, but never really settled on a topic I felt had enough diversity to allow students at all levels to be successful.  Somewhere along my drive to work about 3 weeks ago the idea came to me - so simple, so easy -- under the sea... better yet a coral reef!  There are all sizes, shapes, and colors of plants and animals!

When I got to school I covered a large bulletin board in my room with blue paper and started to plan the unit.  I decided it was important to not only learn about murals, but the coral reef as well -- the plants and animals that live there.  I  felt it was important that their mural was as dynamic as a real coral reef - so we couldn't use plain old construction paper for our creation, the beginning of the unit began to take shape......

The first day I talked with them about murals - but I didn't tell them the theme until the very end of class .  The activity for the day was to decorate papers and I was a afraid if they knew the topic then they would be bias with their color choices!  I handed out white paper and had the students use crayons and texture plates to color the papers.  When one WHOLE side of that paper was colored they got waters colors and painted over top.  The 2nd graders had 12x18 paper and used one color for their crayons -- all shades of blue for example.  The kindergarten students had 8.5x11 paper and could use any colors they wanted.  These papers were gorgeous!

At the end of the first class I cleaned them up a little bit early and explained that our mural would be about the coral reef - and to learn more about the types and shapes of plants and animals that lived there I had a video to show them.  I told them that many of them, if not all of them, had seen this video before and they needed to look past the movie and really look at the plants that they saw -- the shapes, colors, textures.

I played them about 7 minutes of Finding Nemo by Pixar.  I started the film at about 00:06:10 and ended about 7-10 minutes later.  This section is toward the beginning of the movie when Nemo first goes to school.  Pixar did a fabulous job of showing off coral reefs - the students 'oooo-ed' and 'awwww-ed'.  I occasionally paused the video to have them take a good look at everything,

At the beginning of the next class we reviewed what happened last time in class.  I explained that I cut up all their papers (I explained that this would happen during the previous class) so that they could pick the size, texture, and colors they needed for their coral reef piece.  I gathered all the students around one table to do a 'think aloud'.  I had a book about coral reefs, which I thumbed through talking out loud about my thoughts - what I was thinking, how I was going to choose which plant to draw.  Once I decided, I then thought out loud about my paper choice.  I then drew my plant on the back of the decorated piece of paper.  Next, I decided if I wanted to use fancy scissors (the scissors what cut different lines) or normal scissors -- I talked out loud about if my plant was smooth, sharp, or bumpy.  I cut out my plant and last, but least, took a Sharpie to add details to my plant.

I asked that the students do two plants and bring them to me when they were done.  Some classes I let them pick where their plants went on the mural, and other classes I had them place them in a pile and I put them on our mural after class.  When students were done with their plants they could create anything, school appropriate, out of their scraps!

At first our mural was confusing and not very interesting - but as more and more plants were added the students got more and more excited.

The students didn't learn as much about a coral reef as I was hoping - but they learned a lot about murals, problem solving, shapes, textures, and sharing.