This will be a very brief post, as I need to cross at least one Craphouse item off of my to-do list each day, and it’s 10:14pm already.   To be honest, I’ll probably wimp out and settle for hauling over a load of folding chairs. We’re moving non-valuables to the Craphouse this week, to make the task of moving the Really Important Stuff over in the Official Move that much easier…and holy jeezum crow, do we have a lot of folding chairs.

We’re moving quickly on the Craphouse work.  I am hoping we can move in within the next few weeks.  This may be an impossible task, since so much of the house is still covered in debris from the latest round of demo – but in early August I’m flying down to Florida to film Lil Bro #2′s pilot.

You heard me.  I’ll be playing Nosy Neighbor #1.  Apparently, I get to wear stilettos…looks like I’ll be hitting the gym for the next several weeks, as bloated as these boats are right now even drag queen shoes will be too narrow.

The show’s called The Village Idiots.  You can check out their new blog and Facebook page (designed by yours truly – yet more portfolio padding, huzzah).  Like the FB page if you’re so inclined, it’ll make LB#2 smile.

I have a short story, Mirabilis, up at Mirror Dance Magazine.   I also have a rocking hot new cop car to drive.  And most of the plants that I actually managed to plant are doing well.

10:20 already? Gotta go, photos coming soon – for real, this time – along with a Thief Shoes update on the CH Facebook page.

Flower Day was a blast!

It rained like crazy, the temperature was five degrees less than comfortable for the clothes I was wearing, the wind kept blowing my hair into my face and the faces of those around me (couldn’t find a ponytail holder, sorry Eastern Marketers), and I’m on the tail end of a nasty case of walking pneumonia.

So what! I made it to my first Flower Day in three years — and since bracing a very, very unsafe floor joist at the Craphouse came in under budget, I had some real cash to spend at Flower Day for the first time in almost ten years.

For less than $90 I managed to find some great plants for the Craphouse garden and for inside the house, including the hard-to-find but crazy awesome Rue, a few hanging-basket type plants, bunches of veggies, and about twelve different varieties of pepper.   Yep.  I like peppers.  Sweet, hot, very hot, chemical-weapons-grade-hot: they’re all fantastic.  Also: I’m not so great at canning things but I am amazing at drying them, and most peppers are just as tasty dried.

Anyhow, it’s going to keep raining like crazy for the next few days, so I won’t be working in the garden until next weekend…but now I’ll have plenty of time to build some more raised boxes so I can have them all ready to go once the rain stops.

In other Craphouse news, building the raised boxes has given me some much-needed confidence: I am finally beginning to believe that I can screw two pieces of wood together and not only will they not explode, they’ll probably look pretty darn good.  I have discovered renewed energy for the monstrous amount of drywalling that is going to be involved in getting us moved into the CH, and I’ve been burning up my poor little 6 amp drill with all of the patching.  Our walls are still pretty ugly, but one of the non-negotiable move-in items on our checklist is patching all of the holes that are in reach of the Pitsenji.  She’s still a puppy, after all, and just dumb enough to stick her face into a hole in the wall and cut herself, get stuck, or worse.

So we have some fugly patches up, and will be taping and plastering over the next few days.  The SO has nearly finished stripping the paneling in the Serial Killer Room; sanding and painting are not far behind.  I am also still cleaning the basement and hauling out (please, please) the last of the debris for a final Dumpster Day.  AND, I have decided to use my new drilling-things-together skills to convert the World’s Stupidest Access Doors  into the World’s Tiniest Closets.  Once I’ve mastered the fine points of installing teeny tiny shelves into teeny tiny closets, I figure I’ll be ready to rebuild the bathroom wall (another non-negotiable checklist item).

Along with all of the above, I wrapped up another short story; kicked ass as MC for a comedy fundraiser this weekend; and not only attended my first business conference as an independent businessperson but landed two new web design clients.  As you can probably imagine, I’ve been way too busy to sort through photos – but some time this week I will post pics of the work in progress on the Craphouse FB page; I’ll update y’all here when they’re up.

From concept to execution in just 7 days, including all-new branding.  It’s a new personal record.

That is all.

They have numerous programs, including bicycle repair workshops and bicycle giveaways for youth.

On May 21st, after their Youth Earn-a-Bike program closes for the day, they are going to go on a group ride.  Volunteers are needed to help corral the large group and to demonstrate good biking behavior.  Helmets are required for all participants.  Check out their website for more information and additional volunteer opportunities.

The party starts at 1:00 p.m. and will end around 9:00 p.m.  Bioremediation Action will have free food and drink on hand for all volunteers.

You can find more information about the Bioremediation Garden Party on their Facebook page.

Homegrown noms

1st Annual Detroit Food Summit

If you live in Detroit, then you know how difficult it is to get nutritious food at reasonable prices within the city limits.

Only one major supermarket chain still has stores within Detroit itself: two stores.

Other supermarkets do exist throughout the city. These are usually single stores or very localized chains without the buying power to set good prices or the resources to step away from cheaper, highly processed foods which contain excessive amounts of sodium, sugar, and fat. The fruit and vegetable offerings in many of these stores are sub-par and make frozen foods, snacks, or even Ramen noodles look comparatively appetizing.

Let’s not even talk about the meat.

Traveling to the suburbs to do weekly grocery shopping just isn’t possible for a large numbers of Detroiters.  I’m lucky enough to have transportation and I do head into Hazel Park in search of more nutritious food, but the trip is time-consuming and tedious.  It wastes gas that I could use to travel elsewhere and, to be honest, I really resent spending the bulk of my weekly food dollars outside of the city limits.  The Eastern Market is a great alternative when seeking fresh produce and some quality meats and other items, but the Market and its surrounding shops offer only specialty bread, rice, and other staples.

The explosion in urban gardening throughout the city makes it evident that residents crave nutritious food, and that we’re willing to invest huge amounts of time and energy into making it accessible to our families and community.

If you’d like to learn some steps you can take to ensure community food justice for yourself and your neighbors, check out the 1st Annual Detroit Food Summit.  The Summit will be held at the Eastern Market on May 19 & 20, 2011.  It is being hosted by the Detroit Food Policy Council and will cost you only $20 to attend both days.  Scholarships are available. The point of this summit is not to make money for the organizers, but to make sure that community leaders and average families have just as much access to healthy food as they do to fast food and heavily processed snacks.

The Summit features work group sessions on urban agriculture; providing low-cost, nutritious meals to schools and institutions; working with local food partners to get healthy food out to the community; and more.

You can register here, check out their Facebook page for updates, or call (313) 833-0396 for more information.

Detroit Urban Sustainability Training (DUST)

From their website:

10 Days in Detroit learning Urban Sustainability from Detroiters living it.

DUST is an intensive hands-on immersion course in urban sustainability, grass-roots community building, and community arts.

DUST brings Detroit’s premiere urban gardeners and practitioners of urban sustainability together with students from around Michigan and the United States.  It’s an intensive, 10-day workshop and is held each year at Detroit’s Spirit Farm; room and board (and nommy* meals made from fresh local ingredients) are included in the $1,000 fee.  Low income participants may request a reduced fee.

The first session will begin on June 1, 2011; other session dates are listed on their website.  Registration is now open; visit DUST for more details.

*Well, I say it’s a word.

More Event Postings to Come

Dozens of other community events will be held in Detroit this summer. I will post as many as I am able on this blog.

Over the years, I’ve found out about many of the smaller Detroit street fairs, town hall meetings, and other activities around town a day after the fact – or, worse, a day after I could have rearranged my work schedule so I could go. It is my goal this year to promote as many of these events ahead of time so those of you who are interested can make plans to attend.  I’m also hoping that by actively seeking event details to post here, I’ll be more aware of what’s going on in Detroit and will be able to go to more of them myself.

Food justice, urban gardening, arts, and community-based event organizers are welcome to contact me to request a posting at no charge.  I’ll accommodate as many requests as I can.

Detroit city only, please; no offense to our neighbors, but we’re going to keep this in-house.

Jenny

My story “These Troubles, Oh No” is now online over at A cappella Zoo.  It’s an excerpt from my NaNoWriMo novel Uncurled.  A different title was given in the notes, but it’s changed.  Permanently, ’cause this is a much better title.  It’s taken from a line in R.A. Lafferty’s The Reefs of Earth: “A child’s a monster still uncurled…”

Issue 6 of A cappella Zoo is also now online in its entirety.  You can find it here.  The issue is packed with great writing…if you’re a magic realism fan, you should check it out.

Another short story of mine, “Mirabilis”, has been accepted by Mirror Dance Magazine for their Summer 2011 issue.  I’ll let you guys know when it’s up.

As far as the novel goes: I’ve been doing tons of research over the past several months, and have finally begun the third edit.  It will involve some serious restructuring, but it’s the right decision.  I’m exciting to get going on this draft, partly because once this draft is complete I’ll be ready to fine-tune the characters and in service of that goal I’ve promised myself a few rounds in a great bar with the Carnie Uncles to get some of their stories on tape.  The handful I’ve heard already are a blast — I can’t wait for them to tell the tales I’m finally old enough to hear.

The Mold Room

The Craphouse Chronicles’ new blog pages will be up soon.  We’ve found some hideous house-eating fungus @ the CH and my days have been all about that for the past week or so.  I’ll update you here and on our new Facebook fan page once the new blog is up!

Also: the next (and hopefully last) Dumpster Day has been pushed back to the 30th…I’ll need a few days to handle the damn HE fungus, and a couple of days after that to two-fist steroids and allergy meds in hopes of staving off a flare. Drywall Day will be on May 1st. Hell yeah, that’s a busy weekend.  If you want in and you know me in The World, email me for details.  It’s a lot of work, but we will have some amazing music along with plenty of sandwiches, juice, and beer.

I am in the process of transferring my many many CDs to mp3 for the move, and selling the CDs that are in good condition or better on eBay to help generate some cash to fix up the CH bathroom.  I have LOTS of blues, funk, and other collections and everything’s starting at $0.99 — you can find the CDs that are up right now here.   More will be posted over the next week or so.

Just a quick note to let you all know that I’ve posted some new content on the CH’s awesome FB page: a few fun pics, a couple of snarky comments.   There is a lot more to come in the days ahead, stay tuned!