This week, we’re highlighting local makers and spaces, from Friday the 13th concerts to exclusive dining experiences. 

But we’re also highlighting something else — community. 

We know how to bring you the news that matters, the music you love and the events that you’ll add to your calendar because here at WDET, we’re in this community right alongside you. We’re out there in the heat of Movement and in the chill of the tree lighting. We’re tailgating at Eastern Market and perusing the DIA. We’re always out there with you, and now we’re asking you to be there for us.

As we begin our fall fundraiser, we need your support to keep the station strong. Consider how many concerts you’ve found out about from WDET, how many driveway moments you had when you just couldn’t turn off the radio yet, how many new things you learned from us that you had to share with someone else. What is that worth to you?

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Hear local musicians 

On Friday, Sep. 13, four iconic acts from Michigan’s noise and punk scene are coming together for Beautiful Noise at the Ypsilanti Freighthouse. This immersive concert takes guests on a journey through the past, present and future, featuring live projections and music by Monster Island, Infinite River, Dr. Pete Larson and WDET’s own Liz Warner (host of Alternate Take, Thursdays at 8 p.m.). Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. All ages are welcome and tickets are pay-what-you-wish starting at $5. For more information, visit ums.org.

Then, head over to Ziggy’s for a Friday the 13th concert featuring music by Wolf Eyes and Twig Harper, and an inner critic hierarchy purge led by Sara Tea. The show starts at 9 p.m., tickets are available exclusively online for $20 and the event is 18+. For more information, visit their Eventbrite page.

Peruse local excellence

The Black Food & Wine Experience makes its Detroit debut on Thursday, Sep. 12 through Saturday, Sep. 14. This stop on the multi-city tour features three ticketed downtown events that showcase and celebrate Black excellence and the rich heritage featured in food, wine and cocktails inspired by African Diaspora. To see the full lineup and learn more, visit blackfoodwineexperience.com.

Also this weekend is E. Warrenfest, which returns to the community on Saturday, Sep. 14. This annual event features over 50 vendors, food trucks, a beer garden, an Eastside bike ride, a kids zone and live music from Alice King, Mic Phelps, Cye Pie and Sounds Like Detroit Winner Drey Skokie & The kLOUDs. Festivities go from 4-9 p.m. on E. Warren between 3 Mile and Grayton. For more information, visit their Facebook page.

Eastern Market After Dark returns for its 12th year on Thursday, Sep. 19 from 6-11 p.m. As a signature event of the Detroit Month of Design, this highly-anticipated festival showcases a wide range of talented artists, businesses, organizations and musicians. Visitors will be treated to a district-wide night market and open studios featuring galleries, retailers, brand activations and live music. This event is free and open to the public, but VIP Experience packs are available for purchase starting at $50. For more information, visit easternmarketafterdark.com.

Explore local spaces

In celebration of two years in the community, The Hawk Makerspace in Farmington Hills is hosting a free open house on Friday, Sep. 13 from 3-7 p.m. Creative community members from across metro Detroit are invited to check out this immersive shared technical and creative studio, which features professional-grade equipment like an embroidery machine, a 3D printer, laser engravers and more. There will also be giveaways, refreshments and discounts on Passholder subscriptions. For more information, visit fhgov.com.

Then, the University District Historic Neighborhood in Detroit is hosting its bi-annual home tour on Saturday, Sep. 14. Design enthusiasts are invited to tour six of Detroit’s most well-kept historic homes with unique decor and touches, many from the Art Deco era. Common features include stained glass windows, Pewabic and Flint Faience tile, grand foyers, crystal chandeliers and more. General admission is $30 in advance or $35 day-of for adults, and tickets are $5 for children 3-13. For more information, visit their Eventbrite page.

Detroit’s Palmer Park has seen many improvements over the years, from renovated tennis and pickleball courts and a new dog park to a variety of habitat restoration projects.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Home to the largest old-growth forest in the Tri-County area — and one of only seven forests in the city of Detroit — the protection of the park’s 70-acre Witherell Woods has been a key focus for community groups working to restore and maintain the park.

People for Palmer Park President Stacy Varner, and Bobbi Westerby — whose company Environmental Consulting & Technology is leading the park’s latest restoration efforts — joined The Metro on Thursday to discuss their goals and the importance of this public space.

Varner described the scenery in Palmer Park as “magical,” noting that there is work underway to make improvements to both the park’s trail system and natural areas. 

“Just like with any living thing, [the park] needs maintenance, it needs nurturing, it needs preserving,” Varner said. “That’s part of this effort, of the habitat restoration project that is going on in Palmer Park.”

Westerby says part of their restoration work will include removal of invasive species, like buckthorn, from Witherell Woods to help promote native growth.

“We don’t want to do a lot,” said Westerby of the forest restoration efforts. “We want to remove the stuff that’s not supposed to be there and let the things that are supposed to be there thrive.”

Use the media player above to hear the full interview with Varner and Westerby.

WDET’s Jenny Sherman contributed to this report.

Related: CuriosiD: Are the woods in Palmer Park a virgin forest?

More headlines from The Metro on Sept. 12, 2024:

• The city of Detroit and its fire department want to train all city employees in hands-only CPR. It’s already trained 100,000 residents on CPR and AED use – giving the city a “HeartSafe city” designation by a national preparedness program dedicated to improving outcomes from sudden cardiac arrest. To discuss their efforts and the importance of CPR/AED training, Detroit Fire Department Commissioner Chuck Simms and Medical Director Dr. Robert Dunne joined the show.
• Two University of Michigan professors have teamed up for an initiative aimed at increasing college-age voting called the Creative Campus Voting Project. They joined The Metro to discuss their efforts. 
• The Detroit Documenters recently attended a hearing by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy about possible changes to a permit for the Detroit Assembly Complex on Mack Avenue run by Stellantis. Residents are asking for the permit to be denied. To discuss what happened at the hearing, we were joined by Detroit Documenter Anna Harris and Coordinator Noah Kincade.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Outlier Media has a new and improved text service aiming to help residents get answers to essential questions. 

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Outlier Media Sarah Alvarez joined The Metro on Wednesday to discuss how the TXT Outlier service is helping address information gaps about housing, utilities, and other critical community issues. 

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Alvarez says while traditional news outlets across various mediums provide an essential service to the community, “radio segments and news articles are not always the most useful way to get information to people.”

“…and they’re certainly not personalized enough for people who are in some kind of information crisis,” she said. “So what would it look like, I thought, for a news service to really try to fill information and accountability gaps, and what would it take to do that well?”

The service — first launched in 2016 — allows residents to text Outlier keywords for additional information on related topics; or to talk directly with a reporter about a specific issue they might be facing.

Detroiters can take advantage of the service by texting “Detroit” to 67485. For more information, visit outliermedia.org/txt-outlier.

Use the audio player above to hear the full interview with Sarah Alvarez, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Outlier Media, at the 25:23 mark.

More headlines from The Metro on Sept. 11, 2024: 

• About a week ago, Gen Z Democratic Congressman Maxwell Frost toured Detroit and the state of Michigan to stump for Vice President Kamala Harris. During that time, Producer Sam Corey spoke with the Florida representative about the biggest concerns facing young people, and what will turn them out to vote in November.
• Pollution from trucks and factories — coupled with poverty — led the city to be named the third-worst place to live for people with asthma in a new report from the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Allergy expert and native Detroiter Dr. Garen Wolff joined the show to talk about the report’s findings and what Detroiters can do to improve their air quality.
• The Funky Ferndale Art Fair is taking place Sept. 20-22. Director of the fair Mark Loeb joined the show to talk about what makes it unique.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

The Gordie Howe International Bridge is expected to be complete in 2025.

The bridge is being built in Detroit’s Delray neighborhood in Southwest Detroit — a place where, for years, residents have faced issues associated with heavy industry. Now, residents are dealing with the challenges that come with the construction of a roughly $4.2 billion international bridge. 

Simone Sagovac, director of the Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition, joined The Metro on Tuesday to help us understand the impact the bridge has had and will have on residents.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

In 2017, the group helped secure an almost $50 million benefits package for people living in the area. One of the overall issues people in the community face has to do with truck traffic, Sagovac says. During the coalition’s data gathering efforts, they counted 1,200 trucks driving on Livernois Street in one day.

“Something that wasn’t really anticipated was, you know, the scale of a development like this. It is the largest infrastructure project that both countries have had in 100 years and it’s 165-plus acres,” Sagovac said. “And when they’re in the thick of construction, and there’s no grass, and no trees covering that dirt – the dust has been a huge problem for the community. People have chronic sinus conditions. Asthma accelerated in the area. And the project is trying to do things with street sweeping but the dirt gets carried on the trucks and these trucks are allowed to drive on residential streets.” 

Use the media player above to hear the full interview with Simone Sagovac, director of the Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition.

More headlines from The Metro on Sept. 10, 2024: 

• The Detroit area is home to one of the largest groups of people with sickle cell disease in the country. The painful disease is caused by an inherited genetic mutation and most of the people who have it are Black. For decades, there weren’t many treatment options for the disease outside of pain medication. But in recent years, new medical technologies have helped alleviate and even cure sickle cell disease. Larenz Caldwell, a sickle cell patient who underwent a stem cell transplant six years ago; and Outlier Media Science Reporter Koby Levin joined the show to discuss. 
• The Detroit Fiber Club is hosting an immersive exhibit showcasing environmental- and fiber-based art at the Boyer Campbell Building in Milwaukee Junction through Sept. 28, as part of the Detroit Month of Design. To discuss the exhibit, we were joined by Co-Curators Sarah Rose and Lisa Waud, and Detroit Fiber Club Managing Director Meg Morley.
• Detroit Artist LeKela Brown is kicking off the College for Creative Studies’ Woodward Lecture Series. The CCS graduated joined The Metro to talk about her work and her first solo-presentation, “From Scratch: Seeding Adornment,” currently on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Like everyone else who is eligible to vote, young people matter in politics. But the difference between young people and everyone else is that they turn out to vote in much lower numbers.  

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

That’s true for almost every generation of young Americans. But that doesn’t mean politicians don’t try to get them to the polls anyway.  

Kamala Harris’ campaign is working hard to get young people to vote in higher numbers during this presidential election. That’s why Florida Congressman Maxwell Frost and Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield are meeting with voters at a Detroit Cafe on Friday.

To talk more about local efforts to turn out young people for Harris, and how young Detroiters feel about the Democratic presidential ticket, BridgeDetroit reporter Malachi Barrett joined The Metro. 

Use the media player above to listen to the interview with Barrett.

More headlines from The Metro on Aug. 30, 2024:

• Detroit Documenter Meghan Rutigliano and Coordinator Noah Kincade joined the show to give us a better sense of Detroit’s Board of Zoning Appeals and its member training session that took place on Aug. 26. 
• The Carbon Athletic Club is one of those places in Detroit that makes you wish the walls could talk. The members-only club has nearly 80 years of history. WDET’s Jack Filbrandt bellied up to the bar with Club President MaryBeth Beaudry to discuss the history they’re preserving and the service they provide the community today.  
• A collective of social justice organizations have teamed up to create a space for art and justice to thrive in Detroit. Kwaku Osei, executive director of the LOVE Building, joined the show to discuss its mission.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Labor Day Weekend in Detroit means the return of some of our favorite annual festivals, including Jazz Fest, the Hamtramck Labor Day Festival and Arts, Beats & Eats.

Plus, more local music performances and a chance to check in on your health. Read on to learn more.

Festivals

The Detroit Jazz Festival returns to the city Friday, Aug. 30 through Monday, Sept. 2, and WDET is teaming up with Paxahau as an official media partner to bring you special coverage and programming all week. Featuring over 60 performances as remarkable and diverse as the genre itself, as well as spontaneous late-night jam sessions, this free festival offers something for everyone. To see the full lineup and learn more, visit our events page.

Related: Wendell Harrison performs live on WDET ahead of 2024 Detroit Jazz Festival

Another beloved tradition returning to the area this weekend is the Hamtramck Labor Day Festival, featuring live music, carnival rides and yacht races down Jos. Campau. The festival goes from Saturday, Aug. 31 through Monday, Sep. 2, and admission is free and open to the public. For more information, visit hamtownfest.com.

And finally, there’s Arts, Beats & Eats in Royal Oak, Oakland County’s annual Labor Day weekend celebration of art, music, food and community. Festivities kick off on Friday, Aug. 30 and go through Monday, Sep. 2. The kids zone is free, and general admission is $12. For more information, visit artsbeatseats.com.

Music

On Saturday, Aug. 31, WDET’s own Shigeto (host of The New Music Show on Saturdays 8-10 p.m.) will honor the late, great Kraig Kilby by performing his timeless record Satori at Spot Lite Detroit in full over Jazz Fest weekend. His all-star ensemble will include Detroit legends like Dez Andrés, Ian Fink, JRGotTheHiTS and more. Bill Spencer and WDET’s own Kaleigh Wilder (host of Visions on Mondays 8-10 p.m.) will also be DJing inside, and Portage Garage Sounds will be on the patio all night. Doors open at 9 p.m., tickets start at $22 and the event is 21+. For more information, visit their Facebook event.

On Sunday, Sep. 1, Detroit’s Urban Art Orchestra presents All Things Detroit at Spot Lite, featuring Asaka The Renegade, Natasia, 3DXT, Shardy, The Monalyse, Courtney Bell, 313 The Live Experience, Chris the Barber, House of Hit Queen Gabby, DJ Fingers, Nick Speed, Jungle, Detroit Zeus and Phat Kat. Doors open at 9 p.m., tickets start at $22 and the event is 21+. For more information, visit their Facebook event. 

Related: Hear Urban Art Orchestra perform live on WDET

Wellness

The first annual Long Live Health event debuts at Eastern Market’s Shed 3 on Friday, Aug. 30. This family-friendly, festival-style event aims to promote healthy lifestyles with free health checks, LGBTQ+ support services, sexual health education, diabetes screenings, vision checkups, mental health support and more. This event is free with registration and goes from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. For more information, visit their Eventbrite page.

When relying on clean sources of energy, like the sun and the wind, we need a way to store that energy for later use.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

That’s where battery technology comes into play. Batteries are used to store and transfer energy from solar panels and wind turbines. The problem with batteries is they’re expensive and can be dangerous. In some cases, people have died in explosions involving batteries in electric bikes.

UL Solutions hopes to change that. The global safety science company recently opened a new $100 million safety lab in Auburn Hills to conduct comprehensive testing on electric vehicle batteries.

To discuss the new facility and how battery technology works, Vice president and General Manager of Energy and Industrial Automation Milan Dotlich and Senior Vice President of Communications Kathy Fieweger joined The Metro.

Use the media player above to listen to the interview with Dotlich and Fieweger.

More headlines from The Metro on Aug. 29, 2024: 

• WDET’s comedy showcase “What’s so Funny about Detroit?” takes place at the Old Miami tonight! We’ll talk about the event, and some of the most interesting comedians in town with WDET’s Ryan Patrick Hooper.
• Lots of music events are taking place this Labor Day weekend, including the Detroit Jazz Festival. Chris Collins, president of the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation, joined The Metro to share details about this year’s event.
• The Hamtramck Labor Day Festival is also happening this weekend. To discuss the festival, we were joined by WDET’s Mike Latulippe and festival organizer John Szymanski, whose band The Hentchmen are playing at the festival with Jack White on Monday.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Over the past few years, the number of 911 calls involving individuals struggling with mental illness has increased in Detroit.  

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The number of mental health care workers responding to those calls has increased, as well. Those mental health care responders more frequently enter crisis situations along with police officers in Detroit and around the state. But there are also officials who respond to those situations without police officers at all.  

The Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network (DWIHN) established a mobile crisis service last year to provide immediate care to people in need of help. Today, the organization is operating its mobile crisis service 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  

To discuss this, DWIHN’s Mobile Crisis Director JaKeya Kellom and Public Affairs Manager Michael McElrath joined The Metro on Wednesday. Kellom says calls to DWIHN’s crisis services have increased from 30 in December to 141 in the month of July.

“I think sometimes when you see an increase in numbers you may think, ‘well is that a good thing, is that a bad thing?’ But for us it’s a good thing because that lets us know there are individuals learning how to use our service, and knowing that it’s available,” Kellom said.

Use the media player above to listen to the full interview with Kellom and McElrath.

More headlines from The Metro on Aug. 28, 2024: 

• Only 45% of Michigan’s Class of 2024 seniors completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, according to the Michigan FAFSA Tracker. Jill Marecki, director of the nonprofit Detroit Regional Dollars for Scholars, joined the show to discuss the organization’s scholarship program and an award from the Educational Credit Management Corporation to help students sign up for FAFSA.
• For football fans, it’s an exciting time as we’re getting closer to the kickoff of the NFL season. So close in fact, NFL teams just made their final roster decisions on Tuesday. Justin Rogers, founder of the Detroit Football Network joined The Metro to discuss what we can expect this season.
• Detroit’s District 7 City Council Member Fred Durhal joined the show to discuss the recent opening of the new Tireman-Minock Park, as well as the Motor City Match program to help local entrepreneurs.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

A new documentary from the ESPN series E:60 called “28 Outs: An Imperfect Story” is revisiting Detroit Tigers Pitcher Armando Galarraga’s near-perfect game.  

On June 2, 2010, Galarraga was pitching for the Tigers against Cleveland. Galarraga started the season with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens and was called up to Detroit the day before. One out away from a perfect game, a blown call created a very different moment.

To help us revisit the game, Cody Stavenhagen joins The Metro. Stavenhagen is a staff writer covering the Tigers and Major League Baseball for The Athletic. 

University of New Mexico Professor Larry Jones also joins the show. He taught a Law and Society class at Monmouth University in 2021 that took a deep dive into the game. At the end of the semester, the class submitted an 80 page document to the MLB, making the case to give Galarraga a perfect game.

More headlines from The Metro on August 26: 

• The new owners of Florian East Chris Burtley and Shang Kong join the show. The brewery wants to immerse itself in the culture of Hamtramck. Florian East will serve coffee and non-alcoholic beverages during weekend mornings, screen soccer games and host food pop-ups.
• International Overdose Awareness Day is Aug. 31. Dr. Andy King is the medical director for the Michigan Poison & Drug Information Center and the director of the Tolan Park Research Clinic. He joins the show to help us better understand addiction and treatment.
• There’s been many studies on hallucinogenic drugs and their potential benefits to treat mental health disorders. Dr. Cassius Drake is the founder of The Drake Center for Transformative Healing in Franklin, Michigan. He joins the show to discuss how ketamine, administered in a medical setting, is helping some people treat depression, anxiety and PTSD.

Detroit Month of Design is celebrating its 14th annual showcase of immersive design.  

In this case, the word “design” is meant to be used in the broadest sense — we’re talking fashion, mobility and technology. More than 100 events will take place across the city in September, which will include tours and workshops.  

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

The showcase will be hosted by Design Core Detroit, an organization that supports design-driven businesses to help grow Detroit’s economy. 

Kiana Wenzell, co-executive director of Design Core Detroit, and Detroit photographer Elonte Davis joined The Metro on Friday to discuss Detroit Month of Design and what attendees can expect.

“Design Core Detroit is about growth, growing the creatives that are here. We want to see Elonte and his business grow. We’re about attraction. We want to attract more talent, creative talent and visitors to our city using platforms like the festival to do that,” Wenzell said. “And we want to retain talent. We don’t want Elonte to move, we love him. We want to see him thrive and survive in our city. So the festival is about connecting creatives with each other, helping to introduce them to new audiences and opportunities, and highlighting the reason why Detroit was designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.”

Use the media player above to listen to the full interview with Wenzell and Davis.

More headlines from The Metro on Aug. 23, 2024:

• Detroit’s North End neighborhood is filled with history and community — a lot of it due to the work of the Vanguard Community Development Corporation. The group is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a party on Sept. 7. at The Henry Ford Health Detroit Piston’s Performance Center. Vanguard Chairwoman Leslie Graham Andrews joined the show to discuss the organization’s work.
• A new report on children from the Michigan League for Public Policy revealed a mixed bag when it comes to measures of child well-being. To discuss the report’s findings, Michigan League for Public Policy President and CEO Monique Stanton joined the show.
• Outlier Media Civic Life Reporter Laura Herberg and Detroit Documenters Coordinator Noah Kincade joined the show as part of The Metro‘s Detroit Documenters public meetings roundup each Friday.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

There is a new cohort of Detroit students who can now say that they’ve not only gone out of the country, but traveled all the way to Ghana on the continent of Africa for a cultural immersion experience.  

The trip was the grand prize to students in the Umoja Debate League that won the middle and high school debate tournaments in early summer. Students had the opportunity to explore the country and celebrate the similarities and differences they share with Ghanian youth — and even debate them on salient issues.  

Umoja Debate League is a nonprofit that works with Detroit schools to bring debate programming to students.  

Joining us on The Metro to share their experience was founder and executive director of the Umoja Debate League, Jerjuan Howard; student debate champ and recent graduate of Henry Ford High School Taureen Mitchell-Campbell, and eighth grader at Bates Academy Raeghan Stinson.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

“We believe that education is multifaceted, and we wanted to make sure that the award wasn’t just a trophy, but an experience — something they can take with them for the rest of their lives,” Howard said. 

Stinson shared that the kids who went on the trip made close friends and gained so much from a connection with a different culture. They brought Detroit with them and shared what their lived experiences in the city are. 

“We were basically telling them, how it was, like, really developed over here,” Stinson says. “So if you were to come over here, it wouldn’t be anything like here. And the thing is, over there, everything’s natural. I think that was why I was glowing.”

Connecting with Ghanian students made it much harder to say goodbye, Mitchell-Campbell admits. 

“You could feel all the love. Like it was just everybody was interested. It was just so many questions that we all had to ask each other,” Mitchell-Campbell said. “We were staying at a hotel at the time, and we had to go to another school to debate and interact with them. They couldn’t get us back on the bus…it was a very hard time.”

More headlines from The Metro for Aug. 22, 2024:

• In a recent article in the Detroit Free Press, author and journalist Tracie McMillan explores the story of Ferndale’s segregated schools and how her own personal story fits into it. She joins The Metro to discuss how her parents’ decisions impacted her own life outcomes and the ways that are woven into a broader story about American inequality.  
• Earlier this week, we spoke with the head of the Small Business Association, Brian Calley, about why some businesses oppose the decision. And now we turn to an advocate of paid sick leave. Founding director of Mothering Justice Danielle Atkinson joins the show. The nonprofit works to empower mothers of color and she’s been a big advocate for paid sick leave.
• This year’s Democratic National Convention is currently taking place in Chicago. WDET reporter Russ McNamara is at the convention checked in with The Metro to give his impressions of the DNC so far.

This week, we’ve got album release parties, art markets, festivals and dance parties so you can take full advantage of these late-summer weekends.

Plus, your last chance to see “What’s So Funny About Detroit?” this year. Read on to learn more.

Festivals

The 4th annual SW Fest returns to Detroit’s Senate Theater on Saturday, Aug. 24. This free festival celebrates music, art and community in Southwest Detroit, featuring live performances, diverse vendors and local resources. Performers include Kemba, Tiny Jag, Gabriel Duran, Ruby Flwrs, Terri Shu, WDET Sounds Like Detroit finalist Marqu3tte and more. Plus, the first 100 kids at the festival will receive a free backpack and supplies courtesy of Detroit Southwest Pride. For more information, visit SW Fest Detroit on Facebook.

Then, the Detroit Bourbon and Blues Festival returns to Eastern Market’s Shed 5 on Sunday, Aug. 25 from noon to 6:30 p.m. featuring whiskey tastings, live music, food trucks and more. This year’s blues performers include Free Style Detroit, Shaun Booker Dammit and the Detroit Queen of Blues, Thornetta Davis. Entrance to the music festival is free, and tasting tickets range from $45-$95. For more information, visit detroitbourbonandblues.com.

Album release parties

Detroit-based post-punk quintet Double Winter is doing a record release party for their new album Hourglass on Friday, Aug. 23 at the newly re-opened UFO Bar, with special guests CC Nobody and Mutual Heaven. Doors open at 8 p.m. and tickets are $10. For more information, visit Double Winter on Facebook.

Read more: Post-punk band Double Winter previews new album on MI Local

Also releasing an album this weekend is #CoOwnaz, a Detroit-based hip-hop collective comprised of Eddie Logix, Mister, SelfSays, 2 Planes, Doc Waffles and more. To celebrate, Snow Global Records is throwing a backyard boogie on Saturday, Aug. 24 featuring live music, food and vinyls of the collective’s new album, Portrait of a Prince. The pop-up will be open from 3-10 p.m. at Duck Pen Gardens in Corktown. For more information, visit Snow Global Records on Instagram.

Read more: Hip-hop collective #CoOwnaz to release new compilation

Dance parties

On Saturday, Aug. 24, Spot Lite is hosting “Disc Techno,” a celebration of Chicago and Detroit’s contributions to dance music. Mark Grusane and Eric Schwab will be DJing inside with Whodat, Scott Zacharias and Ryan Spencer playing on the patio. Tickets are $16-$22 online, and the event is 21+. For more information, visit ra.co.

Also on Saturday, Aug. 24 is “For All The Girls” DJ night at Northern Lights Lounge. Hosted by DJ Iza, For All The Girls is a new recurring event to create a safe space for women in the dance music scene. There will be photo ops and a lineup of all-women DJs starting at 9 p.m. Tickets are $15-$60 online, and the event is 21+. For more information, visit eventbrite.com.

Art markets

This weekend is the Hazel Park Art Fair, featuring over 100 local artists, family-friendly activities, food trucks and a charity beer tent. The fair is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 24 and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 25 at Green Acres park. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit hpart.org.

Read more: Hazel Park Art Fair returns this weekend

On Saturday, Aug. 24, Bloodroot Herb Shop is celebrating their first anniversary with a makers market at Ziggy’s. From noon to 5 p.m., there will be music, food and 20 local vendors offering artisanal goods and services from ceramics and jewelry to acupuncture and henna. For more information, visit Bloodroot Herb Shop on Facebook.

Comedy shows

Our last “What’s So Funny About Detroit?” comedy showcase of the summer is on Thursday, Aug. 29 in the beautiful backyard of The Old Miami. In The Groove’s Ryan Patrick Hooper will introduce you to comics Jacob Barr, Finn St. John, Ms. Joyce, Zach Martina, Kathy Ryan and headliner Josh Adams for a night of good times with good people. Tickets are $25 and directly benefit Detroit Public Radio and the city’s comedians. Doors open at 6 and the show starts at 7 p.m. For more information, visit wdet.org/events. 

It’s that time of year again — back to school. Teachers are getting their classrooms ready and kids are soaking up the last days of summer vacation.

The Detroit Regional Dollars for Scholars is a nonprofit that helps students from around southeast Michigan prepare for life after high school. 

Kelli McCloud is a liaison for Dollars for Scholars and works at Utica Community Schools supporting a group of sophomores, juniors and seniors. She joins The Metro on Tuesday to talk about getting high schoolers ready for the next chapter of their lives.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

McCloud says Dollars for Scholars helps students overcome barriers that prevent them from education opportunities beyond high school.

“Students are able to apply to get into this program, and this program gives them the opportunity to get SAT prep, which we all know the SAT,” McCloud said. “As much as we don’t want that score to mean everything, it means a lot when it comes to college money. And then it gives them opportunities to be able to go on campus tours, so just kind of opens up to all the different colleges that are out there. And then at the end of the program they get $4,000. So that’s one of the biggest stresses: money.”

Use the media player above to hear the full interview with McCloud.

More headlines from The Metro on Aug. 20, 2024: 

• It’s the Detroit Public Theatre’s 10th Season! The organization produces nationally recognized plays from world-class writers, directors, actors and designers – all in the Midtown Detroit Neighborhood. Co-founder and Artistic Director of Detroit Public Theater  Courtney Burkett joined the show to preview the theatre’s upcoming season.
• Oakland County Parks is hosting its final Diverse-Ability Day event of the summer from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22 WDET’s Sydney Waelchli spoke with Oakland County Parks and Recreation Supervisor Sandy Dorey on adaptive outdoor activities at the event and how they’re trying to make parks more inclusive.
• Last month, the Michigan Supreme Court made a pivotal ruling that will increase the minimum wage and require businesses to provide paid sick leave to their employees. President and CEO of the Small Business Association of Michigan Brian Calley joined the show to discuss the ruling. He says that paid sick leave makes life harder for both business owners and workers. 

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Communities across metro Detroit host a variety of events to engage residents throughout the year. Another one of those celebrations is happening this weekend with the Hazel Park Art Fair.

The work from over 100 artists will be on display and for sale.  

Like previous years, there will be a host of family-friendly activities, with a few stops for beer lovers in attendance as well.  

Lily Ristau, secretary of the Hazel Park Arts Council, joined The Metro on Monday to share more about this year’s Hazel Park Art Fair.

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Ristau says the event is “truly a labor of love.”

“We’re all volunteers who put it on because we just love the community and want to see, you know, the artists in our community shine and also giving Hazel Parkers and the surrounding area, you know, just a fun, free, family-friendly event this weekend,” she said. “We have art in all of its forms, which I think is so fun.” 

The Hazel Park Art Fair is taking place from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 24, and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 25, in Green Acres Park, Hazel Park. For more information visit hpart.org.

Use the media player above to hear the full interview with Ristau.

More headlines from The Metro on Aug. 19, 2024:

• The city of Detroit announced Friday efforts to improve public transit with construction underway at the Coolidge Terminal. To discuss the construction that’s happening and the city’s plan for that project, Interim Director of the Detroit Department of Transportation Michael Staley joined the show.
• Michigan does not have enough housing. In fact, 41% of Michigan local officials report a shortage of single-family homes in their communities – up by 23% since 2017, according to a University of Michigan report. And now some have been trying to solve the problem. On Mackinac Island this past summer, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she wanted to build or rehab 115,000 housing units by 2026. And in the spring, the Michigan State Housing Development Authority was granted the ability to use state funds to increase housing. On the latest episode of MichMash, Alethia Kasben and Zach Gorchow sat down with the agency’s director Amy Hovey to learn more.
• It’s a presidential election year and that means it’s another opportunity for candidates to stump for their positions and to make the case for what kind of society they want to create. The Metro has been talking with both liberals and conservatives from around the tri-county area to better understand the issues they feel are most pressing to residents. Producer Sam Corey sat down with Head of the Oakland County GOP Vance Patrick to discuss issues on voters’ minds.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

What does “belonging” mean to you?

Maybe it’s being in spaces where you feel comfortable, or being surrounded by others with similar interests. No matter what “belonging” means to you, it’s a very human desire.

Like other nations, America has drawn internal lines, preventing people from belonging in its experiment.

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Poet Brad Walrond explores “belonging” in his latest book “Everywhere Alien.” Walrond is a poet, author, conceptual-performance artist, and one of the foremost participants in the 1990s Black Arts Movement in New York City.

He is also the first poet to be published by Moore Black Press, which was founded by Detroit’s Poet Laureate jessica Care moore.

To share more about “Everywhere Alien,” Walrond and Moore joined The Metro.

“Everywhere Alien” analyzes the idea of belonging and feelings of isolation. In the book, Walrond connects these main ideas and feelings and relates them to the African American community.

“It centers Blackness. But Blackness is a civilizational inheritance. It is the species, right? And then we have white supremacy. And it’s almost like…the world has conspired to alienate ourselves from our own humanity,” Walrond said.

Walrond got the inspiration for his book from his rich journeys and experience in New York City. More specifically, he got the meaning of his book from visiting underground movements in NYC, where he felt extremely immersed in the scene — yet alienated at the same time.

“It is like this uber surrealist, dimensional journey, and ultimately, it’s a journey inward,” Walrond described. “I think that’s what this notion of alienation and belonging has taught me — that the journey really is inside, and really capturing the contours of all the beings inside you — and finding the faith and the courage to live that as wildly and as boldly as you can.”

Walrond explained how his dream for every human being was to find and live out that journey inside themselves.

Moore also explained how Black Women Rock is coming to The Fillmore Detroit on Aug. 31 for its 20th anniversary.

“If you don’t have your tickets, it’s the baddest rock and roll concert in the world,” Moore exclaimed. “These women are legends, and they’re stars already. That’s not an emerging, emerging talent show. Just because you don’t know who they are doesn’t mean that we don’t know who they are. And if you haven’t seen the show, come it’s a great weekend, Labor Day weekend Fillmore, Detroit.”

Tickets for Black Women Rock are available at livenation.com and the venue box office.

More headlines from The Metro for Aug. 15, 2024:

• In politics, there are always people that need to be persuaded to your side or need convincing to come out and vote. One person doing a lot of that convincing is Lori Goldman. Lori is the founder of Fems for Dems, a group of progressive women organizing for Democrats in Southeast Michigan. She’s helped create the blue wave that’s washed over Oakland County this past decade. Goldman joined The Metro to discuss her theory of organizing and what Democrats need to do to turn out the vote in Oakland County.
• Earth Tones Concert at the Palmer Park Log Cabin returns this Sunday. The series brings people together in the park through music, arts and storytelling. Detroiter Wendell Harrison and the curator of the Earth Tones Concert series, Joe Darling, joined The Metro to discuss the show.
• We live in an era of fast fashion. Department stores and malls are closing all the time, but there is still one tried and true source for shopping in real life — thrifting. And that’s especially true now as this Saturday is National Thrift Shop Day. To talk about all things thrifting, Bri Stacy from Hamtramck-based Public Thrift joined The Metro.

This weekend, we’ve got a wide variety of celebratory events, from car shows to concerts.

Plus, the grand re-opening of a beloved Corktown bar. Read on to learn more.

Classic cars

This weekend is the Woodward Dream Cruise, featuring fireworks, food and tons of classic cars. On Saturday, Aug. 17, M1 Concourse will turn back time with a recreation of a 1964 New Car Show, musical performers from Motown, Beatles, and Beach Boys tribute bands, and of course, a caravan of cars cruising down Woodward. Onsite parking is $20 and the event will take place rain or shine. For more information, visit m1concourse.com.

Fan favorites

Join us on Thursday, Aug. 15 at New Center Park for our 2024 Sounds Like Detroit showcase! MI Local host Jeff Milo will introduce you to Detroit’s top five listener-voted Tiny Desk Contest participants: Drey Skonie & The kLOUDs, C3theartist, Elspeth Tremblay & The Treatment, Chris Lanard & One Band Global and Isis Damil. And as a thank you for supporting local artists, we’re offering WDET listeners half off tickets for you and a friend when you use the code “WDETVIP” at checkout. Food trucks and beverages will be available on-site and guests are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs and blankets. Gates open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. For more information, visit our events page.

Then, head over to Northern Lights Lounge for Keeping UP, the monthly DJ residency featuring Clark and Liz Warner (host of WDET’s Alternate Take Thursdays at 8 p.m.). They’ll be playing ambient, melodic and lush electronic music from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. No cover, all style. For more information, visit northernlightslounge.com.

Musical celebrations

UFO Bar in Corktown is having its official grand opening on Friday, Aug. 16. Formerly known as UFO Factory, the bar and music venue was bought by Spot Lite owner Roula David earlier this summer, and will continue to serve the core functions of the original business — including rock shows, queer DJ nights and gourmet hot dogs. Opening night will feature food from Gladys Nite, full bar service and a new residency with Sheefy McFly. Hours are 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. and there’s a $10 cover starting at 10 p.m. For more information, visit their Instagram page.  

Read more: Spot Lite Detroit owner keeping Corktown’s UFO Factory alive as UFO Bar

Afro Nation, the world’s biggest Afrobeats festival, returns to Bedrock’s Douglass Site in Detroit this weekend. The Douglass Site has housed icons like Diana Ross and Smokey Robinson, and Detroit’s rich history of African American culture and its status as the birthplace of Motown and Techno make it the perfect location for Afro Nation 2024. The festival offers an opportunity to celebrate the resilience and enduring legacy of Detroit’s vibrant music and artistic communities. Doors close at 9:15 p.m. and the festival is 17+. Tickets start at $70. For more information, visit detroit.afronation.com.

Personal performances

This weekend, Detroit Public Theatre’s Shakespeare in Prison alumni present “What’s in a Name…,” a staged reading of an original documentary theatre piece comprised of collected reentry stories. These reentry stories are pulled verbatim from interviews conducted during the fall of 2022, and performed by Shakespeare in Prison alumni, sharing their thoughts on what “successful reentry” means to them. Two performances will take place at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 17 and Sunday, Aug. 18 at Detroit Public Theatre, free of charge. To RSVP and learn more, visit detroitpublictheatre.org.

On Friday, Aug. 16, the Arab American National Museum is hosting a Rooftop Rendezvous: BYOI Jam Session. Guests are encouraged to bring their own instruments to participate in an informal community performance on the museum’s rooftop garden. Light refreshments will be served, and the event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit arabamericanmuseum.org.

Healthy habits

Health Is Wealth Detroit returns to Eastern Market on Friday, Aug. 16. This holistic wellness expo provides a gathering space for Detroiters who want to celebrate wellness in the community. This year’s featured guests include actors Debbie Allen and Hill Harper. Activities will take place in Shed 3 from noon to 9 p.m. For more information, visit theblac.co/healthiswealth.

It’s fascinating to see that in a world where technology is king, there’s still a strong love for needlework growing throughout metro Detroit and the country.

Maybe it’s because you grew up watching a parent or a grandparent do it, maybe you had a friend that did it, or maybe you just like the community around it, or honestly, maybe it’s nice to just do something with your hands. There are countless reasons why someone may take up a needle-based craft like crocheting, knitting or quilting. But these hobbies have rich histories behind them, whether it’s origins in ancient Egypt or ties to African storytelling traditions.

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To address the rise of the fibrous arts and the history behind them, The Metro was joined by two women in the world of needlework and quilting.

The owner of Parker Avenue Knits in Detroit, Sally Moore, and fiber artist and sculptor, April Shipp, shared their experience and expertise about needlework and quilting.

The fabric arts has been a popular hobby among many including the young, old, male and female. Shipp said she loves fabric and quilting because of the textures, its representation of life and the free feeling she has when crafting.

“First off, the first thing you’re clothed in, the first thing you’re swaddled in, is cloth, right? And when you die, that’s the last thing you wrapped in, is cloth as well. So cloth, to me, is just the feeling of it in my fingers is just amazing,” Shipp said. “I love textiles, and I think we weave so many stories of love and what we do, we tell with my work, I tell stories. I tell narratives, funny and serious, sad and happy. It’s all in the cloth.”

Shipp brought some of her favorite pieces she’s created to the WDET studios, including one where she grabbed scrap fabrics off the floor and threw them together to develop a beautiful collage.

But quilting and knitting aren’t just hobbies — they are a way of storytelling and keeping memories, history and personal legacies alive. 

“In the African community, it [needlework] is the story telling. It is the verbal history. Because we weren’t allowed to keep our history. We weren’t allowed to write it down, or we didn’t — we were illiterate — we didn’t know how to write it down, but it didn’t mean that it had to die,” Moore explained. “And in this day and age, with all the noise around us and the short attention spans, having this tool to bring people still and in each other’s presence.”

For African Americans, and many other communities, needlework has passed down many memories and heirlooms through generations. The creativity in the fabric arts is ageless.

At Parker Avenue Knits, Moore created a community of not only African American individuals, but a diverse gathering of anyone and everyone with an interest in fabric arts.

“Many of us [were] strangers before we walked in, but the fiber just levels the playing field and reminds you that we are all part of one big community,” Moore stated.

Her philosophy in creating the shop was to give people a space to have all sorts of conversations, essentially creating a community out of unique characters and turning them all into artists and friends. Needlework, whether someone is creating quilts, clothing, home decor, or whatever their imagination desires, creates a community and spreads love.

Moore provided some advice to people interested in taking up the “sport” when she said, “We figure it out. We commiserate, we rip it out. We do whatever has to be done. But, April made the statement, the only limit is your imagination. So don’t let perfect be the enemy of progress…just keep going.”

More headlines from The Metro for Aug. 14, 2024: 

• Mastodons roamed the earth between 23 million and 12,000 years ago. Hundreds of mastodon fossils have been found in Michigan. So many that it became Michigan’s state fossil in 2002. Yes, you heard that right, mastodons are Michigan’s state fossil and could soon become the national fossil thanks to a bill sponsored by Michigan U.S. Sen. Gary Peters. One place you can see our state fossil up close is the University of Michigan’s Museum of Natural History in Ann Arbor. To talk about mastodons, Jake Downey, the docent at the museum, joined The Metro.

Some believe poetry is a lost art, but don’t say that to many Michiganders.  

That’s in part thanks to the efforts of many local arts organizations that foster poetry and the work of poets around the state — including Michigan Poet Laureate Nandi Comer.  

A native Detroiter and Kresge Arts Fellow, Comer was recently given another award for her efforts in expanding access to poetry — she’s one of 23 fellows for the Academy of American Poetry. The program will help her use billboards to expose the public to the work of Michigan poets.  

To discuss her latest project, what it’s been like to be the state poet laureate, and to explore an event she’s teaching, Nandi Comer joined The Metro.

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Comer recently received $50,000 to initiate her project, Michigan Words, a statewide billboard campaign for poets. 

“They asked me what I wanted to do for my capstone project, and I wanted to showcase Michigan poets in their own communities,” Comer said. “So that we as a city, as a town, as a municipality, can see our poets physically and know who they are and really celebrate them.”

Comer’s goal is to make these poets’ words as visible to the public as possible. To do that, she is having their works displayed on billboards and in pedestrian areas so that people traveling throughout Michigan can see them.

“I think because poets oftentimes have trouble celebrating themselves, we sometimes forget how rich our history is in poetics. I think that we’ve never really had a drought in talent,” Comer stated.

As well as increasing the representation of Michigan poets, Comer has also strived to help support writers succeed in the industry.

Comer helped start the organization Detroit Lit, which provides support to writers of color. Detroit Lit is hosting the Detroit Lit Summer Writers Institute, a series of professional development workshops and panels for writers of color, August 14-26 at 27th Letter Books on Michigan Avenue in Detroit, just west of Corktown.

People interested in attending can register for different workshops on Eventbrite.

“The goal of the series is really to provide professional development to writers. We know that our writers oftentimes have goals to become very known in their community, to publish in their community, but they don’t know the steps to getting there,” Comer explained. “And so I’m really excited that we’re able to have some of the best, most talented writers in Detroit who have already accomplished a lot in their careers, really lay out some really great advice, some really great training on how to do that.”

Detroit Poet Laureate Jessica Care Moore, as well as writers and poets Tawana Petty, Jonah Mixon-Webster, Tariq Luthun, and more, will give panels and share publishing and professional tools to help writers excel.

“We’re a strong city. We have strong writers. The only thing is, is that we have a lot of talent that needs to be supported,” Comer said.

More headlines from The Metro for Aug. 13, 2024

• In America, there aren’t a lot of resources to help children and young parents. If you lack money for a babysitter, pretty much the only thing you have is the people around you. The Methodist Children’s Home Society wants to add some resources to that list. The foster care agency is holding their annual community resource fair on Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for teen parents in Detroit’s Virginia Park neighborhood. To talk more about the resource fair and the experiences of young parents, Kevin Roach, the CEO of the MCHS, joined The Metro.
• Michigan’s population has been stagnating. The state ranks 49th out of 50 in growth since 2020. And by 2050, Michigan’s population is projected to shrink. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a free-market think tank, hosted an event at Ike’s Restaurant in Sterling Heights to discuss different ways to increase the state population. The Metro producer Sam Corey sat down with Michael LaFaive of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy to learn more about what he believes will bring people to the state.
• Until the past few decades, science fiction — whether in movies or books — hasn’t put Black and Brown people at the story’s center. But people working in the art space are constantly working to change that. Such is the case with “Return of The Start: A Star Wars Exhibition,” which is on display at the Norwest Gallery of Art. The exhibit features artistic depictions of Star Wars with an afro-futuristic bent. The goal is to celebrate the broad diversity of Star Wars fandom. The owner and founder of the Norwest Gallery of Art, Asia Hamilton, joined The Metro to chat more about the exhibit.

Southeast Michigan’s politics have changed a lot in recent decades.  

Oakland County has turned more Democrat, while Macomb has become more solidly Republican.  

But none of the tri-county area is guaranteed for either party — that’s even true of Wayne County. While Detroit is more difficult to win, Republicans have a better shot at organizing votes around Downriver communities and the more northern suburbs.  

So, what are state Republicans doing right now to win over voters in Wayne County? And is there a plan to persuade and turn out moderate voters?  

To discuss this, we’re joined by Vice Chair of the Michigan Republican Party Hassan Nehme. He says many Republican voters are hesitant to share and have conversations around their political beliefs.

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“There’s so many people that are Republican, but like undercover. I mean, we need to have this discussion out in the open and be able to talk to move our country forward,” Nehme said. “So we need to make it okay for them to speak.”

Nehme is seeing less of an allegiance to political parties.  

“It’s not because the Republican[s] and Democrat[s] fight anymore. I’ll say personally, mine is religious liberties,” Nehme shared. “But a lot of people — especially of color groups, minority groups, different faiths — are jumping into the Republican Party for these issues. Not so much the overall…the jacket term per se.”

More headlines from The Metro for Aug. 12, 2024: 

• Campus Martius Park was recently named the number one public space in the country by USA Today. The space holds some of Detroit’s largest events, like the tree lighting ceremony, free live concerts and movie nights. Party in the Park returns to Campus Martius on Thursday from 6:30-9 p.m. To talk more about the outdoor party and the gem that’s Campus Martius, Director of Corporate Partnerships for the Downtown Detroit Partnership, Soula Burns, joined the show. 
• CuriosID: WDET reporter Amanda LeClaire investigated the history of the Belle Isle Boathouse and how it fell into disrepair. Earlier this year, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources announced plans to demolish the building due to limited funding. But there’s been a valiant attempt to save it. State officials have placed an open call for proposals to rehabilitate the building. Those proposals are currently being evaluated by the DNR.
• MichMash: In the latest episode of MichMash, WDET’s Cheyna Roth and Gongwer’s Alethia Kasben talked about the state of weed in Michigan. Local governments have brought in millions in tax revenue and marijuana might be rescheduled on a federal level. 
• Created Equal: Host Stephen Henderson recently spoke with Ali Vitali, an NBC News’ correspondent and author of “Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House… Yet.” The Democratic Party has rallied behind its second female presidential candidate ever, Vice President Kamala Harris. They discuss how big of a moment this is for women in politics and what Michigan can tell us about America’s readiness to elect a woman to the presidency.