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The Metro: Paczki Day highlights Polish culture and history

✇WDET 101.9 FM
By: Cary Junior II
17 February 2026 at 18:02

For practicing Catholics, today is the last day to indulge in some of your favorite snacks and treats before lent—and a Paczki might be the sweetest snack of all.

Fat Tuesday or Paczki day has become a staple celebration in metro Detroit since Polish immigrants first migrated here in the 1910s. Michigan is home to over 740,000 Polish Americans. Only New York and Illinois have more.

Most Polish immigrants originally lived in the city of Hamtramck, but after the Dodge Main factory in closed, many moved to suburban cities like Warren and Sterling Heights.

George Kurzatkowski is a board member of the American Polish Cultural Center in Troy. He joined the program to discuss Polish culture and history, and the meaning behind Paczki day. 

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

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

Support local journalism.

WDET strives to cover what’s happening in your community. As a public media institution, we maintain our ability to explore the music and culture of our region through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.

More stories from The Metro

The post The Metro: Paczki Day highlights Polish culture and history appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

The Metro: What it means to be an American in 2026

✇WDET 101.9 FM
By: Robyn Vincent
22 January 2026 at 20:16

Who wrote the Federalist Papers? What power does the president have? Name one right only U.S. citizens possess.

Those are real questions from the U.S. citizenship civics test. The test now draws from 128 possible questions. It asks up to 20 on the spot. Individuals must answer at least 12 correctly to pass.

Many native-born Americans would struggle with questions like these.

As immigration enforcement intensifies in the United States and federal authorities expand arrests and deportation efforts, the question of what it means to be an American is being thrust into public view.

That is because citizenship isn’t just something written on a test. It is a lived experience, felt in neighborhoods, courtrooms, and in the center of our political conversation.

To unpack what it means to be an American, and how that’s changed over time, The Metro‘s Robyn Vincent spoke with Marc Kruman. He’s a retired professor of history at Wayne State University and the founding director of its Center for the Study of Citizenship

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

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

Support local journalism.

WDET strives to cover what’s happening in your community. As a public media institution, we maintain our ability to explore the music and culture of our region through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.

More stories from The Metro

The post The Metro: What it means to be an American in 2026 appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

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