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Whether you’re a marathon runner, watcher, walker or someone who wouldn’t be caught dead in a pair of sneakers, Detour has you covered. (Check the list of road closures and bus reroutes this weekend to prep for the big race.) This week, we’re choosing to stride easy with the expert advice of a Detroit native who founded the Slow AF Run Club. 

Keep reading for your headlines, culture highlights and weekend event picks — and a hearty high five to the five readers who chimed in about last week’s mystery spot. Scroll down to see if you know this week’s spot. <3 Team Detour

Detroit in Five

War in Israel and Palestine: As Israel and the Gaza Strip remain at war after a Hamas-led attack, Jewish and Palestinian communities in Michigan are grieving and split on the conflict. Despite a shared sense of grief on both sides for the more than 2,000 lives lost so far, many of them civilians, events around the region are framed as being about choosing sides — even if the story is more complicated. Many Jews, locally and worldwide, are against the occupation of Palestine but not pro-Hamas, and many Palestinians here say standing with Palestine is a demonstration of an interest in justice and an end to occupation, not a sign of extremism or antisemitism. Area politicians are also split on the issue, but most are loudly backing Israel, with both Democrats and Republicans having criticized the response from U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat and the nation’s only Palestinian American congressperson. Tlaib, who represents parts of Dearborn and Detroit, said she grieved “the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost yesterday, today, and every day.” She did not mention Hamas — which the U.S. has designated as a terrorist group — in an initial statement, but later called its attacks “war crimes.” (BBC News, CBS News, Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, Axios Detroit)

AG vs. DTE: DTE Energy is enrolling people automatically in paperless billing with no warning besides one sentence “buried” in an email, says Michigan’s attorney general, Dana Nessel. She asked the state’s utility regulator, the Michigan Public Service Commission, to investigate. State rules say that customers aren’t required to enroll in paperless billing. Nessel wants to force DTE to pay back fees levied on electrical and gas customers who paid late because they were expecting their bill in the mail. Nessel’s letter is a check on the for-profit utility, but watchdogs worry the Dems will back down from major reforms in part because of political donations. A DTE-linked nonprofit gave about $2 million to the party ahead of its big wins last November. (Michigan Department of Attorney General, Detroit News)

Graphic titled “Strike-o-meter” showing three categories of striking union workers. Brewing: Detroit Casino Workers. Striking: SEIU nursing home workers, UAW-Big Three and UAW-Blue Cross Blue Shield. Settled: WGA.
Image credit: Outlier Media

Labor cheat sheet: Having trouble keeping up with labor actions? With more than 300,000 people around the country taking part in work stoppages this year, it’s no surprise. Here’s the local lowdown: The United Auto Workers strike of the Big Three is in its fourth week. Layoffs have so far hit more than 4,800 workers. Nearly 250 nursing home workers — and members of the Service Employees International Union — have walked off the job at three facilities in metro Detroit this week. More than 1,000 Blue Cross Blue Shield workers, also UAW members, have been on strike since mid-September, and Detroit casino workers (represented by five unions) may still call a strike this month. The Writers Guild of America ratified a new contract with studios this week after a 148-day strike — not local, but good news for your favorite shows. (Reuters, CBS News, Michigan Advance, WDET, Freep, Los Angeles Times)

âžĄïž Have labor questions? Ask us! Text “STRIKE?” to 67485 to get answers — here’s what we found after one of you fine folks asked about the local economic impact of the UAW strike. 

Best of the rest: 

(Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Corey Rowe, WXYZ, BridgeDetroit, Forbes, Detroit News, Outlier Media)

Black child writing in a notebook and sitting at a table next to other Black children doing the same.
Photo credit: Santi Vedrí / Unsplash

The impact of after school programs
By Shardonay Feggins

In the fall of 2002, I heard my name over the intercom at Ecorse Community High School to come down to the administrative office. At the time, I was in the 10th grade and matriculating as an above-average student but lacked direction and constantly needed to be motivated. I faced moments of doubting myself and if I would ever achieve anything or unlock my full potential. I had not learned yet to rely on my own instincts. On this day, my mother sat with the truancy officer and another man who was unfamiliar.

My first thought was trouble, but the opposite was true. It was the day that I first learned about a new after-school program, Work Appreciation for Youth (WAY), an initiative that ended up changing my life for the better. 
âžĄïž Keep reading

Content produced in partnership with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. #ad

Culture & Community

Running, sweating and ‘YoncĂ©-ing’ your way into next week

By SaMya Overall
A tall building with “Lunchables Dunkables” in white and red text, followed by “It’s a pretzel sword! Powered by K.I. Kid Imagination.”
This week’s mystery spot. Hint: This facade has changed three times in the past two months. Photo credit: Courtesy of Malachi Barrett

This week, we’re getting our bodies moving, no matter what! I just finished my last week of outdoor runs before I move my fitness indoors for the winter, but I might show out at the Detroit Free Press Marathon on Sunday (just to watch). 

Before we get into the nitty-gritty (from Hot Girl Walks to solar skills training) we have to give a shoutout to the multiple readers — Matthew Nahan, Jen Rusciano, Shellie Jones, Katie Byerly and Josef Backstrom — who correctly guessed last week’s mystery spot. Props to you, too, if you recognized “The Girl with the D Earring” mural by Sydney G. James on the Chroma Building on East Grand Boulevard. 

Think you can guess this week’s spot? Email me at samya@outliermedia.org for bragging rights, or to share your favorite running routes, go-to workout plans, fun fitness classes or anything else making you sweat.

Read the roundup

SPOTLIGHT

A run club for the rest of us

By SaMya Overall

Martinus Evans said he doesn’t know what he’d be doing if he wasn’t running — a lot — and spending his time leading Slow AF Run Club.

It’s a full-time job. The online community Evans started has more than 20,000 members worldwide. It might have more now that the book he published this June, “Slow AF Run Club: The Ultimate Guide for Anyone Who Wants to Run,” is out in the world. 

Evans, 37, is a big man who doesn’t have what some might think of as a typical runner’s body. The native Detroiter’s work is in part an attempt to change the perception of what a runner should look like.

Keep reading

You’re invited to Outlier Media’s Coffee Thursday! Come hang out with us at In Harmony CafĂ© today. The first 20 guests will receive a free brewed coffee or tea of their choice.

Get Busy

đŸ‘šđŸŸâ€đŸ’» Get ready to network at Black Tech Weekend, today through Saturday. Head to blacktechweek.com to check out the schedule of entrepreneurship events at NewLab in Corktown. Tickets are $199. 

đŸ–‹ïž Michigan’s poet laureate and Detroit’s own Nandi Comer will do a reading of her work and engage in conversation about craft and culture with fellow Detroit poet Brittany Rogers, tonight at the University of Detroit Mercy.

😂 On Friday night, downtown Detroit comedy club One Mike Detroit presents TaTas and HaHas, a fundraiser for breast cancer awareness. Tickets start at $25. 

đŸŽ¶ Boiler Room is hosting a house party at an undisclosed venue in Detroit on Friday night, featuring some huge names in local dance music, including Father Dukes, Huey Mnemonic, Sheefy McFly and more. Join the waitlist for tickets, $47.07.

📑 Join the James & Grace Lee Boggs Center for a “Message to the Grassroots” Study Circle, where you can discuss Malcolm X’s 1963 speech and its themes that are still relevant today, with sessions on Saturday and Oct. 21 at 3061 Field St. and online. Free.

📚 If snuggling up with a good book is on your fall to-do list, you’re going to want to check out Detroit Book City’s fifth annual Fall Family Book Fair on Saturday. Free. 

âšĄïž Interested in learning what it would take to have a public power company? Join the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition on Saturday in Southwest Detroit for the first of three “Dismantle DTE” workshops about creating a public-centered utility plan. Free.

👟 You don’t have to be fast or thin to be a marathon runner. Martinus Evans, author of “Slow AF Run Club: The Ultimate Guide for Anyone Who Wants to Run,” will be at Detroit Public Library’s main branch on Saturday to share running tips and his story on being a 300-pound marathon runner. Free.

đŸȘ© A dance party might sound like a typical wild Marble Bar night, but the kid-friendly Halloween “baby rave” at Marble Bar on Sunday sounds like a spooky good time for the whole family. $5, free for kids under 10.

🏛 Architecture fanatics will want to join a tour hosted by Preservation Detroit on Sunday that explores Mirou Yamasaki’s buildings and mark on two college campuses and throughout Detroit’s Cultural Center. $30.

💃 Motor City Street Dance Academy is accepting applications for its fall classes. The kid-friendly classes begin Oct. 16 and range from breaking and popping to bachata and krumping. The academy will also have a screening of the film “Rock Rubber 45s” later this month and will host two workshops in November. 

Written by Alex, Dan, Erin, Kate, Koby, Lynelle, Noah, SaMya, Sarah and Kate, who are all barely speaking after our office’s internal Airheads vs. candy corn debate.

Another important battle: NIMBYs and a Chick-fil-A. Yum!

Kate (she/her) is passionate about journalism that involves Detroiters from the start and helps readers solve problems and find joy in their daily lives. Her favorite Detroit spot to watch the sunset, play soccer, watch the freighters go by and feel a little haunted is Historic Fort Wayne.