shifting signals

Hi friends,

I want to start off by thanking folks for supporting the creating care fundraiser with Food Gatherers; we’re up to $515 raised as I write this, and I’m deeply grateful for just how many neighbors will be nourished by your generosity. Please continue to share the donation link and contribute if you’re able.

Uncovering Hidden Histories

I started off this past week with a lovely gathering at the Ann Arbor district library of friends, comrades and community members to discuss the Justice InDeed project unearthing racially restricted covenants. I’ve written previously about some of my experience with this work, and was proud to see a large turnout in person and online; the awesome folks at the AADL made an accessible stream for the event here:

Making Space for More Neighbors

While I was there representing my individual volunteer experience, it’s impossible to separate this placemaking work from what we’re doing at Avalon Housing. As we enter into a new environment where so many of our clients are facing cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, our organization itself is facing major losses of funding with new vindictive restrictions and cuts to HUD by the administration. We’re doing our best to build new affordable housing in Washtenaw, but the overwhelming need is truly staggering; the 50 families served by our newest development are a valiant effort, but there were over 7,000 applications for those openings in less than a calendar week. This video highlights our housing first approach with our most recently completed development, The Grove at Veridian, that opened to residents in September, and shows some of the promise possible when we ensure everyone has a place worth calling home:

Peacemaking Practice

I’ll likely need some more time to write about it, but I enjoyed being a part of the inaugural Michigan Restorative Justice Summit; it was a pleasant surprise to see nearly 300 advocates, RJ practitioners and change agents gathered in Ypsilanti for this great convening. I stumbled into presenting on AI & Algorithmic Bias in one of the breakouts for a speaker that wasn’t able to make it (because I’m a parody of myself at this point) and in the process made some new connections I’m excited to explore. The summit was put together by the Dispute Resolution Center , a vital community hub that brings restorative practices into diversion & deflection cases, civil court issues as well as everyday mediation between neighbors. Grateful for their presence, and for the opportunity to learn alongside so many other fellow travelers! I’ll share more highlights from this event soon.

A Shift In The Signal?

Lastly, a small reflection on Halloween. When we first moved to Dexter in 2013, it was really different from every other place I’d lived, in so many ways; one of the biggest shocks was realizing that Halloween was a BIG DEAL here. Growing up in Detroit, where so many of my spooky seasons entailed a hyper-vigilance for Devils Night fires and having to drive to bougier neighborhoods for Trick-or-Treating, it felt great to live in a place that kids would go to rather than away from. We gathered our candy and put up some decorations, but we were not prepared for the horde. Over 250 kids showed up that first year, running us out of supplies and leaving us dumbstruck; we vowed to do better, and from that year on I started keeping track, as only a nerd can - with data!

Each year I livetweet (or nowadays, thread on Bluesky) our costumed community with updates every half hour about our frantically busy Halloween; after the second year, I kept tally of which costumes were most prevalent by category — Disney princesses, Minecraft, Athletes, etc — which turned into a useful proxy for understanding what elements of pop culture were most salient for kids and their parents. Sometimes these trends tell a story, and for 2025 the biggest takeaway was from what wasn’t there:

There was no copaganda at all.

For the past 12 years, we’ve consistently seen kids dressed up as police officers, marines, soldiers, navy seals and any number of combinations therein; usually somewhere around 15-30 per night at the minimum. This year there were none — not even a single Paw Patrol kid padding up the driveway. The costumes were no less inventive and mirthful across the board (best costume this year went to two young women in hi-vis vests and costume jewelry showing up as the Louvre Robbers) and by all accounts it was an excellent Halloween. Our final count ended up at 274 visitors in the 2.5 hour window the city allows for Trick-or-Treating.

I’m allowing myself a small, nascent hope that the cruelty and violence inflicted on immigrants and protesters this year has made parents think twice about what things to valorize in their costume choices, and that older kids don’t want to be associated with the awful things their government is doing to people right now. It feels like a signal. I’m choosing to listen.

As a bonus? My wife and I dressed as Huntrix fans from K-Pop Demon Hunters (a very easy closet costume) — I made some 3D-printed lightsticks to match our superfan outfits:

What I wasn’t prepared for was the number of kids who desperately asked how they could get a lightstick of their own. I came up with a quick compromise; have a parent reach out to me via email, and we can work something out after the holiday. Since I don’t like taking payment for something like this, we were able to trade one of my hand-painted lightsticks for a contribution to Food Gatherers — a neighborhood kiddo gets a girl power gift, we feed more folks who need our support, and I find a good home for yet another crafted item — everybody wins.

Thanks for reading & supporting creating.care ! A reminder that subscribers can save 10% on wildlife photo prints at rhenyard.darkroom.com using the coupon code ‘careiscool’ - please share the newsletter with folks who might resonate with these ideas and let me know if this has helped you find ways to integrate more care into your life & work. Til next time!