During our last Immersion Friday with Challenge Detroit, we attended a workshop at Salt and Cedar, a letterpress studio located in Detroit’s Eastern Market. Letterpress is an old-fashioned printing method where someone composes and locks movable type into the bed of a press, inks it, and presses paper against it to transfer the ink from the type which creates an impression on the paper. The end-product is a beautiful printed piece combining texture, color and dimension.

Printing Press

Printing Press

Our hosts, Leon Johnson and Megan O’Connell, showed us the beauty in the uniqueness and variability of each piece produced by the old machines. But what stuck with me more than the stamps on paper, was what Leon said inspired them to begin this business. He said that they decided to focus on “problems worth having.” The magnitude of these words did not initially resonant with me. It wasn’t until a conversation later that evening with my roommate that their true meaning hit me.

These days it’s so easy to get wrapped up in so many trivial issues that you constantly feel buried. After moving to Detroit, I saw how petty most of those issues in my life really were but I began to feel buried for another reason: the extent of the problems here. Through Challenge Detroit, I began talking to people and listening to their stories, their struggles. Some have had to leave everything to get away from an abusive relationship, some work multiple jobs and barely see their kids, and some were born into a life they didn’t ask for without role models or support systems.

So what can I do, one person who isn’t even a native Detroiter? Well, to start, focus on the problems worth having, the problems that I can have an impact on. Be a mentor, a listener, a supporter, show someone that there is a person who cares about them, share their stories so people understand the battles being fought and others can gain inspiration. Most importantly, work with the 34 other fellows, as a unit to create change. Each one of these fellows has a passion and drive that inspires and motivates me to a higher level every time I work with them. So now, as a new year approaches and resolutions are being made, it’s time to focus on problems worth having.

Challenge Detroit Print

Challenge Detroit Print