Four months in Detroit have flown by. My body’s transition from an academic calendar to real life has brought along my understanding of time through an academic frame, which means that my first semester in Detroit just ended and I have one left as a Challenge Detroit fellow. That reality is crazy to me, so I wanted to take a moment to reflect and refocus through new goals (yes, ugh, resolutions) for the rest of the year ahead. Here we go:

  • I want to continue to make an effort (even on the coldest, bleakest winter days) to play tourist/journalist/cyclist/photographer/explorer in Michigan. While I was home for Christmas, a family friend told me to get out and see every neighborhood and every city, because my time here as a young person with virtually no responsibility is fleeting. I’ve admittedly wasted too many weekends swaddled in my apartment or going nowhere beyond essential errands. But my best weekends here have been the ones I’ve spent at the DIA and John K. King Books, or hanging out in Ann Arbor. My Detroit/Michigan bucket list is long and continually growing, so who wants to go adventure with me?
  • Read more. I have a pile of 6 books on my nightstand that I’ve started but have yet to finish. I want to have them all read by March. (<— look at that measurable goal, eh?)
  • Support Detroit creatives and entrepreneurs consciously through the art I consume and the businesses I support. Some of my favorite nights in this city have been at MOCAD’s Monster Drawing Rally and at Drinks x Design, and I want to keep finding fun events and businesses to frequent.
  • Push myself to engage with the personal/professional/personally-professional projects I’ve been thinking about for several months. My “curiosities list” and “Detroiters to reach out to list” have grown dense, and I can’t tell if fear or lack of focus have kept me from taking first steps towards action. It’s probably a combination of both, but I want to start with the baby steps—emailing, filling out volunteer applications, engaging with my existing network—to make progress toward the overarching goals I have for my time throughout this Fellowship.
  • Do my laundry more frequently. Like at least once every two weeks. This would be a serious improvement in my life.
  • Strive to be healthier in all ways. Sleep when I’m supposed to and don’t sleep when I’m not supposed to. Stop putting trash into my body — trash food, trash media, trash thoughts. Be nicer and more forgiving to my peers, to my friends, to strangers, and to myself. Spend my time actively and productively.
  • Write the rest of my blogs on time. And adhere more closely to deadlines oops. Time here is flying and I need to make sure to stay on top of my life because it will be August before I know it.