Hello! Hallo! Hola! I hope everybody reading this is having a fantastic month – it is hard to believe that November is knocking on the door. With that being said, I hope everyone has a groovy Halloween costume to show off this year. As for myself, I will be sporting a costume that I put together for $9.88 at a thrift store here in Detroit on the famous Woodward Avenue. Hard to beat that, huh?

Since my last post, I have been working hard at my host company, PM Environmental, and getting involved with city and state activities. Apparently, cider mills and doughnuts are like…a thing up here. And when I say a thing, I mean like everything that has ever mattered in the world. It is the talk of the state! There are debates over which cider mill produces the best cider, which apples are best, who has the biggest pumpkins, the freshest doughnuts, the nicest tractor rides, and so on and so forth. Do as the locals do, right? I’ve been to THREE cider mills in the last month. Mind you, they aren’t down the road from Detroit, you have to drive to these places and put in real effort. My experience was great! The doughnuts are perfect and the cider is always exquisite. So in case you also did not know this happens in the north, now you do.

Besides eating doughnuts by the dozen, I have visited the German town of Frankenmuth, Michigan where I had excellent German food and visited the “World’s Largest Christmas Store” – it was intense. Furthermore, Detroit put on “DLECTRICITY” which is a “nighttime festival of art plus light that features over 35 world-renowned and emerging artists”. It was spectacular. In addition, Challenge Detroit volunteered to plant 6,500 tulip bulbs on the beautiful Belle Isle State Park and I went to John King Books where they literally hand out a map as you peruse four floors for rare and used books. All of these things are truly phenomenal and I hope you can mosey on up to “The D” and experience them.

As for my fellowship program, we just wrapped up our first challenge! It was a major success and everybody amalgamated to present an impressive display of information. We were tasked with helping Recovery Park, a start-up urban agriculture business, figure out the best way to clean up the footprint of land they plan to operate on one day. Everyone worked hard as ideas proliferated and nine separate teams created items such as info-graphics, price comparisons, videos, volunteer lists, etc. Our board members and companies raved about our presentation and all of us will volunteer in the spring to clean up the area Recovery Park is going to acquire. It will be one of the largest initiatives of its kind and will have great intentions for Detroit as it looks to supply fresh food and jobs to the community.

There you have it y’all. It’s been a great month. I learn more and more each day as I give, play, lead, live, and work in Detroit. I’m very blessed to be here and I’m blessed to have you reading my blog post. I’ve got a huge “to do” list on my desk and I’m chomping at the bit to cross some items off. I recently crossed off “go hiking” when some fellow Challenge Detroiter’s and I got out into nature and man, was it BEAUTIFUL! Remember, I didn’t have any season change last year when I was living in Orlando, so fall has been quite special to experience this year (I’m like a five year-old when I see a pile of leaves).

Life is good and don’t forget that basketball season starts this month! I’m a big NBA fan and of course I love Big Blue Nation as well – Go Cats!