NEXT GENERATION
ONE CITY, MANY VOICES
Mumford High School
n Detroit
f.
Mumford Forgotten
Jews should help save public education in Detroit.
pringtime is looming, and while most
MiChiganders look forward to trees
budding, birds returning and tulips
popping, Detroiters are bracing them-
selves for the annual onslaught of school
closures.
Detroit Public Schools, which boasted
almost 200,000 students in 1999, is now
being severed —into a state-run Educa-
tion Achievement Authority and DPS, the
local school district of old. The EAA will
comprise 15 "failing schools"— including
Mumford High — that are being offered
to charter companies and can be closed if not
enough students enroll. Along with some other
school closures, this will reduce DPS's actual reach
to a mere 32,000 students.
While I encourage all to further investigate the
recent history of Detroit Public Schools (specifically
the forced state takeover in 1999, which left the
school district with a $250-million deficit, and the
forced takeover three years ago under an Emer-
gency Financial Manager law), I want to spend
these words on the need to oppose the dismantle-
ment of the Detroit Public Schools and public
education in general.
As a young Detroit resident and activist, people
are constantly asking me what I think can save
our city. I can respond with certainty that it is not
planting trees or more "business opportunities,"
though both can help.
While I am totally in need of more places to eat,
socialize and work, my primary concern is a very
pragmatic one: Where will I send my (hypothetical)
children to school?
I went to Hillel Day School and Berkley High
IS
School; I'd like my children to be able
to walk to their school or at least be
within a reasonable commute. I worry
about where children of mine might
receive the attention they need (pu-
pu-pu) if they happen to be disabled in
some capacity.
The loose association of charter
schools steadily replacing DPS doesn't
guarantee admittance or programs for
children who are mentally, physically or
emotionally challenged.They are not
required to admit all students, allowing
selective discrimination.
While our Jewish community is frantically
seeking methods of retention for our own young
adults, our vision has settled on the immediate al-
lures of Detroit yet has bypassed the more difficult
battles ahead of us if we aim to maintain a healthy,
thriving region.
As a Jew living in Detroit, and as a Jew who
would like to raise a family in Detroit, I believe our
single, most treacherous obstacle is resuscitating
the public sector.
What I need to leave my bachelorhood behind
and commit to making a family is a safe, provoca-
tive, communal space that will educate my chil-
dren and provide for my own continuing educa-
tion. I need a school that is not exclusive to a single
demographic. It needs to be open at nights so I can
swim in the pool or play basketball. It needs to be
open so my kids can be there if I am working after
school hours. It also needs to offer my children the
same level of education that I received.
While there are many current Jewish efforts to
"revitalize Detroit," they fail as separate initiatives
to utilize the collective power of the Jewish com-
munity. It is great that many of our young people
are being employed and allured by these efforts,
but the truth is that it will be very difficult to re-
main in Detroit without a more direct response to
the education crisis.
When I think of the potential of a united Jewish
community in Detroit, I think of what we can do
that will not only improve our own community's
life but also how we can find ways of ensuring our
success in stride with the success of those around
us. When we put our money into the city of Detroit,
we need to be challenging ourselves to think be-
yond our own class and demographic.
What would be truly innovative, attractive to
ENTREPRENEUR SPOTLIGHT
Smokin' Sales
Friends turn "pipe dream" into unique
head shop in downtown Pontiac.
By Pamela A. Zinkosky
n
Danny Yashinsky and Shelby Berger, owners of Cloud
22 in Pontiac
38 April 2012 I
RED MEM
ot many stores combine smoking accessories,
finely crafted glassware, DVDs and CDs, clothing
and concert posters. But longtime friends and
business partners Shelby Berger and Danny Yashin-
sky have combined these wares in Cloud 22 Exotic
Glass and Accessories, which opened last October in
downtown Pontiac.
Berger, 30, and Yashinsky, 29, frequented head
shops before opening their business.
"Every time we go into these places, it's almost
like a gray area;' Berger said. "We wanted to lighten
that up. Our place is super-welcoming. We wanted a
clean, informative, fully stocked store.
"We're family-oriented guys. It's a family business
with two friends
Cloud 22's target market is smokers — or those
seeking smoking accessories as gifts — and that
includes medical marijuana users, who receive a 20
percent discount on merchandise with their state-
issued medical marijuana card.
One popular product, said Berger, are vaporizers
because they offer a "clean"way to smoke.
However, Cloud 22 appeals to a wide range of
people, Yashinsky explained.
"Most of our customers are not medical marijuana
users, and, in fact, we do have moms coming in to
buy presents for either friends or their husbands.
The array of merchandise in the store is able to at-
tract all walks of life'
The storefront's blue clouds beckon myriad walk-
in customers, who wonder what's inside.
"It's almost identical to the opening sequence of
The Simpsons,"Berger said of the cloud motif on the
shop's doors and windows.
Customers range from high-schoolers to single
20-somethings to moms to grandparents, and they
usually find something they like, Berger said."Once
you come in, you're probably coming back!'
A third to one-half of Cloud 22's merchandise is
smoking accessories — pipes, vaporizers, incense.
The shop also stocks 5,000 movies and TV series col-
lections on DVDs, rare CDs and vintage posters, and
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