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What is Summer
in the City? Read
this STTCionary
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JULY 1911-1 - 21ST
10AM TO 6PM
By Ben Falik
n 1774, Abigail Adams wrote to
John,"We have too many high-
sounding words and too few ac-
tions that correspond with them." In
2002, Kwame Kilpatrick texted Chris-
tine Beatty,"IT'S NOT ABOUTTEENAGE
FANTASY, IT'S ABOUT GENUINE LOVE
DEEPER THAN I HAVE EVER FELT."
What, you may be wondering, do
these two missives have in common?
Summer in the City. On the brink of
our 11th year, we may have finally
resolved the tension between words
and actions — and, for that matter,
teenage fantasy and genuine love. The
SITCionary is an evolving vocabulary
of Summer Speak that captures the
substance, style and spirit of our work:
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Your Day.
Your Way.
At Joe Cornell Weddings, our DJs create en
through music, direction and experience.
The Three Ps: "Paint, Plant, Play"
aren't just projects; these Ps are the
product of partnerships all over Detroit
and time-tested initiatives that meet
the needs of volunteers and communi-
ty partners alike. Artists and non-artists
paint by numbers to create murals that
highlight strong neighborhoods and
deter graffiti. With or without green
thumbs, volunteers provide critical
community garden support, planting,
weeding, watering, landscaping and
harvesting. And who better than an
enthusiastic, encouraging teen to be
the buddy of an energetic elementary
school student? (See also "Practical,
Productive, Purposeful:')
When its your special day, do it your way.
JOE CORNELL
248.356.600c
joecornellweddings.com
30 July 2012 I
ItED THREAD
The Three Fs: "Fun, Flexible, Fulfilling"
seemed like a radical idea at the time.
We wanted to reimagine volunteering
as the most fun way you could spend
some of your summer — something
so easy to do you'd have no excuse
not to. And both a spiritually fulfill-
ing experience and practical way to
fulfill your school's community service
requirement. With the number and di-
versity of our volunteers continuing to
grow, things get more "F'ed up" every
year. (See also "Finale Friday Foto" and
"Funky Friday Fieldtrips.")
tv v t,
Do-ocracy. Summer in the City was
started and continues to be run by
the young and the restless — the
types who have trouble sitting still
and kindly resent being told that they
are the future when the need and
opportunity are unprecedented in
the present.They step up and stick
around, turning their values into
value. Better still, the new crew is
populated primarily by people who
started volunteering when they were
teens, grew up with the organization
and are now cultivating experiences
for their successors even richer than
the ones that got them hooked in the
first place. (See also, "reCREWting.")
The Collaboratory. After what
seemed like 40 years of wandering
in the urban desert, Summer in the
City found a permanent home in the
promised land: Southwest Detroit.
Thanks to the generosity of Jewish
individuals and institutions, we now
have a place to call our own — in one
of the city's most dynamic neighbor-
hoods. The Collaboratory is as much
a conceptual space as a physical one.
And, importantly, a literal home for
seven SITC Fellows.
Backpacktacular. Another ad hoc
idea turned time-honored tradition:
After summers with some of the cool-
est campers on the planet, send them
packing back to school with new
bags, filled with school and art sup-
plies. After each annual effort to raise
the money and procure the goods,
the ROI is plain to see on the faces of
kids who know they've got allies root-
ing for them to succeed.
Baumvelopes. The oversized enve-
lopes where we put our daily paper-
work would be too banal to mention,
except that they are the namesakes of
Michael "Clutch" Baum, our wunder-
kind CFO who booked it back home
after graduating from Brandeis to
continue being the change he wishes
to see in Detroit. Note to Title Source:
Hire him after his internship ends.
Ben falik is a SITC founder. For more on the deeds
behind the words, visit summerinthecity.com .
www.redthreadmagazine.com