110 degrees

110 Degrees is a new 'zine straight out of the place I used to call home: Tucson. Kids between 14 and 21 tell stories in a digital and print environment, focusing on a kind of "write the community" narrative, one that's very attractive to me. A non-profit called VOICES works with the University of Arizona--including folks in the writing program--to provide resources and mentoring to young people who want to engage with a wide array of community members and represent how these folks see Tucson.

We're beginning to build a civic engagement program here at UM-Dearborn, and I hope we'll soon be producing these kinds of products in collaboration with agencies and communities around metro Detroit. The pedagogy is one of place but also person-in-place, allowing for reflection on context and community, the place where stories originate.

Hats off to all involved at my alma mater in the Old Pueblo. I got pretty nostalgic reading some of the stories, wishing I could get Mexican food half as good as Tucson's best. Then again, I'm happy to stay in the single digits here in the midwest.