Project-Related News
The Story Lab draws inspiration from a variety of initiatives all over the country that share overlapping values and concerns. We offer here a sampling of recent stories that have caught our eye.
- Michigan maritime: Ports set to grow economy throughout the state
A new law that gives the state’s 32 ports tools to expand and grow the maritime economy started out as a community project for a handful of University of Michigan students. U-M students first worked with the Port of Monroe in 2012 and over the next decade would make the case for investing in ports around the state to increase container and industrial shipments, which is expected to lead to job creation. - New Tall Ship Will Be Coming to Grand Traverse Bay to Sail the Great Lakes
There will be a new tall ship sailing the Great Lakes this year, and it will soon be heading to its new home in Northern Michigan. The Inland Seas Education Association made the big announcement to its supporters, they’ve acquired a new vessel. The schooner “Alliance” will be joining the fleet on West Grand Traverse Bay. “It’s a perfect fit for an addition to our fleet, and it’s going to allow us to reach …New Tall Ship Will Be Coming to Grand Traverse Bay to Sail the Great Lakes Read More »
- A New Age of Sail
“A New Age of Sail: The History and Future of Sail Freight on the Hudson River” examines the long history of sailing cargo vessels on the Hudson River, from the 17th century until their decline in the mid-20th century, and how the lessons of that era might help us combat the challenges of climate change in the 21st century. Tracking challenges to and opportunities of sail freight throughout the decades, the exhibit includes … - Detroit’s Path to Inclusive Recovery
Working toward a fairer future requires untangling legacies of displacement, segregation, and inequity in Detroit. Eight Mile Road marks the border between the city of Detroit and the suburbs of Oakland County. But this multilane thoroughfare, which carries traffic past sprawling shopping plazas and neighborhoods of modest single-family homes built during the prosperous years after World War II, represents more than a geographic boundary. It’s also a stark line between a Black city and its … - New York City’s Public School on an Island
A maritime high school draws students from every borough and every background. The school’s career-themed curriculum is as novel as its location, with an emphasis on the marine sciences. - Flow Tales
Flow Tales are untold stories of water, rivers, seas, lakes, located in an era of disturbed flows around the globe. This collaborative initiative seeks to explore the relationship between landscape and community on a local and global scale as an inspiration for artistic production. An inaugural project on the Asi River draws on books, articles, travelers’ notes, myths, drawings, gravures, maps and photographs to produce a multimedia snapshot of the life of this … - Remaking the River that Made L.A.
FEBRUARY 1938 WAS a wet month in Los Angeles. The ground, where it hadn’t been paved over, was saturated, which meant rain had nowhere to go except into the streets, canals and washes. On the 27th, a storm arrived. During the following days, the city received its second-highest 24-hour rainfall in history. Reservoirs overflowed, dams topped out and floodwaters careered down Pacoima Wash and Tujunga Wash toward the Los Angeles River. By the … - ‘We are outsiders’: the female boatbuilders of Instagram
Belinda Joslin has owned, raced, maintained and repaired boats all her life. So when she was looking for work after her children started school, she approached her local boatyard in Ipswich. They offered her a job as a finisher and her life was quickly taken over by sanding, painting and varnishing. “I turned up at the school gate absolutely filthy,” says Joslin, 48. Keen to find other women who shared her passion, she …‘We are outsiders’: the female boatbuilders of Instagram Read More »
- How Detroit’s Black-led organizations are cultivating access to nature as acts of liberation
Detroiter Ian Solomon began building a deep relationship with the outdoors while attending college in Arizona for broadcast journalism. He’d never been in a place with such access to mountains and nature before, and he quickly fell in love. But during his forays into the wilderness, he often felt like he was entering predominantly white spaces. He soon began to see the outdoors as a privilege to which other Black and brown people … - Schools of the future: How U-M is disrupting—and transforming—the educational landscape
The University of Michigan School of Education (SOE) celebrated its centennial in 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This inauspicious start to their second century saw unprecedented challenges for the education system. Staffing shortages and schools closing nationwide upended learning environments as a shifting educational landscape unfolded before them. Despite the problems facing the profession, Elizabeth Birr Moje, SOE dean, George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor of Education, and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, believes that …Schools of the future: How U-M is disrupting—and transforming—the educational landscape Read More »
- Critical race theory flap makes teachers tiptoe on slavery, racism topics
Two years ago, a northern Michigan teacher assigned readings on anti-racism to her students. This fall, the books will sit in a cabinet, unused. A prominent conservative group is posting a list of “inappropriate library books” on its website, including “Beloved” by Toni Morrison, “How to be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi and “The 1619 Project: New Origin Story,” by Nikole Hannah-Jones. And some school districts are facing pushback about working with diversity consultants. - Ahoy! Maritime employers recruit at Detroit job fair
Detroit — Johnny McMath, 28, has worked in a variety of labor and hospitality positions for the past decade. Now he’s looking for a new experience. “I want to see what it’s like to work on a boat …” said the Detroit resident. “Being out at sea for a couple weeks at a time.” That desire — and encouragement from his fiancée — brought McMath to the Detroit Maritime Job Fair on Tuesday, the …Ahoy! Maritime employers recruit at Detroit job fair Read More »
- How a Canadian coffee roaster is replacing container ships with sailboats to decarbonize its supply chain — and cutting costs in the process
The idea of sustainable transportation likely conjures images of futuristic technologies and electric cars, as well as scientific advances that have yet to be achieved. But there’s a burgeoning industry made up of sailors, coffee roasters, olive-oil companies, and wineries that’s reverting to shipping practices of the past to move toward a net-zero future. Instead of transporting products overseas on gas-guzzling container ships, some retailers are choosing to ship their products via sailboats. The so-called … - Starting Out as a Tall Ship Sailor
U-M English Major Katie Moore is working as a Communications Intern this summer with Tall Ships America through a partnership with the Detroit River Story Lab. This blog post describes her introduction to the world of tall ship sailing on the Great Lakes. Read additional blog posts by Katie here or follow her on Instagram @tallshipsamerica. - ‘It’s a little bit of utopia’: the dream of replacing container ships with sailing boats
Global trade depends almost entirely on huge, dirty, dangerous container ships. Now a team of French shipbuilders is bringing back wind-powered sea freight - Project to develop humanities curriculum around Mississippi River receives $1.49 million grant from Mellon Foundation
The Mississippi River is at once a symbol of American might, an object of blight, and a constant, flowing reminder of our nation’s complicated past. This richness is what makes the iconic river such a perfect laboratory to develop an innovative humanities curriculum that engages with some of the most pressing issues of our time. That’s the basis for a new Macalester-led initiative, titled “Mississippi River Watershed: An Immersive Humanities Curriculum,” which has … - At this school, students get out of the classroom and onto the water
There are more than 1,800 public schools in New York City. But just one of them is located in the middle of New York Harbor, accessible only by boat. And the ferry ride to Governors Island is just the beginning of the maritime experience students get at the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School. “Today we were practicing man overboard drills, which is just routine practice for us,” student Harry Harwood-Matthews explained. - Great Lakes beauty, Flint Water Crisis shown in University of Michigan art exhibit
Watershed has two meanings — a region of land that drains to a particular body of water and a crucial event or period marking a turning point. The new “Watershed” exhibit at the University of Michigan Museum of Art encompasses both meanings, containing pieces that depict the beauty of the Great Lakes region as well as the history within it. The exhibit, curated from the work of 15 artists, was was made possible …Great Lakes beauty, Flint Water Crisis shown in University of Michigan art exhibit Read More »
- Calumet Heritage Partnership: Enriching lives through heritage
The Calumet Heritage Partnership is a diverse bi-state partnership of environmental organizations, historical societies, arts organizations, libraries, educational institutions, government agencies, businesses, and individuals working together across political and cultural boundaries in the Calumet Region of Illinois and Indiana along the southern shores of Lake Michigan. It was founded in 1998 as a bi-state all-volunteer, non-profit organization with the goal of pursuing the creation of a National Heritage Area to enrich lives through …Calumet Heritage Partnership: Enriching lives through heritage Read More »
- At the Edge of the City, There’s Life
Water is an all too precious element in this world, where its true worth is vastly devalued. Thankfully there are passionate advocates who remind us of the value of water and why we should consider protecting it at any cost. Rachel Havrelock is the co-founder and principal investigator of The Freshwater Lab, a research institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a coalition of the humanities and social sciences, that teaches the … - A Lake in Florida Suing to Protect Itself
Lake Mary Jane, in central Florida, could be harmed by development. A first-of-its-kind lawsuit asks whether nature should have legal rights. - UMMA Announces Partnership with Monument Lab
The University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) announced a partnership today with renowned nonprofit public art and history studio Monument Lab that will examine the role of historic structures at the University of Michigan (U-M) in upholding social and cultural systems and narratives. The initiative, which will include new research, community engagement, and the development of a newly commissioned art installation, will be led by Dr. Paul Farber, director and co-founder of … - CMU App To Augment the Reality of Pittsburgh’s Steel Past
Walking through the remnants of the massive Carrie Blast Furnaces National Historic Landmark you get a sense of the scale, but it’s hard to imagine what happened on the site just a few miles from Carnegie Mellon University. Sights and sounds from a new app will help tour guides bring the riverside site’s industrial heritage to life, thanks to students at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center. Built in 1881, the Carrie Blast …CMU App To Augment the Reality of Pittsburgh’s Steel Past Read More »
- Freedom Stories: Unearthing the Black Heritage of Appalachia
In the heart of Central Appalachia, the International Storytelling Center (ISC) spent two years working to unearth the neglected stories of the nation’s past through their Freedom Stories initiative. The project, supported by funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, focused on unearthing the Black heritage of Appalachia by bringing storytelling performance and humanities scholarship into direct dialogue with each other through public programs and the development of educational resources. ISC’s goal was to support ongoing …Freedom Stories: Unearthing the Black Heritage of Appalachia Read More »
