That lady in the photo is my mom, Jacki Savage. If you’ve read my story “Two North”, already know a bit about her. She was born Jacqueline McCann and was at the top of her high school class taking Latin and basically shooting the lights out academically when she got pregnant with me and dropped out of school. She was […]

Yesterday, Tony wrote about the racist impacts of Michigan House Republicans’ so-called plan to resolve the devastation caused by years of disinvestment in the Detroit Public Schools (DPS). I thought it would be worth a deeper look to reveal just how odious the plan is. There are several elements that show that House Republicans have no intention of making DPS […]

Ann Arbor-based Mustard’s Retreat is a folk duo that has been making amazing music for over 40 years. They recently recorded a cover of Don Lange’s song Take the Children and Run that they “folk processed” to make it applicable to the catastrophe in Flint. Here’s what they had to say about the song on their website: Most of you […]

As you know by now, our annual fundraiser party is coming up soon (May 17 – 7-9 p.m. at the ABC Microbrewery in Ypsilanti.) It’s going to be a really fun night and you’ll get to meet the amazing writers that make Eclectablog the premier progressive blog in Michigan and one of biggest state blogs in the country. As I […]

Over the past few months, teachers in the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) have had to resort to “sick outs” to get attention to the egregious working and teaching conditions they and their students are being forced to contend with. From black mold, rats, and cockroaches to warped gym floors and, this past week, the threat that they would not be […]

The lack of blog posts over the past couple of weeks is due to the fact that I was in Canada for a week-long business trip two weeks ago that involved me working 8-10 hour shifts, grabbing a quick bite to eat on the fly, and then catching a few hours of sleep before heading back to the plant. I […]

Every day, every week, every month of the year, Eclectablog is here, championing progressive causes and holding those in power accountable for their actions. Day after day, the writers here at Eclectablog are providing essential analysis and advocacy, spreading word of the valuable work of progressive activists and groups, and holding elected officials’ feet to the fire. In return, we […]

I’ve been writing lately about the attempt by the Snyder administration to continue the undemocratic takeover of local schools facing financial difficulties without having to use an Emergency Manager. Thanks to the Flint water catastrophe where the residents’ drinking water was contaminated with lead thanks to decisions made by Emergency Managers, that phrase has become (pardon the pun) toxic. As […]

I have known for quite awhile that you can’t bring a sign into the State Capitol Building. You can’t miss the signs telling you to leave your signs behind when you enter the august edifice. What I did NOT know until recently is that bringing a gun into that same building is A-OK. Thankfully, sanity is prevailing, at least on […]

The following guest post was written by my friend Chris Armstrong, Partnerships and Government Affairs Director for Small Business Majority. Chris was the former student body president of University of Michigan and experienced first hand the corrosive impacts of anti-gay bigotry at the hands of former state Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell who stalked and harassed him during his time […]

Earlier this month, I suggested that the Snyder administration has no intention of replacing a single water line in Flint where the drinking water was contaminated with the powerful neurotoxin lead through the actions of Snyder’s appointed Emergency Managers and the ineptitude of his appointee at the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Dan Wyant, a man with zero experience in […]