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    • Introducing the partnership with the Race and Justice reporting Initiative
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    Candidates Face the People: Southwest Detroit Hosts Powerful Mayoral Forum on Community Priorities

    Candidates Face the People: Southwest Detroit Hosts Powerful Mayoral Forum on Community Priorities

    MANA de Metro Detroit Celebrates 30 Years of Latina Leadership and Legacy

    Protecting Our Vote: Facts in the Face of Fear

    Protecting Our Vote: Facts in the Face of Fear

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    Apaches Jicarilla

    Rarámuris / Tarahumaras 

    Rarámuris / Tarahumaras 

    Linzie and Jesse Venegas of Ideal Group Recognized as Entrepreneurs Of The Year 2025

    Linzie and Jesse Venegas of Ideal Group Recognized as Entrepreneurs Of The Year 2025

    George Carrillo speaks to attendees at the Real Talk series about his immigration policy recommendations for the construction industry, titled "Building America Stronger." Photo: Juan Carlos Dueweke-Perez, Featherstone.

    “This Is Our Moment”: National Latino Construction Leader Visits Detroit to Highlight Labor Crisis and Policy Solutions

    CitizenDetroit Launches Free Online Platform that Enables Detroit Voters to Hear Directly from Detroit Candidates

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  • Community
    Candidates Face the People: Southwest Detroit Hosts Powerful Mayoral Forum on Community Priorities

    Candidates Face the People: Southwest Detroit Hosts Powerful Mayoral Forum on Community Priorities

    MANA de Metro Detroit Celebrates 30 Years of Latina Leadership and Legacy

    A jubilee pilgrimage of hope through the Basilica of Ste. Anne

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    Senate Theater Says ‘No Problem’ to No AC with ‘Hot, Sweaty & Weird’ Film Series

    Senate Theater Says ‘No Problem’ to No AC with ‘Hot, Sweaty & Weird’ Film Series

    Candidatos del Distrito 6 hablan sobre inmigración y contaminación

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    Connecting with the Heart of Detroit

    Connecting with the Heart of Detroit

    Fr. David Buersmeyer y Mrs. Judith Brooks de Strangers No Longer / hablan a los participantes de la procesión frente a la oficina de campo de ICE en Detroit / address procession participants in front of the field office of ICE in Detroit. Foto de/Photo by Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic

    Detroit Catholics Walk in Solidarity with Immigrants, Demand Humane Treatment

  • Featured
    Candidates Face the People: Southwest Detroit Hosts Powerful Mayoral Forum on Community Priorities

    Candidates Face the People: Southwest Detroit Hosts Powerful Mayoral Forum on Community Priorities

    Fr. David Buersmeyer y Mrs. Judith Brooks de Strangers No Longer / hablan a los participantes de la procesión frente a la oficina de campo de ICE en Detroit / address procession participants in front of the field office of ICE in Detroit. Foto de/Photo by Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic

    Detroit Catholics Walk in Solidarity with Immigrants, Demand Humane Treatment

    Linzie and Jesse Venegas of Ideal Group Recognized as Entrepreneurs Of The Year 2025

    Linzie and Jesse Venegas of Ideal Group Recognized as Entrepreneurs Of The Year 2025

    George Carrillo speaks to attendees at the Real Talk series about his immigration policy recommendations for the construction industry, titled "Building America Stronger." Photo: Juan Carlos Dueweke-Perez, Featherstone.

    “This Is Our Moment”: National Latino Construction Leader Visits Detroit to Highlight Labor Crisis and Policy Solutions

    Downtown Detroit’s Hart Plaza Comes Back to Life with ARRiBA! Latinos Festival

    Downtown Detroit’s Hart Plaza Comes Back to Life with ARRiBA! Latinos Festival

    Pope Leo XIV, the former Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, waves from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican after his election as pope May 8, 2025. The new pope was born in Chicago. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

    Pope Leo XIV a ‘man of many gifts’ who will lead Church with grace

    Southwest Detroit’s Cinco de Mayo Parade Prevails Over “Rain and Rumors” to the Enjoyment of Thousands

    Southwest Detroit’s Cinco de Mayo Parade Prevails Over “Rain and Rumors” to the Enjoyment of Thousands

    Caesar Chavez Academy’s Robotics Team Represents Southwest Detroit at World Robotics Championship

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    El Arzobispo Edward J. Weisenburger dirige las oraciones durante una Misa en memoria del papa Francisco el 21 de abril en la Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament en Detroit. El papa Francisco, quien ha liderado la Iglesia católica desde 2013, murió la madrugada del lunes, el día después del Domingo de Pascua. (Foto de Valaurian Waller | Detroit Catholic)

    Archbishop Weisenburger leads Detroit faithful in mourning Pope Francis’ death

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    From Latin Boogaloo to Electric Vibes, Latino Music Moves the Crowd at Concert of Colors

    Apaches Jicarilla

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    Brushstrokes & Brainpower: Teachers Gather to Boost Student Thinking Through Art

    Brushstrokes & Brainpower: Teachers Gather to Boost Student Thinking Through Art

    Rarámuris / Tarahumaras 

    Rarámuris / Tarahumaras 

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Dragons in August

EL CENTRAL by EL CENTRAL
August 25, 2022
in Community
Reading Time: 4 mins read
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By Elena Dolores Solano

August is the sweetest month. There are no holidays, there is only the hot Michigan sun and what feels like endless summer days and long summer nights. Students, teachers and counselors are free for the summer, each group going on about their lives for a few short weeks before school resumes. But August has a timeline of its own, muggy nights and sun-splashed days and asphalt that buckles and melts in the heat. Time lingers. It is when tomatoes pop off the vine and chili arbol is harvested with gusto.

August is also when educators prepare to return to their buildings and classrooms. It is when students and educators realize summer is fading and moving quickly. Educators are planners and givers, and a combination of saints and imperfect human beings. I am an educator and I learned many years ago that educators have daunting jobs. Detroit educators are no exception. We deal with the hardest circumstances and manage heartbreaking scenarios on a daily basis. We help students find solutions to unbearable problems, believing they can and will succeed.

It is well documented that spontaneous play heals children from trauma. It leads to cooperation and creativity and connections in the brain. It helps children learn to problem solve and communicate. Summer months are critical for free play and important for healing.

August is the hottest month in Michigan. We swelter and sweat. We swat flies and mosquitoes. We gather tomatoes and flowers we have planted and grown over the summer. We
soak in the sunlight that goes on for hours. We lay quietly, motionless in the moonlight, and in the cool of the evening breeze, waiting for relief from the sweltering heat.

When I was a child my brother Dan and I ran to fields close to our house on 17th Street. Urban decay was already winding its way through Detroit. It bit our neighborhood hard, and like a snake it consumed houses and left empty lots. Pebbled walkways were still in place and large trees dotted former yards. We traipsed through overgrown weeds and looked for bees and hornets’ nests. We stared at the clouds and saw bears and mountains and dragons breathing fire in the hot summer sky. We collected fireflies in glass jars.

August is a heavy month. It is ripe with life and death and the beginning and the end. It is a month of healing and of time that moves so slow you can feel your body let go and your muscles unwind. It is a month of catching your breath and letting all things be as they are. It is a month of catching fireflies with your best friend.

Heart Shaped Leaf for Dragons

August is a sacred month. It is made up of festivals at Clark Park, carnivals and trips to Belle Isle, and Up North if you’re really lucky. It is running under water sprinklers and open fire hydrants, watching fireworks, running around with sparklers and taking a cool bath before bed. It is everything and nothing all at once. August is filled with magic. Throughout the school year I see teachers and counselors do magic and become dragons in the best sense of the word. I love my students, just as I love my children, and I will breathe fire to protect them. August gives us strength to give our best.

My strongest asset at work is that I believe. I believe. I believe in the power of love and hope, of books, writing and a solid education. I believe in a river that runs along the heart of Detroit that carries a thousand stories. I believe in each and every one of my students to be all they can be, to do what their heart says they can do.
Educators often leave the school year empty and exhausted. We are givers. In the slow days of summer, I remember who I am, a woman, a child of Detroit, Mexican American, a mother, a daughter, sister and friend. I am a human being, and I too must heal.

It is the magic of August, of the heat in the moonlight and waiting for a cool breeze and being still in the night that makes me whole. I lay quietly in the dark and wait for dragons and stars to emerge from the darkened sky. It is where hope is grown and belief is resown, ready to be harvested for the following year. It is time to heal.

I would be useless without August. These are the days I let my heart fly and dare to believe, and remember who I am.
Elena Dolores Solano 2022

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