The Mitten Channel

Flint Poet Laureate Semaj Brown gives a fascinating reading of her environmental injustice poems. Poet Semaj Brown shares stories of working with the child victims of the Flint Water Crisis. Brown is on a mission to help heal the trauma victims in Flint, Michigan.  

Semaj Brown is an amazingly accomplished woman who is a poet, author, playwright, and educator; she was named the first poet laureate of Flint, Michigan, in 2019. In 2021, she received an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship. 

During her time as Flint's first poet laureate, she has taught children to write poetry at Flint's Freeman School, helping adults who privately write poetry as a form of healing and spreading the good word about the value of the literary arts across the Flint area. 

In this podcast episode, she reads two of her amazing poems. Her poems focus on Flint and social justice issues. They address issues of loss and empowerment. 

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This podcast episode is dedicated to the memory of Joseph M. Snow of Lansing, Michigan. Joe passed away on November 10, 2022, after a long illness. Joe was a lawyer, labor activist, and long-time member of the Lansing area Peace and Justice Coalition. He was an advocate for the working class and social justice issues. He was very fond of Semaj Brown's poetry. 

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You can learn more about Semaj Brown and her poems by:

• Visiting Semaj's author's website
• Find Semaj Brown on the website of the American Academy of Poets.
• Read a feature article about Semaj Brown that details her work and background can be located in My City Magazine. 
• The East Village Magazine reported that Semaj Brown was honored by the American Academy of Poets by receiving funding for her work with children in the Flint School District: Flint's first poet laureate was awarded $50K to infuse poetry throughout the city with a focus on literacy.

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Explore Our Series:

• Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
• The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
• Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.
  
  

Visit our Mitten Channel website for our complete library of podcasts, videos, and articles.

The Mitten Channel is a production of Radio Free Flint Media, LLC. © 2026 All Rights Reserved.

Marquise Gray, the former Michigan State Spartan, is now the head basketball coach at Flint Beecher High School. 

Marquise Gray has excelled at every level of his sport, including coaching and professional basketball. Gray played at Michigan State from 2005-to 09. Marquise Gray has blazed a remarkable trail in basketball. He is currently the acting Athletic Director, head basketball coach, and a teacher for the Beecher Community Schools. 

Gray's Flintstone values of grit, hard work, and excellence set him apart. Marquise Gray learned his values from his dad, great coaches, and the parents in his childhood neighborhood in Beecher. Marquise Gray represents that part of Flint's athletic legacy that makes the area unique. 

In returning to Beecher High School, Marquise wanted to pay back his community for all it had given him.    Marquise grew up in the Flint area, learning the game from college and professional basketball players in pick-up games. He is deeply committed to the Beecher Community near Flint.  

Wherever Marquise has played or coached, he was a winner. During his time at Beecher, he has been part of winning four Michigan high school basketball titles, three of them in a row! Gray played at Michigan State from 2005-09, reaching the NCAA national championship game as a senior against North Carolina. He played for Hall of Fame Basketball coach Tom Izzo. Marquise has a spectacular high school career at Beecher High School, playing for a state championship. 

In high school, he earned All-State honors and was part of the Detroit Free Press Dream Team. 

His basketball career continued after graduating with a degree in social work at Michigan State University.  

Marquise signed as a free agent with the Detroit Pistons, then played for seven years internationally in Isreal, Japan, Turkey, Mexico, and Poland. Basketball took him around the world. 

Upon his retirement from professional basketball, he decided that he wanted to work in a job that helped young people. He held a position with the Boys and Girls Club in Flint. Then he became involved in coaching and teaching at Beecher High School. 

The Mitten Channel is a network of podcasts.  

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• Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
• The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
• Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.
  
  

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The Mitten Channel is a production of Radio Free Flint Media, LLC. © 2026 All Rights Reserved.

Dave Liske discusses his new book "The Flint Coney: A Savory History." Learn about the history of the Flint food culture and love affair with the Flint-style Coney Island hot dog.

In a lively interview with author Dave Liske who shares recipes, secrets, and myths about Flint and Detroit's legendary coney island hot dogs.

The history of Flint's food culture has taken a backseat to Flint's manufacturing of automobiles. But the origins and rapid expansion of the number of Macedonian Coney shops in Flint paralleled the explosive growth of the city's automotive industry throughout the twentieth century.

The story of the Flint coney island traces back to immigrants escaping the war-torn Balkans in the early 1900s. Many combined an idea for one dish with the skills of butchering and meatpacking experts from Wisconsin and Germany. The simple Flint Coney became an institution among the city's autoworkers, tradespeople, and families.

Mainstays such as Flint Original Coney Island, Angelo's, and Atlas were frequented by regular patrons for decades, with others such as Capitol and Starlite carrying on those traditions today.

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To purchase the book, follow this link to the author's website: The Flint Coney: A Savory History.
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The Mitten Channel is a network of podcasts.  

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Join us for the full experience. Subscribe to The Mitten Channel on Substack to receive our latest narrative essays, audio stories, and deep-dive reporting directly in your inbox.

Explore Our Series:

• Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
• The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
• Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.
  
  

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The Mitten Channel is a production of Radio Free Flint Media, LLC. © 2026 All Rights Reserved.

Michael J. Thorp Has Stories to Tell about His Life in Mid-Michigan Television and Radio. Michael  Shares Curious Tales from His Latest Book

Former WJRT TV-12 morning anchor Michael J. Thorp has been a familiar voice to the people of Mid-Michigan for nearly 50 years. He shares the story of his life and career along with his work in radio and television. 

Michael is also a published author of 6 books about Michigan. Did I forget to say, a juror in a murder trial of the century in Genesee County? 

Michael shares his fascinating stories about broadcasting and the characters he worked with in the golden age of Flint area radio.

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Purchase a copy of Michael's latest book Michiganians You Should Know, at the author's website
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The Mitten Channel is a network of podcasts.  

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Join us for the full experience. Subscribe to The Mitten Channel on Substack to receive our latest narrative essays, audio stories, and deep-dive reporting directly in your inbox.

Explore Our Series:

• Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
• The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
• Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.
  
  

Visit our Mitten Channel website for our complete library of podcasts, videos, and articles.

The Mitten Channel is a production of Radio Free Flint Media, LLC. © 2026 All Rights Reserved.

Jan Worth-Nelson, former editor of the East Village Magazine, shares stories about the colorful history of the iconic Flint publication The East Village Magazine started about the same time as Michael Moore's Flint Voice back in the 1970s. 

Today, the magazine has become a brilliant piece of journalism each month, covering hyper-local government meetings and thoughtful essays from some of Genesee County's best writers. 

Jan Worth-Nelson is a retired University of Michigan-Flint English Professor whose experience in Flint has made her the most influential person on the local scene most political leaders have never heard of. She quietly assembled a talented group of writers and reporters at the East Village Magazine, making it a publication of record for the Flint area. 

Jan shares her joy about living in Flint, frustrations, disappointments, and what is possible for the region's future. 

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• To learn more about Jan Worth-Nelson, visit Janworth.com 
• If you want to read the East Village Magazine or contribute, go to their website.

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• The song "Flint River Blues" used in this episode was written and performed by folk singer Colton Ort. He wrote this song to encourage people not to forget the children poisoned in the Flint Water Crisis.

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The Mitten Channel is a network of podcasts.  

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Join us for the full experience. Subscribe to The Mitten Channel on Substack to receive our latest narrative essays, audio stories, and deep-dive reporting directly in your inbox.

Explore Our Series:

• Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
• The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
• Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.
  
  

Visit our Mitten Channel website for our complete library of podcasts, videos, and articles.

The Mitten Channel is a production of Radio Free Flint Media, LLC. © 2026 All Rights Reserved.

In this interview, Connor discusses his newest novel, the 4th in the series "Urbantasm." The series is set in deindustrialized Flint, Michigan.

Connor Coyne is a writer living and working in rust belt Flint, Michigan, a town devastated by deindustrialization. Connor spent his teenage years in Flushing, Michigan.  Connor represented Flint's 7th Ward as its artist-in-residence for the National Endowment for the Arts, Our Town grant. In this grant, artists engaged ward residents to produce creative work for the 2013 City of Flint Master Plan. Connor's work has appeared in Vox.com, Belt Magazine, and Santa Clara Review. He lives with his wife, two daughters, and an adopted rabbit in Flint's College Cultural Neighborhood (East Village).

Coyne's novel describes a fantastical plot founded upon a mythical city where the main characters grew up.  The story revolves around parts of a dying industrial rust belt town. In the interview, the author, Connor Coyne, acknowledges that this factory town is Flint, Michigan.

The book sets out the good, bad, and ugly way of life in middle America, where the characters navigate the vices and demons of urban life in a blue-collar America that struggles to survive.

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You can learn more about Connor Coyne and his books by visiting his author's website.

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 The music for the outro, Flint River Blues, about the Flint Water Crisis, was written and performed by Colton Ort and used with his permission.

Join us on The Mitten Channel on Substack.

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The Mitten Channel is a network of podcasts.  

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Join us for the full experience. Subscribe to The Mitten Channel on Substack to receive our latest narrative essays, audio stories, and deep-dive reporting directly in your inbox.

Explore Our Series:

• Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
• The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
• Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.
  
  

Visit our Mitten Channel website for our complete library of podcasts, videos, and articles.

The Mitten Channel is a production of Radio Free Flint Media, LLC. © 2026 All Rights Reserved.

What does it mean to be a Flintstone?

Rustbelt Flint, Michigan, residents and expatriates, call themselves Flintstones. They discuss their community identity and its rust belt revival.

Podcast guests include Judge Duncan M. Beagle, Sandra Branch of the Flint Public Art Project, John Daly of the City of Flint Department of Transportation, Cindy Johns of Carriage Town Ministries, and Rico Phillips, a retired Flint Firefighter.

This podcast explores the unusual adoption of a community identity taken by people from rust belt Flint, Michigan. We explore the origins of this identity and delve into what it means for the future of the factory town. To many Flintstones, Flint represents the resilient middle America that will see a rust belt revival. Is a rust belt revival possible while maintaining the blue-collar way of life?

Can there be a Rust Belt Revival in Flint?

Many Flintstones see rust belt Flint, and its blue-collar workers, as having made it possible for rank and file factory workers to have a life in America's middle class. They fought for union recognition and worker rights to fair wages and working conditions.

Indeed, the resilience they sincerely believe is part of their factory town DNA. Flintstones believe there is going to be a rust belt revival in Flint. Working class Flint, Michigan, according to podcast interviews, thinks the town will shed the factory worker image and recover as the rest of middle America has done.

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The music heard in this episode is performed by singer-songwriter Colton Ort and played with his permission.

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The Mitten Channel is a network of podcasts.  

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Join us for the full experience. Subscribe to The Mitten Channel on Substack to receive our latest narrative essays, audio stories, and deep-dive reporting directly in your inbox.

Explore Our Series:

• Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
• The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
• Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.
  
  

Visit our Mitten Channel website for our complete library of podcasts, videos, and articles.

The Mitten Channel is a production of Radio Free Flint Media, LLC. © 2026 All Rights Reserved.

CS Mott was a giant in automotive history.

Author Ed Renahan discusses the remarkable life of Charles Stewart Mott. "The Life of Charles Stewart Mott" is a fascinating and comprehensive look at the life of one of the world's most successful capitalists.

Charles Stewart Mott (1875-1973) was an American businessman and philanthropist born in Flint, Michigan. He is best known for his involvement in the automobile industry and his philanthropic work.

Mott began his career as a clerk in his family's business, which manufactured carriage and automobile parts. He eventually took over the company and expanded it into a major parts supplier to the automotive industry. Mott was also involved in developing the Chevrolet Motor Company, founded by his friend and business partner, William C. Durant.

In addition to his business pursuits, Mott was a philanthropist and supported several charitable causes. He was particularly interested in education and helped to establish many schools and universities, including Flint College (now known as the University of Michigan-Flint) and Kettering University, which was named in honor of Charles Kettering, another automotive pioneer.

Mott was also active in local and national politics and served on several boards and committees throughout his career. He received numerous awards and honors for his business and philanthropic endeavors and was widely respected and admired for his contributions to society.

The Legacy of CS Mott: Rust Belt Revival

The automobile industry has significantly declined since the 1970s. As a result, blue-collar Flint, Michigan, suffered the effects of deindustrialization and disinvestment., The CS Mott Foundation plays a significant role in orchestrating the rust belt revival of Flint and other factory towns in Michigan. It is impossible to overstate the impact CS Mott and his Mott Foundation had on helping working-class Flint, Michigan, survive. It can also be said that the contributions of CS Mott to General Motors as an officer and investor helped General Motors thrive in automotive manufacturing.

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The book The Life of Charles Stewart Mott, published by the University of Michigan Press in 2019, is available at local bookstores in Flint, Michigan, and major book retailers.

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Ed Renahan's critically-acclaimed books published under his name include Deliberate Evil: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Daniel Webster, and the 1830 Murder of a Salem Slave Trader (Chicago Review Press, 2022),  Dark Genius of Wall Street: The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons (Basic Books, 2006), The Kennedys at War (Doubleday, 2001), The Lion's Pride (Oxford University Press, 1998), John Burroughs: An American Naturalist (Black Dome Press, 1992), and The Secret Six (Crown, 1994). He has appeared on PBS's The American Experience, NPR, and C-Span's BookTV and has written for publications ranging from The Wall Street Journal to The San Francisco Chronicle.

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Colton Ort, singer-songwriter, performs his song "The Flint River Blues" in this episode. We used the song with his permission.

Join us on The Mitten Channel on Substack.

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The Mitten Channel is a network of podcasts.  

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Join us for the full experience. Subscribe to The Mitten Channel on Substack to receive our latest narrative essays, audio stories, and deep-dive reporting directly in your inbox.

Explore Our Series:

• Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
• The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
• Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.
  
  

Visit our Mitten Channel website for our complete library of podcasts, videos, and articles.

The Mitten Channel is a production of Radio Free Flint Media, LLC. © 2026 All Rights Reserved.

Finding homelessness solutions requires resources and community collaboration.

We discuss specifically the remarkable progress of people in serving the homeless population. Carriage Town Ministries welcomes volunteers, donations of certain clothing items, and monetary donations.

If you want to volunteer, donate or need services for the homeless, please follow this link to Carriage Town Ministries.

Here is a list of other Homeless Shelters serving the Flint area.
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The Mitten Channel is a network of podcasts.  

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Join us for the full experience. Subscribe to The Mitten Channel on Substack to receive our latest narrative essays, audio stories, and deep-dive reporting directly in your inbox.

Explore Our Series:

• Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
• The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
• Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.
  
  

Visit our Mitten Channel website for our complete library of podcasts, videos, and articles.

The Mitten Channel is a production of Radio Free Flint Media, LLC. © 2026 All Rights Reserved.

Rev. Robert McCathern, the pastor of a hip church in Flint's Civic Park, tells of convincing young people to put away guns and take up hammers to improve the area.

Rev. Robert McCathern, the pastor of the Joy Tabernacle Church, leads a church some call a "hip" church. His Flint, Michigan church is the former Community Presbyterian Church in Flint's Civic Park neighborhood.

Pastor McCathern is the founder and director of the Urban Renaissance Center. The Urban Renaissance Center is a faith-based nonprofit established by Joy Tabernacle Church. They provide social and community development services specifically designed and administered as a direct response to the high level of need within the Civic Park Community. Our primary activities include developing, implementing, and facilitating proactive methodological initiatives that provide holistic empowerment supports to individuals and families of the Civic Park and surrounding Flint neighborhoods.

Pastor McCathern shares the hope and aspirations of those trying to make Flint a better place. His work with young people in the neighborhoods is nothing short of amazing. In this podcast, he describes how he has convinced young people to put down their guns and take up hammers to improve the neighborhood.

Rev. McCathern's success has impressed many in the area, including the Ruth Mott Foundation, which has funded projects in conjunction with the Urban Renaissance Center.

The music for this podcast was provided by Colton Ort (Flint River Blues) and Mustards Retreat (Take the Children and Run)

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To learn more about Joy Tabernacle, visit their website to contact Pastor McCathern.

Visit the Urban Renaissance Center to learn more about its employment services and health and wellness programs.

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Join us on The Mitten Channel on Substack.

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The Mitten Channel is a network of podcasts.  

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Join us for the full experience. Subscribe to The Mitten Channel on Substack to receive our latest narrative essays, audio stories, and deep-dive reporting directly in your inbox.

Explore Our Series:

• Radio Free Flint: Narrative storytelling and community perspectives on industrial resilience.
• The Mitten Works: Essential history and analysis of labor and economic policy.
• Flint Justice: Critical insights into the legal and institutional challenges facing our state.
  
  

Visit our Mitten Channel website for our complete library of podcasts, videos, and articles.

The Mitten Channel is a production of Radio Free Flint Media, LLC. © 2026 All Rights Reserved.