FROM THE EDITOR:
"SUMMER'S HERE ..."

From Belle Isle's manicured Gardens to Loft-y pot gardening, from running routes through graveyards and pickup soccer games to promised riverwalks and neighborhood parks - Detroit is a great place to soak up the sun, if you know where to go. With August a few weeks away, it may seem as though there's lots of time left to enjoy the heat, but in Michigan you never know what kind of weather you'll wake up to (see the April '03 issue of thedetroiter.com).

Its encumbent upon all of us, then, to enjoy every one of these wonderfully un-winterly days. To help in the effort, our regular contributors have written about some of their favorite Motor City hotspots, urban summer activities and outdoor wishlists for the city. Hopefully they'll inspire you topack a picnic basket, get on a bike and partake heartily of the remaining days of summer.

Thedetroiter.com is also proud to welcome three noted local writers to our pages for the first time in this issue:

     In our special feature on Belle Isle, Janet Anderson, granddaughter of the first curator of the Belle Isle Zoo, and author of the book Island in the City: How Belle Isle Changed Detroit Forever, writes about the great park's history, and current actions we can take to ensure its future.

     Local arts and culture writer Vince Carducci weighs in on "Detroit Now," one of the summer's biggest local art happenings, commenting, not on the art, but on the event itself.

     And Michigan-based novelist Lynn Crawford offers a tribute to a fiesty environmental activist in her prose sestina "Eco Lady."

All three add another coat of luster to our fair magazine, and we're pleased to share their words and insights with you.

And finally, the backpage highlights a unique urban beautification project - Pretty City, with an interactive map that gives an up close and personal look at the ambitious, trashy new outdoor art exhibit.

You can get to any of this month's articles by clicking the features stories link in the table of contents frame to the left; or take a summer cruise through some of Detroit's most interesting parks by clicking the Belle Isle link below. And don't forget to turn on thedetroiter.com radio as you explore. Program manager Tommy Onyx continues to stock our very own six-station boom box with D-Town-only tunes from every genre. As the poet said, "the time is right, for dancing in the streets."

- John Sousanis