![\"photo](\"http:\/\/challengedetroit.org\/bethanyfelder\/files\/2014\/09\/photo-1-300x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSeptember 2014 has come and gone and left me with some major changes to digest. No longer is the 2014-2015 year an intangible thing in the distance that I \u201cknow-is-coming-but-don\u2019t-really-believe-will-get-here.\u201d I’m not a “new grad” but instead I’m entering my third year in the workforce. I’m not a teacher on the southeast side of Detroit anymore, but now I’m a Challenge Detroit fellow. My Detroit address is one of the few things that hasn’t changed from August to September.<\/p>\n
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The past 2 years in Detroit have been packed with highs and lows. The stresses of a demanding and overwhelming job paired with the fostering of lifelong friendships and memories left little time for anything else. I knew my students, the Southeastern High School community and staff, Midtown, my close friends and the bars\/restaurants we frequented. Yet the grind of my weeks \u00a0made it way too easy to make excuses for my lack of a “real life” in Detroit. Sure, I knew about local beer and coffee shops. I also had an intimate view of the poverty and systemic racism most Detroiters face daily. But when asked the question \u201cHow do you like living in Detroit?\u201d I could never seem to formulate an answer. How do I like working in Detroit? It\u2019s hard, my staff is great, I love my kids. How\u2019s my apartment? It\u2019s great. How\u2019s the food? So much good Mediterranean. How do I like living in Detroit? Well, I guess I didn\u2019t feel like I lived here. I was just working here. I wasn\u2019t building any kind of sustainable life for myself.<\/p>\n
![\"photo](\"http:\/\/challengedetroit.org\/bethanyfelder\/files\/2014\/09\/photo-2-300x300.jpg\")
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I am so thankful for Challenge Detroit for (hopefully) giving me a good answer to that tough question this year. I cannot wait to experience this city not with a fresh set of eyes, but from a new perspective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
September 2014 has come and gone and left me with some major changes to digest. No longer is the 2014-2015 year an intangible thing in the distance that I \u201cknow-is-coming-but-don\u2019t-really-believe-will-get-here.\u201d I’m not a “new grad” but instead I’m entering my third year in the workforce. I’m not a teacher on the southeast side of Detroit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12068\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}