In celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness month - Hard Rock Café in Detroit will be hosting a number of  Pinktober events to raise awareness and funds.  October 22, join three local bands, The Displays, The Dial Tones and Swampy Bone and on October 29, join The Walk Clocks as they release their new CD.  Cover charge of $5.00 will be used to benefit the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute.  Both shows will begin at 8:00pm.  All ages welcome.

Hard Rock Detroit is located at :  
45 Monroe Street
Detroit, MI  48226
(313) 964-7625

For further information about Breast Cancer:
Please visit their WEBSITE

As memories fade away, with Alzheimer’s and the ability to take care of ones self diminishes family members work diligently to keep memories alive.  One local caregiver touched by Alzheimer’s Disease takes a bold step to unmask it.  

Being of Chaldean descent and growing up in a home steeped in middle eastern tradition local comedian Joey Nibras is tackling this disease in his own unique style.  “It is very taboo to talk about subjects like this in the Chaldean culture“, commented Joey.  Using his talents in photography and his passion for social media, Joey is unmasking the disease as his father enters the late stages of the disease.

Joey began by taking still photos of his father in the beginning stages of the disease.  These poignant pictures  illustrate the feeling of imprisonment not only felt by his father but the family as well.  Recently Boba (father) fell and fractured his hip and began the roller coaster ride from hospital, to nursing home and back.  While spending days with his father in the hospital and nursing home Joey has been filming his fathers decline.

Often this disease is kept in the dark and not shared with family and friends to the detriment of the caregiver and the Alzheimer’s patient.  This daily video log of Joey and Boba are a way for Joey to bring about awareness of the disease to his family and friends who do not have an accurate understanding of the disease.  Joey has been watching his father fade away slowly for the past ten years and understands the pain felt by the disappearance of a loved one.  By sharing his experience with his father he hopes to impart awareness and understanding of this disease.

Follow Joey and Boba’s journey HERE

See the photo stream HERE

For more information about Alzheimer’s Disease:
Please visit THIS WEBSITE

Tami Neumann writes regularly for the Detroit Alzheimer's Examiner

You can read more from Tami HERE

Dear Detroit,

We are an incredible group of survivors.
Despite the world as we know it crumbling down around us, we remain. But we’re ready for change. And we know it’s coming. It’s been preached to us left and right, and (hopefully) we recognize the need for it in our own lives. Thing is, it’s not a stroll down the RiverWalk.  

Change = discipline (ugh, I know)....
Might as well take a good whiff o’ that statement, because it’s true.  Nothing worth pursuing will be easy.  Not finding a decent job, quitting smoking (trust that), making the grade, revitalizing a neighborhood, restoring a relationship, saving $5,000, improving our schools – nothing.  It’s about working ‘til you get it – whatever “it” is.  It may have you up until dawn.  It may have you on lockdown until that monkey’s off your back.  It may have you stretching $50 over a span of 2 weeks. It may need you to be a mentor to our children. No matter what it is, be prepared to work physically or mentally – maybe both.

Stay ground level @ all times
The homeless man you show love to on the street may actually be in-character, and pulls you in for an extra part in a movie. The woman you open the door for at the grocery store might be the Superintendent at your kid’s school.  You just never know who will open your next door, so show some love and be real about it.  It’s called humility…look around - the absence of it crushed administrations. Just sayin’….

Commit to it, & dust the haters off
↑↑…easier said than done – especially in a crab-barrel environment, where new ideas are shot down quick, and any attempts to self-improve are downright laughable. Despite the static, you possess everything you need to change your circumstances and affect the world around you. Know who you are – walk in that knowledge…that’s power enough to create a renaissance, no pun intended.

Rinse and repeat
It’s hard work, commitment and positivity. Lots of it. Continually. But what it’s NOT is impossible. The same hope, vision and determination we use to stay in this beautifully distressed city is exactly what we need to take it…& ourselves…to the next level.

You up for the challenge?

Up with Detroit,

KWL