Blueberry Jam

Blueberry Jam came to fruition through the barriers Mitchel Dipzinski and other advocates faced as they engaged the community in civil rights conversations surrounding gender identity, sexuality, race and COVID 19. The experiences highlighted in this collection are not “of the past” though, they lay within the present as students and adult community members alike struggle to find places where they are accepted fully. To speak to these struggles and to develop Blueberry Jam, Mitchel created erasure poems from letters, news articles and other resources of public domain. All original publications/works either reference his advocacy work directly or push dangerous misinformation surrounding the identity topics above. By erasing excess verbiage, he is able to highlight the harmful and dangerous impact the statements make.

These pieces are not meant to feel comfortable. They mirror the disarray, confusion and pain that Mitchel and other advocates face when speaking out against hate. They mirror the disjointed attempts to dehumanize community neighbors. They are the truth within the dangerous rhetoric happening across the nation. Blueberry Jam invites its audience to sit in the discomfort—to question why we are not holding community members accountable for making others feel this way in NE Michigan.