Friday, October 17, 2008

Flint mocked, of course, on Saturday Night Live



The Flint Journal's Shannon Murphy provides the backstory:

"Kristina Pringle has a sketch pad filled with drawings of cartoons that she likes to do in her spare time.

"She never thought her hobby would help make her southside neighborhood a nicer place to live.

"In August, Pringle, 20, began sketching Winnie the Pooh characters on the boarded-up windows of a vacant home a few doors down from her Madison Avenue house."
Thanks to Daria and Lori for passing this along.



6 comments:

  1. At least she won't run out of canvas

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  2. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be surprised if she hears from Disney lawyers sometime soon. "Put down the paintbrush and step away from the house...or else..."

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  3. That's for sure,susank... I think what she's doing is great and i really hope no one takes action against her for "defacing" property. Can the city do that?

    Unfortunately I couldn't watch the video because they won't allow it to stream outside the U.S. Is that some funny version of homeland security or what?

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  4. Living in Flint my whole life I have seen it go from decent to bad to worse. There is at least two vacant houses per street in the city. I think what she is doing is an awsome idea regardless what others think. Shes not limited to just winnie the pooh characters. I think that if more people took an initiative to beautify their community we wouldnt be looking at a bunch of boarded up junk. You can make anything beautiful no matter how bad it can be. I just want to say thank you from one kristina to another. Keep up the good work and more will follow in your foot steps. kristina shaw flint michigan resident

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  5. Kristina, I agree. We had an earlier post about a guy on the Eastside who was mowing the lawns of vacant houses on his street. These small efforts can have a cumulative effect. It's good to see someone out there trying something to make things better. It won't necessarily solve the underlying economic problem Flint, and other sections of the country face, but these efforts do make things better

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  6. So far that makes The Simpsons (twice), David Cross (on one of his comedy albums), and SNL (and I'm sure there are others) that have mocked Flint on a national basis. They may not be kind words but they are words, how many cities can claim that?

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Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.