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Author

Shawn

Editor

Shawn is the editor of Strait Journal and a working writer on the masthead. Beats: Detroit electronic music and its archive, neighborhood and place writing, the long-form profile, occasional civic and Hart Plaza pieces. Has covered Movement Festival across the 2024 and 2025 editions.

Started writing about Detroit in 2024 across scattered Substacks and group chats and one-off bylines, and consolidated the work as Strait Journal in 2026 under Strait Media Group. Files most often on the city's music history (Submerge, Planet E, the Belleville lineage) and on the rooms that have outlasted the trends that passed through them.

Born in Metro Detroit. Lived elsewhere for a while. Came back. Spends most weekends walking neighborhoods, mostly Mexicantown and Eastern Market lately. Drinks espresso in the morning and matcha most afternoons. Learning Spanish, slowly. Keeps a lot of house plants.

Started Strait Journal because the writing about Detroit was scattered across too many places, and the city deserves a publication that reads like it was made by someone who lives here.

Quick hits
Favorite room:
Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory, Belle Isle
Favorite restaurant:
Leila
One Detroit artist to put on first:
Matthew Dear

[email protected]

Recent work

Reverse chronological
Detroit to pack Campus Martius yet again for USA-Belgium's round of 16 rematch
CommunityPreview
Detroit to pack Campus Martius yet again for USA-Belgium's round of 16 rematchDetroit City FC opens Campus Martius again Monday for USA vs. Belgium, a round of 16 rematch of 2014 with a shot at the program's second-ever quarterfinal.By Shawn · Jul 5, 2026 Four hours from Detroit, Electric Forest was worth the drive, storm and all
MusicReview
Four hours from Detroit, Electric Forest was worth the drive, storm and allFour hours up the road, Electric Forest sold out for its 14th year.By Shawn · Jun 29, 2026 Inside the trees: a Detroit reader's field guide to Electric Forest 2026
MusicPreview
Inside the trees: a Detroit reader's field guide to Electric Forest 2026Electric Forest runs June 25 to 28 in Rothbury, a few hours west of Detroit, and one of its co-headliners grew up just outside the city.By Shawn · Jun 12, 2026 Detroit showed up: fans pack Campus Martius for USA's World Cup opener
CommunityNews
Detroit showed up: fans pack Campus Martius for USA's World Cup openerDetroit City FC hosted a free watch party at Campus Martius as the United States beat Paraguay 4 to 1 to open the 2026 World Cup, with more parties set for June 19 and June 25.By Shawn · Jun 13, 2026 Baker's Keyboard Lounge closes for a refresh, with a June return on Livernois
MusicNews
Baker's Keyboard Lounge closes for a refresh, with a June return on LivernoisDetroit's oldest continuously operating jazz club shut its doors on Livernois for a roughly month long renovation, with new bathrooms, a refreshed stage and bar, and a new patio promised for a June reopening.By Shawn · May 30, 2026 DJ Minx and Dom Dolla close Movement 2026 on Memorial Day Monday
MusicReview
DJ Minx and Dom Dolla close Movement 2026 on Memorial Day MondayMovement's twentieth year under Paxahau closed Memorial Day at Hart Plaza with DJ Minx finishing the Pyramid Stage and Dom Dolla closing the Movement Stage.By Shawn · May 26, 2026 Detroit's skyline runs blue and green all month for NF awareness
CommunityNews
Detroit's skyline runs blue and green all month for NF awarenessThrough May, downtown landmarks are glowing in the two colors of neurofibromatosis awareness, the visible edge of a Detroit research effort the Gilbert family built after losing their son Nick.By Shawn · May 22, 2026 Belle Isle adds a perimeter cycle track and flips part of Central Avenue before Memorial Day
CityNews
Belle Isle adds a perimeter cycle track and flips part of Central Avenue before Memorial DayThe state is restriping Belle Isle so cyclists can loop the whole island without crossing traffic, and reversing part of Central Avenue to ease congestion near the beach.By Shawn · May 21, 2026 Detroit makes it official: Techno Week lands as Movement turns 20
MusicNews
Detroit makes it official: Techno Week lands as Movement turns 20Mayor Mary Sheffield signed a proclamation naming May 18 to 25 Detroit Techno Week, timed to Movement's 20th edition at Hart Plaza.By Shawn · May 20, 2026 Detroit's population grows a third straight year, new Census estimates show
CityNews
Detroit's population grows a third straight year, new Census estimates showNew Census Bureau estimates put Detroit at 649,095 residents, a third consecutive year of growth after nearly seven decades of decline.By Shawn · May 15, 2026 Vinyl lounge and cafe coming to Southwest Detroit
MusicPreview
Vinyl lounge and cafe coming to Southwest DetroitTigris, a hi-fi listening bar and cafe, is set to open this summer at 2545 Bagley St. in Southwest Detroit.By Shawn · May 14, 2026 Detroit lands a PWHL franchise for 2026-27
CityNews
Detroit lands a PWHL franchise for 2026-27Detroit will join the Professional Women's Hockey League as its ninth team next season, playing at Little Caesars Arena, with fans placing thousands of season-ticket deposits in the first day.By Shawn · May 12, 2026 Movement returns to Hart Plaza for Memorial Day weekend
MusicPreview
Movement returns to Hart Plaza for Memorial Day weekendDetroit's electronic music festival runs May 23 through 25 at Hart Plaza, the twentieth edition produced by Paxahau.By Shawn · May 2, 2026 Somewhere in Detroit opens its doors, putting the city's techno vinyl within reach
MusicProfile
Somewhere in Detroit opens its doors, putting the city's techno vinyl within reachThe record shop inside the Submerge building on East Grand Boulevard, long known for running by appointment, now lets the public walk in on Saturday afternoons.By Shawn · Apr 20, 2025 Planet E Communications: Carl Craig's Detroit institution
MusicProfile
Planet E Communications: Carl Craig's Detroit institutionCarl Craig founded Planet E Communications in 1991 and has kept it running on his own terms ever since, an unbroken Detroit techno label built around independence rather than scale.By Shawn · Nov 22, 2024 Submerge: Underground Resistance's headquarters and Detroit's techno archive
MusicProfile
Submerge: Underground Resistance's headquarters and Detroit's techno archiveOn East Grand Boulevard, the building that distributes Underground Resistance's records also holds Exhibit 3000, billed as the world's first techno museum.By Shawn · Oct 5, 2024 The record stores that hold up Detroit's vinyl economy
CommunityProfile
The record stores that hold up Detroit's vinyl economyDetroit lost most of its independent record shops decades ago, but a small specialist network still serves local collectors and the techno pilgrims who fly in for it.By Shawn · Aug 25, 2024 How Movement survived on Hart Plaza
MusicSpotlight
How Movement survived on Hart PlazaMovement returns to Hart Plaza for Memorial Day weekend, the latest edition of a Detroit festival that has changed names, owners, and economics since 2000 while staying put.By Shawn · May 21, 2024 Five new spots that opened around Metro Detroit this spring
EatsNews
Five new spots that opened around Metro Detroit this springA halal rice-bowl shop on the east side, a west-side bookstore cafe, a Ferndale coffee-and-wine bookshop, an Indian kitchen in Southfield, and Rosati's first Michigan location all opened in April.By Shawn · May 2, 2026 People Mover agency to lead Michigan Central transit hub
CityNews
People Mover agency to lead Michigan Central transit hubThe Detroit Transportation Corporation will lead planning for a new multimodal transit hub at Michigan Central, with a design and engineering procurement set to open this summer.By Shawn · May 2, 2026 Southwest Detroit's 61st Cinco de Mayo parade rolls down West Vernor this Sunday
CommunityPreview
Southwest Detroit's 61st Cinco de Mayo parade rolls down West Vernor this SundayThe Mexican Patriotic Committee of Metro Detroit marches its annual Cinco de Mayo parade 2.4 miles down West Vernor on Sunday, May 3, under the theme Estamos Unidos.By Shawn · Apr 30, 2026 Detroit's young poets compete at the Wright Museum on May 7
ArtsPreview
Detroit's young poets compete at the Wright Museum on May 7InsideOut Literary Arts brings its Detroit Youth Poetry Slam to the Charles H. Wright Museum on May 7, where teen poets compete for a spot on the 2026 Detroit Youth Performance Troupe.By Shawn · Apr 30, 2026 Detroit plans a second hotel attached to Huntington Place, and a 16-story tower would come down for it
CityNews
Detroit plans a second hotel attached to Huntington Place, and a 16-story tower would come down for itThe Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority and developer Congress and Associates announced a roughly 600-room hotel connected to Huntington Place, a project that would require demolishing a 16-story downtown building, with construction set to start in early 2027.By Shawn · Apr 30, 2026 Carole Harris comes back to where she started
ArtsProfile
Carole Harris comes back to where she startedMOCAD's first full survey of fiber artist Carole Harris opens on the museum's reopening day, nearly half a century after Charles McGee gave her a first solo show at his Black artist-run Gallery 7.By Shawn · Apr 25, 2026