Take in Detroit culture this week from your couch

We’ve been overwhelmed by all the ways Detroiters have helped their neighbors, shared their creativity and found ways to switch-up their events when you can’t meet in person.

Here are a few of the best local ways to keep busy while you’re trapped inside this week — and we want to hear more. Email us at events@detourdetroiter.com or tag us on Instagram @detourdetroiter to share us your favorite Detroit DJ sets, orgs that need volunteer help and the creative ways you’ve sought out connection in these strange times.

🏋️ Move: Live Cycle Delight is ramping up their Instagram and Zoom classes to at least two daily, whether you have a stationary bike at home, or no equipment at all. Founder Amina Daniels is trying to keep up some normalcy at her West Village fitness studio and offshoot LCD Hot (yoga) for the enthusiastic members, but some classes will be free.

Find the full schedule here — it’s $12 for a virtual class drop-in — and look for live classes on Instagram. While you’re there, send ‘em a little congrats: they’re celebrating their third anniversary this week. 

🎧 Listen: We’ve got nothing but time… to check out new music. WDET rounded up a few of the new jams from local bands who missed out on shows or tours.

“Party’s Over” from Anna Burch is fitting, bittersweet and still springy. Two more to check out and zone out to: “Moth to the Flame” from Windy & Carl’s new album and “We Could Be Outside” from Shigeto. 

If something more classic is closer to your style, Motor City Soul Club’s Dan Austin made a mix of rare and underplayed Northern Soul 45s, with musical trivia and tunes you might not hear on the dance floor. 

🥬 Eat: Keep your home cooking fresh and seasonal by shopping at Eastern Market… the  new way. The market offers drive-up wholesale veggie pickup on Tuesdays (split some greens with a friend or surprise someone with a porch delivery if you’re healthy?). And on Saturdays, you can pick up a food box with a mix of produce – the week’s order forms open on Monday, and they may sell out by midweek. Guess we’re all meal planning now! 

👨‍🏫 Learn: Put on your pjs and fall asleep to some strange-but-true tales — the Detroit History Club is putting out regular bedtime story videos via Facebook, diving into local legends and the more obscure. We especially love the story of Vernor’s ginger ale on night four. 

Want a cocktail lesson and a better understanding of the $2 trillion stimulus bill? Like, where does the money to pay for it come from? Check out a virtual happy hour from (Detour collaborator) Shady Ladies Literary Society. It features Dr. Betsey Stevenson, who was one of President Barack Obama’s economic advisors, and Marlowe Johnson from Flowers of Vietnam.

🧸 Spark a little neighborhood magic: People cooped up in their houses will find ways to creatively blow off steam — just take a look at TikTok. Locally, we’ve seen plenty of cute community-building projects, from photographer John Martin’s Grosse Pointe Park “porchraits,” to Irina Tikhonova’s cello concerts from her porch in Royal Oak.

In Woodbridge (and other neighborhoods near and far), a stroll around the block with kids morphed into a suspenseful “bear hunt” for the stuffed animals hung in many windows. 

Feeling inspired? Go to your area’s virtual meeting place (whether Facebook, NextDoor or email list) to plan some porch concerts or a stuffed animal safari for your neighbors.

📚 Read: Detour reader Sheela Lal started the Unerased Book Club to build community through Asian and Asian American literature. A project of Michigan nonprofit Rising Voices of Asian American Families, they just wrapped up their last book, so now’s the time to join in. April’s book is “The Buddha in the Attic” by Julie Otsaka: get reading now and check back at their site for deets on the forthcoming virtual book club meetup.

Dabble in design: Not quite local unless you join in, but we’re loving the international responses to this Stay Sane, Stay Safe poster design campaign around staying inside to prevent the spread of COVID-19. You can share the posters to raise awareness (maybe virtually rather than IRL). There’s also a template for designers if you want to submit your own version — or freestyle it, and send us what you come up with. 

If you’ve got a more analog style, you can make your penmanship fit for a flyer at a free online class Monday, March 30 at 4 p.m., from Amy Hallochak of Bernadine’s Designs in Farmington Hills. Hallochak will teach you the art of “faux-calligraphy,” a relaxing way to fancy up your text that doesn’t require any special pens or ink.

🥫 Help: Want to make yourself useful, but still haven’t figured out how? Repair the World gathered a few different ways you can do virtual volunteering — like packing hygiene kits and lunches for people who are most in need — and how to get your donation where it needs to go. 

Gleaners Community Food Bank still needs in-person volunteers, or you can start a virtual food drive. 

You can donate hand sanitizer, wipes, toiletries and recreational supplies to the new temporary homeless shelters set up by the city There’s now more than 200 shelters. They’re also looking for additional building space. 

Use some of the money you’re saving by not going out drinking and send your favorite bartender a virtual tip through the Go Tip ‘Em directory, put together by local libations expert Nick Britsky. A dollar for every quarantine beer you drink might help you practice moderation! 

And friend of Detour Juan Carlos Dueweke-Perez points us to the GoFundMe campaign raising money to support undocumented families in Metro Detroit. Funds go to those who are struggling during the crisis (and may not be able to access social safety net programs) and are referred via community organizations. So far, they’ve supported about six families, with info on the crowdfunding page about who the funds will help.