A passion for writing
Joe Schipani, is an author, researcher, public art curator, and plays an active part in the LGBTG+ community through his work in public art and food system change.
His books include “Haunted Flint” and “Ghost and Legends of Genesee and Lapeer counties”, both co-authored with Roxanne Rhodes.
Growing up in a police family and in a house that was haunted has helped shape Schipani’s fascination with the paranormal and true crimes. While helping with the paranormal investigation with the Spencer Mortuary and researching the grim history of the place, gave way to a five year investigation on other haunts in Flint and what might be causing them.
When he first moved to Flint, he worked as a case manager at My Brother’s Keeper working with homeless LGBTQ+ young adults navigate services that will provide them with the assistance they need. In 2015 he became the Director of Flint Public Art Project. As the director of FPAP, he worked with many LGBTQ+ artists to help make Flint a safe space to create and explore their craft. He has also conducted and participated in LGBTQ+ artist panel discussions to help generate more allies for the community. One of his most notable public art projects was the Pride Hearts Project, which gave the LGBTQ+ and alternative pride celebration by painting 10 pride hearts on the sidewalks with Artist Houzenga. Each pride heart was embedded with an NFC chip that showed different videos of the history of Pride. You can find links to this article and other information about Joe Schipani in the links below.
Building Stronger Communities with Art: A Guide to Creating a Community Mural Festival
Bloodlines: The Violent Legacy of Flint’s Vehicle City
Haunted Flint
Ghosts and Legends of Genesee & Lapeer Counties
Deep Dish
What happens when an average gay guy in his 30s gets fired from his high-profile marketing job,leaves his fabulous apartment in Chicago to attend his father’s funeral in Michigan, is subsequently abandoned by his boyfriend for a younger man, and is kicked out of his home in Chicago only to find his stuff boxed up and delivered to his dead father’s house? He becomes a
pizza delivery guy, of course. Cody feels like he’s lost everything – but sometimes we need to lose everything to open up to new possibilities. Back in Michigan, Cody finds bigger drama at Cheese Palace Pizza than in his corporate job in Chicago. Diving directly into the heart of our exchange economy, peeling back the layers the transactional relationships that make up our lives, Cody is confronted by desperation, apathy, resistance and above all, change. Each delivery he makes seems a throw-away, and yet each delivery uncovers something much deeper about him, and the world around him.He enters a seemingly throw-away, transactional relationship with his lawn guy, Blake. He connects, sometimes deeply, to people he feels superior too, and above all he strategizes his deliveries to maximize the desperation, hope, and pay-off of the moment. Where will it lead? Deep Dish is a fast-paced novel – running on the energy of a timed delivery. There is never,never, never… a free pizza at the end.