- [Narrator] Coming up on "One Detroit," we'll talk with family and friends of Cardinal Joseph Tobin, a native Detroiter who could become the next Pope.

Plus, we'll hear from award-winning author and poet Kwame Alexander about his career and literary works.

Also ahead, an Ypsilanti woman talks about how her Asian American heritage influenced her decision to change careers.

And we'll let you know what's happening around town this first weekend of May.

It's all coming up next on "One Detroit."

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(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Just ahead on "One Detroit," New York Times bestselling author Kwame Alexander talks about his passion for literacy, books, and writing during a recent visit to Detroit.

Plus, in recognition of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we'll hear the story of an Ypsilanti woman who pursued her dream of becoming a writer.

And we'll take a look at some of the events taking place in Metro Detroit this weekend and beyond.

But first up, the conclave to elect the next Pope will begin on May 7th.

Roman Catholic Cardinals from around the world will gather to choose the successor to Pope Francis, who passed away last week at the age of 88.

One of the names on the shortlist is a Detroit native.

Cardinal Joseph Tobin grew up in Southwest Detroit and is currently the Archbishop of Newark, New Jersey.

"One Detroit's" Bill Kubota teamed up with former Detroit Free Press reporter Patricia Montemurri to learn more about Cardinal Tobin from his family and friends.

(choir singing faintly) - I think of grace when I think of Joe.

Joe has lived his life accepting whatever came his way with grace.

- [Patricia] Cardinal Joseph Tobin is the oldest of 13 children, and his calling to the Catholic priesthood began right here at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church and School in Southwest Detroit.

- I lift you and your loved ones up in prayer every day.

- [Patricia] Tobin, age 72, is a prince of the church, a cardinal leading the Newark, New Jersey Archdiocese, and he was mentored by the late Pope Francis.

Vatican observers say Tobin himself could be the next Pope to lead the 1.4 billion member worldwide Roman Catholic Church.

- It is mind blowing.

Just that his name was in the papal mix is incredible for our family.

Mom and dad first, our family, and the city.

He's the first Detroit-born Cardinal, and it's pretty cool if that white smoke goes up and that name emerges, but yeah.

- [Patricia] Seven of Tobin's siblings gathered to talk about their brother at Holy Redeemer Church.

- This is where it all started.

This is where Joe's formation started.

Our parents were daily communicants, and Joe came to mass every day.

And the Holy Spirit obviously came to him at an early age.

- [Patricia] The Tobin home, just two blocks away where the family said the rosary nightly after dinner.

- Joe knew at a very early age he wanted to be a priest.

So we had a wonderful neighbor who was a seamstress.

And she made Joe a set of vestments when he was in elementary school, and Joe was pretending to say mass, and two of his buddies were altar servers.

Well Joe, because I was the knowing sister, said I could be a server too.

And they protested because I was a girl, I couldn't serve.

And Joe said, "No, she will serve."

And it really speaks to his passion for the inclusivity of all of God's children.

- [Patricia] Even in grade school, Tobin was big and brawny, a smart leader, and a bit of a troublemaker.

- Joe actually played on the varsity high school football team when he was in grade school.

But anytime we needed to get in for dinner, mom would yell out the door, and of course there were Tobins playing in the alley on the street.

And to find Joe, we'd either find him on the football field, here in the playground, or brother Joseph who was a brother here, Joe was hooked to him, and we'd find Joe in here cleaning vigil lights and getting things ready for the mass of tomorrow.

- We think of him now as a priest and as a cardinal, a minister to so many in need.

But was he ever a bad kid?

- Ask some of the IHM nuns in the store.

I think our parents had a private office at the convent here at Holy Redeemer.

- Now if there was ever a scuffle out in the playground, they throw up the windows and said "Tobin, knock it off."

They didn't even have to look.

- [Patricia] As a newly ordained priest, Tobin thought he'd be a missionary overseas.

He spoke Spanish and other languages, but he was assigned back home at Holy Redeemer.

- I thought he was the gentle giant.

He was so friendly and he knew all the people, and the people knew him.

- [Patricia] Sister Elizabeth Fleckenstein of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters in Monroe was the elementary school principal.

- He was just a son of the parish and one of the people of the hood.

And he had a fierce love of his family, of Holy Redeemer Parish School.

And so proud of being a redemptorist.

He had a real gift for preaching, for opening the word of God to the people.

At that time, we saw changes in the demographics of Holy Redeemer.

The parish was becoming more and more having Hispanic people come.

And that was the first thing that I think was a real mission that Joe had was to make life welcoming for the new people coming into our parish.

That's when I think Joe got his real love for working with people of other cultures.

- [Patricia] Tobin was mentored by the legendary Monsignor Clement Kern, the pastor of Detroit's Holy Trinity Catholic Church who ministered to the poor and immigrants.

Vic Venegas is a long time Hispanic community activist.

- When Father Kern was in the hospital, his last words were to Cardinal Tobin.

And Cardinal Tobin was the last one to talk to Father Kern before he passed away on August the 15th, feast of the assumption, 1983, - [Patricia] As a young priest, Tobin said he drank too much.

- Personally, I find it difficult to imagine how people can make it to full sobriety on their own.

- [Patricia] He helped others through Alcoholics Anonymous while throwing himself into exercise.

Lifting weights became part of the regimen.

- When I was drinking, and I realized that afterwards as well, alcohol was like the thread that held it all together in my life.

And if you hold on that, the whole thing would come pop.

- [Patricia] In 2010, Tobin would become the second in charge of a Vatican office overseeing priests and nuns worldwide.

But he questioned Vatican investigations of American nuns who'd been criticized for emphasizing social justice issues over promoting church teachings against abortion and same sex marriage.

- Cardinal Joel just said he wanted to fight to heal this rift between the United States religious and the Vatican.

So he was very, very supportive of every congregation of religious women in the United States.

And as a result, he was relieved of his post and made Archbishop of Indianapolis.

- Tobin's reassignment was widely seen as a demotion.

Tobin never called it that, but he'd become a symbol for reform in the church because of his advocacy for women.

So what did he learn from so much feminine power in the household?

- That we influenced Joe and his position on women in the church and the position he took with the American nuns and how supportive he has been on women issues because I don't know how he couldn't be otherwise.

Not that we beat it into him, but.

- [Patricia] Pope Francis made Tobin a Cardinal in 2016 and moved him to New Jersey, impressed with Tobin's fierce advocacy for migrants and refugees.

Tobin has decried President Trump's mass deportations, and was a reliable ally of Pope Francis until his death.

- For Joe, I thought it's a friend that he's lost, and not just the friend, but the mentor and the person that he kind of had a shared vision with.

I think they had the shared vision for inclusivity, making sure everyone was welcome, making sure everyone was treated with dignity and respect.

And I think Pope Francis certainly did that, but I always felt like Joe did that his whole life too.

- [Patricia] The Detroit-born Cardinal once considered on the outs could be Catholicism's new leader.

(choir singing faintly) Around here, perhaps we'll be watching the Vatican conclave a little more closely.

- There can be many surprises at a conclave.

You never know.

You let the spirit work, and what the spirit does, But they say anybody that goes into the conclave thinking he's gonna be a Pope or wanting to be a Pope will come out a Cardinal.

- And wouldn't it be a blessing that Joe Tobin become the first American Irish Pope, and be from this parish in the city of Detroit.

We've done everything well, but dear God, as you're up there, create that miracle that Joe Tobin is our next Pope.

(pastor speaking faintly) - [Narrator] Award-winning author, poet, and television producer Kwame Alexander was in Detroit recently for an appearance at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.

He sat down with "American Black Journal" host and "One Detroit" contributor Stephen Henderson to talk about how he got started writing, and the inspiration behind his many bestselling books.

(upbeat music) - It is great to have you take time out from writing books to sit and talk about writing books because at the pace you're going, I mean, I just can't imagine you have time for anything else, and somehow you've managed to squeeze all these other things in too.

- Well you know what's interesting is I love talking.

I began my career as an actor.

Like that's where I started, at a place called Virginia Tech, and I auditioned for plays and didn't get cast.

And I said, "Okay, well I gotta figure this out."

And so I began writing plays to cast myself.

So the writing happened as a result of that.

- Yeah, yeah.

The range of things that you're writing about is really broad.

Talk about how you get inspiration for these books, and for each one, what's the thing you're trying to accomplish with it?

- I think ultimately, as Langston Hughes said, I'm trying to distill my human heart into a few words on the page.

And sometimes that heart is filled with longing and love, and so a love story or a love poem might come out.

Other times, it's my 2-year-old who won't stop crying.

And so I play some jazz music and she stops crying.

And so I say, "Well, let me write a book about Duck Ellington and Mules Davis and teach her about jazz."

So it really is about what I'm feeling, what I'm experiencing, what I'm thinking, what I'm dealing with sort of the woes and the wonders of life.

And it comes out in various ways.

- Yeah, let's talk about the difference between writing poetry and writing stories.

I think of poetry as, of course, more subject to rhythm and pacing and the kind of things that you see in music more often, and of course stories can do that too.

But it's a very different process.

- Oh, absolutely.

I mean, you think about it like this.

With prose, you have a lot of words at your disposal.

- You can go on as long as you want.

- With poetry, you have to capture sort of the heavy things that are happening in just a few words.

And so it requires more conciseness.

And so if you look at a page of poetry versus prose, there's more white space on the poetry page.

And I believe that's so that the reader can take that spiritual journey.

It's not just about the words that are there, but it's about the words that aren't there that sort of challenge us and make us pay attention to what's happening in our lives in the world.

- That's an interesting way to think about that.

I've always thought that the best music often is about the notes that aren't there.

Miles in particular, right?

You don't have to play every note.

Some of them are understood, I guess poetry is the same.

- I mean, look, you could tell, and I did.

I told a woman that I loved her over and over and she didn't really pay attention.

I wasn't very cool.

I didn't get cool till very recently, and so I recited a poem to her.

I have never been a slave, yet I know I am whipped.

I have never been to Canada yet.

I hope to cross your border.

I have never traveled underground, yet the knight knows my journey.

If I were a poet in love, I say that with you, I have found that new place, where romance is just a beginning and freedom is our end.

And she married me.

- Oh, there you go.

- And so the poetry works.

- Right.

It worked.

I also wanna ask you about one of the kind of fun projects that you have, "Acoustic Rooster."

- "Acoustic Rooster."

- I love that, and Jazzy Jams.

- Which started here in Michigan.

- Is that right?

- In 2010.

I had written 10 books of love poems and I wasn't making a whole lot of money.

I wasn't able to provide for my family.

So I had jobs.

And I got a book deal for "Acoustic Roosters Barnyard Band" from a company in, I want to say Grand Rapids.

- Other side of the state.

- Called Sleeping Bear Press.

- [Stephen] Hell yeah, yeah yeah yeah.

- And they published "Acoustic Rooster," which is about a rooster that starts a jazz band with Thelonious Monkey and Ella Finch Gerald and Duck Ellington.

And so that became my first children's book in 2011.

And of course I've gone on to write many more, but that recently got turned into a cartoon, it's gonna be an animated special on PBS.

So that's pretty exciting.

- [Narrator] May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

As part of our API story series, Ypsilanti couple Kyunghee Kim and Leo Chen met with "One Detroit's" Zosette Guir and Bill Kubota to record a conversation about their evolving Asian American identities.

They also talked about supporting each other as they both pursued new career paths.

Kim spoke about becoming a writer and completing her first book, "See Us Bloom."

- Please join me in Welcoming Kyunghee Kum.

(upbeat music) (audience applauding) - How did you get from being an elementary school teacher to now being a writer and an author and creative?

- Well I taught for many years, and so in a lot of those years, I loved it because I used to teach Sunday school and would lead Bible study in college and was always kind of like a mentor figure.

And I enjoy teaching.

I started writing about five years ago, and it came to me as a big surprise.

This was after our IVF had failed and our adoption had failed.

And I was so, so heartbroken.

And an empty page in a notebook was the only thing, only person, only space that would accept me as I am without any words, without any advice basically.

And so I just wrote, wrote, wrote, wrote my heart out, mostly in journal form of me expressing my feelings and questions and lots of questions I had, especially to God as being a believer.

And so, but after writing for a couple of years, I just thought, "Oh, I really like this.

Maybe I want to be a writer.

Maybe I want to write a book."

The thought that I had then is still a thought that I have now, is like, I really want to record my parents' stories because I have a voice that they don't, and that voice is English.

And so that's what like motivated me, and then like another book on like grief and healing.

Because especially as Asian American people, grief is still not an emotion.

It's a feeling that we all probably feel maybe on a daily basis, but rarely expressed and talked about.

Especially in a community.

And a book can be such a common space where you read something together, you can come and talk about it, a mutual space.

And so I wanted those things to happen.

And so even though my first book is not a grief book, it's not my parents' stories.

But it was a way for me to get my voice, my name out there as a writer, as an author.

So why I wrote "See Us Bloom."

So this book is a book of poems, and it's a story about a little boy who moves into a new place with his family.

And I thought, well, I've been a teacher for 19 years, why don't I write a children's book and inspire some young kids, you know?

And so the children's book that's out now, "See Us Bloom," really came about through me going through my old journals and reading through all the affirmations that I said to myself and turning that into more kid-friendly language.

And I put that into a book for kids.

And maybe it wasn't the wisest decision when I don't really have a backup plan, but I'm like, I just have to quit or retire.

I really have to retire from this in order for me to go on this path.

And for me, I really work well under a little bit of pressure.

When there's like no other plan, I'm like, "Okay, I have to make this work."

And so that's kind of why I decided on this.

- So how did your parents take it when you shared with them that your book is published, and what was that like?

- Well, I didn't let my parents know until my book was physically in my hands.

And that was on purpose.

And I know that may sound like I turned my back against them, I kept something huge from them, which I did.

But I think when you're doing something so personal and maybe sacred, it's really, really important to think about who are you going to let in right away?

Because you're already so vulnerable, you don't know if this is going to work out.

And I knew that although my parents love me so, so much and because they love me, they might say, "You can't do this.

Like what are you doing?

You're leaving your very stable job with pension for this?

Like what are you doing?"

And so I couldn't have their voices in my head in order for me to keep on going.

And so there were lots of people I didn't tell right away.

- You didn't tell me right away.

- I didn't, I knew that you would support me, but you knew like midway through the journey.

- Yes, I knew when you signed with the publishing company.

- Like, guess what, honey?

I'm gonna be writing a book and I have a publishing company I'm working with.

So my parents knew when I physically had the book with me, and they found out because I took the book to them when we visited.

Ma, pa, look (speaking foreign language) I wrote a book, and they were shocked, they were confused, and they were super excited and very, very proud.

Like my mom literally said, "I'm so proud of you."

Which I don't remember her ever saying that to me.

When my mom was looking through the book, she was like, "Oh, I like to write too."

And she brought out stacks of journals, and I'm reading through it and they're poetry.

And she takes out a sketchbook and tells me that she loves to draw and she's been drawing and they're beautiful.

And that was the moment that I kind of realized like, oh, maybe like there is part of them that's in me because I always kind of wondered like.

- Where'd you get it from?

- Where did I get this love of arts from?

And writing, and language, and storytelling.

Seeing my mom's work in front of me when I shared my book was really beautiful and touching and really special.

- [Narrator] And for more AAPI stories, go to onedetroitpbs.org.

May has arrived.

And there's a wide selection of activities to choose from this weekend, including Cinco de Mayo celebrations.

Haley Taylor and Peter Whorf of 90.9 WRCJ have today's One Detroit Weekend.

- Hey everyone, it's time for our weekly roundup of arts and culture events happening in and around Detroit.

Haley, what's on the agenda?

- So starting Friday, May 2nd, the Birmingham Village players present "The Music Man."

The classic musical is about a stranger disrupting the town of River City, resulting in fun, laughter, and tunes.

The show runs through May 18th.

- [Peter] Have you ever wondered what it's like at a Detroit Symphony Orchestra rehearsal?

Well, on May 2nd, you can see for yourself when the DSO opens its doors for relaxed open rehearsal, "Carnival of the Animals."

The event is designed for individuals on the autism spectrum and with other sensory sensitivities to enjoy with their full enthusiasm.

- [Haley] That is a wonderful idea by the DSO.

On May 3rd and 4th is the Davisburg Antique Market at Springfield Oaks County Park.

The event offers everything from antique furniture and home decor to vintage clothing and jewelry and more.

- The annual Cinco de Mayo Parade and Fiesta is being held on May 4th in Southwest Detroit.

The parade starts at noon at Patton Park and ends at Clark Park.

Spectators will see a vibrant display of Mexican culture with floats, music, dancing, and traditional costumes.

Of course, the Fiesta will continue with food vendors, live entertainment, and family-friendly activities.

And of course, our city has plenty more to offer this weekend and beyond.

So stay tuned to find out more that might spark your interest.

Enjoy your weekend.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] That'll do it for this week's "One Detroit."

Thanks for watching.

Head to the "One Detroit" website for all the stories we're working on.

Follow us on social media and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

- [Announcer] From Delta faucets to Behr paint, Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.

Masco, serving Michigan communities since 1929.

Support also provided by the Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit PBS.

- [Announcer] DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit PBS.

Among the state's largest foundations committed to Michigan-focused giving, we support organizations that are doing exceptional work in our state.

Learn more at dtefoundation.com.

- [Announcer] Nissan Foundation, and viewers like you.

(upbeat music) (gentle music)