It’s a peculiar and spectacular sight to see — an amalgamation of languages and cultures and ideas and love and music all pouring from the cracks in our walls.

Sometimes, when we step away from our conventional wisdoms about the way something must work, we are able to realize true beauty lies not in the intricate but the familiar. Start by going back to your roots and exploring the implausible ways the simple can be rendered magnificent. At Spencer, the small but fierce 32-seat restaurant on Ann Arbor’s East Liberty Street, the philosophy is a unique one, and one that we typically don’t see at restaurants in Michigan, or anywhere at all.

In a world where patriarchal systems in all spheres of American business, entertainment and media seem to dominate, we all need to hear the unfiltered and empowering stories of women, regardless of who we are.

It is a cool Saturday in late Oct. and as most of Ann Arbor sleeps, Kerrytown’s Detroit Filling Station wakes up with the intent of changing the world. As I arrive at the activist brunch event, I have little idea of what to expect. All I know before arrival is that the event is a partnership of sorts between the owners of Detroit Filling Station and the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan, who are currently advocating for the Michigan One Fair Wage Campaign.