- A local college graduate is gaining popularity all over social media. 
 
 Daivon Reeder's photo has gone viral, but, it's his caption - that's catching everyone's attention. 
 
 "I was just sitting around and thinking about the things I went through to get here and to graduate," said Reeder. "That one thing stood out to me." 
 
 Daivon Reeder is getting ready to graduate from Eastern Michigan University with a major in Criminal Justice and a minor in Military Science, but if he listened to his stepfather he may not be here today. 
 
 "I kind of heard that and I was like ok, I'll show you," Reeder said. 
 
 As graduation day neared, Reeder tweeted - "My stepdad told me it was pointless to go to orientation I wasn't going to graduate anyway. 4 years later he is in jail and I am well..." 
 
 "I looked at the picture and the emoji of me laughing I thought that was an ironic situation - we are in two different situations in our lives," Reeder said. "Look what you said and look where you are at." 
 
 
 
 IN PHOTOS: Click here for a photo gallery. of Daivon Reeder. 
 
 His tweet has now gone viral - retweeted and shared thousands of times - with people congratulating Reeder for proving his stepdad wrong. 
 
 "I literally tweeted, I went to sleep, my phone was dead," he said. "I charged it and my phone went boom boom boom. I was like, Oh my gosh, what's going on. It's exciting, it really is." 
 
 But the 22-year-old from Detroit who is the first in his family to go to college, faced plenty of obstacles along the way. 
 
 "I came here on a scholarship," he said. "I ended up losing it, and then I had to go to basic training for the Army and I came back to work hard to get my scholarship back. 
 
 "I had family problems, I'm the oldest of all my brothers and sisters so I had to take care of my brothers and sisters back home. And I am a black male student in a predominately white university so that's a struggle in itself." 
 
 Reeder, who works two jobs to support his family, says he didn't have a father figure growing up. Instead of being angry, he and nine students formed an organization to mentor young boys, teach them what he had to learn the hard way. 
 
 "Living our values - live, learn, teach, knowing I was living life making mistakes," he said. "But I was learning from them able to teach someone else." 
 
 Reeder says he beat the statistics. 
 
 On Saturday, donning his cap and gown Reeder will walk with his entire EMU class and officially accept his diploma. 
 
 Reeder may be making headlines now - but it's clear his story is far from over. 
 
 "Just because somebody says you can't do something seems hard or it's not the norm, or it’s something your family is not used to doing, you can be the change," he said. "You can be the difference." ||||| Artist Shepard Fairey works on a mural in The Belt alley in Detroit on Saturday, May 16, 2015. (Photo: Rob WIddis/Special to the Free Press) 
 
 Famed street artist Shepard Fairey, who visited Detroit last month to create the largest mural of his career, faces felony charges of tagging other properties across the city on his own time. 
 
 A warrant for his arrest was filed in 36th District Court on Friday. He faces two counts of malicious destruction of property, which carry a maximum penalty of five years in jail, plus fines that could exceed $10,000. 
 
 Related: Street artist Shepard Fairey to paint huge downtown mural 
 
 Police, who accuse the artist of causing about $9,000 in damage, said that the next time he comes to Detroit, they will arrest him if he doesn't turn himself in first. 
 
 "Just because he is a well-known artist does not take away the fact that he is also a vandal," said Detroit Police Sgt. Rebecca McKay, who oversees the city's graffiti task force. "And that's what we consider was done, in these instances, was vandalism." 
 
 Related: Did street artist Shepard Fairey tag Detroit? 
 
 Fairey told the Free Press he intended to leave illegal marks in the city. He arrived in May to paint the 18-story mural on One Campus Martius for Dan Gilbert's Bedrock Real Estate Services and others, but before the work began, he said he would be doing more. 
 
 "I still do stuff on the street without permission. I'll be doing stuff on the street when I'm in Detroit," Fairey said last month. His signature black-and-white Andre the Giant face has since appeared on several buildings downtown, in Eastern Market and along Jefferson Avenue. 
 
 Fairey's legal troubles in Detroit open a window into the evolution of street art, from its illegal origins into its more professionalized genre recognized in museums and galleries. Fairey has always liked to play both sides of the street, accepting major commissions like the One Campus Martius mural but also retaining his street credibility by continuing to work in the shadows, tagging private property without authorization. 
 
 An exhibition of Fairey's prints is also currently on view at the Library Street Collective in downtown Detroit. 
 
 "This is a whole genre that's become institutionalized, and you'll always have some outliers go back to where they started and where they get their inspiration," said Elysia Borowy-Reeder, executive director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. 
 
 On another front, the crackdown on illegal graffiti suggests that the reputation Detroit has had for years among artists elsewhere as a kind of Wild Wild West of opportunity needs amending. While inexpensive studio space, a supportive artists' community and the chance to help shape the future of the city remain powerful incentives to live and work in Detroit, the notion that anything goes, including illegal activities that have made the city a haven for unauthorized street art, is no longer true. 
 
 "That reputation lingers but change happens slowly and it's catching up," said Borowy-Reeder. "The city is becoming more mature." 
 
 A spokeswoman with Bedrock Real Estate Services, Robin Schwartz, declined to comment on the arrest warrant Wednesday. Bedrock Executive Vice President Dan Mullen has previously told the Free Press, "I definitely do not promote any unsanctioned work." Representatives of the Library Street Collective did not return a call seeking comment. 
 
 Related: Shepard Fairey finishes huge mural at One Campus Martius 
 
 Police say that between May 16 and 22, Fairey pasted nine posters with his own iconic symbols like Andre the Giant and other images. The various posters are roughly square in size, and measured four or so feet in height and width. 
 
 The total amount of damages that police say he has caused: $9,105.54. 
 
 Police also suspect that Fairey tagged several more properties -- up to 14 in total -- but only nine of the locations had owners who were reachable and interested in pressing charges, McKay said. 
 
 Fairey is still best-known for creating the now-iconic "Hope" poster of Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign. 
 
 He is no stranger to legal troubles--he has been arrested more than 15 times for defacing public property, and was also sentenced in federal court to two years of probation and fined $25,000 in 2012 for tampering with evidence in a case growing out of a copyright battle with the Associated Press over the Obama "Hope" image. 
 
 He is based in Los Angeles, and last came to Detroit in the early 2000s, when he tagged public and private spaces without permission. He has said it was considered a coup to get to make work that at times might be at odds with other aspects of a company's profile. 
 
 A spokesperson for Fairey said by email that the artist is "currently traveling out of the country," and that a representative would get in touch at a later date. 
 
 Robert Allen and Katrease Stafford contributed reporting. 
 
 Contact Daniel Bethencourt: dbethencourt@freepress.com or 313-223-4531. Follow on Twitter at @_dbethencourt. 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/1Nc7gj6 ||||| The blue and orange finish line is in place in Central Park, no superstorm debris in sight. 
 
 Workers assemble the finish line for the New York City Marathon in New York's Central Park, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012. The crane atop a high rise that collapsed during superstorm Sandy is visible at background... (Associated Press) 
 
 Workers assemble the finish line for the New York City Marathon in New York's Central Park, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012. The 43rd New York City Marathon is on Sunday, with many logistical questions to be... (Associated Press) 
 
 Workers assemble the finish line for the New York City Marathon in New York's Central Park, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012. The 43rd New York City Marathon is on Sunday, with many logistical questions to be... (Associated Press) 
 
 Little else is normal with the New York City Marathon. 
 
 The course will be the same since there was little damage but getting to the finish line could still be an adventure for runners from outlying areas. 
 
 Such is life in Sandy's aftermath _ disrupted trains, planes, buses and ferries, flooded buildings, blocked roads and knocked out power. 
 
 Mayor Michael Bloomberg saw none of this as insurmountable and defended the decision to hold the race, insisting resources wouldn't be diverted from storm victims. He noted Thursday that electricity was expected to be restored to all of Manhattan by race day, freeing up "up an enormous number of police." 
 
 "This city is a city where we have to go on," he said. 
 
 City Council member Domenic Recchia Jr., however, called plans to hold the race "just wrong" in light of the ongoing misery among residents with no food, shelter or electricity. 
 
 Asked about the criticism from Recchia and others, New York Road Runners President Mary Wittenberg said a city going through a crisis must find the right time to move forward. She believes Sunday can be that day. 
 
 "It's hard in these moments to know what's best to do," she said. "The city believes this is best to do right now." 
 
 The marathon brings an estimated $340 million into the city. Organizers will also use it as a backdrop to raise money for recovery efforts. Race organizer NYRR will donate $1 million to the fund and said more than $1.5 million in pledges already had been secured from sponsors. 
 
 Wittenberg said postponing the race would have cost local businesses significant amounts of revenue, because many of the nearly 30,000 out-of-town entrants would be unable to re-book flights and hotel rooms. 
 
 Some runners will take ferries to the start on Staten Island as in past years. After the storm, organizers initially planned to use only buses, but the city wanted the ferry to be involved. Bloomberg expected full ferry service to resume by Saturday. 
 
 Runners from Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island and New Jersey, with trouble reaching Manhattan, will be bused directly from those areas to the start. Organizers planned to release complete details on transportation Friday. 
 
 Many runners were still scrambling to get to New York, aided somewhat by the reopening of the area's three major airports. Wittenberg predicted more than 8,000 of the 47,500 entrants originally expected won't make it. 
 
 Wittenberg said runners who had to cancel did not seem concerned about losing their entry fee, per race policy, but were simply relieved they would be guaranteed a spot in the popular race next year. 
 
 Kenyan runners, including men's favorites Wilson Kipsang and Moses Mosop, flew from Nairobi to London to Boston, then drove to New York, arriving late Wednesday. 
 
 Favorites in the women's race include Olympic gold medalist Tiki Gelana of Ethiopia, bronze medalist Tatyana Arkhipova of Russia and world champion Edna Kiplagat of Kenya. 
 
 The course winds from Staten Island to Brooklyn, then Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx and back into Manhattan for the finish in Central Park. The park was still closed Thursday, but will be ready by Sunday. The route has never included areas hit hard by flooding, such as Coney Island and Lower Manhattan 
 
 Meantime, many locals prepared for the race while coping with the messes Sandy left behind. 
 
 Latif Peracha was evacuated from the Lower Manhattan neighborhood of Tribeca. While his building is flooded, his sixth-floor apartment is fine, but he can't move back for at least another week. On Thursday, he walked across the Williamsburg Bridge from where he is staying in Brooklyn to collect his running gear from his apartment. 
 
 He knew his first marathon was going to be special; now he believes it's so much more. 
 
 "I think it'll be a great testament to the city's resilience," he said. 
 
 Dave Reeder was supposed to fly from Denver to LaGuardia on Thursday with his wife and two children. Then they saw the photos of the flooded airport. Should they still try to make the trip? 
 
 The race felt a bit "frivolous," he said. 
 
 Hearing Bloomberg on TV convinced him to try and he hoped to volunteer in relief efforts while in New York. 
 
 His family planned to watch from three points along the course, but subway closures may prevent it. 
 
 If they can't, it has practical implications for Reeder: He has type 1 diabetes, and his wife carries supplies he might need during the race. Reeder, who is running as part of Team JDRF to raise money for diabetes research, said from the Denver airport Thursday night that his flight was a go. 
 
 Julie Culley of Clinton, N.J., was stranded in Arlington, Va., when the storm hit. It turned out to be a blessing because she had power and could train. 
 
 An Olympian in the 5,000 meters, Culley is making her marathon debut. Her parents own a vacation home on Long Beach Island on the Jersey shore, which was rocked hard by Sandy. 
 
 "I think our family probably escaped the worst of it," said Culley, whose parents were in Clinton when the storm hit. "I've seen terrible pictures of houses uprooted out of their foundations and houses completely knocked out." 
 
 Her parents told her if Long Beach Island is open Sunday, they'll go there and watch her on TV. 
 
 "Now that we know for the most part what the damage is and the storm's over," Culley said, "and we can put everything behind us and focus on the recovery effort in the state, I think now it's time to shift focus toward the marathon again." 
 
 Molly Pritz, the top American woman in last year's race with a 12th-place finish, knew her Tuesday flight out of Detroit would be cancelled. But her solution had a hitch: She's 24 and too young to rent a car. (25 is the minimum age at most agencies.) So her mother drove her Sunday. 
 
 What should have been an 11-hour ride took nearly 14 because of two accidents in Pennsylvania. But as they came into New York, the weather was clear and the roads empty. 
 
 "That's because no one else is an idiot driving into the hurricane," Mom said. 
 
 Runner's World magazine is converting its annual pre-marathon party Friday into a free meal for anybody still displaced by the storm. NYRR canceled Friday's opening ceremony and a 5-kilometer run Saturday to focus all resources on race day. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.
– In a moment of reflection on the eve of graduating from Eastern Michigan University, student Daivon Reeder struck a chord on social media with a tweet that has since gone viral. Alongside a photo in his cap and gown, Reeder wrote Thursday: "My step dad told me it was pointless to go to orientation, I wasn't going to graduate.....4 years later he in jail & I'm well....," followed by a line of laughing emojis. Hours later, the tweet began trending in Detroit, catching the attention of Twitter as well as the media. Local Detroit station WDIV 4 featured a segment on Reeder, who graduated Saturday with a degree in criminal justice and a minor in military science. He told the station that after losing his academic scholarship, those words pushed him even harder to succeed. "[I have] the average, typical, inner-city Detroit boy story," Reeder, 22, says. "I grew up constantly moving houses." The eldest of four, Reeder said his mother struggled to make ends meet for his family, and his stepfather was not always in the picture. After his stepdad made the comment about graduating, "I kind of heard that and I was like OK, I'll show you," Reeder tells Fox 8. "I'm just a first generation college kid from Detroit trying to beat the odds," he tells BuzzFeed News. "I guess people can relate to a humble beginning." The tweet had more than 600,000 likes and 148,000 retweets as of Monday afternoon. (This tweet made waves for a different reason.)