Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Detroit, Again
After the Super Bowl, a number of people sent me this video:
I'm not quite sure what to do with it, how to feel. I really am from Detroit, always will be; that doesn't change. Not just from there, either-- after law school I went back, lived downtown, worked in the heart of it, thought I could make it better, then (after nine years) left again. It turned out that I was better at making a difference in Texas. I'm not sure why.
The pictures are all real-- I recognize those places. There was a swinging fist in the middle of downtown, there was a doorman by the St. Regis Hotel, I recognize the fleeting view from the Belle Isle bridge.
But there are lies in there, too. Detroit, the city itself, has done a lousy job at "luxury," and probably always will. Why should it? Luxury has never been a value of that place, and that is probably a good thing.
Another lie-- that the city has been "to hell and back." It's not back. The schools are destroyed. The tax base is gone. There is no real plan to rebuild the economy, other than vague mentions of farming. The neighborhoods are gone, just gone, in some parts of the city. Now, those blocks are fields with wildflowers in the summer. It's a cruel, muscular, empty beauty.
I am part of the diaspora, spread far like wind-blown seeds who have landed in small clumps of wistful memory. Our parents still live there, some of them, and we go to visit and see what else is changed or gone. There is a little guilt, too, of not being there still-- as if we weren't tough enough to live the death walk, too. Being from Detroit is like loving someone who breaks your heart a thousand times in the exact same way, tiny bleeding cuts and long open wounds.
Oh, and another lie... the 200 will not be made in the City of Detroit (though Chrysler has an assembly plant there, on Jefferson, and an engine plant on Mack). No, the 200 will be made in Sterling Heights, out in Macomb County.
I like the music of that ad. Something about it walks like I do sometimes. But, in the end, it leaves me vaguely sad, knowing full well the vitality in the ruins, which are ruins nonetheless.
I'm not quite sure what to do with it, how to feel. I really am from Detroit, always will be; that doesn't change. Not just from there, either-- after law school I went back, lived downtown, worked in the heart of it, thought I could make it better, then (after nine years) left again. It turned out that I was better at making a difference in Texas. I'm not sure why.
The pictures are all real-- I recognize those places. There was a swinging fist in the middle of downtown, there was a doorman by the St. Regis Hotel, I recognize the fleeting view from the Belle Isle bridge.
But there are lies in there, too. Detroit, the city itself, has done a lousy job at "luxury," and probably always will. Why should it? Luxury has never been a value of that place, and that is probably a good thing.
Another lie-- that the city has been "to hell and back." It's not back. The schools are destroyed. The tax base is gone. There is no real plan to rebuild the economy, other than vague mentions of farming. The neighborhoods are gone, just gone, in some parts of the city. Now, those blocks are fields with wildflowers in the summer. It's a cruel, muscular, empty beauty.
I am part of the diaspora, spread far like wind-blown seeds who have landed in small clumps of wistful memory. Our parents still live there, some of them, and we go to visit and see what else is changed or gone. There is a little guilt, too, of not being there still-- as if we weren't tough enough to live the death walk, too. Being from Detroit is like loving someone who breaks your heart a thousand times in the exact same way, tiny bleeding cuts and long open wounds.
Oh, and another lie... the 200 will not be made in the City of Detroit (though Chrysler has an assembly plant there, on Jefferson, and an engine plant on Mack). No, the 200 will be made in Sterling Heights, out in Macomb County.
I like the music of that ad. Something about it walks like I do sometimes. But, in the end, it leaves me vaguely sad, knowing full well the vitality in the ruins, which are ruins nonetheless.
Comments:
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Oh, and we need more Dee Dee. She should be more evil, though. Like with a maniacal laugh and henchmen (7 or 8) and a motorcycle with a sidecar, and a monocle.
# posted by 
: 12:40 AM
: 12:40 AM
Sometimes I wonder if anything could ever draw me back to the Detroit area, other than visits to my family & friends. There is comfort in how things don't really change; a time warp of sorts. But it also evokes a sadness inside of me.
The world changes daily and I enjoy living too much to stay in that comfort zone.
The world changes daily and I enjoy living too much to stay in that comfort zone.
Holy cow, Osler! You did it again. You have exactly captured how it feels to be from Detroit and to have left Detroit.
When I lived in Detroit as an adult, a friend who had left told me that I didn't see the decline the way she saw it. She said that every time she came back it was a little rattier, a little more downtrodden.
And then I left. And when I come back I see the despair, I feel the despair. Those who stayed put a bright face on the decline. "Things ARE getting better!" they say. I weep a little inside because it doesn't look that way to me...and as much as I love the place, I don't want to go back.
When I lived in Detroit as an adult, a friend who had left told me that I didn't see the decline the way she saw it. She said that every time she came back it was a little rattier, a little more downtrodden.
And then I left. And when I come back I see the despair, I feel the despair. Those who stayed put a bright face on the decline. "Things ARE getting better!" they say. I weep a little inside because it doesn't look that way to me...and as much as I love the place, I don't want to go back.
# posted by : 10:05 AM
: 10:05 AM
Re Lane... no, not a break-up. He has just gone underground for a bit. His reasons are legitimate and not at all RRL-related.
OMG EXACTLY.
And it IS a Sebring.... The ad would be GREAT if it were for maybe a better car than a rebadged Sebring, but it's not only that.. The city is NOT BACK!!!
However I feel no guilt about not living there anymore. I just do not - I feel as if, you know, I lived there for like 30 years and I have done my time. It's just GAWD - I can NEVER go back yet I still feel the nostalgia of the place. The Detroit I have good memories of is no longer there, really. I t seems to me its PEOPLE who make a place what it is, and honestly? Who is left there?
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And it IS a Sebring.... The ad would be GREAT if it were for maybe a better car than a rebadged Sebring, but it's not only that.. The city is NOT BACK!!!
However I feel no guilt about not living there anymore. I just do not - I feel as if, you know, I lived there for like 30 years and I have done my time. It's just GAWD - I can NEVER go back yet I still feel the nostalgia of the place. The Detroit I have good memories of is no longer there, really. I t seems to me its PEOPLE who make a place what it is, and honestly? Who is left there?
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