Photos 5.13.10

During my time working at Project Helping Hands I took a liking to photgraphing grafitti. Driving around looking for homeless people allowed me to see things in Detroit that I probably wouldn't have noticed otherwise. I have a few which I'll post over the next few days. Here's one of a few that I went back to take pictures of because they were so interesting. I guess grafitti can serve a purpose? Enjoy. :)

Weekend Recap.

I didn't exercise today. Instead I ate this:

My Birthday seems to drag out every year. This isn't done purposely. It just so happens that my Birthday is two days before a big summer holiday and everyone seems to be busy, especially when it falls on a weekend. I got this for my birthday:

This thrills me. It must come with age.

This morning I caught Lucky on top of the microwave. What's his deal? He does this once in awhile. I guess he's trying to get my attention. As soon as I catch him in the act of doing something naughty he tries to run off like he's not doing anything wrong. Silly cat.

Yesterday I spent the day hanging out with Beverly. We ate "4th of July" food. Sausage and potato salad. Then we drank a bottle of wine and watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I've seen it before and I really like the movie enough to watch it again! Before we started eating and drinking wine we went for a ride looking for this:

Steve's Soul Food used to be on Grand River. I never went there but I've heard rave reviews about it! Friends and I have set out to eat there and couldn't make up or down of how to get there. Now they've moved over on Franklin Street between Chene Park and The Ren Cen. The outside looks beautiful. This will be the next place I try when I have that disposable income I used to enjoy! :)

Geeeeeeze!

Is it the 4th of July? You would've fooled me. I guess I asked for it last week when I let this thought slip out of my fingertips. Damn it, Jackie. I just wanted to go to the BEACH on my birthday! Is that so much to ask for? *pffft* I did have a wonderful birthday! I had dinner at Cliff Bells with G. It was awesome because neither of us could concentrate on the menu without making fun of the oxtail soup and Potato Fingerlings. I'm laughing out loud just thinking about it! Good times. I would've stayed there and talked with him forever. Four years is a mighty long time to catch up on. The highlight of the evening was...when I fell on my ass! Two glasses of wine did that to me? Seriously? I was scooting out of my seat and suddenly I realized I'd scooted my caboose a little too far to the right. I went down gracefully, if I do say so myself! Awesome! Good thing I do not embarrass easily. Can't say the same for G. He's going to be embarrassed just reading this! Thank you, Gregg! *hugs*

Back to what I was saying...I just wanted to go to the beach on my birthday. Here it is two days later AND a holiday and I still have not been to the beach! I remember the last time I went to the beach. Last Sunday. I took Tina and Bev with me and we ventured over to Belle Isle. I have been to Belle Isle once in the past 18 years or so. As a kid we went there ALL THE TIME! It's such a shame that it went through a rough time for about a decade there. I had it on good authority that the beach was doable. We took the bait. It ended up being the most pleasant afternoon. Tina flew her kite, we played Frisbee, walked on the sand and relaxed in the sun. I'm definitely going back!

I forgot who this statue is but I do know that my brother and I were scared of this thing when I was a kid! We always called him "Yankee Doodle" LOL


I just LOVE this view. I'm a proud Detroiter, that's fo sho!


Close-up. I need photoshop so I can make an arrow pointing to my building. Heh. I think the bridge is the coolest thing!


Here's a picture I've posted before but just using it for those of you that don't know what Belle Isle is. It's the patch of green you see in the water on the horizon. It's "technically" in Canadian waters but is only accessible by bridge from Detroit. The land was purchased in the 1800's for $200,000. It's layout and landscape were desinged by the same man that designed Central park and many of the buildings were designed by Albert Kahn. The same man that designed the building I live in. So, click on the link if you want to learn more. One thing it doesn't state on the web page is that it was once a private estate and someone owned the island and lived on it. That's my brief synopsis of what I know about Belle Isle~ which means Beautiful Island.


I'm just going to post the rest of the pictures and let you fill in the blanks. I'm off to eat, drink and be merry! Happy Holiday, everyone!

Catching up.

I've got so many pictures to post! I should've been doing it all along. I know three posts yesterday don't make up for it. I didn't even post about half the things I wanted to. I'm going to do it now. We had some wicked weather last Thursday. I was at a friends house helping her out and then I went out and relaxed in the pool with the kids. (I did swim 10 laps first and thought I was going to have a heart attack!) After about 2 hours the sky became overcast so I decided to head home. Along the way the sky changed. It was wild how fast the storm blew in! I got in my apartment just as the sky open up! It was fun watching the people leaving the Tiger's game race for their vehicles! Here are some photos in no particular order!

The sky gets dark!
Almost home!
Creepy clouds! The streets were so empty it was freaky!


Passed my old apartment building.
My building looming over Grand Circus Park.
Clouds rolling in. Good thing I have underground parking!
Traffic jam. Little did these people know that the brunt of the storm was pounding the 'burbs already!

Feels like Summer.

Yesterday it hit 86* on the thermometer in my car. I've gotta say, I LOVE it! I know by August that opinion will change but for now I will take sweltering hot over the cold we survived throughout the past winter! Last night we walked to the Lager House and back. 1.7 miles. I'll take it. I've been burning a lot of calories lately, apparently, because I'm down a total of 3.4 pounds since I've been trying. Not bad! My friend Irv is visiting from St Louis and we're always up and running. It won't stop just yet. Tonight we're going to watch the fireworks from the top of the Financial Building. I didn't know Detroit had a "financial" building and I'm not sure who "owns" the fireworks this year. I always knew them as the Hudson's Fireworks. I think Target pinned their name to it over the past few years. Corporate wants to attach their money...errr, name to everything these days. At any rate, last time I watched firworks from the rooftop was in NYC in 2006 so I'm looking forward to seeing them and hanging out with my peeps. I'm not going to forget my camera. Living downtown is living the life.

Rain Delay.

Last night was a really fun night! A few of us regulars just hung with no agenda. Our plan was to go to the River Days concert but we knew it was going to rain so we opted out. The rain held off for quite a while but eventually came down. The Tiger's game was halted for a 30 minute rain delay, according to the broadcast on TV. I'm pretty sure it was eventually called because it rained on and off for the rest of the night. We walked passed quite a few people wearing Tiger's gear and they were soaked. Poor suckers! At about midnight the sky opened up and it just POURED!! We ended up walking home in it. I have not been rained on like that in years! Pouring rain, puddles and flip flops do not go together very well! Unfortunately, I've been up since 6am! I hate when that happens!

As for exercise? Does walking a mile in the pouring rain count?

I'm Still Here!

I've been busy the past few days. Forgive me. I walked a good four miles yesterday! Tuesday night me, Tina, Di and Jane went to see Grease! I think it's funny that Taylor Hicks came out of an ICE CREAM CONE above the Soda Shoppe. I've never seen the movie or the musical before so I'm not sure if that's normal? Is Teen Angel real or part of the girl's imagination? Either way, it was corny. The whole show was. The majority of the audience were a bit older than me so I guess I could say Grease was "before my time" despite everyone my age saying "You've never seen Grease!?" Now I have. And I know why I've never seen it before and probably never will again. heh. It was cute to watch. Taylor Hicks' floating head looks sort of creepy in the promo poster! I thought the theater was going to emplode as the audience errupted into a frenzy when Mr. Hicks emerged from the ICE CREAM CONE. I, having never watched an episode of American Idol, thought it was funny. I just had to remember that if it were Harry Connick Jr I would've thought it was the best thing on Earth! Hmmmmm...I just realized I had never seen Grease AND I've never watched American Idol. Call it what you want, I call it "selective in my viewing choices".
While at the theater I spotted a promo poster for the Phantom of the Opera. Jane was super excited to see it.Don't be fooled by the look on Jane's face. This photo is staged and taken in good fun because working at the Detroit Opera House Jane will hear about nothing else but The Phantom all summer. Mentioning the names Lion King, RENT and Wicked will almost always have the same effect. People go NUTS for big shows that come to Detroit. As well they should. I guess we're just spoiled because we get to see the shows for free.
Tina and I took a nice long walk around the city and on the water yesterday. It's fun to see the waterfront busy! This weekend Windsor, ON is hosting the Red Bull Air Races so they're setting up for that. Last year Detroit hosted it so I guess they're taking turns to make it fair since we share the same waterway with Canada. The website makes the riverfront look so pretty! It does look beautiful from the sky. If I could take another helicopter ride like I did in 2007 I would be very excited!
Sooooo...we walked 4 miles according to Gmaps Pedometer. I'm going to start using this site to track my miles because it calculates how many calories you've burned based on your weight. It's not completely accurate because it's based on walking 4 miles per hour and I probably don't walk that fast. It's impossible when you have to stop before crossing the street or if other people get in the way! Along the way I snapped this picture of the Spirit of Detroit adorned with the infamous Red Wings jersey. Friday night Joe Louis Arena is hosting game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals!! Wings vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins. I'm not a member of the Wings Cult that rises during hockey season but living in "Hockeytown" you can not avoid the hype! I guess I can show my pride for the City and muster up a "Go, Wings!" Downtown is going to be INSANE tomorrow night! All the hotels down here are booked solid! I should rent out my apartment. heeheeeeee... Finally, last night Jane and I joined a bunch of neighbors in our building over and Cliff Bells for the Mad Hatter "Torch with a Twist" Burlesque Show. I wasn't looking at the show because I was too busy running my mouth but at one point I did notice a person dancing behind a sheet, creating a shadow effect. I guess that was risque in the 20's? I didn't take any pictures, sorry. It was a good time though and Cliff Bells is my new favorite place to hang out. I joined their mailing list so I'll be keeping an eye on what's going on down there since it's literally the building below my apartment window. On Sundays nights you can actually hear the music coming from the place. It's cool, trust me.

Sunday.

We took our own little tour of Detroit today. We walked over three miles from home according to my calculations on this website. My friend Matt took pictures that you can see on Flickr. I hope you can see them. I wish I had a fancy camera like his! We were interested to look at all of the really old abandoned homes. I couldn't believe the size of some of the weeds we saw! A toddler would get lost in them! heh. Most of these have been here since the early 1900's. So sad to see them in such disrepair especially when they probably had potential at one time. A lot of them are for sale or being restored. They are considered part of the Brush Park area. There's a lot of prime real estate there with the proximity to Comerica Park and Ford Field. I wish more people with money gave a shat about restoring Detroit. Maybe if Detroit politicians would get there heads out of their asses more people would be willing to invest. There are some really neat things to look at in this neighborhood.

Bailey the Attack Dog!

Hi! Remember me?

Hey, it's been awhile. How's it going? So much going on in my life in the past weeks. Some good. Most great. My friend Keith sent me this article. He's a wonderful person and a great friend. Even though he lives in Brooklyn he has a secret crush on Detroit. This article wouldn't need to exist if there were as many open-minded people like him in the US. Love you, Keith! Come back and visit again soon! Our couch is always available for you! :)



Posted: Wednesday January 7, 2009 11:45AM; Updated: Thursday January 8, 2009 11:02AM
The Bonus > ARCHIVE

The Courage of Detroit Story Highlights
To outsiders Detroit is crumbling; to those who live in Motown there's hope
Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom writes about the pulse of the city
By Mitch Albom

This was Christmas night. In the basement of a church off an icy street in downtown Detroit, four dozen homeless men and women sat at tables. The smell of cooked ham wafted from the kitchen. The pastor, Henry Covington, a man the size of two middle linebackers, exhorted the people with a familiar chant.

"I am somebody," he yelled.

"I am somebody!" they repeated.

"Because God loves me!"

"Because God loves me!"

They clapped. They nodded.

A toddler slept on a woman's shoulder. Another woman, holding a boy who looked to be about four, said she was lucky to have found this place open because "I been to three shelters, and they turned me away. They were all filled."

As she spoke, a few blocks to the south, cars pulled up to the Motor City Casino, one of three downtown gambling palaces whose neon flashes in stark contrast to the area's otherwise empty darkness. Sometimes, on a winter night, all that seems to be open around here is the casino, a liquor store and the pastor's kitchen, in the basement of this church. It used to be a famous church, home to the largest Presbyterian congregation in the upper Midwest. That was a long time ago -- before a stained-glass window was stolen and the roof developed a huge hole. Now, on Sundays, the mostly African-American churchgoers of the I Am My Brother's Keeper Ministries huddle in a small section of the sanctuary that is enclosed in plastic sheeting, because they can't afford to heat the rest.

As food was served to the line of homeless people, I watched from a rickety balcony above. My line of work is writing, partly sportswriting, but I come here now and then to help out a little. This church needs help. It leaks everywhere. Melted snow drips into the vestibule.

"Hey," someone yelled, "who the Lions gonna draft?"

I looked down. A thin man with a scraggly black beard was looking back. He scratched his face. "A quarterback, you think?"

Probably, I answered.

"Whatchu think about a defensive end?"

That would be nice.

"Yeah." He bounced on his feet. "That'd be nice."

He waited for his plate of food. In an hour, he would yank a vinyl mattress from a pile and line it up next to dozens of others. Then the lights would dim and, as snow fell outside, he and the other men would pull up wool blankets and try to sleep on the church floor.

This is my city.

"Them Lions gotta do somethin', man," he yelled. "Can't go on the way they are."

*****

And yet...

And yet Detroit was once a vibrant place, the fourth-largest city in the country, and it lives in the hope that those days, against all logic, will somehow return. We are downtrodden, perhaps, but the most downtrodden optimists you will ever meet. We cling to our ways, no matter how provincial they seem on the coasts. We get excited about the Auto Show. We celebrate Sweetest Day. We eat Coney dogs all year and we cruise classic cars down Woodward Avenue every August and we bake punchki donuts the week before Lent. We don't talk about whether Detroit will be fixed but when Detroit will be fixed.

And we are modest. In truth, we battle an inferiority complex. We gave the world the automobile. Now the world wants to scold us for it. We gave the world Motown music. Motown moved its offices to L.A. When I arrived 24 years ago, to be a sports columnist at the Detroit Free Press, I discovered several letters waiting for me at the office. Mind you, I had not written a word. My hiring had been announced, that's all. But there were already letters. Handwritten. And they all said, in effect, "Welcome to Detroit. We know you won't stay long, because nobody good stays for long, but we hope you like it while you're here."

Nobody good stays for long.

We hope you like it while you're here.

How could you not stay in a city like that?

*****

And yet...

And yet to live in Detroit these days is to want to scream. But where do you begin? Our doors are being shuttered. Our walls are falling down. Our daily bread, the auto industry, is reduced to morsels. Our schools are in turmoil. Our mayor went to jail. Our two biggest newspapers announced they will soon cut home delivery to three days a week. Our most common lawn sign is FOR SALE. And our NFL team lost every week this season. A perfect 0-16. Even the homeless guys are sick of it.

We want to scream, but we don't scream, because this is not a screaming place, this is a swallow-hard-and-deal-with-it place. So workers rise in darkness and rev their engines against the winter cold and drive to the plant and punch in and spend hours doing the work that America doesn't want to do any more, the kind that makes something real and hard to the touch. Manufacturing. Remember manufacturing? They do that here. And then they punch out and drive home (three o'clock is rush hour in these parts, the end of a shift) and wash up and touch the kids under the chin and sit down for dinner and flip on the news.

And then they really want to scream.

Because what they see -- what all Detroit sees -- is a nation that appears ready to flick us away like lint. We see senators voting our death sentence. We see bankers clucking their tongues at our business model (as if we invented the credit default swap!). We see Californians knock our cars for ruining the environment (as if their endless driving has nothing to do with it). We see sports announcers call our football team "ridiculous." Heck, during the Lions' annual Thanksgiving game, CBS's Shannon Sharpe actually wore a bag over his head.

It hurts us. We may not show it, but it does. You can say, "Aw, that's the car business" or "That's the Lions," but we are the car business, we are the Lions. Our veins are right up under the city's skin -- you cut Detroit, its citizens bleed.

We want to scream, but we don't scream. Still, enough people declare you passé, a dinosaur, a dying town, out of touch with the free-market global economic machine, and pretty soon you wonder if they're right. You wonder if you should join the exodus.

*****

And yet...

And yet I had an idea once for a sports column: Get the four biggest stars from Detroit's four major sports together in one place, for a night out. The consensus cast at the time (1990) was clear. Barry Sanders was the brightest light on the Lions. Steve Yzerman was Captain Heartthrob for the Red Wings. Joe Dumars was the most popular of the Pistons. And Cecil Fielder was the big bat for the Tigers.

All four agreed to meet at Tiger Stadium, before a game. I picked up Dumars at his house. He was alone. No entourage. Next we went for Sanders, who waited in the Silverdome parking lot, by himself, hands in pockets. When he got in, the two future Hall of Famers nodded at each other shyly. "Hey, man," Barry said.

"Hey, man," Joe answered.

At the stadium Yzerman, who drove himself, joined us, hands also dug in his pockets. As conversations go, it was like the first day of school. Awkwardness prevailed. Later -- after we chatted with Fielder -- we sat in the stands. The hot dog guy came by, and we passed them down: Lion to Red Wing to Piston. And when Yzerman put his elbow in front of Sanders, he quickly said, "Excuse me."

Somehow I can't see that being duplicated in Los Angeles. ("Kobe, pass this hot dog to Manny") or New York City ("Hey, A-Rod, Stephon wants some mustard"). But it worked in Detroit. The guys actually thanked me afterward.

Stardom is a funny thing here. You don't achieve it by talking loud or dating a supermodel. You achieve it by shyly lowering your head when they introduce you or by tossing the ball to the refs after scoring a touchdown. Humility, in Detroit, is on a par with heroism. Even Dennis Rodman didn't get really crazy until he left.

*****

And yet...

And yet we live among ghosts. Over there, on Woodward Avenue, was Hudson's, once America's second-largest department store; it was demolished a decade ago. Over there, on Michigan and Trumbull, stood Tiger Stadium, home to Ty Cobb and Hank Greenberg and Al Kaline and Kirk Gibson; it lasted nearly a century, until the wrecking ball got to it last year. Over there, on Bagley, is the United Artists Theater, which used to seat more than 2,000 people; it hasn't shown movies since the 1970s. The famous Packard plant on East Grand Boulevard -- the birthplace of the auto assembly line -- used to hum with activity, but now its halls are empty, its windows are broken, and its floors gather pools of water. On Lafayette Avenue you can still see the old Free Press building, where I was hired, where those letters once arrived in a mail slot. It used to house a newspaper. It doesn't anymore.

Any mature city has its echoes, but most are drowned out by the chirping of new enterprise. In Detroit the echoes roll on and on, filling the empty blocks because little else does. There is not a department store left downtown. Those three casinos hover like giant cranes, ready to scoop up your last desperate dollar. We have all heard the catchphrases about Detroit: A city of ruins. A Third World metropolis. A carcass. Last person to leave, turn out the lights.

For years, we took those insults as a challenge. We wore a cloak of defiance. But now that cloak feels wet and heavy. It has been cold here before, but this year seems colder. Skies have grayed before, but this year they're like charcoal. We've been unemployed before, but now the lines seem longer; we hear figures like 16% of the labor force not working, Depression numbers. I read one estimate that more than 40,000 houses in our city are now abandoned. Ghosts everywhere.

*****

And yet...

And yet we remember when the streets were stuffed, a million people downtown at a parade, as our hockey team was given a royal reception; every car carrying a player was cheered. This was 1997, and the Red Wings, after a 42-year drought, had once again won the Stanley Cup. Players and coaches stepped to the microphone and heard their words bounce back in waves of sound and thundering applause. Yzerman. Brendan Shanahan. Scotty Bowman. A hockey team? Who does this for a hockey team? Hockey is an afterthought in most American cities. Here, we wear it as a nickname. Hockeytown. We know the rules. We know the good and the bad officials. We sneak octopuses in our pants legs and throw them onto the ice at Joe Louis Arena.

Who loves hockey like this? What other American city comes to a collective roar when the blue light flashes? And what other American city goes into collective mourning when two of its players and a team masseur are seriously injured in a limo crash? People in Detroit can still tell you where they were when they heard about that limo smashing into a tree in suburban Birmingham six days after the Cup win of '97, forever changing the lives of Vladimir Konstantinov, Slava Fetisov and Sergei Mnatsakanov. Vigils were held outside the hospital. Flowers were stacked at the crash site. The TV and radio news broke in with updates all day long. How critical? Would they skate again? Would they walk again?

Remember, these were two hockey players and a masseur, Russians to boot; none of them did much talking in English. Didn't matter. They were ours, and they were wounded. It felt as if there was no other news for weeks in Detroit. "You hear anything?" people would say. "Any updates?"

When people ask what kind of sports town Detroit is, I say the best in the nation. I say our newspapers will carry front-page stories on almost any sports tick, from Ernie Harwell's retirement to the Detroit Shock's winning the WNBA. I say sports is sometimes all we have, it relieves us, distracts us, at times even saves us. But what I really want to tell them about is that stretch in 1997, when the whole city seemed to be nervously pacing around a hospital waiting room. I can't do it justice. It's not that we watch more, or pay more, or cheer louder than other cities. But I will bet you my last dollar that, when it comes to sports, nobody cares as much as Detroit cares.

*****

And yet...

And yet the gods toy with us. They give us the Lions. Our football team puts the less in hopeless. Its owner, William Clay Ford, has been in charge for 45 years. He's seen one playoff win. One playoff win in nearly half a century? Meanwhile, the backstory on Lions failure could fill a library. Blown games. Blown trades. Some of the most pathetic drafting in history, much of it orchestrated by Matt Millen, a former player who was hired out of the TV booth. Honestly, how many teams can use first-round draft picks on a quarterback, a receiver, a running back and two more receivers, as the Lions did from 2002 through '05, and not have a single one of them on the team just a few years later? And two of them out of the NFL altogether?

Wait. Here's a better one. In the last 45 years -- or since Ford took over -- the Lions have had 13 non-interim head coaches, and not a single one was ever a head coach in the NFL again. Not one. Rick Forzano. Tommy Hudspeth. Monte Clark. Darryl Rogers. Wayne Fontes. The list goes on. Nobody wanted them after Detroit. The Lions don't just hurt your reputation, they permanently flatten your tires.

Joey Harrington, a star college quarterback of unflagging optimism who foundered after the Lions drafted him with the No. 3 pick in 2002, once told me of a fog that seems to settle over inhabitants of the Lions locker room -- an evil, heavy cloud of historic disappointment that becomes self-perpetuating. Maybe it's the curse that Bobby Layne supposedly cast on this team after it traded him, saying it wouldn't win for 50 years.

That was 51 years ago.

No wonder Bobby Ross, who once coached San Diego to a Super Bowl, turned in his whistle and walked out of Detroit in the middle of a season. No wonder Sanders, the best running back Detroit ever had, quit the game at age 30. He actually gave money back rather than continue to play for the Lions.

Against this awful tapestry, in an economic crisis, in the darkest of days, came the 2008 season. What cruel fate could conjure such timing? After going 4--0 in the preseason (how's that for irony?), the Lions fell behind in their first regular-season game 21-0, in their second 21-3, in their third 21-3 and in their fourth 17-0 -- all before halftime. Their fifth game was the closest all year. They lost by two points. The margin of defeat? Our quarterback du jour, Dan Orlovsky, lost track of where he was and ran out of the back of the end zone for a safety.

Stop laughing. Do you think this has been easy? Do you think it's fun watching four guys miss tackles on a single play? Do you think it's fun watching Daunte Culpepper arrive, fresh off coaching his son's Pee Wee games, and get the nod as starting quarterback? There were days when it seemed as if all you needed to be on the Lions roster was a driver's license.

Week after week, as our businesses suffocated, as our houses were foreclosed and handed over to the banks, our football team lost -- to Jacksonville by 24 points, to Carolina by 9, to Tampa Bay by 18. And then, on Thanksgiving, the Tennessee Titans came to town with a 10-1 record. In front of the only national TV audience we would have all year, our Lions fumbled on their second play from scrimmage. A few plays later, Tennessee's Chris Johnson ran six yards untouched into the end zone -- the beer vendors were closer to him than the Lions defenders -- and before you could check the turkey in the oven, the Lions were down 35-3.

At halftime Sharpe wore that bag over his head and joined his colleagues in loudly suggesting that the NFL take the annual tradition away from the Motor City. "We have kids watching this," Sharpe said. "And they have to watch the Detroit Lions. This is ridiculous. The Detroit Lions every single year. This is what we have to go through."

No, Shannon. This is what we have to go through.

*****

And yet...

And yet it's our misery to endure. There's a little too much glee in the Detroit jokes these days. A little too much flip in the wrist that tosses dirt on our coffins. We hear a Tennessee player tell the media that the Thanksgiving win didn't mean much because "it was just Detroit." We hear Jay Leno rip our scandalous former mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, by saying, "The bad news is, he could be forced out of office. The good news is, any time you get a chance to get out of Detroit, take it."

We hear Congress tongue-lash our auto executives for not matching the cheaper wages of foreign car companies. We hear South Carolina senator Jim DeMint tell NPR that "the barnacles of unionism" must be destroyed at GM, Ford and Chrysler. Barnacles? Barnacles are parasites without a conscience. Sounds more like politicians to us.

Enough, we want to say. The Lions stink. We know they stink. You don't have to tell us. Enough. The car business is in trouble. We know it's in trouble. We drive past the deserted parking lots of empty auto plants every day.

Enough. We don't need more lofty national newspaper laments on the decay of a Rust Belt city. Or the obligatory network news piece, "Can Detroit Be Saved?" For too long we have been the Place to Go to Chronicle the Ugly. Example: For years, we had a rash of fires the night before Halloween -- Devil's Night. And like clockwork, you could count on TV crews to fly in from out of town in hopes of catching Detroit burning. Whoomf. There we were in flames, on network TV. But when we got the problem under control, when city-sponsored neighborhood programs helped douse it, you never heard about that. The TV crews just shrugged and left.

Same goes for the favorite Detroit cliché of so many pundits: the image of a burning police car in 1984, after the Tigers won the World Series. Yes, some folks went stupid that night, and an eighth-grade dropout nicknamed Bubba held up a Tigers pennant in front of that burning vehicle, and -- snap-snap -- that was the only photo anyone seemed to need.

Never mind that in the years since, many cities have done as badly or worse after championships -- Boston and Chicago come to mind -- and weren't labeled for it. Never mind that through three NBA titles, four Stanley Cups, Michigan's national championships in college basketball and football, and even another World Series, nothing of that nature has occurred again in Detroit. Never mind. You still hear people, when we play for a title, uncork the old "Let's hope they don't burn the city down when it's over."

Look, we're the first to say we've got problems. But there's something disturbing when American reporters keep deliciously recording our demise but nobody wants to do anything about it. We're not your pity party. You want to chronicle us? We've been chronicled enough. As they say when a basketball rolls away at the playground, Yo, little help?

This is why our recent beatdown in Congress was so painfully felt. To watch our Big Three execs humiliated as if they never did a right thing in their lives, to watch U.S. senators from Southern states -- where billions in tax breaks were handed out to foreign car companies -- tear apart the U.S. auto industry as undeserving of aid, well, that was the last straw.

Enough. We're not gum on the bottom of America's shoe. We're not grime to be wiped off with a towel. Detroit and Michigan are part of the backbone of this country, the manufacturing spine, the heart of the middle class -- heck, we invented the middle class, we invented the idea that a factory worker can put in 40 hours a week and actually buy a house and send a kid to college. What? You have a problem with that? You think only lawyers and hedge-fund kings deserve to live decently?

To watch these lawmakers hand out, with barely a whisper, hundreds of billions to the financial firms that helped cause this current disaster, then make the Big Three beg like dogs and slap them with nothing? Honestly. There are times out here we feel like orphans.

*****

And yet...

And yet we go on. The Tigers were supposed to win big last season; they finished last in their division. Michigan got a new football coach with a spread offense and an eye on a national championship; the Wolverines had their first losing season since 1967.

But we will be back for the Tigers and back for Michigan and -- might as well admit it -- we will be back for the Lions come September, as red-faced as they make us, as pathetic as 0-16 is.

And maybe you ask why? Maybe you ask, as I get asked all the time, "Why do you stay there? Why don't you leave?"

Maybe because we like it here. Maybe because this is what we know: snow and concrete underfoot, hardhats, soul music, lakes, hockey sticks. Maybe because we don't see just the burned-out houses; we also see the Fox Theater, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Whitney restaurant, the riverfront that looks out to Canada. Maybe because we still have seniors who call the auto giant "Ford's", like a shop that's owned by a real human being. Maybe because some of us subscribe to Pastor Covington's words, We are somebody because God loves us, no matter how cold the night or hard the mattress.

Maybe because when our kids finish college and take that first job in some sexy faraway city and a year later we see them back home and we ask what happened, they say, "I missed my friends and family." And we nod and say we understand.

Or maybe because we're smarter than you think. Every country flogs a corner of itself on the whipping post. English Canada rips French Canada, and vice versa. Swedes make lame jokes about Laplanders.

But it's time to untie Detroit. Because we may be a few steps behind the rest of the country, but we're a few steps ahead of it too. And what's happening to us may happen to you.

Do you think if your main industry sails away to foreign countries, if the tax base of your city dries up, you won't have crumbling houses and men sleeping on church floors too? Do you think if we become a country that makes nothing, that builds nothing, that only services and outsources, that we will hold our place on the economic totem pole? Detroit may be suffering the worst from this semi-Depression, but we sure didn't invent it. And we can't stop it from spreading. We can only do what we do. Survive.

And yet we're better at that than most places.

*****

Here is the end of the story. This was back on Christmas night. After the visit to the church, I drove to a suburb with an old friend and we saw a movie. Gran Torino. It starred and was directed by Clint Eastwood, and it was filmed in metro Detroit, which was a big deal. Last year the state passed tax incentives to lure the movie business, an effort to climb out of our one-industry stranglehold, and Eastwood was the first big name to take advantage of it.

He shot in our neighborhoods. He used a bar and a hardware store. He reportedly fit in well, he liked the people, and no one hassled him with scripts or résumés.

The film was good, I thought, and familiar. The story of a craggy old man who loves his old car and stubbornly clings to the way he feels the world should behave. He defends his home. He defends his neighbors' honor. He goes out on his own terms.

When the film finished, the audience stayed in its seats waiting, through the closing music, through the credits, until the very last scroll, where, above a camera shot of automobiles rolling down Jefferson Avenue along the banks of Lake St. Clair, three words appeared.

MADE IN MICHIGAN.

And the whole place clapped. Just stood up and clapped.

To hell with Depression. We're gonna have a good year.

Mitch Albom (www.mitchalbom.com) is a columnist for the Detroit Free Press and the author of For One More Day, among other books.


Find this article at:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/the_bonus/01/07/detroit/index.html

Blame Canada!

I've been avoiding this blessed blog for longer than I should've been. Can't say I've been terribly busy. Just occupied with other things. That's all.

My friend, Sara, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Addisyn, on October 23, 2008. I traveled to Atlanta for a conference in the beginning of November. Barack Obama won the Presidential Election (yay!) and I got to see my brother in that same week so it was pretty exciting! Throughout the rest of the month I saw Madonna perform at Ford Field for her Sticky and Sweet tour. I've always wanted to see Madonna live. Although I probably would've enjoyed the show more had it been 10 years ago, it was an entertaining performance! The folowwing weekend I traveled to Cleveland with my good friend Andrea to see our FAVORITE piano man, Harry Connick Jr during his current Christmas tour to promote his new album What a Night! I LOVE Harry! If you didn't know that then you just don't know me! Thanks to NED GOOULD for the tickets! Then came Thanksgiving! We had out-of-town guests here and the house was constantly full of food and fun! It was a great month in Detroit! I'm looking forward to a great holiday season and a better New Year!

September 28, 2008

I can't help but have faith in what this man says. This video is 30 minutes long so you might not want to spend the time watching it. I won't be offended. I'm sticking it here as a bookamrk for myself but if anyone wants to watch it, be my guest. I'm Jackie and I approve this message...

So I'm up late anyway...

A few weeks ago I blogged about seeing Kid Rock at the Lafayette Coney Island over on Michigan Avenue. Well, thanks to my friend Lottie, now I know why! Damn it...my fifteen minutes of fame flashed right before my very eyes!! Watch the video because it's VERY cool (for a Detroiter) and showcases a hundred Detroit landmarks, including the street I live on and 20 other things that are minutes outside my front door! Pretty sweet! If you want to see the "Lafayette Coney Island" portion look out for about 3:40 minutes into the video. He was wearing that pink golf hat and white tank when I saw him. I actually stood right behind the employee while they were filming him making the coney dogs really fast!! Before you ask, no, I don't know any of the cops in the video. At least I don't think I do! :)

Westin Book Cadillac: Grand Opening.

Detroit has another reason to celebrate it's claimed renaissance. The historic Book Cadillac reopened today after $180 million dollar renovation as the Westin Book Cadillac. Scheduled to reopen last Monday, the date was set back until today. The hotel was welcoming the curious to tour the hotel today but I had the opportunity to have a sneak peek last week. The Lieutenant asked if we could go over and do a "police presence" run to make sure there weren't any unwanted nuisances or what-not. I was really excited to check the hotel out after reading about it on the DetroitYes website which showcased a section of photos of the original Book Cadillac as it sat in ruins ready for demolition in early 2001. This is a blip of the hotel's history taken directly from the hotel's website. PLEASE click the following link. It's fascinating to see the photos! When we took our "tour" last week we met with one of the employees who explained that these original photos were borrowed from Henry Ford's family and used by the developers to recreate the details to restore the hotel as close to it's original state as possible!
Road to Renewal

Located at the corner of State Street and Detroit’s Washington Boulevard, once dubbed the Fifth Avenue of the Midwest, the hotel first opened in 1924 as the tallest hotel in the world with 33 floors and 1,136 guestrooms. Presidents, entertainers, major sports celebrities like Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, and many other notables were guests of Book Cadillac.

Designed in the Italian Renaissance style by architect Louis Kamper, the ‘Book” was the top hotel in Detroit for several years hosting conventions, weddings, and many high society social events. The hotel played a role in the 1948 film State of the Union starring Spencer Tracey, Kathryn Hepburn and Angela Lansbury – it was room “2419” where Presidential hopeful, Grant Matthews (Tracy), readied for his speech to Detroit’s business leaders. A nighttime image of the hotel’s marquee is seen in the movie.

The hotel went in a downward tailspin when America was in its economic dilemma in the late 1920s and 1930s. New ownership pumped up the property and the Book Cadillac continued to flourish through the 1940s and early 1960s. However the grand lady of Washington Boulevard fell on hard times again and struggled through ownership changes and was re-flagged a Sheraton and later a Radisson, until the doors closed in 1984 and the hotel was liquidated in 1986.

In 2006, following more than two years of planning, The Ferchill Group of Cleveland, Ohio, worked with Detroit’s economic leadership to devise a financial package to launch the redevelopment plan. A management contract was signed with Starwood Hotels & Resorts to operate the Westin Book Cadillac Detroit, and construction began in 2007.

Historic photos reprinted with permission from Images of America: Detroit’s Statler and Book-Cadillac Hotels, by David Kohrman.Now included in the National Register of Historic Places, the Italian Renaissance–style hotel, built by Detroit’s famous Book brothers, was the tallest building in Detroit and the tallest hotel in the world at its completion in 1924.

The thing that most intrigued me was the Venetian Ballroom! I'm going to post my photo followed by one snagged from the DetroitYes website. I'm probably breaking some copyright laws but they can steal mine in exchange if they choose to do so. :)


Here is another picture of the awesome chandelier. It has about 3,000 individual pieces of glass that was handmade in Italy and shipped to the hotel and had to be hung piece by piece. I wish I had what it cost to bring this baby to life! I could probably pay my rent for a couple of years! Heh.

Here is a photo from the DetroitYes website which claims to be a an addition added near the end of the hotel's original heyday which they built a mezzanine level above the original lobby...not sure but I would venture to guess this is the "old" addition and the current newly renovated lobby. You be the judge:


I'll finish off with a few more before and after comparison pictures for your viewing pleasure. I guess I'm sort of a "historical preservation" geek because I find this kind of thing FASCINATING!!






That's enough for now. I have a million things to post about but I just have to find the time to get to it! In my next post: a follow up on a previous post I made about Kid Rock!!

I would have to agree!

I mention my friend Di in my blog quite often. Probably because she's easy-going, fun and always up for impromptu get-together. Not many in my circle of friends are willing to break out of their mundane routines to venture out of the local suburban-strip-mall-hole-in-the-wall...let alone venture downtown! Di and her hubby Eric are more often than not a "definitely" on the RSVP list. Living downtown is always interesting. I would NEVER be able to go back to neighborhood living after seeing that living in the center of it all pretty much rocks. I ran into Di while taking Bailey for a walk last week and to my surprise she blogged about it on The Detroit News weblog! Pretty cool! I can only agree with what she says! :)


Me, Adam (Hey, he's from Toledo, OH...ask him how cool Detroit is!), Jane, Di and Eric at the Detroit Jazz Festival 8/08 Just one of the many exciting things happening in Detroit this summer!

Sounds like a plan.

"Plan for Change" Ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONM7148cTyc

Thanks, neighbors.

I wanted to announce that I had a fabulous evening on the Eastside last night. Our former "neighbors" and possibly the coolest couple I know, had "Burgers and Beer" and invited me and a few others to join them. The food was yummy, the beer was cold, the weather was perfect and the company was a pleasure. Thanks, y'all!

Where do I start???

I was lucky enough to have a FOUR day weekend and I couldn't have had more fun! Goodness...lets start with Friday...nothing much happened that day. I spent the entire day in the house doing nothing. Everyone needs a day like that! I can't even remember what I did Friday night...hhhhMMMmmmm...Ohhhhhh, yeah, the Detroit International Jazz festival kicked off on Friday night. After trying to meet up with some friends that we could not find to save ourselves we walked down to the riverfront to check out what was going on. They wouldn't let us go into Hart Plaza because we had the dog with us. Losers! So, after I got a call from my co-worker we went down to the Police base and joined them for a little impromptu cook out. It was nice and relaxing even though it felt like a million degrees outside! I got home pretty early because I wanted to re-energize for the following day when BONERAMA would make their Detroit debut at the Fest!!! The show was AWESOME!!

Later, some of us hung out for the duration.


The fun continued on Sunday when I found out one of my oldest friends (since 6th grade!)Lottie was in town! :) We met up with Bev and Steve and continued my busy weekend! Downtown Detroit was PACKED because of the Jazz Fest, Tigers game, Grand Prix and Obama coming in the morning.

THEN, Barack Obama made an early afternoon visit to Detroit to speak to an awesome crowd of Supporters! On this Labor Day he was focused on the Union/Teamsters. Everyone knows that the American Automotive Industry has suffered a huge blow in recent years causing high unemployment rates in the Motorcity and Michigan primarily because of the shitty economy causing many factories and suppliers to close their doors. We couldn't get anywhere CLOSE to the actual platform he was speaking from but they did set up big screens for the huge crowd to watch the speech. It was a patriotic way to spend Labor Day in Detroit. :) It's nice to see a city come together for a candidate we believe in.

Jane and I finished off the day by going to the Ren Cen and seeing the movie Tropic Thunder. This movie is definitely a film that appeals to men that like war/combat/shoot-em-up movies. :/ There were some funny parts and wasn't a complete waste of time but I do not recommend it very highly...
On the way to the People Mover we FINALLY stopped to take a picture outside the YMCA across the street. Ever since we moved into our loft downtown we've said we need to take a picture with this fun statue! :)

The week ended when we took Bailey for a walk. Doesn't she look VICIOUS?!? heeheeeeeee... :)