First Stop: Detroit 09

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Detroit:
Detroit was my first stop in a whizz around the world on this crazy abroad program I am doing this Semester. Detroit was a real trip. I came in with so many negative expectations from the media--that Detroit was falling to pieces because of the crashing auto-industry, that everyone was trying to get out, that racial tensions were searing as the black inner city continued to decay, that there was no hope for Detroit--that the best thing to do would be to give up on the city and walk out. While many of my expectations were confirmed (Detroit is a mess, it does have a tons of economic, racial, and land-use problems), one thing I learned was that the heart and soul of Detroit is still very much there. There is hope: there are awesome people there with the most creative imaginations and incredible ideas and, against all odds, they are making stuff happen on the ground. Sure, for many gangs, burning down abandoned homes is considered a rite of passage into the group. Sure, there are tons of valueless, abandoned lots. Sure, the city suffers from joblessness, homelessness, and exodus. We see this all over the news because this is the drama that the media loves to tap. But beneath the dismal, stagnant looking surface there is so much movement, so much vitality, so much creativity!
The people who have stuck it out in Detroit really constitute its true spirit. And what they are left with is a laboratory, a city of abandoned or empty spaces that they can take over and transform and really experiment with. For example, this one guy has taken over a street of abandoned, decaying lots and turned it into art: he covers the houses in stuffed animals, random objects, dolls, shoes, toys, etc. It's called the Heidelberg Project. The result is this eerie, almost haunted looking space. I walked into it completely unaware of what I was about to see and it hit me full on, like a wave of meaning crashing down over me. At first I was totally turned off by the project because I didn't get it. But once I started to interpret, I saw the beauty in the rot. It represented so much and so many different things to different people. To me, it was loaded with history; I saw protest and anger against what Detroit had been left to become, but I also saw a cycle of life. Amidst the decay in Detroit, something new was springing up. Stuffed teddy bears were sprouting out of the roofs of rotten houses. And as they in turn decayed, they also gave way to new life, whether in the form of grass or mold or another toy someone had stuck on top. In this crazy place I saw how 'empty' Detroit was in fact not empty at all. Even though these objects weren't cared for, they didn't cease to be or have an impact. Instead, they evolved into something new, something unexpected, something shocking and bizarre and weird and foreign. Because they were left, they morphed into their own unique thing, they acquired an individuality, a purpose, and they made their own profound statement.
All over the city, creative expressions of the self (of the people who have stayed) are sprouting up. This was most obvious to me in how pervasive music was throughout the city. I ran into a couple of white guys that were drumming on upside down buckets and metal crates. Twenty meters away, an old black man was pouring his heart into his saxophone. Down the road there was a karaoke competition on the sidewalk; a 50 year old mexican man was really getting into his version of sexy-back by Justin Timberlake and he even had an 80 year old woman dancing! Of course, the Jazz Festival was incredible. And then I met some DJs through the program who basically started the Techno movement. Their music was bought up and sold in Europe and they were completely exploited, but these guys really are the roots. I met up with one of the guys later and he taught me how to use his software and mix tracks. Another night a different DJ took me to a drum circle where at least 30 people were pounding on drums; everyone's rhythm was fusing together--it was amazing! There is so much creative energy in Detroit--even if its not visible or immediately apparent. After two weeks exploring the city, we took off to India...

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Comments

[abbied]

thanks for writing about the beauty found in detroit. its good to see people appreciating this area of the world as a place full of potential rather than a place with nothing left.