I can’t keep up.
Too… busy…
Here are some shots from life the past month(s):
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What you can expect to see: NYC (World Trade Center Memorial, Chris Ware art show, Chipp Kidd Batcave & collection, Ellis Island, giant sandwich, Aaron speaking on behalf of himself- DDC!, Massimo Vigneli); Las Vegas (Neon Graveyard, etc.); Ewan being awesome; My sister’s visit (Ocean views, rabbit ears, roses); Cross country road trip (Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon); Mt. Hood Timberline Lodge (Pacific Crest Trail, trail mail, baby Pioneer grave, hiking). AND MORE!
The story of Detroit is a real reflection of the greatest of ingenuity in this country. It is the story of the promise of the American Dream.
It was industry that beckoned workers from all over the country to settle in Detroit. My grandparents moved to Detroit from other places- Grandpa Ray from the South and Grandpa Steve moved as a boy from Youngstown, Ohio (Grandpa Steve eventually worked for Ford in HR).
Industry built Detroit. But industry is cold steel- and the Lords of Industry are colder still.
The consolidation of the automotive industry in the 50’s was the first real indication that the machine didn’t give a shit about you…. or what this would mean for those that had given life to IT. There are no thoughts devoted to the resulting racial tensions of job loss- no thoughts devoted to what would be the eventual riots/whole blocks burning/ “white flight”/dirty politician future of Detroit.
This is real. Detroit is the unadulterated truth.
This is why I love HER.
I love that in the midst of all of the urban blight something like the Heidelberg Project will spring up (art instillation of reclaimed, abandoned houses covered in polka dots and “stuff”).
It seems, hopeful.
I loved going to Motown! Hitsville U.S.A.! I love soul/r+b motown music!
I LOVE IT!
So much goodness came from Studio A and I was overwhelmed when I actually got inside.
Little Stevie Wonder’s drum kit! The piano Mavin Gaye played!
Here’s Marvin and Tammi Terrell:
I love Hamtramck! Polish restaurants and bakeries! Golabki!
Our visit to Detroit was a pilgrimage of sorts.
Detroit needs our love- badly.
I don’t know what should or will happen to Detroit- what I do know is that it is home, it is family, it is a huge part of my childhood memories- it’s MOTOWN, it’s soul… It’s something big and breathing and beautiful.
Leigh M. 