Little house in the 'Hood

Posted by Minni

It's a grey winter evening, dark before 5:00 p.m. the unplowed street are hard to drive on without getting stuck. But I'm not complaining. I see the woman n the street ahead of my snow-choking car trudging through the snow and wind, her coat with the fur around the hood can't hide her face from this zub-zero wind. It's so hot in my car I take my hat off and bake in my coat. I start to wonder why I was so finicky about the streets being plowed.

Living a modest lifestyle, Life in Detroit isn't so bad. All things considered -- the deficit, the public school system, the blight issues, the unemployment rate and the abysmal football team it might seen like the works place to live. But Detroit offers some merits unique to major us cities.


To someone who lived their life in the Metro Detroit suburbs, the city of Detroit (except for downtown and small areas of concentrated wealth) is like a different country. My suburban friends who visit me experience culture shock. When they arrive on my doorstep they're jumpy, scared of their own shadow. The funny thing is, my city friends who visited me in the suburbs have the similar reactions: uneasy, self conscious and defensive.

I'm not one to talk. It was this time last year that I, too, came to my new doorstep with a sense of unease, half expecting to find the inside of my house ransacked, or, worse yet, an uninvited person still inside. I'd look over my shoulder to make sure there was no one behind me, waiting for my to unlock the door.

I still look over my shoulder and keep a light on in the front hallway but it's not out of fear. In fact, over the year I have never had any problems and neither have my neighbors. But now caution is just part of my routine like shoveling snow or raking leaves. Living in Detroit taught me that being aware of my surroundings doesn't mean paranoid or afraid. Wherever you are in the world, it's always important to pay attention to detail.

Over the past few decades Detroit's national reputation has been marred, perhaps since the 1967 riots and the decline of the auto industry. But the past year was an exceptionally rocky road one for the motor city: the mayor's in jail, the Detroit Three auto companies groveled in front of Congress for federal "bailout" loans, the unemployment rate skyrocketed to 30 percent, the city's unstable government put city bonds in "junk" status, the public schools face a $400 million deficit without a superintendent (they fired her), The Detroit Lions made history as the worst football team EVER ... the list goes on and on.

On a more personal level, I met Detroit Public School (DPS) teachers about not having basics like toilet paper, heat or lights in classrooms. My car gets stuck in the often because the city doesn't plow most streets, the bus system is abysmal, the one I tried to get on this summer caught on fire. In the span of a year, I've had four friends get robbed, get their house or car broken into (my car was broken into), an acquaintance was shot dead, In the summer the weeds grow taller than me in my neighborhood, I drive by block after block of abandoned houses everyday. I'm not shocked or nauseated anymore when I spot bloated bodies of pit bulls rotting on the side of the streets in the fall ... That list goes on, too.

That said, I have only respect and admiration for the city. I'm still a newcomer to the city and I still feel that there is so much to learn. I plan on hanging

discovered the Detroit beauty supply, that I navigated my errands (poorly) around Detroit's East side and grew a tougher skin so that the deepely disturbing sights on the streets didn't ruin my day. It's the time of year that I get the annual winter blues and start having to remind myself why, of all places, I chose Michigan to spent my early 20s in. January is the coldest month and quite possibly the worst time to live in Michigan and it happens to be the month of my birthday, so I have to make the best of it.

Everyday I am reminded of Detroit's crippled state: The unplowed streets (I get stuck in the snow a lot), the untrimmed grass in the summer (It grows taller than me in some places) and I'm 24 today, one year closer to old age. I feel one year older, one year wider and immeasruable smarter. I love Detroit. Here's why.

There are some things money can't buy. The feeling o

Eastern MArket
Beauty Supply
Goat Milking, piggy wiglet, Jackson, the chickens,
Kids (PJ & the babies)
Bert's Market
Art
Kt & the artitis
Belle Isle
People (rhymes, uniqueness, funny)
Freedom
Machete/peach trees
Seldom Blues
U of M game
Rent
Neightbors/friends
Hood smarts
Playing in the rain
fall party
Mexicantown
Canada