January 2011: I am preparing for my first real visit to Detroit, the city of my birth. I am a Californian, where I have been since age one when my parents packed me into a car to seek fame and fortune in LA. It is strange to be defined by something unknown but when asked if I am a "native" Californian, I answer, "No, I was born in Detroit." It seems time to investigate what that means. So I have come "home" on my birthday to photograph Detroit.

This blog is part of an accompanying journal about the project.

Friday, December 23, 2011

The Holidays in Detroit: Part Two

From the Detroit News:
Shedding light on Hanukkah customs
: Jews and others celebrate downtown as holiday begins


From the Huffington Post/Detroit:

Kwanzaa Detroit 2011: Events Celebrate Holiday's 7 Values

With this, narrated by MAYA ANGELOU, one of my favorite authors (and whose poem I used in my first book, LIFE DOESN'T FRIGHTEN ME):


Monday, December 19, 2011

The Holidays in Detroit



At this time of year, super sweet music abounds, shoppers cram the stores as economic levels are determined by how may shopped on Black Friday and up until Christmas eve, and we gather together for the many holidays of the season. Family. Friends. Generosity. Community. All present now. From absolute elation to unmitigated depression, the season calls out and so do we.

I am not now in Detroit, my birth city, but home in LA freezing at 60+ degrees. From a call placed today to Detroit, I hear that Detroit today was "mild," a term certainly relative to a Southern Californian.

Although last winter in Detroit at the time of my first visit was startlingly cold for me, it is to that first experience that I have returned as I think about the holidays and prepare my holiday greeting.

I want to share Detroit this year with all of my friends, represented by an image that I love and that I captured last January: a view across Ferry Street in historic midtown, with its older houses now being repurposed and full of the hope and energy that signifies a rebound. I so want to others to know about this complex and beautiful city for there are many and equally as beautiful images if not in the traditional sense but that speak of effort, personality, and determination. Detroit has taught me a lot already and I know it will do far more in the succeeding years.

A good, safe, and fruitful holiday wish for Detroit and for us all.

Sara Jane Boyers

And btw, love this Detroit News article about historic xmas activities in Detroit:
Christmas traditions in Old Detroit: Pigeon pie, horse racing, tapers on trees