tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14123115283295382342024-03-13T10:00:34.765-07:00DETROIT: DEFINITIONSara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.comBlogger80125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-8468067661552834272023-09-28T16:41:00.006-07:002023-09-28T16:41:59.201-07:00<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> The last trip. 20 visits, 12years. I had hoped to finish earlier but the pandemic years took their toll and, I suppose some before as well since it seems my last post was 2017, six years ago.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I am just home. Its been a terrific journey with new friends, new perspectives on cities and city life and an overview of a population working together, whether from the standpoint of investment, of education, of the arts. Detroit is an example for us all and, I will go back.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">More than a personal tour, there are many, Detroit expats, as well as newcomers who have been flocking to this city over the last dozen years.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Detroit is 139 square miles, seemingly large but the numbers don't tell the full story. In 2011, the land looked ready to return to the prairie, so many houses and services at the end of a long period of ruin. I chose not to photograph too much of teh ruin. Others had called attention to it before.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Instead, even in that dreaded time, neighbors continued to be close, helping one another. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Gradually, the old vacant yards turning into multi-functional parks. The plains and grasslands that had taken over, were now diminishing fast and new condos, refreshed turn of the century houses would stand happily next to one another.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Light poles illuminated the streets and murals have become the view. Wandering alone on the SW Riverfront or soon the Joe Lewis Greenway will allow safe cycling and walking tours of even the outer ends of the city.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">There will be more as communities continue to reconnect and the downtown thrives. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Detroit is not without worry but it is now absent the dire forecasts. of only a few years ago ...</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I was so happy to return...</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoKzvw1UuLNYn-2dscESCUiR21W4XsG_b_xNlcFVjxfu23QwgL7JKCciDiVbj2cGkOU8XWpM7UoX-q7x-wSPg3vTl7Kg5-1rd7BgFNkRcIEIxAHdXH3a1ZahyphenhyphennlLYrvu81cyCXpySiKf39eEN4dkCgC2er4hNWmm2_QMsfxW-BkD19D1LypwhgtoB4T7E/s1020/BrushPark1_BZ9A4679.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="1020" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoKzvw1UuLNYn-2dscESCUiR21W4XsG_b_xNlcFVjxfu23QwgL7JKCciDiVbj2cGkOU8XWpM7UoX-q7x-wSPg3vTl7Kg5-1rd7BgFNkRcIEIxAHdXH3a1ZahyphenhyphennlLYrvu81cyCXpySiKf39eEN4dkCgC2er4hNWmm2_QMsfxW-BkD19D1LypwhgtoB4T7E/s320/BrushPark1_BZ9A4679.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-4906885057250815222017-01-22T19:25:00.000-08:002017-01-23T11:15:24.130-08:00For years in the music industry, I traveled at the very least once a month. With the DETROIT:DEFINITION project and several others including a few new book projects, I am doing the same, some decades later and not as efficiently. So, it seemed time to post the recent update from October 2016.<br />
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Since January 2011, I have made 12 visits to Detroit with a 13th one upcoming in just a few weeks for the opening at <a href="https://mocadetroit.org/upcoming-exhibition/">MOCAD of THE ARCHITECTURAL IMAGINATION,</a> the creative project that was presented last year as the theme of the US Pavilion at the prestigious Venice Biennale/Architecture. The exhibit presented new ideas for Detroit and a photograph of mine was selected to be one of twenty printed on postcards given out to the world to represent a current visual perspective of the city. Those postcards will also be prominently displayed and available at MOCAD.<br />
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Born in Detroit but leaving for the California beach at the age of one, I remain fascinated - while freezing - by the winter landscape and there is a part of Detroit that shows itself best then. In addition to the MOCAD opening, I look forward to exploring further in the winter of Detroit. <br />
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My Fall2016 update: <a href="http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=013a28d9f024038bd399086bb&id=398bff9e89&e=[UNIQID]">http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=013a28d9f024038bd399086bb&id=398bff9e89&e=[UNIQID]</a><br />
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Since the update, my second French exposition of the in-progress Detroit project was held in Paris during Paris Photo Week and the US election. Detroit was very much in the news then and now for it represents a microcosm of what is happening around our country.<br />
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The sixth anniversary of the beginning of the DETROIT:DEFINITION project fell on my birthday this past week, Inauguration Day. I started on this date in January 2011 with my own birth home in the Northwest. It was a significant beginning for my now "family by house," graciously took me in and introduced me to a Detroit that was often in the news when touching on the devastation BUT in realty introduced me to a community, the entire block and many others like them, who had held it together for their families and others and are now key players and examples of the strength that has brought this city back. How lucky I was ... and am today. It is within the neighborhoods of Detroit and its residents and business there that the city's power resides.<br />
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<i>Below: Scenes from the Avenue of Fashion/Livernois: April Anderson's Good Cakes & Bakes, Eric Vaughn of Eric's I've Been Framed and Michael Owen mural.</i> </div>
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As a photographic project, the actual photography is winding down. One wants to go on and my relationship with Detroit definitely will, but in terms of my own work, fine art with a touch of documentary, there has to be an end. Setting a limit on a specific period of change in a city that is so rapidly evolving forces one to interpret exactly that: time that becomes its own chapter in the history of the movement that is Detroit. <br />
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Throughout, however, capturing Detroit has been a challenge and a learning curve; requiring understanding of its beautiful buildings, 20th century industrial position and historic accomplishments. It required face to face interaction, even from my own less "on-the-street" approach, to meet and friend so many gracious residents from a highly diverse social, economic and multi-racial/cultural strata. It takes time and realization that the city will define me even as I worked to define my birth city for myself. <br />
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Our new American administration is addicted to undercutting the good work and reality of cities such as Detroit and its residents, stating that our country is a disaster. Notwithstanding, Detroit has actively demonstrated exactly the opposite: a too often maligned place that instead, with only a bit of exploration, represents the best of our county: thoughtful activism and resistance, perseverance and positive change. Detroit is filled with citizens, public services and business willing to listen to each other and work together. Even in the past few divisive years of the US, a Republican governor and a progressive Democratic mayor have worked successfully together in accomplishing much for the city's revival. Active long-time residents along with newcomers have created forward-looking and successful programs for city growth including issues of sustainability, diversity; social and business-advancement and job opportunity.<br />
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I am more than lucky and grateful to be so often in Detroit at a time when so much of this progress is happening and results are already evident. Detroit is now a blueprint for America itself.<br />
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Here are some recent views:<br />
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<br />Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-77355647942745784072016-03-04T06:01:00.004-08:002016-03-04T19:34:57.468-08:00Two Additional visits to Detroit - Now Five Years(!) and Recent NewsSince the last post in October 2015, two more visits to Detroit have filled in many blanks in terms of my quest to define my birth city, not only for me.<br />
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My latest visit in January 2016 was celebratory not only for my birthday but also for my 10th visit there in five years for my DETROIT:DEFINITION photographic project. It has been my luck to have been in Detroit at this moment.<br />
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From the day the project commenced - my January birthday in 2011 - Detroit has changed rapidly and dramatically.<br />
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In local, national and international news in that first January, Detroit was about decades-long devastation, unemployment, population reduction and ruin. And so it seemed, on that very first visit and cold, wintry impression.<br />
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That said, what had not then and still has not changed: the warmth, persistence and determination of its residents to forge ahead and work for change. In this sixth year now, that change is happening quickly and Detroit's presence to the world is not about despondence but about growth, community and enterprise, developing now not only in the downtown area but expanding out to its metropolitan suburbs. It is a story continually evolving and one that continues to intrigue me.<br />
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For the visit, among many other subjects, I wanted to capture a sense of the early industrial history of the city and that history seemed best approached in the midst of a Detroit winter.<br />
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It has been such a busy year+ that not even all of my images are yet downloaded but here is one from that series.<br />
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There will be more to come, not only from this traditional industrial view but from new and exciting enterprises, but in the interim there is GREAT NEWS: At this year's prestigious 2016 Venice Architectural Biennale, the US Pavillion is featuring Detroit and as an adjunct to the proposals by amazing architects for the project, 20 photographs representing Detroit have also been chosen in competition and one of them is mine!</div>
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My Venice Architecture Biennale participation announcement (with explanation of the image as well) can be viewed at</div>
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<a href="http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=013a28d9f024038bd399086bb&id=2161cb32f3">http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=013a28d9f024038bd399086bb&id=2161cb32f3</a></div>
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I am also more than delighted that many of the newspapers and other media announcing this photographic competition award have chosen my exhibition image as their lead photo, including the front page announcement from the Detroit Free Press! </div>
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My thanks always to this city for allowing me so to learn so much about it. The project continues as I work not only to capture the remaining of my "to do" list but to formulate the book/exhibition project. </div>
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<br />Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-31667923689665825692015-10-23T08:25:00.001-07:002015-10-25T07:29:15.462-07:00Back, Back Again, Going Again...From the look of the blog, it would seem I have not been thinking of Detroit since I posted before my March 2015 trip there, visit #7.<br />
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To the contrary, Detroit has been totally on my mind since then for I had been offered an amazing opportunity to exhibit this in-progress project in Europe in the fall in Lille in France's northwest in connection with a major festival: <a href="http://www.renaissance-lille.com/">Lille3000/Renaissance</a>, an examination of five international cities in the midst of positive change. DETROIT:DEFINITION at the <a href="http://www.maisonphoto.com/agenda/boyers.php">Maison de la Photographie</a> in Lille opened on 24 September and is about to close this coming weekend. I was privileged to share this large and wonderful exhibition space with <a href="http://www.guillaumeriviere.com/">Guillaume Rivière</a>, a well-known French photojournalist who photographed Detroit also this past March for the French magazine, IDEAT.<br />
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With a slew of new images from seven visits to France (now eight!) and a greater focus on what I wanted to capture in Detroit, the exhibition - almost 50 prints of mine!- was terrrific, the opening beautifully planned and filled with so many French and others totally fascinated by what is happening in Detroit, a symbol for so many of how a city first decimated by the loss of a major industry - like Lille as it happens with the loss of their major textile industry - can gather itself together and restart its soul.<br />
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And while my French could use some work, I found myself giving interviews in French, writing and translating and/or working with translators on my exhibition essays all about this city <a href="http://detroithistorical.org/learn/timeline-detroit/french-detroit-1700-1760">founded by the French</a> in 1701 by General Antoine de La Mothe Cadillac. The exercise certainly sharpened and slowed down what I had to say and focused me better on this longterm project, bringing me a personal, eye-opening perspective on a grand American city that has been a poster child for centuries now: of America's strength in people and industry for the first half of the 20th century; for the decline of that American dream in the second half and, now well into the 21st, an international model of revival and community collaboration, not yet finished but certainly on its way.<br />
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My exhibition catalog with French and English text is available for online viewing at <a href="http://issuu.com/sarajaneboyersphoto/docs/detroit_definitionatmaisonphoto_lil">issuu.com</a>.<br />
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At the vernissage (opening), a softly played video with the music of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDw7OqVBT-w">Sixto Rodriguez</a> (aka "Rodriguez") set the theme for the exhibition which was, ultimately, about the people of this substantive city I am learning so much about. Installation shots follow.<br />
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My great thanks to the Maison de la Photographie and the city of Lille for this opportunity. I believe I will soon have some further good news about exhibiting in France.<br />
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Soon to follow: reports and visuals from my last two visits to Detroit and where the city feels now but for the moment, here is my exhibition. I look forward to soon bringing it back to the States.<br />
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<br />Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-5575607117775721442015-03-11T17:45:00.001-07:002015-10-25T07:34:11.237-07:00Returning...and catching up...As I prepare to return to Detroit this next week, I realize the blog has been ignored lately and it seems normal for I often post more when I am actually in Detroit, capturing current observations. <br />
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This past six months, especially late 2014 and early winter 2015 became busy - an exhibition of work from my REVISIT.RENEW.NEW series at the SarahLeePROJECTS booth at PhotoLA and the multitude of art fairs that happen in Southern California in January and February.<br />
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At PhotoLA, I did bring three additional large prints from the DETROIT:DEFINITION project as well, all from my photography shoot in November of Wayne State's new <a href="http://media.wayne.edu/2012/10/15/wayne-state-breaks-ground-on-multidisciplinary-">Multidisciplinary Biomedical Research Building</a> between Woodward and Cass, a terrific example of repurposing and expansion. The block had been formerly inhabited by the Daigleish Cadillac Building, originally designed by Albert Kahn in 1927 to house the Walter J. Bemb Buick-Pontiac dealership. <br />
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The architects, Harley Ellis Devereaux Corp., designed an inspiring building full of glass and light while saving the original showroom facade on Cass. Outside of the new addition, the reflective glass mirrors a fast-changing neighborhood and soon, the M1-Rail will appear in these windows as well.<br />
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In the interior, the third floor retained the original roof of what was originally the indoor auto storage area, complete with driving ramp; the latter now replaced by those gorgeous multi-paned south-facing three story windows and open lobby. <br />
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I am returning to Detroit the week of 16 March and look forward to seeing the construction progress for the building is set to open soon. <br />
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And in fact, development and re-development as well as a search for Detroit's architectural wonders seemed to be the theme of this past November exploration as I caught snaps of an amazing church, toured a Minuro Yamasaki building, and grabbed some outside snaps at Mies van der Rohe's Lafayette Park.<br />
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I had a chance as well to capture some images from the return of the Livernois Avenue of Fashion - great shops, restaurant - the 1917 American Bistro ! - and well worth exploring.<br />
I wandered north of 7 Mile but I hear that just south it is coming back as well.<br />
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A sample of my work from previous visits as well as these past two in Fall of 2014 is incorporated into my newest "Scouting Update," a continually revised booklet sampling some of the work from these Detroit visits. It can be seen online - DETROIT:DEFINTION/SCOUTING UPDATE20110-02014 - at <a href="http://issuu.com/sarajaneboyersphoto/docs/detroitdefintion201409o">issuu.com</a><br />
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One goes to art fairs to show, to buy, to covet and to find inspiration - and this year, to exhibit as mentioned at PhotoLA - and during this winter's moment in Los Angeles last January/February, I wandered from opening to opening (Art ContemporaryLA), a book fair (Printed Matter LA Book Fair), a major photographer's talk (Simon Norfolk), listening to Bach's St. Matthews Passion sung by the Master Chorale at Disney Hall and then off to the Paramount Ranch/Art LA fair in the Malibu Mountains, an old movie ranch where I
rode as a child with my father through the western town sets. <br />
<br />
All
of it is helping me narrow my focus about Detroit as I see how other
artists - we all do learn from and are inspired by others - take their
own personal stories, their own curiosity and form it into narratives
for others. The DETROIT:DEFINITION project, originating originally with my own curiosity to see the city of my birth, is captivating me, changing me and allowing discovery not only of this evolving city but of myself as well and society as well.<br />
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I look forward to being there again.<br />
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Here are recent articles and books I have been reading recently on the city:<br />
<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/when-youve-had-detroit"><i>When You've Had Detroit </i>by Rollo Romig</a><br />
<a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20140525/FEATURES05/305250064/">A Detroit Anthology, Ed. Anna Clark</a>. (So far I've read Marsha Music's beautiful essay, <a href="http://beltmag.com/the-kidnapped-children-of-detroit/">"The Kidnapped Children of Detroit"</a>)<br />
<a href="http://metropolisbooks.com/books/new-releases/thanks-for-the-view/">thanks for the view, mr. mies: lafayette park detroit</a><br />
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Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-33818035003221421462015-01-07T06:44:00.002-08:002015-01-07T06:50:35.291-08:00Forging AheadWith resolution of the bankruptcy filings on the November day I flew into Detroit for my second visit of 2014, among the many concerns of Detroit that are now being positively addressed and resolved, the arts are going ahead.<br />
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Just announced: the grand Detroit Institute of Arts has reached its pledge amount promised as part of the "Grand Bargain" that was achieved in Detroit's bankruptcy negotiations. This is a stunning result exceeding earlier expectations and it should be noted that donations to achieve this funding goal - which aids as well the pension and investment partners in the Bargain - were not only from those within Michigan but also without, demonstrating the seriousness taken in terms of preserving this elegant American institution.<br />
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<a href="http://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/arts/2015/01/05/dia-grand-bargain-payments/21306891/">http://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/arts/2015/01/05/dia-grand-bargain-payments/21306891/</a><br />
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Below: A snap of a portion of the magnificent DIA hall painted by Diego Rivera and financed, surprisingly since it is so anti-corporate and pro-labor, by one of the icons of the auto industry, Edsel Ford.<br />
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<br />Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-41491793311224576662014-10-08T10:01:00.004-07:002014-10-08T10:04:21.050-07:00September In Detroit, Part V: Followup: Do Something for Detroit<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>"September in Detroit" is a multi-part post, part of
the continuing series of musings on Detroit as I sit here, absorbing my
own experience in the city combined with others' tales.
This particular 4-part series is best read from Part I below and then
upward, if you can make it through... I call it a "musing" as I attempt
to make sense of what I see and experience each visit, part of my
in-progress photo exhibition/book exploration of my birth city.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Posted by Crain's Detroit Business as a followup to the Detroit Homecoming is "The Detroit Perspectus: 5 Ways to Support Detroit," a list of links and resources to "Do Something" for Detroit. Perfect as a starting point not only for we expats but for others interested in working with this beleagured but rising-again city.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20140917/NEWS/140919730/the-detroit-prospectus-5-ways-to-support-detroit">http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20140917/NEWS/140919730/the-detroit-prospectus-5-ways-to-support-detroit </a></span></span><br />
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Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-52110562718308778882014-10-05T13:03:00.000-07:002014-10-06T16:26:25.582-07:00September in Detroit, Part IV Saturday 20 September<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>"September in Detroit" is a multi-part post, part of
the continuing series of musings on Detroit as I sit here, absorbing my
own experience in the city combined with others' tales. This particular
4-part series is best read from Part I below and then upward, if you
can make it through... I call it a "musing" as I attempt to make sense
of what I see and experience each visit, part of my in-progress photo
exhibition/book exploration of my birth city.</i></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>At Grand Circus Park with view of Broderick Tower</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">I am spending one additional day in Detroit to see friends and wander a bit more, hoping to return for a more intensive photo shoot in October. </span></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I breakfasted with my "family by house," the Faust family
of siblings whose parents had owned my family home in the Northwest and with whom I try to visit each time I am in the city.
Mary Hammons Faust, Veronica Faust and Maurice Faust represent for me the regular people of
Detroit, knowledgeable about their home city, experiencing the ups and
downs of everyday Detroit, ready to discuss it all. And discuss we do,
especially since I am brimful of information and enthusiasm after the past
three days.</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Of particular interest: neighborhood. I mention one of the civic neighborhood initiatives already in practice: providing lawnmowers to residents who promise to care for their properties. There are families raised in the decades of decay who have watched their neighborhoods disintegrate before their eyes. Unused to the concept of order and what it means not only for neighborhood beautification but for safety and land value, they have forgotten home pride. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The simple gift of a lawnmower is bringing order back but, as Maurice points out, it requires that residents be trained to take care of their property, something to be undertaken by the block as a whole to ensure that this type of neighborhood pride and resultant enhancement takes hold. A simple idea that can be suggested coming down from civic leaders on high but that also requires encouragement and guides rising up from each block. </span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">A great block club example is the previously noted Henry Jolly Memorial Block Club, where Veronica Faust is on the Board. In 2013 I photographed another terrific block in the Northwest Goldberg neighborhood where the boards of what abandoned houses remained were brightly painted by residents with the words of W.E.B. DuBois,
an abandoned lot had become a community vegetable garden and park, and
all populated houses and yards were inviting and immaculate. While the streets around this Wabash block were sad examples of the decay too prevalent in the city, this block shone and I would like to return soon to see what's happening today. </span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDSlKhuugbmjdLTKD8iWprjiGSD7dr-YCGjWp3bJKLJuCGuXLB6jjUYsoURAW11ZV0NPTTxW_Tw3UoxZ9NWwt0djlBfvAJcpwsDcb53Gx6JUumUSQNpkKkrghTI_FwtQPT248wxFmvQLk/s1600/HushHouseStreetVue3568Csmlcs.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDSlKhuugbmjdLTKD8iWprjiGSD7dr-YCGjWp3bJKLJuCGuXLB6jjUYsoURAW11ZV0NPTTxW_Tw3UoxZ9NWwt0djlBfvAJcpwsDcb53Gx6JUumUSQNpkKkrghTI_FwtQPT248wxFmvQLk/s1600/HushHouseStreetVue3568Csmlcs.jpg" height="200" width="183" /></a></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Similarly and as a part of the requirements for renting a home there, the <a href="http://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/penrose-rising/Content?oid=2145829">Penrose Art House and Garden development</a> for low income families requires not only home maintenance but has also established a neighborhood agricultural center and art garden for community meetings and childhood afterschool education and activities, all beautifully designed and founded by Detroit friends, landscape architects (note Lafayette Park downtown by the Book Cadillac) Beth Hagenbach and Ken Weikel. I've spoken about this before.</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Readying for pumpkins 2013</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">The concept of a block club or a neighborhood community mission has been around for a long time - I am on the Board of a similar resident dues-paying organization out here in my California canyon - and it is there in Detroit (<a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2012/05/plan_would_let_detroit_neighbo.html">http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2012/05/plan_would_let_detroit_neighbo.html</a>) but it needs to be reinforced and expanded. Wherever I travel in the city, the individual residents are eager to improve where they are. It just takes a bit of effort to organize and do so.</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">And right on point today: <a href="http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20141006/NEWS01/141009858/duggan-in-bankruptcy-court-weve-recruited-top-corporate-team-to-run">http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20141006/NEWS01/141009858/duggan-in-bankruptcy-court-weve-recruited-top-corporate-team-to-run</a> <b><span style="font-size: x-small;">"</span></b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">...</span></i></span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> The <span class="highlight">mayor</span> described the city’s progress
rebuilding services including streetlights and buses, as well as police
and fire protection. One focus has been on persuading residents to begin
repairing their own blighted neighborhoods."</span></span></i></h3>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">By coincidence my young friend David Selsky, a fellow photographer and son of great friends from my music industry days, contacted me as he was about to attend a conference in Detroit, asking for thoughts about what to see there. Our conferences were both ending Friday and we arranged to tour a bit on Saturday.</span></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">A challenge: what does one show a city about which one is also still just learning? I am past just showing the devastation, definitely not the full story of Detroit today, tourist or otherwise. David already knew about the Packard plant, the Heidelberg project and several other known spots so we arranged to meet in Eastern Market, where I wanted to visit with Megan O'Connell and Leon Johnson whom I met in 2013 at<a href="http://saltandcedar.com/"> Salt & Cedar Press</a>, their amazing letterpress, art, conversation and farm to table food event venue.</span></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">Our great luck: Leon's intensely thoughtful exhibition, <a href="http://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/arts/2014/10/01/fall-arts-gallery-metro-detroit/16503319/"><i>Ark: Field Dressings</i></a> just opened at the press. This year Leon was awarded three highly regarded fellowships: a Kresge Arts Fellow and two residencies as </span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">the 2014 Martha Daniel Newell Distinguished Scholar at
Georgia College and most recently, a Bemis Foundation Fellow. Our greater luck: to see Leon and Megan's son, Leander, hard at work packing to take Salt & Cedar Press to the NY Book Fair as well as his own zines. It is always so invigorating to see this creative family investing in and living a Detroit that is here. </span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Knowing David would be here another day and wandering on his own and that my time<b> </b>was limited to getting out of the city for my afternoon flight, David and I went took the "little tour," i.e., not the grand ruin but the small recent history, all of which provides a tale of Detroit today and is, thematically for this post, about neighborhood. We drove through the beauty of Boston Edison, an leafy elegant upper middle class residential area where signs of blight are few but still are there as evidenced by glimpses of tacked on wood at windows and unmowed lawns, hopefully lessening; Highland Park, a separate city surrounded by Detroit and the site of Ford's historic factory and where, finally, the fire department building has been rebuilt although its memory as an, ironically, burned out hulk standing in sad solidarity with the police and civic hall buildings in 2011were some of the saddest memories of my first 2011 visit, but also where one could see examples of what I wrote above: one block filled with trees and children playing in the street, the next where houses stand isolated from each other by vacant lots. Finally, we drove northwest to my "own" Pinehurst block so that I could take my each-visit photograph of my Pinehurst family home and David could see real Detroit living in the suburbs today.</span></span> </h3>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Ending this visit with my home photograph seems right. As one Detroit Homecoming participant commented when I gave him my business card with my winter photograph of my birth home, "This is just right for Detroit, for this is what the promise of it was: a modest home."</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">So much of this visit seemed directed to trying to bring this back. </span></span></h3>
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Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-47142808158513043812014-10-03T22:16:00.003-07:002014-10-06T16:46:40.545-07:00September in Detroit, Part III Friday 19 September<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>"September in Detroit" is a multi-part post, part of the continuing series of musings on Detroit as I sit here, absorbing my own experience in the city combined with others' tales. This particular 4-part series is best read from Part I below and then upward, if you can make it through... I call it a "musing" as I attempt to make sense of what I see and experience each visit, part of my in-progress photo exhibition/book exploration of my birth city.</i></span></div>
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Same routine: 7:30 am shuttle but this time, a bit more awake and we are now chatting with each other on the bus, making friends and talking Detroit.<br />
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The short third day opened with conversation from the first woman CEO of a major automotive company, Mary Barra of General Motors who speaks to GM's past and present involvement with its native city, primarily in terms of GM's corporate and employee commitment to education and lately, neighborhood cleanup and "re-tooling" for skilled workers.<br />
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The conversation shifts to what was heretofore discussed as the "elephant in the room," the classic concerns of many Detroiters, the regular people: diversity and opportunity today combined with the changing face of the city.<br />
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Included within this: objections
to the very type of convening we are attending, especially among those who now live in
Detroit. Among the objections: Many of the speakers are the developers who have their own agenda for Detroit that may not address
other needs of those who are presently here and feel they are not being heard. How does one balance the Gilbert/Illitch type of development, often with some extremely favorable tax credits, against the sinking tax base of the city in general? One example: <a href="http://www.metrotimes.com/Blogs/archives/2014/09/18/the-problem-with-detroit-homecoming">this current post</a> in the Metro Times during Detroit Homecoming.
There are questions raised when the residential mortgage issue is brought up - the great difficulty of obtaining them for Detroit residents eager to purchase, even when their mortgage payments would be less than the rent they are now paying -
especially since Quicken Loans itself is Detroit-based.<br />
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Along with the information from Detroit Homecoming, it behooves us to absorb the varying arguments for this city but also, over time, to understand that one of the symptoms of Detroit's decline was the aspect of denial and complaint that resulted in a gridlock that prevented change from happening over way too long a period so that residents gave up and left. Detroit must change. Detroit Homecoming
is taking one approach. Yes, of course there are others and
it is our responsiblity, when we join in, to understand them them all.<br />
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A major closing panel - successful Detroiters or former Detroiters who are from the business arena, men and women of color, Black and Latino primarily - addresses some of this: Will there be displacement when all these "new" ""young"[primarily] white businesses and people arrive and prices go up? What will happen to the old neighborhoods and the strong historic Black middle class possibly first established here in Detroit? And most significant, "Is there a place for me in this new Detroit?"<br />
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Among them: Frank Venegas, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Southwest's Ideal Group and the grandson of a Mexican laborer who came to Detroit in 1917 responding to the "$5 Dollar A Day" allure of Henry Ford, became successful by surveying his own neighborhood, the long-standing <a href="http://www.modeldmedia.com/features/mexvisit.aspx">Mexicantown</a> and cornered the market on industrial/automotive construction, much of it by employing those around him, including the Mexican gang members who then stood on street corners but who now have become managers in his firms. For him, the Southwest remains a vital source of cultural and economic opportunity.<br />
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Gregory Jackson, CEO of Prestige Automotive Group/car dealerships in the greater Detroit area, one of the largest black-owned dealerships in the nation, reminds us that a strong city consists not only of a strong downtown but also of the neighborhoods and that those neighborhoods also need places and services for residents to gather to market, to have a cup of coffee, to dine. Detroit's recent good news is centered on downtown Detroit but to create a strong city, he says, retail and business services need to be encouraged back to the suburban streets. A recent example: the re-growth of the "fashion" boulevard, Northwest's 7 Mile and Livernois.<br />
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Ron Parker - not a Detroiter but President of the Executive Leadership Council with deep contact with those in Detroit - points out today's demographics for Detroit (2013):<br />
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White 10.6&<br />
Black 82.7%<br />
Asian 1.1%<br />
Hispanic 6.8%<br />
White (not Asian or Latino) 7.8% T<br />
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The need for better and comprehensive education, primarily early education leading to later and greater opportunity, continues to be a theme among the panelists here as well as one that runs through the entire 3-day session.<br />
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Here in a specific diversity panel, emphasis is on "developing the pipeline," ensuring that there will be powerful black and other ethnic leaders for a city - and a country - that should no longer have its future decided only by "middle-aged white men." He makes a call out to the city leaders - the government, business and foundation leaders - to ensure that this does not remain the norm, a "disruptive force," he says to ensure that Detroit's rebound is all-inclusive. <br />
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One of the most powerful statements of this conference: "If you are not planning, you are being planned." <br />
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Accompanied by pitch competitions of five Detroit startups, we expats are finally and directly brought to the point of being here: "No Free Lunch" and thus lunch is about solutions, ideas and a request to each of us to make a real commitment to do something for Detroit. Led by a nationally recognized TEDx motivator, we are asked to stand up and vocalize our ideas, formalize our thoughts on paper that is then pasted on the walls of the lunchroom and we gather under those ideas where we feel we can best make a contribution, whether it be financial, emotional or innovative. It is decisive and it is clear.<br />
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Out of this, Detroit Homecoming hopes to explore investment and other concrete solutions in this first of what is hoped to be a continuing and expanding outreach to those connecting with Detroit. For expats. For residents. It is more than a good idea; it feels like it will work.<br />
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We end with a surprise guest, a product of Detroit: <a href="http://mikeposnerhits.com/">Michael Posner,</a> a young but already nationally noted songwriter/recording artist, who brought us his newly constructed ballad, <a href="https://www.blogger.com/%3Cdiv%20id=%22fb-root%22%3E%3C/div%3E%20%3Cscript%3E(function(d,%20s,%20id)%20%7B%20var%20js,%20fjs%20=%20d.getElementsByTagName(s)%5B0%5D;%20if%20(d.getElementById(id))%20return;%20js%20=%20d.createElement(s);%20js.id%20=%20id;%20js.src%20=%20%22//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1%22;%20fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,%20fjs);%20}(document,%20%27script%27,%20%27facebook-jssdk%27));%3C/script%3E%3Cdiv%20class=%22fb-post%22%20data-href=%22https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152289924740496%22%20data-width=%22466%22%3E%3Cdiv%20class=%22fb-xfbml-parse-ignore%22%3E%3Ca%20href=%22https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152289924740496%22%3EPost%3C/a%3E%20by%20%3Ca%20href=%22https://www.facebook.com/jeanettepierce%22%3EJeanette%20Pierce%3C/a%3E.%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E">"Buried in Detroit."</a> Ok... playing on our emotions but hey, why not. It makes sense and Michael is a beautiful songwriter, a little of Dylan and Springsteen and my music roots love this ending to a well-spent three days.(and ok, I can photograph but put in into video mode and I really suck... Listen to the music, don't watch).<br />
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Returning to Detroit after this year's break, I wavered between my strong desire to be out with my cameras and wanting to connect and hear the overall picture of what is happening today in Detroit. I am glad I concentrated on the substance provided us by the latter. My great thanks to Detroit Homecoming, Mary Kramer who is Publisher of Crain's Detroit Business and Jim Hayes who is the retired Publisher of Fortune Magazine, for taking this from concept to fruition and providing us the opportunity to connect and interact with so many speakers and ideas, an innovative approach for helping one of American's great cities. As always, Detroit represents for me not only the beginning of my own story but an example of what American persistence can do. It is happening here and we expats gathered here leave ready to enter into the "play" and frankly, play we must, for the story of Detroit is a North American story and outside of emotional or connective, it is a story we all must finish. <br />
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And oh... btw, I suppose a very tiny part of me could reasonably be "buried in Detroit" - although I had always thought that if not the Pacific Ocean, a bit of Jackson Hole or Paris or Tuscany might do - as a result of a surprise gift from Mary and Jim to each of the 150 of us gathered here: a 1/150th portion of a lot in Detroit's Virginia Park neighborhood. What we do with this - including pay its taxes and keep it clean - it is hoped, will reflect symbolically on what we feel is our connection to and responsibility for Detroit.<br />
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And since we were now Detroit landowners, the final treat for those who had opted for this: batting practice over at Comerica Park, led by retired Tigers pitcher Dave Rozema. While joining the others ostensibly to take photographs I ended up batting which meant, for me, that I managed to connect the bat to the ball three out of ten tries without hurting myself or others. Visually it was an experience to be on the grass in this silent park, right in the middle of downtown Detroit. Keeping my eye on the other batters who were better able to connect with the ball, I wandered the diamond.<br />
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The day ended with a stroll down Woodward Avenue capturing a wedding party stopping for their photographs by the iconic Fox Theatre, my visit to the depths of the Book Cadillac and sunset on Michigan Avenue, a snippet of the dueling Coneys by Lafayette Park. A tourist but a Detroiter. Perfect but... not over ...<br />
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See Part IV, the 20th.<br />
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<br />Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-32851085297693375262014-10-03T15:06:00.002-07:002014-10-06T16:07:52.534-07:00September in Detroit, Part II Thursday 18 September<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>"September in Detroit" is a multi-part post, part of the continuing series of musings on Detroit as I sit here, absorbing my own experience in the city combined with others' tales.
This particular 4-part series is best read from Part I below and then
upward, if you can make it through... I call it a "musing" as I attempt to make sense of what I see and experience each visit, part of my in-progress photo exhibition/book exploration of my birth city.</i></span></div>
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Ready to get to work: the Detroit Homecoming shuttle is picking us up at 7:30 am for an intensive, pragmatic look at Detroit in today's sessions. Still on my west coast time schedule and wondering how, for so many years in the music industry when the red eye to New York was an almost monthly occurrence, I could still get up the next morning to meet people at the equivalence of 4:30 am PDT. Nevertheless, the day begins and with it, eye-opening conversations about the current status and future of Detroit.<br />
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On the Shuttle to the College of Creative Studies outpost in the Taubman Center Building/a former GM building near Grand Avenue where the Corvette was first designed: a running commentary by Jeanette Pierce, Detroit native and founder of DXF/<a href="http://www.weknowdetroit.com/">WeKnowDetroit</a>, part of the <a href="http://dhivedetroit.org/">D-Hive</a> cooperative downtown offering business and information services to connect people with Detroit in varying opportunities and experiences. Among her tidbits of Detroit:<br />
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1. 99% occupancy now in the downtown area.<br />
2. The Book Cadillac required 27 layers of financing to bring it back from the ruined hulk it was six years ago when you could absolutely see through it to the landscape surrounding it.<br />
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I haven't driven up Woodward for over a year now and the change is dramatic, from the cleansing of broken down buildings in preparation for the - controversial - new hockey stadium and related development of midtown, to new retail, coffee shops and buildings, and of course, the many construction detours engendered by the M-1 Rail construction that is also inspiring clean-up and renovation into New Center, north of the I-94 as well.<br />
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The A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education, the former Argonaut Building in New Center designed by Albert Kahn in 1928, was gifted to CCF by GM in 2007 and in addition to CCF studios, classes and auditorium space houses a variety of creative enterprise and foundations including the <a href="http://www.detroitcreativecorridorcenter.com/">The Detroit Creative Corridor Center (DC3)</a>, "an economic development organization with a targeted purpose: providing
support to Detroit’s creative industries in the form of resources,
exposure, and advocacy in order to grow Detroit’s creative economy and
recognize Detroit as a global center for design." and is also the home of one of Detroit's new and stellar manufacturers, <a href="http://www.shinola.com/our-story">Shinola Watch</a>.<br />
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Beginning the sessions. In the audience, one present and two past Mayors of the city,
all with straightforward news about what Detroit really needs - people and
the return of safe neighborhoods - and what is being done about it.<br />
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The population facts: 1.8 million residents in 1950. Under 700,000 today. That tax base is gone and the sense of neighborhood in this suburban city is dire. What brings them in - business investment and jobs - and what helps
those already here and struggling to regain their city and their
livelihoods?<br />
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1. Lights - Mayor Duggan's pledge and active work already to
bring street lighting back to all of Detroit, putting up more than 1,000 streetlights per week now. The resultant lighting of Detroit's streets has direct correlation to the decrease in crime in the city.<br />
2. Maintaining the neighborhood parks, a place for community. Last year, 25 out of 275 were maintained. This year already: with the help of churches, business and neighborhoods, 256 out of the 275 are being maintained.<br />
3. Vacant lots and vacant houses lead to squatters, trash and the devaluation in price and living standards of a neighborhood. Today there are over 50,000 abandoned houses in Detroit and they range from upper middle class neighborhoods such as Boston Edison to the icon of Detroit, the modest suburban home. The new civic philosophy: "Demolish the burned out houses in order to save the good ones." The Mayor's office is accomplishing this by suing non-resident owners who have allowed their homes, lots and landscaping to decay, opening them up to squatters or scrappers. A decision is made whether the building is capable of renovation or is sold at auction for nominal prices WITH the provision that the new owner must regularly pay its taxes and keep it up. The same for vacant lots that, if not maintained, are made available for purchase to neighbors at $100 per lot, subject to the same conditions of payment and maintenance.<br />
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A good article about this and about Reclaim Detroit, the non-profit dedicated to reducing the blight, reconstruction and re-purposing of materials taken from deconstruction; <a href="http://www.hourdetroit.com/Hour-Detroit/May-2014/Deconstructing-Detroit/#.VDGWjudYtXA">http://www.hourdetroit.com/Hour-Detroit/May-2014/Deconstructing-Detroit/#.VDGWjudYtXA</a><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Below: a collapsed house on the Eastside, 2011 & in Highland Park (a separate city, encircled by Detroit), a Habitat for Humanity House, 2014</i></span> <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>On the positive: The Henry Jolly Memorial Pinehurst Block, a stellar example of the neighborhood taking charge, this one ongoing for years now another sign has been added on the western side of the block.</i></span></div>
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Ok.... not all is pretty yet. Mortgages are unobtainable in Detroit and a major effort by the city is to make lenders aware that there is value in Detroit, the issue even more critical than the credit records of its potential resident home purchasers.<br />
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Water in this water-rich city is also an issue, not so much in terms of its availability as a resource - our issue in parched California - but in terms of civic maintenance. Detroit suffered over 5,000 water main breaks in the last three years. Just this past week, a regional water board was approved by Detroit's City Council to help manage the finances and undertakings to resolve the maintenance and use issues. <a href="http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/26577870/detroit-city-council-approves-regional-water-authority">http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/26577870/detroit-city-council-approves-regional-water-authority</a><br />
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The rest of the day was intensive; so many speakers, so little breaks, so much to acknowledge/learn and so much to inspire. Civic leaders and doers! Entrepreneurs! Social Activists! Athletes! Eli Broad (a Detroit native and philanthropist to education there)! Warren Buffet!!!!!<br />
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While many participants - invited expats as well as speakers - represented investment interests, much of the focus continued to return to those who are already there, doing well and not so well, and how we can join together to support community, education, employment, and culture to restore as well as remake Detroit. Well-reported by the press and by the <a href="http://www.detroithomecoming.com/">Detroit Homecoming site </a>itself, my post here is more about the images of Detroit for I am a photographer and it is in my imagery that my summary primarily lies. <br />
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That said, as part of Detroit Homecoming's amazing program, afternoon intensive tours of targeted development in Detroit - manufacturing, real estate development, innovation/entrepreneurship, and the arts & culture - were offered and I chose manufacturing, seeking to follow the current state of Detroit's traditional work resources.<br />
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<a href="http://www.shinola.com/">Shinola</a> was first, a company that made a choice to come to Detroit. On one large floor of the Taubman Center, clean large dust free rooms were filled with new watch assembly, watchband creation and packaging, providing new jobs and success models for Detroit. Collaboration is happening with major fashion designers, extending the outreach of this innovative company even further. The products of Shinola extend now to bicycles, other luxury products with retail stores in Detroit and elsewhere.<br />
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Homegrown business is opening/thriving again as well, exemplified on our tour by the new plans of <a href="http://www.aam.com/">American Axle & Manufacturing/AAM</a>, one of the major GM suppliers in driveline and drivetrain systems that followed GM down to Mexico during Detroit's downturn but is now re-developing its primary building and adjajcent acreage, just at the Detroit/Hamtramck boundary to meet the new demands of a returning auto parts manufacturing industry.</div>
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So too, the McClure brothers represent growing success in Detroit, transitioning a family recipe into a marketable commodity. They are native Detroiter's who, along with their parents, are readying to purchase two more machine lines/ldispensers/canners to make their truly tasty <a href="http://www.mcclurespickles.com/">McClure's Pickles</a>, relishes and potato chips that are presently being distributed via upscale markets and retail outlets throughout the States. They have re-purposed an older auto manufacturing building, hired and are retraining auto workers and unskilled labor, and are using locally sourced or known sources (when the harsher Detroit winters prevent locally sourced) for their ingredient streams. Love their "story" video, a charming example of the ingenuity that characterizes so many startups/businesses in Detroit. <a href="http://www.mcclurespickles.com/pages/from-the-jar">http://www.mcclurespickles.com/pages/from-the-jar</a><br />
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Foreign investment is also returning to Detroit and our tour brought us to one grand example: Sakthi Automotive Group USA, located in Del Ray/Southwest Detroit and part of the multi-national (headquartered in South India) <a href="http://sakthigroup.com/">The Sakthi Group</a>/Automotive Components division. <a href="http://www.sakthiauto.com/">http://www.sakthiauto.com/ </a> Already manufacturing a variety of auto components, Sakthi has made major land investments surrounding its present manufacturing site, in close proximity to the proposed new US/Canada bridge, that will result in the creation of additional manufacturing facilities, a training school for personnel and best, a day care and kitchen center for many of its employees to provide affordable day care for their workers' children and inexpensive healthy meals to take home to their families after long workdays.</div>
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<a href="http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20120426/free/120429926/indias-sakthi-automotive-promises-183-jobs-in-detroit-after-getting">http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20120426/free/120429926/indias-sakthi-automotive-promises-183-jobs-in-detroit-after-getting</a></div>
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Sundown over on Belle Isle and its historic Casino. GM was out there offering us driving opportunities in their new cars although the driverless car unfortunately developed a "hitch" and wasn't available. Instead I drove the new Corvette - I learned to drive a stick shift on my father's Corvette so long ago - although driving a Corvette at 25 mph around the island was nice but hardly my "speed." </div>
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The day ended with dinner with our continually welcoming hosts, Detroit sponsors/doers all, at the newly opened Globe Building by the DeQuindre Cut, followed by honors to Berry Gordy who flew in for this event and with rhythmic musical tributes by Detroit youth to the Motor City sounds that Gordy and Motown gave us all.</div>
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Long day, sounding a bit like a travelogue but it will take time to truly understand what was presented to us and what to do with it, but wow what a re-introduction to what is making Detroit run for today and for the future.</div>
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<br />Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0Carretera Panamericana, Panama8.6491709 -79.8760959999999617.6445858999999992 -81.166989499999957 9.6537559 -78.585202499999966tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-40073867357585402162014-10-02T20:27:00.002-07:002014-10-06T15:53:42.929-07:00September in Detroit, Part I Wednesday 17 September14 months since I last visited Detroit and the change in the city is startling and exciting.<br />
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While the bankruptcy was entered into in summer of 2013 only one week after I returned from a three-week visit to the city, negotiations are ongoing, bargains are being made with major creditors and an emergence soon is in the offing. Today, the greater Downtown area is vibrant and active; construction underway for a metro rail (the M-1 Rail) up Woodward all the way to Grand and the Amtrak station; new stores, coffee shops and construction providing new business and residential opportunities. Best: people on the street.<br />
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I flew in on a red eye, picked up by the car graciously ordered by the <a href="http://www.detroithomecoming.com/">Detroit Homecoming</a> conference I was to attend. Donald, my driver, and an aspiring recording artist, drove me in on the I-75, providing an impromptu insider's dawn tour of the lights and smoke from the steel plants, the Train Station and downtown entering from Michigan Avenue. Yet another perspective on what has become a favorite city, here captured from the moving car more for my mind than exhibition photo.</div>
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I stayed downtown at the Book Cadillac Hotel. In 2011 I had photographed designer Gary Fried's beautiful cabinetry design in a Book Cadillac penthouse. This time I was a guest in one of its rooms, afforded a stunning nighttime view south to the River and across to Canada.<br />
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What I hadn't known: that only seven years ago the Book Cadillac, built in 1923 and designed by Louis Kamper, was a total wreck. Closed in 1984 the hotel lay vacant, vandalized and in its lowest basement, flooded from broken pipes. Today through many civic and private efforts, it once again anchors beautiful Washington Boulevard at Michigan Avenue. <a href="http://www.historicdetroit.org/building/book-cadillac-hotel/">http://www.historicdetroit.org/building/book-cadillac-hotel/</a><br />
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Yet even with the renovation, history remains in the hotel for down down down lie the vintage boilers and generators that tell their story, colored by the rust of the floods and evocative of Detroit's older age, one that seems to be ending finally and this change is what I experienced in this short trip.<br />
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I loved staying downtown for much of my work has to do with place and the place where I am "living," even if only for a few days, definitely affects my visual perspective. The small community centered by Washington Boulevard and bordered by Grand Circus Park, Michigan Avenue and the <a href="http://criticaldetroit.org/buildings/rosa-parks-transit-center/">Rosa Parks Transit Center</a> on Cass Avenue became my little microcosm of Detroit for this trip.</div>
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A few pics from Washington Boulevard and its environs, including Urban Bean Co., the Transit Center and from the Transit center, the still closed Book Tower.</div>
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At the top of Washington Boulevard, I wandered into the western part of the half moon hub that is Grand Circus Park, bisected by Woodward Avenue and from which a set of diagonal spurs, the streets of downtown, fan south. Quite beautiful but with non-working fountains and few people. I could imagine the different experience of mid-century Detroit when businessmen like my father would daily cross the park from their apartments on streets like Park Avenue, on their way to and from work for while Detroit is definitely a city of cars, it was also designed for those who walk. </div>
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Today the Park serves as a People Mover Station, an underground parking structure but it remains a place for views: Of the old facade still standing on Adams of the razed 1909 Fine Arts Building, a ghost of a structure that fascinated me when I first encountered it in 2011; of the historic house and church still extant on Woodward corners; of crowded streets and parking lots at the side of Comerica and Ford Fields and in just these past couple of years, the totally renovated <a href="http://www.brodericktower.com/">David Broderick Tower</a> - 1928 and another Louis Kamper building - and the soon to be opened for retail, hotel and residences, the <a href="http://www.historicdetroit.org/building/david-whitney-building/">David Whitney Building</a> (1914) where Detroit Homecoming held its welcoming dinner, amid construction lights and careful access all the while looking up to the lobby's amazing clearstory, resonant of Detroit's glory, once again.</div>
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Residential and office construction is booming in the city and the occupancy rate is again very high.</div>
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It is a good time to be here. </div>
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Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-17433595971784728992014-09-16T08:19:00.001-07:002014-09-16T08:45:23.810-07:00<span class="userContent"> I am so sorry to have read last week of the passing of Gerald Wilson, 96 years old and a terrific jazz
composer, bandleader. Among his many beautiful melodies is his <i>Detroit Suite</i>, written in memory of his formative years in Detro<span class="text_exposed_show">it
(a graduate of Cass Tech), and from which I was so graciously granted
the right to use snippets for my short early video on my DETROIT:
DEFINITION project. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">The music of the Gerald Wilson orchestra has for years been recorded and distributed by Mack Avenue Records - <a href="http://www.mackavenue.com/"> http://www.mackavenue.com/</a></span></span><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"> - a company
home-grown in Detroit and its founder, Gretchen Valade, is the major
force behind the terrific Detroit jazz festival that takes place
downtown over Labor Day Weekend. I attended in September of 2011 and
the streets were filled with people and great sounds.</span></span><br />
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<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></span>
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Wonderful obits on Gerald Wilson below, some with music:</span></span><br />
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<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">from the Detroit Free Press: </span></span><br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">http://www.freep.com/article/20140909/NEWS08/309090140/Gerald-Wilson-dies-Jazz-musician<a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20140909/NEWS08/309090140/Gerald-Wilson-dies-Jazz-musician">http://www.freep.com/article/20140909/NEWS08/309090140/Gerald-Wilson-dies-Jazz-musician</a></span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">from Mack Avenue Records: <a href="http://www.mackavenue.com/news/article/beloved_multi_instrumentalist_gerald_wilson_passes_away">http://www.mackavenue.com/news/article/beloved_multi_instrumentalist_gerald_wilson_passes_away</a></span></span><br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">from the Los Angeles Times where Gerald Wilson lived, played, composed and inspired many other musicians for years until his death: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-gerald-wilson-20140909-story.html#page=1">http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-gerald-wilson-20140909-story.html#page=1</a><a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-gerald-wilson-20140909-story.html#page=1">http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-gerald-wilson-20140909-story.html#page=1</a></span></span><br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></span>
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">from npr with snippets of his musc: h<a href="ttp://www.npr.org/2014/09/11/347594917/jazz-arranger-gerald-wilson-dies-at-96">ttp://www.npr.org/2014/09/11/347594917/jazz-arranger-gerald-wilson-dies-at-96</a><a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/09/11/347594917/jazz-arranger-gerald-wilson-dies-at-96">http://www.npr.org/2014/09/11/347594917/jazz-arranger-gerald-wilson-dies-at-96</a></span></span><br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></span>
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Here is my 2012 slide show of images from the DETROIT: DEFINITION project with soundtrack from the <i>Detroit Suite, </i>going back to my post about this in 2012 <a href="http://detroitdefinition.blogspot.com/2012/03/detroit-in-slides-first-three-visits.html">http://detroitdefinition.blogspot.com/2012/03/detroit-in-slides-first-three-visits</a></span></span><br />
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Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-54738813682961625072014-09-16T06:49:00.000-07:002014-10-02T13:13:21.960-07:00It is dismaying to see that the last time I posted to this blog was more than a year and one-half ago. It is not that Detroit and my project have not been on my mind nor that I did not keep up with not only news but friends there, but that other exhibition deadlines - and a bit of life - took precedence and, like a manuscript put away to percolate for some months, sometimes years, DETROIT: DEFINITION needed some seasoning that only walking away for a while could give it.<br />
<br />
Today, planning to return to Detroit on a late flight tonight, my focus on the project is still not fixed but far more developed than before, as is Detroit. Time has helped me refine what it is I am looking for: a sense of past history, a sense of today and best, a sense of the future. This is for Detroit but it is also for me for while it is true that most photographic artists put themselves into their work, the experience of Detroit has become a personal exploration as well. As the city changes, it is also changing me.<br />
<br />
I have always felt that capturing Detroit, a heretofore unknown city to which I am linked almost entirely
and only by the fact of my birth, would be a challenge for me. What I've found so far: that I am not only exploring through the construct of my father's footsteps on the streets of Detroit; I am actually walking in them, entering into buildings he entered for nine years of his life, traversing the city in which he lived. A little eerie but I
do feel comfortable here in a city where supposedly the comfort level
is pretty low.<br />
<br />
As part of that transformation: while my other projects concentrate solely on the visual story, Detroit demands more and my literary and my visual perspectives - offtimes at odds between the precision of the words and the abstraction of the view - have no choice but to join together here. I suppose I knew this since I created this blog during my first trip in 2011 and wrote each night of that trip. It is clearer now and even though not published here, there is also writing that accompanied my most recent visit, three weeks in the summer of 2013 and definitely much to write in this near future.<br />
<br />
This short upcoming trip - another longer one is planned for mid-October - is a bit different for it is an exciting new venture/conference created by ....<br />
<br />
"A broad coalition of partners — Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Michigan Gov.
Rick Snyder, corporate leaders, major foundations, economic development
groups and others — have joined to create a powerful event that can
help shape the future of Detroit. It's called <a href="http://Detroit Homecoming">The Detroit Homecoming</a>." :<br />
<br />
... inviting back those who lived and worked in Detroit over the years. The conference: an intense two-day tour of the city and introduction to many of the individuals and businesses working for change, all in the hope that the invitees will return more, invest in, help renew what Detroit was and make it even better. <br />
<br />
Lots of attendees from all over - entrepreneurs, businesspeople, CEO's, filmmakers, and me. ... dressing in "corporate casual" ...<br />
<br />
For this I've prepared a long overdue "update" to my original little magazine blurb about Detroit "reporting" on my very first visit there in January 2011. As always happens, creating the little booklet, composing the "intro," and selecting sample images has forced me to focus and wish I had done this earlier. I stay unfortunately true to habit, always needing a deadline/event to get stuff done :( . That said, returning to my raw files to see what I missed the first pass through the experiences has uncovered several strong evocative images I missed when too close to the shoot.<br />
<br />
<br />
All for the good.<br />
<br />
I look forward to these next few days...<br />
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Below: an image I missed in the first pass but love now: from early early am (1:30am) at the so wonderful artist loft in which I stayed in Summer 2013. The auto lights from the meat factory outside my window turned on whenever trucks arrived and would illuminate the loft at all all hours, and I would awake, grab the tripod and shoot. Romantic light and so emblematic of the diversity of subject matter, just within and out my window in Detroit's Eastern Market.<br />
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<br />Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-41326198781481912412013-01-12T10:35:00.001-08:002013-01-12T10:36:36.194-08:00And speaking of bridges to theCity...I haven't followed this discussion very much, but I am now familiar with the name of the owner of the Ambassador Bridge, the present over-water link between Detroit and Windsor, CA. <span class="st"><span class="f"></span>Manuel "Matty" Maroun </span>is also the owner of the Michigan Central Station, Detroit's iconic beautiful station that has fallen into such disrepair and stands as a symbol for all that has happened to this city.<br />
<br />
Without learning much more for the moment, the Daily Show's take on the controversy about Canada's offer to build a new bridge is telling....<br />
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<br />
<div class="title">
<h1>
<a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-january-9-2013/bridge-to-canada">Bridge to Canada: Al Madrigal exposes slick-talking Canadian bridge builders operating in Michigan.</a></h1>
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<br />Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-32677025713292813702013-01-12T08:48:00.001-08:002013-01-12T08:49:22.637-08:00Some ideas are crazier than others...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVVgw-whe1ihBCEKAYqhCk3daYZiOsS8WphyphenhyphenroKw9tgZ9js3ZpnT1KEredCb2-faJocodRwLp6ROPHyL0TLBWKkR2QFf0R56Fzz_K49avl6pc-0fKy_MsG1b7Tekdnxsg1_2NzBKFm2Kc/s1600/BelleIsleSunsetL1060444C.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVVgw-whe1ihBCEKAYqhCk3daYZiOsS8WphyphenhyphenroKw9tgZ9js3ZpnT1KEredCb2-faJocodRwLp6ROPHyL0TLBWKkR2QFf0R56Fzz_K49avl6pc-0fKy_MsG1b7Tekdnxsg1_2NzBKFm2Kc/s400/BelleIsleSunsetL1060444C.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
Instead of fixing the city, good old American capitalism suggests the purchase of Belle Isle, a historic and so beautiful piece of land in the Detroit River that has been an escape for Detroiters for centuries, seceding it from the United States and making it a tax haven, a commonwealth for the wealthy. <br />
<br />
Yes it could bring a very needed One Billion Dollars to Detroit but we are back to times, even if it were legal which it is probably not, when a proposal such as this falls between one's soul and one's sense of well-being. At the same time, it will become a fascinating discussion of what it really takes to help Detroit.<br />
<br />
In many ways a suggestion such as this belies the very serious, also wealthy. corporations and individuals who are proposing, yes, radical schemes, that are concurrently healthy and forward looking for the PEOPLE as well.<br />
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<h1>
<span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130112/BIZ/301120319">Developer pitches $1B commonwealth for Belle Isle</a></span></h1>
<h6>
This futuristic rendering of Belle Isle is one where it is a
commonwealth separate from the U.S. with a unique governing tax system.
(Artist's rendering) From The Detroit News: <a href="http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130112/BIZ/301120319#ixzz2HmOhbhBV" style="color: #003399;">http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130112/BIZ/301120319#ixzz2HmOhbhBV</a></h6>
<h1>
<img alt="This futuristic rendering of Belle Isle is one where it is a commonwealth separate from the U.S. with a unique governing tax system." src="http://cmsimg.detnews.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C3&Date=20130112&Category=BIZ&ArtNo=301120319&Ref=AR&MaxW=640&Border=0&Developer-pitches-1B-commonwealth-Belle-Isle" /></h1>
<h6>
This futuristic rendering of Belle Isle is one where it is a
commonwealth separate from the U.S. with a unique governing tax system.
(Artist's rendering</h6>
<br />
<br />
On a day in May 2011, arriving in the city in unseasonably hot and humid weather, I drove out to Belle Isle in late afternoon to see kids hanging on the perimeter road, cruising a little with music blending with the heavy atmosphere; families out for an end of winter picnic as the sun descending. It felt free and safe in a city that does not often feel as such.<br />
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The land mass of Detroit is large, approx 120 square miles, with no doubt lots of land for parks and recreation but to develop it for commerce takes away its heritage and its romance. I am naive to feel that one needs romance and mystery - a island across a bridge, a short one for sure, but even a bridge to nature, to relaxation; destination within a city, is enough to hold citizens together, to meet on equal terms and understand how we all can combine to work and live.<br />
<br />
From the article about other proposals for the city, some almost as crazy but some with more logic and human consideration behind them, especially from Detroit Future City: "It envisions a smaller city where the swaths of empty and blighted
land become urban/green neighborhoods full of trees, ponds and urban
farms. Detroit has 40 square miles of vacant land, according to city
officials. That's close to the total land area of San Francisco.<br />
"Even
with all that vacant land, the wide open spaces of Belle Isle are
unique. To decommission Belle Isle would be a great loss of a public
purpose area," said John Mogk, a Wayne State University law professor
who follows urban planning issues."<br />
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Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-18941736028747805772012-12-05T08:29:00.000-08:002012-12-05T08:29:15.624-08:00Hard Choices for DetroitThanks to Austin Black II of <a href="http://www.citylivingdetroit.com/">City Living Detroit</a> for bringing this Detroit Free Press op-ed to my attention.<br />
<br />
We who dash in and out of the city are not able to understand the complexity of failure, decision-making and risk, but are thankful to those within to give us material and opinion to better understand.<br />
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<a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20121205/COL33/312050018">Stephen Henderson: In Detroit, there's no escape from hard choices</a></h1>
<a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20121205/COL33/312050018">http://www.freep.com/article/20121205/COL33/312050018</a>Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-85763084696267586592012-12-04T07:32:00.001-08:002012-12-04T07:34:13.658-08:00Parking: DetroitYesterday I had to drive over the canyons in the rain to West Hills in, of course, the western region of Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley. As it is getting on till christmas and out there on an errand but delighted that for once traffic was light on this rainy day, I stopped in at one of the Valley's ubiquitous malls to pick up a small item.<br />
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Driving through the acres of concrete that consist of flat outside parking lots and then multi-level structures that accompany them and provide shoppers with as little foot traffic as possible so that all they can do is purchase is always an interesting experience, one necessitating certain social skills - who is that waiting an interminable amount of time for the one parking spot as close to the mall entrance as possible? - and time, while waiting to go around that one person, to engage in mind-numbing rumination of parking as a state of existence, at least in California. <br />
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So it is with great curiosity and a bit of - wtf? - that I discovered, on Model D this morning, the website <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MichiganNeedsMoreParking">Michigan Needs More Parking</a>, one of the oddest proposals for Detroit, and elsewhere that I've seen.<br />
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I started to lose it when I discovered their suggestion to turn beautiful Belle Isle into one large parking lot...<br />
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Below and posted before: my pic of the Michigan State Theatre, now
turned into (turned back?) into a parking lot as well as one across from
the historic Annis Furs Building of the parking lot where before
existed Hudson's... <br />
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I have to admit I marvelled at the Facebook page's description of traffic in Detroit.</div>
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As a Californian who has to leave the beach two hours before a scheduled something in LA downtown, driving to appointments down Woodward, Detroit's historic first paved highway, or on the freeways even in the greatest rush hour seems like a Sunday drive. In a city ripe for redevelopment, providing space to bring more cars into the city seems like the wrong direction in which to move.</div>
<br />Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-43858034055962354582012-11-25T08:54:00.001-08:002012-11-25T08:55:18.979-08:00Documenting the Turnaround/EuropeDetroit continues as a news item in both the American and European photo/news market.<br />
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In the States, some say, "enough already," about the many stories - positive and not - emanating from this city. Some continue to worry - not without reason - that this almost caricature of decay over the decades could also happen to them.<br />
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Photos have been made, some haunting and emotional, most significantly by Andrew Moore in his lush, poetic and startling project, exposition and book: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Moore-Disassembled-Philip-Levine/dp/8862081189/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320253221&sr=8-1">DETROIT DISASSEMBLED</a>.<br />
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In Europe, the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ruins-Detroit-Yves-Marchand/dp/3869300426/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353862228&sr=1-1&keywords=Marchand%2FMeffre">Steidl book of photographs</a> by the Marchand/Meffre team, taken at the same time as Andrew's, is also significant in guaging the interest in this decline of the American industrial power.<br />
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At November's LensCulture/FotoFest/Paris reviews I just attended, I found still an increasing amount of interest in what is happening to this city, a now fabled one perhaps more in the moral sense of Aesop, yet with hope expressed for the future. I will return there this coming year of 2013 to continue my DETROIT: DEFINITION and I cannot wait to see the change after a year's absence.<br />
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In the interim, the Detroit Free Press, chronicles again hope for the turnaround that innovative spirit, youth and a government that is trying hard, seems to be successfully promoting:<br />
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<a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20121125/BUSINESS06/311250293/Is-Detroit-s-turnaround-turning-a-corner-Development-spreads-to-new-neighborhoods?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE">http://www.freep.com/article/20121125/BUSINESS06/311250293/Is-Detroit-s-turnaround-turning-a-corner-Development-spreads-to-new-neighborhoods?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE</a>Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-49665472445605849992012-08-21T09:37:00.001-07:002012-08-21T09:37:05.169-07:00It is not just DetroitWe have all known this, but perhaps choose to forget that Detroit is just an example of what has been happening for decades around the US. <br />
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<a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2012/08/we-buy-houses-decline-and-opportunity-pittsburghs-east-suburbs/3013/">http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2012/08/we-buy-houses-decline-and-opportunity-pittsburghs-east-suburbs/3013/</a><br />
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Detroit serves however as an example of people and business - those in
and out of the city - who are working, often successfully, for its
regrowth. Here is one great example from Model D, always a terrific resource on what is happening in Detroit:<br />
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<a href="http://www.modeldmedia.com/features/detroitfellowslove712.aspx">http://www.modeldmedia.com/features/detroitfellowslove712.aspx</a>Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-82315246317573634082012-06-20T10:21:00.004-07:002012-06-20T10:22:15.748-07:00Forgotten CityAbout Windsor, Canada from Atlantic Cities:<br />
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LIFE INSIDE THE BROKEN CITY <a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/06/how-mend-broken-city/2324/">http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/06/how-mend-broken-city/2324/</a><br />
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Visited on a VERY cold spring Sunday last year, primarily to meet some East Coast friends at a casino and photograph the Windsor Chinatown, Windsor appeared in this short visit as a lovely quiet town.<br />
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Yet the vacancy and sense of abandonment was even then visible. </div>
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A very active one: DETROIT NATION - <a href="http://www.detroitnation.org/">http://www.detroitnation.org</a>/ - formed by Rachel Jacobs, part of a group of New York-based expats (formerly called 635 Mile, for the distance from Detroit) who have now developed an active program with folowers and chapters throughout the nation.<br />
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Among their programs, a job posting for work in Detroit. Also very active on their Facebook page at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DetroitNation">https://www.facebook.com/DetroitNation </a><br />
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A new one just discovered: BORN AND RAISED IN DETROIT (BARD) <a href="http://bornandraiseddetroit.org/">http://bornandraiseddetroit.org/</a><br />
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Probably more for there seems to be now more than nostalgic interest in those who are from Detroit about the state of the City. OTH, it would be good if they all got together into just one powerful organization and with the power of many could not only contribute financially but with the power of numbers support and make effective change.<br />
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'CAN WE TELL THE WHOLE STORY?" <br />
again, always reading the comments as well, this article by the General Manager of Detroit's NPR station, WDET is worth a look: <a href="http://wdet.org/shows/wdetraw/episode/can-we-tell-the-whole-detroit-story/?hq_e=el&hq_m=1671315&hq_l=1&hq_v=e6609d3a02">http://wdet.org/shows/wdetraw/episode/can-we-tell-the-whole-detroit-story/?hq_e=el&hq_m=1671315&hq_l=1&hq_v=e6609d3a02 </a><br />
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LAST - another magazine/blog. Always learning more about the city from many different perspectives; THE HOUR/DETROIT <a href="http://www.hourdetroit.com/">http://www.hourdetroit.com/ </a>Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-21327236250976268802012-06-13T07:18:00.000-07:002012-06-19T07:03:48.495-07:00About Detroit: More Videos and SuchTwo more videos from Richard Florida on Detroit from Atlantic Cities:<br />
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Now the Fourth:<br />
The Businesses That Will Lead Detroit <a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2012/06/businesses-will-lead-detroit/2176/">http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2012/06/businesses-will-lead-detroit/2176/</a><br />
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Focusing on "cheap, affordable space and innovation. "If you want to rebuild a neighborhood, you're a lot better off starting
with stuff people eat and drink. Movie theaters, fine, baseball
stadiums great. But where people really want to go is to find places to
eat and drink."<b> -- Richard Florida </b><br />
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and the Fifth: The Future of Detroit <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_682535385"><br /></a><br />
<a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/06/future-detroit/2237/">http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/06/future-detroit/2237/ </a><br />
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Who is Detroit attracting? the new urbanite, diverse, open to innovation.<br />
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BUT THEN the comments - I always read them, continually wanting to hear the voice of Detroit - linked me to this terrific video, great music and truly full of those voices:<br />
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Alex Gallegos' DETROIT BIKE CITY <a href="http://vimeo.com/25805461">http://vimeo.com/25805461</a><br />
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In Detroit last spring I visited the Earthworks Urban Farm on the Eastside, run by the Capuchin Soup Kitchen/Capuchin Freres <a href="http://www.cskdetroit.org/EWG/">http://www.cskdetroit.org/EWG/ </a>and was invited to return on that Wednesday for their weekly bike repair clinic. A place to be: for recreation, for living lives amid and connecting to others, for skills, for both youth and others, and for the dire reason that among the problems Detroit has faced that doesn't help those there to rise: the lack of public transportation that prevents those able to find a job to get to one.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIBjGBt9BYL_eSoZWUSspkOczoosncSVFnxzGNsliq7ym-ryX5aj4WOFhA-s8uObRoXZNynRAgZmCupUj17x4H8LEI9ZhxsPQPCqsFXYJf6Nm5G9Aef5Ww3OJt-3ync3__Yxn5iMIg6UY/s1600/EarthworksFrm5ShaneGuardWoman1172C.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIBjGBt9BYL_eSoZWUSspkOczoosncSVFnxzGNsliq7ym-ryX5aj4WOFhA-s8uObRoXZNynRAgZmCupUj17x4H8LEI9ZhxsPQPCqsFXYJf6Nm5G9Aef5Ww3OJt-3ync3__Yxn5iMIg6UY/s320/EarthworksFrm5ShaneGuardWoman1172C.jpg" width="268" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"> Shane Bernardo (r), Outreach Coordinator of the The Capuchin Soup Kitchen -Earthworks Urban Farm</span></div>
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<u><b>UPDATE 18 June 2012 </b></u></div>
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From Model D: <a href="http://www.modeldmedia.com/features/detroitbuscompany612.aspx?utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=The+Detroit+Bus+Company%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%84%A2s+new+old+idea&utm_content=%7BEmail_Address%7D&utm_campaign=Building+the+city+of+tomorrow"> http://www.modeldmedia.com/features/detroitbuscompany612.aspx?utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=The+Detroit+Bus+Company%C3%A2%E2%82%AC%E2%84%A2s+new+old+idea&utm_content={Email_Address}&utm_campaign=Building+the+city+of+tomorrow</a></div>
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<a href="http://thedetroitbus.com/">The Detroit Bus Company</a>, started as a private venture by Andy Didorosi, and trying to balance the needs of those in need of transportation with an economic structure that focusus on the tour industry while also aiming to connect jobs and the suburbs to the Detroit economic plan. "For every seat purchaed on a regular route, tour or private rental, we'll provide another Detroiter in need a free ride to work.". </div>Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-70709163862644663132012-05-29T09:43:00.001-07:002012-05-29T10:43:33.922-07:00DETROIT RISING<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Courtesy of Atlantic Cities</span></i></div>
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A series of short videos/conversations, about Detroit, posted by The Atlantic Cities and Senior Editor Richard Florida. <a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/special-report/detroit-rising/">http://www.theatlanticcities.com/special-report/detroit-rising/</a><br />
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Three installments so far. An overview yet valuable as well for the comments which should be read, giving a diverse set of perceptions about the City.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGRkW6c-rqY7vyIEU9GWUPF7obi2-rZMGWqLh4vUPUKlOkMT9qdFiCHLtF6SuCmajQUBapkfawhs7Y3Gy28vFQKdi2VJFB7NNWcCWdaVkzxT21ohx2TGQXVvuwYKy_xIXQODogI33nffQ/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-05-29+at+10.29.28+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>1. INTRODUCTION/ THE STATE OF DETROIT </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhStg0BLCtweP11DvQG8uUdu3ATLFAkMnZiR8UvD7GWEU8SnZMKN2xlvKGYkCrGa6RQ5TrVHsJyhi13wrx6FO_hzT-ETaK_XhGfkB6NNksLa2YdA0-OqiTfxae4fYIVZ9Hhyphenhyphen08pXvVBR3k/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-05-29+at+10.27.55+AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhStg0BLCtweP11DvQG8uUdu3ATLFAkMnZiR8UvD7GWEU8SnZMKN2xlvKGYkCrGa6RQ5TrVHsJyhi13wrx6FO_hzT-ETaK_XhGfkB6NNksLa2YdA0-OqiTfxae4fYIVZ9Hhyphenhyphen08pXvVBR3k/s320/Screen+shot+2012-05-29+at+10.27.55+AM.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Courtesy of Atlantic Cities</span></i></div>
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From this installment: "<br />
We’ve all read the story of Detroit’s downfall by now. Once a booming
hub for automotive manufacturing and a center for technological
innovation, the veritable Silicon Valley of its day, the city has
witnessed devastating economic changes. Between 2000 and 2010, the
city's population fell by 25 percent, the largest drop of any city with a
population over 100,000. Even New Orleans, despite Hurricane Katrina,
didn’t see a population plunge as dramatic. At the height of the recent
economic crisis, Detroit’s unemployment rate was 18.2 percent.<br />
But the other story of Detroit, the bigger one – is of its rebirth, its
rising. Given the austerity of these times, this is less a story of
top-down government efforts, and much more a story of the organic
efforts of the entrepreneurs and artists, designers and musicians who
have chosen to live in Detroit and be the stewards of its resurgence." <a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/05/how-detroit-rising/1997/">http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/05/how-detroit-rising/1997/</a><br />
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2. DETROIT'S CREATIVE POTENTIAL<br />
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<a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/05/detroits-creative-potential/2068/">http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/05/detroits-creative-potential/2068/ </a><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy0yHa2yNeDjqgkPPQAK3CxCAhVdX_DkaI7zUbddxQVvuLlaTt8RmmQkiQta-TFtG3UB1qWf7PxPfAvrwsnU25vlqVzYAPjWH76Jk3RPqyw4acbfZJEpOuBMSg2nn0J8w8KjjSL2hqOyE/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-05-29+at+10.39.52+AM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy0yHa2yNeDjqgkPPQAK3CxCAhVdX_DkaI7zUbddxQVvuLlaTt8RmmQkiQta-TFtG3UB1qWf7PxPfAvrwsnU25vlqVzYAPjWH76Jk3RPqyw4acbfZJEpOuBMSg2nn0J8w8KjjSL2hqOyE/s320/Screen+shot+2012-05-29+at+10.39.52+AM.png" width="320" /></a><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Courtesy of Atlantic Cities</span></i></div>
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3. THE FACES BEHIND DETROIT'S REBIRTH/Who's Making A Difference<br />
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<a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2012/05/detriot-rising-iii/2111/">http://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2012/05/detriot-rising-iii/2111/</a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Courtesy of Atlantic Cities</span></i></div>
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<br />Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-13736501527092274832012-04-27T08:30:00.003-07:002012-06-13T05:58:20.114-07:00Reading Others, Thinking about CitiesThere is no doubt that one part of the raison d'etre for this blog represents for me a place where I can wander around my photographic subject, test out ideas, reserve notes electronically for me, as well as the reader. <br />
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Do I market the blog? Not as much as I would like but then, there is always the question of what is a blog for? I know that my <a href="http://sarajaneboyersisaloud.blogspot.com/">Sara Jane Boyers Aloud Blog</a> is very much an outlet for me to ruminate over what it is I do as a photographer, as a writer.<br />
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This DETROIT: DEFINITION Blogspot and the <a href="http://findingchinatown.blogspot.com/">FINDING CHINATOWN Blogspot</a> as well are more about specific projects. I can refer some of you to them to better explain the work. I use them myself as I edit, formulate my direction, note information and test out ideas. For me, a repository. For the reader, a peek into my process.<br />
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Thus for DETROIT: DEFINITION, today's subject is cities, the past, and the future. Two articles posted this week, one specifically about Detroit, the other about cities in general are ones to hold with material to contemplate.<br />
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The first: "Jim's" Sweet Juniper blog article <b><i>The Fauxtopias of Detroit</i>'s<i> Suburbs</i></b> <a href="http://www.sweet-juniper.com/2012/04/fauxtopias-of-detroits-suburbs.html">http://www.sweet-juniper.com/2012/04/fauxtopias-of-detroits-suburbs.html</a><br />
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The blogger writes thoughtfully and poetically about the history and social meanings of its collection: from Henry Ford's Greenfield historic park to the suburban ones encircling Detroit. Within this: a revealing perspective of the locale and history of Detroit's Michigan Theatre, a extant (an ironic word) example of Joni Mitchell's <a href="http://jonimitchell.com/music/song.cfm?id=208">Big Yellow Taxi</a>: "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot..." <br />
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The second: <b><i>Salon's Will that Starbucks last? Gentrification has remade some cities and left others behind. Alan Ehrenhalt tells us what changes to expect next</i> </b> <a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/04/26/will_that_starbucks_last/?source=newsletter">http://www.salon.com/2012/04/26/will_that_starbucks_last/?source=newsletter</a><br />
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<b>THE PRESENT</b>: Today's News: Honing in on Detroit:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">1.</span> In the midst of above, today the Detroit Free Press reports on a new arts project designed to re-introduce/re-invigorate metro Detroit: Detroit's first ContemporaryArt Festival to be held this Fall. Thinking I might be there.<br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: small;">Contemporary art festival will illuminate Detroit. </span></i></b><br />
From the article: "A century ago Detroit had its own Electric Park, a lit-up amusement park at the foot of the Belle Isle Bridge. The
adventuresome spirit of that long-ago place of wonder returns to
Detroit on a grand scale Oct. 5-6 with the inaugural Dlectricity, an
ambitious contemporary art festival that promises to light up Midtown
with some 30 works of site-specific installations of light, video
projections and sound created by a mix of international, regional and
local artists."<br />
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<a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20120427/ENT05/204270313/Contemporary-art-festival-will-illuminate-Detroit?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cs"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.freep.com/article/20120427/ENT05/204270313/Contemporary-art-festival-will-illuminate-Detroit?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s</span></a> </h1>
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<span style="font-size: large;">2.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> From Karen Dybis, terrific Detroit writer: </span>
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<i><b><span style="font-size: small;">This spring’s April showers bring … development in Detroit? It seems that way</span></b></i></h1>
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<a href="http://blog.thedetroithub.com/2012/04/27/april-showers-bring-development-in-detroit-it-certainly-seems-that-way/%20"><span style="font-size: small;">http://blog.thedetroithub.com/2012/04/27/april-showers-bring-development-in-detroit-it-certainly-seems-that-way/ </span></a></h1>
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</h1>Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1412311528329538234.post-75001307493955743492012-04-24T09:36:00.002-07:002012-04-24T09:36:27.984-07:00DETROIT: DEFINTION - 1st Time ExhibitedFor the very first time, two photographs from my ongoing DETROIT: DEFINITION project are up in exhibition, in a group show curated by noted art writer/curator Shana Nys Dambrot.<br />
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Details: <a href="http://www.analogsalon.com/looking-glass-a-photography-exhibition-curated-by-shana-nys-dambrot-april-20th-2012/">LOOKING GLASS</a> at the Analog Salon, Culver City.<br />
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The opening was this past Friday night and the show runs through June. Got some wonderful compliments and curiosity about my work and about Detroit. <br />
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Shana's comment on the show and upon my photos:<br />
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"For LOOKING GLASS I’ve assembled a dozen photographers whose work is in
various ways made in a collaboration between the imagination and the
world -- to explore ways that the camera is an expressive, fantastical,
imaginative and pliable medium as well as form of document that contains
evidence of external reality.<br /> <br /> Everyone knows that a painter,
for example, starts with a blank canvas and piles of pigment and that
whether they makes landscape, portrait, or abstract images based in
whole, in part, or not at all on external phenomenon, that the thing
they make is entirely created from “nothing” or, put another way, from
pure “imagination” -- whereas photography by definition involves
negotiating with the external world not of your making. So how does a
photographer achieve the same kind of emotional depth and psychological
complexity, even approaching altered states of consciousness and
perception, mediated through a “machine” -- that is the question.</span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show">.....</span><span class="text_exposed_show">For Sara Jane Boyers, her pictures of Detroit conflate present-day documentation with personal deep-buried memory."</span>Sara Jane Boyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15775165555129977531noreply@blogger.com0