A is for Ass

M is for the Man (I met on Myspace)

D,

It was absolutely amazing in Detroit last night. I normally catch a cab outside my building, but it was bumper-to-bumper traffic with more people flooding into the city than out of it. So, I started walking down Woodward. I live in Circus Park – I can see the stadium from my window – and was headed to the starting point of the crawl – Cass Café. Random people were high-five-ing me. People were lined up to get in bars. It was Detroit at its best, and it really moved me. (Oh, yes, I survived the pub crawl, but I feel a little like a Mejiers Goldfish in a plastic baggie being held by a spastic kid with a penchant for shaking things).

I am a big advocate of people living, working and playing in this city. Unfortunately, the major problems of Detroit don’t reside in and won’t be solved by its “downtown.” Even if the downtown was pristine, the neighborhoods would still be suffering from crime, poverty, and much despair. Back in the day what made Detroit such an amazing place was not its downtown, but its neighborhoods – each one had a factory where people worked and had higher incomes than the national average. These neighborhoods supported the city proper and when they declined (due to factory closures, riots, white flight, what have you), the city center declined as well. I hope sincerely that downtown revitalization efforts will have a trickle-out effect the neighborhoods, because otherwise, impoverished majority-minority areas are, more often than not, largely ignored.

If you are ever interested to know, I could also tell you how housing code laws to protect renters and cheap government-subsidized home loans led to rampant home abandonment in Detroit.

Back to the Tigers. I tend to be a play-offs only sports fan. I’ll watch anything but football, really. Yesterday’s game was amazing.

Yeah. I actually know that Starbucks is good to its employees etc. I just love to hate them (especially when they stomp out the ma and pop coffee places. The are also everywhere in Europe – can’t one continent be sacred!!)

Edward Gorey Burping Cloth: R is for Retch.

BMW M3: I’ve driven one. It’s worth it. Although a Maserati Gransport is more worth it. Excellence Through Passion…indeed.

I’ve heard interesting things about people who work in advertising. I wonder if it is all true.

The Rowland Café in the Guardian Building suits my coffee requirements. Have you been to the Guardian Building?

M

posted by CV @ 3:28 PM