Detroit Days 2 and 3 (Explorers and Community)
John, an adventurer
Lisa and Jaye drop us off at John's house sometime in the afternoon, one of few houses that don't look as though it is in complete disrepair. The striking thing about Detroit is how the majority of it is in such a state of abandonment and bitter cold melancholy, that it seems almost post apocalyptic. When he answered the door he looked like a brown-haired version of Yukon Cornelius. John has an energy that is calm, tired from work and from thinking. He has a ton of knowledge and quiet confidence about him. He is Hemingway's idea of a man, crafty, quiet, assertive and self-assured. He also has a hilarious dry sense of humor. He leads us into his small house, quaint and quirky, hilarious decorations abound (depicted above) and oddities here and there. He seemed to have a passive affinity for gathering knowledge and adventurous experience. He made us tea and talks to us about various subjects; the dilapidated area he calls home, his wife (who was absent, on a trip), religion, literature, agriculture, architecture, among other things. One idea of his that he was emphatic about, a sort of semi-nomadic life plan he wanted to perpetuate, fascinated me. He expressed that his ideal lifestyle would be having one home in maybe four choice, very different, places around the world, and to cycle through them living there for two or three months at a time. He'd spend a month or two in Detroit, and gain enough money through his architecture/construction exploits to carry him to each place, where there he would also work, given that his abilities were necessary everywhere. He figured this was a wise way to live, so as to stave off stagnation, boredom and keep life culturally varied and exciting. Consistent with his adventurous spirit, he decided, before the sun sunk, he'd show us the abandoned zoo on Belle Island.
Belle Island Zoo
As we are driving through the Sunday streets of Detroit, the empty streets are full of despair. The roads are like mouths with each abandoned house resembling decaying teeth. Each home stubbornly rooted but full of holes and collapsing walls and roofs, entire blocks completely abandoned, as though aspiring to be America's answer to Chernobyl. Even most large factory buildings are destroyed or left alone Everywhere you look on the buildings there is graffiti that for the most part isn't artistic.
We crossed over a small bridge, and just beyond some sort of still-functioning rec-club building, there was the gates of the abandoned zoo. We parked, trying to be inconspicuous. John pointed out Canada across the water. We stepped through the gates and it was as though we were going to Jurassic Park post-dinosaur escape, and walked out into the Zoo. Belle Island Zoo is all over the internet as an oddity. I've supplied a link to Huffington Post's feature about it. The place is pretty big and has been abandoned since 2002, as mayor Kwame Kilopatrick closed it to save money. It was featured as a location for the movie Real Steel.
The place is eerie. There was a room with a glacier full of ice made by years of dripping pipes. There was an abundance of graffiti and most of the buildings had been destroyed by vandals. Trees had fallen through certain parts of it and there was a lot of overgrowth. We climbed all around and took many pictures, it was a surreal landscape, feeling like the setting for a zombie video game or something! We saw a group of young graff-writers trouncing around and claiming their territory with murals, and at one point, near what I imagine would be a lion's cage, we tried forcing entry through a door and turned out to be disturbing a homeless man in residence there. John lead our expedition throughout fearlessly and familiarly, pulling a few pieces of scrap metal to take home and cash in, while Alexa and I collected photos, and I frighteningly climbed one of the conical roofs before I got a third of the way up and was terrified of slipping to my death! At one point, before our return, as the sun dipped itself into the horizon we experiences one of the most gorgeous sunsets of our trip, which I tried to capture with my Itouch. I've enclosed this photo, that naturally doesn't do nature justice, among the many others I took at the Zoo! With this haunting reminder of the poverty-stricken state of Detroit in our hearts and heads, we decided to go to an event that attempts to bring the community together and quell some of the areas issues. Finger on the pulse of his area, he took us to a big warehouse type of building to a beautiful community assembly called "Detroit Soup"
Detroit Soup and the power of community
As we arrived at the Detroit soup (link provided above), it became clear that John knew many many people in the community and was very in touch with the changes. He filled us in on people he interacted with and the buildings we passed as a presidential adviser would. The Detroit Soup is a community attempt to bring people together and provide funding and awareness for local projects that would help the area. Interestingly, we had just heard of this type of event from Amanda, Kerry and friends in Indianapolis, and less than a week later we would have the pleasure of being involved in one! It was a giant building, perhaps an old warehouse or factory, a large open space with pillows and small low-to-the-ground tables stuffed with dozens of people. They were bundled up as the space was lit and heated mildly most of the warmth coming from the sheer volume of people. There was a man set up humbly with a small P.A. playing flamenco guitar.
The format is as follows: within this space, hundreds of people gather, donate five or more dollars before they enter, and get together in this large space. Soup or food is served to people for free (often, even the people cooking or making juices, as one man Julien of Julien's Tonic and Juice, were local businesses or entrepreneurs and promoting their endeavors) on a line much like a soup kitchen would be operated. Everyone sits with their food and then listens to some presentations. Let me explain, four people or groups make presentations during which their proposition or business venture is explained and questions are answered. The community sits and listens, taking notes. Then after the presentation, there is an anonymous voting process, whichever project gets the vote wins all of the donation money collected at the door to fund the endeavors. I thought and still think this is a brilliant means of supporting people and bringing about change in people's lives and in our local communities!
One of the projects was a young man who has a very interesting and technical project involving a new sort of energy efficient light bulb. The process involved oils and emitted more light, less heat and expended less energy than even your average economical light bulb. This was intriguing and presented in a way that could help save the city and it's people money, but those around me seemed skeptical, it seemed too impersonal perhaps. Next went a dancer, a woman named Ryan-Myers-Johnson, who was asking for help to fund her SideWalk Festival Of Performing Arts series. It was a multi-faceted series that took art and dance and music to the streets to give people something to celebrate. They would bring national, regional and local artists together to draw attention to the brilliance of culture and the life that could still be in the home of Detroit. The money would help assemble the events and bring beauty and self expression and a positive example to influence the local young to keep them out of trouble. Additionally, visiting admirers of the festival would bring some external income into the community. This was the presentation's message involving the power of music and art swayed me to vote for it. While it didn't win, Alexa later introduced herself to Ryan-Myers-Johnson and in august traveled there and was a part of the Sidewalk Festival (collaborating with her new boyfriend Kevin, of course!) Another presentation was by a young girl who had an idea called "Adopt-A-Plot" shared a sincere and heartbreaking anecdote about her walks home from school where there are so many barren lots and fallow lawns filled with trash. She wished deeply to have a home vibrant with foliage and flora that she could admire, take care of, be proud of. Her idea was to create a service through which people could "adopt" a plot of land and cultivate it into an aesthetically and functionally sound garden. This idea for both it's genuine presentation and it's practicality, feasibility and need won everyone over, and thus, won over everyone else who presented, they ended up winning just around 2,000 dollars! The amity is contagious, and despite the "competition" format, it is supportive and non-competitive! After talking to many people, we were exhausted, I didn't get to eat much, the lines were long and I avoided getting in other's way, so we headed off into the night in search of food.
The end of an adventurous day
It was around midnight when we said our good byes and John drove us through the cold night like a lawless madman. It was fun and non-threatening, he broke traffic law after traffic law in a matter-of-fact way more than to be rebellious or just contribute absurd comedy. He blew lights and stop signs with the philosophy that it was ridiculous that he should wait when there were clearly no current or present danger around. Being hungry (a startling and humbling reminder that a soup kitchen wouldn't provide enough for a person, certainly not one without a roof over their head and no food between the kitchen-stops) we ate at a small restaurant that John said was cheap and tasty. Both of these were true, they had food from Yemen and we had more soup and endless Na'n bread for roughly three dollars. It was delicious, we had some funny conversation and reflected on the day's experiences. He told us he bought a three story house that he had planned to renovate for he and his wife to live in. He said it was pretty cheap when we were both aghast at how that was a big commitment and he still seemed financially comfortable. He shrugged it off, we passed the house on the way to his current home, while in disrepair, it was clearly once, and could be again, a large and beautiful home. I finally caved and asked him how much it cause and he said "a few thousand, and I own it". A few thousand for a house! "Yeah, I mean I'll probably put ten thousand or so worth of work into it, and it didn't have much of a yard, so I had to buy the acre next to it." "How much did the additional property cost?" "five hundred dollars." Alexa and I were baffled, it gave some perspective to the situation, we both joked about just moving to Detroit and making music and then traveling the world during the colder months with all of the money saved, but one thing we kept in mind was the unwillingness we had to live in such an environment. This only enhanced our appreciation for our situations as well as the beauty of an event like Detroit Soup. We fell asleep and the next day John took us to the bus, that ended up taking us to Pittsburgh!
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