Can it be? Are we actually looking at the end of another year? Wow…
For what it’s worth, it was a good one. For me anyway. I traveled, put a story in another book, wrote a lot, rode my bike, grew tomatoes and lived.
For a lot of people, it wasn’t as great. A lot of my friends lost their jobs, and Detroit continues to scrabble for economic survival. We’d all move away, but our houses aren’t exactly sellable right now, you know?
CNN posted a story that advocates an idea I’ve talked about for a while. If the city is becoming a wasteland, why not level it all and send it back to the wilderness? OK, maybe not that far, but why not large-scale urban farming? I think it’s a radical, innovative idea that could help Detroit reach a level of self-sufficiency and profitability again, as well as eliminating some serious blight.
I didn’t come here to get political, though. I came here to wish you all a Happy New Year, and to tell you to remember to put a penny on the windowsill tonight.
Cheers!
2 comments:
Did not put a penny on the windowsill, but I'm certain there are several dozen down the heating vent. I hope that at least means we'll have a short cold snap.
I know quite a few in your area with that issue and it's difficult/amazing for me as an observer, as Detroit was always the hopping place when I was a kid, going downtown to the RenCen where grandpa worked, getting Jelly Bellys at Trapper's Alley (right?)...Going to an '84 tiger's game. Greenfield Village. Several musicals grandpa took us all to. Watching the Fourth of July fireworks over the river from Canada's side. Taking the tunnel back.
Lots of good memories in that town.
Urban farming sounds like a good idea for all cities.
Just got back from the grocery, and shook my head at the prices of fresh veggies. I should have put lots more away last fall. Next harvest, I'm really gonna can & dry until I absolutely can't stand it any more.
Love that first paragraph, Ange! I'll make time to help you can & dry, too.
Reading Jay Leno's interview of himself in the American Airlines magazine, I thoughtof you. He loves Detroit, and any city "not completely gentrified." Detroit could be his new utopia?
Thinking it over, seriously, and weighing all the pluses and minuses, I would defintely choose urban crops over Bread-Basket GMO.
I will not ever, not ever, not ever, lose hope for Detroit.
Even if life takes you elsewhere, I don't want you to lose hope for Detroit either. Your gen & the offspring of your gen are going to raise that city from its ashes.
Mark.
My.
Words.
(VW: cogma. Must mean ... awareness? Hm.)
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