Detroit vs. Everybody

I've never been to Detroit, and though I've really had no experience being there to judge it I feel that It’s probably a place I’d feel terrified going to. I get scared walking on the South end of campus so Detroit would not be my first on my list of places to go. The beginning of Rembert’s article really described my exact notions of the city. All the media attention from the violence and bankruptcy has really put a damper on what I used to know Detroit for.

Years ago, before bankruptcy put Detroit in the headlines, I saw Detroit as a modernizing city. I heard Detroit and thought of Eminem and Cadillac. Never would I have thought about how bad it was becoming to live there. So, going into this article, I had many preconceived notions that this would just be another article on how horrible Detroit was to live in. Then I came to the Heidelberg Project. I was intrigued by how through the what seems to be the eminent demise of a “once-great” Detroit, some are still trying to give it something, something to be remembered by instead of this run down, almost 3^rd world, post-apocalyptic thoughts of the rest of the country. I loved the part when the author stated that he didn’t think that the rest of the country wanted Detroit to survive. I thought that this is a great description as to the feelings of the rest of the country. Many don’t want to think that Detroit is salvageable when in fact it can be as vibrant as it once was. Just because it has a bad rap and is deteriorating doesn’t mean it can’t be restored.

After reading this article, I now feel strongly about the revitalization that some people are putting forth the effort into doing for this city. It upset me when I read that someone had actually set fire to one of the houses in the Heidelberg project. I found that Belle Isle Park and the Hart Plaza Amphitheater were beautiful in their own respects, and I love that the author, despite seeing and hearing the absolute worst of Detroit, was able to shine a different light on the lesser known beauty in the city. I would like to see Detroit put back together and revitalized. It’d be a tremendous testament to human will power and hope that even the worst of the worst in this country can bounce back from the toll that economic hardships can cause.