Dystopian Detroit

100 Abandoned Houses in Detroit

The last few days have been filled with Detroit sports victories.  Justin Verlander became the second Tiger in history to toss two no-hitters in his career. The Red Wings are on track to make history by coming from behind 3-0 in a series to evade elimination in the playoffs. And the clean, inviting few blocks that make up Hockeytown, Comerica Park and Ford Field are among the only parts of Detroit that ever play host to their creators: people.

I've blogged about Detroit before. But I have to say something again as a disturbing statistic has been reported by several agencies.

Detroit's illiteracy rate is an alarming 47%, reports Huffington Post.

So. Half of the people in Detroit can't read. They can't read the newspaper. They can't fill out job applications. They can't do the work or earn the money needed to attend post-secondary education, although, ironically, many of them have graduated high school. They can't write love letters. They can't read Lord of the Rings. They can't read the directions on a prescription.


The ability to read and write has long been the dividing line between the haves and the have-nots. And the haves have controlled populations this way. If a population can't read, it can't get new ideas. It can't communicate effectively with other members. How do we expect Detroit to pick itself up, rebuild its abandoned houses [click for an awesome photo essay on Detroit's abandoned hosues], and return to the great American city it once was if a person can graduate high school and still be functionally illiterate? How do you climb up when your ladder has no rungs?

The article I linked to at the Huffington Post mentions a statistic that says those who need "help" aren't getting it. But what can you do? You can not force half the people in Detroit to learn how to read. And programs to do it would be expensive. Detroit's citizens must take responsibility. Must take ownership of their city. No one else can do it for them. They need to build themselves up. No government or humanitarian group or charity can force a population to do better for itself. A psychologist may proscribe a pill to help a person to better themselves, but there is no pill that can clarify a city's mind. The soul of a city is its citizens.

I am not from Detroit. But I am from Michigan, and I love it. What happens to your state when your largest city is dangerous, unlettered, and failing? I am not brave enough to try and raise a family in an environment like that, but when everyone in Detroit who can read and knows a dying city when they see it leaves.... We are left with a 47% illiteracy rate, and a population who do not even know how to lift their city up.

I don't have the solutions for Detroit. But I have a lot of hope for it. The city has a lot of history, and a lot of good things going for it. All it needs is the support of its citizens.

The Phillies and the Degradation of Detroit

Yeah, don't talk to me.

My poor Rays, after their split game, lost the World Series.

I'm sorry, Rays. I think I may have cursed you. Everyone I root for seems to come SO CLOSE, but never make it. Case in point: 2006 Tigers.

Pah.

But still, I guess it was nice for the Phillies to win in their hometown, and it's always fun to watch teams celebrate no matter who they are. My ultimate fantasy would be to get a baseball team for Grand Rapids, and then celebrate with them as they win the World Series. One day, before Gordon left for basic training, we were going through team names. Here are a few that I can remember, good, bad, ridiculous, plausible, some from Grand Rapids's reputation as a growing medical area, its history as a furniture manufacturing city, and the Grand River that is the namesake:

1. Grand Rapids Gators
2. Grand Rapids Geriatrics
3. Grand Rapids Groovers
4. Grand Rapids Rovers
5. Grand Rapids River Rats
6. The Grand Rapids River
7. Grand Rapids Grands
8. Grand Rapids Glands
9. Grand Rapids Rectum
10. Grand Rapids Rectal Thermometer
11. Grand Rapids Recession
12. Grand Rapids Gamma Rays
13. Grand Rapids Genesis
14. Grand Rapids Radiation

Okay, so I totally googled medical terms, but still.

(Grand Rapids, MI)

Also, it would kind of make me nervous. Grand Rapids is growing, and quickly. Our downtown is being redone block by block, and it's coming out gorgeous. People are flocking here in droves, and very few people who are born here leave. Or if they do, they come back here to have families. If you put a major sports team here, and if our Grand Rapids Genesis or whoever become popular, suddenly the Detroit Tigers lose half (or more) of their fandom, and therefore, their income. The Lions are doing next to nothing (Last Sunday's game was the first game not sold out since Ford Field opened, and was blacked out all the way to Lansing,) the Red Wings are popular as far as hockey itself is popular, and if you take even half the fans of even one sports team out of Detroit, Detroits shaking foundations get downright unstable.

Detroit is not a very successful city. The last time I was there, it was like a ghost town if you got any more than a couple blocks away from Comerica Park. You're not fooling anyone, Detroit. You're standing strong on your sports teams, and that's it. Detroit is dying, and it's sad. It's got a pretty colorful history. And I love Grand Rapids, but I'm sitting over here on the western side of the state, watching the east side of the state stumble about, and I feel bad about it all. Come on Detroit. Get with it. Clean it up. Get back to work. Get back into your city. It could be such a great city. Man, I don't want to be ashamed of a city that is the first thing Canadians see when they come across from Windsor. I swear, Canadians, the rest of the state is much nicer!