Jim, as always that was a wonderful, incredibly inspiring post. The story about Cub and his community work had me in tears.
You do such an amazing service to the people of Detroit by telling their stories to the rest of us. Thank you very, very much. I truly appreciate it.
As a Metro Detroiter, I have to say I am happy to have a thoughtful person like you able to influence people's opinion of Detroit. It is a very interesting place, and I'm happy to hear about all the good people with innovative ideas for the city's empty space. I'd like to get involved.
It seems to me that Time Magazine has it backwards. Why send a reporter to ride around with you for a few hours and have him write a story that won't even scratch the surface of decoding what is happening in that city? Why do that, when they could pay you to write that piece, instead?
I've never felt the urge to visit Detroit more than RIGHT now.
Thanks Jim, well done!
Time should just print this piece, as is. It's fascinating. What an amazing man Mr. Covington is. I'm off to check out his blog now.
I don't know if there is anything more inspirational than people building something out of nothing. What a great post. Thanks for sharing.
thanks for this. wow... i'll be carrying this with me through the week (and hopefully longer). it made me less afraid, even excited, to move somewhere that isn't "attractive" - we'll need to move in a year after school is done. I'm really glad for people like Mr. Covington. Further rearranges my definition of success, and I'm glad for that.
Just yesterday I was taking a walk through my neighborhood. We live in an apartment, but it's on the edge of a neighborhood of mansions. I like walking there b/c there are beautiful trees, but it feels abandoned - rarely does anyone leave their houses unless they're in a car. In some ways, it's just as much a ghost town as areas of Detroit, but it's a ghost town b/c it's full of wealth rather than poverty. What's eerie is that even though it looks and feels abandoned, you almost always hear the sound of construction or landscaping. And there are guard dogs at many of the gates. Not wild dogs, of course, but seems like a strangely opposite-world to yours.
I agree with Yolanda. You should have written the article.
You do more for exposing the true beauty and horrible truth of the city than anyone or anything I've read (or experienced first-hand for that matter.)
Once the weather gets warm, Cub can expect a visit from me and my kid and as many other people as I can drum up to help. What an inspiration.
"Further rearranges my definition of success"
yes: I agree so much. I think the Time reporter felt this way too. we get so caught up in our various perceptions of success; encountering a totally different (but nonetheless valid) type of success can be so refreshing. one thing that blew my mind was the way Mr. Covington made it so clear during the time we talked to him that what he was doing was way more important than money. I think far too many of us can't even imagine being successful without money being a part of it.
This is exactly why articles like Forbes Magazine's "10 Most Miserable Cities" (Detroit is #7, by the way) are so infuriating to me. Why beat that dead horse? Why not write something like this, and showcase people like these? That's how revitalization happens--inspiring people, one at a time. Thanks, from a fellow hopeful (and not at all miserable) Detroit resident.
Next time I'm in the area (I am from the downriver area), can you take me and my parents on a tour? I know Detroit pretty well, but I don't know this Detroit.
By the way, do you know any people from the Chamber? You're getting the city so much press, I would think they'd want in on it!
Amazing. The concept of intentionally ruralized urban communities is going to keep me thinking all week.
Just a quick note. (I hate to be that guy that Dogs you out for something your shouldn't know.)
Las Vegas is populated by the second largest group of mormons in the United states.
I used to run a business in Las Vegas we did technology for "night clubs". Most of my best installers were Mormons.
If you want the best tour of Vegas, ask a Mormon.
-C
p.s. I'm not a Mormon.
I knew there are lots of mormons in nevada. but I figured (wrongly?) that they wouldn't take you anywhere with, you know, all-you-can-drink CAFFEINATED BEVERAGES.
that said, I would prefer a tour of vegas from a mormon than anyone from the convention bureau.
thought-provoking as always...
I wish this was there when I was a kid. I guess devastation has to be complete before people are able to shake off the denial and get to work fixing things in a way that only individuals and small communities are able to.
Most people just moved... like my family. 
please make sure and let us know once the article is out. link if you can. I am sure you did a perfect job taking him around. Much better than any mayor would have ever done.
This really is just a wonderful story. We need to keep snowballs like this rolling, everywhere we find them.
Maybe if we stopped scoffing at "community organizers" and gave them some support, we could really get this country moving again.
It's like a homegrown revolution vs. nation-building by foreigners-- when people get invested in their own quality of life, the very act of starting to improve it can do even more than whatever specific end result is sought.
I hope Time is reading this-- they could at least ask you to write up a little supporting piece to accompany what is likely to be a bland article.
"The 100% True Story of How I Polluted a Time Magazine Reporter's Impression of the City" (how true, yet again).
sorry anonymous. I'm sure it wasn't as good as the tour you could give of macomb county.
Anonymous, how is giving some an honest account of what the city is like on a micro level be polluting someone's impression? If it's real, why ignore it?
I live in Wayne County.
your IP says otherwise. even if you do live in Wayne County, that could mean the pointes or dearborn or even livonia. why so coy?
where you live doesn't matter. what do you think I should have shown the reporter?
Kristen: it may be "honest" to you and jdg but so far all I've seen is tunnel vision focused on vacant buildings and no attempt to really know the people that live in Detroit.
you know, I think that is a valid criticism, anonymous. there is a local blog that does a much better job of respectfully portraying the lives of some of the more fascinating characters of this city (http://www.detroitblog.org/).
I don't write about my neighbors or the people I interact with throughout this city on a daily basis largely because, like you, I assume they value their privacy. I don't like to take portraits of people because I find it feels exploitative. often that leaves me with meditations on landscapes and buildings. I can assure you though, that I introduced this reporter to many "people that live in Detroit."
for the record, that does include me, my kids, my neighbors, my friends, and many hundreds of wonderful people I've had the pleasure to meet since we moved here.
I did not take the reporter through the MCS or the Packard Plant or Fisher 21 or Lee Plaza or the Roosevelt Warehouse or the Metropolitan. He wanted to write about ways Detroit is reinventing itself, so I showed him one way: through welcoming the pastoral landscape imposed by decades of abandonment and building a new sense of community through gardening. And I introduced him to a few incredible Detroiters in the process.
"It was the sort of outreach that patchouli-soaked non-profits requiring boards and grants and employees hope to accomplish, but this was just a guy, his best friend, a few people from the neighborhood, and a bunch of people he met on the internet."
This is cruel, hilarious and can be true. How many earnest young people do I know from Ivy League college grads that fit this description? Way too many. I give them a break when they're not especially full of themselves/pretentious, because unlike many of their counterparts, at least they're making the effort, even if they seem to get bogged down in the beaurocracy of it.
In the past year I've felt enormous amounts of guilt about being part of the industry that helped build up the housing industry in the way that it did. Starting in June, I plan to switch to flex time and give up my one free day a week to volunteering for a non-profit helping people with foreclosures. I wish I could just do it by myself, like this guy did, but I find that too overwhelming and there would be lots of issues with my work and liability and whatnot.
We'll see how it goes.
As in, could start it up all by myself, like Cub. But I think I'll take the less stressful route of piggybacking on all the pro bono opps the state bar emailed me.
If you're unwilling to take off your four inch heels or your original Nikes, you just don't get it and never will.
Hey Dutch,
Love the Georgia Street garden. That is reinvention. Grass roots, baby!
Thanks for giving me goosebumps, as always...
Let us know when the piece gets published, would ya?
Missy
I look forward to reading the article in Time (I guess that means an annual physical) and I do hope that the reporter takes the slant on the city that you showed him - I find the ideas much more provocative and exciting than casinos. I also wanted to tell you that I knew virtually nothing about Detroit until I came across your blog some months ago. In a strange way now I feel connected to and invested in the place, still never having been there. So your work is grass roots, too.
For whatever it's worth, I think you did an awesome job of showing him what they asked for. & thanks for sharing it with us. For those of us who are wanting to find Nice Things To Say, this is an awesome read. I am nodding in my kitchen at the comments on class, success, money. It's something we're working on, too.
Thanks for a wonderful post and the info on the community garden. What a great story! You did Detroit proud; hopefully Time will also provide a fair representation.
"If there's anything I've learned from reading the great writers, it's that if you can capture the truth of any place you can reach the truth of every place." True, just like you teaching us about Detroit. Thanks for writing.
A young reporter from Time magazine could never afford to live Park Slope - please. If he's well paid, Carrol Gardens, otherwise Bushwick.
Inspiring story. Thanks. I went to Cub's blog. Can't wait to read the Times article- all 1,000 words!
Ditto Yolanda. I love reading your writing. It will be interesting to see what the TIME guy does with good info. Thanks for the bit on the garden and that slice of hope radiating out from a neighborhood.
Love the Detroit pieces. Best reading on the internets.
you're on metafilter today. congrats!
YOu probably would have laughed at the mental processes I went through reading this:
"What the...oh sweet Jesus, he took the guy on a tour of abandoned buildings and wild dogs....because THAT story sure doesn't get told enough..."
"wait, what? The Powerhouse? Never heard of it. Awesome."
"Oh my, I love Detroiters. A market for healthy food? Can I help?"
"Wow. WOW. This is fantastic."
Should have understood who I was reading right from the outset and that you are as tired of the "abandoned buildings as easy cliche" stories as I am. This was a fantastic post and has stayed with me since I read it yesterday. The only thing that is going to save us is the bright, creative people working from the ground up. And please do let us know when the article hits, I'd ike to see if the guy got it right or pulled a Mitch Albom.
What makes you qualified to do this, is that you care. You care about Detroit and are committed to telling the stories that most people don't hear. I know I appreciate it and so do most others.
Mr. Covington inspires me. What an amazing thing to bring people together.
that's funny AmyinMotown.
I certainly didn't want to take him on a ruin tour, but there's no hiding them as you try to find these gardens.
"Um, what's that giant hunk of steel-reinforced concrete rotting against the horizon?"
he kept asking me why I chose to live here, and I kept telling him around to look around at the crazy colors and the signage. Everything here is handpainted and the city is blessedly forsaken by most national chains. "Every damn office building in Manhattan has a Duane Reed or a Cosi or some shit like that on the ground floor," I said to him. "Detroit has to make shit up."
I don't care if you're talking about black, white hispter, black hipster, black gay hipster, hippie or whatever subcultures, I think there's something to the idea that this sort of environment fosters incredibly creativity and ingenuity because you aren't being spoon-fed everything by corporations.
I know the "fabulous ruins" storyline is cliche and too easy but that doesn't mean you can just ignore that they exist, you know? they are just a part of the landscape here. embracing them is I think better than ignoring them.
I found this aside telling: "they still need to pay a few thousand dollars in back taxes to get the property..."
Having to pay back taxes in order to make productive use of a vacant, abandoned property is idiotic. The city is making no revenue from this property and has no prospect of ever making any revenue from it as things stand now. The city would be helping community minded entrepreneuers and itself if it allowed new, prospective owners to start with a clean slate from the tax man.
Thanks for the link to the garden's blog. Great entry, made my morning. 
This isn't the first time I've gotten teary-eyed reading your blog and once again I thank you for writing.
This is one of my favorite parts: "If you put Mr. Covington in a designer suit, from a block away you might mistake his silhouette for that of our former mayor, but make no mistake: in his blue jeans and work gloves he has proven himself to be everything that man was not."
Amen to that. I hope Peter Karmanos (who famously said KK was the best we had) reads this and eats his words. Mark Covington is just one example of the greatness that is the people of Detroit. I'm going to check out his blog.
Thank you for this great story. It inspires me to know that community can be grown without huge quantities of $$$ and boards. That area around the school blows me away. You can't find an empty lot anywhere in Portland.
I will think about this story next time a visitor comes to my town. Show them what is great about the community, not just the tourist stops.
this was just lovely, jim. i think xiobhan has it right- the fact that you truly care about your city is what always shines through in these pieces- it's what makes your reader emotionally connect to a place that we would probably skip over due to ignorance or misunderstanding of your town.
i think that people like mr covington are prophets, and kudos to you for giving him a forum to be recognized- there are specific needs that each of our own communities have that can only be met at the ground level, by people who have intimate understanding of what is needed, what would work. that isn't to say that all the non-profs and other groups don't have a place in the system, but for anyone to ignore or dismiss the importance of community-level work done by (i hate to use the descriptor) ordinary folks really does the entire city a disservice. nicely done.
Two great children's books about community gardens:
Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman and Judy Pedersen
City Green by Dyanne Disalvo-ryan
The story you shared was inspiring. It's nice to hear they don't just exist in books.
Excellent story. Thank you so much for this. Living about an hour from Detroit, this story gives me some hope for Michigan.
*immediately* following me catching this great post arrived my latest issue of Rolling Stone which features "Requiem for Detroit." they previously did an article on Detroit about 2-3 years ago that sparked my interest in the city which has since grown to following s-j religiously (for a lot of reasons besides Detroit, but still).
looking forward to reading the RS article when i get a chance.
So how does that happen? The mayor cancels and you're the next-in-line?
So much about this story is inspirational. Thank you for sharing it with the rest of us.
the good thing is that i stumbled on you...the bad thing is that it is 2 a.m. a few years ago we were in detroit on a location scout for a photo shoot. we had the privilege of getting a very similar tour by two detroit-born-and-bred photographers and i've never forgotten it...maybe 'coz i was born in gary. thank you - thank you - thank you.
it's hard for me to accept that detroit is "going through a lot of hard times" and stay positive about living in this city. i am amazed by your ability to recognize both the harsh realities and amazing potential of this place.
Great piece. Thank you for the work you did with the Time Guy; Detroit is an easy Pinata for the collective sticks of the national press. It takes work to see the beauty here because seeing what's wrong is so easy.
Cub sees the beauty and he's put his strong back into making it better. One house, one block, one neighborhood at a time.
For your readers, Cub needs help raising money. His vision includes re-habbing that old crack-house into a viable community center and store.
He is in the final throes of establishing his vison into a 501(3)C non-profit, but he needs another $125 for filing the paperwork. Check out his blog, he takes paypal.
From one rust-belt resident to another, fantastic post. Love your writing!
dutch for mayor! the end.
(beautiful, as ever)
What a story!! Please do some follow-ups on that man and that garden.
Thank you so much for this post. I really like your blog and will definitely be tuning in more often. People like you and Mr. Covington are why this is a great, great town. There is hope. Always.
Well done. Thank you.
Nice blogpost. I traveled from LA to Detroit 8 times over a 4 year period, including spending 4 summers doing community gardening, moving hay in our rental care, painting murals, involved in creating community dance and arts projects with young people in detroit. we spent a lot of time at the boggs center, catherine ferguson academy and on farnsworth,
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your post brings back many memories of the detroit that inspires me.
Beautiful writing. I enjoy your posts about being a SAHD, and adventures in dead refrigerators, but this is what I return for.
After reading this post, I can't help but feel that Time's story on Detroit will be relegated to the waste piles of old history books, much like those at the abandoned book depository. But the stories and images I find here will be for the ages. Keep up the good work, Jim--you're the Howard Zinn of Detroit, recording the people's history of the city and (more importantly) its future. Print, online, whatever--I consistently come to your site because it features some of the best writing and photography I've seen anywhere.
An recent piece by a journalist who took a trip around detroit:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Co...15/
945aynyk.asp
The detail about the pitbull was bit gratuitous.
I've read your posts on Detroit with increasing interest over time. Most of the time I get the sense of despair -this is the first where I've had some feeling of hope. I'm still completely fascinated with the crumbling of your city and I think it makes me look for the same sort of places on a smaller scale where I live as well. Maybe this time the mainstream article will read a little differently.
Thanks for your wonderful insights into the remaking of an urban nightmare into something new and somewhat rural. It's better than just abandoning the city. I started reading you and can't stop. My husband grew up in Detroit (attended Cass Tech & North Farmington HS). He has great stories but can never "go home" again, as it's not there any more. We tried to visit a few years ago and he just lost it. Ann Arbor & U of M visit was Ok but Detroit just tore him up. So I read your blog and try to tell him that some small good things are happening. Someday maybe he'll read your blog too.
beautiful! Time should just have asked you to do the story.
yeah! Thank the gods you got to drive the young Time writer kid around. And thank you for showing our gardens and the CF school. This is Detroit to me, and this is why I stay. People like Andrew and the Farnsworth community, and all the other hopeful people that are trying to build community again. Thank you!
This was a beautiful and important story. I'm telling everyone I know about it.
By the way, your Time guy was probably not a writer, but a researcher. The Time system is to send young researchers into the field to gather data, which are then assembled by writers and editors. So now you know why every article in Time reads like it was written by someone who never left the office; it was.
(See this piece on Time's history: the first paragraph on this page, and the last paragraph on this page).
I am still trying to wrap my head around this piece. I live in Baltimore so I am no stranger to urban blight, but here, in Baltimore, I see hope (a lot of it, in fact). Because I do not yet have a coherent thought, I will offer this instead:
Look what the Baltimore City public schools are doing with vacant land (albeit in Baltimore County). It takes incredible vision but it can be done:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/
...ticle_15754.cfm
I understand the fascination with urban decay. I chose to attend University of Maryland's law school after walking around "campus" and seeing tower after tower of decrepit public housing. I knew it was a city that would fascinate me for years to come.
Back here after a long time and it's funny reading this from London now with my head already trying to figure out how to better write about the decay, but not only the decay, when I'm back home in India. As also, how to create, naive yes, a new media! Thanks for this - food for thought.
I just wanted to pop in and tell you I really enjoy your photos and blog. I live near Ann Arbor and am trying to work up the courage to explore Detroit someday.
I saw this article recently that I thought I would share:http://www.slate.com/id/2213696/
This story was linked to "hope" in a more recent post, and true, it is, but you offer so much more. Link "hope" to the story of picking apples in the city. Link "hope" to when Graham was born. Link "hope" to you and Juniper at the silent movie. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but there's lots that you see that is hopeful.
Hiya,
I'm a Detroiter (well, Roseville, not proper Detroit) who moved to San Francisco about a decade ago. Every time I come back to Michigan I hear plans about how Detroit will get revived. How Michigan will turn itself around. How the glory days will come back.
After ten years I stopped believing.
But this, all of this you write about makes me think again about what could be possible. You do a great service to the city--and the state--with stories like this.
Thank you.
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