CHEAP AND YUMMY BROWNIE RECIPE!
6 TBSP cocoa, 1/4 C butter, 1 C sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1/3 C flour, 2 eggs, Cook 350 - 25 mins.

5/12/08

TAKE A PEEK AT A TEXAN'S VIEW OF DETROIT

Today I had the unique pleasure of reading what "outsiders" think about Detroit. I read a review of a Texan's quick jolt through our city over at Sprittibee's place.

She gave an honest yet, I do believe, slightly polished view of her ventures here.
I appreciate the candor as well as her generosity of tact. I do find her blog to be fun and upbeat but more than that, honest.


It's not often that we get to hear such candor about our city. She even brought up the ever so interesting question as to what "we" are called. Are we Michiganians, Michiganites, or Michiganders?

Native born Michigan folk are Michiganders even though our governor calls us Michiganians. I have only recently heard the term Michiganites and think it to be...ridiculous. Whatever we are called, the more pertinent term would be, Loyal. You see, our Sprittibee friend, Detroit is Artistic, Inspired, Magical...Beautiful!
I wish our Texan friend would have braved her fears and visited the Hard Rock Cafe in the beautiful Art Filled Compuware building. The Hard Rock Cafe - Detroit is located in the footprint of several of Detroit's finest attractions including the fabulous Joe Louis Arena, Comerica Park and Ford Field.
Had they ventured into the finest of Downtown Detroit, the vibrant Texan homeschooling family could have experienced a HUGE and expressive art and Architecture lesson while touring the Compuware Building. They would have been able to end their lesson at the top of the building with a fun ride around the city on the People Mover. (sky rail)



We did that very thing, back in 2006. But, then again, we are not afraid of Detroit because we know the truth about Detroit. Our views are not distorted by blown out of proportion movies or outsiders fears. We KNOW Detroit and are proud of our city . We are part of the thousands who are impressed, excited and honored to be able to call Detroit home. Our family heads out to the city quite often to attend the Opera. The Fox Theater is a national GEM that takes our breath away every time we enter!

There are indeed parts of our city that need repair and the cold weather and snow does a doozy on the roads. I do understand her reservations about getting out of her car if she zigged when she should have zagged in Detroit, however it is my belief that our Nations Capital is far worse in
regard to "bad parts" of town yet families visit there on their vacations every year. They do not give it a second thought. Maybe that is because the idea of Washington D.C. is of the majestic beauty of the White House. It is not often that the back streets of D.C. are highlighted in the news or that D.C's crime is mentioned nationwide. D.C. has that advantage.
Detroit doesn't have that luxury. We do get a bad rap in the press AND in movies. That stigma carries over to the psyche of our nation's parents. It Is a real possibility that parent's feel afraid to drive near our city let alone bring their family to experience it. That, is a sad, sad idea to have of our wonderful city.

Detroit is safe my good friends! Yes, you need to navigate well, just as you would in Washington D.C. or any other large city and recently our mayor has had his issues, but Detroit is a safe and fun place to visit for your whole family.
I urge you not to let the movie "8 mile" scare you away from what could be a beautiful and pleasant family vacation. I can tell you from experience, living only one mile from "8 mile" that this city has never hurt us one bit! We have been enriched, entertained, enlightened and entranced by Detroit!
I hope to hear from families who came to enjoy our city and learned that their fears were NOT realized. I hope that there are many, many families out there who have experienced the view from the People Mover and were able to attend a Tiger Game or view an Opera at The Majestic FOX Theater. I hope to hear from those who have visited The Charles H. Wright Museum of African History, The Detroit Institute of Art, The Detroit Zoo and The New Detroit Science Center.

I expect...NO...I KNOW you were not disappointed! :-)

I
Hope you come back Sprittibee and give us more than a look-see point of view. Detroit cannot be sampled, Detroit is Experienced!

I hope you come back with a new vision and hope. I would love to give you and your family the grand tour of Detroit from a native Michiganders point of view. I think you'll like what you experience. :-)

8 comments:

Lisa Nelsen-Woods said...

Too bad all she could find to comment on was teh poor road conditions. I'm also a midwesterner, so potholes and patched roads don't phase me when I visit the Detriot area. When I play Detriot Tourist, I like to go to Greenfield Village and The Henry Ford Museum. It's a fun place to take the kids and sneak in a little educational experience without them realizing it.

Heather said...

I remember seeing tours of other cities when I was teaching. I thought Detroit would make a good one, too.
I'll post my design for a tour group... sometime.

My name is Kristie said...

I love going into the city.

Of course their are definately road problems. And I can get lost on the one way streets easily. But their is so much life in the city.

The buzz of excitement is so cool. There are so many things to see and do. And I love seeing all kinds of people in one place.

Unfortunately I think that the media (news, music, and movie) have given people unfamiliar with the area a bad taste for it before they've ever even experienced it for themselves.

I have a lot more to say on this topic. Maybe I'll write a post?

*Kristie*
www.savingdollarsandsense.com

Sprittibee said...

Too bad I didn't meet up with you BEFORE our trip. And you have to remember that we got in to town at 2am - and drove through downtown all the way to Southfield (the freeway through Southfield was the worst of the road conditions - I thought I was going to pop a tire). We had a Robofest Championship all day the next day (Saturday) and saw nothing of the city except the inside of a Chipotle. Then the inside of our eyelids from 8:30pm until 9:30am Sunday! I was determined on our way out of town Sunday to see Downtown. Maybe I got off on all the wrong roads... not sure - but without a guide, the general downtown area wasn't as neat and clean as some big cities that we saw.

I have seen quite a few downtown areas... Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Toledo, Detroit, Nashville, Fort Worth, Cincinnati, Memphis, Little Rock, St. Louis, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, ...

Of all the ones I have been through, I got the worst vibes off of Memphis and St. Louis... so Detroit was a third worst "feeling" on first impression. But that doesn't mean that I wouldn't change my mind with a personal tour by someone who knew the city well. I usually don't give up on cities after a first visit - I said I would never go through Memphis again, but we did on this trip... and lo and behold the part of town we were on wasn't half as bad as the first time.

There are scary spots in all cities (and even in smaller towns). :) But I applaud you for sticking up for your hometown! I would have done the same for Big D, H-Town, or Austin! I think we all grow to love the places we are familiar with - cracks, weeds, graffiti and all!

God bless,
Heather aka Sprittibee
www.sprittibee.com

momwithbrownies said...

Heather, (Sprittibee)

ROFL! Well as long as we are only
the third scariest! :-) That was funny. I'm still laughing.

I'm glad you took the post with the spirit it is intended.

If we are ever headed to Texas I'll get your input before we head to town.

That being said, we've traveled near and far also, and even Maui had parts where I wouldn't want to tread. It's all in the planning. :-)

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you posted this! I love going downtown, but I haven't been to the Hard Rock Cafe and Compuware Building yet. I definitely have to check it out now. :-) Have you been on the river walk?

Thanks for the link, BTW. Did I ever comment back to you? I don't think I did. I love your blog though! I have to add a non-HSB friends list to my blog one of these days. :-)

Andrea (a fellow Michigander)
Elliott Academy of Excellence

Deanna said...

Michiganites? Oh good grief!
It's Michigander or nothin'!
Even though I'm a converted Buckeye, I'll defend that name for ya! ;-)

Although, I won't defend your mayor. He does have issues. ;-) He should have to write sentences as punishment. (I'm the Sentence Queen - we have notebooks full of sentences, always creative. Someday the kids will see the humor. Amazingly, the child who has the worst record has the best handwriting.)

Sprittibee said...

:) Hahaha. All in the "planning" - which would be why my trip was scary. After my son won the regional competition for Robotics, I had all of 2 weeks to GET to Michigan from TX. And no money to do it with. I spent the 2 weeks fundraising and then 2 days driving... so planning was at a minimal. Without my TomTom, I might have not even made it to the right state. You never know how much you need a TomTom until you take a cross-country trip. Thank Jesus for TomTom.