Meet Me Where I Am!

I was scanning through Postive Detroit Twitter handles and came across this article about bringing people back to Detroit and appreciating the stuff that's happening there. The article is a great promotion for Detroit. It is hopeful for it's comback. It is encouraging for business owners downtown. It makes Detroit sound like "the place to be."

What the article isn't,  is compassionate to it's suburban readers and the people they want to come back to Detroit. As I became encouraged by the good things coming out of Detroit in the article, I was then shot down for living in a suburb of Detroit and criticized for frankly being fearful most of my life to spend much time down there. The article became more dangerous than actually going Downtown.

Example of my fear: Last year, while we were at a Tiger's Game, a man crawled under our car, unhooked something that we have never figured out, he waited down the street for us to come back to our car and find that it didn't start (did I tell you it was dark and we were pretty much the only car left in the lot and yes I put my ring in my shoe and was freaking out) while the man with a backpack approached our car telling us he could fix it. He crawled under, did something, went under the hood, talking us up all the while he changed his name twice, closed the hood, guilted us out of $50 (that's all we had) and went on his merry way. As he left, I said, "he just duped us." My husband said, "brilliant!" I punched him. I was scared.

Now that doesn't happen often. It was our fault because we stayed out longer than expected leaving our car vulnerable and ourselves for that matter. You have to be safe in any city. We learned our lesson.

I was born in Detroit and grew up off of 8 Mile (no I don't know Eminem) down the street from the Booby Trap (no I'm not a stripper) and on the dead end of the Pepsi plant ( I personally like the brand that comes with a smile ) until first grade. My parents moved us to a suburb after our house was ransacked and we were robbed, packs of dogs were roaming our streets and they felt it was unsafe for their family.

My dad owned a business on 7 mile for many years (which he moved to a suburb because it became unsafe) and my mom worked for the Detroit News downtown for half of her career  (and took the bus down there). Throughout my life, I've gone to festivals downtown, skated downtown (not the new rink either), I've gone to dinners and theater downtown, I've gone to bars and clubs downtown and I've gone to sporting events. I love Detroit (where and when I feel safe).

My point is that we have been taught it isn't safe, we've experienced unsafe situations and we've heard stories. It is unfair to make people feel bad for choosing a safer place to hang out for now. The article insults the very people it wants to bring down to Detroit.

The author of this article needed to take the "meet them where they and take them where you want them to be." (-S. Duperon) approach. Let me know you appreciate and have empathy for my choices and decisions to live in the suburbs and not venture downtown for now and then give me the goodies and dangle the carrot of Detroit to bring me back there. I don't want to be guilted into coming back.

I am thrilled to see Detroit make its comeback. There are some great areas to hang out, have dinner, see a show and have drinks. It is even safe to walk from one place to another.

I understand his passion in the article and I appreciate it but it lost me in the criticism, which is a shame. I am not writing this in anger at all. I like 2/3 of the article. I am just shedding light on another point of view or perspective that isn't being appreciated. Whether the article's view is true or not, it is in the presentation of the argument that cuts off the cycle of reciprocity.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/toby-barlow/detroit-meet-detroit_b_1097133.html

No-Fly Zone- Post 911

My husband is a diehard Michigan State fan.  He informed me of this when we started dating. I told him I would go to the games with him. I'm not a sports fan but it is fun to go to the games. Even more fun when a little tailgating goes on beforehand.

After recovering from the horrendous events of 911, feeling quite insecure in our country and wondering if something else could happen, my fiance tells me we are going to the Michigan vs Michigan State game on November 3rd, 2011. Excuse my shorthand french...WTF!

Are you kidding me? One of the biggest games of the year. A stadium of 100,000 or more is a perfect target. No f-ing way am I going to that.

He gives me the "you can't live in fear" speech and convinces me it will be ok. I was SERIOUSLY nervous about going. I did NOT like the idea. At least we'd be together. We went.

We had bad tickets in the nose bleed section on the East side of the field. I felt a little more secure knowing that it was restricted airspace over all stadiums in the country. A No-Fly Zone. Every so often, though, I scanned the skyline. Honestly! Paranoia or what?

It was early in the game, the sky was blue and clear, when I (and many others) noticed a plane miles away in the distance heading East. I joked and I am sure others thought it or joked as well, "what if that plane came close to here?" I couldn't take my eyes off of it.

My breathing got a little heavier as it made it's way East just south of the stadium. How weird is that? I questioned Paul. I thought you said this was a no fly zone. He watched with me reassuring me that it is no big deal.

Closer and closer. Everyone seemed to get fidgety. I could hear others questioning what the plane was doing.

A couple miles from the stadium it veered North East right toward our seats. Remember, we were in the nose bleed seats. My heart was racing, the stands were silent where we sat. It was headed directly toward our seats. My nose got tingly with oncoming tears of fear.

Honey....honey! HONEY! What is he doing? There was no sound coming from the upper deck stands. Everyone held their breath.

At that moment in time, an image flashed in my mind. I always wondered what a horrible feeling it would have been to be sitting your office one morning  and look out the window to see a plane coming at you.  Do you run? Do you just sit there in shock?

I had a glimpse into what that felt like. We had NO where to go. We couldn't run. We couldn't hide. We almost had to accept what was happening and hold our breath.  Deer in headlights.

Just as we thought we had met our fate, the Northwest airplane veered North and flew down the middle of the field and then veered West back where it came.

Literally we could see people in the windows of the plane. It was the most frightening moment of my life. Really. I wasn't the only one. People started crying. Grown men left the stadium quite shaken. 1/4 of the people in the stands left. Believe me, I wanted to leave. My ride didn't.

I was unsettled, obviously, the rest of the game. Later my husband told me that he was afraid too but didn't want to scare me more.

The biggest impact it had on me that day, was being able to see through the eyes of the thousands of people who lost their lives on that fateful day.

I searched high and low for an article online about this event. I couldn't find anything. I was beginning to wonder if anyone saw what we saw. Finally after variations of wording in the Google search, I found this article about the event which verifies what happened and that we weren't the only ones who were startled (to say the least) by the plane. It sums it up well.

Northwest Airlines Plane buzzes Spartan Stadium