downtown detroit
on a very chilly and beautiful november evening
sparkling christmas tree
ice
music
family from near and far
laughter
winter market
lots and lots of food
warm drinks
lights
comfort.
—
“downtown. lights on buildings and everything that makes you wonder.
and in that moment, i swear we were infinite.”
stephen chbosky
early morning ann arbor
outside of washtenaw dairy
on a home game day
calm before the storm
go blue.
—
“you don’t show up on game day and expect to be great.
greatness happens in practice.
you have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.”
-michael jordan
—
photo credit: washtenaw dairy
here are the only ones allowed to park on the closed-off street
look at them making the most of it and taking all the good spots
they must know someone or have special licenses.
—
“when i get real bored i like to drive downtown and get a great parking spot,
then sit in my car and count how many people ask when i am leaving.”
-steven wright
ann arbor pride fest 2023
—
so happy to live in a city that takes pride in all people and celebrates everyone.
—
“festivals promote diversity, they bring neighbors into dialogue, they increase creativity,
they offer opportunities for civic pride, they improve our general psychological well-being.
in short, they make cities better places to live.”
-david binder
50+ years as a band
los lobos
came to town
blocked off the street
set up
for a free concert
on a sunny afternoon
first time for my grandson
everyone
loving
their unique brand
of rock, blues, country, and rhythm and blues
from the first chord
there was dancing in the street.
—
“music is a moral law.
it gives soul to the universe,
wings to the mind,
flight to the imagination,
and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.”
-plato
main street is soooooooo close to reopening…
—
“main street is almost alright.”
-robert venturi, american architect
—
photo credit: ann arbor townies
fun day with colleagues in detroit
starting on the detroit river
visiting the only mailboat in the world with its own zip code
still waiting for someone to claim this bag
then off to the detroit river fire boat
and one of the oldest fire stations in the city
sculpture in riverside park
featuring steel from the old joe louis arena
made my detroit’s nordin brothers
and on to detroit’s central station
brought back to life
and lovingly restored
by ford motor company
soon to be their new world headquarters
so many people in the city, working hard
keeping it running and building it back
—
“i think detroit is where muscle meets brains.”
-*dan gilbert
—
*Dan Gilbert is an American billionaire, Detroit businessman, and philanthropist. He is the co-founder and majority owner of Rocket Mortgage, founder of Rock Ventures, and owner of the National Basketball Association’s Cleveland Cavaliers. Dan Gilbert cofounded what would become Quicken Loans, the largest mortgage lender in the U.S., in 1985 at 22 years old. He and his companies have invested $5.6 billion to purchase and rehab a swath of buildings in downtown Detroit, with a plan to create 24,000 jobs.
on my walk downtown-
live jazz
delightful garden
peaceful space-
all in one place
—
” city is more than just a place in space it is a drama in time.”
-patrick geddes
“Thank you for being so passionate and proactive about your community!” the response letter states. “When you’re old enough, you should consider working for the city to continue making it a great place to live. Sincerely, City Sidewalk Repair Program.”
Dahlia, the daughter of Kelly and Matt, said in her note to the ‘Sidewalk People” last week that she was devastated when she saw the slab was marked for replacement.
“You see, the heart is not just a heart,” she wrote. “Ever since I was little, I said hi to the heart. Don’t you see how much it means to me? Every time I pass the heart, I say hi and it brings me joy.”
Anyone else who wants to say hi to the heart now can find it along the east side of Seventh Street across from Waterworks Park between Murray Court and Washington Street.
—
“kind words do not cost much, yet they accomplish much.”
-blaise pascal
—
source credit: ryan stanton, mlive, ann arbor news
“Dear Sidewalk People.”
That’s how 9-year-old Dahlia started her handwritten note placed under a rock along a city sidewalk hoping to get the attention of Ann Arbor’s crews slated to replace the slab she holds dear due to a distinctive feature.
This sidewalk has a heart.
“There is a heart in this block, and as me and my mom were walking home from school, we saw that there was an ‘R’ on the block that the heart is on,” reads the girl’s note, placed next to where she made a heart-shaped chalk outline around a small cavity in the slab the city has marked with an R to replace.
“You see, the heart is not just a heart,” wrote Dahlia, “Ever since I was little, I said hi to the heart. Don’t you see how much it means to me? Every time I pass the heart, I say hi and it brings me joy.”
Her father confirmed his daughter indeed says “hi, heart” every time she passes it. When she heard the city was going to replace the slab with the heart, Dahlia said she was devastated and cried.
“So can you please leave it or at least cut around the heart, for me to pick up on my way to school,” she wrote, ending her note by thanking the city’s repair crews for their work to keep sidewalks safe and encouraging them to give her note an extra read so it makes sense.
A spokesperson for the city’s public services unit did not have an immediate response on whether the sidewalk slab could be saved or whether the heart-shaped part could be salvaged for Dahlia to take.
While Dahlia really wanted to keep the heart sidewalk, her father said the family understands the need to fix it so people don’t trip and has talked with her about it.
“We compared it to the Halloween pumpkin she really loved and wanted to keep,” he said. “We told her we could keep it, but we could watch how when a pumpkin dies it helps nature by becoming part of something new.”
In that case, they put the pumpkin in their garden and Dahlia visited it every day and watched it decay, and in the spring she watched as flowers sprung up. She got to see her pumpkin again in the form of flowers.
As for her well-crafted sidewalk note, her father said while only 9, Dahlia is an amazing writer and gives him and his wife daily gems of wisdom worthy of the wisest, aged writers.
“sometimes the people who walk softly make the deepest impressions…”
-nitya prakash
—
source credit: ryan stanton, mlive, ann arbor
I didn't have my glasses on.... 