Having lived in the suburbs of Detroit from birth until the age of 18, I was surprised to learn how little I actually knew about the city. While most of my experiences with the city were in the context of either (a) attending a sporting event or (b) doing community service, I felt that I could see through these obscured presentations of the city and that I knew what Detroit was truly like. Having now lived in Detroit for the past 6 weeks I am beginning to realize that I was very wrong. I wasn’t able to see through the contexts with which the city was presented to me despite my best efforts. To be frank, I still don’t think I am able to break the context created by my experience working downtown and living in Midtown. While I do realize that almost all of the revitalization effort is focused to these two areas, I have a hard time gaining a full understanding of city as a whole. In all honesty, I am not sure how to see past the ways in which the city is presented to me (whether that be active or passive presentation). I read the news, have watched various documentaries, and done other research into the makeup of Detroit, however I feel as though I am experientially missing key elements that speak to the realities faced by many of the communities within the city limits. For my placement I have been required to travel around the city a couple of times and just from those quick trips I can tell that I am not hearing both sides, so to speak, by working downtown and living in Midtown. I genuinely would like to mitigate the effect of these geographical barriers, however I am not sure how to do so. Merely traveling to neighborhoods wouldn’t achieve this goal and there exists a selection bias when attending the public comment section of City Council meetings or other public forums. Considering my placement, I feel it is vital for me to gain as genuine of an understanding as I can regarding the true nature of the city’s various communities and sub-populations. I truly hope that the next 4 weeks of this program will enable me to accomplish this goal.
