If I feel a sense of relief that I made it through the ten weeks, then maybe I need to check myself and my attitude towards the work I’ve been doing. Us DCBRP-ers come and go, water rushing through the vessels that are our various organizations. We moved into University Towers ten weeks ago, some times along the way (jenky keys, falling ceiling bits, roach visits) we thanked our lucky stars we didn’t have to stay on, but there are others who moved into the same building with no clear move-out date in sight. We struggled with one individual or another at our placements, and the only thing that kept us going at times was the thought that this was someday going to end, and we would never have to see them again. 8-hour work days stretched into 13-hour ones and we looked forward to a next summer with no daily alarm clock set for 7am.
But I think about those who aren’t us. Those who don’t just pass through but stay on. And I only want to reflect on their contributions, their strength, and their dedication. They are the ones who built their dreams from the ground up, and are shaping the future landscape of Detroit. I think of all the supervisors we’ve met, I think of the placements we’ve visited. Tall buildings that are havens to hearts, tiny offices that churn out policies and justice. And we pass through, we pass through. I hope that when I look back at this summer of 2017 in Detroit, I think not only of how I felt in the past ten weeks, but also of the people who have been here from before, and will continue to be here in the future.
