Hey you,
Lucky you. You got a project with people who’ve welcomed you more than they’ve had to. What an opportunity. Continue to take their suggestions! Soak in their banter! Pay attention to their business calls! Be a friend!
Your expectation for the program is to grow in skills you can’t even name, yet. You love watching the staff navigate social and professional situations. They use combinations of skills you’ve never quite seen before. They stay true to their residency in Osborn while managing the professional work of grants and partnership. You hope to gain skills like that from being around them. You also hope to learn as much as you can about Detroit! You have everything to learn, as a total newcomer, and you’re eager to begin to understand the general culture of Detroit. What does it mean, at all, to be Detroit proud?
Your current perception is all over the place. The gentrified Downtown reminds you of downtown DC, which you’ve grown up near. You’ve been reading about how toxic the gentrification is and that’s beginning to challenge your observations everywhere you go in Detroit—in Osborn, especially. It is such a stark contrast to Downtown. I say, continue to think about the author’s arguments all the time. Make it a habit. Exercise your thinking about gentrification like a muscle.
You’d like to contribute enthusiasm and the logic and writing skills you’ve worked on at school (something you didn’t really see coming, something a little more mature). You just want to offer them your most helpful self (while your eyes are popping out of your head).
Good luck with all that,
You or me?
Hello Emma,
I am super glad to hear that you like your placement and that you are critically thinking about gentrification at the same time! I have a similar experience with my placement in the outskirts of Detroit and then coming back to midtown where we live. The gentrification is not as complete as downtown but it’s progressing. I wish you luck in your placement this summer and sincerely hope that you are able to offer them everything that you want to. you got this! 🙂
I vibe with what you’re saying about your perception of Detroit and gentrification. I think it is a good idea to exercise constantly your mind when thinking about downtown and the other parts of the city. I definitely have been thinking about that too since working out on 7 mile away from the city center and away from the massive investment and development that comes from gentrification. It is a sticky subject to navigate, so taking each interaction as an individual circumstance and critically analyzing everything will be key to growth and learning.
WOW IT’S YOU. I was attracted to your post because I identify with the “you or me?” statement.
SO. I really love the question, “what does it mean to be ‘Detroit proud?'” I’m not sure if it’s a statement that I’ll ever really feel I can be part of. It doesn’t feel like it could really be mean, but I want to learn exactly what that entails. How does this translate into an attitude and a state of mind?
I think growing up near Detroit has allowed me to see the downtown area many times without understanding the toxicity of it. I want to join you in thinking about my experiences here through a lens of understanding gentrification. I want to be able to navigate exploring all of Detroit while supporting the healthy, homegrown parts.