Joy’s Detroit Life: Chapter 9

Wow y’all, it’s my last day in the program. I honestly can’t believe that 9 weeks have already gone by. But ya know time flies when you sell your soul to capitalism in your 9 to 5 — very much so just kidding!! Just some light humor to break up the sadness that I’m feeling. I really appreciated interning for Brilliant Detroit. Hopefully I’ll be back someday *crosses fingers*

After re-reading my first blog, I am proud to say that the goal of eating at Bucharest Grill was achieved. I ate there not only once, but twice, so I’m feeling pretty great about that. I also did in fact learn about all of the culture in Detroit, most notably about its music scene. I feel grateful to have had this experience. I entered this program feeling like a partially scribbled on canvas with academic knowledge regarding Detroit and gentrification and knowledge from my close friends who are from the city. However, with the knowledge I had there was still a lot of blank space with gaps of information on my canvas. And while I cannot say that I’m an astounding Picasso piece, I am a beautiful minimalist piece with limited yet intentional brushstrokes of experience about the city and that’s pretty cool.

My expectations of the program and the city were surpassed by the reality of Detroit as a culturally rich, diverse city with passionate social change makers. I can say that I have grown in my understanding and desire to be in the city — truly the major reason that I wasn’t up here more often was due to unfamiliarity. Luckily, Detroit feels a bit more like home.