How to Live in Detroit Without Being a Jackass [Idioma Inglés] - Softcover

Foley, Aaron

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0996836705 ISBN 13: 9780996836708

Verlag: BELT PUB, 2015

Inhaltsangabe

A social guide to Detroit for all coastal transplants, wary suburbanites, die-hard natives, and everyone in between, this book will help readers avoid falling into the "jackass" trap and become a productive, healthy Detroiter. The book covers topics such as how to do business, how to drive, how to party, how to talk about the city, and how to buy and renovate a house. Also included are the seven rules for living in the Motor City, simple answers to difficult questions about the city, and a quick tour. Readers will not only be informed but they will also be laughing along the way.. NOTA: El libro no está en español, sino en inglés.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Aaron Foley grew up in Detroit, which gives him more street cred than a lot of others. He has written about Detroit for several local and national publications including CNN, Jalopnik, and MLive. His essay, "We Love Detroit, Even if You Don't," was included in A Detroit Anthology. He lives in Detroit.

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How to Live in Detroit Without Being a Jackass

By Aaron Foley

Belt Publishing

Copyright © 2015 Belt Publishing
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-9968367-0-8

Contents

Introduction, 
CHAPTER 1 Seven Rules for Living in Detroit: Or, How to Not Look Like a Dumbass the Moment You Get Here, 
CHAPTER 2 The Quick-and-Dirty Tour, 
CHAPTER 3 Difficult Questions About Detroit With Simple Answers, 
CHAPTER 4 How Not to Offend People When Talking About Detroit, 
CHAPTER 5 How You Should Be Talking About Detroit, 
CHAPTER 6 How to Be White In Detroit, 
CHAPTER 7 How to Make Peace With the Suburbs, 
CHAPTER 8 How to Drive in Detroit, 
CHAPTER 9 How to Deal With the Men in This Town, 
CHAPTER 10 How to Be a Woman in This Town, 
CHAPTER 11 How to Party Like a Detroiter, 
CHAPTER 12 How to Raise a Detroit Kid, 
CHAPTER 13 How to Do Business in Detroit, 
CHAPTER 14 How to House-Hunt in Detroit, 
CHAPTER 15 How to Renovate a Detroit House Without Being a Jackass, 
CHAPTER 16 How Not to Be a Jealous Jackass, 
CHAPTER 17 How to Take In Detroit Media, 
CHAPTER 18 How to Be Gay in Detroit, 
CHAPTER 19 How to Be a Detroit Hipster, 
CHAPTER 20 How to Be Black in Detroit, 
Closing Thoughts, 
Acknowledgements, 
About the Author, 

CHAPTER 1

SEVEN RULES FOR LIVING IN DETROIT: OR, HOW TO NOT LOOK LIKE A DUMBASS THE MOMENT YOU GET HERE

Let's begin with some rules for how to live in Detroit. The first one is to remember that a coney dog, the famous Detroit delicacy, does not define the city. It is just a hot dog with meat sauce on it.

I don't want to say that the coney dog is not special. It's just not spectacular, even if almost every list, travel piece, think piece, and essay about Detroit mentions it. It is simply cheap meat on top of cheaper meat with cheap garnish.

The coney dog has earned its rightful place, but it is so deeply ingrained in Detroit culture that newcomers and visitors — I won't say outsiders — begin to associate this city with coney dogs alone. "Oh, I've gotta get a coney!" "Where are those coney places?" "What's the best coney?"

Our two most famous coney dog spots are American Coney Island and Lafayette Coney Island, and they both have the good fortune of being located in downtown Detroit. They seat few, and they only take cash. They are iconic, legendary restaurants — but they are not the only way to define this city. The other icons of Detroit culture — the plant where Henry Ford instituted the $5-a-day wage, the two studios where Berry Gordy made music to make the world dance, and the new farms reclaiming the earth where ribbon farms of the 1800s were plentiful — are perhaps more important.

Eating a coney dog does not define living in Detroit, because living here is not simple. It can be hard to live here, but easy existence is boring. Here in Detroit, you live. You live experiences unmatched.

Detroit is much more than restaurants; it is the churches, the ubiquitous, required soul music, the children, the sports, the cars, the schools, the endless line dances fashioned from creative minds, the art we could have lost and the love we find in the littlest things.

The second rule of living in Detroit is to recognize how large and diverse it is. No two experiences are shared. Knowing how many people — currently around 700,000 on a good day, down from highs of 2 million — inhabit its 139-square-mile space is key to going forward, because your Detroit experience will be different than anyone else's.

Don't trust the listicles and slideshows, no matter how inspiring and positive they may be. Much that has been written about Detroit and is still being written about Detroit is done by the hands of residents still getting their feet wet themselves.

That's a good segue into your third rule of living here: never, ever weigh your Detroit experience against the next person's. I've seen people come here after, like, a year, and all of a sudden are dictating to people who have lived here forever what it's like in Detroit. What arrogance.

For instance, I visited a trendy home-design store in the city where they sell these canvas tote bags that read: "I'm just more Detroit than you." How does carrying a tote bag make someone more Detroit than me? When I was in kindergarten, my mom and I spent a night sleeping in our bathtub because the guy in the apartment next door decided that was a good night to shoot his wife in a domestic dispute. I thought the blood on the walls of the hallway was ketchup. That's just one of the crazy stories a Detroiter might have. Put that on your tote bag.

Fourth rule: Be careful of people who make rules and tell you they are actually more Detroit than you. There are Detroiters all around who will try to tell you that there are certain authenticity tests you must pass before you can call yourself a Detroiter. Absolutely none of those tests will be accurate, because as I said before, we all have different experiences.

Some will try to say that you haven't lived in Detroit unless you've gone to this bar, or you haven't lived in Detroit unless you've had this crazy thing happen to you, or you don't really live in Detroit because you don't live in a certain neighborhood, or you're not really a Detroiter unless you've lived here for a certain amount of time, or you're not really Detroit unless you've met some other out-of-thin- air checklist most likely made up by some kid at Wayne State who thinks he knows every goddamn thing because he survived getting mugged outside the Temple Bar. It's all bullshit.

However, there is one thing you will be quizzed on. We introduce ourselves not just by saying hello, but asking where you went to high school. You see, in casual conversation, once two or more people find out they are both from Detroit, we like to know immediately if we have common ground. So we ask about high school. High school gives one clues as to the other's upbringing and background. We know where the east-side schools are and where the west-side schools are. And we don't judge your upbringing or background; we simply ask because most native Detroiters are separated by six degrees or less. Seriously! Everybody knows somebody who knows so-and-so. Yeah, someone's cousin's auntie used to be a hairdresser for Aretha Franklin or something. That's how it works, and that's how we make conversation.

If your high school is not in Detroit, then we might find out you're from the suburbs and then you might get judged. But we'll talk about that later.

The fifth rule applies to all you transplants from New York City and other places that are really expensive: please do not consider moving to Detroit part of a deep, soul-touching experience that will wash clean the sins of your past and renew your spiritual energy to live in your purpose. This ain't fucking Eat, Pray, Love, OK? You likely moved here because you either wanted to further your career or you got priced out of where you were. Please don't call yourself a "pioneer," because that implies you are settling — colonizing? — uninhabited land. People already live here. Don't say you're on "vacation" — does this look like a resort to you? Don't say you're on "safari," because here, safari is "Africa" and safari is "looking at things in the wild," and we're starting to unearth some nasty racial undertones, aren't we? And boy, we're going to talk about race a lot if you decide to keep reading.

(A special note for you millennials: If you are in your 20s and 30s and feel like you are "finding yourself" in Detroit, please realize that you are in your 20s and 30s and you'd be "finding yourself" no matter where you live. It's just coincidence that you're doing it here. Detroit didn't make you this way. Age and the wisdom that comes with it did.)

The sixth rule of Detroit is crucial: the sign says "McNichols" but it's called "Six Mile." Don't ask questions, just do it. Say Six Mile, Six Mile. It'll be McNichols on Google Maps and other apps, but Six Mile is what leaves your lips.

The final rule is simple: pay attention. Listen to people. Real people. Life in Detroit cannot be gleaned from an article, no matter how shareable on social media it seems. You have to absorb everything here in real time. It will not be easy, but do not put the blame on Detroit: life is an obstacle course no matter where you are. But people are paramount. Treat people with respect and dignity. Not just in Detroit, but especially in Detroit. It's pretty basic, but you'd be surprised how many people don't abide by this. And why's that? Because people get so wrapped up in things like coney dogs that they forget about humanity.

You are welcome in Detroit, but adjusting to living in Detroit will be complicated, and navigating it with ease will not come right away. Please don't expect it to. But when that moment comes when you've felt like you've got it all down pat, you'll know. Until that moment comes, however, join us in hoping that Detroit becomes a great place for not just the newcomers, but those of us that have been here. We can be curmudgeonly, because Detroit has been through hellish times. But deep down, we are hopeful. I am hopeful.

READ THESE BOOKS BEFORE YOU GET ALL COMFY

• Detroit: I Do Mind Dying: A Study in Urban Resolution

Dan Georgakas

• Hard Stuff: The Autobiography of Mayor Coleman Young

Coleman Young and Lonnie Wheeler

• Black Detroit and the Rise of the UAW

August Meier and Elliott M. Rudwick

• The Detroit Almanac

Peter Gavrilovich and Bill McGraw

• Detroit: An American Autopsy

Charlie LeDuff

• Detroit: A Biography

Scott Martelle

• Detroit City is the Place To Be: The Afterlife of an American Metropolis

Mark Binelli

• The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit

Thomas Sugrue

• A Detroit Anthology

Anna Clark, ed.

CHAPTER 2

THE QUICK-AND-DIRTY TOUR

These are the big places you should visit immediately upon moving here, if you haven't done so already. Many of these places are not within walking distance of each other, and none of them represent the whole of Detroit. But they are the city's most recognizable landmarks.

EASTERN MARKET

Welcome to America's largest outdoor farmers' market, at its busiest on Saturday mornings. And because it's busy, please do not walk slowly or make dead stops in the middle of the aisles when you shop here! A comparable density of people can be found in the subways of New York City or Union Square in San Francisco. That said, the market itself is a must for first-timers, and quickly becomes a go-to the longer you live here. Farm-fresh produce and an array of butchers are the staples. Once a year is Flower Day, when farmers offer up the best of the best of their annuals and perennials on top of what is usually sold there. Aside from the farmers' market, the area is surrounded by bars, coffee shops, specialty markets, a few shops, and other businesses open during regular hours.

DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS

The DIA — and you're pronouncing that Dee-Eye-Aye, not dee-uh, the Spanish word for "day" — is not just the city's premier holder of art, but one of the world's most-renowned art collections. Enough can't be said about the DIA; you will simply be lost in all that it has to offer. And while we're on the subject: none of the art was lost to the city's municipal bankruptcy filing. It is supported by not just Detroiters, but Southeast Michigan as a whole; residents in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties approved a millage to give the museum additional funding. The DIA also serves as a popular event venue, as well as an occasional meeting spot thanks to stylish open spaces like Kresge Court.

5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48202

THE CHARLES H. WRIGHT MUSEUM OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY

Here's a reminder that Detroit is the embodiment of modern black Americana. The Charles H. Wright is the country's largest black history museum, founded by a local legend who first envisioned a traveling black history exhibit. Do not think of it as the little brother of the DIA; both museums are equally important. The Charles H. Wright tracks the black American experience from the beginnings of slavery until the present, along with one-time-only exhibits and regular history lessons for all ages. It is also a popular event venue. (Black history aficionados should also make a point to visit Second Baptist Church in Greektown, which served as an Underground Railroad stop for runaway slaves making their way to Canada; the church occasionally allows visitors to see the hiding spot.)

315 E. Warren Ave., Detroit, MI 48202

THE MOTOWN HISTORICAL MUSEUM

Museums, amirite? There's a big argument about how Detroit doesn't preserve its history because so much is being torn down, but it's curious that when you want to suggest some places for tourists to visit, museums always fall into the top suggestions. The Motown Museum, as it's more casually called, was founded by Esther Gordy Edwards, Motown Records founder Berry Gordy's older sister (and one-time executive at the company). As the story goes, Gordy Edwards was something of a pack rat, and held onto all of Motown's sheet music, ticket stubs, programs, posters — any scrap of paper, any instrument or mixing board, anything that made Motown what it was. When Motown moved its headquarters to California, the original Studio A on West Grand Boulevard was retained and eventually became what's now the museum.

2648 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit, MI 48208

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART DETROIT

Every art-school grad with a DSLR and a CCW will hunt me down and murder me in the street if I fail to mention this place. No, but seriously — MOCAD is a fun place, and exactly what it is: A museum of contemporary art. It's far less fussy and ornate than the DIA or the Charles H. Wright, and is the template for every abandoned-space-turned-gallery in the city. Curiously, it's also rented out for huge events that don't quite gel with its aesthetic — like automaker parties during the North American International Auto Show, for instance — but that doesn't detract from it being a launching pad for local artists who have the honor of exhibiting there.

4454 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48201

DETROIT PEOPLE MOVER

You're either going to love it or you're not going to use it at all. A monorail with limited service that runs in a circle through downtown Detroit, the People Mover is popular on game days and during other big events. Art lovers should take special note of the works of art inside each of the 13 stations.

BELLE ISLE

I guess you could say this is our Central Park, but I loathe that comparison. (A thing all Detroiters, not just me, hate: Comparing our landmarks to other cities' landmarks.) But there is a lot to offer on Belle Isle, an island in the Detroit River: a conservatory, a yacht club, a giant slide, a beach (that a lot of white people call Hipster Beach, but no one else has ever, ever called it that), a maritime museum, a nature zoo, an aquarium, a driving range, plenty of picnic and other outdoor space, a gorgeous fountain, trails, and so much more. It is owned by the city, but was recently leased to the state of Michigan's park system under a 30-year deal approved in 2013, and is officially being run as a state park. Depending on who you talk to, Belle Isle is also a wedding venue, a church picnic space, a racetrack, or a place for old-school classic cars to cruise. On a daily basis, it's fun to bike or walk there — and is accessible via public transportation. A state park pass is required to enter the park by car, and you'll want to drive slow if you do; an increase in patrolling recently has led to a crackdown on scofflaws.

THE RENAISSANCE CENTER

So the thing about the RenCen is that if you've lived here for a long time, you're going to have a reason or a dozen to go here. It is the most recognizable skyscraper in the city's skyline. It is the headquarters of General Motors, but its construction in the 1970s was funded by Henry Ford's son. There is a hotel, some shops, restaurants, a movie theater (one of a handful in the city limits), and other event spaces. It's also architecturally uninteresting and confusing as hell to navigate on the inside. The RenCen is a sore spot for design snobs, and there's a bit of contention among city historians about whether the whole building was even worth the trouble of construction, but it's here and it ain't going away anytime soon. (The restaurants in the building are worth the trip, though.)

DETROIT ATHLETIC CLUB

Holy shit, this place is expensive! It's a private, members-only club across the street from a courthouse; how much of a Detroit juxtaposition do you need? I'm only listing it because people who have not lived here very long start thinking about joining a gym, they see the name "Detroit Athletic Club," and they want to be so Detroit because it has Detroit in the name, and then balk when they discover that you not only to pay thousands of dollars in entrance fees, but thousands more in membership costs. That all said, the insides are gorgeous, and if you're lucky enough to get a guest pass, take the day off and enjoy the Olympic-sized, Pewabic tile-lined swimming pool, top-notch equipment, and a good meal. It's an event space as well, but men must wear ties to be admitted.

241 Madison Ave., Detroit, MI 48226

(Continues...)

Excerpted from How to Live in Detroit Without Being a Jackass by Aaron Foley. Copyright © 2015 Belt Publishing. Excerpted by permission of Belt Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: BELT PUB
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2015
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0996836705
• ISBN 13: 9780996836708
• Einband: Tapa blanda
• Anzahl der Seiten: 288
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar