Everyone asks about Detroit, in varying states of concern or interest, and the best I can say is that things are good, and I'm still figuring it out. After my chat about grad life the other day, I also drove home past the now-(in)famous Michigan Central Station, haunt of urban spelunkers -- we have friends who've been exploring inside, and it is a sort of symbol of the beautiful old architecture in Detroit that has been shockingly neglected. But as I drove home past it, having come through "Mexicantown" (seriously), I saw a bunch of people outside with their cameras. It's one thing to know about write-ups in magazines and other people's adventures, but it really did look everything like a stop on a tour, with all the pointing and shooting. Old buildings in various states of repair are aesthetically interesting, fodder for artists everywhere, but there's so much social and political history wrapped around them. And then how things are today gives one pause, again and again. I am slowly coming around to a feeling that the conversation has to also be about what matters now, where things are.

I don't know if I'll become a full-fledged Detroit booster, and I'm still finding my feet, but the apocalyptic stuff, sometimes coupled in national reporting with a weird sort of in-and-out voyeurism, is something I'm definitely thinking about. You kind of can't help but want to document what you see, driving around, and for newbies like us, it's sort of all interesting. Detroit feels so broken, sometimes - but then so normal as well. The sense of the way forward, as well as the normal life led, is stronger among the folks we've met, some of whom are like the people whose stories are here, and here and perhaps told best here, and who are doing this kind of work or gathering here, regulars here and here on Saturday.

What will happen, generally and to a given building, a business opening or closing, what's on that brings people together, is what people seem to get to talking about, at the end of the day, so you can't help but engage and let it percolate. I'm hoping that my dissertation writing comes with some community gardening, once spring finally, finally arrives for good.