Highland Park
After a wonderful stay overnight in Battle Creek, MI with family friends of Molly’s, we arrived in Detroit. We were unsure what to expect, having heard a lot about how the city has struggled in recent decades, but especially within the last few years. It was indeed pretty dilapidated, and racial and social struggles seemed very prevalent. |
Thanks to our new friend Jackson, who is a member of Grand Aspirations (read our last post!) in Detroit, we were able to stay at a church rectory in Highland Park, a small city that borders the main city. Our host was Brother Paul, who lives in the rectory with the company of his dog Brother Joshua. They were wonderful hosts. We were delighted to have another positive church-related stay, and the sanctuary was beautiful.
One of the many cool projects we learned about while visiting Detroit was Soulardarity, the Highland Park branch of Grand Aspirations, which Jackson helps facilitate. The project is an amazing one. What is the project? “Empowering the residents of Highland Park, MI through the planning of installation of 200 community-owned solar powered streetlights”. Jackson explained to us that the streetlights had recently been removed for financial reasons which frustrated us because it seems as if too many people in power choose saving a buck over keeping their community safe. Check it out here! http://www.soulardarity.com/#!who-is-soulardarity/cucv | One morning, Jackson took us to a local “Coney Island” joint for breakfast. On our way there, we walked past the original Ford factory, and Jackson shared with us some history of the city. It is really fascinating and sad and anger-inducing that this once prosperous city is now struggling so much. The diner was a real hole in the wall neighborhood spot and we had a really unique experience. The walls inside were covered with photos of Detroit history, the service was impeccable (in the “if you are nice to us, we will be nice to you” kind of way), and the food deliciously greasy. The joint was called Red Hots and was a total Mom ‘n Pop deal as it has been around for decades, with furnishings from 1967. Towards the end of our meal, a regular customer came in and eventually began to loudly share his views with everyone about modern-day racism and financial inequalities. The mood was a little tense with other patrons, obviously used to these speeches, eyeing us nervously and our waitress coming over to make sure we weren’t uncomfortable. It was interesting to be in agreeance with this man about systematic, institutionalized oppression and be in support of his voice, but also feel distinctly uncomfortable and almost threatened by his delivery. Perhaps discomfort is the place of those of us with historical and cultural privilege in the movement towards equality, but knowing when to protect ourselves as individuals is also important. |
Earth Works
Later that day we visited Earth Works, an incredible urban garden in the middle of Detroit. They are connected with a Capuchin soup kitchen and are a tremendous community resource for people to get and grow food.
We spoke to a few people at their market, where we were stoked to get fresh carrots, chard, and kale – in Detroit during winter! All of it was grown on their land or in their greenhouses down the block. We shared our mission with a guy named Patrick, who told us he believes many people in Detroit are already resilient to the extreme weather events that climate change is bringing because they often are forced to survive without electricity or water, and in the cold. While it is very sad that people have to undergo these struggles, they may well be better prepared than many of us for the climate trials we are now facing. |
We explored Earth Works’ sites with a self guided tour we pulled up on our phones, walking past loads of people travelling to and from the market and soup kitchen, which was serving a meal right next door. It was amazing to see another example of people making urban land beautifully productive, while simultaneously providing for their neighbors, building community, and combating climate change. Whenever we see people rejecting and finding ways to live outside of harmful systems, it inspires us. |
Detroit is an amazing city and we saw some incredible examples of resilience during our visit. We were only there for a couple of days, but it seems as though communities are fraught with racial, economic, and political struggles. Despite these hardships, people are resisting and surviving, and we think that is inspirational.
Other adventures in Detroit
After our Earth Works tour, we went for lunch at Nandi’s Knowledge Café. Nandi’s is obviously a place where community is built. Our meal was delicious and the atmosphere was quite homey. In fact, we felt a little like we had barged in on a family get-together, but the service was great. As we looked around, we saw lots of amazing books about politics, race relations, history, and lots of other interesting subjects. The other side of the cafe was a store filled with African Art and the room where they hold local poetry nights. We were invited to return for the poetry that night by one of the women at Nandi’s but unfortunately we weren’t able to go. It would have been awesome to see what the community had to say. Next time! One afternoon we hauled out those trusty ole road bikes we have been carrying around with us and decided to ride to the nearest island across the Detroit River. We rode through the wind down a main street that eventually took us on a bridge to Belle Isle, which seemed relatively deserted despite its beauty. This allowed us to explore freely and we found the best gift any eight year old could ask for: a giant, colorful, multi-section, epic play structure. (So obviously we got out and played!) |
Finally on our last day in Detroit we stopped to visit the Detroit Institute of the Arts. Jackson told us about the Rivera murals, which are special to Detroit. Mexican artist Diego Rivera used a fresco technique (painting straight on wet plaster) to display industry’s positive and negative effects.
Niagara Falls and the border
So we knew from the original route we planned that we wanted to jump through Canada and see Niagara Falls on our way to New York. People reminded us to bring our passports and we were excited. | Everyone seemed to fail to mention, however, that travelling for three months in a van that doesn’t belong to us without jobs or a whole lot of money sounds pretty sketchy to the Canadian Border patrol. Who knew?! | After getting sent from the entry gate to customs to immigration and finally on our way to the falls we were a little shaken up! |
Regardless, we stopped for dinner, dessert and computer time, spending the evening at a cafe that had wi-fi and peppermint hot chocolate. The next morning we organized ourselves right in our parking/sleeping spot which also happened to be right next to the cafe’s drive through; this meant we got some very strange looks as people ordered their morning coffee and saw us folding clothes and cleaning the van. We just smiled and continued on!
Finally we got on the road and drove to Niagara Falls - Canada side. Parking would have been $18/hour across from the falls so we kept driving for a few minutes and found a community park where we hopped on our bikes and enjoyed the beautiful ride to get some photos and experience the majesty of such gigantic streams of water. Almost more breathtaking than the actual water was the rainbow that emerged through the mist and sunlight. We noticed that hundreds of birds were having a heyday in the moisture from the reverb of the elegant falls, swooping and swerving underneath the rainbow giving us quite a good show.
Coming back into the United States was surprisingly easy and we took off for Syracuse, New York! More blogs to come soon!