I don't think there is a Detroiter out there that doesn't, in one way or another, have a love-hate relationship with this metro area of ours. Although I could use this journal to be purely pro-Detroit, I'm not going to. It just wouldn't be truthful. Like any long-term relationship, there's going to be ups and downs, doubts and arguments, healing and hurt. I'm not going to lie about the misgivings of this area, just so that I can uphold the facade of urban hipster/scenester. I've lived in Detroit, the city proper. I've done my fair share of activism. Therefore, I have no use for the pretense of "authenticity." Obviously, I still feel like defending myself, but meh, old habits are hard to break.

A friend of mine asked me this question:

"you seem to love the area so much that it seems that it would be difficult to leave. are you thinking it is time to move on? or are you running away from something? (the last one is rhetorical. no need to respond. unless you want to of course.)"

I answered thusly:

Hmmm

Good question/s.

I do love Detroit, the city proper. I dislike the metro-Detroit area, the mentality, the close-mindedness, the blind sheep-like ideologies, the overwhelming complacency in mediocrity. And I believe that both the city and its suburbs suffer from these things. If that makes any sense. I have a love/hate relationship with Southeast Michigan.

If you would have asked me several years ago, if I was running away, you would probably be right. But I have since dealt with the demons from which I would have run. Because I knew I couldn't successfully move away if I didn't deal with them first.

I think the big reason I'd want to leave Detroit is that Detroit is so hard to live in. Nothing comes easy around here. I just want to live in a city where I can walk to places, like coffee shops, bookstores, work, grocery stores, etc. I'd like to live in a city where people actually inhabit the streets, where I don't have to drive miles and miles to get anywhere worthwhile. I would love to live somewhere that the automotive industry isn't the end all, be all of all living things and civilization. I'd like to live somewhere, where I can just be and develop and grow without so many obstacles.

Yet, it's these same hardships and obstacles that Detroiters wear as a mighty badge of honor. Sigh. So many contradictions, struggles, and paradoxes. Detroit is a city full of... strangeness. A lot like the Not so Merry Old Land of Oz. Gangsta-rappers and wiggers and Libertarian militia co-exist with hippies, communists, and scenesters. It makes for an amazing array of tensions. It'd take forever to adequately explain.