Just another Big City?

As I read “Yesterday's News, a novel by Kajsa Ingemarsson, Stockholm didn’t seem any different than any other big city. According to Wikipedia, it’s Sweden and Scandinavia’s largest city. Ingemarsson uses streets and areas that I presume actually exist.

Stockholm is presented as a city, which has good areas as well as bad. One of the “good” areas mentioned is on a street named Rörstrandsgatan. Website Totally Stockholm mentions that this area is like a “Little Paris.”

Like many cities, Stockholm has its challenges in the novel: perceived crime, lots of one-way streets, congestion, and pollution. One of the main characters, Agnes in the novel, from a smaller town an hour away from Stockholm, discusses when she was younger, it was a nice place to visit, but even better to come home. After living in the city, she appreciated her hometown more.

The depiction of the city seems to be realistic. Probably like New York City, it’s a good place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. I prefer living in a suburban area and commuting to the city.

I'm Packing My Bags and Going to Stockholm

If I could visit a city I’ve never been to, I would pick Stockholm, Sweden. I first became interested in Sweden, after taking an Ancestry.com DNA test. My first results said that my ethnic background was about 17% Swedish. I thought that was very cool. I started studying Swedish using Rosetta Stone software. . I found that I really liked the language.  To make a long story short, my DNA results were reanalyzed to reveal a 17% European background, with about 13% Irish. I thought that made sense given how my great grandfather on my mother’s side of the family looks.  The Vikings also went to England and Ireland, so I’m OK with the Irish background.

As we were discussing or favorite reading genres, I surprised my Professor with the revelation that I preferred Swedish Mystery novels. My favorites are the Martin Beck Series by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö.  I found out about this series when I contacted the author of  “The Ice Cage” (Olivier Nilsson-Julien) regarding other Scandinavian mysteries.

I’ve looked at several websites about Stockholm and Sweden. I’ve listened to Swedish Radio in English. There’s nothing that bothers me about the city, except I know it’s very expensive. One of my cousin’s was able to visit Sweden last year. I really enjoyed hearing his stories and looking at his photos.

I’ve even considered taking a long-distance learning Swedish class.  Once when I was at the ice rink in Chelsea, Michigan, I heard people speaking Swedish. For some crazy reason I didn’t think that was unusual. I really kicked myself when I didn’t see Niklas Lidström behind me. He was just another dad waiting for his kid at the rink. I really love the fact that the Detroit Red Wings have a contingent of Swedish born players.

What I admire about Stockholm is the history, cleanliness, cool designs, and of course the people.

Seeking Diversity in Detroit

I interviewed my friend Lillian this week. I asked her questions regarding where she was born and how she came to live in the Detroit area. Lillian was born in Toledo, Ohio.  Her family moved from Toledo to a suburb near Chicago, Illinois. A subsequent move was made to the Indianapolis, Indiana area.

Her parents divorced when she was five years old. When she was about ten years old she moved with her mother, stepfather and siblings to Dearborn, Michigan, due to her stepfather’s job transfer.  One of the things she remembers is that the houses in her Dearborn neighborhood were very close together, separated by narrow driveways. This contrasted the much larger lots and expansive outdoor spaces she was used to at her previous houses. She thought Dearborn was a very large city.

Some of her memories of the 14-month period she lived in Dearborn included riding her bike to the playground and walking over to Telegraph Road to go to a convenience store to buy candy. After Lillian and her siblings were told not to go to the store alone anymore, she thought the owner or workers suspected they might steal something. She told me the thought never crossed her mind. She was surprised that she was subjected to that.

Those activities were quite similar to mine growing up in Detroit. We had a small pharmacy a few blocks down where we would buy candy and comic books. We were never accused of stealing anything, but I’m sure the workers kept a close eye on us.

I was used to living in the city as I lived in Detroit until I was 23 years old, not including the time I spent at Michigan Technological University in the Upper Peninsula. The houses were also close together. That wasn’t noticeable for me. It was pretty normal. However, the second house I remember living in was on a double lot. That gave us a little more room to play.

Many of our dogs, over the years, were hit by cars and killed after running in the street. Lillian remembers having to give up her dog before the family moved to Dearborn because her mother didn’t want to experience that. Their dog was used to running in fields.

After Dearborn her family moved to a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  She moved back to the Detroit area when she was in her twenties. She lived in her mother and stepfather’s condo in Farmington Hills.

She was married a few years later and moved with her husband and young daughter into an apartment in the Plymouth/Canton area.  Years later they bought their first house in Oak Park, Michigan. Her children attended Ferndale Public Schools. It was her first taste of living in a diverse community. She really enjoyed having her children live and attend school with people of different races and backgrounds.

While growing up none of our neighborhoods were diverse. Mine were mostly Black, while hers were mostly White. My first contact with diversity came in seventh grade when I went from an all-Black Lutheran school to a mostly White Catholic school. That was the first time I had gone to school with White, Asian, and Hispanic kids. It really didn’t take me long to adjust because I made friends right away. Almost half of my graduating class from the Lutheran School went to the Catholic school.  We had about 12 kids in the sixth grade class.

When Lillian’s husband changed jobs, she wanted to continue to live in a diverse neighborhood and have her kids attend a school with a varied population. They purposely avoided neighborhoods that were “lily white.”

The City of Detroit and some of its suburbs are among the most segregated areas of the country. Many churches are also segregated. There have been attempts to create diversity in some congregations. Although the numbers aren’t equal by any measure, as a devoted Detroit Red Wings fan, I’ve noticed a lot of diversity at their games. The same goes for the times I’ve been to see the Detroit Tigers play baseball.  I believe sporting events can bring people together, especially when they’re rooting for the same team.

I think it would be interesting to investigate pockets of diversity around the Detroit area or specific instance where people you wouldn’t expect to be on the same side were united over a common cause. No matter what our race or background, I believe we are more alike than different.

Growing Up in Detroit

For the most part many of the images that we see on the news, in movies, and in the newspaper paint a dim view of Detroit. Detroit filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy in 2013, becoming the largest city to do so.  A former major, Kwame Kilpatrick is serving a prison term for corruption. It’s crime statistics are frequently in the news. At some point, I believe it was the “murder capital” of the United States. I remember a more vibrant Detroit.

 I grew up in the city of Detroit, Michigan in the 1960 and 1970’s. I don’t recall going out to the suburbs many times. That’s because most of our needs could be met in the city. My parents, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great-aunts and great-uncles all lived within the city limits. My father married the girl next door. Both sides of the family knew each other.  Most Sundays we would visit my grandparents and great-aunt and uncle who lived next door. We usually watched the evening news, The F.B.I. television series or The Ed Sullivan Show. Some Sundays we would visit my other great-aunts and uncles on my mother’s side of the family. Our treat was popcorn, popped on the stove. We’d sit on the floor watching television with the popcorn spread out in our napkins.

I walked to and from my elementary school from kindergarten up until we moved to northwest Detroit when I was in third grade. I think in the beginning my cousins who went to a nearby public school would walk me to school. After awhile sometimes I even walked by myself. Most of the time there were other kids to walk with.

Many have heard the phrase it takes a village to raise a child. Well that was pretty evident when I was young. If Byron’s grandmother saw any child do anything out of line as we passed her house, the parents would receive a call that evening. Other neighbors were the same way. When we were just learning to ride our bikes, we were only allowed to go from corner to corner. Going around the block was not permitted.

We stayed out until the streetlights came on. We entertained ourselves outside. Sometimes we played in the back yard. We had a Ping-Pong table there. I remember the pedal-car we had when I was really young. Jump rope, jacks, tic-tack-toe, hide and seek, riding our bikes were some of our outdoor activities.

Every neighborhood had its national grocery stores, A&P, Kroger, Farmer Jacks. We also had drugstores such as Cunningham. Nearby Department stores included Arlan’s , Federal and Crowleys. There was also Hudson’s downtown store as well as five-and-dime stores like Kresge and Woolworth. As the years went by, the stores closed. Until recently there were no national grocery stores in the City of Detroit. Meijer opened its first store within the city limits in 2013. Whole Foods also opened a Detroit store that year. 

Many businesses have opened up in the city. As I drive into work I see Bucharest Grill (I highly recommend their falafel wrap.), Two James Spirits (on my list to visit), The Mercury, Slows Bar B Q (yummy food), The Detroit Institute of Bagels (very fresh and tasty bagels) among others. I can look out of my window and see The Westin Hotel. It was originally The Book Cadillac Hotel. When I started working downtown in 1985, the only part of the hotel that was open was a restaurant on the first floor. After that shut down for over 20 years different developers tried unsuccessfully to renovate the site. Once again it’s a vibrant part of the city.

The image of Detroit I see today is of a city on the comeback. It’s being revitalized with a new Major, Mike Duggan, current caring residents, new businesses, micro farms, and people moving into the city.