We’re heeeere! After 10 hours on the road (which flew by) we’re chillin’ in the Motor City!

So we were supposed to leave the Twin City at 10 am. Well, that didn’t happen. First of all, Ryan was 30 minutes late getting to my place to make the sandwiches (and I was obviously showered, packed and ready 😉 ); then we had to make the sandwiches (by the way, those sandwiches killed it; we didn’t buy any food on the road all day). Then I had to give Wil Bethmann a gift for acting in 27 Wagons Full of Cotton…late, I know, but better than never, right?

We chilled hardcore on the road. The weather was gorgeous, Ryan wore moccasins, we listened to relaxing music, we indulged in some stimulating conversation. Very awesome.

But, we did get some important stuff squared away. We switched seats several times and while Ryan drove I called our potential landlords, took notes on things we need to see and wrote a poem (transcribed below the blog); Ryan slept while I drove…and edited the website…then slept. We also discussed all things Detroit as well as bounced around ideas for our work at UNCSA next year (FOURTH YEAR, BABY!!)

So here’s the real deal: Ryan has been excited for a long time about this trip. He literally lights up when you mention the city. I have not shared in this excitement, a product of his doing most of the research while I was helping build the world of 1950 NYC (G’s + D’s anybody?). However, that changed the moment we stepped into Hostel Detroit (a hotbed of info on Detroit and ambassadorship on its behalf). We immediately started gathering intel when we questioned Evan, who works at Hostel Detroit, about the city and what brought him here.

The info was interesting, sure; the answers he gave were apt and informative; but it was his passion that pulled me in. If Ryan lights up like a tree you decorate during December (trying to be all-inclusive), Evan lights up like a freakin’ skyscraper!

And it didn’t stop there.

Next we met a dynamic duo that calls themselves Diversity Fellows! who performed an operatic clown piece (in drag) focusing on race and gender issues at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, MI, 15 minutes from Detroit (did you know that Dearborn has the largest concentrated community of Arabs in the country?! I didn’t).

I think what’s hitting me is really the momentum with which this has begun. We’ve been here less than three hours and we’ve already gained amazing intel! For example, Marc of Diversity Fellows! wants to move to Detroit and open a company very much like the one he runs in Providence, RI, which he claims helped to revitalize/gentrify Providence. That’s basically our end goal. Destiny? What?

We got here at 9 and by 11 it was clear that we are among likeminded people.

All in all a wonderful start to a wondrous journey.

Much love,

R&R

So here’s that poem I mentioned! It came out of the blue, started with no intention of writing anything except for the first words. Check it out:

When everything crumbles, goes tumbling, and we must go stumbling through the rubble and puddles of filth, what wouldn’t we filch to fill our stomachs that keep grumbling as we keep stumbling, fumbling to cling to the things within our reach? What will we teach the young now when cow-meat is yesterday’s commodity and comedy is a lost art form? How do you inform them what it takes to live when life has given you brand new table, chairs, and cocktail as well as a new hand? What will they have to withstand that’s past our understanding? When everyone’s done handing stuff out for free, can your really call it greed when you’re stealing what you need? How do you cultivate a free mind when facing blight in the east and desolation in the west while the rest of the cardinal directions show waste and decay with no way out?

What now?

Questions lead to answers only after passing through the nebulous unknown, a territory fraught with land mines for teachers, burning cars for sign posts. The only guide is pain who explains the way of the world.

So let’s get hurled inot the unknowing, w here growing comes with acid rain and strain is a mainstay of progress. We may not rest, we may not be pleased, but we’ll get what we need.

But is that greed? We’ll see.