Growing up just a short distance outside of Detroit, just a quick 25-minute ride, definitely had its perks despite how crazy that might sound to some people. Looking back, I realize how much of my life was spent cruising Woodward towards Downtown Detroit in anticipation of my arrival to the land of Lafayette Coney dogs and die-hard Red Wing’s fans. In fact, some of my happiest memories include summer days spent at Comerica Park, ice skating at Campus Martius, and waiting in line at the Fox Theater alongside a bunch of intoxicated fans awaiting shows from our favorite artists.
Detroit, a massive hub for anything and everything awesome, is a delicacy that I find myself longing for while I’m away at college. My constant cravings for a Mercury Bar cheeseburger and deep sleep dreams of Slow’s Barbecue ribs make it obvious that while Detroit has totally made me a food snob, the indescribable restaurants are just some of the assets that make the 313, truly the bomb. Growing up, as I traveled out of state and overseas, other’s responses to my answer to the question, “Where are you from?” really started to piss me off. Subsequently, it didn’t take me long to realize that my love for Detroit was often skewed by other’s views on it.
Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, frustrated me more than when I would describe my hometown as a suburb of Detroit only to find people troubled, firing questions at me about what it was like in “the ghetto”, immediately associating it with words like “scary” and “sketchy”. While no, I don’t live within Detroit’s city limits, as a proud resident of Metro Detroit I took personal offense to this. While I’m away at college surrounded by people from the much more “glamorous” cities of Miami, Manhattan, and Los Angeles, I’ve found myself taking on the position of a personal defender to The D.
In pushing my authentic knowledge onto others, I’ve quickly come to realize that Detroit is more of a hidden gem and not something one can understand unless it’s experienced first hand. Despite this realization, however, I still wish I could shake the ignorance out of some people. Yes, Detroit has taken the hit from corrupt leadership and yes, criminal activity has dominated the city (which I would also like to point out is relatable to that of any major city) but there is so much more to Detroit than any of these naïve people could ever understand and I’m so sick of the reputation associated with it. In the meantime, while I keep on advocating for my favorite city, I’ve decided to redirect my feelings towards these people from frustration to understanding. After all, it took me 18 years of exploring the graffiti-filled streets, listening to the street music after a Tiger’s game, and a couple hundred miles between us for me to realize the truth behind Detroit.
Detroit is more than just a place, it’s a feeling, an experience really, that without exposure to is sincerely impossible to describe. Keep on keeping on Detroit, you’re truly one of a kind.
