Reputation vs. reality
Detroit has a mythic reputation for reasons both good and bad: Its post-industrial bleakness, its music, its blackness, its spirit. Earlier this month, the New York Times put Detroit on a list of places to visit in 2008. In November, a report resurrected an old problem, crime, and anointed Detroit the nation's most dangerous city.
But there was nothing scary about the city I drove through. It was peaceful and almost like a small town.
I mostly saw people simply living their lives: Watering the lawn, unloading groceries, playing catch with a football and talking to neighbors. Many people smiled or nodded amicably as I rolled down their street.
Kids rode fancy bikes at Appoline and Pembroke one day. An older couple at Ashton and Curtis, played cards under a tree on one of summer's hottest afternoons. A family at Sussex and St. Martin put up a banner praising their graduating daughter, Jewel. A man on Mansfield painted his curb white.
