During the seventh chapter, we see that love notes in a city
can be man-made or organic in the city and can possibly create memories and
love for someone in a city. What places in the city of Detroit create that
feeling for you and are these places organic or man-made? Do you feel as though a
man-made love note can have the same type of community impact that a organic
love note does?
For me, some of the places that create love notes in the city of Detroit would have to Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza, both of which are man-made. Campus Martius Park has done this because of my time working there and the many nights I would spend there after work. Hart Plaza is special to me due to the memories of the festivals and concerts I would go to as a teenager and the times I would spend skateboarding through the plaza.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that a man-made love note can have the same impact, it more so depends on the person. The love notes I have for places in the city are completely different than someone else in the city, which makes the city greater for everyone living in it.
Those are both great places. I especially remember hanging out at Hart Plaza as a teenager. This year, now that my kids are older, Campus Martius is definitely a place that I will take my children for ice-skating and hot chocolate.
DeleteDefinitely Comerica Park is the place for me. Obviously man made, Comerica is a place that I've come to year after year, creating great memories with friends and family. It's the first place I ever saw a Teena Marie concert, the place for opening day shenanigans with my best friend and my favorite summer date night spot with my husband. I love this spot as much as I could love any place in the city.
DeleteI definitely have fond memories of the festivals that used to take place in Hart Plaza. However, I am glad the site was expanded by the removal of Ford Auditorium. I never lived how the building cut off the public from the riverfront.
DeleteAs for Comerica Park, I too am a fan of it. I like the openness of the place and the ability to walk around it at one's leisure.
I would say my most memorable love note to the city was performed by one of the Detroit Center residents a few years before I became the Director. Periodically, this woman - who I believe was associated with Taubman College - would get a garbage bag and pick up litter in front of the building on Woodward. After doing this for several months the former Center Director called building management and asked them to perform this task. I think this woman would have continued to do it if he had not made other arrangements. I asked her about it and she felt it was her duty as a citizen to help keep the city habitable by cleaning it up when she had the chance.
DeleteJoe Louis Arena. I have never been a sports fan, but since moving to Michigan, I can actually say that I'm a Red Wings fan (I'm slowly becoming a Tigers fan...), and I absolutely love coming to Detroit for the hockey games. I even love paying an exorbitant amount of money for beer and Little Caesars pizza, which I would normally never eat. I even love riding the People Mover to the arena, even as ridiculous as the People Mover seems to me, probably because it was one of the first things I did my first time in the city. I also love the different neighborhoods and the architecture, all of which are man-made, but I really like how even the man-made "love notes" to the city have an organic quality about them, simply because they have been repurposed or reinvented or have come to symbolize something bigger than their tangible existence. The more time I spend in Detroit, the more things I discover to love about the city. I love that Detroit is a mix of both man-made and organic love notes as Detroit is reinventing itself and people are finding new ways to use and leave their mark on the city.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comment concerning the People Mover. It really is useless, but I enjoy riding it and taking visitors on it.
DeleteHailey I agree when it comes the man-made love notes becoming organic, because it becomes one with what you symbolize as love for the city.
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