A Small Percentage of Heart: D-Week 7&8:

I don't have many words for the past few weeks. Not much new has happened. I am officially entering "Detroit cool-down mode" - I am realizing I only have three more weeks in this beloved city. I think because I am so sad and reluctant to leave, I am just holding on so tight to the things I'm doing every day, and not much thinking about updating this blog.

One thing that has stood out to me in the past two weeks is the Detroit family we have built in our two months here. The hostel has a high guest turnover by nature, but sometimes you get some longer stay guests. A few weeks ago a Canadian and a Swiss stayed for a week and Jen and I got really close with them and some of the other extended work-stay guests at the hostel. All of us would go out to eat, get drinks, go to concerts, play soccer, cook together, sit on the back porch and reflect, bike out to the farm to volunteer, sit on the couch relaxing together...it was truly a family affair. They all left Detroit within a few days of each other, and Jen and I have been moping around the house and the city missing them terribly, but thanking God for relationships. We continue to add, lose, and evolve our family here. That is something I hold onto dearly as I prepare to transition back to NOLA.

My dear friend Lydia came to visit me last week. We started at our first "big girl" job right out of college together. I left that company almost a year ago to move on to my new life in NOLA, and she just left earlier this summer to move on to her new life in Breckenridge, CO. She was in Detroit for a little over 24 hours on her way to CO, but we somehow managed to jam pack that time with so much. We biked to Earthworks and worked until noon; then we biked to the abandoned Packard Plant which, as two women biking alone, was slightly terrifying; then onto Indian Village, a very wealthy and beautiful bubble in the heart of Detroit; then onto beautiful Belle Isle, another island in the Detroit River between US and Canada; then on to downtown Detroit; then to a neighborhood meeting with RESTORE NED (Northeast Detroit). The meeting was incredible. Much like NOLA, the government in Detroit has a history of corruption and isn't really trusted to do much good of any kind. So Northeast Detroit (a huge section of Detroit) came together and formed a nonprofit to start making changes on their own. It is so great to see change starting from the bottom-up. The different zones of NED sat around a table looking over a map reflecting neighborhood blight and brainstormed visions for the neighborhood and ideas for how to transition areas from abandonment and blight to unity and vibrancy. Solutions ranged from solar panels to urban farms (very surprisingly well received - I thought most Detroiters were skeptical of urban farms) to parking lots for business to youth programs to parent training classes. It was so inspiring to hear their concerns over the shortcomings of parenting resulting in violence among youth, over the mental impacts of being surrounded by an environment of blight, and over the lack of support of local businesses in the area. Neighbors of all colors and genders and ages and backgrounds coming together to create the city they envision is truly how I think Detroit is setting a great example for the rest of the country, and being able to sit in on a meeting to witness this was truly a great privilege.

Oh yea we also camped in Canada with my friend from college Karolynn. We swam in a quarry, hiked, fellowshipped, changed our oil with british pounds, ate lots of vegetables, and checked out a rad trailer park. So awesome.

So like always, I write a lot. But it's only because I am so fascinated and impacted by all the little details in Detroit. I am sure my attempts to communicate these details and draw you into my Detroit world are unsuccessful, but here's to trying. Maybe pictures will be better?