Wow, Michigan has two cities on the "America's Most Depressing Places" list - according to Clusterstock editor Joe Weisenthal.
Number 1 is Detroit.
Number 10 is Flint.
Personally, I always found Flint much more depressing than Detroit, but I haven't been in Michigan for years.
Actually, I found Flint to be depressing when I was young, when the city was booming, so I kind of object to all this jumping all over Flint NOW. It's too "in" to mess with Flint NOW.
That's all.
Monday, May 18, 2009
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6 comments:
I was in Michigan less than a year ago, and visited both Flint and Detroit. Flint is MUCH more depressing than Detroit is. We had a fine meal in a beautiful spot below a well-used segment of public rail, next to the beautiful Opera House and the new and popular stadia. In Flint, absolutely nothing of the sort.
Jill, you know I'd have to throw in my 2 cents. It's just so easy to pick on Flint and Detroit, especially by people who never stepped foot in the state.(You and Sarah grew up here.) I might be delusional, since I work in Flint and live on its outskirts.
Maybe it doesn't take a lot to make me happy. A newly asphalted Chevrolet Avenue. Being seated on The Whiting's stage for an intimate performance of "Zora", a one-woman show about Zora Neale Hurston. A golden eagle sailing over an open field near Meijer's on Pierson Road. The Flint Farmers Market. Three new (non-chain) restaurants, a deli, and antique center in downtown Flint. Dorms for UM-Flint (it's no longer a commuter college). These are small things--they don't replace job loss and industry. But they show that people continue to believe in Flint despite the bad press and naysayers.
Mary, I know you know as well as anyone that I never liked Flint. But we moved there when things were already on the downswing.
And I know that even though you were the first of the two of us to flee Michigan, you came back because it's your home. I envy that.
Then again - I keep blogging about the place, don't I? I was mocked today for doing so, btw.
I gotta say that in my view, Flint is not doing great, but it's ironically ahead of some other down-and-out towns in its surprising, if quiet and step-by-step, rehabilitation. A friend of mine said the other day that Flint is like the alcoholic who gets into the 12-step-program first...we're a little bit ahead of everybody else. I've lived in Flint for the past 28 years (the last eight, dividing my time between Flint and LA) and I have to say, my quality of life in Flint is really not bad at all. I have a much better house there than we could ever afford in LA; I can walk to work; I can even walk to cool concerts at Whiting and the FIM; and the Flint River and the air, thanks to the departure of heavy industry, are getting cleaner. I still struggle with the fact that I've lived in Flint so long -- there are times when it seems like a dysfunctional default -- but looking at the actual reality of day-to-day life there, it seems to me that it holds up well. Of course, I have a job at UM - Flint and I live in one of the vest neighborhoods -- and that makes all the difference. Without a job, I don't know what I'd do or how I'd feel.
Let me clarfiy that what I mostly did not like about Flint - about all of the midwest - is that it's too far away from the ocean. I didn't know that was what it was back then, but I know now.
When I think back, I didn't actually live in Flint for much more than 10 yrs., if that ...
Yes, UM-Flint has really been a boon - there was real foresight in getting the university in there all those years ago and fostering its growth to what it is today.
I'm happy that my alma mater is helping Flint stay out of the mire that it would have been in had UM not been there to fill the gap left by GM.
Go blue! Boo General Motors.
Jill, That makes sense--your earliest memories are tied to ocean tides. Gee, if I lived in Newburyport/Plum Island, I wouldn't leave either. It certainly looks gorgeous in photos. It helps that your family is near, too. I was born in Port Huron, and I've felt a similar connection to the Great Lakes. Couple that with my fascination with the strange beauty of ramshackle factories--it proves I'm a Michigan girl through and through. :)
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