#8 Detroit City

Cousin Doug is always telling us that people out west have the wrong image of Detroit. He says the media has been bashing Detroit for years without justification. Of course I told him lots of people have the impression that Detroit is not a pleasant place to be because of the song Detroit City by Bobby Bare. “ …..by day I make the cars, - by night I make the bars,….I wanna go home I wanna go home, Lord how I want to go home” . It sounds like a place one wants to leave. Whereas you take San Francisco’s song, I left my heart in San Francisco, that song makes people want to stay. People are influenced a great deal by song lyrics. He wasn't buying it, as a matter of fact he had never even heard of the song. As cousin Doug lives here I can see where he might want to protect his nest. He offered to gave us a tour of uptown, downtown, and all around to make his point. This he did.
I have to admit I find nothing wrong with Detroit. From what I saw of it Detroit is a very clean city. It has growing pains and is constantly changing but it is no better or worse than any other city in America.
On the plus side Detroit has a fairly good art scene with a good art museum. And as some of you who have been following my Book of Art readings on Youtube (http://www.Youtube.com/user/crossmmonastery) already know, I have little good to say about art museums. But cousin Doug took us to the Detroit Institute of Art and I must say I was impressed. It is a very people friendly unpretentious museum. They have a little Van Gogh that I liked a lot. They even have easel-benches set up here and there for anyone who wants to set down and do a drawing of some particular painting they like. Art has even penetrated the “bad” parts of the city. We visited a great folk art site in the city’s east side, The Heidelberg Folk Art Project. Check it out: (http://www.heidelberg.org/)