Twenty-six in NoJoMo 2015

The team that traditionally has had Thanksgiving football is the Lions. Write about Detroit. Have you been there? Would you want to go back? Do you know anyone who is from there, originally? Would you want to live there, yourself?

This prompt was heavily-influenced by a recruiter I guess I ran off. He wanted me to work at one of the “Big Three.” (The one that didn’t go bankrupt.) I was worried about going without a long-term gig. I was also worried about being able to get to and from in “The D” not being able to drive a car.

Some of it is flavored by frequent TV; Red Eye on Fox News has a few somewhat-regular guests who are from Detroit.

I’ve only been to the airport, which was a hub for one of the merged/bankrupted/gone US airlines. I’ve never seen any of the inner parts of the city, though some of it looks pretty awesome. I have acquaintances who are big into urban exploration, and Detroit seems like it’d be an interesting place to do that.

Places like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Central_Station

Not that I’d be much for exploration, based on my limited mobility, but.... Maybe there’s a way that someone could explore some of those old places with a drone....

Back to the prompt, I’ve been going through my memory bank, and I can’t think of anyone who was from Detroit, or nearby. A few people from Michigan, but nobody from Detroit, specifically. That’s a bit surprising considering how big a city it once was.

Would I want to live there? I don’t know. I think there’s a lot of potential in the old real cities, but the people who brought endless miles of suburbia wouldn’t understand it. Everybody should have a 3,000 square foot McMansion, and buy groceries somewhere miles away. And pay not a dime of Federal income tax as a result.

(Yes, I am a bit bitter that because I didn’t choose to enter into a contract I couldn’t afford in 2006/7, I paid more in income tax in 2009 than I grossed in 2002.... Go south from Detroit, and you’ll see what a wasteland a country that doesn’t have tax breaks for renting a house from a bank has… Still, all this is why Hillary will be the conservative candidate in 2016, just as Obama was the conservative candidate in 2012. And now watch as the hipster progressives’ heads spin around and around)

Would I want to live in Detroit, specifically? I don’t know. Maybe. But one of the other recovering big cities might be better for me. Cleveland, Buffalo, Baltimore, even Philly.....

But it’s really not up to me. My wife’s career aspirations dictate. I know my days of going somewhere to work, then enduring a commute home (public transport or not) are over. Oh well.

Last updated November 26, 2015