Aight, so I went to Detroit this weekend. Overall I had a great time but there was one little awkward incident thats gonna haunt me forever. Ill get to that shortly
I was born in Dearborn, MI, but my family moved to Colorado in 1980 where I lived through college. Being in Chicago now has allowed me to visit Detroit to see families that Ive been tight with since I was a toddler, and its always a nice holiday option when I know somethings going on, like Easter. I decided to see one family in Livonia when my Chicago friend Maureen told me she was going herself (free ride) for the weekend. Her younger brother is in an up-and-coming band called Colic, and they played at the Magic Bag in Ferndale on Friday (4/9). So Maureen & I, along with her roommate and roommates boyfriend caught what ended up being a quality set. Colic was the middle act, and they were by far the best. Hardly perfect, but their influences were sound. They were the only ones I would be happy to see here in Chicago, should they get the chance. Im glad Motor City Rocks likened them to Catherine Wheel, because I thought the same thing. We then did a post-show party with everyone that I remember very little of as I got wicky-wicky wasted. Good time the first night, though. God bless Maureen for being the designated driver.
The next day (4/10) we hit Millers Bar in Dearborn for burgers (mandatory for anyone who swings through Detroit), and then stopped by
Hitsville USA, the Motown Museum Berry Gordys childhood home and original studio of all the greatest hits of the 1960s. Youd have to be made of stone and be thoroughly lacking in soul to not think this relatively small house -- home to Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, and the Supremes wasnt cool. Black music aside, this was one of the original homes of rock & roll. Good times...
So the plan then was to get me to the familys house where I was going to stay for the rest of the weekend. Maureen & Co. couldnt stay in Michigan as long as I could, so they dropped me off. The father of this family welcomed everyone in for a cocktail before they had to go, so that was cool. Were hanging out, talking about Detroit life in general, and the conversation was about the sorry state of a lot of Detroit economically. Downtown Detroit is a hollow shell compared to downtown Chicago, but its slowly improving. While talking about this, the father casually dropped the dreaded N word into the conversation, and I wanted to die. I know the guy was capable of this, but I assumed he wouldnt drop racial slurs in front of strangers/guests. Did I mention that I wanted to die? It didnt ruin anything that I know of, but it haunted me for the rest of the weekend. Besides the mother snapping at him for his choice of words, everything was okay, and we were still able to maintain some pleasant conversation. But I knew my crew was going to leave and I couldnt apologize to them until I got back to Chicago Monday. Ive since talked to Maureen, and she totally understood, seeing as she was from this area and knew the old school mentality. Dearborn, despite having the highest concentration of Arab-Americans in the U.S., is still notoriously lily white. She was used to it, as was I, but I felt bad exposing the other two, Stef & Scott, to this (Maureens roommate Stef is Australian, so I imagine the whole weekend was educational). Maureen & I know that our generation has come around to embracing diversity, but were reminded that it gets better one generation at a time.
The rest of the weekend (4/11) was great. It was like 99% of my time in Michigan was awesome, but it was that 1% that stung.
One world, people
I was born in Dearborn, MI, but my family moved to Colorado in 1980 where I lived through college. Being in Chicago now has allowed me to visit Detroit to see families that Ive been tight with since I was a toddler, and its always a nice holiday option when I know somethings going on, like Easter. I decided to see one family in Livonia when my Chicago friend Maureen told me she was going herself (free ride) for the weekend. Her younger brother is in an up-and-coming band called Colic, and they played at the Magic Bag in Ferndale on Friday (4/9). So Maureen & I, along with her roommate and roommates boyfriend caught what ended up being a quality set. Colic was the middle act, and they were by far the best. Hardly perfect, but their influences were sound. They were the only ones I would be happy to see here in Chicago, should they get the chance. Im glad Motor City Rocks likened them to Catherine Wheel, because I thought the same thing. We then did a post-show party with everyone that I remember very little of as I got wicky-wicky wasted. Good time the first night, though. God bless Maureen for being the designated driver.
The next day (4/10) we hit Millers Bar in Dearborn for burgers (mandatory for anyone who swings through Detroit), and then stopped by
Hitsville USA, the Motown Museum Berry Gordys childhood home and original studio of all the greatest hits of the 1960s. Youd have to be made of stone and be thoroughly lacking in soul to not think this relatively small house -- home to Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, and the Supremes wasnt cool. Black music aside, this was one of the original homes of rock & roll. Good times...
So the plan then was to get me to the familys house where I was going to stay for the rest of the weekend. Maureen & Co. couldnt stay in Michigan as long as I could, so they dropped me off. The father of this family welcomed everyone in for a cocktail before they had to go, so that was cool. Were hanging out, talking about Detroit life in general, and the conversation was about the sorry state of a lot of Detroit economically. Downtown Detroit is a hollow shell compared to downtown Chicago, but its slowly improving. While talking about this, the father casually dropped the dreaded N word into the conversation, and I wanted to die. I know the guy was capable of this, but I assumed he wouldnt drop racial slurs in front of strangers/guests. Did I mention that I wanted to die? It didnt ruin anything that I know of, but it haunted me for the rest of the weekend. Besides the mother snapping at him for his choice of words, everything was okay, and we were still able to maintain some pleasant conversation. But I knew my crew was going to leave and I couldnt apologize to them until I got back to Chicago Monday. Ive since talked to Maureen, and she totally understood, seeing as she was from this area and knew the old school mentality. Dearborn, despite having the highest concentration of Arab-Americans in the U.S., is still notoriously lily white. She was used to it, as was I, but I felt bad exposing the other two, Stef & Scott, to this (Maureens roommate Stef is Australian, so I imagine the whole weekend was educational). Maureen & I know that our generation has come around to embracing diversity, but were reminded that it gets better one generation at a time.
The rest of the weekend (4/11) was great. It was like 99% of my time in Michigan was awesome, but it was that 1% that stung.
One world, people
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I just refuse to be this dude's dormat that he uses to wipe his feet on all the time. I put up with it enough while we were togehter, and if he thinks I'm going to just sit quietly while he does it now, he's in for some serious fucking disappointment.