What the hell! There’s nearly a dozen people in here. I’d of thought 5 people could get 10 garments photographed. But it’s November and 20 degrees, the beginning of Detroit’s hungry months and the wind is whipping down a people-less Michigan Avenue. What creative wouldn’t want to be a part of this happening? I hug the wall where I won’t get stepped on or knock equipment over. There’s a stylist working some camera on a sliding tripod thing, a videographer capturing everyone’s move, an assistant to the photographer’s assistant, the make-up artist, my old friends Kim the designer, Christine the dressmaker and Steve the photographer all climbing over each other in the converted third floor studio in his 100+ year-old, Corktown home. Everyone is dressed in black looking very New York. I got a kid’s red coat and hunting cap on, it’s Detroit right here.

Christine is fussing over a tiny wrinkle right now, three people are studying this offense on a monitor. I’m gonna last an hour. Flash back: 20 years ago and the last time I was in the same room with Steve and Christine. Damn we’ve been friends awhile. More significantly, we’ve all been self-employed creatives in Detroit longer than that. Is it really tougher in New York? I don't think so. We should get medals. I’m gonna hand one to my ownself for “networking superstar.” I’m like a grandma, all proud of bringing my people together. Loyalty is a powerful currency, don’t under value it.

The clothes are glorious, effortless, but getting them there sure wasn’t. Kim wins the “Big Cajones” award for going the two-year distance for this moment. I spent a whole weekend in that dress they’re still shooting, never looked or felt better in a garment.  Christine has the hand-sewn neck seam spot on. Seam? who cares? Listen if your collarbone suddenly looked like a million dollars, you’d care. Let’s face it the rest of us would be checking ourselves in if we had to make such a seam. Of course she gets the “10,000 hour Master,” prize. I say charge it and slide the thing over your head already. If you’re lucky you might get one with a perfectly placed “1817” maker’s stitch, priceless. That earnest reverence for the uniqueness of each and every piece made treasure hunting with Kim a fabulous adventure. What fun to be with her in some middle-of-no-where country barn plowing through luscious piles of antique linens! My kind of job!!

I think about the “renaissances” this group of Detroiters has endured, not oh-so fabulous adventures. O.K. so Steve is actually a New Yorker but he arrived 15 years ago…and stayed, he's as Detroit as it gets. Winner of the “tenacious reinventor,” Steve’s gone way out on a “wide angle” so-to-speak to create a really cool business and lifestyle in his profession. If you want longevity here, you are creatively thinking your every paycheck. Look we “old-timers” are not gonna jump up and down every time some suburbanite buys a building or a punk pops up with their Brooklyn idea, but cautiously speaking things are good now in Detroit, very good. We have prospects and projects and joy. 

I look out the studio window before I go. That barren vista is where Tiger stadium used to be; as fallow as a Provencal field of flax in winter. Ok so not everyone is enjoying prospects, but if one woman can bring this many people to work today then? …right?  You got to believe in the power and spirit of human labor, season after season, year after tough and trying year. People do survive and thrive, for that matter, fabric and garments made of nothing but grass withstand and become magnificent. Kim swears she can feel 200-year old energy in those humble old sheets. Now that’s glory and glamour.

Atiba Seitu aka Kevin Zeigler

Pay no attention to the time lag. Todays inspiration is Atiba Seitu, aka Kevin Zeigler. Could two names be more different? like a character in an Elmore Leonard story, he just may be a two personality type dude. He wrote me a letter today, all caps, as precisely drawn as it was written, on stationery he made, stamped, delivered by my united states postal carrier to my door. The man knows what's on his mind and that act communicated volumes, and I hadn't even read the contents yet. He says he's all over the place, he looks right here and right now to me. He wants to do something meaningful, Atiba you just did.

He works at Avalon International Breads. Its a busy place, but Atiba has it organized in a vibrational sort of way. He calls working behind the counter, serving at the Altar. I just loved that. He takes this religion seriously. The zen of making cappucino, serving you this host, accepting your tithe. Just that spirit of purpose and propriety. It just occurred to me he doesn't wait on you, he is waiting for you. Oh yes, I wrote him right back. You are called, it's best to answer.

A Beautiful Detroit Begins with Monica and Ashley (and their green army)

 Monica Tabares                                             Ashley Atkinson

The Greening of Detroit                     The view from GM's Headquarters

The Greening of Detroit is looking for new members. It's sort of like fundraising, but maybe you have to do something. To say this to outsiders, especially those just over the 8 Mile divide, would be like bringing up the bad marriage, "the money wasted!"  Some hard-core hippie-types are looking for more money and help to throw it away on plants for all that vacant land. Is this how they are going to make up for what other cities have i.e. real grocery stores with fresh food? 

It wasn't a very big gathering, there were some Birkenstocks, and they were looking for people to "join" this organization that plants gardens and trees.  It could have been a deja vu moment, that is until you heard the statistics.  Obama couldn't have dreamed up a better grassroots movement nor this winning green party ticket:  Monica Tabares, Events Coordinator and Ashley Atkinson, Director of Project Development and Urban Agriculture for The Greening of Detroit. 

They stand up in their cargo pants and flip flops, coolly lay out the statistics that have put Detroit in the international driver's seat of a cutting-edge urban agricultural movement. Monica tells how 15 years ago she decided she wanted to save the world and couldn't as just a new mom and an attorney in Detroit. She was one of three staff members in this fledgling organization whose mission was to plant trees in the blighted city. This is going to save the world? (the power of postpartum thinking?!). 

Well it turns out those darn "hippies" were planting more than trees. The Greening of Detroit has grown a citywide food movement, and it's feeding more than a few people. Where there were once only 18 gardens, Detroit now has more than 1500. Then an idea to involve kids became the training of hundreds of kids and adults in green jobs, paying green jobs. The initial staff of three has become thirty.  One board member flew to an international conference on urban agriculture, and found out there was nothing new to learn. Detroit knew more than any other city about how to cultivate a successful urban agricultural program. Monica's idea to expand the mission beyond tree planting, despite limited funds and few troops, paid off.  

Ashley is the field marshal presiding over a not so small army, getting acreage planted, food disseminated to markets and people across the city and the projects keep coming. All this on a budget and they're so fiscally efficient, they've earned a 4-star rating because of their money management. Ashley and Monica  explained that when the money isn't available, they simply all work together to find another, creative way to get things done. How novel. Ashley whispered that a 3-acre garden is going in at the 200-plus year-old farmer's market in downtown Detroit and a whole world is watching to see if Detroit can cultivate a financially viable model that can be exported. People watching this food desert to see if a grass roots movement can grow food in it? As a business concept? Like an unwanted weed, turns out you just can't kill the D, and actually, you might want to live there. 

Trees are still getting planted. One impassioned homeowner reported how The Greening organization helped his neighborhood replace dead trees and in the process a strong community took root. They're moving from places like Ann Arbor and Chicago, it's such a positive, futuristic living experience here. There's money being wasted on some ugly ideas in this country, but not in this beautiful backyard. One woman's company moved from one of the well-heeled suburbs to downtown Detroit. She said that looking out her new window from the GM headquarter's building, the trees are blooming and it's quite beautiful. Would you believe the people who planted them are on their way to saving the world?

Jack Kervorkian

He was a slight, older man living above what's now Mr. B's bar in Royal Oak. I use to see him heading to the lamplighter diner north of 11 Mile Rd. Other than the nazi memorabilia collector he hung around with, most of us didn't know the unassuming townie had subversive tendencies. Then he Rube Goldberged a "death" machine and helped Janet Adkins end her own life in the back of a beat up VW van (keep this on the down low, but my husband sold him used parts to keep it "operational"…the accomplice).  

By the time he had his art opening at Ariana Gallery in town, he was well known as Dr. Death and a media superstar. I could only imagine the circus. Of course a preeminent  business owner like myself needs to represent, this is gonna be good.  His attorney was showboating for his own reality show in front of all the cameras. I braved the crowd and finally got to the paintings. A bleeding neck stump and the soldier with weapon, I fairly squealed in delight. Provocative, so my move.  I should have bought it. Jack was so small you could barely see him in the crowd, the horrified bourgeoisie of Oakland County couldn't tear themselves away.   

That he would not be the best spokesman for this important cause notwithstanding, he put the issue on the docket, served his time and put his life on the line. God forbid anyone should be trapped in a tortured body with no way out. That's beautiful, that's Detroit. Now who has those bus keys. Only qualified drivers should apply. 

Molly Motor: Artist, Gardener, Home Renovator, Chef

Longtime Detroiter Molly Motor is aptly named, she works like a machine whether making art, gardening, working on her house or cooking full-time for her employer.  Uptown Chicago roots and a top tier education does not come to mind when she tells the story of running the car thieves off Farnsworth at 3:00 am, armed only with dreadlocks and green caftan. She can be a fierce presence, especially if anyone threatens her corner of Detroit. 

Her home is clearly where a degree in art and old school discipline is evident. She obviously loves all the crayons in her box and painted the 1920's bungalow leaving no color out.  Rooms flow and meander out passed a library and studio, living room and kitchen, through a back door and out to gardens, animal coops, and a garage with plans to expand her compound into the alley. Her approach to home improvement is academic, she has a design in mind and works the construction out, methodically taking the heavy lifting on herself and bringing in craftsman she sources locally as needed.  Furnishings and fittings, found roadside and saved for show a curious Intellect and practical spirit. She is more pleased with the smooth function of a new Chicago brand kitchen faucet she splurged on than the stunning farmhouse sink salvaged roadside. 

When the topic turns to the street's stunning revival, Molly is quick to give the bulk of credit to her neighbor Paul who got the ball rolling. Their combined years long commitment to saving homes and creating the thriving Farnsworth Garden drew what amounts to a small family-run farm (complete with livestock) to the end of their block, and a strong community of homesteading-types restoring homes, raising children and working together to grow food shared by all. With bee keeping around the corner and an abandoned house turned into an informal gathering place for art shows, movies, live music and parties, it's no wonder starry-eyed artist/activists from around the nation have wanted to join in with their own plans. The realist Ms. Motor shrugs her shoulders at the "20 somethings" and their visions, mostly abandoned. This is no dream she's chasing. This is home; maintained day after day, sustainable, secure and that in itself, is a beautiful thing. Like all the projects she starts, Molly's home sits on a solid foundation of hard work, ingenuity and fortitude, it's a real art.

Marche du Nain Rouge (and chase the devil from Detroit)

I have been looking for just the right story to launch this blog/idea that "A Beautiful Detroit Begins With You." I've been overwhelmed by so many people doing so many revolutionary and wildly creative things in Detroit that I honestly didn't know where to start.  That is until I got to the parking lot at Third and Forest (Midtown Detroit) last Sunday, saw these obstreperous, colorful gypsy-types assembling and heard the outrageous send up for the "Marche du Nain Rouge."  This, I said, is beautiful and where I begin. 

So what's the Marche du Nain Rouge? It's an old parade based on a 1700's legend that began with a fortune teller's warning and Detroit's founder Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac who failed to listen (you knew the French were to blame!). The upshot is we have a red devil (Nain Rouge) on our backs and all we have to do is chase him out of Detroit, problem solved.  O.K., you heard the census statistics, and thought the devil had a leg up on some chasing out. But, if you heard the loudspeaker in this parking lot pointing to pot holes and politics, you'd be as positive as I that these folks are on the right track to meaningful, beautiful, improvement.

Beauty is what I'm talking about and those costumes, the live theater and heart in this parade has no equal! NONE! This parade put the D in DIY:  The cat in the giant fist (Joe Louis sculpture on Jefferson), you got more fight than this?!; the 6'5" bearded Mary in the bathtub, holy mother of God; the stuffed animal magnet?; does your city have a Tyree Guyton block and stuffed animal-covered houses? Sorry, no it doesn't; What about a Frederick Marshall bronze?, Here's his seminal work The Spirit of Detroit rendered in metallic body paint on this youngster, museum quality. 

Sure the Trojans have precision marching, but really, with the Detroit Party Marching Band dancing up your parade, I say put those Trojans to better use.  You say the Rosebowl parade has bragging rights and pretty floats. But, it's Detroit that brought the world Motown sound and manufacturing ingenuity.  Here's the giant boombox pulled by a just-engineered-it-together bike contraption. When your life's on the line, you're not stopping to smell roses.  

Look, I've got a load of material about the beautiful people making Detroit a beautiful place, but I'm just one tiny cog in this big wheel.  And having spun wheels here, I know it takes coming together in a merry sort of way to rock a parade and a better place to live while we're at it.  I hope you'll join the parade, here at this blog, so we can get onto better living in Detroit.