July 10, 2013

Detroit is not all vacant warehouse squalor

July 10, 2013/ kendratheadverb

It's my good fortune to get to visit Detroit on a biannual basis, and I say that without a shred of sarcasm. Detroit, contrary to everything you read, has pockets of splendor. It's not a diamond in the rough. It's more like a diamond that was once immaculate with perfect cut and clarity, but which is now eroded and cloudy looking. There are flickers of redemption, however. And there are places where, if you squint your eyes, you can imagine a golden era of prosperity. Take Belle Isle, for example. An island, accessible by car (and maybe bus?), with views of Detroit and Windsor, Canada. The entire island is a ruin. It is not ruined. It is a ruin of a time gone by: a petting zoo now shuttered and graffitied, a casino that is closed except for the public bathrooms, fountains that no longer shoot water. But it has a unique beauty, this totem to a place of leisure for an urban culture that once was.

[showmyads]

And then there's Corktown, with our favorite cafe, Mugsies, where everyone should go with their friends, if they have friends like Bess and Amelia who were once Loverpants' campers, fun fact, and eat dill potato chips and take a gander around the 'hood.

Dessert at Astoria, Greektown, DET. Yes, please. Opa!

December 09, 2012

A short wish list

December 09, 2012/ kendratheadverb

In no particular order, my wish list, dear Santa: - For the faceless nameless banks who own our Boston real estate to approve our short sale. - For Millennials to use "literally" sparingly & appropriately. - For the cancerous cells attacking someone I deeply love to take a permanent vacation. - For Ryan on "Parenthood" to magically overcome his PTSD and marry Amber and let them have billions of babies with buzzcuts. - For more Bikram yoga, fresh guacamole, and AFAR Magazine in my life. - For inspiration to finish my manuscript. - For Michelle Obama and Terry Gross to become my best friends. - For a little dusting of snow. - For a sounder understanding of what I am doing here. - For a Fulbright to the South of France to research its beaches and pastry. - For photos of bikini betties standing in a conga line sucking in their stomachs to be banned from Facebook. - For my children to keep greeting me like Rosie O'Donnell greeted Tom Cruise on her show in 1996. - For Fifty Shades of Gray to disappear. - For my husband to keep loving me something fierce in spite of the frequent loss of my keys and glasses. - For my keys and glasses to not so frequently disappear. - For the Mac spinning wheel of death to only happen to pretty people. Just kidding. Haha, but imagine! - For the whole thing with Syria and Israel and Palestine and other sovereign nations along the Mediterranean to really just work it out for once and for all. - For students to cease beginning questions with, "So did you want us to...?" - For more love in my heart and less cavities in my teeth.

What about you?

*** Baby Girl's sabbath school class has been playacting out the Nativity story. She was underwhelmed by the role of Wise Man toting myrrh.