Only in the D

 

I used to have a favorite pair of shoes—black leather Anne Klein flats with a rubber sole and white piping. They were not cute by current measures, and are laughable in comparison to several pair of five-inch stilettos that fall into my “two-hour shoes” category because I simply can't wear them for long with these flat feet. The leather flats were the most comfortable pair of shoes I’ve ever owned. I developed a love for the rubber-soled “grandma shoes”—as my then-fiancé dubbed them—that were easy, reliable and comfy. When the soles started to wear out, I got rid of them. But much to the chagrin of my now-husband, I went back to DSW and bought another pair. I’m actually on my third pair now, and though I don’t wear them as frequently as I used to, they are still my official go-to comfy shoe.

Much like those shoes, making Detroit the setting for Broken Vessels just felt right. The decision was second nature. My parents moved to Detroit when I was one year old and later moved just outside the city limits, where I grew up. When I graduated from high school, I was anxious to head to an out-of-state college, but after earning my degree, metro Detroit called me back home. Not only is Detroit home, it is familiar. Not only is Detroit misunderstood, it deserves a positive spotlight.

There are so many unique things about the city. Everyone from this area knows that the six degrees of separation notion is blown to smithereens in metro Detroit. Here, there are more like three degrees of separation. Detroit is the largest city I know of that has a hometown feel when it comes to the social scene. People travel in the same circles, support the same events and network with the same folks. This is what makes the run-ins between Trinity (Broken Vessels’ protagonist) and Tony (Broken Vessels’ antagonist) so realistic.

Aside from the social aspect, there are historic communities like Boston Edison (where my great uncle once lived), North Rosedale Park, Corktown and Indian Village. Each offers a fascinating glimpse into the past with turn-of-the-twentieth-century architecture by distinguished designers like Frank Lloyd Wright and Albert Kahn, long before the popularization of cookie-cutter neighborhoods.

Detroit is also a sleeper town of the arts—whether you're talking about the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History (the largest institution of its kind in the world), the Motown Museum or even the beloved and now partially destroyed Heidelberg Project, which has as many fans attesting to its artistic expression as critics calling it a wretched eyesore.

Detroit has seen more ups and down than a yo-yo—with recent woes like being put under the advisement of an emergency financial manager and losing 25 percent of its population in a decade. While the issues of the last 10 years center on political corruption, money mismanagement and the short-lived collapse of the autos, there is a black eye on the city from days past that has yet to heal. Few will argue with the statement that Detroit has never recovered from the 1967 race riots that left 43 people dead, 467 people injured, 7,200 people arrested and more than 2,000 buildings destroyed. Though they were before my time, the riots left behind blighted areas and emotional wounds that still serve as painful reminders of the past.

I believe in Detroit's return to greatness and I know that in order to start a new chapter, we’ve got to look to the future. There are efforts like the Detroit Works Project, which looks at long-term revitalization efforts through land use, economic growth, neighborhood improvement plans, vacant building plans and more. There is a resurgence in downtown Detroit with major corporations like Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Quicken Loans and Compuware that have left the suburbs to plant roots in the city. And there’s the Woodward Light Rail project, which will connect downtown Detroit to the New Center district along the well-known Woodward Avenue corridor. The light rail is expected to increase accessibility to transportation for those who are living in, working in or visiting Detroit and will increase business for nearby shops and restaurants.

Detroit is a city that has a lived a hard life but is finding its way to renewal, going beyond the automobile industry and venturing into IT, green technology and urban farming. I am excited that I am witnessing these changes and want to capture this transformation through a nontraditional medium—fiction. As a new novelist, I am sharing a side of Detroit that does not often receive media coverage and using writing to help change the negative stereotypes connected to metropolitan Detroit. This was my goal for Broken Vessels and it is my goal for the two remaining books I will write to complete a trilogy—all set in this comfy, worn and familiar place I call Detroit.

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