Hello. My Name is Lauren LoGrasso. I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit. As a kid I felt disconnected from the city, but now, in my adulthood, and ironically, after moving across the country, I feel I finally understand. I feel I am finally connected to the city. I am ride or die for Detroit. Why? Because I am Detroit. So are you. I’ll explain further in a bit, but first let me state some background: I live in Los Angeles and get to travel a lot for work, and I seem to come across a lot of people, with a lot of opinions about a place they have never visited. I am constantly being put in a position to defend Detroit. Usually I can handle it well, and move with grace, but I do get really upset when people relentlessly say bad things against Detroit like they have some sort of personal beef with the city. Somehow Detroit has become America's punching bag. I'm not naive. I understand that the city is not in a great place and that a lot of changes need to be made, but I see and feel great hope: a hope that I’m not sure you can fully understand until you visit.
What really inspired me to start writing on the subject was when I saw what Fox in Tampa Bay wrote about the David Price trade to the Tigers last month. It made me burn. I felt personally attacked. I think I am finally starting to understand why I feel this way when I see Detroit relentlessly criticized. I know why hearing people constantly shit all over a city that is already down over and over and over again is eating me alive. For one thing: If Detroit had a dollar for every time someone complained about or belittled it, we would never have gone bankrupt. So my first thought is, why not do something about it? If you think Detroit is terrible and you are that concerned with the way it looks, and the way people who reside there are living, then get off your ass and make a change. That’s my first thought.
My second thought, that I mentioned earlier, is that I am Detroit and so are you. What I mean is: we all run the risk of making a few bad judgments, trusting one too many bad people who promise they will help, and, therefore, falling down a slippery slope. None of us are so powerful that we are invulnerable to demise, and, with that said, none of us are so ravaged that we are beyond repair. There is a little Detroit in all of us. It’s also the city that raised my parents, who raised me…So when you say something disparaging about it, it almost feels like you’re insulting my ailing grandmother, who has a great chance for recovery, who you've also never met.
Which brings me to my third thought: most people who have BIG, HUGE opinions on Detroit have either 1) Never been there or 2) Never lived there/in the surrounding areas. Now if you've lived there and have a bad opinion of it, fine, that’s your experience, feel free to share. But to me, the way people talk about the city is like saying, “I’ve never tried ice cream, but I’m pretty sure every flavor is terrible, and the ice cream industry, as a whole, is going down hill.” I understand that wasn't the best comparison, but stick with me… YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE AN OPINION ABOUT SOMETHING, SOMEONE OR SOMEWHERE YOU HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED. Period.
So STFU, Haters... Back to writing like an adult: you can’t have an opinion about the city if you've never been there, and you CERTAINLY cannot say that the whole city is done for. Have you been to the DIA, Tigers Stadium, Slows Barbecue, Campus Martius, basically all of Midtown, Eastern Market, Corktown and Greektown, just to name a few? No, I’ll bet you haven’t. Have you seen or heard the incredible art that is being created in the city? No, again, right? How about all of the delicious restaurants and innovative business that are cropping up all over town? I guess it's probably safe to go with a final, no. Clearly it’s more fun for you to focus on ruin porn and abandoned houses. Please bear in mind, little, if any, good has ever come on focusing on destruction.
Which brings me to my third thought: most people who have BIG, HUGE opinions on Detroit have either 1) Never been there or 2) Never lived there/in the surrounding areas. Now if you've lived there and have a bad opinion of it, fine, that’s your experience, feel free to share. But to me, the way people talk about the city is like saying, “I’ve never tried ice cream, but I’m pretty sure every flavor is terrible, and the ice cream industry, as a whole, is going down hill.” I understand that wasn't the best comparison, but stick with me… YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE AN OPINION ABOUT SOMETHING, SOMEONE OR SOMEWHERE YOU HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED. Period.
So STFU, Haters... Back to writing like an adult: you can’t have an opinion about the city if you've never been there, and you CERTAINLY cannot say that the whole city is done for. Have you been to the DIA, Tigers Stadium, Slows Barbecue, Campus Martius, basically all of Midtown, Eastern Market, Corktown and Greektown, just to name a few? No, I’ll bet you haven’t. Have you seen or heard the incredible art that is being created in the city? No, again, right? How about all of the delicious restaurants and innovative business that are cropping up all over town? I guess it's probably safe to go with a final, no. Clearly it’s more fun for you to focus on ruin porn and abandoned houses. Please bear in mind, little, if any, good has ever come on focusing on destruction.
It’s upon focusing on the positives that already exist and envisioning the good to come, that true change is made. So I beg of you, before you share your negative opinion on Detroit, don’t. Try to say something positive. Even if it’s just, “I really hope your city makes it out of this”, I promise people from the city and Metro Detroit area, alike will appreciate it. Because wouldn't you want someone to try to bandage you up instead of kicking you in the gut after you had been injured? I think so. Remember, you are Detroit, so treat the city the way you’d like to be treated.
