By Nicole Rupersburg

I’ve long been fascinated by the thought of New Orleans. Since my perception of the Big Easy came to be formed in my idealistic, adolescent mind, New Orleans has always held for me a certain kind of mystique—a decaying romanticism unlike that of any other city. “There is nothing in this world now that doesn’t hold some sort of…fascination.”

New Orleans—a city unlike any other. A city built upon swamps, rising up from the Gulf of Mexico and the muddy banks of the Mississippi. A city with its own culture, Cajun and Creole, born from the settlement of Haitians, Africans, and French colonialists. A city filled with antebellum architecture that clings to its storied past, from the double-gallery houses in the Garden District to the sprawling mansions that line St. Charles in Greek Revival, Victorian, and Italiante styles. This is a city with its own distinct culture and traditions—voodoo queens and cities of the dead, jazz and zydeco, dubloons and Carnival. The wealthy white plantation owners and their posterity hiding in their wealth on Prytania; the Caribbean and African slaves intermingling with the French-speaking quadroon servants and mistresses, the mingled blood furthering merging distinctly different cultures and creating new ones wholly unique to the Vieux Carré; two centuries later still divided as much by class as race.

This is New Orleans—a city trying desperately to maintain its history, so much so that it becomes mummified within it. The world changes, yet so much here stays the same.

It is said that New Orleans, particularly the French Quarter, is full of ghosts. “The most haunted city in America,” the touristy travel mags and websites advertising guided tours with local historians claim. And it is, but not by Marie Laveau or Confederate soldiers. It is haunted by itself—by its former wealth and glory, and its cruel past.

Any native New Orleansian is more than happy to speak about the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina. In fact, they speak of it with a seeming excitement and pride. And it’s not the white citizens; the white citizens were quick to move back into their palatial mansions along St. Charles and continue soaking in their bourbon and their old-world wealth. Their homes were not affected by the flooding, and their stories are simply matter-of-fact. It is the black citizens—the cab drivers, the streetcar operators, the tour guides, the musicians, and the busboys in the century-old New Orleans “institution” restaurants full of French wine, bad food, and old money—who take pride in Katrina’s wrath. They will happily point out the devastated downtown Projects, under federal control since Katrina during which time most of what remained was torn down with the federal government refusing to rebuild. They will tell you how happily they live in their rotting homes, still in the process of reconstructing, in the forgotten backwaters of New Orleans parish where there are no longer any grocery stores or government-funded public services such as a police force or hospitals. This they will tell you with a laugh of pained irony, an irony that only a city steeped in centuries of racist divisions and convenient ignorance can produce. Katrina wasn’t a catastrophe; it was a reminder. New Orleans is a city haunted by its past, and not since the plantations were closed and the slaves were freed has that past been more obviously thrust in the faces of every naïve New Orleansian.

And while time may have stood still on Prytania, on the other side of Canal something quite different was happening. History was all but forgotten in the French Quarter, with its cast iron balconies and Spanish architecture of flat roofs and stucco (built during the Spanish rule of New Orleans, after fires destroyed the French colonial architecture). For decades now the Quarter has been known as New Orleans’ hotbed of tourist activity, with bustling Bourbon Street at the epicenter. The Quarter, built on dry land long before the levee system was designed and thus saved from the floods of Katrina, is still this same hotbed, though perhaps on a lesser scale. This neighborhood—the oldest in New Orleans and with the most diversified culture and history—has fallen victim to the bane of tourism. What was probably once a beautiful, languorous historic neighborhood is now full of garish neon, gaudy souvenir shops, and drunken tourists stumbling and screeching down the street, with frat boys chanting and half-naked women squealing and vomiting in corners, all of them feeling like they have achieved the “true” New Orleans experience. Every other establishment is a strip club, and the rest serve frozen drinks out of slushie machines in tall plastic hurricane glasses that continuously bob up and down the street. The Garden District and Uptown may be frozen in their stubborn refusal to relinquish their Southern gentile past, but the French Quarter is its own skeletal remains preserved in flashing neon, more like the seediest parts of Las Vegas than one of the oldest and culturally richest neighborhoods in America. The tourists consume it and the locals forget it; history is lost and the ghosts of New Orleans have no presence, save for the dollars made off tourists trying to catch themselves a glimpse of a genuine, bonafide, well-advertised N’awlins spirit.

This is what is left of New Orleans. This is the New Orleans that I found—a ravaged shell of itself, bastardized by decades of heavy tourism and full of living corpses desperately clinging to a past that is no longer relevant. New Orleans is a relic; a vulgar pawn shop full of antiques. The romance and mystique is gone, replaced by apathy and overindulgence. Hurricane Katrina wiped away the glossy facade and revealed the city for what it really is—a decaying remnant of itself, its very own Diaspora. There is a sadness there that cannot be explained by economic devastation and destruction—it is the sadness of time past and things lost.

The future of New Orleans lies not with the tourists who would just as soon trash it, nor with the wealthy who would just as soon let it rot. It lies with the people who still live there, despite having every reason in the world to leave; who still love there, despite having every reason in the world to hate; the people who will tell you all about the devastation Katrina wrought and the suffering they themselves endured with a bemused laugh and a sincere smile. They are the jazz and blues musicians who set up shop on Royal Street and play amazing music for indifferent tourists who might be generous enough to pitch a handful of change into a guitar case. They are the cab drivers and the tour operators who tell the stories that keep New Orleans alive. They are the people who were nearly forced out and who take great pride in the fact that they stayed. They are the people who will rebuild not just their homes, but their culture. Because the struggle is all they know. The struggle is all there is.

Photo by Sharon Newton

Environmentalists and citizen groups were successful in keeping the problem of Detroit’s incinerator in the public eye through a protest rally on May 29th. The goal was to create public awareness, keep the issue in the press and pressure the mayor to do the right thing. Channels 2 and 4 did live broadcasts and ran footage the next day. The Metrotimes, Real Detroit, Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, and the Michigan Citizen all ran stories about the incinerator and the protest. The purpose of the protest was to put pressure on the mayor to and send notice to the current owners of the incinerator that Detroit would not be renewing its lease. It is believed, however, that Mayor Kilpatrick and the Greater Detroit Resource and Recovery Authority (GDRRA) are planning to continue to operate the incinerator against the wishes of the Detroit City Council. The Mayor’s final decision regarding the future of the incinerator is due on July 1st. More pressure is needed to influence his decision.
 
Seven weeks ago the Detroit City Council voted five to three in favor of a new business model for solid waste that includes a recycling program and the phasing out of the incinerator. The mayor vetoed this bill. The next evening, council overrode his veto in a six to three vote. The Detroit City Council has put an effort into stopping the unnecessary and costly polluting of the Detroit neighborhoods reflecting the opinion of the people regarding this issue.

Photo by Sharon Newton
 
The future of the incinerator is the hands of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. He appoints all members of the GDRRA board who manage the incinerator and answer only to him. Why would Kwame Kilpatrick want to continue the use of the incinerator which has been proven to contribute to asthma in the surrounding neighborhoods, cost more than recycling/landfill, contribute to globe warming, and deny the possibility of 1000 new green jobs?  If he wanted to, he could turn off the burner today and use trains and trucks to ship garbage out of the city.

The GDRRA Snubs Incinerator Meeting

On Thursday, June 12th, the Detroit City Council scheduled an incinerator fact-finding meeting with GDRRA. GDRRA requested another incinerator closed-door meeting but the council did not agree to the request. GDRRA did not attend the meeting. The mayor and GDRRA are currently slowing access to information about the incinerator and its future. The council plans to subpoena GDRRA before July 1st meeting.
 
The June 12th meeting was held without GDRRA and it was learned that GDRRA was formed with the understanding that they would operate in conjunction with Highland Park. Highland Park is no longer on the GDRRA board and the city council is investigating to see if GDRRA is operating outside of their contract. The land that the incinerator sits on is owned by the city and leased to the owner’s of the incinerator. The city council is investigating the option of ending that lease.

The Detroit City Council has started an investigation to determine why the taxpayers have overpaid for trash removal over the last twenty years. It is estimated that Detroit has overpaid by 50 Million dollars per year. The council is making plans to dissolve GDRRA as soon as the bonds on the incinerator are paid off, July 1, 2009. 

Call/email/fax the Mayor and the board members of GDRRA and express your concern about the continued use of the incinerator and urge them to do the right thing - (313) 224 3400.
 
Call/email/fax Governor Granholm and request that she pressure the Mayor to honor the City Council’s resolution for a new business model for solid waste and phasing out the incinerator -(517) 373 3400.
   
Continue to call/email/fax the City Council Members and thank them for their stronghold decision to stop the Detroit incinerator and remind them of your personal support behind the issue -(313) 224 3266.
 
Dan Sordyl, Committee to Shut Down the Detroit Incinerator, 248.890.0729, DanielSordyl@yahoo.com

“It’s time to move on, it’s time to get goin’.” – Tom Petty

Six years ago, my brother John had the notion for a virtual magazine about theater and art, and as we started discussing and dreaming up what it could be, it soon blossomed into a publication on arts and culture to serve Detroiters. We dedicated it to a Motown that was “more vibrant than it has been in decades.” “But,” as we wrote then, “the healthier a city gets, the more its people need to ask of it. We see thedetroiter.com as a Critical Celebration of Detroit – an exploration of the things we love and hate about the city we call home.” And with that, we started “unearthing this great American city,” with a steady stream of reviews, interviews, features, and listings. (Catch that first edition here.) (For a look back at the last 6 years, please see here.)

For our launch, in my first arts feature I covered (the space formerly known as) detroit contemporary (now CAID) and discussed the power of art and artists to transform our landscape. It seems such talk would soon be hip and “cool” – economists like Richard Florida were coming to town to offer just that advice. But as the Heidelberg Project’s Jenenne Whitfield reminded at the time, “All of us here, already know this!” Our readers have known the essential value of the arts all along, and it’s for this reason that week in and week out, we rededicated ourselves to being a voice of and for the community – to educate, articulate, investigate, and celebrate all that’s happening here.

“Let’s give them something to talk about.” – Bonnie Rait

Before he moved out west, artist Christian Tedeschi (see reviews here and here) thanked us for creating a dialogue. I think we did. From a broad range of coverage encompassing big and small, popular and hidden, thedetroiter.com touched people and helped encourage dialogue and links between people in this all too often disparate community. When Andy Malone first created our gallery map for the “Shrinking Cities” event last year, even people in the know about the arts, were stunned by just how much this city had to offer, and this year’s Art Detroit Now really helped get the word out further. Dialogue across the map is essential to keep this momentum growing.

For me, running thedetroiter.com has brought so much – it brought me into contact with the community as a whole, giving me an opportunity to interact with people and places in a way I couldn’t possibly have done otherwise. I’ve grown a lot since coming to Detroit from Smallville. http://www.thedetroiter.com/DEC02/dec02topstory.html Being as immersed in the arts as I had to be to make this happen, also led to my getting involved with CAID and moving from there to help the University of Michigan’s School of Art & Design open their Detroit gallery – and engage with the community from a different angle. (http://www.whyproject.blogspot.com) Beyond all the events, places, exhibitions – it’s been the people and their sense of optimism and vision for the possibilities in this landscape – that have inspired me, that always made me think, and demonstrated the truth of what I wrote in that first article – that the arts and what people create can transform an environment.

“Change will do you good.” – Sheryl Crow

It’s hard to leave something you’ve felt so much a part of – so much so, that it’s really become a part of your identity. It’s harder still to say goodbye to all the people that made it such an important experience. But life calls me in another direction now. I think of the advice Charles McGee has shared with me in our conversations concerning the importance of exploring new vistas and that everything metamorphosizes over time.

And it does.

As I wrote about a few months ago, I’ve leapt to a new home and started down a new path. Change is essential and healthy, and sitting here writing in my Harlem apartment, I’m eager to tackle this new adventure with the same sort of energy that I brought to this web-magazine. Which means, as this change and metamorphosis comes to me, so too, must change be in store for thedetroiter.com.

“What lies ahead I have no way of knowin’” – Tom Petty

Well, I have some way of knowing. Back in February, I hinted at the changeover to come and that “you can’t just leave your baby with anyone.” In the Y-Arts – we’re fortunate to have found what we feel is just the right organization to care for our baby and help it continue to grow and evolve with the same spirit and dedication to community that thedetroiter.com was founded on.

Change is exciting, and as Detroit continues to change with developments on the riverfront, the greenways initiative, new construction, and more, it’s a thrill to imagine where this next phase for the city and thedetroiter.com will go from here. I look forward to unearthing this great American city as a reader and seeing what this thing we started has become six years from now. (And do know that the two founders will still be offering contributions on the editorial side of things from time to time.) Eager to find out what’s next? Look for words of introduction from the Y-Arts team right here in these virtual pages.

Before I sign off, I want to leave you with a few words from John and I written in the earliest days of the magazine that I think ring just as true today.

Nick: “If we are lucky, we have the opportunity to live in a place that we feel good about and feel that we can bring something to it to make it even better.

John: “Will Detroit look to the needs of its neighborhoods and make families a priority, or continue to think of development in strictly commercial terms?

Nick: “The health of a city is a function of its inhabitants - our homes influence us as we influence them. I am now a part of this city, as it is a part of me. I am a Detroiter.

John: “I do believe there’s more reason for optimism about this city than there has been in decades. But then again, I am a Detroiter.

To all the Detroiters out there, thank you for your time and support, it’s been a pleasure serving you. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

Thank yous.

Where do you start? There have been so many people that made this possible and the list of contributors reached out to about a hundred over this first six years, and of course all the supporters more behind the scenes.

Way back in the beginning, my brother and I were joined by photographers Christine Stamas and Aaron Mertes, and preservation contributor and filmmaker Francis Grunow, cartoons by Autumn Sousanis, plus commentary from Blue Sousanis, Scott Ligon on a rotating host of features, and life in the city from Scott Dillon and Michelle Diggs,. Of course, the site wouldn’t exist without Tommy “Sumo” Onyx – loudbaby.com, friend and webmaster extraordinaire, and occasional music contributor. Check out pictures and video of the first crew here.

Vince Carducci bugged us early on, and became a contributor and frequent counsel, huge supporter of what we’re up to. Later he and Greg Tom would give a lot of time and thought to how we could grow this publication even bigger. It didn’t all come to pass at the time, but it paved the way for the future, and it was a lot of fun thinking on it.

The next wave of contributors would include novelist Lynn Crawford in Fiction, and the dynamic dining duo of Stacy Muszynski and Vince Cavasin.

Eric (bad boy of lit) Novack came on board and brought a lot of energy and helped spread the word about what we were up to. He continues to be a force of nature in Detroit. William Erick (Rick) Graham came on board giving us a lot of stories from Jazz to Hip Hop and more, Jon Macha helped out a bit, Danielle Kaltz took a lot of pictures, and we got our first fabulous intern in Heather McMacken. More recently David Bartone picked up the lit baton for a time.

Along the way there were frequent contributions from Chris Hill and Dennis Nawrocki.

And somewhere in there, Tom Carbone arrived, taking on the herculean task of keeping track of all the arts happenings in this community. And for three years now, week in and week out, he’s done it all. He’s done an amazing job, and I’m thrilled to have him continue on with thedetroiter.com. He’s an institution in himself.

Rima Nickell’s “Beyond Food” column was a treat and paved the way for the current “Healthy Detroit” team of Gregg Newsom and Angela Kasmala. Ann Miceli stopped in Detroit for a while between her time in Africa and took on theater and other issues.

We even teamed up with Joe Giuliani and the Record Magazine for a while. Kurt Hough created our manhole cover. Leyland Devito provided great coverage of music and more throughout the city, and continues to do so this week! Dolores Slowinski has been an amazing supporter and joy to have on board – always doing the arts proud. Marvin Anderson has recently joined and already is making waves. Look for the two of them to continue to bring great words to the arts.

We had frequent travel columns from Remi Esordi and Scott Hocking told some tales from his travels. Our film critics included Mark Huston and Jim Doan.

Along with Carbone, Slowinski, Anderson, the Healthy Detroit team, Devito, current events editor and all things Detroit-o-phile, Nicole Rupersburg will be continuing to grace these pages with the new team going forward.

And a big shout out for Andy Malone, in part just for being Andy Malone, and for the creation of thedetroiter.com gallery maps – showing just how rich this community is. Look for more versions of the map in the coming year. (And the current version is online in the arts calendar and available at your favorite gallery.)

More thanks go out to those who contributed articles, photos, and more over the years including: Scot Kerivan, Jacque Liu, Mike Richison, Chato Hill, Susie Meredith, Deirdre King, Maureen Biermann, Frank Nemecek, Andy Moskalik&Teresa Petersen, Vonshea Thornton, Leah Giordano, Isaac David, Michelle Simon, Elizabeth Isaacson, Lindsey Harnish, Miroslav Kukovich, Steve Panton, Dmytro Doblevych, Lindsey Harnish, Janet Anderson, Sarah Bristol, Stephen Boyle, Jessica Banks, Melanie Manos, Maurice Greenia; Jr., Holly Smith, Dan Wickett, Nick Tobier, Garrett MacLean, James Dozier, Mark Cuzenza, Christine Stinson, Christopher Thompson, Sara Aldridge, John Bogojevich, Jazzcook. And there are no doubt a few more that I’m leaving out (and I promise to amend as I can.)

Thanks to everyone, it’s been fantastic. – Nick

Last time we talked of Detroit’s art past and art Detroit’s future – how in linking the community together, the Art Detroit Now event can raise the level of consciousness and thus our potential. Art Detroit Now is now here, poised to let everyone know what those of you who’ve been with us week in and week out over the last six years already know – this arts community rocks! And it has for a long time. We’re pleased to have supported artists, galleries, and institutions with a steady diet of reviews, coverage, and listings.

Some thanks are due. To Andy Malone, designer of the gallery maps available at all galleries and online on our arts calendar. Andy designed the original arts venue map, which debuted last year during the “Shrinking Cities” event, and due to high demand, disappeared in hungry hands, almost that quickly. To Tom Carbone, steadfast arts calendar man extraordinaire, who every single week for the last three years has provided the most comprehensive listings of openings and events in the area, and this week, it’s all happening at once. To the folks behind Art Detroit Now, particularly Marc Schwartz for dreaming this up, and having the persistence to reach out and hold together such a diverse and spread out community. And of course, to all of the artists and venue operators, who persevere through determination because they have to, who help all of us to see our world a little differently and inspire hope for a better tomorrow. It’s a pleasure to unearth all those who truly make this a great American city.

So, check out our arts calendar for the rundown of everything (and we do mean everything), and have a great time enjoying all that the arts of our region has to offer. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com

… and a contest.

As a bit of fun, we thought we’d offer a small prize – a “thedetroiter.com” bright orange t-shirt – to the person who attends the most galleries over the ADN weekend. (Excluding one James Dozier!) As proof of attendance, we not only want a list of all the galleries attended, but a few words about each – some description, a favorite thing seen, a story, something that places you there and perhaps to offer to our readers who didn’t make it to quite so many places, a bit of the flavor of the venue. Email me at ws@thedetroiter.com by Friday, May 16 to be eligible. We’ll post the winner the following week. Don’t forget our weekly printable arts calendar that you can carry with you, so you won’t miss a thing!!

“Although a number of artists have moved to New York recently, many more are staying here because they have faith in Detroit’s potential as an art center. By nature, creative people are optimists and builders. Detroit needs them now more than ever before.” Joy Hakanson Colby wrote those words in the Detroit Anniversary Catalogue celebrating the nation’s bicentennial. Her words ring true today.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading about Detroit’s art history of late – in working on my forthcoming (really) book on Charles McGee. Looking at Detroit past while observing Detroit current, makes me think about Detroit future.

What has always encouraged me in talking to, working alongside, and just knowing Detroit artists, is the sense of hope, of possibility – to make something grow from something that once was. Some such folks that I’ve had the pleasure of writing about include Scott Hocking, and Clinton Snider (or the two together), urban explorers looking at the city with a new eye, and there are many others. And of course there is Tyree Guyton and the beauty and attention he’s brought to the street (and beyond) that he’s reclaimed.

This pioneering spirit to forge one’s own path, extends to the gallerists (some links here and here) as well as to the very spaces we show such works themselves.

Let’s turn to Charles McGee again for something he said in an interview for Detroit Focus back in 1978, “We can make it work here but we have to do it together.” And furthermore, “We must raise the level of consciousness in and about the arts to the same degree as the very best work here.”

So we’re on the verge of Art Detroit Now, an event to link all the arts venues in the region, and make a showcase of all that’s going on here. Regular readers of this online publication know just how much has been going on in the arts in our community, but the ADN event is a great opportunity to work together and show the community at large how strong and plentiful Detroit arts are.

And they are. And by raising the level of consciousness together, we’ll continue to realize this community’s potential. To Art Detroit Now and Art Detroit Tomorrow. – Nick Sousanis
ws@thedetroiter.com