Category: Scenery
Posted by Diana McNary (The Detroit News) on Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 2:57 PMBringing some sunshine from Maui
One time, long ago, my sister went on a luxury house tour and upon returning to our much-more-humble home, she kicked it and yelled "I hate this place!"
That's kind of how I felt when I returned to Detroit on Sunday after a week in Maui. I know, there's no comparison between carefree vacation time spent on a tropical beach and the regular workaday routine of home, but it was depressing to see Detroit again, gray and foreboding, after those days in the sun.
The weather isn't the only way Hawaii felt like the polar opposite of Detroit. The "default" music in Maui is reggae - perfectly suited for the laid-back surfer lifestyle. You hear it on the radio, in cabs, at family picnics. In Detroit, it seems every car that goes by is blasting loud, horribly uninventive gangsta hip-hop - perfectly suited for our well-known attitude problem.
One road we drove in Maui was dotted with unmanned "honor system" fruit stands. Prices were posted, you took what you wanted and put your money in the box. They trusted you, even with the trees where the goods came from standing right there, practically begging you to pick a few star fruits and run. Could you imagine that in Detroit? The stand and those trees would be picked bare and the thief would be selling them on an offramp, claiming the money would go toward youth basketball.
Still, I don't want to go negative. It was a great vacation and I'm very lucky to have experienced it. Let's share some of the good vibes with this lovely tune by the late Israel Kamakawiwo'Ole. It's sure to put a smile on your face. Aloha!
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Living in the D
I just read the column about bringing sunshine back to the D from Maui. I am so famaliar with the comments in this story. A week ago Sunday I left the D to go see my father some 45 min from the D in Ortonville, MI. It was soooo quiet there it was unbelievable. I couldn't hear the radio's blasting and the sirens and all the cars racing around. When I was leaving the sun was setting and it was a beautiful sunset - great colors, I stopped and looked at it for a few minutes in awe. I kept thinking...if I was at home right now I probably would never have seen this. As I drove up the driveway something caught my eye, and no it wasn't a couple teenagers with hoodies on and pants hanging half way down to the ground, running from whatever act they committed. It was several deer. I got home about 45 min later and I felt like I had gone from paradise to a war zone. I'm tired of this, really tired of it. That evening the neighbor at 2:30 a.m. in the morning caught several suspicious people climbing over my fence into her yard and chased them off. I didn't hear a thing - probably because when I am there the only escape I have from the D is in my sleep. I am done with the D - just waiting to leave.
P.S. I don't live in a downtown area as one might think...right across the street from me is Redford. I am the very edge of the D and can't stand it.Living in the D
She many not want to "go negative" but she did. Trouble is, what she said is true. Will it ever change? Doubtful.
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