Wow, there has been a lot of national press about Detroit lately. Time, Sports Illustrated, and Forbes have all been talking about Detroit. Surprisingly, most of it has been positive.
I find this press very interesting because a few days ago I said, "The national media has already written their Detroit story, let's write ours now and show them what we have to offer."
News broke over the summer that Time Inc bought a house in Detroit. They are housing reporters, bloggers, and photographers from Time, Fortune, CNN Money, and Sports Illustrated. These new residents of Detroit will be here for a yearlong assignment. The house has been nicknamed the D-Shack.
I sincerely hope that this initiative will be a positive one, not a rehash of all the stories we’ve read before. From what I’ve read so far, I’m impressed.
Here’s a sampling of what I’ve seen so far:
Letter From Detroit from Times’ The Detroit Blog
Assignment Detroit from CNN Money. I particularly like their tagline, "It's a city in crisis – but with potential for a big comeback."
And then we have the Sports Illustrated cover featuring Detroit and our Tigers, "The Righteous Franchise, Detroit: The Tigers' Bold Stand with Their Fans," by Lee Jenkins. Please, don’t let this be a jinx on our beloved baseball team.
The 9/28/2009 Sports Illustrated cover featuring the Detroit Tigers.
A few weeks ago, Shikha Dalmia wrote a column at Forbes.com, About That Detroit Renaissance. She’s not buying it. This is what we’ve come to expect writers to say about Detroit.
Kathleen Bushnell Owsley then wrote, In Defense of Detroit, a reply to Dalmia’s post at Forbes. I find it refreshing that the Detroit community on Twitter has embraced this column and not Dalmia’s.
Maybe I am a Pollyanna; I'm ok with that. Do people expect us to lie down and die? Call "game over"? We're Detroiters and we're strong and innovative.
Ms. Owsley said,
I'd suggest to Ms. Dalmia that she take a second look at our fair city. I'd be happy to introduce her to some of the gems she missed on her first glance at Detroit.
I also extend that invitation, both to Ms. Dalmia and to our new residents of the D-Shack.