Diaries from Detroit, vol. 5: Flying

If this experience has taught me anything its to grab hold of or go after every opportunity that comes your way. Being proactive towards the things that excite you and inspire you is the only way to really make a set time in your life truly an experience.

Last week, one of our fellow interns invited a pilot friend of her's to come and speak to the kids at the day camp about flying. That night, I jokingly broached the topic and asked if he would take us flying, knowing that I actually was quite serious. Nino called Brian, the pilot, right then and set up a date for him to take us up. Had I not been forthright with my desires, I would have missed a fantastic opportunity.

So Sunday night, right around sunset, we arrived at a small municipal airport in Canton, MI to meet Brian and the Cessna 172 he had prepared to take us up in. He walked us through the pre-flight checks, and offered me the co-pilot's seat. With my head set on, he narrated the pre-take off preparations and filled us in on the flight plan. With the click of a switch, the runway lights were turned on and he pushed the throttle forward.

Soon enough we were in the air watching the city lights go on as the sun's light went down. He followed I-96 east towards downtown Detroit, pointing out landmarks along the way. It was incredible to see the dead-straight Midwestern street grids extend as far as the eye could see. We approached the Detroit skyline, and he began maneuvers that would take us on a loop around the skyscrapers twice while avoiding the Canadian border along the Detroit River. We flew south to do a figure-8, and circle around the skyline on the other side of the aircraft. The buildings shimmered as the street-light reflected off of different windows, changing fast against our high speed.

We banked left and headed back east towards Canton. Once we left Detroit Metro Airspace, Brian pulled his hands of the control wheel and asked over the radio if I wanted to take over. After wetting my pants, I excitedly agreed and nervously took the controls. I followed I-96 West, following the street lights and keeping my altitude at 2,500 feet. I have no idea how long I had the controls; whatever time it took to get from Detroit airspace to within site of the the field in Canton.

Brian re-took the controls and asked if we were all willing to go out over the woods and do some aerobatic maneuvers. We happily agreed, and Brian began careful maneuvers to ensure the airspace around us was clear. Once he was sure there was no one around, he banked hard to the right, pulling up to 2 Gs. He straightened out, and did the same to the left, and again to the right. I have to say that this trackless roller coaster is one of the coolest thing I've ever experienced. He turned around to regain his bearings and caught site of the airport. He switched his radio and began landing procedures.

Safely on the ground, I was beside myself with excitement and a strong desire to begin flight lessons. Alas, this dream may have to wait, but I am so thankful for the incredible gift that Brian gave us. This experience reminds me of the importance of spontaneity, good friends, and a proactive and adventurous attitude.

Diaries from Detroit, vol. 4: The Deserted City

There's a strange pull between normalcy and desperation in Detroit. As I sit and write this on the front porch of my house, about a seventy year-old 2 level duplex split horizontally, the neighborhood is quiet, quaint, and seems healthy. It could be anywhere in America, really. An old-growth pine tree shelters my porch and the one above me. I rock gently in a cool breeze this lazy summer afternoon on a white hanging bench. Neighbors walk by, they're friendly and say hello. Cars packed with families and friends drive slowly by. But if I were to take a quick walk around the block, I would find a very different scene. As I look down the street, I see an empty lot covered in tall, uncut grass. Across the way, an entire block's length of street has only one occupied house. The house on the corner has not a single window unbroken. Some pictures and posters still hang on the walls, flapping in the breeze. Trash blows out from under the fallen front porch when the breeze picks up. Some streets in Detroit hardly leave a trace of the first-world nation they once stood proudly in. Even on my street, the unlit windows of nighttime reveal the empty or abandoned houses. After witnessing a shooting the other night, sporadic pops and bangs startle me as I wonder whether they are fireworks or gunshots, despite being the night before Independence Day.

The wide-spread layout of the city means that anyone in Motown without a car is stranded. There's no mass transit to speak of. The small bus system that does exist is about as reliable as a rain storm in the desert. The most walkable places from my neighborhood are the nightclubs that line Michigan Ave.

Downtown, the scene is eerie. Abandoned lots sit between towering skyscrapers. Many of those skyscrapers are entirely abandoned themselves, standing in a state of ruin. Some of the great monuments of this city, including the Michigan Central Station, are symbols of a once-great civilization in the likes of the Colosseum and the Parthenon.

There is a desperate and ever-present desire for hope in this city. I'd like to think that it is something I am working towards this summer, but I fear my efforts are only going so far. Some places in this city remind me of scenes of New Orleans after Katrina, but its havoc was wreaked by the slow decay of time, so it lacks the sense of national attention.

I have found incredible communities of love here, and groups of people passionately dedicated to this city's revival. But its hard to imagine how this current trajectory could really salvage this place. There needs to be more-- more action, more love, more passion, more community, more growth, more peace. This city needs salvation.

Diaries from Detroit, vol. 3: Working in a Masterpiece

My internship in Detroit is proving to be just about perfect. With my musical soul thriving, the architect in me is jumping for joy. We hold the Summer Day Camp in Metropolitan UMC, which is a remarkable Neo-Gothic structure in fantastic condition-- and I have the run of the place. Its like a dream come true.

The building is massive. It has a full-size gymnasium, a kitchen and dining room that can feed about 150, a grand parlor (furnished in the original 1920s decor) with two fireplaces, a library, a chapel, an auditorium that seats 1500, a sanctuary that seats about 3000, classrooms and offices to boot, and beautiful vaulted stone corridors with hand-painted plaster walls. The 2nd Floor Corridor has niches in which three murals are painted with scenes integral to the creation of the Methodist Church- "The Dawn of the Reformation," "John Wesley Preaching on His Father's Tomb," and "Francis Asbury, Apostle of the Long Trail," all by artist George Boget.

The South Stairs are contained within the South Tower of the church, situated in the back left corner of the sanctuary. They lead to the small chapel on the second floor, a suite and balcony access on the third floor, and then the tower above. I had a chance to explore the tower the other day with the master key. On the first floor of the tower is a radio broadcast room (long since disused) and the "Buffalo Room." I unlocked the door to the mysterious room and found an incredible double-height room with detailed wood paneling and a full height brick fireplace on which is mounted the head of a buffalo. Above the entrance on the second floor is a balcony looking into the room. All windows are clerestory, so light pours in from above. The room is now used for storage and is slightly eerie. I walked through to the opposite corner and found another door. I slowly opened it and flicked on the light switch to find the attic space between the gothic-vaulted ceiling of the sanctuary and the steel truss and concrete roof over the church. I followed a stair case built directly on the vaulted roof. I was so impressed to discover that it was a true stone vault- not plaster suspended from a steel structure. It was an honest Gothic structure, only replacing traditional wooden trusses with steel (likely a reaction to the fire that destroyed the congregation's previous home in 1916). I climbed out of there and continued up the stairs in the tower-- now a small, winding steel structure between massive stone walls. On the next level is a door leading to the room that overlooks the Buffalo Room. This room also has a door to an outdoor balcony in the tower-- unfortunately I did not have a key for that. One more flight up, and a door to the bell loft and another large classroom that covers the rest of the tower not used by the bell loft. Two more flights up from there and there is a door to the tower's roof-- if only I had the key I'm sure I would discover a 360 view of Detroit.

I have been fascinated by this building and am trying to share my enthusiasm with the children. I created a scavenger hunt for them to find the hidden symbols worked into the paintings, tiles, and woodwork of the walls, ceiling, floor, and furniture. I feel like every day I discover something new about this building. I have never been so excited to go to work every day just to see the place its in. In my enthusiasm, one of the older church ladies gave me a copy of a commemorative book that was given out to the congregation at the building's completion in 1926. In it is a beautiful description of the building that I'd like to share:

Beauty of line, ruggedness, and practical interior arrangements designed to yield a maximum of service in the religious, educational and community work of the church, are combined in the architecture of the Metropolitan edifice.

Its plain but impressive exterior follows the modern English Gothic style. Its deep-set walls of granite are built to stand through centuries. The interior, restful to the eye and the spirit, is laid out to meet effectively every demand made by the widespread activities of the modern city church.

A member of the congregation, Mr. W.E.N. Hunter, is the architect...

Set in the ample grounds, a whole city block in width, the massive walls, buttressed and towered, are of ashlar granite, from quarries near Plymouth, Mass. There the stratification of the rock runs perpendicularly, and the varied coloration has been carried downward into the fiber of the stone by centuries of seepage to the crevices. The stone blocks, of many dimensions and shades-- 52,000 in number, have been laid so as to give ever-changing variety of color.

Grey Ohio sandstone forms the facing and trimming on the deeply recessed doorways and windows. Within, the floors of corridors and the stair treads are of differently colored tile; the floors of aisles in the church and chapel are of slate with insets of tile in traditional or symbolic designs.

The church is without wood or timber or other inflammable material in its construction. Wooden floors are laid in the recreation room and in some of the social rooms, biut these are based on an underflooring of concrete.

From deep concrete foundations the building rises to a height of nine ordinary stories. A fire might rage through the pile, consume furniture, papers, books, and melt some of the metal in the roof and pipes, but it would leave the structure itself, the concrete, the girders, the steel lath, and the slate, intact.

The external mass of the pile, all walls and concrete, centers in the great tower on the south, rising 105 feet, but so massively constructed and so resting on the broader masses beneath that the height is not immediately sensed.

The tower is 40 by 40 feet, there is space for the installation of a carillon-- 45 bells. Yet the tower is not merely a belfry, or a colossal ornamentation. The stories below the belfry are fitted up as classrooms.

Thus throughout the whole construction, the dignity of architectural tradition is maintained while the ends of modern usefulness are faithfully served...

This church was the largest Methodist Church in the world in the 1930s and 40s. Its congregation steeply declined after the Detroit riots of the 1970s, but despite that and the recent depression, the church still thrives with a good size congregation that mixes a range of classes and races. I'm sure I will blog more about it as I learn, discover, and explore more of it.

More pictures can be found in my flickr set for Metro UMC.

Diaries from Detroit, vol. 2: Kids Songs, Organs, Motown Legends, Recording, and Hippy Group Singing

I am astonished at what a musical community I have found and already become a part of in my first two weeks here in Detroit. For one, as the music director for the day camp I have been teaching music to the kids here each day. Its exhausting, but great to have music be a part of my day-to-day life again. I am working on music with the kids alongside the Music Director and organist of Metro UMC, Andrew Galuska. He's a phenomenal organist playing an incredible instrument. Metro has the second largest pipe organ in the state of Michigan, 30th largest in the U.S., and 80th in the world. I've had the great privilege of playing it and, of course, hearing it almost every day.

Its such a treat to work at Metro UMC with its vibrant community of music. Besides the fantastic organ, it has a weekly jazz concert that brings in Motown legends... for free. So Tuesdays after work I'm treated to a free jazz concert at my workplace. So far I've heard Fernetta Davis sing with her pianist, and this week Maryanne Robinson sang with Rob Jones of the Funk Bros on piano. Simply incredible.

On my first day in Detroit, I was speaking with a security guard at the church and he told me how he was trying to put together a recording studio and he had a few hip-hop artists ready to work with him. I told him about my recording experience, and he gave Parple a listen that night. The next day, he found me to tell me how much he loved our album "But Why, Sir?" and that he was interested in bringing me into his studio to work with his artists. That Saturday I went in and ended up cutting a track with them. We recorded a few loops live on my acoustic guitar, then the producer layed down some beats, and I topped them with some lines on the keyboard. So I have now officially recorded in Motown. Check that one off the bucket list. The track should be up soon. It was an amazing experience to work in a genre I have really very little knowledge of, and it was equally engaging for them as they had never worked with a live musician before. They were truly excited about it, and felt that they were breaking new ground in hip-hop. I love learning experiences that are mutually engaging.

In my neighborhood in South West Detroit, we live in an "intentional community." Basically, a group of hippies moved here decades ago with the intention of living together and supporting each other through community gardening, get togethers, and lifestyle choices. Every Wednesday night we have a community bonfire. Skeptical of this place at first, I went to my first bonfire this past week and had a blast. As it turns out, (unsurprisingly), hippies listen to the same music that I do. So when Julie, a fantastic guitarist and singer (who sounds like Joan Baez), brought her guitar out, the entire community was singing together. I brought my guitar over and became a part of the action. It was a magical night singing and playing together with my new community. Meeting people through music is deeply intimate and binding. After that night, I was invited to play at a fundraiser in Detroit in mid-July.

Its such a delight to find myself in the middle of this beautiful music community so soon after arriving in Detroit.

Diaries from Detroit, vol. 1: Catching Up

This much belated post comes with my most sincere apologies. My first two weeks in Detroit were hectic, and, until now, computerless, so communicating via blogs, facebook, etc has been quite challenging. But alas, we're up and running again and I will make my best effort to keep this thing going.

First, a little background. Two weeks ago, my flight from Little Rock got into the "D" at about 12:30 Sunday night. Work started at 7:30 the next morning. It was the first day of the Summer Day camp (ages 1st grade through 6th, held at Metropolitan UMC in the North End neighborhood of Detroit), and we had about 50 kids registered with only 4 leaders set to be there each day. The gym at the church was unusable due to a burst pipe, there was no playground to speak of, and no known number of volunteers that would show up: our challenges seemed daunting. Meanwhile, I had landed in Detroit in the middle of the night, moved in with 10 interns I had never met, and had to make my way around Motown without a car of my own. (Believe it or not, the Car Capital of the World has no mass transit to speak of).

Two weeks in, though, and things are really cooking. We had to cut off registration on Wednesday, with a little over 70 kids registered. We have had an amazing number of volunteers turn out each day and the kids have really seemed to be enjoying the camp. I have been leading music for them on my guitar, along with a world-renowned organist Andrew Galuska, the Music Director at MetroUMC . We went on our first field trip the other day, showing the kids an organic local food store and their community gardens, and have a great list of trips planned for them. The camp is only costing each child $5 a week, field trips included, and there is a scholarship fund available for those that need it.

So that's the extent of my employment here. I worried at first that it wasn't enough; that my job was a little pointless, especially in light of my fantastic training in Little Rock. I didn't think that this was really effective charity or justice work, and that I might be wasting my time. But by the end of the first week, I had a parent come up to me and say that "Mr. Matt" had been the talk of the household all week. When we closed registration on Wednesday, I had the terrible duty of turning mothers, fathers, and grandmothers down from bringing their kids to the camp. We've received great feedback from the church and neighborhood communities and I'm really excited about what more we'll be able to do this summer.

All my love to everyone back home and around the country. I'll keep you all posted on the goings on of the D.

Journal: I am NOT a Missionary

I am NOT a missionary. I do not come loaded with an agenda. I do not propose to know what's best for the community I have been appointed to serve. I am partaking in a service experience, where I will be a servant to my new community in Detroit. I am working towards justice, not for charity. I approach this with the understanding that, although I may give my all to this community in a spirit of humility and grace, I can and will still learn more from those I serve than I can ever teach to them.

These are the lessons I have learned and been reminded of today. This is the spirit in which I can hope to approach my service role in Detroit. With the help of my friends and family and the assistance of the support network I am building in Little Rock, combined with an open heart, a listening ear, and a prayerful attitude, I can be a part of great things this summer.

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A New Adventure Begins

In the coming weeks, this blog will change its tone slightly as it becomes a journal of my experiences at a summer internship in Detroit, Michigan. I will be there as an intern with the General Board of Global Ministry (part of the United Methodist Church), working with Young Leaders Initiative on their summer day camp program for children in the neighborhoods of Detroit. Its a different direction from architecture, but not a new direction for me (see Feb 2010 posting "Stories from the Pine Ridge").

I look forward to living in community with fellow interns, exploring a city I've never seen, and becoming a part of an exciting rejuvenation of a city that has seen so much hardship. My hope is that this experience breathes a fresh breath of life into me that fills me with the energy and excitement to be a productive component of my new community, and that continues to energize me as I head back to my community in Brooklyn in the fall.

Stay tuned for stories from training in Little Rock, Arkansas, musings on my experience of a new city, and the work of Young Leaders Initiative in Detroit.