Goodbye to 2017 and this Blog. Hello to 2018 and less Negativity.

A view from the Sleeping Bear Dunes

When I started this blog a little more than four years ago, I was living in Virginia and yearning to return home. A year later, I was happy to be back in Michigan, and I have spent the last three years exploring more of our state than I ever had before. There is so much natural beauty to behold here and many good people to meet. With Michigan's distilleries, breweries, and restaurants, my taste buds were never bored, and my stomach was rarely empty. Our cities and towns are filled with architectural wonders and world-class museums. Our history includes Native Americans, French fur traders, the Underground Railroad, British forts, and the Arsenal of Democracy. There is much to be proud of and to love about our Great Lakes State.

However, there is a dark side to our society, both in Michigan and throughout our nation. And that dark side breeds on the internet in comments sections and social media. Twitter has become unreadable to me. It's just a place for people to shout over each other. The cacophony has made us both angry and deaf. For someone who likes to read thoughtful and informative prose, seeing arguments reduced to ignorant memes and name calling is disheartening. Seeing violent acts committed as a result of Twitter fights and hateful propaganda is heartbreaking.

In this climate, writing positive posts has become too difficult for me. I've also made some other changes in my life that frankly leave me with less time to write. I'd rather spend my free time with my wife, Allison, and two daughters than trying to come up with new things to write. I will continue to travel throughout our great state, and I'll talk to people more. This is my last blog post, but my blog will be up for some time for anyone who wants to read old posts. I'm shutting down my Twitter and Facebook pages in a few days. A conversation can tell me a lot more about a person's character than 280 characters ever will.

With that said, here's to a wonderful 2018 and beyond. Thank you to the very few loyal readers I've had for your comments and support. Thanks to the few guest writers I've had. You added different voices to this blog that I appreciated. And most of all, thanks to Allison for being my editor and biggest supporter.

I'll leave whatever readers I have left with some of my favorite moments and things from Michigan in 2017 that I didn't get around to writing about:

The Guardian Building Tour

I finally went on Pure Detroit's Guardian Building Tour a few weeks ago. I highly recommend this tour. Our guide was a history student at Wayne State, and he gave a great tour that included the history of the building and the city, and background about the architect and the materials used to construct the building. It's a gorgeous building with great views of the city. One last thing: Don't forget to tip your tour guide.

A view of a freighter from the Guardian Building

Noel Night

Unfortunately, this event ended when a couple of idiots with guns ruined the fun for everyone. It was sad seeing the ignorant comments from people saying, "This is why I never go to Detroit," when people are shot in the suburban shopping malls, schools, churches, and homes throughout this country every day. [Sadly, as I type this, the national news is reporting a shooting in a Denver suburb with several wounded and at least one deputy dead.]

The Detroit Public Library lit up for the holidays

Anyway, until the shooting happened, this event was everything I love about Detroit. The Midtown museums were open to the public, and people of diverse backgrounds happily wandered the streets. The highlight was seeing the Mosaic Youth Theatre perform at the Charles Wright Museum. The kids in this theater group were incredibly entertaining. My five-year-old daughter was on the edge of her seat, smiling and clapping at everything these young performers did. I hope to see them again soon.

Detroit Urban Craft Fair

Before Noel Night, my family and I visited the Detroit Urban Craft Fair at the Masonic Temple. I am not a craft person, but there was a lot of really cool art depicting Detroit. I didn't buy anything, but Allison did. It was heartening to be in a crowded space full of artistic people who are proud of Detroit.

Kerrytown Bookfest

I visited Ann Arbor's Kerrytown Bookfest for the first time this year. It is a great event for readers of all ages. Several Michigan authors were present to sign books and give readings. There were tons of kids' books features, which our daughters loved. There were a couple of letterpress companies giving demonstrations, and one even allowed our daughters to use the small press. We also got to make paper.

My daughters making paper

Kuzzo's Chicken and Waffles

Detroit's Kuzzo's Chicken and Waffles is damn good. I of course had to try chicken and waffles, and they were outstanding. I've only been once, but I definitely will return, because I love southern comfort food, and Kuzzo's serves some of the best.

Breweries

I was able to try a few new breweries this year, and all were satisfying.

I visited Grand River Brewery in Jackson with Allison after running a nearby half marathon. Disclosure: The owner of this brewery is a cousin of mine, but I wouldn't let that influence my opinion (if I didn't like it, I wouldn't write about it). The brewery has a pretty big menu, but I could smell meat on the smoker when we walked up to the restaurant. I had to try the beef brisket, and it did not disappoint. I also had an excellent flight of beer.

A beer flight at Grand River Brewery

I also enjoyed my visits to Royal Oak's ROAK Brewing, Black Lotus in Clawson, and Fillmore 13 in Pontiac (I also love seeing some of the revitalization efforts in Pontiac. It has so many beautiful buildings.). They all poured good beer and served tasty food.

Michigan Writing

I've compiled a few Michigan reading lists over the years. Since last summer's list, I've read a few more books by Michigan writers that I found noteworthy. The top of the list is The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade, by Thomas Lynch. Lynch's book explores questions of life and death, but often with an irreverence and humor that make these questions more palatable.

I finally read The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides after seeing the movie a few times. The movie is pretty true to the book, but I enjoyed the book more. It gives more of a feel of what living in Grosse Pointe and Metro Detroit was like back in the 1970s.

I've heard a lot of good things about Bonnie Jo Campbell, so I read her novel Once Upon a River. The novel is set in western Michigan and follows a young woman's journey to find herself after experiencing several family tragedies and traumas. It's an intense book, and some of the traumatic parts were hard to read, but only due to the high quality of Campbell's writing.

Last, but not least, is Adam Schuitema's The Things We Do That Make No Sense. This Michigan writer's collection of short stories presents quick, but real, snapshots of life that I found relatable and engaging.

Leland

Leland is one of those towns that I always wanted to visit. We made a quick detour there on the way home from Traverse City this past summer. Unfortunately, it was a rainy and cool day, so we didn't explore as much as we would have liked, but we did enjoy walking around the old fishing village and visiting a couple bookshops. I would like to visit again, but with more cooperative weather.

Leland

The Thumb

Unlike me, Allison is an actual, professional writer. She had an assignment to write about things to do and see in the Thumb. I tagged along and was thinking about writing something, but it wouldn't have compared to her article, which you can read here. Except for the cold and rainy weather, we had a lot of fun.

Sleeping Bear Dunes

Confession: Despite growing up in Michigan, I visited the dunes for the first time ever over Memorial Day weekend. Having run the Bayshore Marathon two days before, my legs were aching from 26.2 miles of pounding on asphalt.

The dunes deceived me because every time I reached the "top," I realized there was another top in the distance. The first "top" gives a majestic view inland of Glen Lake, but I wanted to see Lake Michigan, so I punished my aching legs and continued on, trying to keep up with my daughters sprinting up the sand.

I don't know how many peaks I reached only to see another one taunting me. It must have been two or three, but each view was worth the climb. My sore legs slowed me down, but they forced me to spend more time enjoying the views and the cool spring air blowing in from Lake Michigan.

When we finally reached the bluff that gave us a view of Lake Michigan, I was overcome by dunes' and lake's imposing grandeur. I felt humbled and grateful to live in a state with so many natural wonders, and I still do.

Thank you again for reading. Godspeed!

Lake Michigan from the Sleeping Bear Dunes

A Quick Visit to Grand Rapids

Downtown Market

Despite being born and raised in the Detroit area, I somehow never visited Grand Rapids before. I didn't have anything against Grand Rapids. Instead, I found it too easy to keep visiting the places in Michigan that I already knew.

I have been wanting to visit for some time, and my work luckily took me to Grand Rapids on Monday. Since I had a meeting at 1 p.m. downtown, I left my home early enough so I could have two meals and see as much of the city as possible during my visit.

Argos Book Shop

Besides tasting a new city's food and beer, I always try to visit its independent bookstores, so my first stop was Argos Book Shop in the Eastown neighborhood. Argos specializes in used books, and it has a comic book section that looked impressive to this non-collector. The store has two rooms full of used books covering many genres. I could have spent more than an hour searching the shelves, but I had to eat lunch before my meeting.

The bar at the Green Well

For lunch, I chose The Green Well Gastropub in the East Hills neighborhood. The neighborhood was quiet because it was 11 on Monday morning, but I'm guessing it is bustling later in the day since it features several shops and restaurants, and one of Grand Rapids' many breweries, Brewery Vivant.

2017 Michigan Summer Reading List

A good book plus a lake equals Michigan summer

Summertime in Michigan should include relaxing with a good book on the beach, in the backyard hammock, or in the park. Last year, I shared a list of Five Michigan Books for Summer. This year, the list is longer, with a more diverse group of writers, genres, and forms of literature. Each work has a relationship with Michigan: Either the writer is a Michigander or the work is set in Michigan. It was a pleasure to read each of these works, and I hope others find something valuable through reading them.

The Many Faces of Motherhood

Former Detroit Free Press writer Desiree Cooper’s Know the Mother is a powerful collection of 31 very short stories (most are 750 words or less). The stories examine themes of womanhood, motherhood, and race. I cannot name a favorite story because each one emits emotions that put me squarely into the main characters' shoes. 

Know the Mother’s stories embody loneliness, fear, hope, love, shame, and sorrow. Cooper creates complex and real characters with few words because her writing is splendid, moving, and true. 

Finding a New Universe on Earth

In Detroit author Jack Cheng’s novel See in You in the Cosmos, Alex Petroski is an eleven-year-old boy infatuated with space exploration. The story is told through Alex’s recordings on his golden iPod, which he dreams of launching into space for intelligent alien life to discover. Alex leaves his troubled mom at home to attend a rocket-launching festival in New Mexico. Along the way, he discovers a complicated, but beautiful, new universe right here on earth. 

Five of Michigan's Great Independent Bookstores

Pages Bookshop in Detroit

My favorite indie bookstore from childhood died more than 20 years ago at the hands of Barnes & Noble (which moved in across the street), but that same Barnes & Noble perished recently, most likely because it couldn't keep up with Amazon. It's been a common trend over the last 30 years. Big bookseller moves into the neighborhood, forcing an independent store to close, and then the big guy shutters its store when it can't compete with online shopping.

Luckily for those who love independent bookstores, some indies have survived the decades-long assault from big booksellers and the internet, while others have recently opened up shop. Whether they opened in the last few years or more than a few decades ago, good independent bookstores realize that they are much more than stores that sell books. It doesn't matter whether they sell coffee and other merchandise or just books. The special ones are gathering places for readers and writers. They offer recommendations, spur conversation, preserve and promote knowledge, and elevate communities.

Although they may not be as common as they once were, Michigan still has many independent bookstores. Here are a few of my favorites:

Falling Rock Cafe & Bookstore

Falling Rock Cafe & Bookstore

Munising is a city of just more than 2,000 people on the western edge of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Most visitors know it as the place to hop on one of the Pictured Rocks cruises, but Munising also has a top-notch bookstore in Falling Rock Cafe & Bookstore. The cafe serves custom-roasted coffee, breakfast, and sandwiches.

The bookstore has more than 30,000 new and used books, as well as locally made jewelry, pottery, and gifts. I was impressed by their section dedicated to local writers and found a couple of great books set in the U.P., South of Superior and Here. With its wide-open floor plan and numerous tables, Falling Rock is a great place to warm up with a good book and cup of coffee on a cold U.P. day.

An Afternoon of Poetry in Detroit

Three new collections of poetry by Michiganders

“Publishing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo.” ―Don Marquis

On Saturday afternoon, I had the opportunity to attend a poetry reading in Detroit presented by Lynch and Sons Fund for the Arts and Wayne State University Press. The event featured three poets, Keith Taylor, Cindy Morgan Hunter, and Jim Daniels, reading from their newest collections of poetry. Each collection was published through Wayne State's Made in Michigan Writers Series, which publishes poetry, essays, creative nonfiction, and short fiction by Michigan writers.

Keith Taylor

Keith Taylor

Keith Taylor has published several poetry collections and teaches creative writing at the University of Michigan. He read from his newest collection of poetry, The Bird-While. Before reading his poems, he explained that he borrowed the title of his collection from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson described a "bird-while" as "the space most of the wild birds will allow you to make your observations on them when they alight near you in the woods." 

Each of the poems Taylor read is a brief, but thorough, view of both human nature and actual nature. He read about his daughter's narcolepsy, a hummingbird that stops its work to watch a jet fly overhead, young scientists talking about life as information, and the day the trees in his yard were uprooted by a storm. 

Cindy Hunter Morgan

Cindy Hunter Morgan

Cindy Hunter Morgan is a native Michigander who teaches creative writing at Michigan State University and has authored two award-winning chapbooks. Hunter Morgan read from Harborless, her collection of poems about Great Lakes shipwrecks. The Great Lakes are the resting grounds for more than 6,000 shipwrecks and 30,000 mariners, and Hunter Morgan gives a humanizing glimpse into what might have been the final moments of more than thirty of these wrecks.

Before reading each poem, Hunter Morgan gave a brief history of the shipwreck itself. One ship caught fire carrying a cargo of peaches, and Hunter Morgan captures the smells, sights, and sounds of a ship full of peaches going up in flames. Another ship carried Christmas trees from the Upper Peninsula to Chicago, where families waited at the docks to purchase trees that never arrived. Hunter Morgan used the pantoum poetic form for this Christmas tree ship poem, Rouse Simmons, 1912. A pantoum consists of four-line stanzas in which the second and fourth lines of each stanza serve as the first and third lines of the next stanza. In this case, it gives the poem the wave-like effect intended by Hunter Morgan, as if the debris from the ship were bobbing up and down in the rolling waves.

Jim Daniels

Jim Daniels

Jim Daniels is a Detroit native and professor of creative writing at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Daniels explained that, despite living in Pittsburgh for more than thirty years, he always returns inland to Detroit. So he titled his latest collection of poems Rowing Inland. The poems he read gave glimpses of the Metro Detroit of Daniels's youth and his relationships with his family then and today.

When he read about driving the gridded streets of Detroit and ending up in Canada, Daniels's personal words felt personal to me, for I know these streets and drove them aimlessly as a teenager. His poem Hard Candy is about a family secret and the hard candy his grandmother kept in a metal dish. I remembered how both my grandmothers kept dishes of hard candy, and I wondered what sorrows and secrets they kept locked away.

The Venue

The former Kresge estate

The reading was hosted at the former Kresge estate in Detroit's Arden Park neighborhood. Paddy Lynch, of the Lynch and Sons Fund for the Arts family, purchased the house in 2011 and has brought it back to its original glory. Besides the Kresges, who founded K-Mart, the house's street once was populated with famous Detroit families like the Dodges and Fishers. 

Despite the grandeur of the home, the event was intimate. My wife, Allison, and I were able to speak to all three poets, and we found each of them to be friendly and unpretentious, normal people with extraordinary voices. The reading itself was in a basement room adorned with artwork along the walls. The poets and speakers stood in front of a mural that Paddy said reminds him of Ezra Pound's poem The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter. Paddy read Pound's poem at the end of the night in honor of his parents, who will be celebrating their fortieth wedding anniversary this year.

Thomas Lynch, Paddy's uncle and a renowned writer in his own right, spoke before the readers. He depicted the struggle for poets to find audiences (and recited the Don Marquis quote above), and discussed the importance of poetry and the arts in our fractured society. His sense of humor shone as he joked that the poetry reading was a success because the attendees outnumbered the poets. 

The reading was a reminder of Michigan's natural beauty and the humanity of its residents. I look forward to seeing what other writers Lynch and Sons Fund for the Arts and the Made in Michigan Writers Series will uncover. 

At the end of the night, I walked out of the reading with a signed copy of each poetry collection, beautiful broadsides of the poets' works by three letterpress studios, and the echoes of rose petals.

The broadsides

Five Michigan Books for Summer

Summer is here. Even the upper reaches of the U.P. are seeing temperatures in the 70s and 80s.

It's time to take advantage of the glorious outdoors that Michigan blesses us with. Whether you are packing up beach towels and umbrellas or camping and fishing gear, don't forget a book.

Michigan has produced amazing writers, and it is the setting for many fantastic works of literature. The following books are set in Michigan and written by people who called Michigan home. They are perfect companions for you while you sip morning coffee on a cold morning overlooking a still lake, unwind during quiet evenings in the woods, or relax on a hot, sandy beach.

South of Superior

Ellen Airgood's debut novel tells the story of Madeline Stone, a woman who leaves a safe, yet unsatisfactory, life in Chicago for McAllaster, a small Upper Peninsula town on the shores of Lake Superior. Madeline struggles to adjust to life in the small town and its inhabitants. As an outsider in a new locale, her good intentions often backfire, but she ultimately adapts and learns to love the simple things in life. Airgood's writing captures the feel of the Grand Marais area, where she lives. Her description of the road leading to Lake Superior and Madeline's first view of the lake captured how I felt as I drove over that last hill on M-77 leading to Grand Marais.

The Feast of Love

Charles Baxter spent many years of his life in Southeast Michigan. He taught at Wayne State University and the University of Michigan, though he now lives in his home state of Minnesota, where he teaches at the University of Minnesota. Several of his works are set in Michigan, including The Feast of Love. This novel takes place in Ann Arbor and follows several characters' interconnected tales of love. Baxter's writing superbly examines love in all of its forms. Love is not simple, and neither is The Feast of Love. It is a story full of anguish, yearning, ecstasy, and sweetness.

True North

Confession: I never read a single book by Jim Harrison until this past month. I was turned off by the film Legends of the Fall, and Brad Pitt's Hollywood pretty boy looks on the film's movie posters. The film, which I have not seen, is based on a Jim Harrison story.

When Jim Harrison died in March, I read so many beautiful tributes to his poetry and literature that I decided to cast aside my ridiculous prejudice and read one of his works. I chose True North. I read it quickly, thoroughly, and passionately. The novel follows David Burkett, a descendant of Upper Peninsula logging barons, from his teenage years in the 1960s to the 1980s. David struggles to understand his place in the world in light of his family's destruction of the U.P.'s forests and his own father's wicked crimes. Harrison's writing exposes the beauty of the U.P. and the pain and emptiness in David's heart.

Returning to Earth

After finishing True North, I wanted more Jim Harrison, so I immediately purchased True North's sequel, Returning to Earth. Returning to Earth is set several years after True North, and it follows the lives of David Burkett's family members. Several family members, including David, take turns as narrator of the novel, and it is interesting to see their different perspectives on their family, especially when his half-Chippewa brother-in-law Donald or his sister Cynthia narrates.

Like True North, much of the action in the novel occurs in the woods of the U.P. as the family tries to understand and cope with the death of one of their own. It is clear through Harrison's writing that he loved the woods and lakes of the Upper Peninsula, and it is the land perhaps more than anything that ties the family together.

Here: Women Writing on Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Here is a collection of poems and short stories by women about the Upper Peninsula. This collection begins with the poem Here in My Native Inland Sea by Bame-wa-wa-ge-zhik-aquay (a.k.a. Jane Johnston Schoolcraft), and each subsequent story and poem weaves together a larger tapestry that brings the U.P. to life. In addition to Here in My Native Inland Sea, my favorite stories and poems in the anthology are North Country by Roxane Gay, Imprinting by Janeen Russell, Censors by Stellanova Osborn, Incomer by Gloria Whelan, and Mad Dog Queen by Sharon Dilworth.

An Enduring Monument of Detroit's Achievement

The Detroit Public Library Main Branch

Last week, I visited the Detroit Pubic Library's Main Branch for the first time. It is located on Woodward Avenue across from what is probably the most famous tourist attraction in Midtown, the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Although the DIA is definitely worth a visit, the library is a work of art in itself. The white marble building opened in 1921, six years before the DIA moved into its current location. Architect Cass Gilbert designed the library and was a preeminent architect of his era who designed Belle Isle's James Scott Memorial Fountain, the United States Supreme Court Building, New York's Woolworth Building, and several other iconic buildings throughout the United States.

The Woodward Avenue side of the library is surrounded by trees and lush green lawns, which made it easy to forget that this land was frozen only a few short months ago. A large bust of Nicolaus Copernicus occupies the lawn to the right of the main entrance. 

Copernicus

The large white marble and limestone exterior rises above Woodward, but only a few steps rise up to the library's main entrance, unlike the large series of steps leading to the DIA's main entrance. Perhaps Gilbert wanted a street level entrance to give a sense that books should be easily accessible to the public.

Main Entrance on Woodward Avenue

I entered the library on the Cass Avenue side. The library's entrance and two wings on Cass Avenue were built in 1963. The entrance is not as grand as the Woodward Avenue side, but I did enjoy the combination of the 1960s architecture, rich grass, green trees, clear blue skies, and warm June air.

Cass Avenue Entrance

In addition to some special exhibits, like a room dedicated to legendary Tigers radio announcer Ernie Harwell, the Cass Avenue side has all of the services of a typical public library: computers, reading rooms, and a children's library room. 

Words of Wisdom From Detroit's Past

"Detroit did not have to be. Detroit is–despite every obstacle that had been thrown into its path." -Malcolm W. Bingay, Detroit Is My Own Hometown

#164947922 / gettyimages.com

When I visited Detroit's John K. King Books in October, I stumbled upon Detroit Is My Own Hometown. Published in 1946, the book is a collection of tales by former Detroit News and Detroit Free Press editor Malcom Bingay. The book is not really a history of Detroit or a memoir. Instead, the book reads as if someone recorded Bingay over many nights as he told stories of Detroit's most famous historical characters.

Although Bingay's writing style often feels dated, especially some racially prejudiced comments indicative of his era, he writes with an unabashed pride about the politicians, business leaders, and sports figures who helped make Detroit a metropolis that other cities envied. 

His stories include Detroit's contribution to the war efforts in both World Wars, the founding of all the major automotive companies, political corruption and race riots long before the 1960s, the founding of the University of Michigan, and the construction of many of Detroit's monuments and buildings. Serious sports fans should read Chapters 12 through 15 about the Detroit Tigers' early history, including the Tigers and Chicago Cubs players likely colluding to tie game one of the 1907 World Series so that they could earn more money from gate receipts.

In the end, the book is Bingay's love letter to Detroit. His predictions of a prosperous, late 20th century Detroit turned out to be wrong, but that does not mean that his predictions cannot be realized in our near future. Several quotes from Bingay's book are inspirational reminders of what Detroit always has been and what it can still be:

A little failure in Detroit is OK, so long as we learn from it.

"Men can be trained to be inventors by the simple process of telling them that it is not a disgrace to fail. In research work there is no such thing as failure in the accepted sense of the word. If an inventor does not get what he is after by one experiment he has not failed; he has made progress." -Charles F. Kettering of General Motors

True Detroiters are not afraid of a struggle.

"The true Detroiter accepts conflict as naturally as he accepts milk from his mother's breast. It is part of his life. He yields his opinions to no man's persuasion. The pioneer cast of countenance is upon him." -Bingay

Detroit should continue to welcome new ideas today.

"The people will climb out of their troubles on a ladder of new ideas." -Kettering

Detroit Public Library. Photo by Jason Mrachina

Spend time in the city to feel its spirit. Don't just parachute in and take pictures of blight.

"There is a stability and a strength of character in the town that gives it the undertone of which you speak. Detroit is full of thoughtful, serious-minded citizens....Hang around here long enough to meet the folks, and you'll begin to understand. You cannot learn the real spirit of Detroit by just stopping off between trains." -Bingay

Detroit Riverfront. Photo by Brian Mulloy

Always carry Detroit in your heart.

"The man who does not carry his city in his heart is a spiritual starveling." -Fr. Gabriel Richard

Detroit has always been more than the auto industry.

"Detroit was a city with a soul, an identity carved and shaped from a heroic heritage, long before the honk of the motor horn was heard on any hill." -Bingay

An oath of office needs to mean something.

"I took an oath of office. You know what I mean? An oath! That means something to me. I have not reached the age of fifty to begin breaking my word. I'm the mayor. It's my job to protect the interests of the people the best way I can." -Mayor Hazen S. Pingree (Explaining why he ignored the wishes of his financial backers to do what was best for the people of Detroit).

Detroit has been through bad times before. It will arise.

"Blow after blow has has rained upon this city throughout its history and always it has arisen from its ashes–cleaner and finer and better because it has conquered adversity." -Bingay

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Honor Detroit's past by building a better tomorrow. It is home, after all.

"This is our home: Detroit. Our beloved ones are buried in its soil. Our children sprang from it. We are soil of this soil. Our streets are touched with sacred memories and traditions. Our dreams of a finer life to come are a hallowed heritage. As was written on the seal of the city when we were in ashes: 'We hope for better days.'" -Bingay

Splittin' The Mitten's leisurely trip through the Lower Peninsula

With the advent of the interstate highway system, many Americans forgot about the beauty of rolling through small towns connected by old state highway systems. Michigan has approximately 57,000 square miles of land, but many Michiganders miss out on vast expanses of beautiful land while hurrying along I-69, I-75, I-94, and I-96.

Splittin' The Mitten: Get Your Kicks On Michigan's Route 66 takes its readers back to a time before the interstate highway system. The book's authors, John and Becky Schlatter, focus on Michigan's state highway M-66, a road running north-south from the Indiana border to Lake Michigan, literally splitting the Lower Peninsula, aka the Mitten, in half.

The Schlatters write in a conversational tone, and the book feels more like a travel memoir than a guidebook as a result. They highlight each town and major landmark along the 273 miles of M-66. With a population of 52,000, Battle Creek is the largest city along the journey. The rest of the towns along M-66 are much smaller, but they all seem to have the same two things: at least one ice cream shop and an old bank building at the town's main intersection.

Q & A: Jean Scheffler, Author of The Sugar House

I had the opportunity to speak with author Jean Scheffler about her novel The Sugar House. The Sugar House is a gripping tale about Detroit from 1915 to the 1930s [for an in-depth review, click here]. The story’s protagonist, Joe Jopolowski, grows up from a young boy who follows his Catholic school rules to a young man who associates with Detroit’s notorious Purple Gang during Prohibition. The novel gives a rare view of Detroit and the real-life characters that populated it in the early 20th century. 

Shift Change at Ford (1910s). Library of Congress

What inspired you to write a book about Detroit in the early 20th century?

My grandpa used to tell me stories when I was growing up, and some of them were very shocking to me because I was a very naïve little innocent Catholic school girl. They were so shocking to me at the time that I remember a lot of them. I’ve also always had a love for history, and being a gerontology nurse, during my downtime, I went to my patients’ rooms and asked them to share their stories with me. I was extremely fortunate to have sat at the bedsides of such a great generation and to be lucky enough to hear the stories that made up their lives.  

I decided that this was a story I really wanted to write because a lot of people of my generation, much less my kids’ generation, don’t realize the amazing history of Detroit and the surrounding area. I felt that there weren’t many historical fiction novels about Detroit, especially that era or period, and I wanted to record it for future generations.

Have you always been interested in writing, and have you ever written anything before?

I always was interested in writing but I have not written before. I sat down and tried to write a novel a couple times, but it wasn’t the right time and definitely was not the right story. Once I found this was my story to tell, I hoped I would be worthy of the story. Once I did sit down to write it, it was very easy.

While I was writing the story, I went down to Mount Olivet and found my grandparents’ grave markers. I had already written the part about Joe and his little brother Frank, and I am sitting there on a beautiful sunny fall day looking at their gravestones, and I see there’s Frank. I had never known that my grandfather had a brother named Frank because he had passed away before I was born. I looked up at the sky and said, “Who is writing this story?”

Why did you choose to have Joe’s story revolve around the Sugar House Gang?

Because of my grandfather. When I knew him fifty years after this story took place, he wasn’t a gangster. He was a Polish grandpa. We had our Polish traditions, and he worked at McLouth Steel his whole life. I wanted to show how things were so different back then and that it didn’t necessarily make you a bad guy to be on the wrong side of the law. The story works for this day and age when people try to find themselves, and might not make the right decisions. But they try to come back to where they want to be, their families, their faith.

The Sugar House: A Thrilling Tale of Prohibition in Detroit

During the 1920s, no American gang was more feared than Detroit’s Purple Gang, also known as the Sugar House Gang. The Jewish-led gang controlled the transportation of liquor into Michigan from Canada, and their ruthless tactics convinced Al Capone that it was safer to work with them than compete with them. Despite the gang’s infamy during Prohibition, the Purple Gang’s name has not remained in America’s consciousness to the same extent as the 20^th century gangs of Chicago or New York.

In her first novel, The Sugar House, Jean Scheffler takes her readers on an exciting tour of Detroit from 1915 until the 1930s through the eyes of Joe Jopolowski, the son of recent Polish immigrants. The story shows 1915 Detroit as a city busting at the seams due to growth spurred by money from the automobile industry and an influx of European immigrants and southern Blacks.

The story begins with eight-year-old Joe speaking Polish to himself while running through the streets of Detroit. The first chapters are filled with elaborate details about the life of a Polish-Catholic immigrant family in Detroit’s Polish neighborhoods near St. Josaphat’s Church. Anyone who has eaten traditional Polish food will salivate at the descriptions of the pierogi, golabki (stuffed cabbage), and other meals that Joe’s mother serves.

At first, young Joe’s only fears are that his Catholic school nuns will punish him for some minor transgression and that his next-door neighbor cousins will tag along on a family trip to Boblo Island. However, while Joe is worried about childish matters, Detroit keeps growing. Eventually World War I and Prohibition force Joe to grow up with his city, and he associates with the Sugar House Gang to help his family survive.

At first, the story feels like it might be only a portrait of the Detroit that was and the famous people that populated or visited the city. Young Joe travels to many of the city’s famous sites, such as Grinnell Brothers Music House, the Boston-Edison neighborhood, the streetcars of Woodward Avenue, a Tigers game at Navin Field, and the Sanders Candy Palace of Treats. Scheffler describes each building, street corner, and house with the finest details. A reader with an interest in the history of Detroit, like me, will appreciate this detail, but other readers might be waiting for the story to build up.

Luckily, the story matures with Joe. With the onset of Prohibition, Joe becomes caught in an exciting but dangerous world that would have seemed unimaginable to the rule-following boy at the beginning of the novel. His world expands beyond Detroit as he finds himself working in the Downriver communities of Wyandotte and Grosse Ile. Real-life historical figures, including Sugar House Gang members, populate Joe’s world. Boats (and cars in the winter) cross the Detroit River, bringing Canadian liquor to Michigan. Cops are on the take, and speakeasies pop up throughout the city. Gang wars erupt, and drive-by shootings and violent shakedowns become commonplace. Joe struggles to survive in this world without losing the values of his family, community, and church.

The Sugar House is a must-read for anyone who is interested in Detroit’s history or anyone who wants a thrilling tale of a young man trying to remain morally strong in the face of a corrupt world. Detroit area native Scheffler clearly did her research, and the reader is rewarded with characters that feel real and a view of Detroit's past that is not easy to find. 

The Sugar House is currently available in both paperback and Kindle format at Amazon.com here.

For a Q&A with Jean Scheffler in which she talks about her research, writing process, and her grandfather who inspired her novel, click here.

Days Five and Six: Cider, Books and Public Art

A view from John K. King Bookstore

My trip back to Michigan has sadly come to a close. After spending four very active days in Detroit, I slowed down the last few days to spend time with friends and family. However, I did do something uniquely Michigan during my last days in the Great Lakes State.

Day 5

Franklin Cider Mill

Thursday was a cold and rainy day in Detroit after a beautiful week of weather. My wife and I were going to take the girls to a cider mill to spend some time outdoors, but we decided to leave them at their grandma and grandpa's house where they could stay warm, dry and full of  the junk food that we do not allow at home.

We did some shopping in the suburbs where I was able to get some rain boats and a Detroit Tigers t-shirt with “Kaline” and the number 6 on the back. We then visited the Franklin Cider Mill. 

The Franklin Cider Mill was built in 1837, the same year that Michigan became a state. It is located in Bloomfield Hills, on 14 Mile Road about one mile west of Telegraph Road.

I had been to the Franklin Cider when I was young, but I could only remember that it was the brown building, while Yates Cider Mill in Rochester was the red building. I went to Yates last year and was impressed by the petting zoo and the walking trail, but I knew Franklin did not have these amusements. Instead, Franklin just makes apple cider, donuts, baked goods, jams and honey.

Old tractor outside the mill

We did not spend much time walking around the cider mill because of the weather, but we did see the giant mill wheel and appreciated the view of the stream that cuts through the grounds between the parking lot and the mill. Once we entered the building, I was overcome will the smell of the donuts. We purchased cider, some apple pie bread and a half dozen donuts, but the donuts were the highlight by far (and that’s saying a lot since the cider is very good too). The donuts are purely delicious…especially when you eat them fresh and warm. Just amazing.

Day 6

Sign in the driveway of King books

We were going to hang out at my parent’s house in the suburbs, but I felt Detroit calling me back. I had read about John K. King bookstore in Detroit, Michigan's largest rare and used bookstore, and needed to visit. 

I love the smell of old books and the feel of their old and worn pages on my fingertips as I flip through their pages. Even if I do not buy anything, I often will wander into a used bookstore when I am in a new town. Just being around all of that recorded knowledge gives me a sense of pride in humanity's intellectual accomplishments.

John K. King opened his first bookstore in Dearborn in 1971; soon moved to Detroit; and bought the current four-story building at 901 West Lafayette in 1983. Even though the store has only been at its current location for 30 years, it feels like it’s been there for 100. The building looks and feels old with its dusty, metal-framed windows, brick walls and creaky wood floors, but it also feels like a used bookstore should. The older hardcover books seem to have settled into place on the shelves…almost is if they came with the building.

A small portion of the store's collection

Much like visiting a great museum, like the DIA, I could have spent a whole day wandering through the aisles of fiction, poetry, history, religion and art books. On this day, I focused on the Michigan and Detroit history sections. 

The store has a wonderful collection of Michigan-related civil war books, city directories and state and county histories. I rarely enter a used bookstore looking for a specific book. Instead, I wander around the store until a book finds me. As I perused the stacks, one title grabbed my attention, "Detroit Is My Own Hometown," a book about Detroit in the 1940s when Detroit was still in the midst of its golden age.

Stairway and entrance to floor 2 of the bookstore

 I hope to visit John King Books again when I have more time. If you love books and live in the Detroit area or happen to visit Detroit, there is no excuse for not visiting this store at least once.

After visiting John King Books, we drove to the Woodbridge neighborhood of Detroit near Wayne State University, and had a delicious lunch at the Woodbridge Pub. Woodbridge is neighborhood with many Victorian homes. A community garden with colorful picnic tables sits across from the pub, and the nearby streets are full of well maintained homes. 

Community garden in Woodbridge

On the side of a house next to Woodbridge Pub are the words ARTINWOODBRIDGE.COM. Art in Woodbridge is an effort to bring public art to the neighborhood. As a result of their efforts, several murals and sculptures line Woodbridge's streets. For photos of this art, please visit their website above.

The neighborhood feels vibrant. This is not the stereotypical depressed Detroit. On this sunny day, I could feel the hope and sense of community reflecting off the art and the windows of the the neighborhood's homes.

Final thoughts about my week in Detroit

Detroit is a beautiful place. Yes, there are neighborhoods that are drowning in blight that I did not visit, but there are ongoing efforts to combat that blight. Ignoring the blight on my blog will not make it go away, but why write about something that national media seems to write about every day, especially when there are so many interesting things to do in this city? 

In only six days, I visited an amazing zoo, an international riverfront, a world class museum, wonderful restaurants, a baseball diamond where legends once roamed and an outdoor market that pulses like the heart of the city. Those six days were not enough to do everything I wanted to.

Detroit is alive. Detroit is beautiful. Detroit will never die.

Detroit is my own hometown.