Downtown Detroit is pretty cool I suppose. It’s your typical blue collar city trying to reinvent itself by simultaneously embracing its historic mythology, while also working to attract young professionals with hip bars and such.

Just outside of town, where I’m staying, is heartbreaking really. Crumbling abandoned homes occupy every other lot, left for dead to fend off the encroaching weeds and garbage. It’s not scary, it’s just ghosts of an entire mini-culture of people who’ve just given up and moved on. This was supposed to be a proud place where people believed in the triumph and superiority of their own labor, building the best cars in the world. Now so much of it is abandoned. A lot of the buildings have been demolished altogether, leaving behind unkempt patches of lawns for nobody, each with their own curb-cut to wide but patched-up avenues. I wanted to take photos, but it felt too voyeuristic, like rubber-necking an accident scene.

Speaking of building cars, I noticed that almost nobody drives a Honda or Toyota here. It’s American cars everywhere. This should have been completely unsurprising, but it’s to such an extent it’s almost a cliche. I feel ashamed driving my rented Nissan.

So I guess the ones who are still here are still proud. As they should be. My next car should. be union built in America.