We’ve gotten steamed sometimes (OK, a lot) at out-of-town journalists who airdrop into our city, usually into Corktown or the corner of Second and Willis, and reel off every offensive cliché, declaring that a gaggle of uniformly Caucasian entrepreneurs are “putting Detroit on the map” or “settling the urban frontier” or “turning a blank slate into a work of art” or “creating an oasis in a food desert” or all of the above. Add a few pictures of uniformly white people and you have the typical New York Times piece on Detroit of a year or so ago.
To our delight, that seems to have changed. We found much to praise in a recent NYT piece on some metro Detroiters returning home for a visit, for instance. And the paper’s most recent travel piece seems pretty legit too. It manages to cover some pretty interesting ground, and isn’t just a glitzy tour of two hip neighborhoods. The words “Cass Corridor” even appear. Yes, it would have been nice to see some people of color in the photos, but when a rambling travel piece just happens to include an intense encounter with Tyree Guyton, it’s almost as good.
Curious? Want to sound off with your own opinions? Take a look.
This article appears in Sep 30 – Oct 6, 2015.
