Tough times. The city of Detroit is no stranger to them. And now with an Emergency Financial Manager that's trying to solve the financial problems of the city there will probably be more of them. To say the least, it's sad that this has happened.
On our way...
Motto
Detroit's motto is Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus, which is Latin for We Hope For Better Things; It Shall Rise From the Ashes. The flower in the photo below caught my eye because it was truly rising from the ashes in front of the remains of a burned down house (unfortunately a sight too familiar for many neighborhoods.)
Rising from the ashes
The Future
We don't know the future and what the changes will be, but one thing I know for certain is the people of Detroit will persevere. And my hope is that Detroit will continue to rise from the ashes, and be the city of the future because the entire region and state of Michigan will be the better for it.
Detroit likes to celebrate, and why not have a sale too? This was the grocery circular that showed up on my porch after the presidential election. The people of Detroit celebrate our president in other ways too, as I have posted before about Obama on Gratiot. And more recently, check out Bikes, Books & a Little Music's great photos in the post Obama on the Walls. -- Now do I want the chicken breast or the rump roast...
Gratiot Avenue Wall Street may have the fat cat bankers, but we have Obama on Gratiot. Detroit's Gratiot Avenue is one of the main drags in the city. It's also a Michigan highway designated by the M-3 distinction. The roughly 29 mile long avenue runs from downtown Detroit through no less than six suburban communities. Recent years have seen some streetscape improvements with the addition of trees and the creation of a median as you head into downtown. However, none of that is as special as this portrait by an artist simply known as Bird.
President Obama on Gratiot
Portrait Bird painted his portrait of the president in 2010 on the side of a vacant building. On the building next to it he also included a painting of a man dancing. The man has a black arm band, and I may be missing something obvious, but I don't know who the dancing man is supposed to be. If anyone can help me out, please leave a comment.
Man Dancing on Gratiot
Great Advertising The artist takes advantage of what appears to be an unused building to advertise his services, and it's a great way to make use of the space. I photoshopped out the phone number because I don't feel comfortable posting someone else's phone number on the Internet. If you want to contact him (or her?) go check out the art, it's at the corner of Fischer St. and Gratiot.
Painting on Gratiot
Not the Whitehouse Well, there's no doubt that the best thing this building's got going for it is the painting of Obama.
This video is special. It is President Barack Obama's Labor Day speech in Detroit for 2011. It's special because first it's the president (duh!), and second it's the first video posted here at Detroit Video Daily (DVD).
I was somewhat indecisive about going to see the speech (not that I don't like Obama, just that I was relaxing pretty comfortably at home that morning), so I didn't get down to the Renaissance Center until just before the speech started. Hence the reason the video is from the back of the stage. I entered at the first available entrance, and it ended up being behind the stage. To leave and try to reenter at the more crowded front entrance would have meant missing the start of the speech. Oh well. It was still a fun experience. The video is in two parts because of YouTube rules on the length of videos.
I started to film as I was walking to the entrance way, and security stopped me and informed me that I couldn't take pictures. I was a little confused and said I would go back to my car and put away the camera. They then explained cameras were allowed, you're just not allowed to film the security area. Ahhh. No problem. Flip video cam off, and on I went. So note to anyone going to film the president, you can film the event, just don't film the security.
In case you are looking for a transcript of the speech, look no further because here is the link (the Whitehouse.gov press release.) And if you're looking for a video of the speech from the front of the stage, well, I'm not sure why when you have this wonderful video, but nonetheless, here is another video (from Whitehouse.gov.) As to which is the better video, well, I'll let you be the judge :)
And speaking of "judging" let's not be too harsh on DVD's first video offering. It is the first, and of course there's room to grow, so check back for more videos or better yet subscribe by email or the rss feed in order to not miss one bit of Detroit video goodness!
