theres a homework thief on the loose

About a week ago my car was broken into at my work. They broke out my drivers side window and stole my school backpack. They also broke into 2 of my friends cars, 2 of my managers cars and 2 customers cars. We got the license plate number and called the police and got them all the information. The police ran the plates and found two locations that the car is registered to. My general manager, Matt, has been checking in with the Southgate police to see if they've made any arrests and it turns out that they havent even invesigated the case yet.

Now, I understand that to them, its probably not that big of a deal and they have more important cases to handle but if they werent even going to bother to investigate the case then why even run the plates? The detective on the case is having a family problem and hes out until Monday so thats understandable, but why not put someone else on the case? I feel selfish being angry about it but I cant help it. I'm just afraid they're going to come back and get either my car again or someone elses car. They've already come back to my work once and got my managers cars so why wouldnt they try it again?

There is one thing about this whole situation that kind of makes me laugh. When they broke into my friends car all they took from her was a star wars cup and 35 cents. So judging by what they took we should be looking for a group of Star Wars geeks that want to do my homework.

Well whatever..hopefully they'll be caught.

Jiving With Java..and a rant on coffeehouses.

I really liked this essay. I liked the attitude the author had toward coffeehouses. Alot of things he said reminded me of a popular coffeehouse in my neighborhood. I don't ever go to any coffeehouses but I think this essay really described everyone that does go to coffeehouses perfectly. Coffeehouses were once a nice place to relax but now they've become so scene and so popular that you cant even relax because there are so many people inside. My neighborhood coffeehouse, The Grind, is always so busy and so packed, it is almost impossible to walk through without running into someone or something. And once you do make your way to the counter to buy something, you have to wait in line for what seems like forever for coffee that, from what Ive heard, isnt even that great. Finding a seat in there is like finding a parking spot at Christmas: its impossible. The Grind provides seating outside which is great in the summer, but what about the winter? I dont know many people that would prefer to sit outside in the winter to study and drink coffee. I dont mind coffeehouses, just as long as Im not in one. I think coffeehouses are just another long lasting fad that will evenually die out.

Edinger Apartments

So today I helped my friend move into a new apartment. She moved from Edinger Apartments in Wyandotte to an apartment in Trenton. Her new apartment is really nice but I really liked her old one because it has a lot of history. It was built in the early 1900's and everything inside of it is really old. The Edinger Apartments used to be Edinger Apartment Hotel. Celebrities such as Lucille Ball and The Three Stooges stayed in that hotel years ago. I was looking up pictures of the Wyandotte Theater and the hotel is in the background in this picture. Its in the back on the right. Its really hard to see because it is kind of cut off but I just thought it was really cool to be able to see what the building used to look like.

Progress of the paper

As of right now I have a pretty good idea of how im going to set up my paper. My only problem is the interviews. I dont know who to interview. There really isnt anyone that specializes on the Wyandotte Totem Pole. I know how to get a hold of a member of the city council so I'll probably interview her. I was also thinking of just interviewing a random person walking in the downtown area of Wyandotte. But I also dont know what to ask the people I interview. Im thinking I'll just ask them their opinion on the totem pole. If anyone has an suggestions let me know. I could definately us some.

before and after

I really like these pictures of the William Livingstone House. I think its really cool how it shows before and after pictures of what the building originally looked like and how it has slowly decayed over the years. If you carefully observe the two photos you can see a lot of major differences. Looking at the front yard you can see that it has gone in a completely different direction that the original. It was originally very welcoming with grass and a walk way leading up to a beautiful staircase and over the years all of the grass died and a fence was put up. The house itsself was a very nice house in the beginning and it looks as though the front of it is slowly melting off. Its kind of sad to see how such a beautiful piece of architechture can be so poorly taken care of.

"Homeplace: A Site of Resistance"

bell hooks's essay "Homeplace" is very powerful. When reading her story, I could feel the intensity in her writing. She uses very powerful words and descriptions. For example, when she is explaining her walk to her grandmother's house she says, "we would have to pass that terrifying whiteness". Such intense descriptions really let me feel what she was feeling. hook's essay is about black womens' roles in society. She uses the term "homeplace" to mean a type of inner comfort zone. She explains how black women went and worked as maids in white households and even though they worked all day for other people, they still had enough in themselves to come home and provide for their families. These women got the stregnth to provide for everyone from their homeplace. Homeplace to hooks both is a place to recover from all of your struggles to become whole again and the actual home itsself. Through hook's essay she expresses her feelings very strongly and she begins giving feelings of anger when she explains "homeplace" as a woman's "natural" role. She says, "The assumtion then is that the black woman who works hard to be a responsible caretaker is only doing what she should be doing". Unfortunately, this is a true statement. Many people believe that a woman's role is in the home and that is why women are still being looked down on for doing certain things and why women still make a quarter less that men. I enjoyed hook's essay.

Analysis of a Place/Artifact ideas

I haven't decided exactly what I plan on writing about for our analysis paper but I have a few things in mind. I live in Wyandotte and we don't have very many landmarks. One of my first thoughts for this paper was to write the paper about an old library in my city that is supposedly haunted. I think it would be interesting to research the library and find out how the rumor of the haunting began. Another idea I had was the old train station in Detroit. I am completely facinated with the train station but since it is no longer in business, it would be hard to find people to interview. Also, my dad owns a bar and I thought it could be interesting to write my paper on that. The building he runs his business in actually has quite an interesting history. My friend actually just reminded me of a location in Wyandotte that i would LOVE to write about: small house. Small house is a house in my city that is ridiculous tiny. You have to see it with your own eyes to actually grasp the size of this place. The amazing thing about it is that people actually do live there. There are rumors that the basement to small house is the whole underneath of Wyandotte. The only problem with using small house as my place is I don't know if it is possible to research it online or at our library. Another place I might use is the Renaissance Center. I think it would be cool to write about because of its importance in Detroit. I still have a lot of thinking to do for this assignment.

Response to class discussion about "Niki's Window"

Today's class discussion about "Niki's Window" made me look at the essay from a different perspective. When I first read Herron's essay I agreed with him completely and although I still do agree with him on many things, I think he was a little overdramatic about some things. As someone pointed out in class today, you can't just leave every historic building empty. If Detroit did leave all of the buildings as they were then they would just be a waste of space and Detroit would eventually be empty. I agree with Herron when it comes to recognizing the history of the city but I also agree with everyone arguing that you must rebuild the city to keep it going. I think a good compromise would be that if the historic buildings are redone than the owners should recognize the history of the building and encourage their patrons to learn about it. The owners could do this by posting old pictures and articles about the history of the building or area. Also, these small companies are helping out the city financially. Even though the city doesn't benefit that much from these companies, every penny counts with Detroit. Another great point made in class was that Herron had no right to act as though Detroit is the only city with these kinds of problems. Every big city has similar problems and it wasn't right to point the finger at Detroit and make us look worse than every other city. I really enjoyed today discussion and I'm glad it helped me see "Niki's Window" in a new way.

"Niki's Window"

I read "Niki's Window" by Jerry Herron last night and I found it to be very interesting. He describes Detroit as "the most historically representative city in America" which I agree with. The city of Detroit has so much history and so much of it is being forgotten because the citizens have been distracted by the horrible reputation Detroit has adopted. Crime and the collapse of industries is what is giving Detroit this kind of reputation. Years ago people were moving away from the city to avoid being apart of what it has become and now, as Herron explained, people are moving back to try to revive the life of Detroit. But what is being revived is quite petty. Greektown has become Detroit's hot spot and it has been made to seem more than it is. I've never been to Greektown and until I read Herron's description of the two block stretch I had always thought it was a large section of Detroit. Representatives of Detroit claim they are cleaning up the city and rebuilding it but they aren't restoring it to actually make it better, they're "restoring" it to make themselves look better. When Superbowl XL came to Detroit instead of actually taking the time to fix and clean up abandoned houses, they simply installed lights inside of the houses so they look more lively. Detroit is a very beautiful city, but its the history that makes it beautiful, not the latest resturant. Herron wrote, "This historic 'town' is largely make-believe"and i completely agree.