These reflections are reposted with permission from Instagram, where the author posts eight photos she snapped in October 2007 as a Detroit newcomer. Freelance journalist Anna Clark is the author of "The Poisoned City: Flint's Water and the American Urban Tragedy," being published next May.
By Anna Clark
September 30 marked the 10-year anniversary of when I moved to Detroit. I was 27.
These images are all from my first month — of many, many — of wandering around this wild city. It’s the house where I lived in one-third of an attic, and the Halloween party where we all dressed up on a Detroit theme. (I’m Diego Rivera.)
I was really new here. I grew up in Michigan, but in a Chicago-affiliated small town, and I came here from Boston.
People thought I was insane. I remember one voice in particular that was dripping in Disgust: "WHY?"
Anna Clark: "There has been no better place to be." (Photo by Anne Trubek)
I was someone with writerly aspirations and I’d already "escaped" to the East Coast. I made good friends in Boston, and I could get good coffee and good Indian buffet anytime I wanted. Why the hell would I move to Detroit — in 2007?!
Kwame Kilpatrick was still mayor, but the justice system was closing in fast. The housing crisis was beginning to devastate the city. All years ahead: GM and Chrysler bankruptcies, the city’s bankruptcy, emergency management.
I didn’t really have much of a reason for coming here. And my first few years were really hard and lonely. I think of them now as my apprentice time.
But turned out that moving to Detroit was one of the best decisions of my life. It made a writer out of me. And, I think, it’s made me better person. I’ve also had a hell of a lot of fun, and I’ve been unfailingly inspired by the people who are creating new models for what a thriving city can look like.
For this period of my life — a seeking time — there has been no better place to be. I’m very grateful.
