Friday, September 19, 2008

Back to the future

John remembers when Safetyville seemed futuristic:

When my family moved to Flint in 1973 — yeah, people moved to Flint back then — I was not happy. I loved South Carolina. Two things cushioned the blow. First, a stop at the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH on the way up. Second, going to Safetyville once we settled in.

I had read about Safetyville in some school magazine. It was magical and even more impressive actually being there. I remember writing a letter to a friend back in South Carolina to tell him about this advanced, futuristic land I was now living in.



1 comment:

  1. My older brother and sisters all got to go to Safetyville and by the time I came along, my parents had probably run out of eneryg, time and money to go. I always felt and to some extent still DO feel cheated. I am glad you had something to look forward to in Flint. Little did you know that some years later AUTO WORLD would arrive.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.