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. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. 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.