Thursday, August 25, 2011

Flint Self-Portrait

Back in Flint this week for research. It's nice to escape the fog, drizzle and 55 degree days of San Francisco in the summer. I'm having some computer issues, so I'll post as much as I can when I have the chance.


at 9:41 AM
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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousAugust 28, 2011 at 12:39 PM

    ...Love the Aveo. 37 MPG on the highway, and that's great for today! Sorry I didn't know you were in town. Could have had a mini St. Mary's reunion!

    ReplyDelete
  2. JimAugust 29, 2011 at 2:04 PM

    So is that a Korean Aveo or a Mexican one?

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  3. Gordon YoungAugust 29, 2011 at 3:22 PM

    Not sure on the country of origin, but whoever rented it before me smoked a lot of cigarettes. That car spelled like the inside of the airport smoking lounge. But compared to my 1990 Camry, it handled like a Porsche.

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  4. AnonymousAugust 31, 2011 at 10:34 AM

    I just did some research on Flint and here is what I found.

    The Michigan Department of Education rankings of schools from top to bottom finds Flint Northern with a zero percentile ranking. Yikes, no regular public school got a worse ranking than Northern. Combined with abysmal graduation (57% of seniors) and drop-out rates, I’m wondering how the Flint high school system justifies its existence. I realize the state has to provide an education, but it sure looks like no one, i.e., students, parents, teachers, administrators, in Flint cares.

    I thought the education I got from Northern back in the early 70’s barely prepared me for college, and it looks like things are much worse now. Even for those lucky few who actually graduate nowadays, I can’t imagine a Flint Northern student is remotely prepared for college.

    So where is the hope for Flint? Between the crime stats, public school rankings, and the condition the city is in, how will Flint ever recover? Or can they?

    Is it just a matter of time before Flint is nothing more than an entry in a history book?

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  5. AnonymousSeptember 1, 2011 at 5:29 PM

    With the current demogrphic, no recovery is even remotely possible

    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.

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