Monday, August 19, 2013

Informing My Opinions

I'm reading The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt and this short passage may just sum up one of the reasons I reconnected with Flint and wrote Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City.
The man said, 'My feelings about San Francisco rise and fall with my moods. Or is it that the town alters my moods, thus informing my opinions? Either way, one day it is my true friend, a few days after, my bitterest enemy.'


2 comments:

  1. i lived in Berkeley for 30 years and loved every day of it, that is, i loved the town. i would feel like a ghost there now, and i know i would not be happy. it is a quite different place and i am in a different phase too. I so long for Flint that i take virtual walks. i type an address or intersection into google, and go. my brother who still lives there (i lived there for a year, intending at first to stay for the rest of my life) says, after the unsolved murder of a much loved adult child, and the things that dismay us, "I still love Flint, I don't know why". We are where we are from, I said.
    It has great things for kids: tapology is going right now; they can play music, do theatre,art, etc. younger they can enjoy crossroads. It s not about what was, yesterdays, what is there NOW is very much worth having. dilemma. higher education ....up to the minute cancer care...we all know the severe negatives, including negative attitudes. i wish more people would attend, participate. WALK. I walked all over the place, and rode my bike. i believe jane jacobs and like being out on the streets. common sense is necessary anywhere .

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  2. August 19th is my birthday. I was brought up on Bishop ave. We moved to Flushing in spring of 63. My first bicycle was worked off at Flint Indian Sales by sweeping floors of the oldest motorcycle dealership that was auctioned off.
    Herbie was a great guy to be a friend of. In 1992 we attended the auction and purchased some old bikes that Herbie would have wanted us to have.

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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.