“Change is the only constant.”  This quote is often attributed to an ancient Greek philosopher because that’s who you give credit to when you have no idea where something came from.  I don’t know who actually said it first, but it pretty succinctly sums up the Challenge Detroit experience so far.

As I sat down to write this, I kept drawing a blank for topics to talk about.  How could this be?  I have an event or project or activity every single day and night, often multiples of all three.  My life has been an explosion of emotion since arriving in Detroit.  Surely in the past month there’s been something that hit home, some aspect of the city or life here that stood out and that I can share with whoever reads these things.

Then I realized I can’t think of specific experiences because I haven’t stopped since this whole thing began to really reflect on much of what has happened.  My job in Chicago ended.  Another year, another job, another city and all the people in it left behind, the third in as many years.  I’m not sure I’ve even really thought about that yet.

I moved to Detroit, set up the apartment, and then as soon as Challenge started, I was swept off into Hurricane Detroit.  Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade it for other opportunities.  This Fellowship has placed me right onto the pulse of this city and allowed me access to projects and ideas and people that I’m not sure I ever would have had if not for my position as a Fellow.

Right now though I feel like Neo from the Matrix, but with a much slower processor.  I’m plugged into that chair, cord attached to my brain, eyes wide open.  I’m downloading all of this information from Rock Ventures, Challenge Detroit, MACC Development (our non-profit partner for the first challenge), friends, family, the city itself.  I’m still in that initial download phase, just absorbing the brain dump of as much information as I can handle, hoping there will be time to process it all later.  Hoping I get to utter that famous line:

“I know Kung Fu.”

But until then, and in the midst of all this, I’ve had some new constants to rely on: my fellow fellows.  The power of shared experience (suffering?…I kid…) combined with intelligent, driven, talented, and just overall beautiful human beings has meant that inspiration, connection and friendship are never far away.  It’s impossible to truly connect with 40+ fellows, but the ones I have….

This fellowship, and life in general, is filled with peaks and valleys.  The transition hasn’t been an easy one.  I know what I want, but can’t see the way to make it all happen just yet.  It’s the people that make it all mean something though.  Finding connections as an adult isn’t easy, especially ones at more than surface level.

There’s loads and loads of information left for me to process, and my place in this city is being defined each day.  It’s easy to get lost in the daily milieu of projects and research.  I don’t know much right now, but I know this: Even if I’m a bit bewildered, a bit lost, a bit stressed, scared, excited, and curious all at once, it will be the people in this with me, the bright moments we share, the difficulties we overcome together, the forming of those relationships that gets me through the year.

Music has long been my channel for expressing ideas or sorting things out.  It’s how I say what I can’t seem to say myself or what I’m sometimes too self-conscious to say myself.  So instead of continuing this possibly incoherent rambling, I’ll leave you with this from Craig Minnowa:

“We are not broken ones…just shattered pieces of the same bright sun,
trying to figure out which way to run,
And I can’t do this alone.
All I need is a good good friend
To get me through this.
All I need is a good good friend
To help me out
When I’m burning down
When I’m all stressed out
Thank you for being around. ”

Thank you for being around.

-Ryan