i often get asked “why detroit?” i find it a peculiar question, as it is borne of the presupposition that there are reasons why i should not want to live here. if someone asks “why austin?” they expect to hear praises of live music, start-ups, tacos, and weirdness. but if someone asks “why detroit?” they expect to hear a defense. they want to hear how i can possibly be positive in the midst of arson, vacancy, and potholes.

and i can tell them.

my story about detroit is that i fell in love after one week here. i came my senior year of college, traveling from madison, wisconsin with nine other college kids. it was spring break but we weren’t headed for bikini weather. we were going to spend seven nights at a hostel and volunteer for five days on an urban farm. i had the most familiarity with the city, having studied it the previous semester in an urban geography class (of course the topic was ruin porn), but not one of us had ever visited.

our hostel experience was great; quite a few people staying there were from europe. and yes we went to eastern market, belle isle, avalon bakery, and a lecture at wayne state. on the farm, we sifted a lot of compost, planted seedlings, and harvested spinach. but all of that is not what i remember.

what i cherish most from that week in detroit was lunch time on our volunteer days. earthworks urban farm operates in tandem with the capuchin soup kitchen, providing fresh produce for the meals served to community members. we college kids ate our lunches in the soup kitchen. after the first day, we realized that if we all sat in a big group, we were alienated and alienating. so we agreed to split up, sit in pairs at tables all over the cafeteria, and start conversations with the people next to us. i distinctly remember one man, chewing sloppily, telling us that he had come from ecuador with his wife to settle in america. she was deceased, but he now had grown children of whom he was proud. in true fatherly fashion, he pulled out his wallet for us to see.

if you ask – if you listen – everyone has a story. and they will tell you. and it’s the people and the stories that make this city a place i want to live in.