Author: Pointes of View

by

Borders

detroit border

I came across this photo (yes, I see the spelling error) while doing research on Detroit vs. Grosse Pointe. It illustrates the close proximity of the Pointes to Detroit, and it’s also a good example of the abandonment and decay that has been going on in the city for decades. There are walls (actual physical barriers in the form of guard rails, fences, brick walls) separating parts of Grosse Pointe from Detroit. A horrible realization at first, but… I get it. I mean, we’re moving to Grosse Pointe and not Detroit for a reason.

So what does the future hold for this broken city? It’s a question I plan to examine once I get there. I feel like I know San Francisco in such an intimate way; it’s going to be daunting being a stranger again . But as is true with almost every unknown, there’s an element of excitement, too. Looking forward to exploring and sharing my discoveries and perspectives.

Google Maps image via http://www.63alfred.com/thewalls.htm
by

Workshops at the War Memorial

chef holding tomatoes

My mother-in-law, a Grosse Pointe Farms resident, came to visit us after Christmas, as has been tradition since we moved into our TIC-turned-condo in 2006. On this visit she brought with her a brochure from the Grosse Pointe War Memorial.

A sampling of classes/lectures offered:

Miss Mustard Seed Furniture Painting Workshop (where one can learn the “pickled affect”), Wedding Ballroom Dancing (when regular ballroom dancing at a wedding just won’t do), Bridge 101, Asian Fusion Cooking (“What do you get when you combine east and west? You get an incredible and tasty Asian Fusion! You are hearing about this all over the place and it has become extremely popular”), Puppet Art and Facebook for Seniors.

That is all.

Image courtesy of stockimages via http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

by

Burning Questions

Here are some of the burning questions that will be answered in this blog.

  • Will I be the only Filipino in town? (Per Wikipedia, as of the 2010 census, there were 1.6% Asian and 0.1% Pacific Islanders, and only 1.5% being of two or more races)
  • Will I be known as “the old mom”?
  • Where will we live?
  • Will I be able to find chicken katsu? pho? organic frozen yogurt? coconut rice?
  • Will the local coffee shop figure out how to make a macchiato to my liking? (And when they do, will the baristas whisper whenever I walk in?)
  • What about my music?
  • Will I successfully lobby city hall to:  approve a composting program, start an anti bottled water public service campaign, ban styrofoam and smoking, and upgrade the public school lunch program? (You think I’m kidding. I’ve already bookmarked a page called,”start municipal composting in your town“)
  • Will I then be known as the “crazy hippie lady”?
  • Will I finally learn how to ride a bike?
  • Will I wear fur? (Everybody’s doing it and I sort of really want to) Lilly Pulitzer? Loafers?
  • Will I crash my car after the first snowfall?
  • Will I join a shooting range, garden club or both?

Add a question in the comments section and I will be sure to address it in a future post!

by

Welcome to the Blog: the What and Why

the Golden Gate A quick Google search reveals that Grosse Pointe is a 10.4 square mile “coastal area in Metro Detroit…that comprises five adjacent individual cities.” Its dwellers are “urban sophisticates” who benefit from a “small-town atmosphere” and “strong sense of community.”

Scroll further down and you’ll find this:  “GP, as it is called by some, is a hotbed for money, teenage marijuana smoking and a prodigious amount of alcohol, thanks to expensive fake IDs.”  And “rich white people” and so forth. Did I mention Detroit? I started this blog as a way to process our family’s move from San Francisco to Grosse Pointe, my husband’s hometown.

When we first tossed the idea around, I was elated. Get me the bleep out of this child-hating, downstairs-neighbor-yelling, summer-is-winter-but-winter-is-also-winter, no-parking-spots-ever city. Enter the panic attacks. I’d be on a run in the Presidio looking down at the stormy grey Pacific Ocean…and in front of me the ever majestic Golden Gate Bridge. Then BOOM. Weakness, lightheadedness, shortness of breath, nausea, tears, etcetera. The truth is that I looooove this place. I freaking love it. I love its insane beauty, its crazy people (hippie, yuppie, techie, LGBTQ, homeless, I’ll take them all), its quaint and quirky neighborhoods, its progressiveness, its intensity, its demand for equality and betterment…there’s no place like it.

Map of Detroit

Note: Lake Huron is mislabeled. It is Lake St. Clair.

Still, I sanction the move. I’m ready for a change. For the comforts of suburbia. A suburbia that shares a border with one of the most turmoil-ridden cities in the country. Let’s do this thing.