Babushka 1

From Chernobyl Exclusion Zone series, March 2014

Detroit - Belle Isle

On an early June day, Ellen sent me here, to her favorite place, where she and Trixie had spent many hours in this urban oasis of nature. My first day out and the whole city lie before me--with its sadness and pain and broken dreams, the very black & white horrors of all it had endured. I wanted to see what her eyes had seen and feel what her heart had felt.

But this moment felt innocent and kind of Technicolor...And as children bustled nearby at their school picnic, I felt a sense of youthfulness & possibility & joy at a dream realized.

Open-hearted.

For those instants, all of Detroit shone...

Detroit - Heidelberg Project

Very glad I got to see this open-air, neighborhood art project--30 years in the making--before it got dismantled.

I was happy Ellen sent me over to Heidelberg Street, as it made me think a lot about art and God and Detroit and time and the strength of a single person's vision. And...polka dots. It made me think about polka dots.

Detroit - Michigan Theatre

When I visited The Girl last summer, I stumbled onto the remains of this theater, a 1926 French Renaissance palace, now a parking garage guarded by a fierce security guard. I sweet-talked her into letting me in for about 45 minutes and managed not to get assaulted or fall through the floorboards... 

Joshua

Joshua Tree National Park, April