The first year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News: Part 8 of several

Detroit: "Street cred; Something vague about hopeful post-apocalyptic gardening."
In Nablopomo for March: Risk, I pointed out that I needed to get cracking to complete a retrospective of the first year of this blog.

I haven't blogged about Model D since last June; I really need to correct that oversight, and I have the perfect opportunity in reviewing The Buzz about Detroit for the week ending May 28, 2011 from Model D Media, the one top-ten-most-read articles from the first year of the blog I haven't posted a retrospective about. It's time to correct that oversight as well.

It turns out that I've been promising to write about this entry since July.

[T]here are the two other posts I wrote especially for Kunstler's readers that were built around New York Times articles. Both of them discuss Detroit as a tourist destination, a topic I return to occasionally.

The first of those two entries is obviously The Buzz about Detroit for the week ending May 28, 2011 from Model D Media posted on May 30, 2011, which was in 6th place a year ago with between 311 and 360 views. I'm vague because the viewership stats are on my old computer and I didn't think to copy them down when I got my new tower. Right now, the post sits in ninth place with 355 page views.

As I mentioned, I promoted it at Kunstler's blog.

I decided to cover something more hopeful at CRAZY EDDIE'S MOTIE NEWS: a New York Times story about how Detroiters who are concerned about sustainability are reaching a consensus that food, particularly urban agriculture, is central to the future of the city. The future the foodies the author talked to reads like Detroit is already working on "A World Made by Hand." I have a link to the N.Y. Times article in the blog article.

I also note that Hipsters have found Detroit an "inhabitable city." The brewers of Pabst Blue Ribbon will be thrilled to have another market. Also the Nain Rouge, Detroit's own Red Dwarf and local ill omen, has hit the big time among devotees of the paranormal. Yes, even Detroit's demons are becoming cool. Just hope you never see the Nain Rouge. He's a harbinger of disaster.

That's a pretty good summary of the entry, especially considering that I wrote it on the fly as I do most of my comments over at Kunstler's blog.

As for the other post about Detroit as a tourist destination, it has already fallen out of the top ten posts. Fortunately, I left myself a reminder in New York Magazine thinks Detroit is a travel destination, too.

One of the ten most viewed posts from the first year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News was Detroit as a travel destination? The New York Times, BBC, and Financial Times think so. It, like the most popular post from last year, fit the pattern of promising Kunstler's readers a link to an article in the New York Times about Detroit and getting their attention.

Reading that beats the hell out of going by memory.

Detroit as a travel destination? The New York Times, BBC, and Financial Times think so, which I posted on June 6, 2011, was the ninth-most-viewed post as of a year ago with between 216 and 250 page views. Here's what I posted about it at Kunstler's blog.

Speaking of Detroit, the place is figuring out what to do next and how to thrive in the middle of being the largest municipality aware that it is managing contraction (Chicago has been contracting over the past few decades and has 25% fewer people than at its peak, but it doesn't seem to have any awareness that it's been managing contraction). Last week, I posted about how growing food is becoming central to the future and identity of Detroit. This week, I found that art and culture might fill the number two spot in the future identity of Detroit. The resulting spectacle has attracted the attention of the adventurous in New York and London. I documented the reaction in DETROIT AS A TRAVEL DESTINATION? THE NEW YORK TIMES, BBC, AND FINANCIAL TIMES THINK SO. Yes, Detroit, Ground Zero of the post-industrial future, is now a place for the cutting-edge tourist who wants to see art, agriculture, and grand ruins, exactly what one would expect in "A World Made by Hand."

This entry has the distinction of being the first entry I tagged with the tourism label. I've had a lot of use for that label since.

There should be one last installment of this project.

Finally, there are posts that were in the top ten between January 1st and March 21st, but which fell out by the time I compiled the list. That should take care of the series.

I've found one and mentioned another, so I already have the next entry half composed.

Previous posts in this series.

The first year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News: Part 1 of several
The first year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News: Part 2 of several
The first year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News: Part 3 of several
The first year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News: Part 4 of several
The first year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News: Part 5 of several
The first year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News: Part 6 of several
The first year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News: Part 7 of several