Art and the Community

When it comes to the Native children that are living in the metropolitan Detroit area, they are limited to all the traditions that people living on Reservation see and live with on a daily bases. Now the thing is Natives do not still live in tipis, but it is an important tradition that people living in the Metro area don't get to see. With that in mind I think that it would be exciting if native children had the opportunity to go to the North American Indian Association and learned how to make a tipi. This would include getting a buffalo hind or premade felt, certain colored paint (depending on the direction of the tipi), and cut out stencils included: hoof prints, horses, morning star, sun and crescent moon (to represent night and day). Once the children finish painting the material they can learn how to put it up properly.

Once it is all put together the children can sit inside while someone explains what tipis were used for and how important they are. Then the children can learn the sitting protocol and how important it was and still is. This will help the children understand more about their people and help the tradition carry on through them.

Defining Your Community

My Home Town Community
I first became a part of this community when I was in middle school and moved to New Boston. It was completely different than where I was before, but after being there for a few weeks and going to school I felt more involved. Eventually I started donating blood at drives and going to all the cute festivals and parades they have. It seams clear when someone isn't a part of this group of people when they don't know the good food places there like Blue Sky (the best ice cream place ever) and Captain Nemo's (which has amazing sandwiches). Everyone goes to the football games here and no one will ever really get to know you if you don't go. Many people here are religious and go to church at least on Sunday. For a while I wasn't accepted here when my peers found out I didn't go to church...ever. If you stop going to community events and helping a neighbor in need you will stop being a part of the community and no one will really say anything to you. The people here are nice one you start talking to them I wouldn't say it's a closed community, but its getting close to being one.


Karate Community
This community is all the people in karate with me and have been there for a while. When I first started here I wasn't a part of it, in order for me to be a part of it I had to go to tournament and fundraising events and eventually people started to know who my father and I are. In order to stay in this group you really have to volunteer your time to helping people out by teacher assisting in running events and trying out for the teams (world team, demo team, etc.) to keep up with being in the community. It is easy to get booted out of the community because if you disagree with the people in charge it isn't going to go over well for you. Once you continuously disagree with your instructors and don't show up for events you are moved out of the group. You might still go to karate but that doesn't make you a part of the community. This one is sometimes a balancing act for individuals. Don't get me wrong though I do like being in it.

Reading Anothers Blog

The blog I thought was executed well is:
 Alfredo Guerra's
Blog: A nice place to live, but...
Post: Images of Metro Detroit
URL: http://guerraa1999.blogspot.com/2014/05/images-of-metro-detroit.html?showComment=1403306267573#c6703355046040189529

I appreciated this blog because he talked about the sports in Detroit and how it truly is something that brings everyone here together in a positive way. It is true there are things that drive the people here apart but the love we have for sports pulls us all in as a group. He also shined light on the fact that it isn't flowers and pretty butterflies in Detroit and the media is adamant that we understand this.

It was refreshing the hear something positive about the city especially after watching the afternoon news.

I agree before the riots a lot of things were not right in the city, I happen to think it took some time after them for the city to recover and it's not fully there yet.

This blog was a nice read I went through and didn't find myself confused at any time and think that was another reason I picked it.

If I Gave a Tour of Metro Detroit

When someone thinks of the place they grow up, they almost instantly think of the most important things to them. This is what I do when I think of home well besides the people I love. The places are a combination of "official sites" and places that I appreciate personally.

 

The first one I imagine is Comerica Park. It is in Detroit, so it’s not that close to my home (I live in the Metro Area) but it is still an amazing place to me. My mom will get a suite and have us all hangout and that alone is just too cool of an experience. When my dad and I go I get the whole feel of the event because we will get seats in the lower bowl and go to standing areas to see the field from different angles and have a Chicago Dog, which is his favor it. I think someone should experience that when they come to Detroit.

 

Another place I like to go is Joe Louis Arena. Hockey is my favorite sport to watch, I will actually watch this one on television. It truly helps that the Red Wings have gone to the playoffs for years, so it almost feels like a guaranteed good game to watch.

There are places that are more personal that I would take people to. One of them is the Michigan Memorial Cemetery. May people are buried here and should be respected. It is hard not to admit that it is a very beautiful place too.

The place I absolutely love to go though is the metro parks. They all have certain things that are fun to do there. Some have flat trails which are good for roller blading, others have hilly trails that I enjoy bike riding on, but my favorite is the one with the wave pool that I convince my family to go to often when I am home during the summer.

The last place I would take them to is Apple Charlie’s. This place is like a mini carnival area where you can pet animals, pick apples, and see them make doughnuts and apple cider. The apple cider is not pasteurized, so drink at your own risk lol, but I think it is completely worth it.

This would be the tour people would experience with me, I hope that they find it as interesting and cool as I do. It is understanding if they don’t though.

Imagined Cities

A place I would like to visit is in the movie Divergent when the main character goes to live with the Dauntless people. this area is mainly built inside rock and there are drop offs that will make you cringe. The people here are always excited and they do the crazy things people are scared of. I think they are very brave, but everyone looks at them like they are just too much and insane.

The setting here just proves how these people actually are there will be drop off into basically 100 till water and there will be no railing. They also have rooms that have a machine to make someone face their fears and that alone shows the bravery they have to go in there and know you will be looking at a monster you fear every time.

The idea of this entire place just gives off adrenaline and excitement. They are free spirited people always hooting and hollering making a ruckus because it is fun and entertaining, they are not afraid to d that like other groups of people are in the book.

These people (if they existed) have my respect, but I could not live here forever. That much of my fears on a daily bases I would probably freak me out, but may be it is what I need to get over it and understand everything will be okay even when I am 100 stories up. I think this city would be exciting to even witness even if it was just a movie set.

My Dream Vacation

When I first picture my dream vacation and I really think of is tanning and swimming in a lake. That's all I need to be a happy camper, but if I could choose a place to do it at it would be Lake Tahoe. I have never been there but I always hear amazing things about it and when I was watching HGTV they made a dream home there and it looked absolutely beautiful if I could get that house there it would be a dream come true.

What attracts me to this lake is how pretty it is. The view of those mountains looks awesome I can only imagine what it would be like in person. When I looked up what to do there it was like a never ending list and white water rafting was on it I've never done that but I am 100% willing to try it out and a relaxing canoe ride wouldn't be bad either.

The story that is too funny  to me about Lake Tahoe is when my Econ professor (she was just funny I could never reenact that) talked about how she would get to go there for free with a company she use to work for. She would get the full spa treatment and her husband would golf all day long and the company covered it... now that is truly the best vacation. If something would concern me about going here it would be the cost of it all.

While writing this blog I actually started planning a vacation and talking my mom into having us go for our birthdays. EKKK maybe it will happen lol

Interniewing John Doe About Detroit

I interviewed John Doe, he was born in 1957 and he is a diverse minority. His experience is different from mine because he has spent more time in Detroit than I have and been in the middle of history being made, while I have only seen small changes at a time and maybe in the end it will have a monumental result. He has also been brought up in a raciest time period that focused on the whites and blacks being separated and I guess in a way so have I with all the gay rights movement happening, but to be quite honest I don't care how it turns out and John made it clear in his interview that he thinks the riots should have ended with segregation still being set in place.

When I interviewed him we talked about many things he had witnessed during the riots and I was somewhat in shock with some of the things that happened. I understood that there were riots in Detroit but I guess I wasn’t aware of how bad it was. He saw two groups of about 30 people fighting each other and no one was stopping it, he had to drive on the sidewalk to get away from it. After we talked about the riots he started telling me things that are happening in Detroit now. He couldn’t help but bring up Kwame Kilpatrick and how that level of corruption takes time to go away. When we talked about this I was more aware and educated about it because I am living through it. I feel like I do not know the legal side of any of these events just because mostly what I have learned is from other people or the news that will go back on what they say. The news confuses me sometimes and will correct themselves, in the end what if I miss the moment they corrected themselves and my idea on that situation is wrong. I hope with the interview with John and looking up true facts hopefully I will get a better idea on what’s going on in Detroit.

After this interview I found myself wondering what was said in the news and books on the 67 riots, I also was wondering what is going on in Detroit now that I don’t know about that John told me about in the interview.