In response to last week's cover story by Lee DeVito ("Raising Nain," March 16) about the cultural and historical forces buoying Detroit's Marche du Nain Rouge, Ed posted:
Excellent article. I was curious on how this all came about. At first, it appeared to be a bunch of people who are way too into Halloween blowing a semiannual nut, but now there's more clarity on the whole thing.
One thing that also caused me to ignore this in the past was the negativity around the march. Seeing grown people shout at a guy dressed like a red rocket, with him returning threats in turn. It looked like a whole bunch of personal dysfunction on display, kind of like a Trump rally.
"Catharsis" is an abused and overused word. It's been rendered in pop culture to nothing more than shouting. It seems like a pretty useless act, to vent that way, and it makes a grown person look like a little bitch. I'm with Tenney on that issue. Why not be cool with Nain, so Nain can be cool with you?
In response to Allie Gross' March 18 blog post "Why none of the Detroit Public Schools legislation will actually stabilize the district," Bob Beans wrote:
People need to look at the big picture. Lansing has controlled (mismanaged) DPS finances for the past 15 years. Adding any oversight really translates into them adding oversight onto themselves. The shameful part is that it continues to punish those that have had nothing to do with this mess: parents, teachers, and students. It takes some very bad people to do what those in Lansing have done to the children of Detroit. Make no mistake, this is only about money and privatizing the tax dollars that fund education for the state's largest public school district.
People really need to wise up to what their politicians are doing. Stop pointing fingers at Detroit for DPS when it is your government that has been running it. It is just uncanny that people refuse to see the truth. The worst part is most people refuse to see these truths and instead keep blaming Detroit for what Lansing has been doing.
Wake up, Michigan!
We also got a few comments on the material in our standalone Annual Manual. In response to Peter Larson's article, "Detroit's historic neighborhood bars make their last stand," JR Olgine posted:
Detroit has had over 200 eateries, distilleries, craft cocktail lounges, whatever-the-fuck you call them open in the last two years. In the age of gentrification and $20 vegan, soy, organic, gluten-free cat food, don't forget the OG's. Great article!
