Dandelion Detroit's Jason Lorimer, he of a certain Internet meme, and The Brightmoor Alliance's Kirk Mayes came by the Deadline Detroit global compound inside the Compuware Building last Thursday to talk about their work together, Dandelion Detroit and the controversy surrounding Lorimer's Model D column that spawned the White Entrepreneurial Detroit Guy meme.
Most of the time, our podcast conversations run about 15-20 minutes. Given the interest in the controversy and the importance of a general conversation about race, class and revitalization in Detroit, we thought we'd stretch this episode and maybe go 30-45 minutes. We ended up talking for over an hour and half. It's an instructive conversation and, in my humble opinion, is worth a listen.
You'll get a better idea about the specifics Dandelion's work as well as hear a stimulating back-and-forth about Detroit's fledgling entrepreneurial movement, solutionism and what we at Deadline Detroit dubbed "the rhetoric bubble."
If you'd like to listen to the entire podcast, you can, but we thought it would be more reasonable to break it into the shorter episodic chunks below. Any way you slice it, this is a long one, but we think it's worth a listen.
Part 1- what Dandelion Detroit does, including their relationship with The Brightmoor Alliance
Part 2- a program to make it easier for Brightmoor residents to open bank accounts, and why Detroit might be more entrepreneurial than you think
Part 3- "solutionism" and a debate over whether change agents can be successful without a broader political movement
Part 4- the "rhetoric bubble" and the effects of "business-speak"
