Last of three parts. A conversation with the author is here. A book excerpt is here.
We all step in it, a lot or a little, often or occasionally.
Five examples below of bumbles, stumbles and sensitivity lapses are inspired by Aaron Foley's new book, "How to Live in Detroit Without Being a Jackass." They're not necessarily hang-your-head shameful (well, except for one by this writer), but they show the sort of things the author targets: tone deafness, posturing, obliviousness.
We invite your nominees in a comment or Facebook post.
A mean streets tote
Yoo-hoo, Detroit cliché shoppers -- we found a carryall that's still for sale. "I'm So Bad I Vacation In Detroit," says a $20 poly-cotton bag from a small firm on Second Avenue that calls itself SMPLFD (Simplified Clothing, Dry Goods & Design is the full version.)
In case the slogan isn't outmoded or offensive enough, an online listing says the tote is "large enough to conceal an arsenal of handguns."
This gem of jackassery is from a streetwear company that claims "our designs are bold, clever and simple" and that says Detroit is "a mystical, ghostly place."
We're not sure which of those words, if any, describe a $25 new item -- a Honolulu blue T-shirt that says "Fuckin Lions." The young guys behind this stuff are entrepreneur Justin Fishaw, artist Vincent Troia and illustrator-designer Andrew Davis.
'Trying to create the world I wish to live in'
Darin McLeskey, a 25-year-old real estate agent and property rehabber, has more to admire than to ridicule.
The University of Michigan graduate lives in the North End community along Woodward and says he's active in the Urban Land Institute, Transportation Riders United and the Greening of Detroit. He's also a co-founder and past vice-president of the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative, and was a Challenge Detroit fellow in 2013-14.
Darin McLeskey, 25
He calls himself "the largest individual property owner in 48202" as a result of buying foreclosed homes -- also nothing to jeer or sneer at.
This seemingly well-intentioned newcomer from Pinckney, whose plans for an Airbnb in colorful cinder block rehab three blocks south of Mack were described by us three weeks ago, is here because of a cringe-causing Instagram bio:
Former engineer, urban farmer, real estate developer/agent, general yuppie. I'm trying to create the world I wish to live in beginning with Detroit.
That kind of talk hurts Foley's ears. "This ain't fucking Eat, Pray, Love, OK?" he writes in the new paperback.
McLeskey's off-key rhetoric doesn't negate good intentions and deeds -- but his braying hurts our ears too.
For $140, you can step in sneakers that pay tribute to an empty hulk on Michigan Avenue. (We'll pass.)
Ruin porn kicks from Burn Rubber
The Burn Rubber guys say their new Pumas, released nationally last Friday after being sold for two weeks at the Royal Oak shop, are "inspired by Michigan Central Station."
We'd never call Rick Williams and Roland "Ro Spit" Coit the J-word on Foley's cover, but this $140 footwear has a pungent whiff of barnyard odor.
According to Alysa Offman of Metro Times, who spoke to Coit, "the gray sneakers get their hue from the building's stone-colored structure and a green stripe represents the landscape that surrounds it."
Yeah, sure. Whatever.
A phrase that never fits
At the year-old Sun Times Network, Chicago writer Kerry Cardoza summarizes a MLIve article under the headline at right and with this top paragraph:
Joining the long list of things that have been named for their potential to “save” Detroit is singer Michael Bolton.
MLive's local writer and editors don't go there in their report on the singer's documentary about the city, but the Illinois "journalists" trip over a tired trope.
In a chapter titled "How Not to Offend People When Talking About Detroit," Foley addresses this nonsense tersely: "Can ____ save Detroit? No. It can't."
A clueless Deadline writer
Lastly, one I'd love to take back:
"You probably don't know New York artist Kehinde Wiley's name," it says at the start of my DIA-related article last spring. "We didn't either until Dustin Block clued us at MLive."
Yup, clueless about a leading figure in contemporary African American art . . . and confirmation for knowledgeable readers that we have different cultural awareness.
Or, as Aaron Foley, says in the context of "discovering" a neighborhood restaurant: "Remember, nothing is hidden -- you just didn't know about it."
He charitably omits ". . . jackass."
Your turn: Share a memory or linked evidence of jackassery below or on our Facebook page.
Earlier in this series
- Part 1: Aaron Foley Talks About Jackasses in Detroit
- Part 2: Excerpt -- 'No One in Detroit Wants Things to Stay the Way They Are'
This mini-bio of the author is on his paperback's rear cover.
