"The Blueprints Are Already There. The Question Is Whether We'll Finally Use Them

"The energy for reform that followed from Chicago 1919 or Detroit 1967 proved hard to sustain, especially in the face of political backlash. This time, however, though the social obstacles to change remain entrenched, the political obstacles seem to be falling. The scale and duration of this spring’s protests—and the discussions that are already happening in city councils and state legislatures around police reform—suggest that this time it might finally be different."

At Politico, David Greenberg writes that "Sober-minded experts have been writing reports for a century now" regarding police violence against African Americans.

"Detroit Is Affordable and Fascinating"

"But what if someone offered you a free house? In a contemporary, literary twist on old homesteading incentives, a new nonprofit organization called Write a House is refurbishing three two-bedroom houses in Detroit and accepting applications this spring for writers to move in, rent free. Poets, journalists, novelists, and anyone who falls somewhere in between are encouraged to apply. If the writers stay for the required two years and fulfill other obligations, such as engaging with the city’s literary community and contributing to the program’s blog, they’ll even get the deed to the place. As the group’s mission puts it, 'It’s like a writer-in-residence program, only in this case we’re actually giving the writer the residence, forever.'"


Ian Crouch at The New Yorker discusses a new effort to lure writers to Detroit.

Step in Cool Dirty Water Trixie

The Los Angeles Times runs obits for etiquette instructor Maxine Powell, poet Wanda Coleman, choreographer Marc Breaux, musician Chico Hamilton, actress Jane Kean, writer John Egerton, musician Dick Dodd, and televangelist Paul Crouch.

"Buried on the Day He Was to Have Been Married"

"Today China, not Japan, is on the rise. Another recession has come to an uneasy close. Detroit limps along. Asian-Americans, through increasing civic participation, have asserted themselves as members of the body politic and reached some of the highest offices in government, academia and business.

"Asian-Americans who have achieved success owe a debt to the agitators who followed the Chin case, often defying their own cultural backgrounds as well as the stereotype of passivity and quiescence. Everyone who cares about the promise of our increasingly diverse nation ought to see in this case the possibility of social change arising from tragic violence."

In The New York Times, Frank H. Wu marks the thirtieth anniversary of the murder of Vincent Chin.

Looking for Answers from the Great Beyond

The New York Times runs obituaries for photographer Robert Whitaker, singer Leonard Dillon, songwriter Marv Tarplin, market researcher A.C. Nielsen, Jr., guitarist Bert Jansch, the Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth, and businessman Steve Jobs.

"No Place Epitomises the Creative and Destructive Forces of Modernity More than Detroit"

"Cumulatively, the photographs are a powerful and disturbing testament to the glory and the destructive cost of American capitalism: the centre of a once-thriving metropolis in the most powerful nation on earth has become a ghost town of decaying buildings and streets. There is a formal beauty here too, though, reminiscent of Robert Polidori's images of post-hurricane Katrina New Orleans. 'It seems like Detroit has just been left to die,' says Marchand, 'Many times we would enter huge art deco buildings with once-beautiful chandeliers, ornate columns and extraordinary frescoes, and everything was crumbling and covered in dust, and the sense that you had entered a lost world was almost overwhelming. In a very real way, Detroit is a lost world–or at least a lost city where the magnificence of its past is everywhere evident.'"

Sean O'Hagan in The Observer discusses the new book The Ruins of Detroit.

"And Vice Versa"

"This is the lesson of GM's bankruptcy, and it has little to do with market share and miles per gallon. It's a rebuff of the notion of exceptionalism. Any organization that fails to sufficiently safeguard its means of self-correction and reform, that forsakes long-term investment for short-term gain, that piles up debt year after year, will eventually fail, no matter how grand its history or noble its purpose. If you don't feel the tingle of national mortality in all this, you're not paying attention."

Dan Neil in the Los Angeles Times depicts the decline of General Motors.

I'm Just About to Lose My Mind

"The Motown arranger Paul Riser observed that 'Uriel's drum sound was the most open and laid-back, and he was the funkiest of the three guys we had.'"

Adam Sweeting in The Guardian writes an obit for Funk Brother Uriel Jones.

The Sound of America

"The campaign’s embrace of the Motown Sound was likely not happenstance nor simply inspired by the president-elect’s fondness for soul music from the 1960s. More probably, it is the result of the campaign’s legendary attention to minute details and the understanding that the Motown catalogue was uniquely suited to bring together a nation of disparate opinions, concerns and beliefs. As Suzanne Smith writes in Dancing in the Street: Motown and the Cultural Politics of Detroit, 'Motown’s music symbolized the possibility of amicable racial integration through popular culture. But as a company Motown represented the possibilities of black economic independence.'"

Mark Anthony Neal on The Root marks the fiftieth anniversary of Motown Records.

Lemme Hear You Tell 'Em How I Feel

"'I am in shock,' said Stooges singer Iggy Pop. 'He was my best friend.'"

Steve Byrne and Brian McCollum in the Detroit Free Press report the death of guitarist Ron Asheton.

Move a Bust

"However, an internal Toyota report, leaked to the Detroit Free Press last year, reveals that the company wants to slash $300 million out of its rising labor costs by 2011. The report indicated that Toyota no longer wants to 'tie [itself] so closely to the U.S. auto industry.' Instead, the company intends to benchmark the prevailing manufacturing wage in the state in which a plant is located. The Free Press reported that in Kentucky, where the company is headquartered, this wage is $12.64 an hour, according to federal labor statistics, less than half Toyota's $30-an-hour wage.
"If the companies, with the support of their senators, can wipe out or greatly weaken the UAW, they will be free to implement their plan."

Bruce Raynor in the Los Angeles Times explains why Southern Republicans have opposed bailing out U.S. automakers.

Final Notes

The Los Angeles Times runs obits for Neal Hefti, composer of the Batman TV theme, "Godfather of Rock Steady" Alton Ellis, and Four Tops lead singer Levi Stubbs.

I Know I'm Losing You

Randy Lewis in the Los Angeles Times reports the death of Norman Whitfield, Motown's greatest writer-producer.

Ramblin' Man

"Meanwhile, Nixon got the world's attention when, in the middle of a patriotic stemwinder in a rural town, he said that 'if in November this war is not over, I say that the American people will be justified in electing new leadership, and I pledge to you that new leadership will end the war and win the peace in the Pacific.' He simply told Americans what they wanted to hear: not that Vietnam was an unmanageable mess, but that under a President Nixon, Vietnam would be over.
"A limping Romney dropped out two weeks before the New Hampshire balloting. Overnight, he had transformed himself from national messiah to national laughingstock, a ruined man. Not to put too fine a point on it, but: Can you imagine what it would be like to watch that happen to your dad?"

Rick Perlstein in the Los Angeles Times traces the political rise and fall of Mitt Romney's father, George.

Thin-Crust, Thick-Crust, Stuffed, or...?

Adam Kuban delineates the regional types of pizza on Slice.

Lead Out and Lock Groove

As Stylus magazine prepares to shut down, the site offers an overview of some of the editor's favorite articles, including:
Matthew Weiner on the Temptations' psychedelic-soul period;
Michael Patrick Brady on running album-cover commentaries by 1980s college-radio DJs;
Ryan Foley on the history of the flexi-disc;
Todd Hutlock on the history of Postcard Records and Creation Records' early singles;
and the staff on famous lost albums.

Panic in Detroit

"There are other signs that Newark, however troubled it remains, has left Detroit behind. While the percent of Newark's population below the poverty line has dropped since 2000, the Motor City's has increased. Newark's unemployment is still nearly double the national rate, but it pales in comparison to Detroit's jobless rate of 13.7 percent. 'Each of these two cities has been the poster child for urban problems in the second half of the 20th century,' says Kenneth T. Jackson, a history professor at Columbia University. 'Newark no longer is. Detroit probably still is.'"

Will Sullivan in U.S. News & World Report looks to see how Newark and Detroit have fared since the 1967 riots.