St. Patrick's Day

When I was 15 I spent a year in Ireland. There I learned about the St. Patrick's Day, one of the country's national celebrations. But when we moved to the US I realized that St. Patrick's was actually much more celebrated over here than in the country of origin.

In Ireland, St. Patrick is the patron saint of the country. March 17 is the date of his death. It was considered a Christian feast day, as it represents the entrance of the Christianity to Ireland. In fact, pubs and bars were closed on this date for a while.

Saint Patrick is believed to be born in the Roman Britain. According to a declaration written by Patrick himself, he was captured and brought to Ireland as a slave. He then converted to Christianity and fled back home, but came back to convert pagan Irish to Christianity. After his death, many legends emerged around him and his acts, and eventually he became Ireland's foremost saint.

The shamrock and 'wearing green' are customs traditionally attached to this celebration. It is believed that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain to the pagans the mystery of the Holy Trinity. Starting there, the color green has been linked to Irish nationalism.

But it wasn't until the 1990's when Ireland separated the festivity away from its initial ethnic and religious aspect, and started to use this day as an advertisement of Ireland and its culture. This new approached inspired creativity shown in festivals and parades.

But how come in the United States this celebration is so big too? Here it is a symbol of the Irish American pride. On this day, the color green is a constant throughout the country, one example is the fountain located in front of the White House.

But St. Patrick's Day celebrations in the United States didn't start with religious character, but rather as a gathering of the Irish immigrants to honor the country. In New York City, the parades started in the 19th century, becoming not only the largest parade in the United States, but also one of the largest in the world.

Gathered below, some examples of the celebration in different cities in the States:

The video below shows a preparation for the St. Patrick's day celebration in Chicago, when the river is tinted green.

Irish dancers on the streets of Wilmington, NC

Bag-pipers in the NYC parade

We went to the Detroit parade, which despite not being very big, it gathered a great amount of people in the streets of Corktown. It is great to go downtown, because every time we go we see new places open, rebuilt houses, and many construction sites, which signalizes the reviving of a city that has been down for a long time. It will still take a while, but it is moving forth, and with these events you can notice that many people stand for a change in Detroit.

Thanks for reading,

Lita & Andres

The Future of Detroit

The snow doesn't seem to understand that March has come, and will be around for a little while. But yesterday was a sunny and cold Saturday, and we used the opportunity to spend a couple of hours in Detroit. It was a nice opportunity to observe, one more time, the continuously changing and renovating image that the city offers over time. New stores showing up in every corner, places that already have been around for a couple of years acquiring good reputation, and many people supporting new ideas give a hopeful picture for a city that not so long ago, had very little to offer. This thought gave me the idea of writing about what Detroit will look like in a couple of years.  Doing some research one realises that this project is a collection of several entrepreneurial initiatives involving many companies, industries and founders, working in common effort with the same objective: improve the city and make it livable, safe and beautiful. I would like to go over some of the projects taking place to make this possible.

Detroit Future City (DFC)

This initiative works on listing and prioritizing the steps needed to arrest decline and stabilize the city. DFC focuses on long-term projects, combining them with near near-term efforts to improve the image and possibilities of Detroit and encourage stakeholders to keep believing that change is possible. The top aspects they are focusing on are:

• Economic growth:  DFC proposes strategies to encourage industrial and digital sectors that have shown success to create new jobs and attract new residents and business.
• Land use: The company wants to take into account the current challenges and future needs of land in the city.
• City systems: Listing strategies to overcome current challenges in supply services such as water, electricity, energy and waste.
• Neighborhoods: DFC wants to set a diverse variety of neighborhoods to appeal a wide variety of residents, working in common to ensure a high life-quality throughout the different communities.
• Land and building assets: The goal is to have a collective approach to use lands and buildings in the city, whether publicly or privately owned.
• Civic engagement: The DFC initiative wants to encourage participatory intervention in different levels of society, from individuals to neighborhoods.

Detroit Collaborative Design Center (DCDC)

The DCDC is a non-profit, collaborative project dedicated to create sustainable spaces and communities. This architectural and urban focused firm has been working with several organizations to fulfill its mission since its foundation in 1994. Examples of their projects are recovering parks, creation of livable corridors in different city areas, education projects etc.

Kresge Detroit Projects

This foundation helps Detroit make a change towards a socially equal city, re-establishing Detroit as the vibrant center of the Michigan region. Some of the initiatives are already in place, in fact we have been participants of the changes made.

• Detroit Riverfront Conservancy and Detroit Greenway Coalition: Between 2002 and 2008 this project of improving the riverside took place. The result is palpable, especially in the summertime, when every weekend the cultural offer multiplies in this area of the city.

• Eastern Market in Detroit: Although this market has been on operation since 1891, the firm helped improve the infrastructure to make it a more attractive to residents and foreigners.

Small Businesses

Detroit was hit very badly during the 2008 recession, especially because the city relies on the automotive industry as the main economic factor.  But due to the lack of enterprises, many small businesses have arisen that create new jobs and give the city a new variety of entertaining options. Some examples are:

• Autobike: a bike that changes gears automatically
• City bird: a crafts store dedicated to Detroit
• Green Dot Stables: a bar where every item costs 3$.
• iRule: a store selling a remote system for all your gadgets.
• TechTown Detroit: a enterpreneur-incubator, it allows people to participate as new business or supporter.
• And many, maaaany others

With all this movement towards a positive future, it seems almost certain that the city will enter a new era with renovated energy, allowing social stability and providing the needed services to all its inhabitants. It will take a while, and there are many challenges on the way, but it is always nice to see that many people working together with a common goal of re-establishing the value that Detroit once had.

Thanks for reading, 

Lita & Andres