Detroit makes my heart hurt

By On · 20 Comments · In Detroit, Personal, Photos

03150406_12_xlIf you haven’t seen this photoset, 100 Abandoned Houses, you should have a look. It’s just …well, haunting. And inspirational in a strange, awareness-of-the-passing-of-time kind of way.

(You know, there should be a word that encapsulates the meaning of “awareness-of-the-passing-of-time.” Probably in German or French. Nostalgia doesn’t quite cut it, because that’s fondly remembering times past. I’m looking for a word that summarizes the poignant sadness of watching time make fools of us all, wiping away all the accomplishment that we were so proud of, and that we thought were so solid. Anyone got any suggestions?)

By the way, I really like the red duplex on the left, especially the crazy half-moon windows on the ground floor. Can you imagine trying to window-treat those bad-boys?

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  • http://evaleastaristev.livejournal.com/ Elspeth

    Some of those houses are so beautiful. If they were in my area, I’d snatch them up and fix them up, and be very happy.

    The way those houses were left makes me sad.

  • http://evaleastaristev.livejournal.com Elspeth

    Some of those houses are so beautiful. If they were in my area, I’d snatch them up and fix them up, and be very happy.

    The way those houses were left makes me sad.

  • bob

    I think a good phrase that captures those moments of clarity, like the awareness-of-the-passing-of-time, is prise de conscience. Foucault uses it to talk about an “act of consciousness,” such as the contextualization of the self in relation to knowledge, which sort of nicely encapsulates the sudden realization of the passing of time. Because it’s not that one isn’t aware of time, it’s really a matter of its significance that we’re talking about. We see old pictures of familiar scenery that reminds us of who we were and we become aware of the then and the now in equal measure, which forces us to reconcile the distance between the two selves we try to simultaneously inhabit.
    Or something.

    • http://www.demimonde.com M.K. Hobson

      Hey, I like it! Bonus points for bringing Foucault to the party. ;-)

      • bob

        One of my college professors was at the infamous UC Berkeley lectures. I gather there wasn’t really much you could do to keep Foucault OUT of a party….

  • bob

    I think a good phrase that captures those moments of clarity, like the awareness-of-the-passing-of-time, is prise de conscience. Foucault uses it to talk about an “act of consciousness,” such as the contextualization of the self in relation to knowledge, which sort of nicely encapsulates the sudden realization of the passing of time. Because it’s not that one isn’t aware of time, it’s really a matter of its significance that we’re talking about. We see old pictures of familiar scenery that reminds us of who we were and we become aware of the then and the now in equal measure, which forces us to reconcile the distance between the two selves we try to simultaneously inhabit.
    Or something.

    • http://www.demimonde.com M.K. Hobson

      Hey, I like it! Bonus points for bringing Foucault to the party. ;-)

      • bob

        One of my college professors was at the infamous UC Berkeley lectures. I gather there wasn’t really much you could do to keep Foucault OUT of a party….

  • http://dampscribbler.livejournal.com/ Kristi

    #89 looks rather like the house I lived in, the first I can recall ever living in, although it’s not. We were just inside 8 Mile but outside of 10 (Google says it’s called Northwest Freeway now, I don’t remember that but then I left when I was four.) When I discovered the site (I can’t find the link now! auugh!) with all of the pictures of abandoned buildings throughout that city I was amazed. I’ve been writing about Detroit, and thinking about writing about it, ever since.

    Crap. In trying to find that site, I discovered the Chin Tiki is no more: http://buildingsofdetroit.com/places/tiki

  • http://dampscribbler.livejournal.com Kristi

    #89 looks rather like the house I lived in, the first I can recall ever living in, although it’s not. We were just inside 8 Mile but outside of 10 (Google says it’s called Northwest Freeway now, I don’t remember that but then I left when I was four.) When I discovered the site (I can’t find the link now! auugh!) with all of the pictures of abandoned buildings throughout that city I was amazed. I’ve been writing about Detroit, and thinking about writing about it, ever since.

    Crap. In trying to find that site, I discovered the Chin Tiki is no more: http://buildingsofdetroit.com/places/tiki

  • http://dampscribbler.livejournal.com/ Kristi

    I think this is it, though it’s been redesigned in the past year or so since I looked at it:
    http://www.forgottendetroit.com/index.html

    • http://www.demimonde.com M.K. Hobson

      That’s a great site! Detroit is one astonishing place.

      • http://dampscribbler.livejournal.com/ Kristi

        An astonishing place with an astonishing story. America turned its back on Detroit forty years ago. After what happened to Detroit, no one should be surprised about New Orleans post-Katrina. It’s criminal, though.

  • http://dampscribbler.livejournal.com Kristi

    I think this is it, though it’s been redesigned in the past year or so since I looked at it:
    http://www.forgottendetroit.com/index.html

    • http://www.demimonde.com M.K. Hobson

      That’s a great site! Detroit is one astonishing place.

      • http://dampscribbler.livejournal.com Kristi

        An astonishing place with an astonishing story. America turned its back on Detroit forty years ago. After what happened to Detroit, no one should be surprised about New Orleans post-Katrina. It’s criminal, though.

  • Rachel

    Might be that you’re looking for an antiquated sense of “melancholy”.

    This book is written by a professor in my department and it says that what you describe above is a product of the French Revolution. Who knew?

    Peter Fritzsche. Stranded in the Present: Modern Time and the Melancholy of History.

  • Rachel

    Might be that you’re looking for an antiquated sense of “melancholy”.

    This book is written by a professor in my department and it says that what you describe above is a product of the French Revolution. Who knew?

    Peter Fritzsche. Stranded in the Present: Modern Time and the Melancholy of History.

  • http://serge-lj.livejournal.com/ Serge

    If this were my place, I’d replace one of the top windows to be like the one in Doctor Strange’s study.

  • http://serge-lj.livejournal.com Serge

    If this were my place, I’d replace one of the top windows to be like the one in Doctor Strange’s study.