Man, you can’t even wander around Brush Park anymore without it turning into what would be a suburbanite’s stereotypical nightmare. I spent the morning taking photos around town, mostly on foot in Brush Park, getting closeups of architectural details before they crumble further into dust or get razed so a condo can go up. The sight of some skinny white guy with a camera and arm in a sling proved too appealing, and out of some field a derelict materialized, motioning me over to make God-knows-what proposition. I, being a cripple still, walked back to my car slowly but surely. But I kept encountering him as I drove around the area, and each time that I passed must’ve convinced him I was a bashful suburbanite who just needed a little coaxing – this he did by whistling loudly and waving me over with wild sweeps of his arm.

Normally none of this happens. I’ve wandered Detroit all my life with few problems, but somehow this sling, and whatever demeanor it imparts, acts like a sign on my head reading “Sucker.”

Got some final shots of some of the mansions on the verge of being torn down by the city, mansions I’d grown up seeing in various stages of occupancy and then decay. They’re goin’ fast nowadays. I’ve known Brush Park nearly all my life, and I get a feeling of sadness at the sight of them disappearing, even though it supposedly means progress.

Lighting wasn’t so good today – all rain and washed-out sky.