{"id":12241,"date":"2014-10-03T12:03:07","date_gmt":"2014-10-03T12:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/challengedetroit.org\/blog\/hannahmills\/?p=9"},"modified":"2014-10-03T12:03:07","modified_gmt":"2014-10-03T12:03:07","slug":"one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/one\/","title":{"rendered":"One"},"content":{"rendered":"

If it is possible to love a place that frightens you, then all that follows is true.<\/p>\n

If at any point in my life you had tried to tell me I would move to Detroit, I would have politely ignored you. Detroit was a place for activists. Detroit was a place for artists. Detroit was a place for people with a plan. For better or worse I never had one of those. I knew that I loved people. I knew that I loved honesty. I knew that I loved media. Anything beyond those facts felt out of my control during my senior year of college. Yet here I am, typing to you from the city that so many seek to avoid.<\/em><\/p>\n

When I was younger, home was my favorite word in the entire world. With it came a clear understanding of where I belonged. My 23 year old self is much less certain of this \"home\"<\/a>definition. Every time I apply for a position my mind flashes six years ahead. Will I be happy? Will I be loved? Will I be myself? And most importantly will I find a cat friendly apartment? As I began my Detroit adventure these worries only dug in deeper. Nothing made sense during my apartment hunt. Midtown this. New Center this. Gentrification that. The funny thing is that I did not even end up finding an apartment. I am writing to you from a house in the University District<\/a>. I live with four roommates, four cats, two dogs, and one tenacious beta fish named Cornelius. Our floors creak and I am terrified of the heating bills to come, but in tiny moments I am beginning to realize that the concept of home has never been so clear. The physicality of my surroundings has afforded me a level of peace I did not expect to have this early into my Detroit story. I could write entire blogs about our pets<\/a>, the marathon of putting together my IKEA dresser<\/a>, and even about my trials and tribulations with the famed \u2018Michigan Left\u2019. However for the sake of my brevity and your sanity, I will abbreviate my sentiments about Detroit. I love it here.<\/p>\n

In every instance of expressed love there is a natural moment of doubt. As I am a creature more social than most, I have lived what feels like entire lifetimes in these moments. In the case of Hannah + Detroit the relationship is not yet clear. In every interaction with this storied town I seek affirmation that I have made the right choice. My head is clouded at best. My days are filled with peaks and quick declines. I have gone from being inspired by the majestic ability of this city to persevere to being gravely concerned about my safety during the simple act of pumping gas. I am frightened to commit to a place that has let down so many before me. I am frightened to live in place where inequality sits above all else. I am frightened to know that I might be part of the problem.<\/p>\n

In the coming year not every moment will be bright and shiny. I know there will be times when this city disappoints me. Yet there will also be times when I am afforded amazing opportunities to participate in a culture committed to progress. Most importantly, I am here. I care. I can. I not sure what will manifest from this combination of fear and amazement, but I am sure that it will make for a great story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If it is possible to love a place that frightens you, then all that follows is true. If at any point in my life you had tried to tell me I would move to Detroit, I would have politely ignored you. Detroit was a place for activists. Detroit was a place for artists. Detroit was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":150,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/150"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12241\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/challengedetroit.builtrare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}