Hello Detroit

Talking Points Memo kept up with today's Michigan primary.

Meanwhile, the News Hour explored Michigan's work, class and culture through one revealing detail: the Detroit Institute of Arts' world-class collection is now presented in a way to engage and involve new visitors.

For a representative slice of other Detroit artistic and commercial projects, check out the Detroit Blog, featuring profiles of local entrepreneurs, visits to neighborhood dive bars, and photos from inside abandoned buildings. If your urban infiltration is online and not on foot, its Detroit links page is tops.

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Sammy Davis Jr.'s lyric "Hello Detroit, you've touched my soul" isn't completely inane. After several months of rigorous exploration of the city and conversation with devoted lifelong residents, I moved past the initial naive fixations on the city's urban decay. Facetiousness ceded to real concern and caring for a troubled city that has no solution in sight. Like Sammy, I will always say a little prayer for Detroit because Mitt Romney's "100-day plan for Michigan" doesn't seem likely to heal the city's wounds. Its situation is unique, but its rates of unemployment and poverty illustrate what happens in the absence of public works projects or local industry. I think that lot of what happens in Detroit stays in Detroit, for some of it is almost certainly rougher and stranger than it might appear in the press.

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"Hello Detroit" by Sammy Davis, Jr.

You're a fighter, you're a lover
You're strong and you recover
From whatever gets you down

And there's so many many reasons
Any time, any season
Is the right time to be with you

Hello Detroit
You've won my heart
Your Renaissance and waterfronts
Give you a flare of your own.
Irresistible you
Hug-and-kissable you
You're alive with so much feeling
And I will always be there for you
I will say a little prayer for you
And I will always care for you

Hello Detroit
You've touched my soul
Thanks for the memories I cherish so

Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall
You've got it all
Hello Hello Hello
Hello Detroit

On a stroll through Belle Isle Park
Greektown after dark
You instill in the young the will to become
Stars and champions

Hello my friend
How have you been?
It's in the air
It's everywhere
The magical touch of you

Irresistible you
Hug-and-kissable you
You're alive with so much feeling

And I will always be there for you
I will say a little prayer for you
I will always care for you

Hello
Big D
Motor City
And the Motown sound that's got the whole world singin'

I will always be there for you
I will always say a little prayer for you
I will always care for you
Hello Detroit