The Owl Beckoning

Image above: Detroit Overgrown

Last night I stood under the eve of the carport. Across the way a neighbors house strung with Christmas; the twinkling of red and blue. He stood next to me. A young city planner. Originally from Michigan. As we walked towards the edge of the driveway to stand and wait for his friend; the owl began to call with its distinctive trill. It said “do you hear it?” I was drawn towards it, I thought I was the only one. He said, “I thought it was a monkey”. ( He had served in rural areas, and in Americorps). He knew much about Michigan; Michigan whose imploded city of Detroit is the most interesting of all American cities in transition. Detroit turning to urban gardens, to properties reclaimed by groups of young men and women; a new form of homesteading. Their greenery climbs wild over all that is man-made. They feed their children. They stroll through their thriving communities in the dawn. And as their numbers grow, a senator in Michigan works and succeeds to pass a law outlawing urban gardens, which sustains the hungry in these new communities. “No garden within 250 feet of another property in urban areas”. This makes urban gardens illegal. Why? The planner from Michigan says, “this is no surprise”.