At the last chapel before our crew of 12 seminarians and accompanying professor left for Detroit, we sang a Taizé song with the following words: “With you O Lord, is life in all its fullness…” Little did I know that my idea of “life in all its fullness” would take radically new shape in a place many consider a hopeless, dreary, wasteland.
Though I am from Michigan, Detroit was almost a myth to me before our urban immersion course. Yes, the Detroit Sunday paper makes its way “Up North” to my Grandparents’ doorstep, and there are many stories of days of old, but truly, I had no idea what to expect of this city that gets so much negative press.
Our class went to Detroit not only to see what life is like in this urban setting, but to ask the question: WHY? To do so, we tackled the “isms” of the world head on: the huge issues of racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism were discussed in lectures, explored through the lives and stories of people in the city, and debriefed daily. We were attentive not only to the city around us, but what was going on inside us. Why am I afraid, why am I sad, why am I angry? When we first arrived in the city and drove across from the university district into the city itself, I felt my stomach muscles clench up. Somehow, I knew I was not in my territory. I had crossed a boundary into a world most people with my social characteristics (white, small town, middle-class) avoid at all costs. It would change me.
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