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Dtowncitylover
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Username: Dtowncitylover

Post Number: 14
Registered: 02-2008
Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 11:12 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Last year, when my aunt showed me the beautiful skyline of Detroit from the Belle Isle Beach where we were picnicing and swimming, as the sun was setting I couldn't help feeling like Detroit needs some type of Eiffel Tower or CN Tower. Now I know that this, as of this time in our city's history, is very unrealistic. But the thought is intriguing and stimulating to the Detroit lover's mind. My aunt said that we didn't need a monument and that the Penobscot Building is sufficient enough; I disagreed, insisting on a monument. My thought was for a women dressed in Greek garb holding a balance in one hand and a tray full of ashes with a phoenix coming out if it. On the base of the statue, slightly smaller than the Statue of Liberty, it would read: WE HOPE FOR BETTER THINGS, FOR THEY SHALL RISE FROM THE ASHES on one side of the base; SPERAMUS MELIORA, RESURGET CINERIBUS on another side, and NOUS ESPÉRONS POUR LE MEILLEURES CHOSES, ILS SE MONTERONT DES CENDRE on the other side. On the main side of the base in which the statue is facing it shall read two dates: JUNE 11, 1805, and directly under, JULY 23, 1967. These two dates signify the importance of rising from the ashed. Also, I have 5 years of French under my belt, but I am not sure if I translated our motto in French correctly. I still think Detroiters should rekindle our French history.
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Bigb23
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Username: Bigb23

Post Number: 962
Registered: 11-2007
Posted on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 - 11:18 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hey - just pass it over here, dude.
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Cub
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Username: Cub

Post Number: 223
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 12:06 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

LOL Bigb23,
Puff, Puff, Give.
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Alley
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Username: Alley

Post Number: 137
Registered: 02-2008
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 12:37 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I like the Fisher Building tower. When I was little my family would always play "I saw it first" from Westbound 1-94
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French777
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Username: French777

Post Number: 388
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 5:39 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yeah, I agree I just came back from 10 days in France with my French 3 class at RHS.

The Eiffel Tower was Amazing!
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Ja1mz
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Username: Ja1mz

Post Number: 101
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 6:37 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

<cough>.....<cough>....wow that was harsh..uhhh....yea ..yea...ha ha....hmmm...hmm...a monument
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Pam
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Username: Pam

Post Number: 3812
Registered: 11-2005
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 6:40 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

We already have the big green guy and lots of other stuff. Not needed.

http://www.detroit1701.org/Pub lic%20Art%20and%20Sculpture.ht ml
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Gazhekwe
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Username: Gazhekwe

Post Number: 1810
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 6:54 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I don't think we could agree on a Greek woman. How about a big white pine?
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Gannon
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Username: Gannon

Post Number: 12128
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 7:05 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks, Pam.


Dtown,
While I appreciate the sentiment, how much time have you spent walking through Hart Plaza and up Woodward Avenue?

We have monuments of Detroit's past, present, and future already in place that speak even a better word than what you propose!

The Underground Railroad, run by outlaws in order to aide those whom the Federal, State, and Local authorities had deemed oppressible and worse...PROPERTY. It speaks of honest and hard-working individuals working together against insurmountable odds to save innocent individuals from a system designed to use them until dead.


The Union 'Stargate', with its spiral through Stonehenge-like boulders impressed with imagery indicative of the twentieth century advances in a time of unprecedented economic growth, largely due to cheap oil. The flagstones set in this spiral speak of the good unions were able to secure before they became part of the problem. Read 'em backward to see how these benefits have been largely disassembled by a corporate capitalist system run amok.


The Joe Louis fist is a monument to one man's strength, again against a system that oppressed and used him to HIS grave. He stood with grace and strength and dignity and honor, and every time I jog that way I 'bump' it in prayer that we would gain the same in this age against a system that continues to oppress and use individuals.



THEN, the 'green guy' that Pam mentions is the hub of it all...the Spirit of Detroit. Written behind it is actually a portion of Christian scripture, "Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty". Most modern biblical translations actually use the more graspable word, FREEDOM. I've been praying and hoping for some time now that this Spirit finally be let loose in this age, so that we would be able to continually enjoy the true Freedom that can only come from our Maker, through an infusion of the Spirit.


Hence a continuity between these monuments already in place at the core of our downtown. We don't need to add any imagery of ashes, those are abundant enough in this town.

I'm sure we have Justice hanging around all of our court buildings, although her blindness and steadfastness seem to be getting a workout recently.


It is time to begin rallying around the monuments we currently have, in the hope that some supernatural intervention will continue and succeed against the darkness that has crept over our city throughout my generation...from 1963 onwards.


Even that Yamasaki stack-o'-boxes reminds me of the Tower of Babel, mankind's feeble and twisted attempt to get to God...but from a casual study of it that interpretation seems far from the artist's intent.


There is NO mistaking the imagery of the Spirit though, a family together with arms outstretched in praise upwards and outwards in the one hand...and the Sun radiating life, light, warmth, and comfort in the other...with the Spirit connecting them, holding both, It's gaze towards the fragile yet thankful Mere Humans.


Yeah, I don't think we need to spend a dime more on monuments, but we can spend more time considering the ones we have.

Cheers!
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Gannon
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Username: Gannon

Post Number: 12129
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 7:06 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

IF anything, we should raise a Totem at the river, thanks Gaz.
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Pam
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Username: Pam

Post Number: 3814
Registered: 11-2005
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 7:39 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

quote:

How about a big white pine?



Have you been to the history museum in Lansing? They have one.
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Dnvn522
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Username: Dnvn522

Post Number: 321
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 8:03 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Don't forget about the giant tire!

That works.
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Gazhekwe
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Username: Gazhekwe

Post Number: 1812
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 8:31 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yes, I have seen that one, Pam. It really looks real, doesn't it? There are some cell towers somewhere in the shape of big pines, too. This one is from a blog criticizing it because it doesn't blend in:

http://badcell.wordpress.com/2 007/12/07/disguised-cell-phone -towers-the-pine-tree-tower/
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Gannon
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Username: Gannon

Post Number: 12137
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 9:16 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Noguchi...not Yamasaki.

Yuck. My bad.
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Zephyrprocess
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Username: Zephyrprocess

Post Number: 613
Registered: 08-2006
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 9:46 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

If I'm not mistaken, there's a public lecture about this project coming up soon:
quote:

To celebrate the city's 200th anniversary in 1901, Charles Freer and other some other successful Detroiters proposed erecting a memorial commemorating the city's importance. Sanford White designed a structure that resembled the Washington Monument, but opposition in Detroit and a lack of funds kept the design on the architect's table.

http://www.detroit1701.org/Bel leIsleMarker.htm
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Kathleen
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Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 2814
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 9:57 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Right you are, Zephyrprocess!

“A Beautiful Beacon: Charles Lang Freer and the Bicentenary Memorial for Detroit,” Sunday, April 13, 2008, 3pm. Dr Geoffrey Drutchas presents a look at Charles Lang Freer’s association with the effort to build a monument on Belle Isle remembering the city’s 200th birthday. The talk takes place at the Freer House, located at 71 East Ferry between Woodward and John R. Admission is complimentary for members of the Friends of the Freer House. A donation of $5 is suggested for non-members. Reservations are required and can be made by calling (313) 872-1790.

These Friends of Freer talks have been selling out; I'm not sure if the April 13 lecture has yet or not.
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Dtowncitylover
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Username: Dtowncitylover

Post Number: 15
Registered: 02-2008
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 10:43 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I heard somewhere that they wanted to build something like St. Louis has. Btw, A guy can dream can't he? But Gannon, from Belle Isle you can't see those monuments, though they are great and important. I want a big monument.
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Jams
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Username: Jams

Post Number: 8176
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 11:37 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

...and I'd like an effective DPS!

Which offers the better legacy?
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Gannon
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Username: Gannon

Post Number: 12138
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 12:18 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I dunno, Jams, he just might be onto something.

I'd rather it NOT screw up our marvelous view of the skyline from the Island, but something CAN be done that would be in some of the camera angles for the Gran Prix.

Knock off a few birds...no reason why it still cannot be a Totem honoring those who kept the land before the Europeans started pissing all over it.

Thanks for the clarity, Dtown.


Cheers!
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Gazhekwe
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Username: Gazhekwe

Post Number: 1815
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 12:24 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That's why I like the tall pine. It not only figures in the Anishinaabe creation story, but it also recalls a significant chapter in the history of Detroit and Michigan, and a hope for the future stewardship of our space.
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Gannon
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Username: Gannon

Post Number: 12141
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 12:50 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Isn't a Totem a guardian of sorts, though?

Gateway guardian, JUST what The Strait needs.
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Lowell
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Username: Lowell

Post Number: 4706
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 1:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

If I want to encapsulate Detroit, I show the Straits, the Ambassador Bridge and the RenCen. They are our most distinct icons.
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Iheartthed
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Username: Iheartthed

Post Number: 2939
Registered: 04-2006
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 1:27 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

quote:

Hey - just pass it over here, dude.



Perfect response.
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Detroitnerd
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Username: Detroitnerd

Post Number: 2102
Registered: 07-2004
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 1:31 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Two words: Freedom Gondola. ;)
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401don
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Username: 401don

Post Number: 342
Registered: 11-2007
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 1:36 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Not exactly a monument but don't forget our little lighthouse on the riverfront. Seen from Belle Isle and a symbol of the Great Lakes State.
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Dtowncitylover
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Username: Dtowncitylover

Post Number: 20
Registered: 02-2008
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 1:37 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I love it Detroitnerd, thank you so much!
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Gazhekwe
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Username: Gazhekwe

Post Number: 1816
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 - 1:39 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

We may use them now with our own totems, but that was a NW coast tradition.

Detroit is Waawayatoning, where the river turns. There would have been many totems represented here. Some major ones:

Crane and Loon, Leaders, balance of power Ajiijak miinwaa Mahng
Fish, Teacher and scholar Giigoonh
Bear, Guardian and Protector, Keeper of Peace, Explorer Makwaa
Hoofed ones, Deer, Moose, Gentle Caretakers and Peacemakers Waashkesh miinwaa Moz
Marten, Hunters and Gatherers, Warriors
Bird including Eagle, Spiritual Leaders Bineshi miinwaa Megizi

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