Big Things, And They Are Far Apart

I got off a Delta Airline flight at the Detroit Airport, and was greeted by a sign: "To get to the center of the terminal, take the train".

The Delta terminal is so big that it has a train inside it.  No, not like the Dallas or Atlanta Airports, where trains take you from one terminal to another.  The train in Detroit took me on a half-mile journey from the north end of the terminal to the middle of the terminal ---- and there is a second train that takes you the remaining half mile from the middle to the south end of the terminal.  Yes, a mile-long Delta terminal.

I had been invited to Detroit to teach a Scottish country dance workshop.  I arrived on a Friday, and the workshop was on a Saturday.  When my host and hostess met me at the airport, they asked me what I would like to see.

First on my list: Elmwood Cemetery.  As my hosts headed down the Interstate, we passed an enormous tire.  It had to be a Guinness Book Of World Records tire.  

After I oohed and aahed at the big tire, my hosts gave me the sad news: Detroit once had the world’s largest stove, but it had been dismantled.

At Elmwood Cemetery, someone in the office directed us to Lewis Cass' grave.  I wanted to visit his grave because I have impersonated Lewis Cass for my employer, Cass Information Systems. 

Approaching the gravesite, I expected a gravestone.  Instead of a gravestone, there was a towering monument.  I figured that there had been an outpouring of public grief at Lewis Cass’ death in 1866, and the grief was expressed in this big monument.

Next stop was Cranbrook, an art school with a 319-acre campus – a mighty big campus for an art school that only accepts graduate students.

I wanted to see Cranbrook because its campus is dotted with sculptures by Carl Milles.  I walked around snapping photos of his sculptures, including Jonah And The Whale, which featured a big Jonah, who was half the size of the whale that swallowed him.

I decided to go into the Cranbrook Art Museum, but it was not easy to do: the museum’s big doors, in all their art-deco splendor, were cast of bronze and weighed a couple hundred pounds each.

Once inside, I chatted with the museum’s receptionist, who turned out to be from Missouri.  She asked me what I thought of Detroit.

I said, “Detroit has big things.”

She added, “And they are far apart.”

Now I had a mantra: Detroit has big things, and they are far apart.

Whenever a local asked me what I thought of Detroit, I would use my mantra.  But the locals would then look disturbed.  I realized that the locals were disturbed because they thought I had said “Detroit has big things, and they are falling apart.”

I may never be invited to Detroit again.

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Take a tour of Detroit's urban landscape, with this rap video called "Detroit Vs. Everybody", produced by Eminem.  (6 minutes).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCdgDxQbW_U

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NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  Send an email to ParadiseDouglas at gmail.com to find out how to purchase a copy by mail.

The Naked Man And Naked Woman In Front Of The Station

St. Louis’ Union Station, built in 1892, is the largest nineteenth century railroad station in the world.  Nowadays, when someone walks out of the station they are greeted by a twentieth century addition: A naked man and a naked woman.  The naked people stand in their bronze glory in a fountain in front of the station.

The naked man represents the Mississippi River; the naked woman represents the Missouri River.  They are joined by a bunch of mythical figures representing the rivers’ tributaries.  The fountain is called the “Wedding of the Rivers.”  When it was unveiled in 1940, the citizens of St. Louis were shocked.

The citizenry was not surprised that the people in the fountain were naked because the sculptor was Swedish, and they knew that Swedes are not shy about portraying the human body.  However, the citizenry was uncomfortable because they did not like the idea of a naked groom marrying a naked bride.

The solution?  Instead of installing bronze fig leaves, the city of St. Louis renamed the fountain.  It is now the “Meeting of the Waters.”

The sculptor’s name is Carl Milles.  I am a big fan of his because I have been to his studio. 

When visiting Stockholm in 1974, I had never heard of Carl Milles.  His studio, called the Millesgarden, is open to the public.  An American friend took me to the studio, which nestles on a terraced hillside sloping down to the harbor in a suburb of Stockholm. 

We looked at sculptures and flowers and walked paths and investigated greenhouses.  It was a sunny Swedish afternoon and peacefulness was in the air.  It was a highlight of my visit to Stockholm.

I have been promoting Carl Milles ever since. 

When I lived in Minnesota, I took people to the City Hall in St. Paul, Minnesota, where a large onyx Indian dramatically greets people in the lobby.  In St. Louis, I have promoted Carl Milles by talking about the “Meeting of the Waters” on my walking tours.

Last year a friend told me she was going to Stockholm and spending the summer with a family there; I promoted Carl Milles by insisting that she visit his studio.

Word came back from her telling me that the studio was a highlight.  The Swedish family she was visiting especially enjoyed it.  Although they lived in Stockholm, the family had never heard of the studio. 

Looks like my promoting had some far-reaching effects, reaching right to the city that Carl Milles called home.

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Website for the Millesgarden -  
http://www.millesgarden.se/?languageID=5  

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NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  You can purchase a copy at  http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com