ExiledOnline, Dec. 14: If you want directions to see what happened to the American Dream in the age of globalization, go north on Woodward Avenue. When the empty sidewalks and spiffed-up ghosts of department stores give way to miles of vacant lots, piles of arsonists\u2019 ash and ruined factories, you\u2019ve hit your destination: Highland Park. A beaten-down man in a black vinyl coat was there to greet me. Waving his hands furiously while I drove by, the crack-addicted hustler shouted, \u201cRight here! I got that sh%$ right here!\u201d<\/p>\n
While Harvey’s piece could be written off as parachute journalism or “ruin porn”, he manages to go into some depth not usually encountered in such drop-ins.<\/p>\n
The picture he paints isn’t pretty, but then again, neither are parts of Highland Park, abandoned by automakers in past decades and taken over by a state-appointed emergency financial manager in 2001.<\/p>\n