DIY Detroit by Kimberley Kinder

Kimberley Kinder’s book argues that in cash-strapped cities, residents have two options; either they handle their civil needs on their own, or they suffer from the lack of it. Detroit is her main example of a city where the residents are on their own to pick up garbage, maintain abandoned properties, and even to perform law-enforcement duties.

The idea of local residents having to handle everything on their own is nothing new. In parts of Vermont, you have to take your trash to the depot yourself, because there’s no trash pickup. In order to have public trash collection, the property taxes would have to be raised, which nobody wants. However, Vermont is full of pig farms, and the trash can be fed to pigs, so that offsets the cost. It would not work in a city like New York or Chicago. While services like ambulances and fire departments can be staffed by volunteers, as they are in small towns, it would not be feasible in a large urban area.

The chapter “Seeking New Neighbors” has the residents padlocking vacant houses and finding buyers themselves, rather than risk having the place sit empty. The empty house phenomena is one of Detroit’s biggest blights, because they obviously attract drug-using squatters. Some banks are open to this, because it saves them having to constantly replace stolen pipes and boilers. Others are not open this idea, and the houses become an eyesore. Though not mentioned in this book, there is a concept called “attractive nuisance,” where a property owner can be penalized if his property attracts trespassers. For instance, let’s say you own a house with a pool, but you’re way for a week at a time, and teens keep sneaking in to use it. The Sheriff can call this an attractive nuisance because of the hassle it causes him, but the property taxes pay for him to keep it safe. Detroit, however, lost its tax revenue, so the police can do nothing. It’s up to the neighbors.

Further chapters deal with urban farms, neighborhood watch, street lighting, and land use. With the city government practically non-functional, volunteering is vital. However, I’m not entirely sympathetic to everything in this book, starting with the handling of the empty house problem. Volunteering to maintain a property is great, but why aren’t the residents lobbying to have them demolished? So few people are moving into the city, so why would anyone think the houses will sell. The “Seeking New Neighbors” chapters discusses the foreclosures, and how residents walk away from $50,000 mortgages and pay $10,000 cash for the home next door. The residents could easily seek out an area with better police service, offer a pittance for a county-foreclosed home, promise to start paying the taxes, and there you go. Blocks of foreclosed homes could then be torn down and turned into farms.

Some of the problems here were discussed in an earlier book called The Metropolitan Revolution. It cites Detroit as an example of the “fractured municipality,” where the mayor and the selectmen can’t agree on what to do. Public works end up stalling, and the community decays. The role of the politicians is mostly avoided in DIY Detroit, and I don’t fault the author for it. I doubt they’re of much help, especially not after Mayor Kilpatrick spent the city’s money on his girlfriends.

Witness: A Hunkpapha Historian’s Strong-Heart Song of the Lakotas

The value of these journals is that they were written by a Native American, but using western writing style that Americans could understand. Josephine Waggoner came from the Lakota tribe, but she was educated at the Hampton Normal school. She writes about the organization of the tribes (and sub tribes) along with their history, customs, and mythology.

Waggoner discusses how the tribes were divided into groups that remained near rivers and hunting grounds, rarely going far from their familiar territory. When settlers began moving in, the various groups were forced to move, and though she doesn’t expressly say it, the migration probably crowded the territory. That would’ve put a strain on the hunters’ supply of game.

The most fantastic story in the book is called Hampton and Back to Standing Rock. Two boys get into a dispute with a farmer, he tries to beat them, they beat him back, and off they run. These boys travel over mountains and rivers with meager food, all the way to Chicago, then join Hobos on a train ride home. Then they get taken in by Sitting Bull, who rails at an Army Major for conning the boys. The chapter describes how the schools used tricks to force the kids to learn English; they would house different tribes, like Apache and Sioux, in the same room. Since they didn’t speak the same language, they had no choice but to speak English to each other. However, the tribal work ethic shows through, like the time where some boys fix the cabin of a Black family, at their own expense.

My only fault with the book is that it is a little too extensive. I would rather see this book divided into several, with the author’s life story, chief’s biographies, and descriptions of tribal life in separate volumes. The story of her own life would make for a great book in itself. I would also be interested to learn about her interaction with tribes that she would never have encountered, like the Oneida from New York and the Apache from the Southwest. But I’m grateful to be able to read a book like this, because it describes the Native American experience from someone who knew it firsthand.

A Culinary Tour of India by Vogesh Singh

The book begins with philosophical and health related aspects of Indian gastronomy.  Vata is what controls the flow of air and breathing, while pitta controls heat. Spicy foods are to be avoided in summer, and one is advised not to eat herbs found in dry areas. Rather than a cookbook, this text is all about the different types of food on the subcontinent, and the ways in which they are eaten.

    One of the main points of this book is that certain foods are meant for occasions. In the north, there is something called Dastarkhwan, a ceremonial meal where certain foods are expected to be served. It includes kebabs, beef in gravy, vegetables in gravy, bead, and rice. This meal, however, would only be eaten by Muslims, Jews, or Christians, because Hindu don’t eat meat. If you’re a vegetarian, then Indian cooking will be a more viable option than any of the frozen vegetarian meals you find in the supermarket. A massive range of cooking oils, spices, and ingredients are used, so you can have great options with no meat, fish, poultry, or eggs.

    The book includes a wonderful chapter on Hyderabad cuisine, heavy in chilies. On the Malabar coast, seafood is very common, while the chief staple food is always rice. The region is also known for pickled fruits and vegetables, with a sour taste. Lemon and tamarind predominate, and you have pickled mangoes and other fruits. You also get vegetables that are sautéed, and others that are deep fried.

   My only fault with this book is that the photos that accompany the entries are in black and white, while the color photos that come at the end are of poor quality. When you are photographing food, you want the photo to convey the rich colors, which make the dish look more appetizing.