"47% of Detroiters are reportedly functional illiterate." [source]

Read John's post about the daily life at a public library in Detroit.

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The library in this particular school was still intact thanks to it being used to store several classrooms' worth of desks and the exterior windows had not yet been liberated of their plywood coverings. Each of the classrooms looked occupied by a poltergeist.

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If these walls could talk, I'll bet they'd have a lot to say about drunk Polish girls.

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Because of its proximity to the Great Lakes and its general emptiness, Detroit is a popular place to dump unwanted or unseaworthy pleasure boats. You see them everywhere you go.

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Nearly every corner in this west side neighborhood had a shrine to someone who once lost their life there. I was struck by how the shadow of the stuffed animals looked like a girl in mourning.

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Inside an abandoned school with nothing much salvaged since the day it was shuttered (including a fully-stocked library!), I came across this map with a representation of an ideal city at the bottom. I couldn't help but stare at it in awe for a few seconds, comparing it in my mind to the city existing outside the boarded-up windows leaking so little light into the room.

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Someone became a one year old yesterday. Hard to believe a year ago I was writing this. He's such a little buddy now, such a little boy. Wood is going to post later today about the birthday banner she made for his party.

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Story here.

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There was more activity yesterday at the old Tudor I've been keeping my eyes on, a bunch of furniture and broken electronics dumped on the sidewalk, and a metal security door installed on the previously-occupied side. The building has the disadvantage of being right next to a liquor store, so I don't know if these guys were just hanging out at the place, or if they have something to do with cleaning it out or what.

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He's finally stable enough that I can start propping him up against dubious backdrops and shoot a few photographs before he starts toddling over. Here, I had an assistant.

In a week he'll be one. Crazy.

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Guess who took a bath as soon as she got home with her new clothes?

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You might assume the gray Taco Bell was a victim of the current economic downturn, but no, it was simply the victim of someone's bold idea to put a Taco Bell in one of the worst areas of Detroit. I do like the choice of paint though, sort of the same color as the taco meat. I wonder if scrappers have stolen those guacamole caulking guns yet.

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Followed him from outside an abandoned school that I have been photographing for an upcoming issue of Vice Magazine. The truck didn't seem to go any faster than 20 mph.

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