#582 The River- adrienne maree brown
Like her name above, the story is written with no capital letters. It’s an interesting decision; I guess in a book put together and published by an anarchist collective, even the writing is non-hierarchical. It’s a fine idea. It didn’t really change the way I read the story and I’m not sure I understand the choice entirely. To keep names and other “proper nouns” un-capitalized I understand, but as a sentence starter, I’m not sure I quite get it. No matter, I will continue to think about it, and at least it’s interesting.
The story is about a boat captain in a Detroit ravaged by economic and environmental disaster. The river is toxic and unstable but it is still the heart of the city.
“man detroit is in that river. the whole river and the parts of the river. certain parts, it’s like a ancestral burying ground. it’s like a holy vortex of energy.”
As the city struggles, the class divide has never been more obvious:
“the few people with jobs sat in icy offices watching the world waver outside. people without jobs survived in a variety of ways that all felt like punishment in the heat.”
Outsiders have come in to “help” the city. That means an appointed white mayor from New York, hipsters, opportunists, all the key folks needed for gentrification. Old industry is destroyed and the city is now the leading processor of solid waste—how appropriate. Then, the river literally fights back. There has been a rash of deaths in and around the water this summer. Because of the demographic diversity of the victims they are slow to realize that only “outsiders” have been taken. Help or not, they don’t belong, and although it might not be the way that she would have done it—for the city—it had to be done.
Notable Passage: “hipsters and entrepreneurs were complicated locusts. they ate up everything in sight, but they meant well.”
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