In 2015, I spent some time in Detroit on a business trip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And even then, before Covid, downtown Detroit felt…vibrant.\u00a0 Fun.\u00a0 There was stuff going on in the evening.\u00a0\u00a0 There were places to go, things to do, people around and about.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Companies were paying people good money to buy or rent downtown and walk to work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Things felt pretty decent…<\/p>\n
…in about a square mile downtown. [1]<\/p>\n
Go outside that square mile or two and it became…well, Detroit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I come not to praise Detroit, but to bury WUPHs<\/a> – White Urban Progressive Homers, people who tie their identities so close to their cities that it squeezes out all humor, and all thought itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n