What Would Dearborn Do?
What do you do if a national magazine calls your city one of the top 10 dying cities?
If you are Flint and Detroit, ranked 9th and 7th, respectively, you do nothing after Newsweek magazine published its article back in January.
If you are Grand Rapids, Michigan, ranked 10th, you go on the offense and create a music video lipdub (5,000 people participated) to Don McLean’s “American Pie”, capturing the “passion and energy we all feel is growing exponentially” in our city, said Rob Bliss, the video’s producer. Bliss says McLean’s “American Pie,” a song about death, was in the end, triumphant and filled to the brim with life and hope.”
The video, complete with marching bands, parades, weddings and helicopter take offs, forced Newsweek to admit it was wrong for the “dying” label. Newsweek issued a formal apology to Grand Rapids saying, “First off, we LOVE your YouTube LipDub. We’re big fans, and are inspired by your love of the city you call home.”
The Grand Rapids LipDub, which has more than 3 million views and growing since it was posted May 26, got us wondering what would happen in Dearborn if such a designation was bestowed upon our city. Would there be the usual finger pointing as to whose fault it was for the label or would our citizens, elected officials and businesses rally to the cause? We’d like to think the latter.
If you haven’t already viewed it, the video is worth a watch and will make you smile. Lots of cooperation (not just financial) to make this video happen . . . on so many different levels. Roger Ebert even called it the “the greatest music video ever made.”
June 13th, 2011 at 5:23 pm
I love it. We could do this…through our beautiful neighborhoods, by our pools, through Greenfield Village, The Dearborn Inn, Ford Motor Co., UofM..our high school bands and even the jr. high bands are excellent. We have much to be proud of. Maybe the people of Dearborn could put together something like this to promote the city we all love so much. Why leave it up to City Hall?
June 13th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
You want to see cooperation on many levels between divergent ages and political spectrums? Look no further than Dearborn’s Save our Pools. Children, adults, Parents, and Grandparents raising money, scraping, painting, pulling weeds and bringing attention to the failed leadership of our city, and their failed political and budgetary paradigms. The creative forces that put America on wheels and a man on the moon are still here. The vision that tomorrow should be better than today and the will to make it so may be dead in Washington DC, and Wall St, but the real Change always came from Main St anyhow. The politicos of Newsweek and the corporate cocktail crowd only espouse the safety of conventional wisdom, they have accomplished nothing, except contributing hot air to an already hot summer. Americans are waking up and realizing that the path we are on is unsustainable, our elected leaders have no character, and our public policy is poisoned by well financed special interests. Dearborn’s Save Our Pools is one local example of ordinary citizens refusing to accept artificial limits and bankrupt leadership by providing the vision and the framework to advance positive change. In the end hope is nice, faith is better but only hard work puts the ball across the goal line .
June 15th, 2011 at 3:44 am
RB..well said, well said. The people of Dearborn have saved this city and it is evident every day as we walk our neighborhoods. WE keep this city going in spite of our “leaders”. Great post, thank you.
June 16th, 2011 at 8:22 pm
I nominate Reality Bites to be the president of the “Do The Thing That Grand Rapids Did, Only For Dearborn” committee and Kay for Vice President.