A $500 House in Detroit by Drew Philp

Being a Michigander, this title has been on my "want to read" list for some time.  From the safety of Southwest Michigan, I have watched the abandonment of the Motor City.  First the whites took flight, then the car industries, then the Black middle class.  Now comes a white University of Michigan grad who hates what he is becoming: elitist, privileged, and almost heading out of state like his fellow graduates....and he chooses a different path.  He detours to Detroit and looks for a place to belong in the streets that have been looted, burned and desecrated.  He finds black neighbors who eventually accept him.  He finds an unloved Queen Anne house and two surrounding lots for $1500...and he starts to work.  As the people around him observe, he slowly starts cleaning, remodeling, scavenging, building.  And finally to his delight and unbelief, he finds community.

This story resonated with me because there is a place inside me that would like to be this radical, that would like to care enough about the "throwaway mentality" of our society to really do something like Philp's did...re-building with scraps and re-purposed items, buying from locals rather than "big box" stores, facing his fears of living in a poverty stricken crime area so that he can help make changes.  His passion is huge, even though most of us would think his perspective was a bit unrealistic at the outset.

Aside from the house-building, the other story he clarifies is the planned agenda of the corrupt city over the years; how time and time again, the City of Detroit gave big bucks to the rich who wanted to build huge stadiums, hotels, corporations but they evicted the few residents who had stayed... because they were behind on their $150 water bills, and "someone" wanted the land.  A travesty.  I cheered Drew on when he "saved" his elderly neighbor's home in an online auction. He became one with his neighborhood because he cared deeply.  

"Dear children, our love should not be just words and talk, it must be true love which shows itself in action."  I John 3:18