Let's talk about Benton Harbor

Benton Harbor: Port of Opportunities



Benton Harbor hasn't really been mentioned yet. It is the town right beside St.Joseph, across the St.Joe river, and is where Whirlpool is situated. While St.Joseph is this very nice little vacation town by Lake Michigan, with neat touristy downtown and well maintained streets, Benton Harbor is the mini-Detroit. Two years ago before coming to Whirlpool for my internship, I read a book that a friend lent me. It's called "On the other side of the river", which talked about a African American teenage boy who went over the river to attend a party in downtown St.Joseph. Something happened, and he ended up dead in the river. It became the typical political and racial incident. Although I never finish reading the book to find out what exactly happened to the boy, it wasn't about what happened to the boy, but the disconnection between these two communities.

That was in the 70s. Does this disconnection still exist? I think so. Benton Harbor is far less developed and maintained than St.Joseph. It's like Detroit, only smaller and even less exciting. However, like a mini Detroit, much of its history is preserved in its unique ways.

The following series of photos were primarily taken in Benton Harbor downtown, connected to St Joseph downtown by the same road, just a mile away, but it's a difference of Heaven and Earth(hell will be too extreme).

Abandoned theater


Hotel








One of the main streets surrounded by closed businesses



I think it says a lot when grass grows between the laid bricks on a main street



Some interesting remains of businesses









So how long has this gas station been abandoned? Easy, just check the last gas purchase!



$15 for 50 gallons of premium gas..... I can't even find the record online! If anyone has the answer, please let me know!

This building is interesting, because it resembles Eero Saarinan's design for the US Embassy in London.







And here are some of the current businesses





Last but not the least, Benton Harbor's very own water tower



Be sure to check out a few more photos here

A little to show-off from St. Joe

Nothing exciting really happened in St.Joe recently, but there were some worth mentioning moments around this American Dream house. The summer season is really distinctive, because there will be all kinds of creatures lurking around the house making my dinners a lot more lively.





Water droplets from the sprinkler on spider webs.




One thing that has become an icon for me is the water tower. It's in every town, sometimes distinctive, sometimes generic. Whatever it looks like, it's always the local landmark.

Remembering Cranbrook

Well, can't close the chapter on Cranbrook without a video. Here's the drive into Cranbrook Campus, from the Woodward Ave main entrance to the Art Museum. ( Ragn was the camera-lady!)

"Thanks to the Liberals"

No photo today, but just want to site an interesting conversation with the American grandma. I came home during lunch time, cooked kimchi soup noodle and was eating away. Tiger (the grandma) can over to me to remind me to keep the windows slightly opened while she's going away for a week, with the reason being so that the house won't be so hot and therefore need less A/C. Then she went on commenting that A/C is getting more expensive, so is everything else, and she paused and said,"Thanks to the Liberals..."

WHAT?!

Liberals? What has the liberals got to do with world inflation and rising oil prices? Wait, is Bush considered liberal? I don't remember that being so. So I felt like asking her if she knows that significant inflation is going on EVERYWHERE else in the world, with US being the less affected area. Maybe she should ask herself why she's living in such a big house to begin with if she's worried about the energy bill. Maybe she should wonder why there are so many "stuffs" around the house and in the garage that the family rarely use. Maybe she should ask her son-in-law and her daughter why they have 3 cars, and plus her own, 4. Maybe she should start to realize that it takes so much water to wet the land they sit on, and so much chemical to fertilize it, yet it has no food yield at all, or at least, some trees to create some shade and retain energy, absorb more CO2 and reduce global warming. Maybe it IS the liberals causing all of her misery. I don't know. I didn't make any of these decisions to own so many things, a big house with big lawn, or 4 cars that really doesn't need to be there. She should know it better than I do... right?

Well, maybe that's the way it SHOULD be and everyone else who doesn't live like they do is not loved by God.

Or maybe being a paster and going to church every Sunday is to redeem for the sin that they live in? Please excuse my personal critical comments. It's my damn blog after all!

Some say that the Earth itself consists both heaven and hell. Heaven being places where the society is advanced and where people live a good life. Hell being the so-called "third world" full of starvation and violence and disease. Well, to me, heaven or hell are in people's hearts. Those who care to educate themselves and be appreciative are in heaven. Those who choose to be ignorant and always putting blames on others live in hell. So it's up to you to choose how you live, the heaven or hell way. What's your pick?

AMERICAN DREAM GARAGE!!!!!

Today is a big day for me. A mile stone if you will. For the past 7++ years I am in the states, there's always been one thing which I have never experienced. It's something so common and normal that one may not even realize it. It's the essential of an American Dream home. Without it, that's not a dream anymore. It's more than what it is. It's the symbol of ownership... more than ownership. It's the symbol of luxury, a collection, an inventory of things. It is the ultimate symbol of the American Dream, the GARAGE!!!

So the landlord came back and drove their other car away. Now I have the privilege to park my car in the AMERICAN DREAM GARAGE!!! It's like the secret launch pad in Japanese animes where giant robots and secret weapons get launched. So to make it really meaningful, I BACKED MY CAR IN, so that it's always ready to launch!

Here's where the sound track of the Earth appearing in the movie 2001 Space Odyssey will be perfect.

Oh wait, did I mention the remote switch that allows me to open the door while in my car???? Holy #$%@!!!

So as I parked my car and walked to the door, and looked back, for some very random reason, my car looks like it's worth something. Maybe I can sell it for a million bucks when I wash the bird droppings off it.

So here it is....




OMG the door is opening... look at how the sun is slowly casting its graceful ray on the car!!!



Da la!1!



That's the grandma's car. She said she's driving to visit her son 3 hours away... A grandma on a 3 hour journey. Hope she gets there fine and don't cause too much emotions on the road as well.

The American Grandma

Even as I've lived in the US for quite some time, this is the first time that I am living with an American Family. Interesting. As mentioned earlier(or below), they don't seem to cook much, or understand food very well, and hence the ginger incident... Talking about the ginger incident, that note that the grandma left was a classic. Too bad I didn't keep it.

So this grandma is called "Tiger"... Tiger? Yes, don't question me. Unlike a stereotypical Asian old folk, American grandpas and grandmas are more interactive and "sweet", like a little kid. When they want to say something, they will start from the very beginning, with all the details that doesn't add much to the story(but does create some what of a suspense), and like to call people "hon".

Take this as an example. This afternoon, I came back for lunch. When I entered the house, Tiger was in the basement. I went to the kitchen and heated my food in the microwave while I went into my room. I heard the grandma's footsteps as she came from the basement. I then went back down to the kitchen.

"Oh hon you are back! Oh.... you know what? I was downstairs and I heard some noise, so I came up to see what it is. Then as I came up, I didn't see you so I thought you were out, and I kept looking around and around the kitchen, then I looked up and saw the microwave timer clicking, then I saw the microwave turned on! Oh man it scared me! Since I thought you were not here I turned it off, then I realized that you may be back, so I turned it back on. Sorry hon!"

So I listened to 5 min of story telling just to know that the microwave was turned off and back on. Ok. Also, she put so much effort into the detail of the story that she mentioned the microwave TIMER before the microwave itself! How professional!

Tiger loves to write notes because she doesn't want to forget things. She always have a few pages of notes on the countertop, and devised a messaging system for the communication between us if I don't see her in person. Basically, she got a chip board with a clip, a stack of scrap papers and left it on the stairs. So when I have a message for her, I will leave it standing on the door. When she has a message for me, she will leave it on the floor. The thing is, she's hasn't followed her own rule so far.

So she loves to leave notes, and the notes she leaves are written the exact way that she speaks with, with all the details... so her notes are often a few pages long.

Here are just some recent collections:



Tiger is also very innovative. To make things easy for me, after reading pages after pages of message, she ends it with a question. Yes or no. The best part is, she even drew check boxes for me to check the answer!!!


Tiger is also very appreciative. It seems that everything I do will generate some sort of reaction. Once I reminded her of my missing sponge( I was afraid that she didn't like to see sponge on the sink and throws them away). It turned out that the landlord's wife thought it was for cleaning and used it else where. So Tiger appologized, which wasn't really necessary. The next day, she left $10 for me and a note, saying that I could have been angry blah blah blah, and gave me $10 to show her appreciation... wow, that's easy money!

The other day, I pushed the thrash bin to the curb for the next day collection. She thanked me for 5 min.... arh...!

So once I was cooking my dinner, preparing to marinate some chicken. She was there and asked me if I always cook my own meals. So I had a chat with her regarding home cooked food and what not.

The next day, I found a 2 page message... wait, it was one page with a carbon copy below it. Basically, she went about saying how nice it is that I cook my own food blah blah blah, and that my mom must be proud of me blah blah blah, and that I need to send the carbon copy of this letter to my mom!

Today, she saw me and reminded me to send it to my mom!

Mom! Here it is!



Living in the American Dream, this is probably the second best thing to getting a purple heart from Mr.President.

My typical American Dream day

So here's my typical day living in an American Dream house.

In the morning, I wake up at around 6.40am to make breakfast, which consists of hash browns, bread and an egg. Sometimes I will bite a fruit too. Never before am I used to eating so much in the morning. I've been a nocturnal for too long. Even now, it's hard for me to get into the working mode in the morning.

Anyways, I leave at around 7.50am since the office is really close. So here I start.



Car pulling out to the quiet neigbhourhood street:



To the side road:



And waiting to get onto the main road:



There's always constructions:



and on and on:



And driving by the Whirlpool HQ main entrance:



into the side entrance:





pulling into the parking lot:



and there's my ordinary looking American corporate office:




Since I signed the confidential agreement form, I can't release any detail about what goes on at work....

Then it's time to go home. This is actually my favourite part of the day, dinner time. Here in the summer, the sun sets at around 9.30~10pm, so I can have a rather late dinner and still enjoy the sunset. I typically go cycling or whatever there is to do, and start cooking at 8pm, then bring my dinner to the deck, under the blue cloudless sky, accompanied by the warm sunset and light breeze.... pls don't get jealous, all of this is just a DREAM remember!







Remember, it's not real! It's not real! The American Dream is not real!