Detroitology (DETROIT) with Aaron Foley

Ologies with Alie Ward

Alie Ward

Comedy, Science, Society & Culture

4.9 • 23.8K Ratings

🗓️ 8 March 2023

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Why an episode on Detroit?! It’s got a great story. Standalone, this episode is a fascinating look at a metropolis that swelled and thrived during the auto boom, then declined, and is navigating a rocky rebirth of sorts. Aaron Foley was Detroit’s first official City Storyteller and wrote the book “How to Live In Detroit Without Being a Jackass.” I’ve wanted to have him on Ologies for five years, and we finally sat down to talk about MoTown, car culture, square pizza, $1000 houses, gentrification, urban infrastructure, underground salt mines, amusement park slides, Diana Ross, emerging rappers, and the city’s abandonment issues. Stay tuned for the March 21 Domicology episode on how buildings and neighborhoods decay, and what people – and science – can to do about it. Also, if you’re looking for a book to read, I’m loving Aaron’s debut novel, “Boys Come First,” which he describes as “very Black, very gay, and very Detroit.”

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's the guy on your street with the giant dog and no he does not put a saddle on it. Don't ask him
0:06.0	Allie Ward back with a little bit of an offbeat episode for you. It's on a topic you probably thought we would never cover
0:12.5	Detroit an American industrial city Allie
0:15.0	Why isn't this an episode about prairie dogs or something because this is allergies
0:20.0	We can cover another one as long as it's anology so this week is March 13th or 313
0:26.0	Which is the area code for Detroit and thus it is the officially celebrated 313 day in Detroit and I've been to Detroit countless times
0:34.0	I shoot the TV shows innovation nation and dimension invention at the Henry Ford Museum of American innovation
0:40.0	That's in Dearborn and our family grew up listening to my mom's Motown records from the jukebox
0:46.0	I have thrown the first pitch at a tiger spaceball game and I did a very bad job
0:51.0	I practiced for weeks and I absolutely embarrassed everyone who's ever met me
0:56.0	But I have seen Detroit in all seasons over so many decades in the history and it's present really fascinating to me
1:02.0	But I have never lived there so this episode is a standalone episode
1:06.0	But it's also kind of like a context bomb for an episode that's coming up in two weeks
1:10.0	I'm not going to tell you what no spoilers
1:12.0	But in the 2018 mythology episode we talked about this guest
1:17.0	I take telling stories super serious
1:21.0	I know I love it
1:23.0	I do and I think it's a big responsibility
1:26.0	I feel like it's a calling
1:28.0	I feel like Detroit in the fall of last year
1:32.0	Just appointed first city in the US appointed a chief storyteller
1:36.0	What?
	...

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