Commentary on Niki's Window

In "Niki's Window: Detroit and the humiliation of History" I felt the disappointment in Heron's tone. He seems unpleasant and irritated with the way Detroit is today and how it seems as though no one cares about the great city it once was. I myself, travel through and to Detroit often, and have never really stopped to think about what the city used to hold, used to promise. Heron gives you the real story behind "Greektown", which was founded by French, then Germans, the false history it appears to preserve. It isn't even a town, its a couple of blocks. the whole area is play, nothings real, nothing's what it appears to be. The city is a ghetto, with murders, crime, drugs, along with many other not so glamorous affiliates. Greektown is a tourist attraction for young to middle aged whites who come to eat dinner and hold hands. There is no truth in Greektown. It's all a farce. "Trapper's Alley" claims to be historical, but is "generic", made up with no real historical backing. Heron says Trapper's Alley stands for "pastness"; this meaning that in the past trappers did sell their pelts and hides here, but it isn't history, its just something that happened. Niki's used to actually be the shop for the Dodge Brothers. This was so fascinating to me. Also, to discover that Henry Ford was just the guy smart enough to put his name on the car, but had no backing. His success came from them. Also, the Dodge brothers loved gambling, this obviously points to the numerous gambling visinities in Detroit. The city has become a playhouse for grown ups, its fun to visit, but it's really pretend and you can't really live there. Heron says, 'the nostalgia for history can be shared, but the experience is purely recreational.' I think he means that you can go see restored and preserved buildings with "historical" meaning, but the "history" you're witnessing is falsified and made up. Heron I think is making a joke about the To A Tee shirt vendor who "kept the faith" by having a shirt with a dictionary definition of Detroit on it. The whole city is fake, fake history, fake purple souveneirs that are imported, showing that we don't even have faith in ourselves anymore, we don't buy our own products, the same people out there commiting crimes, are doo-whopping as they make fudge. Dennis Kefallinos reached the American dream, he got the promises we once dished out, to come and make a new life. Niki's still has a "Boydell Building" faded sign on the front of the window, a truly historical place, but it's faded and overlooked, just like the city and it's unkown history. When Heron says, 'Detroits a symbo of humiliated American pride', I have to partially agree because I do share the viewpoints that he has expressed in "Niki's Window". I think that Heron did explore a very obvious topic that may be so obvious that it's easy to miss, but I also think that he didn't touch at all on the benefits that Detroit still has to offer, such as Comerica and although it might not be correct history, Dennis still is living the American Dream, regardless if it was Antoine Laument who got there first.