About Detroit's New Bridge

As Detroit remakes and reinvents itself, it needs to grab every opportunity to stand out to the world. This means grabbing every opportunity to show itself as a significant center of new art.

Plans are afoot from various parties for a new bridge to Canada-- whether near the Ambassador Bridge or further downriver.

Why not create the new bridge as an intentional work of art-- and thereby capture the imagination of the world?

This is exactly what was done in New York City 129 years ago when the Brooklyn Bridge was constructed. Its creators set out to create a bridge visually distinctive, unlike any that had ever existed. They wanted it to be as important as sculpture. An artwork. This included incorporating gothic arches in it, as a nod to Europe's gothic cathedrals.

Another classic example of engineering as art is the Eiffel Tower in Paris, erected as a symbol of the modern. The city became the center of artistic modernism.

Can Detroit become the New Paris?

Detroit's builders, politicians, financiers and artists need the imagination to be as ambitious as possible. They need to have the mission of making Detroit an arts city-- the surest way to attract attention, credibility, people, and investment-- along with the mystique and magic that accompanies art. A new bridge to Canada provides the opportunity to create a lasting foundation for future growth. The kind of architectural event that will be talked about for decades and centuries to come.

Will the city's (and state's) leaders grab this chance?

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We have the best Detroit t-shirts going. They're not just cool and stylish, embodying unique Detroit edge. They're works of art! Click on the Buy Now button on this page. Be the first in your crowd to wear the special "Aloha from Detroit" style.

NEW POP LIT #1 Is on Sale!

--along with other exciting products. Simply click on the "Buy Now" button to examine our line-up. From dynamic new pop-lit writing to the best Detroit T-shirts, we have it. We define cutting edge.

New Publishing in Detroit?

New publishing in Detroit?

Who would dare start new publishing in Detroit?

The people behind NEW POP LIT, for one.

They're out with their first title, a collection of stories, essays, and poems from the nation's best DIY writers.

The title: NEW POP LIT Issue One.

The kickass cover is by Detroit artist Alyssa Klash. Our task from the beginning was to find writing to equal the cover. We believe we have.

The writers include Detroit author Kathleen Crane; zine legends Jessie Lynn McMains and Wred Fright; small press publisher and novelist Delphine Pontvieux; underground filmmaker Pablo D'Stair; avant-garde "Pop Picasso" artist and writer Dan Nielsen-- and other unique talents.

Readers will discover a variety of approaches to the literary art. Not fully literary. Not quite pop. Approaches toward an elusive hybrid. A fresh start for readers and writers.

More exciting "Made in Detroit" titles will follow!

http://newpoplit.com/

Representing Pop Lit!

Pictured: NEW POP LIT's Kathleen Crane (right) chatting with young Detroit go-getter Kendall Waterman.
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With all the food vendors, beer sellers and t-shirt hawkers at Detroit's huge "Dally in the Alley" street fair, who was there to represent the lit game?

WE were!

Read our official report on our appearance at the event right here.

Douglas McIntyre Is Wrong

Here is an article by Douglas McIntyre of  24/7 Wall Street which discusses Detroit's failure to regain population. The thinking being that, because it's not gaining population now, it won't. An interesting and pessimistic premise, which is wrong.

First, Detroit is in the process of bottoming. A long-term bottom, one that took place over decades. The last "seller" of the city sold. Everyone was down on it. The city reached a point from which it had nowhere else to go but up.

A stock or commodity or market-- or a city-- usually spends time at a bottom. Meanwhile, it's accumulating latent energy; the strength and resources for an eventual comeback. That's happening with Detroit now. The rebound in population and business won't be immediate. That's not how nature with its laws works.

Second, a host of creative people are moving into Detroit. In absolute terms their number is tiny-- but in time, their presence will be felt.

Granted, it will take an unforeseen spur to jump-start the comeback and bring more people into town. NEW POP LIT believes art and literature will be that spur. See our blog posts on the matter here and here.

Is there a better city for creating an internationally-recognized new bohemian arts scene?

We have the necessary grittiness and authenticity. Street cred-- in multiples. Artists are gathering. Soon, so will writers.

But Mr. McIntyre of 24/7 Wall Street has the data! Numbers and spreadsheets. There, right in front of him. They show. He knows.

What esteemed Mr. McIntyre lacks is imagination and vision. Things never found on a spreadsheet. Also absent is a sense of history-- a sense which knows the world is in continual flux. Nothing stands still. The world we see now is not the world which will exist ten years from now. No one can predict the coming changes-- changes usually made by those who see a potential future and go about creating it. We at NEW POP LIT see that potential here and now in Detroit.

We also know that Douglas McIntyre is no gambler. Carefully-cautious pawn-progression chess moves only. No spectacular leaps.

If he were a gambler he'd bet on Detroit!

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NOTE: If you're anywhere near Detroit this Saturday, stop by the NEW POP LIT booth at the huge "Dally in the Alley" street fair in Midtown aka the Cass Corridor. Hear more about our plans to set up new publishing in Detroit-- and take a look at our prototype lit journal. For more info about the event read our main site's most recent post.

Meet Your Editor

Forget the usual biographical bullshit. NEW POP LIT Editor Karl "King" Wenclas -- who also edits this blog-- is a born Detroiter and a lifelong shit disturber who's now working toward positive pro-Detroit accomplishments. He's seldom played by acceptable rules, and has no intention of doing so now. (Once he was front man for the notorious writers group Underground Literary Alliance.)

Does he write?

On occasion, yes!

Currently he has seven ebooks for sale at the Kindle Store and Nook Books.

His main focus, however, is PROMOTION. He needs exciting, ambitious, charismatic new writers to promote.