My Saginaw
As a person who studies neighborhoods, I often reflect on my own: the good, the bad, and the complex.
As someone born and raised on the East side, I’ve heavily thought about my close-knit community when in academic spaces. When I was at SASA, I rode the bus home alone. Many of my peers came from higher-income households or lived in other parts of the city (or even outside of the city), leaving me to take my trek back to my side of town alone. I’ve never denied the privilege of being in a space like SASA, but I also always felt different from the people I was surrounded by at school.
Through college, I would meet people who had a negative view of my city. I remember being in a class where I overheard someone say they were from Saginaw. I was elated, as most of my Black classmates (if I was even blessed to have any) were from bigger cities like Detroit. That joy quickly dwindled as I heard him talk negatively about the city. I joined their conversation and asked where he went to high school. Needless to say, it became apparent that he wasn’t from Saginaw. And that's okay. But it’s not okay to constantly diminish a place and pretend to be from there because you think it's cool to come from struggle when you’re Black.
People love to talk about how bad things are and blame the victims (on both sides of the gun). I never hear them talk about how disadvantaged or resource-deprived people are in the city. I never hear them talk about the passion, love, and talent that I see every day I’m there. I'm obviously not talking about the people that claim their city with pride.
Fast forward to this month, I decided to take on a small personal project of drawing my version of Saginaw. I reflected on places that are positive to me beyond my family’s residences. I found it fascinating and obvious that my most positive experiences are heavily concentrated on the East side. It’s interesting to me because I know if I redid the map with literally anyone who is taking the time to read this post, their map of Saginaw would look different. Even if they had similar landmarks, their memories and icons of those places would differ.
My Saginaw consist of:
1. Broadway Enterprises Hair Store, but I always called it VIP cause of the Sports store next door 😂
2. T&M Liquor store, a place where I have a very complex relationship with but it is my local place to get snacks.
3. Jessie Loomis Elementary, the best elementary school in town! A school where my family has gone for generations and I have spent countless nights, even after graduating, cause of my brothers.
4. The Post Office, which didn’t mean that much to me as child, but I’ve gained a greater appreciation for it since it is a place I can stay connected to people that I care about.
5. Kroger, our used to be local grocery store. This is also a complex place for me since it closed, forcing my family and many others to be in an even more disadvantaged state than they already were, forcing them to travel farther for quality food.
6. Saginaw High, where most people in my neighborhood went, including my brothers.
7. Hoyte Library, my neighborhood library! A place that I represented in city parades and spent time with my mother and brothers looking at books or playing games on the computer.
8. The Children’s Zoo, where Donyae touched a snake, where Lee had beef with a peacock, and where Emily worked and I made sure I visited when I could.
9. Temple Theatre, where I played in band concerts for years. Fun fact, I played the Saxophone like my mother. And we had the same band teacher. And when he retired, my new band teacher was my preschool teacher’s husband. Shout out to Mrs. Corrigan here and for all the love she gave me at Loomis.
10. Mt. Olive Institutional Missionary Baptist Church, where I felt like my church was my home away from home. Partially because many of my family members went there, and those that weren’t my family adopted us as if we were related.
11. Saginaw Arts and Science Academy, where I went from 6th to 12th grade. Where most of my non-familial memories live and a place that is partially responsible for where I am today.
12. Fuzzy’s, where Emily and I were supposed to eat every type of banana split. We still can finish this, lol.
13. Fashion Square Mall, where I feel like it is just a regular teenager stable.
14. Haithco Lake, where we used to spend Ollie Blair's birthday every year until he got “too old” for it. I remember us buying little grills, making hot dogs, celebrating my brother, and the savage seagulls.
What places would you mention in your version of Saginaw?