Recently I read an interview with the captain of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish basketball team, Tory Jackson. Jackson is from my hometown, and I was pretty surprised to read how the national sports media sees my hometown of Saginaw, MI.
From nbebasketball.com:
Simon and Garfunkel sang it took them four days to hitchhike from Saginaw in their hit song “America.” The song was off their album Bookends, written in either 1967 or 1968 by Simon. The part about leaving Saginaw to see a different America could hold today, but for different reasons. Back then the urge to leave a city like Saginaw could have been chalked up to a common theme at the time. Young folks escaping an unglamorous, maybe even stifling life –at least in their eyes — working in the automobile or lumber industry. In other words, rebelling against the life of your father. A return home, at least for some, would be inevitable when it was discovered that life away from home wasn’t always better. And that last part is where the comparison would not hold today — because almost everything these days is better for a young person if they can get out of Saginaw. It’s a city of roughly 55,000 suffering a 20% unemployment rate. Tory Jackson had a better chance than most of his peers to get out for two reasons — family and basketball.
“Drugs, death, and murder,” says Jackson, “that’s what happens in Saginaw. Young people like me get killed all the time there. It’s just the way it is.” And in case you think Jackson is overstating the situation, the numbers actually suggest he might be downplaying it (if that’s even possible).
Since 2003, Saginaw has been ranked the #1 most violent city in America by the FBI. Number one out of 850 communities with populations over 40,000 based on violent crimes per person...Six years running. That’s a streak any city would want to run from. Raised in America’s most violent city…Tory J. Jackson is the American Dream.
The article got me thinking about my own background, my own history. It's strange to think that I am here living in a city recently named "Best City In America to Live", considering where I am from. It is a relief though, to be here, though I miss home terribly, and over romanticize Saginaw. So many Springsteen songs touch on my formative experiences there, and the influence of the Nasty (aka Saginaw) show up in my work all the time. I am extremely proud of being from there.
So this reminiscent post will wrap up with some lyrics by the Boss, from the song that most expresses how I feel about Saginaw today, My City of Ruins. Or simply watch it below.
PS - read the excellent Tory Jackson interview here.
There's a blood red circle
on the cold dark ground
and the rain is falling down
The church doors blown open
I can hear the organ's song
But the congregation's gone
My city of ruins
My city of ruins
Now the sweet veils of mercy
drift through the evening trees
Young men on the corner
like scattered leaves
The boarded up windows
The hustlers and thieves
While my brother's down on his knees
My city of ruins
My city of ruins
Come on rise up!
Come on rise up!
Now there's tears on the pillow
darling where we slept
and you took my heart when you left
without your sweet kiss
my soul is lost, my friend
Now tell me how do I begin again?
My city's in ruins
My city's in ruins
Now with these hands
I pray Lord
with these hands
for the strength Lord
with these hands
for the faith Lord
with these hands
I pray Lord
with these hands
for the strength Lord
with these hands
for the faith Lord
with these hands
Come on rise up!
Come on rise up!
Rise up
