Filled with rage...and blackberries.

[apple_pathways]

Men's Health Magazine has named Detroit the angriest city in America.. According to the Yahoo news article:

To come up with the rankings, analysts compared aggravated assaults per capita, time spent in traffic during rush hour, the number of people with high blood pressure and the number of anger management specialists per capita for each of the cities.

*sigh* As if Detroit doesn't have ENOUGH of a negative image already! When I was in university, I had friends from New York City who wouldn't go into Detroit, for fear they would be murdered on the spot. THANKS MEN'S HEALTH MAGAZINE! And what can we do for you?

As someone pointed out in the comments, not long ago another super-scientific study was conducted to find America's rudest cities, and Detroit didn't make the list. (Interestingly enough, Anchorage did.) So, we're angry and we're violent, but we are NOT rude! Good to know.

Day 2 and still no sweets. (Still no angst over it, either.) I got some really yummy blackberries at the store. The plan was to eat half tonight and save the rest for breakfast, but those suckers are GONE! Oh man, I cannot WAIT for summer and it's abundance of fresh, local fruit!

Comments

[sabriel75.livejournal.com]

LOL! Okay just because you aren't eating sweets... blah, blah... ignore me. Blackberries yum!

I have had no soda in two days thank you very much and worked out both nights. Go me?

Yay for no angst too. I have loads to spare if you ever need it.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

You are MAGNIFICIENT! Getting started can be the hardest part, so kudos to you, lady!

I have no angst about not eating sweets. Existential angst? I got plenty. :P

[sabriel75.livejournal.com]

LOL! And I think you're MAGNIFICENT because there's no way I could give up sweets. Yep... NO. :P

We are rocking the first two days of this battle of the wills. And my mother who I told I was observing Lent laughed after we finished up our conversation and then scolded me for not being serious and then proceed to wish me good luck on my Lent diet and workout. I dunno how I feel about this. She's usually more upset by my sacrilegious attitudes.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Well, even if you don't believe in the religion behind the holiday, you're at least honoring its spirit! So, no sacrilege there! It's just an all-around nice thing to be doing for yourself.

My parents barely raised an eye when I announced I was giving up sweets for Lent, but then there isn't much about me that surprises them anymore...

[jesterjoker.livejournal.com]

Angry and violent but not rude? Brilliant. It's like you're all friendly duelists and well-dressed criminals. "Excuse me, sir, if I could attack you or shoot you now?"

I've been guilty of the Detroit Is Ruined meme - which makes me want to visit the city MORE, because I'm nuts - but what ISN'T ruined in this world, right?

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

We're always sure to say "excuse me" before we knife you and steal your stuff, and you'll get a lovely thank you card afterwards.

Well, in the literal sense of the word...much of Detroit is in ruins. As a fan of the post-apocalyptic genre, I think you'd have a field day touring the abandoned railroad station, the factories, and all the run-down houses. (Some of which were once gorgeous Victorian mansions.) Just...don't get out of the car.

The part of Detroit that doesn't lay in ruins actually has a lot of great stuff happening in it, though! I love going downtown on the weekends.

[jesterjoker.livejournal.com]

That sounds bloody astonishing. It's sometimes too easy to forget just how enormous the whole world is - and Detroit is a level of large I find fascinating and hard to picture. Especially that there's /life/ in the parts that aren't dead. It's just so surreal. :)

I have to come visit soon. I would love to just toss everything and travel, but I don't know where to start. 8)

[inkdancer.livejournal.com]

Now I sort of want to come to Detroit, just to see what a polite mugging looks like.

Kidding of course. But realistically, the thing that keeps me away is not the city's reputation, but Michigan's propensity to be absolutely freezing. Southern Belles like me need to be kept above freezing.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Yes, Michigan is rather cold for about 6 months out of the year. But in the summer, it's the humidity that'll keep you away! (Depending on what part of the South you're from. I've been to parts where you could poach an egg, the air was so wet!)

[faery-fall.livejournal.com]

I love that Anchorage made the Rudest list. I have a friend/ex-boyfriend from Anchorage who used to talk about how he didn't like the east coast because people are so curt here, whereas apparently the Pacific Northeast was a haven of friendly smiles or... something. I refuse to ever forget this or not mock him about it because it sounded so ridiculous. There are rude people everywhere! It's beautiful.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Absolutely there's rude people everywhere! But I am very curious about why Anchorage in particular made that list.

[roh-wyn.livejournal.com]

So, we're angry and we're violent, but we are NOT rude! Good to know.

Could have fooled me! :D

Kidding, but I remember moving to Michigan from small-college-town-in-BFE and yeah, everyone seemed impossibly rude. And then I went to New York City, lol.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

It's all relative! People from the coasts (East and West) who move to Michigan are freaked out by how friendly we are, with all the eye contact and the saying "Good Morning" in elevators.

People from the South? Think we're abominably rude: we don't say "Good Morning" to every person we meet on the street, and we don't like to spend 10 minutes chatting to the cashier in the grocery store.

I didn't find people to be particularly rude in NYC! To be honest, one of the rudest cities I've ever experienced is Birmingham, MI: a wealthy suburb outside Detroit. People there are so frikkin' entitled...

[roh-wyn.livejournal.com]

This is a gross generalization, of course, but I found New Yorkers to be so self-involved, they can't even be bothered with the simple niceties of life.

One time, right in the middle of Times Square, this guy basically ran over my foot with his shopping cart-sized roller suitcase and then had the gall to swear at me to get out of his way! That's when I decided I could NEVER live in a place like that.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

I've never had an experience like that in NYC, but I could see it happening. I doubt I'd like to live there, either: I'm too much of a Midwest girl! (And there's just not enough green space--I need my dirt!)

[ladylovelace.livejournal.com]

Fact: I live in both the most violent and the most livable city in Australia, according to two different 'awards' in the same year.

Conclusion: Statistics really are the third kind of lie.