"I am not too sure about the Future"

Today we bring you a touching story of frustration, perseverance, and hopefulness. Carolie Lindenmuth writes to us from Detroit, and we appreciate her story because she has experienced many of the elements that Clean Slate Detroit focuses around. Carolie worked in the auto industry, she lives in Detroit, she finds herself out of work, she has moments of fear and lives with relative caution, but she has an overall aura of peace and hope. She also owns her home and lives a debt-free life. These themes are central to Clean Slate Detroit. Thank you Carolie for sharing your experience with us.  

Twenty seven years I had been in the automotive design business.

At 3:30 in the afternoon I was asked into the conference room where I was told that I was to be terminated. I was not laid off or fired, but terminated. I received a severance check. It amounted to about 2 months pay. I was told that I could not come back, and my job was terminated due to the economy.

I was an automotive designer, I had worked at this company for over twenty years and I was a 5-year-old female. I had been one of the first females in the business. In 1982 I started out as a print runner, which was the bottom of the food chain. I loved that job and I loved running prints around Ford country. I felt like a little piece of something so big and wonderful. It was something I had wanted to be part of since my first drafting class in high school. Now here I was. I soon was promoted to detailing, where I had an opportunity to draw. This was why I was there. I had an aptitude for this, learned fast and enjoyed every minute.

Opportunity led me to work in house at Ford Motor Company for a time. I enjoyed this very much, but was never accepted there. I was an agency person, often seen as scab labor, despite the abundance of work, great pay being given to the in house employees and the fact that my company had a whole office full of people "doing Ford work". I educated myself at my own cost to improve my abilities. The classes I took were tough, but I enjoyed all of them. I would be late at classes then go home to do home work. Up before the sun, I would head back to work to do ten hour days plus Saturdays. The overtime money was great and I was able to support me and my two kids. Evolution as it is, I became a designer and eventually learned cad design. I missed the drawing.

After 911 the company I worked for was never the same. At one point we had a great working relationship with a foreign car manufacturing company, but the job was pulled a week after 911 and they were never able to renegotiate a contract with the management, as it was, afterward.

It is November 2009. My chosen profession now requires a degree to get hired. Not so in 1982. I took my retirement and made sure I would at least have a roof over my head. I have paid off my mortgage, but I still can’t find work. I am no longer looking for design work. I am over- qualified for anything I send my resume for but keep sending it out. My pay requirements are not as large as before, and I don’t want to work forever, but will require work soon. Food, utilities and taxes will be needed until I die.

How do I feel?

There is a commercial I see on television, a woman is talking about how careful she has to be, despite the fact that her husband is still at his "good job" and nothing has changed in her life. What is that all about?

A fellow employee told me, after I left, that the management of the company explained the current events as "just a cyclical thing that the auto industry goes through". This has been true in the past, but do the people who are still viably employed really know what is going on? Perhaps some do. Not where I used to work.

I have no health insurance, which is just the way it is. That was cancelled when I was terminated and the cost to get COBRA was prohibitive. It would have cost me half of my unemployment. I’m lucky. I’m healthy right now.

I have spent a lot of time watching the healthcare debates and wondering what the out come will be. Will I be able to afford the government health care? What does the government consider affordable? Those people still have an income, a good sized income. What do they consider affordable?

I just live one day at a time. The house is warm, there are groceries in the kitchen and I have scraped together the taxes for this year. Life is good, but 

I am not too sure about the future.

Like I said, I am lucky, both me and my children have it good. Tomorrow? Who knows?

Right Now is All You Have

This blog, like Clean Slate Detroit, is going to become a patch-work quilt of stories, ideas, and inspirations. Clean Slate Detroit is not a singular idea- it is a marriage of needs and desires between young frontiersmen who can't afford to go on a frontier and a city that needs renewal and energy. The very essence of Clean Slate Detroit is multi-faceted, and the blog will take on the same character. Today's posting is written by Andy Meakins. 


I lost my job a month ago today. It was a casual meeting. I didn't expect that the first words spoken would be "we've got to let you go." It was a quick exodus from the office and a sad walk home. 

Panic, anger, frustration, betrayal, sadness, humiliation - all of these emotions I felt at once in a reoccurring cycle for the next few weeks. What were we going to do? We have this debt. We have this life. How can we pay for this? How will we eat? 

For the last few years we’d become a safer bet, building our credit and faithfully paying our debt. We could buy. We could do whatever we wanted, within reason of course. We didn’t want for much. I wouldn’t say we were extravagant, greedy, or wasteful, but we generally had what we wanted. We were comfortable, warm, and full. We saw a few amazing places, and bought a few nice things. Whatever it was, though, generally we could…but for a price – an increase on the school loan, or a bit more on the credit card. Still, we could.

After getting laid off we couldn’t. We had to rely on the provisions we’d stored, the few real goods we had. There was some food in the pantry soon to be eaten, a little money in the bank soon to be siphoned, clothes in the closet soon to be worn, and our collection of wine in the pantry. Not expensive or fancy wine, but bottles filled with memories. We’d been saving that wine for special occasions and future celebrations. It was intended to be a living memory of the amazing places we’d seen and good days we’d had. We had this collection and could no longer afford to add to it. In one way, in one very real and enjoyable way, we could.

We work, and we work, and we work. We hear the stories of those people who worked their entire lives, dreaming of their retirement, saving for the sailboat they’d sail around the world when retired, and then dying of cancer two months after retirement, gold watch on the dead wrist in the buried coffin. I was working towards that goal – to save and build my collection, to watch it grow and age – all the while the wine becoming vinegar in the bottle.

I appreciate what I really have, not the futures, not what I wish I had or assume I will have.

I lost my job a month ago today. I’ve opened five bottles since then- each the best I’ve ever had. 

Become a facebook fan and help spread the word! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Clean-Slate-Detroit/296713165074?ref=ts

Who Wants to Visit Braddock, Pennsylvania?

First things first... Clean Slate Detroit has a new facebook page. Become a fan, post relevant links, talk about Detroit, living in debt, what life would be like outside of debt, and anything else you're interested in at:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Clean-Slate-Detroit/296713165074?ref=ts

We have a dream that hopes to play itself out in Detroit in the coming months and years, and it has been very inspiring to see similar grass roots movements work in other places. Have you read up on Braddock Pennsylvania? Check it out here: http://www.15104.cc/.

Braddock was a Pennsylvania Steel town that went into serious decline in the 1970s, losing its income and its inhabitants. The town fell into decay, and the pictures of its "ruins" are quite similar to the pictures you can find by google image searching "detroit foreclosure."

But, in 2005, Mayor John Fetterman beat two other candidates in the mayoral race (one was a two time incumbent), and since that time, the town has worked steadily towards transformation. According to Braddock's website, the emphasis is three-fold: 1) improve the quality of life for young people already in Braddock, 2) attract outside energy from creative, urban, artistic new residents, and 3) subverting the Expressway designed to run through the middle of Braddock. Check out the pictures of their website- we think you'll be inspired. These goals are inspiring mostly because they have been very successful- the recently decrepit town is a thriving, gorgeous artist's community.

Clean Slate Detroit is in its infancy, and because of this, the idea enjoys a sort of flexibility and an adaptive quality. We've had helpful and constructive conversations with enthusiasts, the down-and-out, the successful and thriving, and our fair share of critics. All of these ideas have helped shape what Clean Slate Detroit will become, but it remains committed to dramatically reducing debt for those that are willing to invest blood, sweat, and tears into the landscape and fabric of Detroit. We envision a symbiotic relationship of true investment [new and old residents able to use their hands, skills, and hearts in the transformation of the urban ruin] while taking care of some of Detroit's greatest needs [what reporters and city leaders refer to as the "brain drain"].

We've also talked to people that don't believe. They just flat-out don't believe that transformation, positivity, or beauty can return to Detroit. We welcome these viewpoints because they improve our vision. But we remain hopeful and committed to a healthier, happier Detroit and a more liberated and energized workforce. Spread the word!

For another great article on Braddock, see http://www.monthlyreview.org/081222straub.php

Is Detroit really so different from an Italian Village?

For the past twenty years, Brunello Cucinelli has systemically bought up the once decrepit and decaying town of Solomeo, Italy, slowly turning it into a humanistic, thriving village where young people flock to live and purposeful tourists go to eat pasta, purchase cashmere, and get an insider's view into what makes this village work.

Solomeo makes some of the world's finest cashmere, created by young and hardworking artisans who have moved to Solomeo in search of something more than just a job- they were searching for a lifestyle. Move to Solomeo and don't merely earn a paycheck. Create a new life for yourself. Cucinelli has created a humanistic company that focuses on ethical capitalism, beauty, knowledge, and lifestyle. He strives to "give a company a sense that goes beyond mere profit, and to reinvest to improve the worker's life, and to enhance and save the beautiful things in the world."

A year ago I read about Solomeo and I immediately wanted to move there. My husband reminded me that I was not exactly a desirable candidate for employment in Cucinelli's village since I have no idea to make cashmere. That got me thinking- is it really Solomeo that I wanted, or was I on a quest for ownership of my life, a sense of simplicity and renewal, a "trade" that was more connected with humanistic ideals and beauty?

Can Detroit offer Umbrian hills bathed in sunlight and warmth, abundant with Italian wine, truffles, and cashmere? Maybe not. Assuredly not.

But can Detroit offer something else, something bigger? Is it a place where someone could pursue a return to humanism, knowledge, growth, and freedom?

This is vague and undefined. It is entirely possible you've read both blog posts and you have no idea what Clean Slate Detroit is. But there are some of you who read this and start to dream a little. Vague means wide open. Here's what we want you to start thinking about- what would your life look like if you didn't have to pay your credit card bills, your rent payment, your mortgage, and your school loans? What would it look like if you had time to cook at night? Take a walk during the day? Volunteer? Start doing what you WANT to do rather than what you have to do? What would it look like if you felt like you were actually helping the world, rather than just getting by from day to day? If you've got ideas, we want to know about them. If you have complaints with what your life has become, we want to know about those too. And if reading about Solomeo has sparked your interest, and you're starting to catch on that there is a different way to live, let us know, because we are looking for co-dreamers. It takes a village...

Read the Travel and Leisure story for yourself at http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/creating-an-italian-cashmere-kingdom-in-umbria/1/

And for a treat, visit Brunello Cucinelli's website at http://www.brunellocucinelli.it/index.php?lingua=2

Desire a clean slate? Join the ever-growing club...

My husband and I are young professionals, and we've grown increasingly mired in and disillusioned by the trappings of the industrialized and globalized world - we cringe at the debt that has become so customary and casual for people in Western societies (debt that we are all too familiar with), the seeming lack of choice for young people, and the lack of beauty (or rather, the lack of the pursuit of beauty) that plagues our society.

We have had conversations with so many of our peers, friends, and co-workers lately regarding their desire to return to the land, to live a life free of debt and excess, to rediscover the simple gorgeousness of life through good food, beauty, art, music, honest work, and genuine pleasure. We have a desire to start something, to foster some sort of rebirth in our generation, culture, and world.

We want it, our friends want it, and Detroit needs it.

Detroit was once the backbone of America and the very life-force of our industry. What is it today? What does it desire? Is this once-mighty city very different from the 22 year old who graduates with $100,000 in school loans from a private school, who recently was brimming with optimism but has been rejected by countless potential employers? Is Detroit so different from the 28 year old teacher who was laid off last year because of a budget deficit?

Detroit is hungry for a new start. You are hungry for a new start. But you can't move to this odd sort of promised land- this frontier- because you worry about your bills. You don't have the luxury of worrying about how you could help, how you could thrive, how you could finally own a house, learn to cook, volunteer, build a community, or seriously decrease the amount of time you spend staring at your computer in a given day. You think about your debt.

That is not living- and it's also not working.

We have a vision. This vision involves young people -in age and at heart- who want to commit to important work, aspire to change and help, who need assistance in getting out of these trappings that society has so willingly handed them but who are so capable of helping society in return. We are preparing a multi-faceted plan and approach which involves financing, government support, benefactors and sponsors, and a whole host of energetic and capable people who can begin the important work of revitalization.

How do you fit in? What are your talents that the world could benefit from. If you didn't have to pay whatever you're paying for your monthly debt, what could you do? How could you help? How would this change help you grow and settle into happiness, peace, simplicity?

What would a clean slate mean for you?