Musings from my driveway, my home and my heart
My 13-year-old sister Claudia became something of a celebrity stalker in 1968, when every kid in my family and on our block was obsessed with baseball and the Detroit Tigers, who were in a heated pennant race and would go on the win the World Series. One summer afternoon, she jumped on her purple Schwinn... Continue Reading →
I had two significant experiences with self-driving vehicles on June 26 in the Detroit area that brought me closer to trusting these robot rides. In the morning I attended the May Mobility launch of its fleet of six-passenger electric vehicles designed to carry property management company Bedrock’s employees to work in a short loop in... Continue Reading →
The Detroit bar I grew up in appears to be ground zero for creeping gentrification as the Motor City’s urban renewal edges beyond the downtown area. Once a landmark in a blue-collar neighborhood of factory workers, the bar – known as the Rose Café when my Polish grandparents owned it – now is called the... Continue Reading →
Within an hour after the world learned that journalist and author Tom Wolfe died at 88 in New York City, I got an email from one of my former students. “You entered my mind when my daughter informed me Tom Wolfe died today,” she wrote. “You had us read Bonfire of the Vanities for my first... Continue Reading →
As soon as I spotted the brown tick on the white comforter on my bed, I texted my neighbors Jeannie and Stacey. “Ugh. Ticks are back,” I wrote. “Damn it,” replied Jeannie. “I thought about them the last couple of days and wondered. Was it on you or Rosie?” The tick likely came from my... Continue Reading →
My 14-year-old niece Julia has been absorbed by the story of St. Genevieve, a Catholic nun who lived in the fourth century and successfully faced down Attila the Hun as he and his hordes threatened Paris. Julia chose “Genevieve” as her confirmation name, a Catholic tradition that is part of Confirmation, a sacrament that signals... Continue Reading →
The time and date of my wedding were inconvenient for my extended Polish family, a gambling group who liked to place bets on everything from the World Series to the next pope. I got married at 5 p.m. on May 6, 1978 at Our Lady Queen of Hope church in Detroit, which coincided with post... Continue Reading →
"Anita Lienert is a master storyteller, using all of the skills she acquired as a reporter to weave together remembrances of Detroit that are both personal and provocative. This is a true blog, taking readers on a journey beyond quotes and facts and into territory they can feel. Whether writing with style and substance about... Continue Reading →
I always ended up with garlic breath after digging into my Easter basket as a kid. That’s because unlike American-style baskets, which were filled with chocolate bunnies and jelly beans, mine had a distinctly Polish flavor. My Polish grandmother, whose day job was running a little bar for Detroit factory workers on Michigan Avenue, always... Continue Reading →
My husband and I had front row seats at the Ricky Skaggs concert at The Ark concert hall in Ann Arbor, Michigan last Saturday – but it actually felt more like a pew. Even before Skaggs and his Kentucky Thunder band began playing, the religious tone of the concert was apparent. Roadies filled a rack... Continue Reading →
Anita's Way 