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Peak into my home

Welcome to my tiny piece of heart and soul from a little corner of America's most dangerous city ...

Here's a photo of my house (far left) which is a duplex. I live on the first floor and sometimes the neighbor above will open the umbrella and sit on her patio.

The houses in this neighborhood were built around 1900 in what became a middle-class, working neighborhood. Many of the men who built these homes were tradesmen who often lent their talents to neighboring houses. Mine was built by a carpenter who probably left his signature in all of the homes on the street. Inside, the house has hardwood floors, a fireplace, decorative glass, a bowed window in front and a claw-foot bathtub. There are some beautiful Queen Anne Victorian homes on the next block and one is often featured on an autumn home tour. My pal Nicolette (Nic) lives in a similar historical home around the corner (Visit "Abandoned Building Tour" to see her home).

After school, the sidewalks are often filled with the sounds of children playing games while the adults often sit on their porches during the hot summer nights since most of the homes are without air conditioning. There's always a little dish of cat food on my porch to feed some of the stray cats who roam the neighborhood. However, the neighborhood is deceptively safe as some of the cars on the street have been stolen.

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Or, peak into my office

If I'm writing to you during the lunch hour at the office, it's from the little place in this photo where I spend the days in the marketing department of a large, commercial real estate company. On the wall are five framed memories from the Cinque Terre, Lisbon, Venice, more Venice and Nice. And there in the fish tank to the right are five little ones who sooth my nerves when an ugly dose of office stress visits the department.

Sadly, the flowers are fake, but wouldn't be romantic to think that they were sent on a whim from someone special? It is rather sweet though to see how many people actually stop to smell them. At this rate, I'll never have to dust these silk beauties again.

Although it's not quite as dark as the photo suggests, the office is definitely subdued. The mood then becomes so soothing and so tranquil in a way that's unusual for a fast-pace office.

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At the office in the summer, we have our ... er, temporary tenants who "lease" some office space in the small pond in front of our building. In this photo, the gooslings have grown larger. Being that Canadian Geese are very social birds, they can choose to stay with the flock when they mature. In early October, the flock will fly south for the winter.

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And now a few words about the author ...

Once upon a time, I owned a unique coffeehouse/nightclub in Detroit called Ascension UK. It was a special place hidden behind the facade of a boarded up Chinese restauarant. There were weekly dance nights with resident DJs, concerts with local and national touring acts, movie nights, art shows and more. After close to three years of working at a club that didn't close until 5 am on the weekends, it was time to trade that rock and roll lifestyle for a more tranquil life of a writer and traveler.

At the moment, I'm editing the manuscript for my first novel called "Beneath the Velvet" and wrote the first words of a second book this weekend. The first book is a work of fiction about anti-glamour and the down side of fame and success as seen through the eyes of three young people in Detroit. It's not a book about drugs, but the lifestyle that goes with it (I don't do drugs though), delusions of grandeur, finding spirituality in odd places, etc. Some of the influences include Henry Miller, Hubert Selby Jr, Irvine Welsh, Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarrantino films, James O'Barr (Who wrote "The Crow" and lives in metro Detroit) and late nights talking about life with some amazing people. An excerpt from the book called "Still Life with God" was a winner in a local newspaper contest last year and soon to be published again in a pilot issue of a new literary magazine.

After finishing the first novel, it was time for both the book and its author to rest, so I ran away to Greece for three weeks. Now, I'm back from a beautiful adventure with a pen full of ink and plenty of new stories to share with you.

Cheers,
SilverVelvet
August, 2002

Photo credit of Sasha and me: Halena Fisher, copyright 2002