Rabach VtP Annotation: Reading Places

My place for this project--Muskegon, Mi--is spoke about and imagined in a variety of ways, especially when it is placed in larger imaginaries of Michigan more broadly. These imaginations are often contradictory. In one imaginary, constructed from within to spread outside, Michigan is a pure and timeless beauty. An enchanted land awaiting your next grand adventure. But this narrative is contradicted by an overarching political narrative about American’s Rust belt and the “people left behind.”  Recently, the opioid crisis has taken over an outside imaginary of the city as well. On a national scale, parts of Muskegon county make lists like “Worst Places in America to Live”. Thinking for 2020, national political elites see Muskegon as one of the top 10 counties to look for in 2020. Trump lost Muskegon County by only 1,200 votes last time and analysts predict Muskegon will be indicative of the way Michigan votes as a state overall. In this particular article, Muskegon’s economy is described as being dominated by a struggling manufacturing industry and a growing health care sector.” In this depiction, the past and the future are sort of tangled in this moment. From the inside, I think this tanglement is how people view the city too. There is clear discussion of Muskegon’s revival… a comeback.. A common rhetoric around many MidWest towns, like South Bend, Indiana, Detroit, etc, but so many are only able to imagine or see that comeback from afar.