Hey Chris, thanks for reaching out.

I am not sure what you mean by the first part of your comment. Some residents believe, as you said, that the city can come back or make a comeback. However there are also those who have either lost hope or are apathetic to the situation in Detroit. I said hope might be just out of reach, but I also incorporated the viewpoint that there is hope, i.e. I talked about the promise of new developments citywide.

I am aware that East vs. West of 8 Mile does not carry the same connotation as South vs. North. I lined up my interviews from New York; I was under the impression that Shirley from my story was from North of 8 Mile in Hazel Park (the person that introduced us and I had a misunderstanding) So on my final day reporting in Detroit, when I learned Shirley was from Northeast Detroit, I had to do the best I could and tell the story that I had. I wanted to be honest with readers and felt that it was necessary to talk about the North/South divide in my written piece, despite the fact that Byna and Shirley are divided by an East/West boundary. I am sorry if this was not clear.

Thank you again for your comment,

Chelsia

But it would be “Residents believe their city can make a comeback”

Also, as a metro Detroiter, I was expecting something much different after reading the headline “Two Sides of Eight Mile.”

I was expecting a comparison between someone who lived north of Eight Mile and one who lived south. Since that dividing line is so strong here, when you went in a different direction, I got confused. I thought I had it straightened out in my head, but then you are taking about both the north and south side of Eight Mile, and my head hurt. So I’m not sure whether another person on the team wrote the headline, but to me, it didn’t work that well and muddled an otherwise good story.