Love Stories in Midtown

It was another snowy Saturday.  But this time, I was in the heart of hipster-land--midtown Detroit.  Yeah, you read that right--Detroit is hip and I was there.  

The Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Company in midtown Detroit.

Okay, sure, I may have felt a little bit out of place at first in the uber cool coffee shop outside of my tiny suburb, but I assimilated and dare I say got a little hip (maybe).

It's more than a coffee shop, there is a full bar.

At first the huge menu, cool lighting and the barista wearing a garter for a belt made me feel a little  overwhelmed and full of all kinds of thoughts and questions.  This was no drive-through Starbucks in some leafy Utopian suburb, folks.  It was so much better. It was over-the-top-hipster-wannabes all ordering a fancy coffee called "Sexy Mexican" sitting beside a young father and his toddler eating breakfast.  It was old men drinking beer at 9 a.m. and  young men drinking chai tea.  It was a group of women chatting with friends at a small table in the corner.  It was loud music ranging from the White Stripes to Lauryn Hill with a little old-school TLC and Prince thrown in.  It was lap tops and charging stations.  It was unisex bathrooms.  It was hustle and bustle.  It was damn good people watching.

After my initial "oh my god, I love it here but I don't know what to do" feeling, I sauntered up to the counter and asked the woman wearing a garter belt for a belt to make me a Sexy Mexican.  See?  I am sure I fit right in.

But I wasn't there to fit in or people watch.  I was there to listen to people's stories.  This hipster-midtown coffee shop was the location of our second Saturday of Listen To Your Mother Metro Detroit auditions.  

I was there to take an emotional journey and hear the stories from people wanting to share them, needing to share them.  Stories of love, loss, struggle, grief and gratitude.  I sat at a corner table with my two other co-producers/directors, and now good friends.  We tried not to show too much emotion.  But there were moments as Jack White screamed from the speakers that I couldn't hold back my tears.  Especially when I thought about all the women that have shared stories and their lives with us over the past two weeks.

Some of the women thanked us.  Some of the women told us how they needed to tell their story, to say the words.  I was so moved by stories of the powerful desire to become mothers and the struggle so many women have to become mothers.  I was blown away by the strength of women that told stories of losing children to sickness or tragic accidents. I was inspired by the compassion and capacity for so much love.

Each and every story we heard was a love story.

After the auditions, I wrapped my scarf (that may just smell like coffee forever after being there for six hours) around my neck and got ready to head back to the suburbs.  But I wasn't the same as when I came in.  I mean I drank a coffee called a Sexy Mexican, everything is different now.  It is more than being a hip midtown-er, I feel like my heart grew, my own capacity to love and appreciate grew. "Everyone has a story," you hear it all the time.  I mean, I know that.  But now I feel like I REALLY know it.  And I want to hear them.  I want to know more about people.  I want to care more about people.  It's more than just people watching, it's people listening.  I feel more open and ready and available to listen and to love. And who knows, I just might start wearing a garter belt as a belt.  

And I can't wait for all of you to hear some of the love stories from the amazing women that will tell them at our Listen To Your Mother show in Detroit! To find out more about Listen To Your Mother Metro Detroit click here.

To buy tickets to the show on May 4 in Detroit at St. Andrew's Hall click here.


Here's Jack White's other band's (The Raconteurs) song about storytelling (Carolina Drama).  Ahhhhhmazing.  And I was so lame before this past Saturday, I didn't even know Jack White had another band.  Yeah, I AM different now.  Check it out. (This song was playing during the auditions and my bad ass co-producer/director Angela knew the song, she is more hip than me, but I'm catching up.) 



A pretty cool Laryn Hill remake of a Bob Marley song about stories and needing to say the words.