Miranda Romine

Dr. Cavin
Honors 1000
Reflective Essay
From the plentiful readings to the awe inspiring cultural events, Honors 1000 The City, has
been a powerful and educational learning experience. Not only have I learned to look at the
world around me from many different view points, or ways of seeing, but also that places have a
voice of their own. That it is not enough just to know about a place or a city, you must know its
people, its history, the politics behind the city itself. This course has taught me that everything is
important, all the same details that add together to form the bigger picture. That questions have
answer and therefore, answer have questions. To truly understand something, you must learn the
why, the how, and the direction it is going. We must know where the city comes from, where it is
going and how we get there, and what do we do as a collective whole once we get there. The
answers to those questions differs depending on what city you are talking about and why, but for
Detroit it is simple we are headed to the suburbs and the outer cities. I have learned that cities
change around people, and people change around cities. That urban form is both active and
reciprocal, we affect the city which in turn affects us, and the cycle continues. The city is not just
a place, but a space in which people interact, influence their environment, and get influenced by
the environment. I truly enjoyed the experiences given to me by the cultural, or passport, events.
The fact that we got to experience the communities and environments that we were studying,
helped me understand and appreciate the courses as a whole. Through courses and learning

experiences like this one, I hope to become a moral and upstanding participant in the culture and
environment around me.