This is no home-team “automatic” cheerleading.

If I’ve learned one thing about Motown and the metroDetroit™ surrounding area, it’s that we as a populace have a bit of an inferiority complex when comparing our city and its inhabitants’ achievements to, say, New York or L.A., or even European capitols like London or Paris. It most likely stems from the fall of Detroit as an world industrial capitol starting in the 1970s and the hard times that followed, but that’s just my conjecture. It’s high time we once again consider ourselves as one of the top World-Class Cities of the World that we are!

*- - the crowd goes wild! - -*

Michigan has one of the top 5 ranked science centers in the entire country. That’s according to USA Today’s 10Best ranking, which just listed the Michigan Science Center in Detroit as the No. 3 top science center in the U.S. for a second straight year.

“The Michigan Science Center promotes creative and dynamic STEM learning through a series of interactive exhibits,” USA Today’s 10Best ranking wrote. “This Detroit cultural district institution features live stage shows, an IMAX Dome, 4D theater, planetarium, and exhibit space with more than 220 hands-on activities and exhibits.”

The article goes on to confirm what I’ve known and proclaimed to the uninitiated for decades…

And this isn’t the first 2024 accolade for Michigan from USA Today’s 10Best lists. The Detroit Institute of Arts has been ranked the No. 1 art museum in the country [emphasis mine] […]

…plus…

[…] Detroit is ranked as having the No. 5 street art scene in the U.S. and Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids is ranked as the top sculpture park in the nation.

USA Today still has more 10Best ranking announcements forthcoming. Its 2023 rankings listed The Detroit Riverwalk No. 1 in the U.S.; Campus Martius Park in downtown Detroit took the top spot for Best Public Square in the U.S., the DIA came in at No. 1 for U.S. art museums, and the Motown Museum ranked at the top spot for music museums, but didn’t land on the 2024 list.

Hmmphh! No Motown Museum?! What a snub! I guess they had to give the others a chance.