I’ve lived in and around Detroit since arriving in the 1960s to attend Wayne State University. I married fellow student David Welsh in 1967 and we moved into an apartment building on West Chicago at Linwood in Detroit. Because we had had a simple wedding by a judge downtown, I invited my family (who live in Flint) to a “meet my husband” party at our apartment on Sunday, July 23, and that was the day the riot started. It began very close to where we were living, and I watched as looters took over the streets, and buildings burned all around us. Federal troops were sent into Detroit as rioting spread throughout the city. It took most of a week to restore order. I’ve had a keen interest in what’s happening in Detroit ever since.

I’ve always been a writer, with a career behnd me in business and technical writing, and I’ve also authored a few books. Since retiring from full-time work in 2009, I’ve been adding photos and essays about Detroit to my website. For examples, see an index to my Detroit photos and essay at www.theseekerbooks.com/DetroitIndex.html

In July 2012, I published my ebook on urban exploration in Post-Industrial Detroit, based on my knowledge of the city and the many photo forays David and I have taken to all parts of the city. The book is: A Guide to Post-Industrial Detroit: Unconventional Tours of an Urban Landscape.

I've followed it up with another ebook with photos of Detroit's most-visited urban ruin, the Packard plant, where once Packard automobiles were built. Today the 40 acre site is in ruins and has been open to visitors: explorers, photographers and also vandals and arsonists. In 2014, a foreign developer bought the site in a tax auction, so its future is uncertain. My book - with over 200 photos - titled Detroit's Spectacular Ruin: The Packard Plant is available at www.amazon.com/dp/B00LR09CY2.

What's happening in Detroit is difficult to believe unless you see it. Whole neighborhoods have simply vanished, replaced by empty fields and the cracked remains of sidewalks, with weeds popping up where people used to walk... whole blocks going back to nature, with pheasants and rabbits taking over, and the few standing houses falling down, moldy household items spilling out onto deserted streets. David and I are documenting this abandonment before it's all simply gone. I’ve put some of my photos here on Flickr for other to see.

David and I also have roots in the early software business. In the 1970s, we sold a word processor that David programmed for the Radio Shack TRS-80 computer, and in 2007 we published a book about it ("Priming the Pump: How TRS-80 Enthusiasts Helped Spark the PC Revolution," available on amazon.com or see www.microcomputerpioneers.com. I’ve also done professional editing for other authors, and I operate a book review website at www.theseekerbooks.com. I’m also a top reviewer on amazon.com.