Detroit Love is loud and clear when Detroit throws a party for their favorite scapegoat, Le Nain Rouge.


There is a legend in Detroit, from the days of Cadillac on down, of an enigmatic character the French called Le Nain Rouge -- the Red Dwarf. He appearances are alleged to have preceded evil events and he is said to still be is out there, lurking waiting for his next moment to appear. But where is he? Who is he?


To avert these bad fortunes, contemporary Detroiters are on the march on a mild afternoon in March, La Marche du Nain Rouge, to discourage his return, allay his wrath and lift their troubled city from ashes to greatness. Seen here they his effigy struts before them as they march him down Cass Avenue toward Cass Park.



Yet in their innocent revelry they are, in fact, only serving to mask the real Le Nain Rouge. For amid their gaiety they never realize that he is there, among them, infiltrating the very parade meant to shun and humiliate him!


Only the trained eye can spot him in his many disguises and it is my duty, as your intrepid guide on this Marche du Nain Rouge, to reveal to you what distracted eyes cannot see, indeed may not want to see -- the many faces of Le Nain Rouge.

First, let's dispense with obvious and common misconceptions. Le Nain would never appear with such lack of subtlety but he may "accidentally" stroke his hair to cover his face if a camera gets too close.


His can infuse the inanimate and the animate. So if you can connect his presence in this stone carving...


...with this parader, you will have passed your first test in understanding Le Nain Rouge.


He is said to be a dwarf. But is he? Are you sure he wasn't a child mistaken for a dwarf??


.. who can trick you into fixating on the stereotypical figureheads on the right and totally overlook the real Le Nain on the left?


He lures us into focusing on foreground attractions while ignoring his unremarkable presence lurking in the background...


.. .or seducing us into focusing on the color and pomp of a parade while completely ignoring him, plainly dressed and smiling at you in a fedora hat...


...or whispering into the Holy Father's ear.


How can we be so blind Detroit? We nervously cast our eyes about for him without seeing, even without feeling or realizing we that we are holding the very thing we are looking for!


We never see him yet when we pore through our pictures the next day, there he is in the background -- like a warm breath on our necks or a soft brush against our wigs.


...or sometimes riding right on top of our heads!


His mop of red hair invades the center of our pictures...


...yet we do not recognize him, even if he stands on our foreheads because our eyes are so closed and our beliefs so frozen.


We search, we analyze, we theorize and contemplate about what might be and all the while he is there, not once twice! in plain sight! Yet even this trained video crew overlooks him.


Sisters and Brothers of Detroit, arise, lift your heads and raise your eyes!


Stop looking for what you think should be and start seeing things as they are.


Only then will you find him, watching over you in Cass Park from a tiny outpost on the Masonic Temple...


or floating in a bubble...


possessing a priest...


...and twirling the dancer.


Look beyond the Spirits of Detroit chugging their PBR's...


...and the drunken Cadillac bemoaning his lost fortune. To see him you must...


look up...


look behind...


...and beyond the theater of the obvious.


Look within...


and behind the veils....

to discover the beauty...


and the majesty...


...and the joy that is our beloved Detroit.


Then and only then will you expose and drive away the darkness that is Le Nain Rouge.


So, until next year, my daah-lings...


I bid you au revoir...


and peace out...


until we march again...


and once more raise our fist...


to our little friend -- Le Nain Rouge.




FIN
La Marche du Nain Rouge - March 20, 2011

Le Nain Rouge Wiki