Welcome to Flint, Michigan

Several years ago, I was involved in a training program at work where I had to travel to Flint, Michigan several times a year. I spent a full week in the Flint area during each trip, weekends included.  Another person from our facility was in the program at the same time and we traveled together.  We traveled by shuttle bus back and forth between the airport and the cabins where we stayed and the training took place.  This story takes place on what was probably our third of six trips to Flint. We had completed that week and training and were riding the shuttle bus back to the airport.  I was reading something during our short trip and wasn’t paying attention to anything at the airport when we arrived.  Before our shuttle bus could stop, my traveling companion said, “Look, there’s that guy that I don’t like.” I looked up expecting to see someone from our training program which would have been odd because my friend liked practically everyone in the program.  I couldn’t imagine him seeing anyone else that he knew at the Flint airport other than the people in our sessions.  I didn’t see any of our fellow trainees outside the airport.  I finally saw film director Michael Moore, maker of Roger and Me and Bowling for Columbine among other films.  I knew that my friends were more conservative than mine and I could understand why he would say what he did.  I am a fan of Michael Moore and was excited to see him.  What better place to encounter him than his hometown?

I decided not to bother him.  I stood behind him at ticket counter where I discovered he was travelling with his wife and an older man that I found out was his father.  That was enough reason for me to avoid trying to engage him in conversation. It could have also created an awkward situation for me with my traveling companion.  So, I did leave him alone.  But I had gotten upgraded to first class on the flight from Flint to Detroit.  They were also seated in first-class so I did get to spend a little more time close to them.  But it wasn’t that much more time because the flight from Flint to Detroit is basically a slingshot trip where you spend more time waiting to take off than what it takes to fly.  The Moores sat across the aisle from me with Michael’s wife in the row directly across from me and Michael and his father one row behind her.  From what I observed, Michael was trying to explain something to his father during the entire trip, much like a conversation I might have with my dad.  When we arrived in Detroit, it seemed to take longer than usual for them to open the door to the plane for us to exit.  Most of the people in first class, including Michael’s wife, stood waiting for the door to open.  Michael and his father stayed seated.  I was in line ahead of her. At some point I made a throwaway joke about how long we were waiting, and she laughed at it.  My takeaway from this story is that I met Michael Moore and his wife thought I was funny.