Detroit, Michigan

Detroit made cars and music. You made the memories.

The Detroit area helped put the world on wheels, and later it gave the world Motown. Your own Detroit story is part of that rhythm, and it deserves to be told by you.

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Try it free for 7 days. Only you can see your record. Never public or searchable.

Which Motown song takes you straight back to a basement party or a car with the windows down?

Music marks time in Detroit, and your own soundtrack says a great deal about who you have been. Name the songs, the cars and the blocks that mattered, and give your views on where the city is heading, knowing every answer stays exactly as you said it. Typing or dictating, you set the pace, and you decide who hears it one day.

Only you can see your answers while you live.

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Read today's question
Each day brings one question, from childhood to the views you hold now.
Answer as yourself
Write as you would talk. Your answer is saved with the date, exactly as you gave it.
Decide who it is for
The people you name receive your record, never anyone else.

Detroit, Michigan

Your Detroit, in your own words

Where the world got its wheels

Southeast Michigan's car makers, among them Henry Ford, Ransom E. Olds and David Buick, helped build an industry, and the modern assembly line of the early 1900s made cars affordable. For many people, cars are not just machines. They are first jobs, road trips and long talks in a parked car. Which car do you remember best, and why? Who taught you to drive? What did the work mean to you or to people you knew? Your answers turn a giant industry into a real, personal story.

A song you can still hear

Motown Records got its start in Detroit in 1959, and its original headquarters and studio, Hitsville U.S.A., is now the Motown Museum. Music has a way of marking time. Maybe a certain song takes you straight back to a basement party, a radio in the kitchen or a car with the windows down. Tell the people you choose which songs mattered to you, and what was happening in your life when you first heard them.

Blocks, corners and neighbors

Every Detroit neighborhood has its own feel, and the people in it shape your days as much as any landmark. Maybe there was a corner bakery, a church hall or a front porch where everyone gathered. Maybe you have watched your block change over the years and have thoughts about where it is heading. Your views now are worth saving just as much as your memories. Put them in your own words, and they will stay exactly as you said them.

Archive Membership

A guide that only ever uses your words

Someone you named asks what you thought about your first job, and the guide finds what you wrote, word for word. It is built to quote, not to invent.

First person, only in quotes
Your words appear exactly as you wrote them, with their date.
Third person, always
Everything else the guide says is about you, never in your name.
Nothing made up
If you never spoke to a subject, the answer is Unknown.

What you can count on

Only your own words
Nothing is written for you. Every word in your record is yours, as you gave it.
Text, never your voice or face
There is no recording and no likeness, so no one can make you seem to say anything.
Time before anyone reads
No one receives your record until at least 6 months have passed after you are gone.
Your terms, kept
You decide who receives it, and you can change your mind whenever you like.

Michigan

What applies in Michigan

How we look after your information

Your record is private while you live: nothing in it is public or searchable.
You choose the people who will one day receive it, and you can change them at any time.
If you wish, a copy can one day go to a library or archive through the Historical Deposit.

Start your Detroit record

ToldForward asks one friendly question each day about your life and how you see things. Your answers stay private while you live, and one day they go to the people you have chosen.

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