Chapter 1: What is Polis?

Alright, now before I actually get into discussing favorite areas and the memories that they conjure up I should probably try to explain the title. It is not just some willy-nilly title that I came up with to sound witty and awesome.

“Huronopolis” sounds goofy. And the actual address looked odd, since when the words of the title would make it look like “Polish Uron.”

First, to establish a new sense of community I figure a new title for the area would work best. I don’t expect it to reach the lexicon like the nickname “PoHo.” The point is to create some unity.

But most important and most complicated is this. My experiences in the area are not exclusive to Port Huron proper. They extend well beyond the town of Port Huron. I didn’t go to Denny’s in Port Huron; that was in Fort Gratiot. That’s also where the mall is. If I went to parties the chances were great I was going out toward the Lexington area. Some of my best friends come from Marysville. My ex came from Marine City.

Separately these cities may not amount to much. Taken together though I found them to be an environment which was spiritually fulfilling.

Yet geographical confusion still occurs. Even I will refer to Fort Gratiot as Port Huron once in a while. Those two places are so close it is natural to do so. Those two names can end up being interchangeable to a degree.

To reconcile this and add a new layer to the concept of this community, I will define the term “polis” as I have found it to be.

Back in October I saw a documentary called Polis is This. It was about the poet Charles Olson. The film itself is a direct influence on this blog.

Anyways, Olson was known for writing about his town, Gloucester, Massachusetts. As I recall, people adored his poems about Gloucester so much that other poets wanted to come and write about the town. Olson was against this and pretty much said that these writers should be writing about their “polis.”

But now to actually define “polis.” It is a Greek term to define a city. That’s where such words and names like “Metropolis,” “Acropolis,” and “Minneapolis” come from.

The actual size of the polis as defined in the film was that one should be able to walk the circumference in two days. Whether or not that is true I don’t know. But it sounds really neat and it will help for once in my life make math fun and interesting.

To define the polis then I need to figure out the center of Port Huron. Messing with Google Maps I found that St. Clair County Community College (SC4 from here on out) is a pretty good center from which to start. Whether or not that is the true center I do not know. But it works for this.

Now, to figure the circumference I will theoretically walk I will make conservative and liberal estimates.

Conservatively, I walk about 4 miles per hour. Based on some memories of hikes in Boy Scouts I will work with this number first.

If I walk 11 miles per day at 4 miles per hour, that makes the circumference 88 miles. Now to break down how far from the center this goes I need to find the radius that will come from SC4 and extend to the outer cities. Whatever cities will fall in either radius will be part of my hypothetical “Polis Huron.”

So, that means 88/3.14= about 28 miles for the diameter. This makes the radius 14 miles in each direction from SC4. A good number, but this actually eliminates a number of areas important to this project.

But now for the liberal estimate. I think I can really walk 5 miles per hour. I also think I could walk an easy 14 hours in a day. That makes the circumference a whopping 140 miles! Remember everyone, this is theoretical. I haven’t done this and this is also working on the idea that there are no obstacles for such a walk.

So now, back to the previous formula. 140/3.14= about 44.6, making the radius 22.3 miles.

This works well for the definition of my Polis Huron. Such a unified idea would put the following cities under one umbrella:

- Port Huron
- Port Huron Township
- Fort Gratiot
- St. Clair
- East China
- Kimball Township
- Marysville
- Lexington
- Burtchville Township
- Lakeport
- Jeddo
- Marine City

To the left is a graphical representation of the radius from Google Maps. It is from 323 Erie Street to Lexington; which is distance of 21.9 miles. I’d try to make a circle but I don’t have photoshop.

But then there is the biggest obstacle for this walk: Lake Huron. Obviously I can’t walk that. But even with the conservative radius this includes Sarnia and Port Edward in Ontario! Which begs the question: should I include those towns? Since this is my blog, I will. So add those to the list.

The next blog will come on Monday and hopefully every weekday after.

Take care of yourself. Monday the tales will really begin to take off.