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Seeking the charm in Charm City
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| Meditations on Mobtown |
[Mar. 10th, 2007|03:58 am] |
Well, I am starting to come up on a year of living in Baltimore. This city has still not broken me. Not that I expected it to...but there are those that have their less that favorable opinions of this city. I can't say that their displeasure with Mobtown is entirely unfounded, lord knows I have seen more than enough stupidity in this city to warrant the nickname "Baltimoron" for it's most special residents.
As for me, I still like - dare I say love? - this city. I think most of what attracts me to this city is it's status as a "second-tier" city. Baltimore can't hang with the Big Boys (New York City, Los Angeles, etc.), and that's fine with me. Those cities are concerned with making a name for themselves outside of their borders. I don't need that kind of needy attention-whoring. I've never been much of one to call attention to myself, and Baltimore seems to share that attitude, which I think makes us a perfect pair.
I can hear the haters now: "Whatever, Baltimore doesn't have much worth showing off in the first place." Baltimore has plenty worth showing off! It just happens to be obscured by a fog of various violent crimes. The city tries to assure us that something is being done about it, but we know better. We are used to the disappointment. Perhaps that is part of the charm in Charm City? |
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| How to Hail a Cab in Baltimore: A Primer |
[Jul. 24th, 2006|02:54 am] |
Last night I took a taxi for the first time since moving to Baltimore. Not that I have never taken a taxi before, or know nothing of taxi etiquette, i'm usually with a group, and usually not the person in charge of Taxi Affairs.
At 10:45 pm, I call one of the taxi companies listed in the yellow pages. It's already getting late, so I figure that getting a taxi sent to the house might be quicker than walking down to Eastern Ave. Unfortunately, I was wrong.
The operator on the line asks for my number. As soon as I give the area code of my cell phone number, I am informed that I need to provide them with a local number. I'm really not sure of the reason for this policy. My guess is that the Baltimore livery industry considers non-native Baltimore residents to be second class citizens, and not deserving of quick and dependable transportation services. And since most people with non-Baltimore area codes are probably not native baltimoreans, it's an easy way for them to further their personal agenda while staying off the radar of equal-rights groups. But I digress...
The operator informs me that the best she can do is to dispatch a cab to the closest intersection to my house. So I grab my wallet and other essentials and go outside. I wait 20 minutes and see no cab, so I call the dispatcher back to tell her, and she says that she send the dispatch out again. Thanks, yeah, i'm sure that's going to help.
At this point I decide to walk the few blocks to Eastern Ave. and try to hail a cab. It didn't take long, 5 minutes at the most, but as soon as the taxi stopped for me, I noticed someone was already in the back. I had no intention of sharing a taxi with someone else, but the cabbie was looking at me in a way that said "yes, you come with me, I take you where you need to go."
As I walk over to the cab I notice that he is talking to the fare he already has in the backseat. It wasn't so much "talking" as it was him telling the fare to "get the fuck out of my cab." As I found out later, though he had picked this guy up only 1 block earlier (a very drunk and very belligerent latino that spoke little english, but seemed to have quite a mastery of english cuss words), he managed to piss the cabbie off in that short amount of time to the point where he was no longer welcome in the cab.
So I am standing next to the cab, waiting for this drunken guy to leave the cab. Eventually the cabbie gets out and opens the back door, which prompts El Drunko to leave the cab without the use of physical force. After he gets out and I get in the cab, Drunky McDrunkerton proudly lists off a few more english swear words he has learned, only to be interrupted by the blaring of car horns, as a busy road is usually not the best place to show off your language mastery skills. |
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| Welcome to Highlandtown |
[Jul. 19th, 2006|02:05 am] |
I am one of Highlandtown's newest residents.
For those uncultured, Highlandtown is a neighborhood in southeast Baltimore.
I had been hearing alot of great things about Baltimore during my time in College Park, MD. And I didn't believe a word of it. As far as I was concerned, Baltimore was the shittiest shithole that ever shitted. But then it came time to make a change in my life, and I ended up in Highlandtown, Baltimore.
Not soon after moving here, I realized something. Baltimore is actually cool. Baltimore is actually cooler than DC. But it all came together when I realized this: Baltimore is the blue collar to DC's white collar. There is no denying that.
DC is pretty much only known as the hub of the united state government. Can't really get much more white collar than that. Nigel Tufnel would say, "None. None more white"
Baltimore is a major shipping port for the Atlantic. If you live close enough to baltimore, you also know it as the original home of National Bohemian beer. Shipping and brewing cheap (but good) beer. In my book, that is pretty close to the other end of the Collar Spectrum.
So, what is the point of this journal, you ask yourself? (All one of you reading this). I guess it's more for me than for anyone else. I've always wished I could get my thoughts down on paper better, as if someone that would make things more clearer to me. I don't know if that's true, but I guess I'll keep trying until I figure it out.
Anyway, this will just be me and my random thoughts about Baltimore. In essense: does Baltimore live up to the nickname "Charm City?"
So far, at least, the answer is yes. |
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