yyt

Seeing a position open at Maryland Institute – even though it is not tenured – has me re-evaluating my feelings toward my birthplace.

Of course I would like the irony of teaching at a school where my great uncle Robert Clark(e) was denied admission due to race. Insignificant turns of events interest me it is the reason I chose the places that I explore when travelling – half hour later in…

While I am going to apply for I can only actively choose if I do apply and they don’t actively reject me, which is a very good possibility, I still am not sure what I think of Baltimore.

No. I am not sure if I like the idea of two Baltimores.

I am not used to the use of the walkie talkie option on phones so not only do you hear people yell into the device but then for free you hear the three quick beeps and the crackly voice on the other end.

I don’t know how I feel about the added security everywhere from the surveillance cameras on every street. I don’t like having my receipt checked at shops where there really isn’t anything to steal -National Warehouse Liquidators, the sorriest Home Depot in existence in the Plaza. It is so dark that it looks as if they forgot to pay their light bill but it also hides the fact that there is no merchandise. Even the Giant Foods in the Plaza has an armed security guard
-step away from the broasted chicken.

A true balamer moment, the metro comes out of the ground after Mondawmin and there, at dusk, in the distance where Reisterstown Road and Park Heights Avenue diverge the blinking blue police camera lights at every corner. How romantic and practical showing us where we can buy our crack.

There is Howard Street.

The fact that I cannot walk in any of the neighbourhoods that my family was in even though I found out that there was a designated Clark-Davis (sic) neighbourhood – now Upton Marble Hill.

Sandtown and Pigtown seem off limits, Westport abandoned, Cherry Hill the way it was when my father managed it.

But there is Hampden, Butchers Hill, Bolton Hill, Locust Point, Ridgely’s Delight. There is greenery everywhere. There are cafés, bars with good beer, trust, civility - outside of Northwest Baltimore - lacrosse, and the O’s. I can be surprised wandering. I can have a Natty Boh – yeah yeah I know it is a Miller product now and brewed in Atlanta or someplace – with my masala dosa. There was the Dime Museum. I like Sundays downtown well not downtown but Little Italy and Fells Point before they become tourist meccas. Even though it fills others with fear, I like night in the Inner Harbour – just about the only time I like the Inner Harbour. I like summer evenings in the neighbourhoods where people still come out and sit – Paterson Park the last time was great people out listening to country music.

Unlike Chicago that has a supreme inferiority complex – and justifiably so – Baltimore can laugh at itself, right hon?

When I mention the opening at M.I.C.A. to others it is rejected outright. This I also can see as Baltimore keeps its secret so while it is known for The Wire, Homicide – Life on the Street and John Waters, it suffers from the there’s no there there syndrome which suits me fine.

I am not sure which Baltimore will come to the forefront if they were to invite me and I were to accept – with my history of self destruction, these are big ifs. I move ahead cautiously.