Anyway, in honor of my dear sister-in-law who is coming for a visit today (who is in medical school in Baltimore), I will write about the Orioles.
Bawlmer.
I have some pretty strong feelings about Baltimore. We used to live there. We still own a house there. I wish we didn't (we rent it out, but at a loss). Apparently, moving away right as the housing market crashed was not the financially savvy thing to do. Hindsight. Hopefully we'll get to sell it someday soon and come out close to even, because I'm not exactly planning to retire there.
I really don't like it there. The city politics are horribly corrupt, urban blight was practically invented there, and commuting to DC from there was on paper, not bad, but in practice, terrible.
It's like Pittsburgh, but awful.
Part of my negativity about the city likely stems from the fact that we bought a house and renovated it, and finished it right before we moved out, and during that year and a half of renovation that we did mostly ourselves we had a baby and commuted an hour and a half each way to DC for work and all of my friends and family were at least 40 miles away and we had very little money and people kept getting mugged outside...so I was exhausted and worried and broke and we had no help with the baby and few friendly faces. I was miserable there. I get that, realistically, this is not all ENTIRELY the city of Baltimore's fault (and in retrospect, there may have been some post-partum depression at play), but it frankly feels that way, and I can't untie my personal misery from the experience of living there.
The best thing about Baltimore (besides overuse of the word "hon" and beehive hairdos) is The Wire. It's the best television show ever produced, and won exactly ZERO important awards. People are idiots.
See, even writing about Baltimore puts me in a sh*tty mood.
The Wire was on HBO, and tells the story of the city via drug dealers, drug addicts, dock workers, cops, kids, the politicians, and the press. It is the best show that you have ever, or never, watched. I guarantee this. It's remarkably true-to-life -- seriously, that stuff HAPPENS there -- and it will break your heart. Especially season 4.
The show also has some of my very favorite tv characters: Stringer Bell, Bubs, and Omar Little. Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks Omar is fantastic. And Jimmy McNulty is a super-hot train wreck of a man. There is one of the most creative scenes I've ever seen on tv that takes place between Jimmy and his partner Bunk, where they walk you step-by-step through an entire murder scene using only gestures and the f-bomb, and you completely understand exactly what transpired. It's been written about extensively, and aptly described by one author as a "goddamn symphony of profanity".
The show will make you laugh, and cry, and think. It gives you hope and crushes it, and not necessarily in that order. If you haven't seen it, watch it from the beginning, you WILL NOT be sorry you did. Stick with it, even if Season Two isn't your favorite (sometimes it's not), it is absolutely worth it.
So, that's my tale of Baltimore.
All in the game, yo, all in the game.
(In the interest of equal time, I will also say that one of Matthew's favorite restaurants is in Baltimore, Golden West Cafe. They have awesome tater tots. It is definitely a redeeming feature of the city. That, and the cheapness and availability of crab. And Poe lived there. Yeah, I think that's about it.)
5 comments:
I too love the Wire. But, season 4 crushed me so thoroughly, that I can't muster the emotional energy to watch season 5. I feel like Omar probably dies in season 5, and I can't take it.
p.s. Stringer Bell is so hot.
If I were ever to leave Matthew for a thug with an MBA (or at least b-school coursework), it would be for String.
You have to finish it out though, KC. You HAVE to.
Hm, it's quite possible the title of this post could have been, "Jill Told Me So."
Honey, Baltimore was a big mistake. Me missed you in the 'burbs. My commute sucked, but it didn't suck ass. On the bright side, I now you use as a cautionary tale to other young hip urban idealists who think they can live in a city for cheap and make it a better place.
I didn't know you still owned the house, nor that P was in med school there. Hopkins? Are you renting her the house? The she could sublet it, and then it could be just like Grey's Anatomy, only they get mugged on the way to school.
Oh, Jill, that would have been a MUCH better title for this post.
Yours might be the most perfect blog comment ever.
P is at U of M, they live in Baltimore but not in our house, sadly. We do have a lovely renter, who has a roommate or two, and she is apparently contemplating buying it. I say prayers to that effect.
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