Boosterism

Living in Baltimore is not all Homicide: Life on the Street. Frommer's travel guide has named Baltimore one of the world's top summer destinations for 2005. (!?!) Our bond rating has risen to A+. Investors are drooling over our cheap and plentiful housing stock. The population loss has flattened, crime has dropped overall, and unemployment is down a bit. And to what factors can this reversal be attributed, besides Boy Mayor? Besides the inexpensive real estate, there have been been some cultural shifts; Retro is cool again and weird has become mainstream, and oh boy, Baltimore has plenty of both. Given the polarity in American politics and our reputation for slack, liberals, immigrants, gays and others looking for tolerance have found acceptance in our social structure. And, speaking of which-oh, right! The Art School and the Mental Hospital! These world famous institutions (both of which I am a proud alumna) have attracted outsiders and misfits from everywhere and then mainstreamed them into staying and breeding for well over a hundred years. In our neighborhood, there are very diverse parties all about us this evening celebrating the Memorial Day holiday. Some people whooping it up in the pool behind us are running it a bit late. And it's time to go to sleep. "Might as well shoot them...", says Hubby, "After all, this is Baltimore!" Except, right. We don't have any guns. We'll just have to put up with it, as they have always put up with us.