Blake's Take on Sports

Reflections on the work of an urban rabbi in a city as complex - exciting, expansive, provincial, gritty, isolating, political and inspiring - as Baltimore.

www.TheUrbanRabbi.org

Nice Things, Nice People

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There’s a highway overpass at 28th Street connecting Reservoir Hill with other Baltimore neighborhoods like Remington, Hampden and Charles Village. A couple months ago I saw an older gentleman laboriously painting the cracking concrete walls of that overpass, covering with pearly white paint the weather-worn graffiti and rust-orange chain link run-off. I remember thinking as I watched him work: “What a thankless job!—earning a day’s wage toiling in the heat of the day to make Baltimore just a little nicer.” A couple weeks later, I was driving on the same overpass when I saw fresh black graffiti scrawled across the white surface. It read: “THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS.” My heart sank. I don’t know who sprayed the graffiti. My immediate thought was it must be some MICA student, someone who thinks they’re being clever or… read more

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/17/12 at 04:54 PM

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