Charm City
In the mail today I received the summer edition of the alumni magazine from my graduate school. I didn't know I missed it until I read through the magazine and felt the pangs. I attended a very artsy-fartsy-it's about the experience-play time-feel your way program, and I loved it.
About 5 years ago, I was living in Arizona, mulling over my options for graduate school. The deal was we'd move to Arizona for Lancelot to go to culinary school, then when he was done (and when I'd figured out what I wanted to do), we'd move where I wanted to go for graduate school. I knew I wanted to do something in publishing, but there weren't very many programs for that (perhaps there are more now). Ultimately, I settled on my school because it required no GRE for admission (lord, how I did not want to take that thing) and was on the east coast and had some focus on new media.
When I was accepted, Lancelot and I packed up and moved to Baltimore. (And now people can probably figure out where I went to grad school, and no, I don't know why I feel like I need to be secretive, but I do.) Neither of us had ever been to Baltimore, but then again, we'd never been to Arizona before we moved there, either. We figured, hey, it's on the water -- it's got to be better. And it was.
It took some getting used to. The Baltimore pronunciation of "O" was enough to make me giggle, but mostly it was a good change for us. Trees! Green! Water! Seasons! We lived in the northwestern suburbs of Baltimore, which were nice and friendly and comfortable.
But I remember the first time I drove into Baltimore to check out the school. Oh, dear. Baltimore is nice and all, and there really are some wonderful things about it, but holy lord. I was terrified! They don't film The Wire there for nothing, and I drove through that kind of neighborhood on the way to class.
I wasn't sure what to expect from graduate school, but it certainly wasn't what I got. With classes like Creativity: Ways of Seeing, The Lyric Spirit, The Craft of Popularization, Literary Nonfiction, and Gifts of the Goddess, I was in heaven. This is where I learned to plork (play + work). For one of my classes, we'd read Leaves of Grass for a few minutes at the beginning of class, just to get our juices flowing. I did a final project on the grail legends. I designed, edited, and self-published (which means "spent lots of money on but didn't sell") two collections of short stories and poetry.
I didn't realize I missed it. I forgot the charge I got out of my classmates, the freedom I had to express myself, the safe place it was for learning.
There's more that I miss. I miss the harbor and Fell's Point and shopping in Towson and eating blue crabs on the Severn river. I miss wandering around and exploring and getting lost. New places have that thrill of the unexpected. I don't get that here. I miss the seasons (but I do NOT miss the snow). I miss the food (we don't have many great restaurants here). I miss the options. I miss driving down that one road on the way to town and always seeing a herd of deer. I miss the architecture and the old homes. I miss downtown. I miss the funky, gritty, kitschy city.
After graduation, though, we moved closer to DC for work. Shortly after that, the "Big Split" happened, and Lancelot and I took a break. There are things I absolutely love about DC (politics, stuff to do, great food, gorgeous architecture, shopping, night life), but I believe it dragged us down. Driving 2 hours to work each day. Traffic. Polution. Crime. We were there for 9/11, the anthrax crap, the snipers. And we struggled financially.
Sometimes I wonder what might have been had we stayed in the Baltimore area. I know that I'm looking back with foggy eyes, that I'm not remembering the crap I hated about living there. But that's ok. I'd rather remember Charm City fondly.
About 5 years ago, I was living in Arizona, mulling over my options for graduate school. The deal was we'd move to Arizona for Lancelot to go to culinary school, then when he was done (and when I'd figured out what I wanted to do), we'd move where I wanted to go for graduate school. I knew I wanted to do something in publishing, but there weren't very many programs for that (perhaps there are more now). Ultimately, I settled on my school because it required no GRE for admission (lord, how I did not want to take that thing) and was on the east coast and had some focus on new media.
When I was accepted, Lancelot and I packed up and moved to Baltimore. (And now people can probably figure out where I went to grad school, and no, I don't know why I feel like I need to be secretive, but I do.) Neither of us had ever been to Baltimore, but then again, we'd never been to Arizona before we moved there, either. We figured, hey, it's on the water -- it's got to be better. And it was.
It took some getting used to. The Baltimore pronunciation of "O" was enough to make me giggle, but mostly it was a good change for us. Trees! Green! Water! Seasons! We lived in the northwestern suburbs of Baltimore, which were nice and friendly and comfortable.
But I remember the first time I drove into Baltimore to check out the school. Oh, dear. Baltimore is nice and all, and there really are some wonderful things about it, but holy lord. I was terrified! They don't film The Wire there for nothing, and I drove through that kind of neighborhood on the way to class.
I wasn't sure what to expect from graduate school, but it certainly wasn't what I got. With classes like Creativity: Ways of Seeing, The Lyric Spirit, The Craft of Popularization, Literary Nonfiction, and Gifts of the Goddess, I was in heaven. This is where I learned to plork (play + work). For one of my classes, we'd read Leaves of Grass for a few minutes at the beginning of class, just to get our juices flowing. I did a final project on the grail legends. I designed, edited, and self-published (which means "spent lots of money on but didn't sell") two collections of short stories and poetry.
I didn't realize I missed it. I forgot the charge I got out of my classmates, the freedom I had to express myself, the safe place it was for learning.
There's more that I miss. I miss the harbor and Fell's Point and shopping in Towson and eating blue crabs on the Severn river. I miss wandering around and exploring and getting lost. New places have that thrill of the unexpected. I don't get that here. I miss the seasons (but I do NOT miss the snow). I miss the food (we don't have many great restaurants here). I miss the options. I miss driving down that one road on the way to town and always seeing a herd of deer. I miss the architecture and the old homes. I miss downtown. I miss the funky, gritty, kitschy city.
After graduation, though, we moved closer to DC for work. Shortly after that, the "Big Split" happened, and Lancelot and I took a break. There are things I absolutely love about DC (politics, stuff to do, great food, gorgeous architecture, shopping, night life), but I believe it dragged us down. Driving 2 hours to work each day. Traffic. Polution. Crime. We were there for 9/11, the anthrax crap, the snipers. And we struggled financially.
Sometimes I wonder what might have been had we stayed in the Baltimore area. I know that I'm looking back with foggy eyes, that I'm not remembering the crap I hated about living there. But that's ok. I'd rather remember Charm City fondly.
6 Comments:
Hi from Michele's today.
Isn't interesting how something minor can instantly throw you back? My alma mater for my B.A. has changed so much. I don't recognize any of the names of the professors and the image has changed. I don't really miss it because I didn't care for being a student. It interrupted my television watching too much. But sometimes the newsletter will run a photo and I'll get nostalgic. Wouldn't trade for those days but I enjoy the memories.
I am so jealous of your graduate program. :) Sounds like loads of fun.
Not that I didn't have some fun my last year at university - all my required courses were done by then and it was all electives, so my schedule looked like: Folklore, Ethnomusicology, Gender and Sexuality in the Horror Film (really a sort of history of horror movies, with bonus sociology content), and Race, Class, and Gender in the Mass Media (bonus: my roommate was obsessed with Ally McBeal and The X-Files, so I got in free term paper research just by being in the dorm room. ;))
Yours sounds much more nourishing to the creative side of the spirit though, so I'm still jealous. :) We need some way to generate that sort of safe learning space In The Real World. I wonder if it can be done?
i would have flunked that program. i am not very creative. much more type A.
anyway, don't you hate those "what if?" questions? sometimes i wonder what life would be like if i never left indy, where all my high school and college buddies are. sometimes i wonder if i should move to richmond, a city i've always loved. i'd be close to my family, which would be wonderful.
but i'm happy here. if i moved now, i would be leaving so many friends. i'd hate that.
ah, what can you do? i wish i could clone myself.
Oh, good memories! We used to live between DC and Baltimore and it was an amazing experience. I don't want to go back (the traffic - gah! the housing prices - gah gah!) but I remember it fondly, too. The seafood - amazing. Going to see Orioles games...picking crabs, Old Bay, going to Kennedy Center and seeing plays every few months...Also, loved The Wire but we don't have HBO anymore - is it still on??
I haven't been to many cities but I do have great memeories of Annapolis. It is a great quirky, historic place.
The wire?! OMG I loved that series and was petrified every time we drove into Baltimore after watching it!
Rene: It really was surprising to get that jolt because I haven't missed it up until now.
RB: The program was very creative, but those courses you mentioned sound great, too. I sometimes miss school, even though I had too much of it and two useless degrees to show for it.
VB: It actually put me off a little when I first started. I thought it was all a bit over the top. But I got over that when I saw what it did for my writing. Of course, those benefits are all expired now, and my writing is for shit, but still.
Katherine: I don't know if The Wire is still on. If it is, perhaps I should tune in. It would cure my nostalgia, I bet. When we left Baltimore, we moved to Annapolis, which is lovely, too.
Lori: I miss some things about Annapolis, too. But not the ghetto I lived in. Who knew Annapolis had a ghetto?
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