#baltimorean

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Knowing that one of my favorite blogs is also in Bmore is so funny to me, mostly bc the nature of Smalltimore is that there's like a 1-in-4 chance we've seen each other in the real world.

You ever been to Otakon? Because it might be even greater than that.

[everythingunderthesky]

Hold onto your hats, y'all, Mikey's gonna win the Turtle Derby.

1 2 [You are here!] 4

In all seriousness, the annual Johns Hopkins Hospital Turtle Derby is amazing.

A very big thank you to Mike Klingaman, who knew EXACTLY what kind of energy to bring to this delightful article.

Highlights:

-Each hospital unit got their own turtle

-They painted their turtle's shell their team colors

-THEY ATTACHED TINY FLAGS WITH THE TURTLE'S RACING NUMBER TO THEIR SHELLS

-Attendees placed bets on which turtle would win via dedicated parimutuel betting stands and assorted bookies

-5,000 people paid the $5 entry fee to watch these turtles wander around. 5,000. Lucky ducks.

-The entry fee benefited hospital charities

-Instead of using the normal signal pistol to indicate the beginning of the race, they switched to a tuba

-They had a brass band cover the event

-One year instead of the traditional terrapin race, they put turtle costumes on children and bade them RUN (they were compensated with turtle-shaped cookies afterward)

Quotes too perfect to paraphrase:

"a breathless announcer called each excruciating second of action"

"Fragments", the box turtle from the orthopedics team, is in the running for the funniest turtle to date:

"Fragments started out as though he meant business, darting to within a yard of the finish while most of the racers were wandering aimlessly in circles. But as photographers rushed to the sidelines … the turtle stopped, cocked his head jauntily to one side of his shell and waited for his picture to be taken."

"Early on, rumors of subterfuge plagued the Turtle Derby."

RUMORS of SUBTERFUGE.

"Race officials responded by introducing a snapping turtle into the pre-race holding pen in the hospital's courtyard."

...Yeah, okay, that'd dissuade most reasonable people.

I was really touched by this.

"While the event caught the fancy of hospital personnel and the public, it was the patients at Hopkins Hospital who got the biggest kick. Those on crutches and in wheelchairs attended, amid the snack and lemonade stands, while others watched from the windows of their rooms."

The Turtle Derby began in 1931 and, "minus a break during World War II", ran up until 1994.

[xxxg0ryygurlll13xxx]

we as a society need to treasure John Waters more

[dreamofstarlight]

I’m politely asking those who are not praying for the victims and their families to take Baltimore and Maryland out of their fucking mouths please 🩷 I hope you have crab cakes with all filler no killer for the rest of your days

[nephyria]

“We understand why you all are upset, Black and Indigenous protesters in 2020 😔 we shall remove* the statue of Christopher Columbus after it had red paint saying ‘Stop Celebrating Genocide’ thrown on it”

*clean it up, put it in storage, and put it in a park down the road 3 years later

[ausetkmt]

BALTIMORE (AP) — In 2018, Angela Banks received bad news from her landlord: Baltimore officials were buying her family’s home of four decades, planning to demolish the three-story brick row house to make room for a beleaguered urban renewal project aimed at transforming a historically Black neighborhood. Banks and her children became homeless almost overnight. With nowhere else to go, they spent months sleeping in her aging Ford Explorer.

Roughly five years later, the house remains standing, and plans to redevelop west Baltimore’s Poppleton neighborhood have largely stalled, even after the city displaced Banks and many of her neighbors.

Banks filed a complaint Monday asking federal officials to investigate whether Baltimore’s redevelopment policies are perpetuating racial segregation and violating fair housing laws by disproportionately displacing Black and low-income residents. Her experience presents the latest example of Black Baltimoreans losing their homes to redevelopment after watching their neighborhoods suffer from growing disinvestment — while whiter, more affluent communities flourish, Banks and her attorneys argue.

“I lost everything,” Banks told The Associated Press. “It’s like we had no voice. We could make noise, but nobody would hear us.”

Ordered to vacate quickly, her family ended up leaving behind many of their belongings.

During a recent visit to the neighborhood, Banks stepped cautiously through an unsecured back door and peered inside the house, wondering aloud whether squatters had moved in. Her eyes settled first on the marbled vinyl floor tiles she installed herself many years ago. She also encountered extensive water damage and rotting drywall, unfamiliar furniture, clothes and other personal items. Startled by her presence, two black cats scurried down the second-floor hallway and disappeared into a hiding spot.

“This was home,” she said, shaking her head.

Her landlord sold the house to the city voluntarily in 2018, but other Poppleton homeowners have been subjected to eminent domain, when the government seizes private property for public use.

Once relatively common in American cities, using the practice for revitalization and infrastructure projects has largely fallen out of favor. Some cities are currently working to provide reparations to Black residents, acknowledging the harm caused by urban renewal efforts and other discriminatory practices.

Banks reminisced about her children swimming in Poppleton’s public pool while she socialized with neighbors on their stoops. Since then, over 100 occupied homes have been seized, according to the complaint. The pool and nearby recreation center closed years ago, Banks said. Poppleton is about 93% Black, according to 2020 census data.

“Baltimore has long been a tale of two cities,” said Marceline White, executive director of Economic Action Maryland, which joined Banks in filing the complaint and organized a news conference Monday in Poppleton.

In 1910, Baltimore leaders enacted the country’s first residential segregation ordinance that restricted African American homeowners to certain blocks.

In addition to redlining, Poppleton residents experienced “slum clearance” starting in the 1930s with construction of Poe Homes, a public housing complex named after a nearby onetime residence of the famous poet Edgar Allan Poe. The number of displaced Black families was larger than the number of housing units created, according to the complaint.

Then came Baltimore’s so-called “Highway To Nowhere,” which was designed to connect the downtown business district to interstates surrounding the city. Officials used eminent domain to demolish nearly 1,000 homes in the 1960s and ’70s, cutting a swath through majority-Black west Baltimore and severing ties between Poppleton and other nearby communities.

Construction of the thoroughfare was never finished — partly because residents in more affluent neighborhoods successfully campaigned against it — and the endeavor became largely pointless.

“What’s happening now in Poppleton is a reflection of what has happened before, part of an unbroken chain of policies and practices,” said Lawrence Brown, a research scientist at Morgan State University. “There is a pattern.”

Plans for Poppleton’s urban renewal surfaced in the 1970s. By that time, Brown said, the neighborhood had already been experiencing mistreatment and disinvestment for decades.

In 2006, city officials signed an agreement with a New York-based company, La Cite Development. Construction has been completed on two mixed-use buildings with 262 rental units, but many other aspects of the $800 million project haven’t materialized. Initial plans identified over 500 properties the company would redevelop near a University of Maryland biomedical research park, just outside the downtown business district.

Company officials didn’t respond to a recent request for comment.

Baltimore leaders have said they’re committed to revitalizing an increasingly blighted community suffering from population loss, but Poppleton residents accuse them of catering to big developers at the expense of homeowners and renters.

In 2015, the city agreed to partially subsidize the Poppleton redevelopment project. That was after officials tried to terminate their agreement with the developer, citing a lack of progress, but the company sued and won.

Mayor Brandon Scott, who took office in 2020, pledged his commitment to “advancing fairness and equity in housing for all residents.” In a statement Thursday, he said his administration “has taken significant steps to address the housing inequities of the past through substantial investments in formerly redlined communities.”

The movement to save Poppleton’s existing homes galvanized around longtime resident Sonia Eaddy, who recently won a decadeslong fight when Scott announced her row house would be removed from the redevelopment plan after negotiations with the developer. A nearby block of rainbow-colored historic row houses will be rehabbed by a local nonprofit that helps Black women achieve homeownership, officials also announced.

Eaddy said she celebrated the victory, but she’s not done fighting for reform.

“Eminent domain is an act of violence. It’s being used to perpetuate gentrification,” she said during Monday’s news conference.

Most displaced residents have been offered financial assistance. Banks said she didn’t initially qualify because her landlord sold the property voluntarily, but the city later gave her compensation she used to pay off debts.

Her complaint lists a series of potential remedies, including additional compensation and priority access to affordable housing for displaced residents. She filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which said it was unable to comment on pending investigations.

Banks’ former neighbor, Parcha McFadden, recently left the family home she inherited after losing her father, who invested in the property with future generations in mind. She and her daughter have been living in a rented apartment while their old house sits vacant.

“Homeownership is part of the American dream, but it can so easily be ripped away,” she said. “How is this American? How is this the American dream?”

[mrmousetolliver]

Hairspray (1988) directed by John Waters. Harris Glenn Milstead, better known as Divine, was an American actor, singer and drag queen. He primarily worked with fellow Baltimorean and independent filmmaker John Waters. Milstead primarily played female roles in cinematic and theatrical productions, and used a female drag persona in his music career. He died on March 7th 1988, three weeks after the release of his final film Hairspray. Hairspray received generally good reviews and was considered by many to be Waters most "accessible" films to date. Milstead received particular praise with many critics saying that it could mark his breakthrough into mainstream cinema.

Waters wrote that his all-time favorite review of Hairspray was David Edelstein's in Rolling Stone: "A family movie both the Bradys and the Mansons could adore"

[devereauxsdisease]

left Twitter at last. Love your fics Hannigram fics so much. If you have any more in the pipeline I would love to know but thank you anyway for all the fantastic stories. I am Allegramanontroppa on AO3 strictly a reader not a writer. Was @partbiscuit on Twitter and am sadpapercourtesan on Instagram/threads. Thank you for the stories, every one of them are great. Are you still writing? If so where? And thank you again. Sara, daughter of Immigrants. Mother of Spaniels.

Hi! Thank you so very much for the kind words!

I'm not sure whether or not to say I'm sorry you left Twitter? I've actually never had a personal Twitter account because that site ramps up my anxiety and always feels sort of combative. (So if y'all want to talk shit about me over there, no worries, I'll never see it. 🤪) I'm more than happy to sit here like Ferdinand the Bull and sniff flowers while other people do fandom wars or whatever happens on Twitter.

I've actually got three stories in the wings I hope I'll have out soon-ish. Here's a little preview:

Hannigram: Will and Hannibal end up in Latvia Post Fall and Hannibal uses long winters and the promise of a sauna to bring them together...

Spacedogs: Adam's dad meets Nigel when he sees the man screwing his son on the kitchen table. He makes an immediate decision to get rid of this creep - but is his first impression a correct impression?

Hannigram, longer fic: Will's empathy extends to his sense of taste. He can tell what someone is feeling if they cook for him. I wonder if there's a cannibal out there who would LOVE that trait in a partner?

Like I said, they're written and currently going through beta, so fingers crossed you'll see them in the coming weeks. I so appreciate you reaching out and being so kind to me.

Best,

Dev, daughter of Baltimoreans and mother of mutts

[porcelain-rob0t]

i love everything about john waters films but especially how deeply Baltimorean they are, the accents are so nostalgic to me

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

! Did not know that one of my favorite fic authors was a fellow Baltimorean. How 'bout them Os?

Continuing to prove that money can't buy talent!

Seriously, if anyone's ever in the area: go get tickets to Camden Yards. It's the most comfortable and best-catered ballpark in the country, and as a bonus the tickets are cheap because they haven't had a season worth watching since Cal Ripken Jr. retired.

[beemovieerotica]

oh are you a fellow baltimoron? with all your fiber posting it would make sense if you were from dundalk lmao

i'm nottt lol i'm new here i was born a california girl and then became a georgia man and now i'm a baltimorean beast, but wait why do people from dundalk not eat fiber? they all shit bad?

[blackwomeninstarwars]

I never felt one way or another about it, but, yeah, the Obi-Wan Kenobi show was really good. Actually managed to surpass the general lack of expectations I didn’t have.

Reva Sevander was definitely one of the best parts about the story aside from Leia’s dynamic with Ben. Fills my heart with glee to see Baltimorean Moses Ingram playing to such heights (esp after The Tragedy of Macbeth).

[winguontheweb]

Not really a question just wanted to say your Baltimore Ravens art is fun and as a Baltimorean would love to see more

you will see more!!! esp since the ravens are basically guaranteed a playoff spot

[kaushibael]

@northernwastes AGREEEEE one of my big sells for the wire is always like. Look heres omar youll love omar. He's the gay baltimorean folk hero of your dreams He blows people away with his shotgun frequently but has a no civillian killing moral code He's one of the least realistic characters in a series that values realism almost above all else but he's one of the characters that thrives the best & is the most believable within that framework.. He wears an awesome duster in season 4 and hes so charms You want to get to know omar dont you :) You like omar and think hes cool youshould ssee him on screen :)

^ omar :)

[thebaltimoreyoudontknow]

I am a socially awkward person so internet skills can be hard for me. But I was hoping and would like for people to show their version of the Baltimore you don't know. Just add #the Baltimore you don't know (end hashtag) and give us a glimpse of your Baltimore.

I hope to celebrate the city's unrecognized charm, and so I try to veer away from discussions about its problems. So many Baltimoreans truly love the city. However, I do not and will not try to control the conversation about the city. I just want people to have a way to talk about Baltimore that isn't *insert obligatory Big Streaming Platform crime drama*