July 4, 2015
(This is part of a 365 project
during my 70th years where I write and illustrate a blog on each
day’s gift.)
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| Fourth of July fireworks from a rooftop in Baltimore |
Baltimore
has had a bad rap over the years, in spite of local efforts to brand its special
charm with succinct catchy phrases.
Under Mayor
Schaefer, Charm City became twisted
to Harm City. Under Mayor Schmoke, the official slogan
The City That Reads became The
City That Bleeds and The City That
Breeds. Under Mayor
O'Malley, Believe was twisted into Behive, Blieve Hon and Behave.
The next slogan, Baltimore, the Greatest
City in America was painted
on city benches, which ironically became beds for the homeless.
Present Mayor Rawlings-Blake came up with, Baltimore:
A Great Place to Grow which can be twisted into Baltimore: A Great Place to Die. The latest slogan branding is now Baltimore: Birthplace of The Star-Spangled
Banner. It will be a challenge but I’m sure some creative person will figure
out a cynical twist.
Baltimore is having a problem defining itself. In my
experience, Smalltimore and Bmore are appropriate slogans. Or maybe
a new slogan committee could be created with artists. Baltimore has a strong
arts community that is succeeding with making small pockets of change all
around the city.
Tonight we attended a July 4th party at a friend’s
Federal Hill home. Perhaps a good slogan for the city might be Quirky Baltimore. At
the party children ran around in princess costumes and adults devoured beer and
steamed crabs spread out on newspaper. From
our high vantage point, along with people from dozens of surrounding rooftops, we
could see fireworks from the harbor. As I watched the light displays, I thought
about how people from many different backgrounds in Baltimore all respond to
fireworks in the same way, “Oooooh! Aaahh!”
My gift today is fireworks in quirky Baltimore.
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can find links to my other posts on this project here:
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