Baltimore Living
Best Reason to Live Here
Crime
To have grown up or survived for years on the mean streets of Baltimore often spawns intense local pride, since street cred doesn't come any more bona fide than to have been a Baltimorean for any significant length of time. Even for those who never have been in The Game, the scars of the war, if not visible in the form of a gunshot wound or a wheelchair, are ever ready to be shown off rhetorically. Denizens of Mobtown tend to have winning cocktail-party stories about crime, whether learned firsthand or simply known in detail by dint of life in the big city. To those more timid creatures who never have had the privilege of Baltimore living, our stories are larger than life and make us seem courageous and wise beyond our years. Respect like that rarely comes simply from one's address, and it puts us Baltimorons on the level with someone who, say, lived in Beirut during the 1970s. We're survivors, and we're staying no matter what. Now, what'll we do if crime goes down? Well, hopefully, one of our sports teams will give us something else to be proud about.
Other Awards for Best Reason to Live Here:
You're already prepared for the collapse of society, 9/16/2009
The Eternal Return, 9/17/2008
To keep it from being taken over, 9/20/2006
We Can’t Wait To See What Happens Next, 9/21/2005
Because of What We’re Not, 9/22/2004
Baltimore Needs You, 9/17/2003
It's Cheap, 9/18/2002
We're So Cool, 9/19/2001
Neighborhoods, 9/13/2000
It's cheap, 9/15/1999
One degree of separation, 9/17/1997
The architecture, 9/18/1996
All Awards for Crime:
Best Reason to Leave Here, 9/19/2007
