Baltimore street corners offer a bonanza of free publications, some better than others. There’s the wryly edited City Paper, in its trademark yellow bin, next to shock-orange containers housing B, a kind of downmarket pitch to young and supposedly vacuous 20-somethings, a 2008 brainstorm of the now-bankrupt Baltimore Sun publishers.
Then, on really good corners, you’ve got Urbanite, a kind of lifestyle magazine for “curious” city dwellers. Urbanite publishes well-written pieces woven together in a self-consciously cerebral fashion that begs the question (as they write on their own bins) how can this be free? It’s the modern architecture of the Baltimore publishing scene: wildly esoteric, defiantly intellectual, articulated with delineated concepts not designed for mass consumption. This month’s edition offers thoughtful pieces on a Guantanamo Bay trial interpreter who lives in Roland Park, a Baltimore Cash Campaign for city dwellers with little access to “real banks,” and a calender of foodie events including an upcoming Absinthe tasting at Morton’s The Steakhouse.
Urbanite‘s Baltimore Observed column reports on Baltimore’s changing news landscape, online and in newsprint:
“Much has already been said about the Baltimore Sun which has been shedding jobs and pages as its corporate parent, the Chicago based Tribune Co., restructures in bankruptcy… But at least it won’t have a competitor: The Baltimore Examiner, launched as a free quick-read tabloid rival to the Sun in April 2006, rolled its last issue off the presses and into posterity on February 15.”
(Many won’t mourn the passing of the Examiner, especially because its presence likely pressured the Sun into launching Botoxed B, when the landmark paper’s prestige and staying power should rest on its stable of seasoned newsmen and venerable 172 year old reputation of responsible reporting.)
Anyway, Urbanite points to two stellar up-and-comers in the new media department. Ya-hoo!
Baltimore Brew adheres to what Urbanite describes as a “sassy” blog style with lots of photos. Posts are tagged by subject and neighborhood. Gerald Neily has some tips about how the Red Line project can undo the damage done by 1960s highway construction by eliminating the forbidding cement overpasses that divide and ruin neighborhoods.
Slightly “wonkish” Maryland Commons is also flying the smart growth flag, with Carrie Madren’s article on legislation that would set limits on sprawl, even cap per capita vehicle miles travelled. The weekly e-journal looks at criminal justice, health care and state government.
I discovered a most enjoyable rant at the bottom of the Baltimore Brew’s “About us” page:
“Think of us as your post-apocalyptic* source of information and insight on the city… Yes, as in, a world where somebody thought it was a great idea for The Baltimore Sun to create “b” … and to ditch the foreign bureaus and scores of experienced, professional journalists. Yeah, yeah, rise of the Internet and …blah blah …Craigslist and Facebook and Cars.com … blah blah… pompous mainstream media gatekeepers … insufferable bloggers in pajamas …¦scary media consolidation …and Sam Zell and Lee Abrams, for god’s sake …. Yeesh…Until the business model gets sorted out, we figured we’d make a place for Baltimore’s journalists, techies and news-starved readers to get together and do some good things. That’s the plan.”
Rock that plan! From rainbow-colored metal boxes to blogs boasting virtual coffee stains we have a media landscape in Charm City that is thriving despite the odds.
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After much ado, Baltimore’s fat, lazy summer sun seems to have settled in. Glimmering with the new heat we hoist fat white thighs into summer shorts. Iced coffee displaces hot joe as the morning caffeine kick of choice. Foxy’s tongue lols out and her fur appears in clumps around the house. But things beyond the mercury level are looking up.
A Baltimore Block 