Goodbye, Baltimore! The last 3 years have been the most difficult ones of my life, thus far. I can't say that I will miss the Baltimore City School System, but I will miss many other things about this special place. Here are some lists that describe what I will miss in no particular order.

People:
1) The dog-whispering hobo of Mt. Vernon.
2) The city kids, especially my students.
3) Queen Nzinga and Ras Doobie.
4) Sean Preston.
5) Liza, my hairdresser.
6) The creepy Russians and Ukranians.
7) My Trinadadian mother.
8) My fruit man.
9) Everyone who ever called me "hon" with an authentic Baltimore accent.
10) All my friends: Ashley, Ed, Boson, Reggie, Mary, Joe (you've got my old room), Ben & Kim, Josh & Abby, Kara, Heather, Sara, Megan, Patrick, Sandy, and Potato.

Places:
1) The parking lot where you can stand and look at the old broken-down theater on Paca St.
2) Tyson St.
3) The roof of my old apartment building.
4) Potato's couch (with Potato).
5) The Korean place.
6) Very Little Italy.
7) Even smaller Greek town.
8) Krakus, the Polish deli.
9) Chestnut Street.
10) The U of M medical library and the Peabody conservatory library.
11) The park benches around the monument.
12) The soup place in Belvedere Square.
13) That Tai Restaurant place that I went to with everybody.
14) Lots of spots where you can watch the boats around the harbor.
15) All 3 Indian restaurants on Charles.
16) Bolton Hill
17) The colorful bridges.
18) The Dollhouse.

Things:
1) The way cops don't blink when you run a red light in front of them.
2) "zink" for "sink"
3) "dug" for "dog"
4) The way the letter "o" is pronouced.
5) The millions of festivals during the summertime.
6) Random arty stuff because of the over-abundance of art kids.
7) Touches of gorgeous architecture intermingled with decay and poverty (reminds me of home).
8) Southern sensibilities mixed with open-mindedness.
9) Amazing, shockingly bad taste.

Whoever, wherever, and whatever I forgot, sorry. I've got things to pack.