For the first time last weekend, I saw the city of Baltimore. Or at least a more complete picture of it.
Geographically speaking, I've been living in this city for three years now. But like most Hopkins students, I define my relationship with Charm City based on the stops along JHMI and Collegetown shuttle lines and maybe, when I am feeling particularly adventurous, the occasional MTA bus stop.
You could say that in terms of getting to know each other, but Baltimore and I have barely made it past first base.
On Saturday, however, all of that changed. I ran the Baltimore Half-Marathon, following a course through areas of Baltimore I never knew existed. These are neighborhoods south and southeast of Hopkins that you will never see featured in admissions materials or visit on a night out on the town.
I passed row upon row of dilapidated houses with chipped paint and broken windows, surrounded by litter and graffiti. It was clear that many had been abandoned for years - a physical symptom of Baltimore's chronic population decline. Along some parts of the course I ran under Baltimore police blue lights - closed-circuit cameras installed in particularly crime-heavy areas as crime deterrents.
Several times I passed homeless men leaning against fences and railings to watch and cheer on the runners; at one point I even ran past an abandoned lot where two or three homeless people had assembled tents. Around the corner from a movie theater advertising the premiers of two new adult films, a group of elementary school children sat on their front porch and watched the runners go by.
It has been said that Hopkins students live in a bubble - there is a wide-spread perception among students and community members that during our four years here we rarely venture away from the lawn and brick security of the Hopkins campus. When we volunteer, the majority of us tend to gravitate to the closest neighborhoods possible - Remington, Greenmount, even our own Charles Village. Some of us have volunteered or visited more distant neighborhoods like Middle East. But ask most students, especially underclassmen, and they will tell you that Middle East is a distant region across the Atlantic, situated at the convergence of the African and Asian continents rather than a neighborhood in Baltimore City. Venturing away from the familiar can be scary and intimidating, but as Hopkins students and nominal Baltimoreans, shouldn't we make a deliberate effort to explore our city and help make a change for the better?
The picture of Baltimore I'm trying to relate - the complete Baltimore, not our refined, Domino-sugar version of our adopted hometown - is harsh. But if anything, even in a city faced with sky-high poverty rates and challenges, the race on Saturday showed that Baltimoreans are a powerful force.
Thousands of people from all walks of life, including Hopkins students, turned out to cheer on runners, volunteer at water stations, play music and shout encouragement. They came out in droves, braving the wind and rain, to devote their Saturday to encouraging and helping thousands of runners they will never meet.
Such a turnout of students and Baltimore residents from across the city is a spirited demonstration of Baltimore unity, hope and pride in the midst of and despite this visible poverty. I can see now that there is a Baltimore waiting beyond the walls of MSE and the bounds of Charles Village - and it is well-worth the time and effort needed to discover it.
