The Makings Part IV: Charm City

Curtis Mayfield’s soul and Lil’ Wayne’s swagger pour out onto the concrete. Children laugh and create their own piece of heaven using jump ropes, warn mattresses and milk crates. Abandoned buildings mirror the souls of the inhabitants that occupy them. Congregations gather on corners to sing drunken praises and experience the ephemeral euphoria of their vice of choice. Wheelchairs, canes and withered limbs shroud the vapid shells of former bodies that once reflected the divine image of their creator. The air is thick with a special type of energy that only warm weather can bring. This is the home of my people. An urban jungle, filled with prey and predators, danger and enticing beauty, with soil that has been poisoned by the toxic waste of capitalistic greed and yet richly fertilized by the decomposition of strange fruit.

Although the poetic passage above can applied to almost any major city in the US, this is actually my heartfelt interpretation of Baltimore, MD. Since late April of this year I have made at least 5 trips 40 miles north to take in what this city has to offer. Whether it was to celebrate my Natural Beauty, Heal a Nation or to behold Divine Royalty, it seems that Baltimore is brimming with the raw passionate culture that no longer seems to reign supreme in a melting chocolate city.

While Baltimore feels like my second home, (after Florida that is) I still do not know the entire city well enough to explore it without it my GPS or Map Quest directions handy. The comfort of familiarity gives me confidence but my inquisitive nature and DC tags readily announce that I am a visitor. Like a tourist, I can not keep my eyes off of the sights around me, the people, the soul in their eyes, the hair styles and fashion, the endless blocks of brick row houses. Scenes from The Wire replay in my mind as I cautiously maneuver around certain parts of town.

During my most recent excursion north I was driven by the expectation of getting in touch myself on a deeper level. I took a class at The Living Well on Tantra called “The Art of Giving and Receiving Pleasure.” Although I desired to understand myself more on a physical level this trip actually helped me gain a deeper sense of myself as a woman, of my black people and of the world around me. Despite all of the pain we encounter, we are still here - surviving and thriving, striving to experience living on a higher level.

Before I reached my final destination, I stopped at a well known black bookstore there to pick up some knowledge, a healing bath elixir and some shea butter. Although the entire store intrigued me I found myself continuously drawn to 3 main subjects: black health, black history and world travel. As I walked back to my car I realized that I parked directly in front of a Planned Parent hood clinic. I am grateful that Charm City has blessed me with some of her hidden treasures. All of these Omens tell me that my heart, soul and passions are leading me in the right direction…being a healer, nurturer and nurse for my people.