Baltimore21201.Com

I'm Totally Humbled. I Didn't Know this Author: Jabari Asim

Once, every so often... when I'm feeling way too smart for my own good and full-of-myself, I read an email that makes me feel small and not very bright. That was certainly the case last week when I received an email about the 2007 Book Festival in Baltimore's Mount Vernon.

One of the featured authors is Jabari Asim. And I wondered, "Who's that?" Well, it turns out that Mr. Asim has a backgound & a profile that I should have known.

Per the Baltimore Book Festival notification:

"Jabari Asim is the new editor-in-chief of The Crisis, the NAACP's flagship publication founded by W.E.B. DuBois in 1910. For the past 11 years he has been an editor at The Washington Post Book World. He is the author of several books, including Not Guilty: Twelve Black Men Speak Out on Law, Justice and Life, Daddy Goes to Work, and The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn't, and Why. He lives in Baltimore with his wife and children."

I've never met this man, this author. However, I intend to. Reading his bio and reading through his website make this fellow a must visit. The reviews of his latest book are stellar.

Make plans to attend the 2007 Book Festival. I'll see you there.

The Seach for Big Meat in Baltimore

I had lunch with a client after our progress meeting last Friday. He asked what Jacob and I were doing for the weekend.

I explained that, as our first chore, we were heading out to our favorite butcher, R. A. Regan, in Lexington Market for some of Regan's custom-cut, perfectly trimmed steaks and chops.

He didn't know of R. A. Regan!

I was shocked and appalled. However, as I thought about it, many of Baltimore's carnivores may not know of this source for the finest beef and pork in the city. What to do? What to do?

Post a picture? Yep, that should be informative.

Check out our two perfectly trimmed Delmonico steaks, cut by hand. These steaks are well over 2.5 inches thick, weigh nearly 2 pounds each, and came home with us for less than $18 each. What a deal is that?

We also picked up two super-thick, bone-in, pork chops.

However, I'll save chops' image for a later time. (I have no liability insurance for readers who may explode at the images of Baltimore's best Big Meat.)

Southern Management's 39 West Lex - New Website & Hot Floorplans Now Online

I've been watching the progress at the old BG&E building on the corners of Fayette, Liberty and Lexington Streets for many months with some sense of awe. The grand dame of a structure has been receiving some tender loving care at the hands of some amazingly skilled workers by way of it's conversion from an office building, built in 1916, to new apartment homes known as 39 West Lex.

David Hillman and his Southern Management Co., under the supervision of the National Park Service, are restoring the 22-story, neoclassical building to the standards of the National Register of Historic Places. (Jacob and I belong to the National Trust for Histoic Preservation. Trust me, such a project is not easy and, for a project of this size, is blazingly expensive.)

Today I had my first look at the online floorplans. I'd feared that, to maximize income, there would be many, many small apartments per floor as is the case in quite a few historic conversions. Oh, that's not the case here. The building has a true penthouse level with 2-bedroom + den units, on two floors, topping out at a startling 1799 square feet. The entire project has a maximum of 10 units per floor.

And, no creaky spiral staircases here. At 39 West Lex you get the real deal.

By way of total disclosure, we live in a Southern Management property, the Park Charles, and have no plans of moving anytime soon. What Hillman's company has done to improve the unban landscape of downtown Baltimore requires some serious loyalty. Besides, young Mr. Oliver loves the view.

You Vote, You Get Exit-polled and... You Meet a Neighbor

September 11th 2007. Primary election day in Baltimore. Jacob and I head out to vote.

Our polling place is next door to Park Charles (in the Charles Towers) so the greater part of our voting commute is just a 52-floor ride on the elevators. 26-floors down and 26-floors back up. Usually the whole voting thing is over in fifteen minutes or so. Usually. I mentioned to Jacob that voting at lunchtime might take a bit longer.

After casting our votes for Mayor Sheila Dixon, Michael Sarbanes and William Cole we'd headed back home when we were asked by Ben Green, of the Associated Press, if we'd comment on our voting.

Yep. Of course.

Sure, let's get the word out. Baltimore needs Dixon, Sarbanes and Cole. And the AP's Mr. Green was a smart guy. Affable. (Easier to talk to than other pollsters that I've run across.)

Green was also amazingly forthcoming and a decent interview in his own right.

We learned that he is from the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. He's lived in Baltimore for over two years and he has a place in Baltimore's Mount Vernon area. (Although as he said, "I didn't know much about the neighborhood when I moved there.")

I was interested in the AP's Baltimore Bureau as when I want to truly follow a story I often visit the Associated Press Website. AP still follows stories like the great newspapers did years ago. (As a copywriter, I also rely on the online AP Stylebook and the print version.) I asked Mr. Green about the bureau's location. Sure enough, Associated Press Baltimore is actually in our building.

The three of us chatted. It was good. We wished each other a great day. And shook hands. (Be warned: Mr. Green has a grip that could crush a cow's hoof!)

And, after Jacob and I returned, I wondered: Could the Ben Green we met today be any relation to the wonderful writer, Ben Arthur Green? That Ben A. Green wrote several wonderful books and worked as a newspaper writer and editor in the Alabama, Florida and Tennessee area decades ago. I don't know for certain... but, Jacob and I may have been interviewed by a legacy of an exceptional writer.

Regardless, we were interviewed by a fine, young journalist. Watch for the Ben Green byline.

And now, get out and VOTE.