Narrating the Space: Lexington Market

“ If you can
make it here,
you can make
it anywhere.”

The Story of Lexington Market
This market has so many stories to tell
Jay’s Books has only a few to sell
But his clientele cannot always see
Locked up, barred-in, four years three weeks
Gloomy days and bloodshot eyes
Broken glass and neon signs
Workers busily butch and bake
Workless ask, can you spare any change?
Distrusting eyes and golden smiles
When will it all be worth the while?
But nonetheless from East to West
This place is still the very best
This is the place that I call home
However far away I roam

Lexington Market, Baltimore, MD
April 6, 2016
An Interview with Jerome
K: If you could describe Baltimore in one word, what would it be?
Jerome: “Oh man...I don’t know...indescribable. INDE-
SCRIBABLE. To get to know Baltimore...you can look
at the buildings, take pictures of the façade, but to really
get to the heart of it all, you have to venture deeper. Look inside. Things
aren’t as simple around here as they used to be, this community needs a
leader. Baltimore needs a real LEADER, someone who is invested, and
passionate about uplifting the community and solving the problems here.
I’m 44, they used to have a lot of programs here for the kids, you know,
summer camps, after-school programs, that’s all gone. Now you see kids
all hanging around on the streets, they don’t know what to do, get into
the wrong things, they cut the funding for all that. They used to have
a “Clean Up the Block Project,” and my grandmother was the president
on our street. People looked up after their own block, took care of the

neighborhoods they lived in, and the alleyways were so clean. I worked
for a trash removal company; man West Baltimore has some dirty alleyways.
But then you see EAST Baltimore, man they have some DIRTY
alleyways. But it’s hard for us to find jobs now, so many of us that live
here in the community and we can’t find a job that will hire us. And not
to discount the Hispanic population, because they are working hard too
make their way, but they are taking all these jobs that we should have.
And Baltimore created a job readiness program you know, to help prepare
us for the workforce, but they didn’t see that through to the end. After that
program, only about 3 of us in a class of 30 went on to get jobs, so what
was the point of that? It’s like they wanted to make it seem like they were
really trying to help. It’s all politics now, Baltimore needs some real leaders.”
K
: Do you still consider Baltimore your home?
Jerome: Yeah, I do, I grew up here. It’s tough on the outside, but inside it’s not that
bad.