July 25, 2011. Diary of a Billsticker – Baltimore, USA

The Wire

Omar Little said it best: play or be played.

I was carrying posters by Tusiata Avia, Marty Smith, Pat Connors, Elizabeth Smither, Brett Lupton, Dylan Kemp, Roger Hickin, Frankie McMillan, Jeffery McCaleb, Gary Langford, Chris Price, James K. Baxter, Hone Tuwhare, Janet Frame, Jody Lloyd, Sandra Bell and Keri Hulme.

Janet Frame lived in Baltimore for a period. She was under the care of Dr John Money. She also lived at the Occidental Hotel in Christchurch and in Serpentine Avenue and McLaggan Street in Dunedin. Janet Frame's birthday is August 28th. She would have been about ninety years old.

H.L. Mencken lived and wrote in Baltimore. David Simon's 'The Wire' continues Mencken's tradition of telling the truth about the city. Frank Zappa was from Baltimore. As Frank said: if you want to get laid, go to college; if you want an education, go to a library.

Colin Wilson wrote 'The Outsider' at the age of twenty-four, sleeping on Hampstead Heath and writing in the British Museum Reading Room during the day. There is something very Dickensian about good billsticking and I feel it every time I go out.

Keep the Faith,
Jim Wilson