They call it Charm City? You don’t say.

(WILMINGTON, N.C.) — My friend, Erik, and I have a thing for quirky towns and cities that others might overlook. The places we like are the ones that, if they were kids in middle school, would get beat up by bigger, glitzier locales like New York, Toronto and London. I’m talking about El Paso, Texas [...]

For my mother

(BALTIMORE, Md.) — This city is like nothing I have ever seen, at least this part of it. In Hampden, where my friends Avelino and Meredith live, not a thing is uniform, except for overwhelming use of brick. It seem hodge podge here, with junky front yards butting up against well-groomed ones and bumper stickers [...]