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To Whom It May Concern,
This is my proposal: let us keep the Anderson Body Shop sign blinking, now and forever.
I mean… so far, so good, right? I first noticed the blinking “body” portion of the sign (henceforth, BODY) during my 5 AM walks in the summer of 2021. It put the then-recent Megan Thee Stallion song to mind, gave a spring in my step, a tune to hum. I wondered… when they will fix it? A sign that large at the corner of such a trafficked intersection (25th and Howard) would have to be a priority, right?
Welp.
Here, at the dawn of 2024, BODY has been blinking every night, going into a fourth year.
I say… keep it! So much else has changed in Baltimore.
We need something to stay the same into 2024, especially in the present underground. Reliable employer, coffe house and eatery Charmingtons just closed, we bid a “fond Squarewell” to restaurant and venue Joe Squared this past weekend, word is still spreading that county vegan mainstay Mr. Chan’s is closing its doors… heck, even the mailbox near BODY was wiped out, along with a light pole, never to return.
Forget “we.” I need something to stay the same right now.
The vibe going into the new year, reading the tea-leaves of social media, is pretty bleak. No one I encounter passing along the ol’memes is looking forward to next year for various reasons small and large. Sure, you have to acknowledge and find ways to express when times are tough, when things are in transition, when the inevitable march of time catches up, when the “free money” runs out, when the struggle intensifies … you have to take these hits when they come. And they keep coming.
But maybe… just maybe… if BODY can keep blinking, year in and year out? Maybe I can keep going, too.
I, too, am not working as well as I used to in my younger days. Sometimes I’m “on”, sometimes I’m “off.” I know it.
But I keep at it.
So let’s do as a community what we need to do! Declare the sign a National Historical Place. Have that weird org that “decides” on all the monuments in Baltimore decide to fund it to stay blinking! Claim it’s a mural! Or something!
And then, when midnight of December 31st, 2024 rolls around, and BODY is STILL blinking into 2025, let us gather at the sign and chant “Body-ody- ody- ody- ody- ody- ody- ody- ody- ody- ody- ody- ody- ody- ody! Body ody- ody- ody- ody- ody- ody- ody- ody- ody- ody- ody- ody- ody- ody! HAPPY NEW YEAR!”
IG: @kim_tabara
