The first time I rode in an airplane was in 2001, about three months before 9/11. As part of a scholarship program, I flew the summer before my senior year of high school to Baltimore. I knew little of the city’s problems, so to me this was just home of the Orioles and Ravens and the Ravens had just played in the Super Bowl. That was a big deal to a young future sportswriter.
The trip was the first time I had encountered beggars on the street without my parents. A group of us high schoolers were in Inner Harbor and were confronted.