Baltimore Stories 1979
Set in the late 1970s, Baltimore Stories in the working title for a literary novel that chronicles the experiences of Joyce, a 30-something year old woman who has aged out of the foster care system. She gets entangled in the Baltimore drug trade to make extra money and then later quits it after being pressured to step up her game by selling heroin in addition to cocaine. The story takes place in the first six months of 1979 at a time when mom and pop grocery stories are being replaced by large supermarkets and at a time when the city is on the cusp of change. The story follows Joyce as she learns to step into her own power and exercise her own agency.
Scalia's charaters hail from the working class. They are blue collar workers with jobs like plumbers, waitresses, cashiers and also there are a few others who are teachers.