My favorite blues music takes me back
Music may indeed soothe the savage breast. But it’s a flashpoint between We Old Folks and Those Young ‘Uns. Flip through memories of the tunes and crooners on whom we grew up: Ezio Pinza singing “Some Enchanted Evening,” Frank Sinatra seeing a man who danced with his wife, Joan Baez singing just about anything. The real deal, each and every one of them. And today? Well, ... READ MORE
Alexandria’s town crier rhymes in uniform
In the heat of the summer, he dons a pressed-wool tricorn hat, a white, billowy-sleeved shirt, a red waistcoat, a white-silk neckerchief, white breeches that reach just below the knee, gray stockings and straight last shoes. Grasping a brass handbell and a cloth scroll spooled on wooden handles, he booms, “Oyez, oyez, oyez!” And crowds snap to attention. Benjamin Fiore-Walker, 52, ... READ MORE
Ellicott City poet publishes first book
Patti Ross always wanted a career in the arts. Instead, she worked in journalism, business and technology and spent time raising a family. In the past decade, however, Ross, 59, began to focus on her writing again. Her debut chapbook of poems, St. Paul Street Provocations, is being published in July by Yellow Arrow Publishing of Baltimore. Ross says the poems in St. Paul Street... READ MORE
Ways plants communicate with pollinators
Note: This is part two of a two-part series. [Read part one here] Plants are stationary, but most flowering plants require pollinators for reproduction. Therefore, they must attract pollinators to themselves. Pollinator syndrome describes the way plants have developed over time to attract specific pollinators, including visual cues and bribery with nectar and pollen. Researchers... READ MORE
Farm specializes in herbs, small edibles
Cleopatra used lavender to seduce Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. In the Tudor period, hopefuls put lavender under newlyweds’ beds to induce passion. Throughout history, lavender has been hyped to induce relaxation, heal aches, mummify corpses, ward off evil spirits, scent clothing and enhance bath water. The bluish-purple plant of myth, magic and medicine rarely fails to intrigue... READ MORE
Books translated from esoteric languages
The Bibliophile See the world through the perspective of other cultures. Experience the lives and emotions of natives thanks to these three translations. They run the gamut from first-person stories to Russian interwar history to contemporary humor originally in Catalan, Yiddish and Swedish. The Art of Wearing a Trench Coat: Stories, by Sergi Pàmies, translated by Adrian Nathan West,... READ MORE
Remember when clothes made the man?
It’s midnight blue. It’s still in pretty good repair. It has done lots of duty over the years — at weddings, public appearances, business meetings. Until early last year, it was my go-to suit. But then came the pandemic, and all the adjustments that we have come to know so well. For me, that meant growing a beard (I shaved after three months — I looked like a sheep). It... READ MORE
Guerilla gardeners pitch in to beautify city
Fifteen years ago, D.C. resident Jim Guckert saw the potential for beauty. He would pass by the pocket park at the corners of 8th and I streets, near the Marine Corps barracks, and imagine transforming it from an eyesore to lush garden. So Guckert “recruited some neighbors to help me maintain the park and plant liriope and daylilies in the tree boxes,” he said. “The garden was... READ MORE
Local author gives back with each book
Last November, Maryland children’s book author Zoe Michal received an unexpected and very exciting email. Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, had chosen Michal’s second book, Mission: Protect Bear, to read on her YouTube channel, “Storytime with Fergie and Friends.” Ferguson, the former wife of Prince Andrew, who has written four children’s books, started the channel during... READ MORE
Made in Baltimore with love
A few years ago, Teresa Stephens was working in a community garden in West Baltimore when a disheveled man stumbled in from a nearby alley, alcohol on his breath. The man, who told her he had grown up on a North Carolina farm, seemed interested in her work. Stephens, now 52, offered him a plot of his own. “I provided everything: a shovel, a hoe, the seeds he said he wanted,” she... READ MORE
Arts 2024
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