WYPR: The Signal Podcast: Recent Episodes
WYPR
Podcast Summary: Will Sparrows Point have a new owner soon? Plus, we learn about five Frenchmen who took refuge in Philadelphia as Revolution swept through 1790s France, Studio Theatre stages "Carrie: the Musical," and Nutritionist Monica Reinagel returns.
Sparrows Point might have a new owner soon, we talk about it with Mark Reutter, reporter for the online news site Baltimore Brew and author of a book about the Point. Then, in the 1790s, five distinguished Frenchmen took refuge in Philadelphia as Revolution swept through France. How did they fit into the young republic they found here? We ask historian Francois Furstenberg, who’s just published "When the United States Spoke French."
Plus, Telekinesis, pig's blood and musical numbers! Tom Hall talks with theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck about the Studio Theater's production of "Carrie: The Musical."
Tom will also tell us who won this year’s Sondheim ArtScape Prize. And, he’ll visit with the Nutrition Diva, Monica Reinagel.
Podcast Summary: Many children go hungry in the summer due to an absence of school food programs, Kathleen Brockway's new book "Baltimore's Deaf Heritage", and the Orioles hope to hang on to first place in the A.L. East.
Once school lets out, many kids find themselves without three meals a day. There are programs to serve them, but many children are still hungry. The head of a summer meals program in Baltimore and the director of the Johns Hopkins' Center for a Livable Future discuss fighting summer hunger and its effects.
From schools, to churches to bowling leagues, we learn about the influence of Baltimore's deaf community from Kathleen Brockway, the author of a new book, “Baltimore's Deaf Heritage”.
Also, the Orioles are in first place in their division, the American League East. But, can they stay there? Tom Hall talks Orioles baseball with sportswriter Mark Hyman.
Will the cost of sending money abroad go up? What can Sri Lanka teach us about raising our children? Plus, researcher Sabiyha Prince on gentrification and African-Americans.
Some big banks are getting out of the international money-transfer business, and that’s expected to drive up the cost of sending money abroad. We talk about what that means for Marylanders with Paul Dwyer, CEO of Viamericas, a money-transfer company headquartered in Bethesda.
Then, University of Maryland, Baltimore County professor Bambi Chapin lived in Sri Lanka for two years, trying to understand why spoiled toddlers there grew into obedient children. Sheilah talks with her about the different ways Americans and Sri Lankans parent and her new book, Childhood in a Sri Lankan Village.
Plus, What are the effects of gentrification and its implications for social justice in Washington, D.C., and beyond? Tom Hall asks cultural anthropologist Sabiyha Prince.
Podcast Summary: Should access to a lawyer be a guaranteed right in certain civil cases? Plus, tracking ospreys in Maryland, a review of Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's "As You Like It", and bluegrass band Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen.
A state task force is looking at whether poor Marylanders should have free access to a lawyer in civil cases affecting basic rights like shelter, safety or health. We ask the executive director of the Maryland Access to Justice Commission how it might work and how much it could cost.
Then, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation has been tracking the journey of ospreys from South America back to Chesapeake Bay. One of the leaders of the project tells Nathan Sterner what scientists are learning about the ospreys from those tracking devices.
Plus, J. Wynn Rousuck reviews Chesapeake Shakespeare Company's open-air production of "As You Like It."
And, they’ve won awards and played all over the globe. This morning, Bluegrass masters Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen play in our studio.
Podcast Summary: Maryland's odd constitutional delegation in 1787, a documentary about the "Central Park Five", Baltimore writer Rafael Alvarez on his book "Tales from the Holy Land."
Happy Fourth of July! Today, we mark the day we declared independence from Britain in 1776. We revisit our conversation with author David O. Stewart about another seminal event in American history: writing the federal constitution and who Maryland sent to take part.
Then, five black and Latino teenagers, known as The Central Park Five, were wrongfully convicted in the rape of a Central Park jogger in 1989. Tom Hall talks with the directors of a documentary about the case, and one of the five men, now exonerated.
Plus, Baltimore writer Rafael Alvarez sketches intimate portraits of the city's down-and-out and up-and-coming. Tom talks with him about his book of short stories, Tales From The Holy Land.
Podcast Summary: The psychological costs to children when bullets fly in Baltimore, plus activist Shirley Sherrod on healing from injustice.
When violence breaks out in neighborhoods, how do you address the psychological damage to young witnesses? We spoke with a Stanford University child psychiatrist who studied links between community violence and PTSD, and with a Baltimore public-school social worker.
Plus, it's been four years since Shirley Sherrod was fired from her federal agriculture job over an inaccurately reported speech. Sherrod told Tom Hall what lessons she took from that incident, and how a lifetime of witnessing inequality taught her how to fight it.
Podcast Summary: Attracting attorneys to represent arrestees at initial hearings, remembering "the battle that saved Washington" during the Civil War, plus how one man’s story reflects India’s story in the 20th century.
The District Court of Maryland is looking for lawyers to represent criminal defendants at the pretrial hearings that decide whether the arrestee is held in custody or released before trial. We ask Chief Judge John Morrissey about how the search is going.
Then, the "Battle of Monocacy," fought near Frederick 150 years ago next week, crushed Confederate hopes of capturing Washington. We talk with Brett Spaulding, a Monocacy National Battlefield Park Ranger who wrote a book about the conflict.
Plus, J. Wynn Rousuck and Tom Hall discuss the first major revival of the musical "Sideshow," now at the Kennedy Center.
And, writer and Johns Hopkins anthropologist Anand Pandian tells the story of his grandfather, and of India in the 20th century, in his new memoir, Ayya’s Accounts.
Podcast Summary: We talk about what’s being done to reduce HIV rates in Baltimore, how WWI shaped Baltimore's large German community, and what movies to see this month.
Today is ‘National HIV Testing Day.’ In Baltimore, 1 in 43 people live with the virus. We talk about what’s being done to reduce HIV rates in Baltimore, challenges to getting more people tested and into treatment, and plans to test at least 800 people tomorrow.
Also, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria - 100 years ago tomorrow - triggered the start of World War I a month later. How did the war shape Baltimore's large German community? Sheilah asks amateur historian John Foertschbeck.
Plus, Tom Hall talks with Jed Dietz of the Maryland Film Festival, and Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post, about what movies to see this weekend (if watching the World Cup isn’t taking up all your time).
Podcast Summary: Where things are headed in November based on the primary vote. Plus, burgers you may have never thought of, and a musical instrument you may have never heard of.
As the dust settles on yesterday’s primary, we ask WYPR statehouse reporter Chris Connelly and Baltimore Sun reporter Luke Broadwater what the results mean for November.
Then, Chef Sascha Wolhandler on how we can expand our ideas of what a burger can be.
Plus, we talk with Sean Michaels, author of the new novel “Us Conductors," about the inventor of the theremin, a musical instrument you play without touching.
Podcast Summary: Sheilah asks a Hopkins public-health professor why chronic conditions are so tough to treat, a biography of Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, "Wild With Happy" at Center Stage, and we visit the new ‘Museum of Negro Leagues Baseball’ in Owings Mills.
Can health care reform make a dent in how many Marylanders have chronic conditions like diabetes and obesity? We ask a Hopkins public-health professor why chronic conditions are so tough to treat.
Journalist Lynn Sherr started covering NASA’s Space Shuttle Program for ABC News just about the time a young astrophysicist was training to become the first American woman in space. Sheilah asks Sherr about her biography of her friend, Sally Ride.Also, "Wild With Happy" is up at Center Stage. Will theatergoers go wild over this quirky play about grief? We hear from J. Wynn Rousuck.And, Tom Hall visits the new ‘Museum of Negro Leagues Baseball’ in Owings Mills to talk to the Museum’s 'ambassador' and the wife of the only Negro Leagues player from Baltimore who’s been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Podcast Summary: How Howard County is expanding its mental health services, and nutritionist Monica Reinagel explains how much protein you need depending upon your age.
The shooting in January at the Mall in Columbia prompted Howard County to expand its mental health services. Sheilah talks to county health and police officials about what’s being done and what still needs to be done to better assist those with mental health challenges.
Also, how much protein do you need, and how does that change with age? Tom Hall asks nutritionist Monica Reinagel.
Podcast Summary: What NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore could mean for Maryland, a book of photos captures life in Maryland during the Great Depression and World War II, and local author Jim Magruder talks about his new collection of short stories titled "Let Me See It."
What can the aerospace industry do for the Eastern Shore economy? Sheilah talks with an economist at Salisbury University and the Deputy Director at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore.
Then, a new book of photos captures life in Maryland during the Great Depression and World War II. Tom Hall talks with author Constance Schulz about Maryland as a microcosm of America.
Also, local author Jim Magruder talks about his new collection of short stories titled "Let Me See It." He talks with Tom about the linked stories which follow two cousins as they navigate growing up and growing into their identities.
Podcast Summary: The race for the Republican Nomination for County Executive, Paula Willey's recommendations for summer books, J. Wynn Rousuck reviews "Tribes" at Everyman Theatre, and Ann Kolakowski's poems about Warren.
The race for the Republican nomination for Anne Arundel County Executive pits the incumbent Laura Neuman against Delegate Steve Schuh. What separates the two candidates? We ask WYPR reporter Kenneth Burns and Center Maryland’s Josh Kurtz.
School is out. Summer is here, and so is Paula Willey with summer book recommendations for young ones or teens.
Also, finding a way to be understood--through sign and sound. Theatre critic J. Wynn Rousuck reviews "Tribes" at Everyman Theatre.
And, the town of Warren was flooded in 1921 to create the Loch Raven reservoir. Poet Ann Kolakowski wrote about it after finding an old schoolbook of her grandmother's.
Podcast Summary: Fatherhood in the inner city, and the secret lives of plants.
Sociologists Kathryn Edin and Timothy Nelson, of Johns Hopkins, spent seven years living in Camden, New Jersey, one of the poorest cities in the country. They were trying to understand the lives of poor urban fathers. They've shared what they found in their book, "Doing the Best I Can: Fatherhood in the Inner City". We talk about what surprised them.
Plus, how do flowers have sex? That's one of the questions author Ruth Kassinger asks in her new book, "A Garden of Marvels." Tom Hall talks with her about the secret life of plants.
Podcast Summary: We talk with CareFirst CEO Chet Burrell about next year's individual health insurance rates, plus Baltimore activists reflect on coming out in the 70s and 80s, and choreographer Liz Lerman on her newest theatrical dance piece, "Healing Wars."
How much will individuals pay for health insurance in November when enrollment opens back up? Insurers have told state government what they hope to charge. We talk with about it with the CEO of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, Maryland’s largest health insurer.
This weekend's "Baltimore Pride" festivities will bring 30-thousand people into the city to celebrate LGBTQ visibility. But there was a time when being openly gay wasn’t common. We revisit our conversation with two Baltimore activists about coming out in the 1970s and 80s.
Also, Tom Hall speaks with choreographer Liz Lerman about her newest theatrical dance piece "Healing Wars." It explores how medics and nurses during the Civil War healed physical and emotional wounds.
How local NAACP branches plan to increase voter turnout. Plus, author David Ignatius on his latest spy thriller, "The Director."
The NAACP has a new president. What direction will the civil rights organization take now? Tom Hall gets a local perspective from the President of the NAACP Maryland State Conference.
Then – More than 150 athletes from Maryland will head to New Jersey for this weekend's Special Olympics USA Games. We talk with a Frederick cyclist and a Taneytown soccer player about training for the big event.
Plus– The nuns in "Sister Act" are singing and dancing across the Hippodrome's stage. Worth seeing? Tom Hall asks our theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck.
And, Sheilah talks with author and Washington Post columnist, David Ignatius, about his latest spy thriller, "The Director."
Podcast Summary: Can a state tax all of the income earned by its residents, even if it’s earned in another state? Plus, Baltimore tech entrepreneur Dave Troy maps social networks in the city, and finds two Baltimores. And, must-see movies this summer.
Can a state tax all of the income earned by its residents, even if it’s earned in another state? That's the question at the heart of a case out of Maryland that will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. We talk with the attorney representing the Howard County family at the center of the issue and an assistant attorney general for the State of Maryland
Then, local tech entrepeneur Dave Troy has mapped Baltimore’s Twitter landscape. We talk with him about how Baltimore is just as divided online as it is in the real world.
Plus, Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post and Jed Dietz of the Maryland Film Festival are here to share with Tom Hall their rundown of must-see movies this summer.
Podcast Summary: Violence has claimed the lives of several young people in Baltimore. How are youth homicides being dealt with, and how can future violence be prevented? The BSO will perform Beethoven's Ninth this weekend conducted by Marin Alsop.
Too many young lives have been lost in Baltimore in recent months. What will it take to reduce violence against city youth? We ask members of Baltimore City's Youth Commission, Councilman Brandon Scott and Daniel Webster with the Johns Hopkins Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence.
Plus, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was the last he wrote, widely considered his greatest. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will perform it this weekend. Tom Hall talks with BSO Music Director Marin Alsop about the message behind Beethoven’s music.
Podcast Summary: Civil rights leader Gloria Richardson reflects on the struggle in the 1960s to end segregation in Cambridge, plus Tom Hall talks with author David Grimm about man's best friend.
Fifty years ago, civil rights leader Gloria Richardson marched on picket lines to end segregation in Cambridge, on the Eastern Shore. When we spoke this spring, she told us how she reacted at one demonstration to racial slurs shouted at her, and how her daughter kept her cool.
Americans are sharing their homes with four times as many pets as in the 1960s. And courts are more disposed to see pets as part of the family. Tom Hall talks with Baltimore-based writer David Grimm about his new book “Citizen Canine.” It looks at the changing status of animals, inside and outside the home.
Podcast Summary: What are the barriers to employment for job-seekers in the Baltimore region? Plus, J. Wynn Rousuck reviews "The Gospel Songstress" at Arena Players. And, we learn about Muse 360, an arts organization for youth.
A new report out today asks what barriers are keeping job-seekers from finding employment in the Baltimore region. We talk with the author of the report, the executive director of a workforce development non-profit, and with a Columbia man who says his criminal record kept him from getting a job.
Plus: Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck reviews "The Gospel Songstress" at Arena Players in Baltimore.
And: How visual and performing arts take some Baltimore students around the world. Tom Hall speaks with Sharayna Christmas Rose, founder of the arts program ‘Muse 360.’
We talk with U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski about how to combate the gender pay gap. Plus, we explore the murals of Open Walls Baltimore 2.
U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski on the Nigerian school girls, health care in the Veteran Affairs Department, and…who’s she would back for President in 2016.
Then – As the winner of the Preakness prepare to compete for the Triple Crown at the Belmont Stakes next weekend, many Marylanders still have horses on their minds. Tom Hall visits an exhibition at Coppin State University that highlights the role of African-American jockeys in horseracing.
Plus: The Station North Arts District is the home of many murals…now displayed as part of ‘Open Walls Baltimore 2.’ Tom takes a tour with the artist Gaia, who curated the project
Podcast Summary: Democratic candidate for Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby. Plus, what’s it take to be an astronaut? And, corn distilled, aged and sealed in a bottle.
This week, we're talking with the Democratic candidates for Baltimore City State's Attorney. Today, we speak with Marilyn Mosby, a civil attorney and former prosecutor in the State’s Attorney’s Office.
Then – What's it take to be an astronaut? Tom Hall asks Cockeysville native Reid Wiseman, who will launch into space this afternoon, headed for the International Space Station about 200 miles above the Earth.
Plus: Bourbon is considered a true American spirit. Tom talks with author Dane Huckelbridge, who writes in his latest book about the U.S.’s long love affair with corn distilled, aged and sealed in a bottle.
Podcast Summary: We talk with Baltimore City State’s Attorney Gregg Bernstein about his campaign for reelection. David Guth joins us to talk about how the Chesapeake Bay Bridge got built. Plus, pediatrician and author, Dr. Nadia Hashimi, talks with Sheilah Kast about her new novel "The Pearl that Broke Its Shell."
We're talking with the Democratic candidates for Baltimore City State's Attorney. Today we speak with the incumbent, Gregg Bernstein, first elected four years ago.
Ocean City's summer season is now in full swing. What’s the story behind the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which connects so many vacationers to the beach? Nathan Sterner talks with author David Guth about his latest book, “Bridging the Chesapeake: A Fool Idea that Unified Maryland.”
Dr. Nadia Hashimi is a pediatrician and now, a novelist. She recently released her first book, "The Pearl That Broke Its Shell," about a girl in Afghanistan who takes on the role of a boy in her family. We talk with her about it.
Podcast Summary: The history behind Memorial Day, plus the kiss in Times Square, 1945 that was immortalized in a photograph. Then, A review on "Impossible! A Happenstance Circus" by Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck And, poet Carolyn Surrick on her latest book of poems.
Time was, so many people flocked to area cemeteries to decorate graves of soldiers killed in combat, the trolleys and buses were swamped. We talk to an amateur historian about how Memorial Day used to be celebrated, and its meaning today.
Then, in August 1945, a Life magazine photographer captured a sailor kissing a woman in a white uniform in Times Square. The sailor was identified as George Mendonsa, of Rhode Island, and the woman in white, Frederick resident, Greta Friedman. We revisit our chat with them
Music, movement, comedy, the circus! Theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck reviews "Impossible! A Happenstance Circus!" at the Theatre Project.
Musician and poet Carolyn Surrick on her latest book of poems, "Silently, Shadows are Sweeping".
Podcast Summary: How images shape our idea of terrorism, the tea party nobody talks about on the Eastern Shore, plus members of the Irish folk-pop group "Celtic Woman."
How have visual images shaped our idea of terrorism since the 9/11 attacks? We talk with UMBC professor Rebecca Adelman, who's written about it in a new book, and with someone who curates the images we see - MaryAnne Golon, director of photography for "The Washington Post."
Then, you know that angry colonists stormed a British ship in Boston harbor in 1773. But have you heard they also did it on Maryland’s Eastern Shore? The Chestertown Tea Party has been celebrated since the 1960s, but it's not certain it actually took place. We talk with Washington College historian Adam Goodheart.
Plus, the Irish folk-pop music group "Celtic Woman" will be at the Hippodrome Tuesday. Tom Hall talks with two of its musicians about the allure of Irish ballads.
After a long career as a visual artist, Baltimore painter Jean-Pierre Weill has written his first book. It’s a children’s book – for adults – and it’s an elegantly simple crystallization of our grownup search for happiness through a maze of doubts and longings. Actually, to say that Weill has ‘written’ this book is to credit him with only half the work he’s put into it. Each page of the one hundred and eighty four pages in this story is supplemented with the author’s original artwork, done in watercolor and pen & ink. Here’s Jean-Pierre Weill reading from his children’s-book-for-adults, The Well of Being.
This holiday season, local artists might want to add to their holiday wish-lists a “Ruby.” Over the next year, The Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance will be awarding a hundred and twenty thousand dollars in Rubys Grants to qualified applicants seeking to fund new creative projects. GBCA Grants Program Manager Sonja Cendak visits with The Signal’s Aaron Henkin to talk about how the program works.
Madison Smartt Bell is best known as a novelist, but he has always written short fiction as well. Releasing a collection of seemingly unrelated short stories is no easy feat in the evolving world of publishing, but Bell has found a rather unique approach. He joins producer Lisa Morgan to talk about his new book, "Zig Zag Wanderer," which brings together two decades of short stories set in the US, Haiti, and beyond.
This past Thursday night, festive crowds gathered on the cobblestones at Mount Vernon Place to celebrate the annual lighting of Baltimore’s Washington Monument. The statue of George Washington looked regal as ever, perched atop his marble column amidst the colored lights and fireworks, but the venerable structure has suffered nearly two hundred years of wear and tear. The truth is, it could use a makeover, and, as Aaron Henkin reports, it’s about to get one.
For more info on the restoration project, check out the Mount Vernon Place Conservancy
December 6th through the 8th, Baltimore’s Theatre Project will host a visiting production that asks us to re-evaluate our stereotypes about Muslim women. Unveiled is a one-woman play, written by (and starring) Rohina Malik. The playwright and actress spoke with The Signal’s Aaron Henkin by phone from her home in Chicago.
Celebrated Baltimore novelist Sujata Massey recently took the spotlight at a Stoop Storytelling event titled, “It’s a Mystery: Stories about the unanswered questions that haunt our city, our families, and ourselves.” Massey loves to write a good mystery, but as you’ll hear, it’s not so fun when a real-life mystery lurks right inside your own home.
Have you ever taken a drawing class, the kind where you draw a live model? Most of those models just do the work on the side, here and there, to make a few extra bucks. But there are some lucky ones who have agents, managers who treat them like superstars and tend to their every need. Producer Aaron Henkin takes us inside one of the most exclusive modeling agencies around, The Drawing Zoo.
Singer/songwriter Kristen Toedtman currently splits her time between Baltimore and Los Angeles. Out on the West Coast, she keeps busy as a session singer and a choir leader. But she frequently heads back East to perform with the local super-group she helped to found, The Baltimore Afrobeat Society. Toedtman is in town to record part of an upcoming double EP, and she drops in for a visit with producer Aaron Henkin.
Heather Rounds’ novel, There, follows a young American journalist working in the northern Kurdish zone of Iraq as the region slowly regains its footing after years of war and upheaval. Not structured like a traditional novel, "There" is more a series of stories, impressions, and memories laced together from snatches of conversations, chance encounters, and pages of notes and journal entries. The fragments lend a surreal quality to the story; the rules of time and space are suspended, as in dreams. Heather Rounds joins producer Lisa Morgan to talk about “There.”
After a long career as a naval architect, Wilbert McKinley, Jr., is starting over. This time, he’s building an entire fleet by himself – out of Legos. Commodore McKinley’s educational Teach Fleet is the story of a man who finally discovers what he’s meant to do. He becomes a visionary artist and a mentor. As it happens, he’s enjoying a second childhood along the way. Producer Aaron Henkin brings us the story.
The banjo has been on a long, strange musical trip since its first appearance in America. The instrument was first fashioned by enslaved Africans during Colonial times, a musical descendent of their native kora. From there, the banjo rang out through the hills and hollers of Appalachia, a mournful accompaniment to mountain balladeers. Meanwhile, the strumming of the plectrum banjo found its way onto early jazz recordings. Then along came the fast-picking Bluegrass style of Bill Monroe. Recently, the banjo has been enjoying a warm embrace in the world of contemporary rock music, from Modest Mouse to Mumford & Sons. Now, local singer / songwriter Jacob Panic is stretching the banjo’s boundaries one step further, and he visits with Signal producer Aaron Henkin…
Check out Jacob Panic at: www.facebook.com/jacobpanicmusic and www.jacobpanic.bandcamp.com
The New Black is a powerful documentary that explores the complex issue of gay rights within the African American community. From church pews and conference rooms to street corners and kitchen tables, the film reveals the evolution of this divisive issue, and how outside forces influenced voters on both sides leading up to the historic vote for ballot Question 6 in Maryland in 2012, a referendum that legalized same-sex marriage in the state. Director Yoruba Richen spoke to producer Lisa Morgan about “The New Black.”
A trip to the pharmacy is, let’s be honest, kind of a drag. You wait in line. You give your name. You watch them rifle through the bags. If you’re lucky, they have your prescription ready. You pay, and you’re done. On a good day, you might get a half-smile and a muttered, ‘hello,’ from your pharmacist. It wasn’t always this way. Before the modern-day pharmacy, there was the bygone era of the apothecary. And before pharmacists were relegated to their roles as rubber-stampers of doctor-prescribed medicines, there were herbalists who used their encyclopedic botanical knowledge to create and dispense hand-crafted remedies. Well, what’s old is new again. The Signal’s Aaron Henkin has the story…
Upcoming community education events with Oherbals herbalist Olivia Fite:
KITCHEN MEDICINE
A one-hour class on how to use food as medicine & medicine as food
Saturday, November 9th
MESH Baltimore Skill Share event 1-4pm
Christ Lutheran Church
701 S. Charles St. Baltimore, MD 21230
KITCHEN MEDICINE
Learn self-care techniques with the contents of your kitchen
Thursday, November 14th, 7 - 8:30pm
Pivot Point Office
2501 Manhattan Ave. Baltimore, MD 21215
HERBAL DIGESTIFS FOR THE HOLIDAYS: A HANDS-ON WORKSHOP
Sunday, November 24th, 2-4pm
The O Herbals Apothecary
1903 E. Pratt St. 21231
The Tuvan throat-singing ensemble Alash is currently touring the US and on its way to Baltimore for a concert at Towson University’s Stephens Hall Theatre. Aaron Henkin talks with the band’s interpreter, Sean Quirk, about the human voice’s ability to act as a sonic prism…
Signal contributor Jeff Trueman recently had a surprising and rewarding experience sharing his love of classical music with a couple of wide-eyed, adolescent kids at a Baltimore Symphony Orchestra concert. The event inspired him to reach out to conductor Marin Alsop with a request for an interview. As you’ll hear, Jeff is an irrepressibly curious (and rather unpredictable) interviewer, and Maestra Alsop handled his wide-ranging questions with characteristic grace and humor….
Many of us have heard of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, but did you know that Baltimore has a fringe festival, too? Charm City Fringe is a new theater festival that aims to highlight and expand the thriving “fringe” arts community in Baltimore. By creating a venue in which a variety of artists and theater companies can come together, the hope is that some cross-pollination will occur, leading to new ideas and expanding audiences. Festival co-founders Zachary Michel and Michael Brush join the Signal’s Lisa Morgan in studio with a preview of Charm City Fringe…
“It’s what you didn’t learn in high school history.” That’s how Bernard Kinsey describes the world-class collection that he and his wife, Shirley Kinsey, have amassed over the years. The Kinsey Collection is a world-class showcase of African American art and artifacts spanning more than 400 hundred years, it’s been showing at museums around the country to critical acclaim, and it opens November 2nd at Baltimore’s Reginald F Lewis Museum. On the eve of the Baltimore opening, The Signal’s Aaron Henkin got a preview and spoke with founders Bernard and Shirley Kinsey…
Back in 2004, on Halloween, we invited a talented local performer to join us for a special reading of Poe’s most famous poem. Every Halloween since, we’ve made a tradition of unleashing this diabolical archival recording, and this week we’re happy to summon it forth from the crypt once again. Ladies and gentlemen: Tony Tsendeas reading “The Raven.”
www.stoopstorytelling.com)" width="189" height="300" style="float: right;">Here’s a story from the “Haunted” Stoop event about a Baltimore police officer’s first official night on the job. Officer Edward Doyle-Gillespie stepped to the microphone and told this tale…
www.stoopstorytelling.com)" width="263" height="300" style="float: right;">Kate Pratt is a transplant coordinator and a certified eye bank technician. She shared this recollection in front of a live audience at a Stoop event titled, “Haunted: Stories of ghosts, regrets, and things from the past that won’t stay in the past.” Here’s Kate Pratt…
www.stoopstorytelling.com)" width="283" height="300" style="float: right;">The Stoop’s “Twilight Zone” storytelling event brought a seasoned raconteur to the microphone, a retired US Army medic who served stateside as a psychiatric tech in a number of military rehabilitation hospitals. Jim Karantonis shared this recollection…
We begin this week’s special Halloween edition of The Signal with a story from Jeff Alphin. Jeff told this anecdote in front of a live audience at a Stoop Storytelling event titled, “The Twilight Zone: True Tales of the Bizarre and Unexpected.” Here’s Jeff…
Moira Egan is an award-winning poet, a longtime Signal contributor, and an accomplished literary translator. She’s also 50 years old and increasingly fussy about the thermostat. Her poetry collection, Hot Flash Sonnets, gives a lyrically graceful, honest, and witty treatment to a subject that’s usually discussed in hushed tones and only among select company. Egan visited recently with The Signal’s Aaron Henkin…
Ptolemy Slocum takes the stage at The Windup Space to share a story about the trouble with good intentions, at the Stoop Storytelling event, “Dating Tales: Stories of Meeting Cute, Failed Fix-ups, and Other Romantic Misadventures.”
The ancient Greeks prayed to the muses for creative inspiration. (They also practiced alchemy and believed the human body was made of four humors.) And while our understanding of science has become more refined over the millennia, the source of creativity is as mysterious to us today as it was in the age of mythical gods and goddesses. That might be about to change, though, as science tunes in to the human brain – at play. The Signal’s Aaron Henkin reports…