September 2011 Issue by Urbanite LLC

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this month

#87 September 2011

feature 32

departments 34

Keynote

The Outlier about the cover: Photo-illustration by Peter Yuill. Photograph by J.M. Giordano

Interview by Marc Steiner Professor John Marsh says better schools are not the best way to give poor kids a fighting chance.

baltimore observed

27 Healing Waters by David Richardson

The Bond

In the Inner Harbor, the seeds of a medical breakthrough

29 Update 31 Grand Central Station 31 Urbanite Project 2011

——

poetry 55 The Debt Ceiling By Shelley Puhak

Family Toolbox

Resources for parents, guardians, and other family members looking to better serve kids

—— 65

more online at www.urbanitebaltimore.com

By Michael Corbin They’ve lived education reform, and now they want a different way forward.

on the air

Urbanite on The Marc Steiner Show, WEAA 88.9 fm at 5 p.m. September 8: John Marsh on the limits of public schools September 12: Defenders Day September 19: The Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle September 28: The Inner Harbor’s healing powers

59 The Big House by Brennen Jensen

—— food + drink 65 Hot Pot by Martha Thomas

VOICES Historians duke it out over Defenders Day resources The 6 C’s: Developing 21st Century skills Mind in the Making: 7 Life Skills Chicago Parent Program’s 8 Keys to Effective Discipline

space

A 156-year-old Towson landmark swaps inmates for office workers.

The Graduates web extras

Editor’s Note What You’re Saying What You’re Writing Don’t Miss The Goods

——

By Anne Haddad The new ticket to school success: building connections between kids and their families

Spicy Korean kimchi lands at the crossroads of current foodie trends.

69 Dining Reviews 71 Wine & Spirits

—— 59

arts + culture 75 Fall Arts Guide by Greg Hanscom, Ashley May, Rebecca Messner, and Andrew Zaleski The city’s art scene turns it on for autumn.

—— 90 Eye to Eye

Urbanite #87 september 2011 7

issue 87: September 2011 publisher Tracy Ward Tracy@urbanitebaltimore.com general manager Jean Meconi Jean@urbanitebaltimore.com editor-in-chief Greg Hanscom Greg@urbanitebaltimore.com assistant editor Rebecca Messner Rebecca@urbanitebaltimore.com digital media editor Andrew Zaleski Andrew@urbanitebaltimore.com editor-at-large David Dudley David@urbanitebaltimore.com online editors food/drink: Tracey Middlekauff Tracey@urbanitebaltimore.com arts/culture: Cara Ober Cara@urbanitebaltimore.com proofreader Marianne Amoss contributing writers Michael Anft, Scott Carlson, Charles Cohen, Michael Corbin, Heather Dewar, Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson, Mat Edelson, Lionel Foster, Brennen Jensen, Michelle Gienow, Clinton Macsherry, Richard O’Mara, Robin T. Reid, Andrew Reiner, Martha Thomas, Baynard Woods, Michael Yockel, Mary K. Zajac editorial interns Jonah Furman, Ashley May art director Peter Yuill production manager Belle Gossett Belle@urbanitebaltimore.com staff photographer J.M. Giordano Joe@urbanitebaltimore.com production interns April Chou, Aprile Greene, Susannah Lohr, Allison Samuels senior account executives Catherine Bowen Catherine@urbanitebaltimore.com Susan R. Levy Susan@urbanitebaltimore.com account executive Natalie Richardson Natalie@urbanitebaltimore.com advertising sales/events coordinator Erin Albright Erin@urbanitebaltimore.com advertising/sales/marketing interns Kayla Bruun, Ed Gallagher jane of some trades Iris Goldstein Iris@urbanitebaltimore.com creative director emeritus Alex Castro founder Laurel Harris Durenberger — Advertising/Editorial/Business Offices 2002 Clipper Park Road, Fourth Floor, Baltimore, md 21211 Phone: 410-243-2050; Fax: 410-243-2115 www.urbanitebaltimore.com Editorial inquiries: Send queries to editor@urbanitebaltimore.com (no phone calls, please). The magazine is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork. Urbanite does not necessarily share the opinions of its authors. To subscribe or obtain assistance with a current subscription, call 410-243-2050. Subscription price: $18 per year. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission by Urbanite is prohibited. Copyright 2011, Urbanite llc. All rights reserved. Urbanite (issn 1556-8105) is a free publication distributed widely in the Baltimore metropolitan area. To suggest a drop location for the magazine, please contact us at 410-243-2050. Postmaster: Send address changes to Urbanite Subscriptions, 2002 Clipper Park Road, Fourth Floor, Baltimore, md 21211. Urbanite is a certified Minority Business Enterprise.

8 september 2011 www.urbanitebaltimore.com

bottom photo by Allison Samuels; middle photo by Tamela Kemp 2011; top photo By Allison Samuels; photo of Greg hanscom by Allison Samuels

contributors

editor’s note

Editorial intern Jonah Furman, a senior philosophy major at Johns Hopkins University, is a music junkie, a musician, and, for now, at least, a writer. He has interned at City Paper and is currently a staff writer for the Johns Hopkins News-Letter. In July, Furman took a month-long hiatus from his internship to rifle through David Foster Wallace’s papers in the archives at the University of Texas at Austin in preparation for writing his senior thesis. While Furman likes to write, he thinks he might become a goat farmer in Alabama after graduation.

Shelley Puhak’s first poetry collection, Stalin in Aruba, won the 2010 Towson University Prize for Literature. Her poems have appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, New South, Third Coast, and many other journals. She is currently Writer-inResidence for the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. Her poem, “The Debt Ceiling,” appears on p. 55.

David Richardson, author of “Healing Waters” (p. 27), is a Baltimore freelance writer whose work on science and nature has appeared in MIT Technology Review, Miller-McCune, and the medical and environmental trade press. He has traveled to South Africa and Botswana to cover rural community medicine and produced documentary films on science education programs for urban school teachers and their students. In his Lauraville backyard garden, he has mastered the secrets of cultivating and feeding squirrels, rabbits, blue jays, and starlings.

greg hanscom

how does a society come unglued? On a midsummer night in north London, Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four, was caught in the crossfire during an arrest and killed by a police bullet. Two days later, a peaceful protest against police violence spun out of control. Police said young hoodlums saw an opportunity to whip up trouble. Protesters said officers sparked outrage during a confrontation with a 16-year-old girl. Whatever the ignition point, the fire quickly spread across London and other cities in the UK. As rioters looted shops and set fire to buildings and cars, Prime Minister David Cameron unleashed sixteen thousand police into the streets of London. A week after the riots began, police had arrested more than nine hundred people. More than one hundred officers and untold others had been injured in the melee. Some pundits were quick to blame the violence on a small element of lawless youth. But among those arrested, the New York Times found a graphic designer, a postal employee, a dental assistant, a teaching aide, and a youth worker. Those looking for the source of the fiery unrest found plenty of dry tinder: high unemployment among young people, cutbacks in social services, a broken public education system, racial tensions, a growing chasm between the rich and the poor, and disillusionment with the government and its ability to address these problems. It has been more than four decades since riots raged through this city after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., but the tinder is certainly here. Just to our north, in Philadelphia this summer, in response to marauding “flash mobs,” Mayor Michael Nutter installed a strict curfew in troubled neighborhoods for anyone under 18 years old. What does it take to put a society back together? That is the question at the heart of this issue of Urbanite. In her feature story, “The Bond” (p. 34), former Baltimore Sun reporter Anne Haddad writes about fresh efforts by the Baltimore City Public Schools to help parents and family members more effectively participate in their kids’ education. Implicit in the effort, as with other recent reforms, is the hope that the schools, working with families, can provide city kids with a pathway out of poverty. In “The Graduates” (p. 49), Michael Corbin tells the stories of a group of young people who argue that for any reform effort to succeed, it must make schools more relevant to the gritty reality of inner city youth. In our Keynote interview, “The Outlier” (p. 32), professor John Marsh salutes school reformers, but says we ask too much of our educational system. Rather than viewing schools as a miracle cure for poverty, he says, we should tackle poverty head-on. We Americans love tales of poor kids who have persevered, gotten a good education, and come out on top. This issue suggests that we need a new narrative, one that takes into account the many forces that can tear a society apart—and those forces, too, that can pull people back together. For more good reading about how we might heal our city and society, check out Urbanite’s Crime & Punishment blog, which launches September 1. The blog is part of former prison educator Michael Corbin’s yearlong series about criminal justice and is funded with a generous gift from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Coming next month

WHERE’S THIS TRAIN TAKING US? Using the Red Line to reconnect a divided city: the Open City Challenge finalists

Urbanite #87 september 2011 9

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The Charm City Circulator reminds me of other popular resort attraction buses— except on the CCC, the drivers and riders are very friendly. As a small business owner, I have noticed groups of people coming into my store from the Baltimore Convention Center. It has opened up the city for me—anything that makes it easy for people to ride and move beyond the harbor is a very real benefit.

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CCC rider, Baltimore City Resident and Downtown Employee

I ride the Charm City Circulator every day to get to work. It’s always on time with a few delays due to the road construction. Prior to riding the CCC, I used to pay using another system. A lot of people can’t afford to pay and I think it’s a good thing for Baltimore. The drivers are always friendly and say “hi” to you. I always feel safe riding!

April Moran and daughter, Erin Moran CCC rider and Baltimore City Resident I really appreciate the convenience of taking the Charm City Circulator with my children. Not only is it convenient and FREE, but it also serves as an adventure for my children. I feel safe riding it and will frequent the Harborplace Mall more often because of this service!

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I come to Baltimore every four to five years for the soccer coaches’ convention. I was really surprised to hear that the CCC was FREE. I think it’s a great way to connect tourists to the sights of the city. I really feel Baltimore has improved over the last 17 years and I think the CCC is a big part of that growth and improvement.

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what you’re saying

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DIRT BIKING IS (NOT) A CRIME Re: “Liftoff,” August ’11, about dirt biking on the streets of Baltimore: I say give them a place to ride, just like skateboarders, they need a safe place to ride. —Lisa Logan-Roussell

I really don’t like the overall message this article sends. Break the law if you don’t like it. Rather than approaching government in a productive way these folks just ride away from the issue. Moreover, I think the popularity of the dirt bikes is a reflection on a lack of other productive alternative activities for young people (especially in the summer) who live in the city rather than a cure for dispassionate youths. —Eric Hontz

say that a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole is an acceptable alternative to the death penalty for convicted murderers. (2005 survey by MasonDixon Polling & Research, Inc.) Despite the assertion by Baltimore County State’s Attorney Scott Shellenberger, the current legislature has not had “multiple opportunities” to repeal the death penalty. In fact, the issue has not come to the floor of either the House of Delegates or Senate this term. No sitting delegate has had the opportunity to vote for repeal of the death penalty, nor have many senators. Majorities in both the House and Senate support repeal. It’s time for Maryland’s legislative leaders to give them the chance to vote. —Sen. Lisa Gladden and Del. Samuel “Sandy” Rosenberg

MEMORY LANE Re: “The Last Drive-In,” August ’11, about the Bengies drive-in theater: Love Bengies. That place is crazy, with the incredible list of rules, the “worship on Sunday” screen, the detailed menu, the whole 9. Plus you can take toddlers without disturbing other moviegoers, and the outside food permit is good for those with dietary restrictions. —Amy Gill Britt

Haven’t been to the Bengies in years so it’s time for a return visit. —Lorraine Whittlesey

—@chadgarland

HEALTH CARE FIXES AND FOLLIES Re: “Change is Brewing,” July ’11, about an effort to create health care cooperatives in Maryland:

ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY Urbanite’s recent article on the death penalty (“The Ultimate Punishment,” August ’11) demands an informed response. The article unquestioningly accepts the assertion that a majority of Marylanders support the death penalty. Roughly three of five Marylanders

Health care is the challenge of our time. The fact that health care costs are causing the implosion of business and industry is a little acknowledged wrench in the works which adds real urgency to finding solutions. The Evergreen plan could be just in the nick of time. The continued innovation by those in the health care field is inspiring and critical.

This article is another example of the reasons I still read @UrbaniteMD even though I’m not in B’more any more

Especially if the patient becomes the center of the focus, rather than profit. Thanks, y’all. —Jan Angevine

While I was impressed with your article on Peter Bielenson’s Evergreen Project and on the innovative ideas they have to develop health care cooperatives as a solution to the need for affordable, accessible health care, I was disturbed that mental health care was not adequately addressed as a component of the cooperatives, except to say that there would be a “half-time social worker on each team.” In a given year 26.2 percent of the population of adults are diagnosable for one or more mental health disorders. Of that 26.2 percent, 6 percent of the population (or 1 in 17) suffer from a seriously debilitating mental illness. Yet only half of those suffering from a mental health problem receive some form of treatment. When the Obama administration passed the health care initiative, mental health parity was also legislated. Under that law, which fully goes into effect in 2014, those with mental health problems must have equal access to the same health care as those with physical health problems. We cannot afford to leave out the more highly trained mental health practitioners such as psychiatrists or psychologists—just as you would not leave out physicians at your facilities. Nor can we limit the treatment of our communities mental health problems to one part-time clinician. —Ruth Stine

WHO REALLY SHOT GENERAL ROSS? Web exclusive: In response to “Mad Dogs & Britons!” (August ’11) author Blaine Taylor and history instructor Chris Tallevast clear up a few of the mysteries surrounding the Battle of Baltimore. Go to http://bit.ly/ bmoremaddogs.

Join the conversation. Follow us on Facebook (and use the “Suggest Urbanite” button to recommend us to friends) and Twitter (@UrbaniteMD). E-mail us at mail@urbanitebaltimore.com or send your letter to Mail, Urbanite, 2002 Clipper Park Road, Fourth Floor, Baltimore, MD 21211. Please include your name, address, and daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Urbanite #87 september 2011 11

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illustration by Susannah Lohr

what you’re writing

they picked me fresh from college,

one thing that my West Indian

sporting a new bachelor’s degree with the perfect mixture of poise, enthusiasm, and naiveté in thinking that closing the achievement gap could be one-woman achievable. I spent the week before the big day lesson planning, arranging desks, and brainstorming ways to make the heroic journey of the Old English creatures of Gilgamesh accessible and, fingers crossed, interesting to hundreds of urban students. At 7 a.m. Monday morning, I walked in the classroom and scratched “Students Will Be Able To …” on the chalkboard with a shaky hand. I attempted to flex my face muscles to reveal an I-mean-business look peppered with only a hint of friendliness in the hopes of preserving my true personality without allowing myself to be fed to the sharks. Groups of students appeared in waves on the fourth floor, and the statements of curious uncertainty began. “She the new teacher, furreal?” Now it’s 8:03, and I hear five ringtones, see thirty bodies, and feel sixty eyes. I shut the door, turn and face the class—my class—and introduce myself using “Ms.” paired with my last name for the first time.

mother would not tolerate was a fresh little girl. She was a meticulous homemaker, specializing in order and accountability. Saturday morning cartoons were a luxury I didn’t know existed until we moved to the States when I was 11. “Igle bwoy waak and tell cow howdy,” was her response, steeped in rural Jamaican colloquialism, to any complaints about getting up early on weekends. The phrase literally means “an idle boy walks and tells cows hello.” Cows are for milking and food; they need to be tended and taken care of. Only someone with no responsibilities would have time for conversation with a cow. I was expected to articulate the Queen’s English at all times and show my respect for my elders by not speaking unless I was addressed directly. Above all else I was not under any circumstances to be a “fresh likkle pikney.” Unfortunately for my mother, back talk and sarcasm were ingrained in my DNA. My grade school reports exalted my academic achievements but would almost always include footnotes bemoaning my penchant for conversation. “A delight to have in class. Attentive and helpful,” the teacher wrote. “However, she is a bit talkative and highly opinionated for a girl of her age.” At times I reveled in the fact that I was her perfect cross to bear as I endured the torture of a spotless home and manicured appearance. Her frustrations at my limber tongue amused me until I heard the familiar proclamation, which signaled it was time to seek refuge in

—Jolene Carr is a newly christened Baltimorean, tackling one serial comma at a time as an assistant editor at Words & Numbers while working toward her master’s in professional writing at Towson University.

a hiding place or daddy’s arms. “Yuh see you likkle gyal,” she would yell as she threatened a spanking with the belt. “Yuh too dyam fresh, kibba yuh mouth mek it sweat.” “Cover your mouth to let it sweat.” It’s another way of saying “shut up.” When boiling rice, the pot doesn’t start to sweat to steam the rice until you put the lid on. —Originally from Jamaica, Melissa Jones moved to Brooklyn when she was 11 and now lives in Baltimore. She works in public relations at Morgan State University and gets all her news from Twitter because she refuses to pay for cable.

for two seasons I worked at South Pole Station as logistical support to the science research base there. We were landlocked in the center of the frozen desert of the Antarctic polar plateau, our only physical contact with the outside world the LC-130 ski planes that brought us supplies from across the continent. Fresh food, or “freshies,” as we called them, came only once every few weeks: cardboard tri-wall containers filled with apples, carrots, real potatoes, and lettuce. These shipments were small treasures, culinary luxuries that broke up the months of powdered milk, instant potatoes, syrup-soaked peaches, and frozen mixed vegetables. Whenever a ski-plane carrying freshies landed, we went to work offloading the cargo with unusual zeal. I drove the loader with special care across our snowy moonscape, the precious box of fresh food balanced on its forks. Urbanite #87 september 2011 15

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what you’re writing Once the plane had taken off again and all of the other supplies had been stowed, we gathered in the warmth of the cargo Quonset hut to do intake forms on all of the supplies. One night, there were just four of us on shift, alone in the barn with a new box of fresh food—the first fresh food we’d gotten in nearly a month. “Let’s just open it up and look at it,” we said. We undid the cargo straps, cranking back on the buckles with practiced ease, used to maneuvering the temperamental latches with frozen fingers and several layers of glove. Inside the box was a beautiful sight: layers of fresh fruits and vegetables, a little battered and bruised, but nonetheless intact. Although I now have the luxury of fresh fruits and vegetables whenever I want them, I still sometimes pause in the produce section of my Baltimore grocery store, struck by the bounty of it, remembering the wonder that was a cardboard box of fresh food at the South Pole. —Meg Adams is a writer and a nursing student at Johns Hopkins University. She enjoys exploring Baltimore, going to the farmers market, and having regular access to a thermostat.

grapefruits are a winter fruit, but on the big tree in my backyard in Arizona, they stayed fresh on the trees throughout the summer. Citrus are hardy and tough, like kids raised in the desert, who are too tan to

get sunburned and can walk on asphalt with bare feet. We were glad they stuck around until summer, when we had time to play with them. First, we’d yank a grapefruit down from the tree, a big one, the size of all our fists put together. Then, we’d turn it upside down to check for rot: a small, black hole out of which smaller, blacker bugs crawled. If it was bad, we dropped it on the ground, jumped back from the swarm of insects that emerged upon impact, and left it there for our dads to pick up later. If it was good, we threw it up into the tree, holding it in two hands down by our knees and launching it straight up with a half-jump. We threw it to slice it open against one of the tree’s long, sharp thorns. We could have torn it open with teeth and fingernails, but the joy was in making nature do the work for us. If the fruit came down without getting stuck in the branches, as it usually did, and we caught it, as we usually did, then we stuck our fingers into the long clean gash and scooped out the sour pink insides. We let the juice run down our arms and onto our bellies, because filthiness is impossible in the summer, when everyone lives in the public nakedness of a swimsuit and there’s always a pool to jump into. It dried sticky on our skin, and we knew better than to leave it there for too long before swimming again. The sun’s heat drained our appetites, so all we ate all summer was fresh fruit, pulled right off the

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trees, but we still wanted to stay up all night, swimming with the porch light on. —Lily Dodge is a creative writing student at Goucher College in Baltimore.

“What You’re Writing” is the place for creative

nonfiction from our readers. Each month we pick a topic. Use the topic as a springboard into your own life and send us a true story inspired by that month’s theme. Only previously unpublished, nonfiction submissions that include contact information can be considered. We reserve the right to edit heavily for space and clarity, but we will give you the opportunity to review the edits. You may submit under “name withheld” to keep your essay anonymous, but you do need to let us know how to contact you. If you’ve already changed the names of the people involved, please let us know. Only one submission per topic, please. Send your essay to Urbanite, 2002 Clipper Park Road, Fourth Floor, Baltimore, MD 21211, or e-mail it to WhatYoureWriting@urbanitebaltimore.com. Submissions should be shorter than four hundred words. Because of the number of essays we receive, we cannot respond individually to each writer. Please do not send originals; submissions cannot be returned.

Topic Deadline Publication In the Kitchen Sept. 12, 2011 November 2011 Silence Oct. 10, 2011 December 2011 Ancestors Nov. 14, 2011 January 2012

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3 September 17 Noon–6 p.m. COMMUNITY

Whatever your opinion on the big race and the impact it has had on the city, you have to admit that the world’s leading sports cars burning 180-mile-per-hour holes in the streets of downtown will be an impressive sight. The Baltimore Grand Prix is estimated to draw more than 100,000 visitors and have an economic impact of $70 million.

The fifth annual DIY Fest at 2640 Space features tables of people who are good at stuff and want to share their talents with you. Last year, the fest featured people teaching bike maintenance, beer making, drywall repair, yoga, environmentally friendly screen printing, animal skinning, infant care, urban foraging, and knife making. This year, don’t miss the urban livestock workshop.

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COMMUNITY

DANCE/THEATER

In-Flight Theater, the troupe of deathdefying performers who hang from suspended objects to enhance their dramatic shows, takes over the alley behind the Load of Fun Gallery. Expect mobile sculpture and feats of flight amidst an urban backdrop of graffiti, and stay for the After Flight Friday Night Funk Dance Party with music by the Rube Goldberg Solution. $10–$20 120 North Ave. 410-800-8685 www.in-flighttheater.com

ARTS/CULTURE

Maryland Institute College of Art and the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland come together on Constitution Day to discuss the widely debated topic of Free Speech and the Digital Age. A panel of experts, advocates, and artists, including political blogger and Newsweek contributor Andrew Sullivan (pictured), will debate the First Amendment and what the future holds for it. Free 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave. 410-225-2433 www.mica.edu For more events, see the Fall Arts Guide on page 75.

5 September 23–25, noon– 7 p.m. LITERATURE

The Baltimore Book Festival celebrates its sixteenth year, taking over Mount Vernon Square with piles of books and hosting such authors as Myla Goldberg, Laura Lippman, Terry McMillan, and Tavis Smiley. Also, expect an appearance by rapper Common, whose lyrics can be considered literature in themselves. Free Mount Vernon Pl. 410-752-8632 www.baltimorebookfestival.com

6 September 24 Noon–5 p.m. green/sustainable

It has all the makings of a late September party (grilled oysters, cold beer, and views of the Patapsco), but the Fourth Annual Trash Bash hopes to also educate you on the quality of Baltimore’s water and how they can be improved. Proceeds from the event, at Nick’s Fish House, will benefit Blue Water Baltimore’s WATERKEEPER, a communitybased initiative to clean Baltimore’s rivers, streams, and harbor. $50, children 5–15 $7 2600 Insulator Dr. 410-254-1577 www.bluewaterbaltimore.org Urbanite #87 september 2011 21

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ashley may Forget about tasteless granola. Rather, add colossal chocolate chip cookies, classic whoopie pies, salted caramel cupcakes, and spiced peach pinwheel pastries to your list of vegan dessert options. Dirty Carrots (410-868-4430; www.dirtycarrots.com) owner Lisa Muscara Brice says she started baking to sell because she and her husband couldn’t find vegan treats when dessert rolled around. She says that for the Baltimore vegan, Dirty Carrots is “something so much bigger than baking”—it’s sweet independence. Find them at Bohemian Coffee House, Milk & Honey, Red Emma’s, and the Baltimore Farmers Market.

The Dog Days are Over

andrew zaleski Three years ago, Dan Kelly worked the 9-to-5 grind in the advertising world. Today, Kelly owns Dog Day Afternoon (410-276-9361; www.dogdaywalking.com), a pet-sitting and dog-walking business that provides thirty-minute daily dog walks and various other pet services, including pill and insulin injections and “snuggles, ear scratches, and tummy rubs” (for cats or dogs). With a staff of four, Dog Day operates in more than a dozen Baltimore neighborhoods and doubles as a house-sitting service for pet owners on vacation.

Mac Attack

andrew zaleski We’ve all been there: knocking elbows with strangers flooding the Apple store, all in a seemingly vain attempt to grab our spot at the Genius Bar. Independent Apple reseller CapitolMac (714 S. Broadway; 410-657-8000; www.capitolmac.com) looks to change that. “Worst case: Somebody might have to linger for five minutes before talking to someone,” says owner Dheeraj Vasishta, a Baltimore resident for ten years. Being a smaller retailer means no need for appointments, says Vasishta, and no long wait to try out your preferred Apple product. Genius, really.

Urbanite #87 september 2011 23

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andrew zaleski You can tell a lot about people from the shoes they wear. At least, that’s how J Shoes (www.jshoes.com) sees it. Originating in England as casual shoes for the soccer lad, J Shoes’s men’s and women’s footwear are now sold worldwide, with North American headquarters in Owings Mills and local boutiques Poppy and Stella and JS Edwards carrying the line. “It’s beautiful footwear that fits well,” says Myles Levin, North American managing director for the brand. And when shoes are made from Italian leather and goat suede, well, you can’t really argue.

Heavenly Hands

ashley may Corporate moms turned spa scrub creators, Erica Wolfe and Stephanie Sackett launched the Becca & Mars (www. beccaandmars.com) organic beauty line, a name inspired by their children, last October. Since its launch, more Marylanders are feeling spa soft with products like the Hand Candy Sugar Scrub (8 o.z. for $8.50) that make hands baby-smooth. “We make have-fun, feel-good products,” Wolfe says. Their organic beauty masks, scrubs, aromatherapy blends, and oils are 100 percent vegan and sold in eco-friendly glass jars. Order Becca and Mars online or find them at La Chic Boutique, Myrtle Dove Vintage, and ArtSpring.

Size Up

ashley may There’s new a boutique in town: In The Details (813 W. 36th St.; 410-889-0380), open seven days a week. Owner Linda Pfleiderer says she wanted to “stand out” from other shops not only with her variety of designers (many from New York), but also with her attention to curvy women (she carries sizes up to 3X). Pfleiderer stocks men’s clothing right inside the door and jewelry from vintage to gothic. Don’t miss her locally made accessories too—like handknitted purses, Feather-ette clips, and monster bras.

Urbanite #87 september 2011 25

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feature / update / station north / urbanite project

By David Richardson

he 1904 Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital holds an early hint of the curative powers of Maryland’s waters. According to the Bulletin, during Colonial times, one Captain Dent from St. Mary’s County remarked about some “cool springs” located on his properties that were reputed to have healing powers. Authorities at the time dismissed his correspondence as “an idle letter not worth an answer.” But when, in the winter of 1697 to 1698, the southern counties were “visited by a severe pestilence of some kind,” the springs “wrought many Wondorfull and Signall Cures.” How is still a mystery. That was a few centuries ago, and the cures in St. Mary’s County are largely forgotten. However,

HEALING WATERS In the Inner Harbor, the seeds of a medical breakthrough

Miracle cure: Alexander Sulakvelidze says bacteria-killing viruses called phages “can save a lot of lives.”

today’s scientists are taking a close look at the waters hereabouts, and discovering—or rediscovering—some true healing potential. The heart of the action is in the Center of Marine Biotechnology overlooking the Coast Guard slip at the Inner Harbor. There, in the headquarters of Intralytix Inc., the company’s chief scientist, Alexander “Sandro” Sulakvelidze, and a staff of eleven are trying to leverage the potential of tiny organisms called phages. Phages, Sulakvelidze says, hold the key to treatments that “can save a lot of lives.” And, he believes, the quayside location may someday pay off in a big way. Chances are, you’ve never heard of phages, which is surprising: “Phages are the most ubiquitous and populous organisms on the planet,” Sulakvelidze says. Each time you take a bite of a fresh fruit or vegetable, you probably choke down Urbanite #87 september 2011 27

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Feature / update baltimore observed millions of them, he says, and it doesn’t matter “It was a life-changing moment,” Sulakvelidze if you rinse off your snack beforehand because says. The two doctors partnered to found Intraphages are in the water too—up to two hundred lytix to bring the technology stateside. million of the little buggers in a single milliliter. Phage remedies were not an easy concept This is a little startling, considering that to sell. “I was laughed at numerous times,” Suphages are actually viruses. The good news is lakvelidze says. “I’d talk to physicians, and either that unlike the viruses that can make people sick, they’d never heard of it, or they’d say ‘Weren’t phages don’t attack the human body; they attack those tried before and it didn’t work?’ or, ‘There’s germs. For over three billion years—since the be- no way you can get viruses approved for therapeuginning of life itself—phages have been locked in tic use in this country.’” mortal combat with bacteria. Each type of phage, After years of wrestling with the Western Sulakvelidze explains, is fine-tuned by nature to medical establishment and government health prey on one specific type of bacteria, and to do it agencies, Intralytix changed course to look into with ruthless efficiency. And unlike an antibiotic, the agricultural market, and in 2006 received the which wipes out all manner of bugs, it does this go-ahead from the United States Food and Drug while leaving other bacteria—including those Administration to use phages to eradicate listeria, that are harmless or even beneficial to humans— a serious disease-causing bacteria, from food intact. “This makes them extremely valuable for before it is sold in stores. This year the FDA gave use in medical practice for fighting infection,” Su- Intralytix the green light to use a separate phage lakvelidze says. cocktail to do the same for E. coli. With labs at Phages did, in fact, experience a brief moment Aberdeen now gearing up to produce the food in the medical limelight in the 1920s, when they safety preparations, Sulakvelidze says he is turnwere used to treat dysentery. However, they didn’t ing back to human cures, working on a project to always seem to work. Caregivers at the time didn’t fight shigella (a form of dysentery) with the suphave a reliable means to distinguish the different kinds of bacteria in order to match them with the right phages. As a result of these apparent failChief Scientist Alexander “Sandro” Sulakvelidze, Intralytix, Inc. ures, when antibiotics came along in the 1930s with the ability to reli- port of the U.S. Army’s Research Office. ably destroy many kinds of bacteria at once, WestSulakvelidze is not the only one who believes ern medicine turned its back on phages. By the in the remarkable potential of phage therapy. time the Cold War dusted up, the study and use of Alan Wright, a former Baltimore emergency room phages had retreated behind the Iron Curtain. physician, says hospital units sometimes “get conSulakvelidze’s birthplace of Tbilisi, in the taminated with some pretty dangerous bacteria former Soviet Republic of Georgia, became the that can be extremely difficult to eradicate. I world’s center for phage research. He remembers wouldn’t be surprised if phages are called upon in taking phages to treat an illness he had as a child. the future to rehabilitate intensive care units. “Everyone I knew took them,” he says. “It was “As we continue to create more and more [antibiotic-]resistant bacteria,” Wright adds, “it something everyone did—and still does.” With the breakup of the Soviet Union dur- could become a mainstream treatment for some ing the early 1990s, the medical establishment incredibly resistant strains.” throughout Eastern Europe was thrown into Elizabeth Kutter, who heads the Evergreen chaos. Sulakvelidze, a young PhD, having ad- State University Phage Biology Lab in Olymvanced to deputy director of his country’s Center pia, Washington, says phages have been shown for Disease Control by the age of 27, won a fellow- to be effective in combating the well-known ship to further his studies in the United States. He antibiotic-resistant bacteria MRSA (multiple rechose the University of Maryland Medical School sistant Staphylococcus aureus). “Phage therapy in Baltimore, where he did post-doctorate work in could provide a good complement to established molecular genetics and microbiology. medical practice,” Kutter says. Several years ago, a colleague from a Baltimore But if bacteria can develop resistance to antibihospital approached him, grief stricken over los- otics, what’s to say they couldn’t find an end-run ing a patient to a rampant antibiotic-resistant in- around phages? Sulakvelidze concedes that bacfection. Sulakvelidze asked why the phages didn’t teria can eventually outsmart particular phages; work. “I can still remember the look on his face,” that’s why he uses phages in combinations. He Sulakvelidze says. His friend, Dr. Glenn Morris, says he has yet to see a bad bacteria survive his had been completely unaware that phage therapy specially prepared phage cocktails. could have stemmed the infection. Likewise, SuIf that were to happen, however, he’s in a lakvelidze was surprised to learn that a poten- good spot to find a replacement cure. “We get a tially life-saving procedure, commonly available lot of our phages from the Chesapeake Bay,” Suin the former Soviet Union, would be unknown at lakvelidze says. “It’s very easy to run down to the even the most advanced medical facilities in the Inner Harbor and go for it—and see if you can find United States. some phages.”

Photo by j.m. giordano

“I’d talk to physicians, and either they’d never heard of it, or they’d say … ‘There’s no way you can get viruses approved for therapeutic use in this country.’”

update by Jonah Furman and Ashley May

seeds of change Things are looking up for urban farmers. In July, Baltimore City qualified five organizations to be the recipients of land to use for farming. (See “Down on the Urban Farm,” January ’11 Urbanite.) In August, the city launched the Power in Dirt initiative, an official bid to transform approximately 14,000 vacant lots into “vibrant community-managed open spaces.” To hydrate public green spaces, the Department of Public Works is offering nominal fees for set-up and access to otherwise hidden water meters underneath nearby sidewalks. And city officials continue to search for more acres of land that might be converted to urban farms.

lean, mean, green-building machine Green building is on the march in Maryland. Starting next spring, Maryland’s Department of Housing and Community Development will officially adopt the International Green Construction Code. Local governments may voluntarily adopt the eco-friendly building code (with amendments and alterations made as they see fit), extending the greening not just to government buildings but to all commercial buildings and residential structures less than three stories tall. (See “Sandtown Green,” March ’11 Urbanite.)

civic (data) unrest After some initial excitement, local hackers are getting impatient with city efforts to open government databases for public use. (See “Cracking the Code,” April ’11 Urbanite.) Heather Hudson, business analyst for the city’s Open Baltimore project, says officials are discussing ways to keep the public databases up-to-date and that app contests are in the works. But some programmers complain that information contained in Open Baltimore data streams isn’t being maintained. James Schaffer, one of the developers of Spot Agent, an iPhone and Android app that helps drivers avoid parking tickets, says the app can’t be updated because Open Baltimore data is stale. Of the city’s efforts, Schaffer says, “I give them a failing grade on it so far.”

Urbanite #87 september 2011 29

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4:24 PM

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Station North / Urbanite project baltimore observed

Grand Central Station Can a hefty national grant bring long-term prosperity to Station North? by Andrew Zaleski

n July, Baltimore’s central arts and entertainment district received an extra push: The National Endowment for the Arts awarded Station North one of fifty-one national Our Town grants. The partnership that submitted the application—which includes the Central Baltimore Partnership, D center Baltimore, Maryland Institute College of Art, and Station North Arts and Entertainment Inc.—hopes that local foundations and corporations will match the

#Winning

The verdict is in on Urbanite Project 2011. By Greg hanscom

hey came from Baltimore and New York City—experts, all, in urban design or transportation—to the D center @ MAP gallery downtown. Their mission: to divvy up $10,000 in prize money among the best entries to Urbanite Project 2011: Open City Challenge, an ideas competition that asked people to turn the construction of the cross-town Red Line train tracks into a positive experience for the city. (See www.urbaniteproject.com.) The competition drew entries from artists, architects, designers, and everyday folks in such farflung locales as Italy, Israel, South Korea, and, yes, Baltimore. Proposals ranged from space-age sound barriers to low-tech proposals that would facilitate interaction and communication between neighborhoods that will, if all goes as planned, soon be connected by a shiny new train line.

$150,000 grant, providing artists and businesses in the area a significant leg up. When the state declared Station North an official arts and entertainment district in 2002, the goal was to foster a community of artists and musicians who could revive empty storefronts and vacant lots and make some 100 acres in the heart of Baltimore attractive for people to live and work. “Baltimore is at the forefront of this intersection of urban planning and art, which is

really what the Our Town grant is about—recognizing that artists play a vital role in revitalizing cities,” says Ben Stone, the new executive director of Station North Arts and Entertainment Inc. Come fall, Stone hopes to start a monthly weekday event, similar to WTMD’s First Thursdays concerts in Mount Vernon, with performances, drinks, and food. A programming group, chaired by Baltimore Museum of Art Director Doreen Bolger, will allot funding to art exhibits that fill empty storefronts. And money will be apportioned to business owners and venues “to do larger-scale things and pay people what they deserve to be paid,” Stone says. “We’re putting more money into ventures that are operating but are teetering on the edge of not being able to sustain themselves.” Challenges still remain. The shooting of a 22-year-old man in late July near the newly opened Liam Flynn’s Ale House fanned fears about Station North’s safety, a matter that could aggravate attempts to encourage people to move into the arts district. Still, Mike Molla, who is board chair of Station North Arts and Entertainment Inc. and helped secure the Our Town funding, notes that while crime is a reality there, as in all parts of the city, shootings are “less likely … where there’s life and activity.” “This project offers an opportunity to attract a larger, broader audience to Station North,” says Bolger, who has been an energetic champion for the local arts scene. (See “The Great Appreciator,” May ’11 Urbanite.) “What if a thousand new people spent $1,000 on the arts in Baltimore next year? Think of the power of engaging and cultivating a new generation of art collectors and supporters in Baltimore.”

During late June and early July, visitors to the gallery voted for their favorite proposals, narrowing the field of thirty-two entries down to twenty. From those, the jurors selected six finalists that were laid out on a work table in the center of the gallery for a final round of debate. From the outset, Henry Kay, executive director for transit development and delivery for the Maryland Transit Administration, emphasized that the winners needn’t be cheap, or even realistic. “We’re The jury: Christine Gaspar of the Center for Urban Pedagogy, Henry Kay of looking for the best ideas,” he said. the Maryland Transit Administration, architecture columnist Mimi Zeiger, “The ones we were most excited Alex Rinsler of the events company Feats, and Scot Spencer of the Annie E. about were the ones that have a Casey Foundation capacity for broad engagement,” community of smart, creative people. “We were said Christine Gaspar, executive director of the able to elevate the discussion,” Kay said. “ We were able to engage a broader community that New York-based Center for Urban Pedagogy. “The ones that could work in different types of doesn’t necessarily live along the Red Line.” communities.” Watch for the finalists in the October issue of Urbanite. We’ll announce the winners at an The project had already been a success, in Kay’s reckoning, because it had drawn a event later that month. Urbanite #87 september 2011 31

KEYNOTE

The Outlier Professor John Marsh says better schools are not the best way to give poor kids a fighting chance. Interview by Marc Steiner

ohn Marsh grew up working class, the son of a Pennsylvania steelworker. During hard times, he says, his family dipped below the poverty line. But through grit and hard work—and a good education—he pulled himself up by his bootstraps, and today he’s assistant professor of English at Pennsylvania State University. Well, that’s the story you want him to tell. Here’s the story as he told it to Urbanite, and as he writes it in his new book, Class Dismissed: Why We Cannot Teach or Learn Our Way Out of Inequality. In a nutshell, he says: “If you really truly care about poverty and inequality, if you want to reduce it on a large scale … forget about education.”

32 september 2011 www.urbanitebaltimore.com

I want to start with a quote from your book, from one of the characters on the TV show The West Wing: “Education is the silver bullet; education is everything.” That is kind of the magic thinking about America’s schools right now from corporations and foundations. But you’re saying that education cannot be the be-all, end-all for America’s youth or our economy or equality. urb:

photo by Christopher Weddle

jm :

Right. Some [people], like Arne Duncan, who’s the [United States] Secretary of Education, or Geoffrey Canada, who has the Harlem Children’s Zone—these reformers believe that schools can effectively perform miracles; they can take poor children from poor neighborhoods and from dysfunctional families and they can make them college-ready. Other critics like [former education secretary] Diane Ravitch and educational scholar Richard Rothstein argue that schools can’t really affect the most important things that determine educational performance, and these are whether children live in poverty. I think the skeptics are right, but I think you also need to take a step back away from that debate, because it might partly miss the point … If we do want to reduce poverty and inequality, we need to stop talking about classrooms and start talking about class—about economics, about who gets what and why, and how this might be different. urb:

In your book, you talk about the War on Poverty under Lyndon Baines Johnson, and skeptics who believed that the focus had to be on jobs, or the War on Poverty—with all its social programs, all its education programs—would not work. jm :

As the War on Poverty was being planned, there was this kind of divide—was it going to be easier to create [educated] people for the job market, or was it going to be easier and better to create jobs for people who may or may not take them? There’s this very dramatic scene when [Johnson’s advisors] go to the Oval Office and they present a plan to Johnson, and the U.S. Secretary of Labor says, “You know, we really need this jobs program. This needs to be part of this War on Poverty,” and Johnson basically just kind of stonewalls the suggestion … From that moment forward, debates about poverty in the United States all focus around education. urb: Don’t you believe that, with a good education, poor kids can beat the odds?

Canada has started. To the extent that we can get those to work we should support them with funds, with resources, with time, with personnel. But if our goal is to fight poverty, yes, education can play a certain role, but it’s not going to be sufficient. This works the other way, too, so if you improve a child’s economic life, you’ll also improve his educational life. If you could move children out of poverty, or move children out of radical economic insecurity, they can—they will—succeed … When people argue that educational achievement depends on family income, then it can begin to seem like family background is destiny, when we know that that’s not true; there are all sorts of exceptions … But [family background] determines a lot. And on the one hand you can say, “That’s defeatist, we just have to throw up our hands.” On the other hand you could say, “Well, how can we change family background?” urb: Americans love stories about poor kids who persevere, get a good education, and go on to do great things. jm :

Yeah. I would agree, and I mean, people are telling these stories because people want to believe in them. Americans want to live in a more equal country. They want to do something about poverty. But they’re hampered by the same kind of logic that ruled the programs during the War on Poverty. They want people to earn what they get, and education allows them to tell that story: People have worked hard in school, they’ve escaped poverty—these are the kinds of discussions about class and economic mobility that Americans want to have. But the problem is that that story simply cannot be available for everyone. There are limits to the number of jobs that require college degrees … The economy requires more workers with college degrees than ever before, that’s true, but for the foreseeable future it’s going to be an economy that requires workers without degrees rather than workers with degrees, and it’s hard to see how an education will help workers trapped in these lowwage, non-union, no-degree jobs. And nor, very quickly, for that matter, will it do much to reverse the growing economic inequality in the United States … This sort of monomaniacal focus on education as the only path towards economic prosperity … may well be inhibiting other avenues toward getting ahead. urb:

If you give me any fourth-grader off the street and ask me to predict his income later in life or whether he’ll graduate from high school or college, the best prediction I would make is merely by looking at how much money his family made. That does not mean that other factors don’t play a part, you know—how hard the student works, how good his teachers or his schools are—but family income is the best predictor. I don’t deny the successes of some of the programs that Geoffrey

And what would those other avenues be?

jm:

jm :

The reason the United States has grown so unequal over the last thirty years is because the average worker has lost bargaining power. So if you wanted to reverse that trend, you would try to restore workers’ bargaining power. And you can do that in any number of ways. Education does it to a very limited extent; it gives skills to workers. A much lower unemployment rate would help. An increase in demand for available workers. Higher

minimum wages. But traditionally, and I know this is not something that everyone likes to hear, but labor unions have often been the best way workers can increase their bargaining power. If we made it easier for workers to join unions, I think you would see a reduction in economic inequality, and you would see more paths out of poverty. My father was a steelworker. He belonged to the United Steelworkers. So did his father, and his father. If you go back and look at what working in the steel mills meant, say, at the turn of the century … those were nasty, brutal, ill-payed jobs. And if you look at it after the 1930s, after the United Steelworkers came on the scene, it became a middle-class job. So I like to think that I am where I am today not just because I worked hard in school or got a good education, but because men like my father and grandfather formed unions and fought for decent jobs and middle-class lives, and without that I seriously doubt I would’ve been as successful in school. So it’s kind of a more modest story that you could tell: People aren’t necessarily going to fight their way out of poverty through education, but I think there’s something ennobling and inspiring about past generations of workers who conducted an equally difficult fight out of poverty. They didn’t do it through education; they did it through organizing, through collective action. urb:

What, then, is the purpose of education?

jm:

Well, what if we stopped looking to education to reduce inequality and poverty? What would it do instead? What would it look like if it didn’t have these burdens that frankly I’m not sure it can make good on? ... Thomas Jefferson [argued] that if we don’t have schools, then democracy is going to turn into a tyranny. You need an educated populace who knows their history to keep that from happening. Those justifications for school have somewhat fallen by the wayside as we’ve come up with these other goals for them. But I think that there was value in those goals. In my own daydreams about what school [should do], I’m a hopeless romantic about literature. I think that people ought to be reading it and talking about it and studying it, and I would like to see a revival of that—although I don’t place that very far at the top of the list of things that I think are wrong with where we are today. I really do have to catch myself from sounding kind of silly sometimes, but there’s such a thing as love of learning—teaching people things that they want to know and need to know and would enjoy knowing. And I know that doesn’t describe school for everyone; some people detest school, and in some cases maybe rightly so. But for people who don’t [detest school], I think education can do better and different things than it does now.

On the Air: Catch the full interview with John Marsh on The Marc Steiner Show on WEAA 88.9 FM on September 8. Urbanite #87 september 2011 33

The Bond

The new ticket to school success: building connections between kids and their families By Anne Haddad B Photography by J. M. Giordano

efore school let out in June, Ada Eze scouted for activities to head off the chaos that can erupt among four children who don’t have enough to do. Her kids are all boys, ages 2, 5, 7, and 9, “so imagine how it’s going to be if we stay home,” she said in July. Eze, who lives in northeast Baltimore, allows for lots of playtime and bicycling, but she also made a weekly tutoring appointment for the school-age boys at Morgan State University and signed them up for summer learning at Moravia Park Elementary, their public school, during July.

34 september 2011 www.urbanitebaltimore.com

“There is lots of research showing a correlation between parents who are involved and kids who do well …” Michael Sarbanes, executive director of the Baltimore City Public Schools Office of Engagement

Helping hands: Tiffany Howard, top, reads with her cousin Chazzon Brown, 7. Below, Tyonna Gatuthu, 6, shares a story with her grandmother Theresa Howard.

Urbanite #87 september 2011 35

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“I decided I had to schedule indoor and outdoor activities all summer for the children, so they can explore,” says Eze, who asked that we not use her real name. “We come to the library, and we each choose a book, and we take turns reading [aloud]. I tell them, ‘When we are finished, I’m going to ask questions, so listen.’” Whether or not Eze realizes it, this is goldstandard parenting, especially the activities she does directly with her children. Research shows that when a parent does what Eze does—I’m going to ask questions, so listen—an important parent-child dynamic that fosters learning is created. First, a connection occurs, in which both parent and child are engaged together in an activity. Second, the child is doing something he enjoys, even if there might be a quiz later. Third, asking questions, or urging the child to ask questions, develops listening skills and helps the child process what he sees, put it in the context of the world around him, and communicate it. It all works splendidly because of the bond: Children love their parents and want to please them, and part of a parent’s love is the desire to teach. Not all parents teach as intuitively and consistently as Eze. Work demands and other family obligations can make such parent-child interaction feel like a luxury. Add poverty to the mix—83.9 percent of Baltimore City public school students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch—and the challenges only multiply: Parents often work multiple jobs or odd hours; families face unstable home situations, poor nutrition, asthma, and other illness that is ex-

In their own words

As told to Andrew Zaleski and Lionel Foster.

Frederick H. Bealefeld

III, 49

Commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department

“M

y grounding in education and feelings about school started at

home long before I even started police work.

I was fortunate I had a stay-at-home mom. There were six of us. My father worked construction. My mom really was the glue that held all of us together … She never graduated from high school herself. So she really worked hard to try to not just motivate us but also be involved in the homework and the projects. I never remember a time that I didn’t turn around and she was right there … She had to get in there and roll her sleeves up and make it happen. For lack of a better word, it’s that kind of blue-collar work ethic … She wasn’t thinking about [going back to school] … she was raising six of her own. That’s where her focus was.”

set out to support parents and other family members in becoming more involved. “There is lots of research showing a correlation between parents who are involved and kids who do well,” says Michael Sarbanes, executive director of the BCPS Office of Engagement. “What has not been as developed is, what kinds of involvement will make a difference and how you really make [that] accessible to all parents.” If the goal is better outcomes for kids, training parents to be more effective sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s a surprisingly underdeveloped science and underused strategy. Thanks to new research being done around the country, however, models are emerging. Baltimore is a testing ground for some of this work.

ne of the pioneers in the field of educating parents to more effectively interact with their kids is Deborah Gross. While working on her master’s degree in child psychiatric nursing at the University of Michigan, Gross decided she wanted to help train parents to use positive discipline strategies with their very young children. “In child psychiatry, so much of what we were doing was un-doing,” Gross says. “My interest has always been in the area of prevention, especially in the first five years of life. [But] I found there were few parenting programs available, and very few that were evidence-based and tested. And the few that were available were tested for effectiveness only on white middle-class parents.” Later, at Rush University School of Nursing in Chicago, where she was a faculty member from 1987 to

For decades, school leaders and advocates have struggled to close the gap between poor and middle class kids. No one has developed a poverty-proof formula for public schools. acerbated by substandard housing; and children experience a lack of access to a library branch or a safe playground. When it comes to American kids’ performance in school, poverty is the one factor that most consistently shows a clear correlation with lower achievement in school. The outliers are so rare that Hollywood movies dramatize them. For decades, school leaders and advocates have struggled to close the gap between poor and middle-class kids, starting in 1965 with Title I, which provided federal money for schools with a high percentage of low-income families, and the Head Start Act, which established preschool programs to give disadvantaged children a leg up for kindergarten readiness that middle-class kids were getting in private preschools. After-school coaching and summerschool programs have come along since then for older students. In 2001, the No Child Left Behind Act held a virtual gun to the heads of schools where students didn’t meet certain standards. But the income gap persists. No one has developed a poverty-proof formula for public schools. Through all the efforts at education reform, one truth has emerged: Kids, whether rich or poor, are most likely to succeed when families do things to support learning at home. Building on this understanding, Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) has

Edit Barry, 36 Author of Re:education in Baltimore blog

“I

remember my grandmother taking me to the Museum of Natural History [in

Manhattan] … I must’ve been in first or sec-

ond grade. And it’s not that I remember talking to her about any of it. I just remember her being there with me … What I started to realize is that it isn’t so much the people you’re with when you’re learning, but the places where they take you. Sometimes it’s more about the spaces than the people who bring you to them. Of course you need someone to get you in the door. You learn from who you love. But you love them for the doors that they open. I never would have gone to those places had they not taken me. And while I probably totally ignored my grandmother while I was running around looking at stuff [at the museum], I probably wouldn’t have gone without her.”

2008, Gross teamed up with fellow nurse researchers to develop a program for families in Chicago’s Head Start and other early childhood programs, who were primarily African American and Latino. The Chicago Parent Program, as they named it, is a four-month program in which parents attend a two-hour class once a week, and take home handouts and homework assignments to help them remember and practice what they learn. Video vignettes demonstrate how to carry out some of the methods, and facilitators and fellow parents help newcomers adapt the methods to individual family situations. The results: Children showed improved behavior in the short term and at the one-year follow-up. Parents reported feeling more effective. Even parents who did not attend all twelve sessions saw improvement in their effectiveness and in their children’s behavior. The program continues to be offered in early childhood programs in Chicago and around the country. One of the keys to the program’s success was that it was not designed just for middle-class white people. To avoid the pitfalls of a one-size-fits-all approach, Gross and her colleagues recruited a parent advisory council from the community they would be serving. The council quickly identified one particular cultural non-starter: spanking. Programs that had been tested Urbanite #87 september 2011 37

on white middle-class families tended to say outright that parents shouldn’t spank, which would immediately alienate many nonwhite parents, according to the advisory board. So by the time the pilot program was offered to parents on Chicago’s south and west sides, there was no admonishment about spanking, but there was a discussion of how discipline can be carried out without anger and in such a way that the child never feels unloved. Three years ago, Gross transferred to the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing as professor of mental health and psychiatric nursing. Her move to Baltimore led to a pilot of the Chicago Parent Program at two Baltimore City public schools. Michelle Green, who has two children, ages 14 and 5, in city schools, trained to be a parent facilitator in the program. She says the Chicago Parent Program method works for her older son as much as for her young daughter. One of the foundations of the program, Green says, is showing parents how to devote fifteen minutes a day to “child-centered time.” The time is spent on an activity of interest to the child, with the child leading the play and the parent following. The parent is taught to give non-judgmental commentary during this time, reinforcing for the child that the parent is listening and paying attention. This was a challenge, Green says, especially for parents with more than one child. The parents at her workshop helped each other come up with ways to find an activity all the children could do together. “It can be used for any age, although we focused on the younger children,” says Green, who is program manager for Baltimore Education Network and works for Civic Works. “We had four parents who had four or more children.” Baltimore’s is the first public school district to use the program, and Gross is tracking it closely and for the long term. She wants to see whether the positive results can be sustained throughout the child’s school career. And while her primary goal is to help parents reduce behavior problems in children, a secondary result should be more success in school: It stands to reason that parents who can learn to be more effective at teaching their children to behave can also better prepare them for school. “School is a routine, based on a set of skills,” Gross says. “Children need to be in control of their emotions to a degree, and they need to be able to manage frustration.” Behavior issues are perhaps the biggest obstacle to success for children, says former Baltimore City school principal Mariale Hardiman, co-founder and director of the Johns Hopkins University School of Education Neuro-Education Initiative. But if programs such as the Chicago Parent Program can give children the coping and social skills they need for school, the parent-child connection and BCPS’s new emphasis on learning at home could have a profound impact.

he Chicago Parent Program is just one of several tools the School Family Institute is making available, with support from a coalition of public and private business partners.

In their own words Wes Moore, 33 Author of The Other Wes Moore

“M

y mother tricked me into loving reading … She knew I wasn’t a

big reader. I just didn’t like it. I was reading below grade level. But she knew I loved bas-

ketball, so she got me The Fab 5 by Mitch Albom. It’s about the University of Michigan basketball team [of the early 1990s]. I idolized those guys. The baggy shorts, the trash-talking—their style was so foreign [to collegiate basketball culture at the time], but that’s what my friends and I knew growing up. I read that book in, literally, a day or two. Every time I talked to her about it I was so excited. That’s how she realized she was onto something. That passion for reading about sports led to a greater love of words—the way they mesh together, the feeling of turning a page, the excitement when you know the end of the story is just fifteen pages away and you can’t wait to get back to it.”

Marin Alsop, 55 Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

“W

hen [I was 9 years old], my teacher told me that I was too

young to be a conductor and that ‘girls don’t

do that.’ I became extremely upset and went home to immediately tell my parents. My mother was outraged and wanted to sue the school. My father, who had a much quieter approach to life, went out and bought me a beautiful long wooden box that he filled with batons. The constant support and encouragement from both of my parents helped give me the courage to persevere and never give up pursuing my dream of becoming a conductor. As I needed musicians to play for me, my parents always volunteered to join my orchestras and play for free. Ultimately my father even started making batons for me, when I lost the phone number of the guy that I had been buying my batons from.”

The schools are also piloting other branded approaches, such as Mind in the Making, created by Ellen Galinsky, president and founder of the Families and Work Institute in New York City. Galinsky identifies a set of seven “life skills” and explains how adults can teach them to children of any age by doing fun, everyday things in new ways. The first such skill is “focus and self-control.” Another is “self-directed, engaged learning.” (For more on Mind in the Making, go to http://bit.ly/7lifeskills.) By this way of thinking, something as humdrum as putting food on the table can become a learning opportunity: A parent or family member can enlist the child in measuring out the ingredients for soup. Even if the math is too complicated, this activity gives kids an opportunity to collaborate, communicate, and be creative, such as by suggesting a new ingredient, says Susan Magsamen, an author and co-founder of the Neuro-Education center. All of this sounds like the kind of thing that should go on everywhere—and does for many middle-class families because they learned it from their own parents. The focus now is in teaching all city parents that they can do it. Magsamen’s newest book, The Classic Treasury of Childhood Wonders, contains about thirty activities for parents and children, each paired with a few excerpts from classic authors such as Robert Louis Stevenson or modern ones such as Jane Yolen. What makes it different from most children’s books is that each section gives parents a shorthand description of how the particular activity supports learning. A whole section on the “6 Cs” of learning (see sidebar, p. 43) and how to measure progress can help parents understand the language many of their children’s educators are using—which can help them to both be more involved with their kids and more effectively engage with teachers. BCPS leaders read Magsamen’s book and saw a de facto manual for parents of young children, regardless of socioeconomic level. With funding from Johns Hopkins University and PNC Bank, they sent copies home this spring in the hands of each of the city’s 4,700 preschoolers. Because not all parents can read well—or read English, or read at all—PNC Bank covered the cost of the DVD version of the book, starring city students and families and such local celebrities as Maria Broom and WJZ-TV’s Vic Carter reading the passages aloud from a living room chair. The schools also gave out books and cultural “passports” to museums. They’ve hosted field trips and will throw a huge block party October 2 in Rash Field, where families will take part in games that strengthen the parent-child connection and pave the way for more natural opportunities for learning. “What we have to do is make it really clear and really specific: Here’s what you can do in the course of your daily life, in the course of raising your children, that will support their success in school,” Sarbanes says. “When you’re riding the bus or you’re at the grocery store or getting ready for bedtime, making lunch for the next day. All of these activities can be done in a way that is engaging a kid’s mind.”

Urbanite #87 september 2011 39

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ocal institutions and corporations have ponied up for the books and DVD to support the “learning at home” initiatives. The museums and attractions offered free admission to kids carrying their summer passports. And under Title I, Baltimore schools receive funding to support parent involvement. But sustaining this type of support system for parents can be incredibly expensive. Just getting in the door can cost money. In New York, for example, a program called Baby College— part of the Harlem Children’s Zone—uses food and other incentives to entice parents to attend. Founder Geoffrey Canada sent recruiters door to door to sell the program. (See “The Way Out,” Nov. ’09 Urbanite.) “Getting parents to attend is hard,” says Gross. “There are so many other real problems facing them that many of them have to say, ‘This would be helpful, but right now my 3-year-old is OK.’” Then there’s the challenge of continuing to support parents and students as they get older. To support the Harlem Children’s Zone, the highly charismatic and nationally prominent Canada built strong partnerships with Wall Street to bring in tens of millions of dollars a year. But in the wake of the Wall Street meltdown, even Canada had to lay off staff and scale back. Baltimore, meanwhile, doesn’t have a Canada or a Wall Street, and there’s only one Fortune 500 company still based locally. The School Family Institute is making the most of its limited resources and trying to ensure some coordination for the services that do exist, such as health

In their own words Mary Washington, 49 Maryland State Delegate for Baltimore’s District 43

“M

y Aunt Sue and my Aunt Ann were always involved in our

lives … My Aunt Ann was a little more ad-

venturous. She would take me on vacation trips with her. She would talk with me about politics. Aunt Sue would take us to all the museums. She had been a schoolteacher, so she taught me to read and write before I went to first grade. She made these little books for me with shapes in them, like a triangle shape or a tiger and the word printed underneath … and we would basically have school on the weekend when I went to visit her house … My Aunt Sue was very much into walking and traveling the city, so I also learned how to navigate public transportation because of her. She didn’t drive, and so anywhere we went we took the subways or the buses. And I guess today I maintain this kind of love of urban areas.”

Anchor Branch of the Pratt, Magsamen was on hand to show parents how to use her Childhood Wonders book. A Spanish-speaking interpreter from the Family Institute, Yolanda Santiago, helped to translate for the approximately thirty attendees, most of whom spoke limited English. “How many of you think playing is actually learning?” Magsamen asked. A few parents raised their hands. Magsamen gave a quick description of the 6Cs and how four activities they were going to do that evening would support children in learning. As it turned out, many of the parents were already using the book and DVD their preschoolers had taken home, so the robocall reminder to their homes—in English and Spanish—brought them all out for the playdate at the Pratt. While Magsamen and three staff members from the Family Institute worked with the children and parents, the companion DVD played, showing Baltimore School for the Arts students acting out “Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.” Jeffry Rivera Lopez, a kindergartner at John Ruhrah Elementary School in Highlandtown, bounced in his seat and sang along, turning to smile at other children and adults, as if to urge them to sing along, too. Most were engrossed in other activities, such as the Dragon Hunt, using a map of the room to find several dragons that had been hidden. Reyna Becerra said her 5-year-old son likes the soup-making activity in the book, which includes three easy soup recipes with instructions to make sure a grown-up helps. It’s paired with the classic story about stone soup. Becerra and her son make

“in child psychiatry, so much of what we were doing was un-doing. My interest has always been in the area of prevention.” Deborah Gross, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing care to keep children well and in school. But the challenge remains: Can city schools hit critical mass with these efforts, and, most importantly, measure and demonstrate enough progress to justify giving it sufficient resources for the long term, whether that money comes from public or private sources? “There’s convincing research to establish that early childhood is a critical time for learning, and that children from lower socioeconomic levels can fall behind their peers if they don’t live in an environment that builds their vocabulary and knowledge,” says Hardiman. “But the research on how to make up for these socioeconomic deficiencies on a grand scale in an urban school system hasn’t produced a model that can be applied widely.”

arbanes says Baltimore schools are recording data along the way to see what works best, what should be expanded, and what should be thrown out. Even parents will be tested— both before and after they participate in any of the programs—to get their feedback as well as to see whether it has an effect on student outcomes. Parents who attended the “playdates” at branches of the Enoch Pratt Free Library were asked to fill out feedback forms to help determine what they liked about it, or didn’t like. At one such playdate in July at the Southeast

Ta-Nehisi Coates, 36 Senior editor for The Atlantic

“F

irst time I got kicked out [of Baltimore Polytechnic Institute high school], my

mother basically went up to the school and

argued with the principal to get me back in. She really went above the call of duty to do that. So I came back, and I got kicked out again. This time, [my parents] basically said, ‘We’re done. We put everything we can into you … We can’t really help you anymore.’ My dad said I was a disgrace to the Coates name. I was 16 or 17 at the time. As harsh as that comment sounds, it connected me to other people. So my achievement in education was reflective of my community, of what people had invested in me. By fooling around, I was taking down people with me … At the end of the day it was going to be on me, and that was made really clear. After all that, I went into my senior year and ultimately got into college.”

one of the soup recipes together or improvise along the way. But he is most fascinated with the activity on how to make a fort with a blanket or sheet attached to a tree or draped over a table. Her son wants his father to help him do this with a tree in Patterson Park, she says. And it’s motivating him to ask his father to read to him from the book. One thing that stands out about this coordinated effort by city schools is that it doesn’t have one big catchphrase or branded name—which could turn out to be its greatest strength. It’s not a trend so much as a reinforcement of the tried-and-true: Get families more engaged in learning and finding ways to boost learning while doing everyday things with their children. Strengthen the parent-child connection. Support children and families so they can focus on learning. Do it early enough to make a difference, if possible, but just do it. “We really expect for our kids to succeed and be leaders in the 21st century world. And we’re not accepting any kind of differential between an urban school system and what other schools might get,” Sarbanes says. “You can’t get there if you don’t have families engaged in a different way.” —Anne Haddad has covered education in three states during her sixteen years as a newspaper reporter, including ten years at the Baltimore Sun. Her son is a Baltimore City Public Schools student. Urbanite #87 september 2011 41

MASTER OF ARTS IN DIGITAL ARTS

Culture doesn’t always fit inside a glass case. Goucher’s cultural sustainability master’s degree program empowers today’s activists with real-world tactics for preserving and enriching the identity of communities at risk. And Goucher’s unique format allows you to study right where you are—so you don’t have to turn your life upside-down while you’re out saving the world. For more information, visit www.goucher.edu/culture. Apply by October 21, 2011 for January 2012 admission. Apply by April 20, 2012 for August 2012 admission.

Master of Arts in Cultural Sustainability

42 september 2011 www.urbanitebaltimore.com

It’s time to create your future. Goucher’s MADArts will help you channel your creative energy into the arts career you dream of—and give you the skills to market your work to the world. Our distance-education format makes the learning process easy and extremely effective. Goucher’s limited-residency structure means that you’ll benefit from intensive face-to-face collaboration and support. You’ll graduate with a real-world, marketable portfolio critiqued and refined by professionals in your field.

Apply by October 21, 2011 for January 2012 admission. Apply by April 20, 2012 for August 2012 admission.

www.goucher.edu/MADArts 1-800-697-4646

T he 6 C ’ S

Resources for parents, guardians, and other family members looking to better serve kids

Family Toolbox By Ashley May

Organizations and Campaigns Al lia nce for Chi ld hood is a Marylandbased nonprofit that promotes policies and practices in favor of healthy childhood development. The group specializes in projects like reducing childhood obesity, restoring play, and creating healthy media habits for kids. (College Park; 917363-1982; www.allianceforchildhood.org) The B a lti mor e City P ubl ic S chools Fa mily Institute’s website helps children make meaningful connections in and out of the classroom, with resources, events, and “playdates” for parents and kids. Find more resources and a full schedule of events on the website. (www.baltimorecityschools.org/domain/5133) The Chicago Parent P rogram comprises twelve sessions to help guardians of young children learn good parenting practices. The program is designed for families from all ethnicities and economic backgrounds. The program’s helpful tools are also available through video. (312-9426497; www.chicagoparentprogram.org) First Lady Michelle Obama encouraged children to get active when she endorsed the Let’s Move ! campaign last year. Parents, schools, community leaders, and local officials can find tons of resources about promoting a healthy lifestyle on the Let’s Move website. The site even helps organize community meetups to support a larger conversation about childhood obesity. (www.letsmove.gov)

The Chi ld r en a nd Natu r e Networ k news service and website promotes the idea that outdoor activity in natural settings is great for children. The network was co-founded by Richard Louv, author of the book Last Child in the Woods. His blog on the network’s website includes such information as how to create a neighborhood butterfly zone. (www.childrenand nature.org)

Voice of Play, an initiative established by the nonprofit International Play Equipment Manufacturers Association, is increasing education about the benefits of play. It focuses on critical cognitive, physical, emotional, and social skills derived from fun activities. Parents can download a Play Pledge contract from the website, promising their children at least one hour of outdoor play each day. (www.voiceofplay.org)

athy Hirsh-Pasek and Roberta M. Golinkoff, professors of child development, with the assistance of graduate student Jess Reed, have created a developmental model that outlines six critical skills for children:

P laydate

t’s no work and all play Sunday, October 2 at the U ltimate Block Party, when children, parents, educators, and masters of family fun take over Rash Field south of the Inner Harbor to be creative, play games, and learn about the educational value of having a good time. The first block party, held last year in New York City’s Central Park, drew more than fifty thousand participants. Baltimore expects at least ten thousand, as such institutions as Port Discovery, the Walters Art Museum, Play works, and the National Aquarium promote dozens of games, activities, and shows. This free event will host thirty play sites, each site specializing in a different

Books Don’t forget recess, warns A Mandate for Playful Learning in Preschool by Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Laura E. Berk, and Dorthy G. Singer. Specializing in early childhood education, the authors share a definition of play and playbased learning. The text is an easy read for busy parents, totaling fewer than 200 pages.

1. Collaboration Collaboration and teamwork is the new reality. Schools, informal programs, and curricula must encourage children to work together, to accommodate others’ viewpoints, and to circumvent one’s weaknesses by calling upon the strengths of others. kind of play, like make-believe, construction, creative expression, and sports. A separate performance stage will also feature Sesame Street singalongs, storytelling, and Simon Says. Organizer Susan Magsamen says this is a “totally interactive day to see that everything we do through play feeds learning. Play more, learn more.” (201 Key Hwy.; www.ultimateblock party.com) medical doctor, psychiatrist, clinical researcher, and the founder of the National Institute for Play. Brown, with journalist Christopher Vaughan, shows how play is essential to developing social skills, creativity, and the ability to problem solve. Susan Magsamen’s book The Classic Trea-

sury of Childhood Wonders: Favorite Adventures, Stories, Poems, and Songs for Making Lasting Memories

Einstein Never Used Flashcards, so why

serves up creative activities for children ranging

should your child? The book teaches how children really learn—“and why they need to play more and memorize less.” Authors Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, and Diane Eyer break down their formula for parenting in ten chapters.

For in-depth information for teachers, check out

from outdoor exploring to simple soup recipes.

Tools of the Mind: The Vygotskian Approach to Early Childhood Education by Elena Bodrova and Deborah J. Leong.

Ellen Galinsky’s Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs touches on such skills

The book includes activities that have already

as communication, taking on challenges, and self-directed learning—no expensive toys or equipment required. Check out some of her organization’s YouTube clips like the Marshmallow Test about focus and self-control. For more on the seven skills, see http://bit.ly/7lifeskills.

Film

been tested in classroom environments.

American suburban lifestyles can stifle children’s mental and physical growth, according to the hour-long documentary Where Do the Children Play? The film uses Beaver Island, Michigan, isolated from the mainland with no McDon-

Learn why play is so important to children by reading Play: How It Shapes the Brain,

Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul. Author Stuart Brown is a

ald’s and little social media use, as an example of a place where children still grow up with few modern distractions. (http://michigantelevision. org/childrenplay)

2. Communication Communication is the grease that enables international commerce to advance across geographic boundaries. Communication … includes taking the listener’s perspective, regardless of cultural differences; mastering rhetoric; and being a good listener— not just a persuasive speaker. 3. Content Children must engage with and master subject-matter content that is rich in depth and breadth. This includes mastery of reading and math, but goes beyond the three R’s to encompass science, art, and history. 4. Cr itica l Think ing With [human] knowledge doubling every 2.5 years, just assembling content will not be enough … Twentyfirst century workers must ask the right questions, find and synthesize necessary data, and connect seemingly disparate facts. 5. Creative Innovation In a world that is constantly changing we must be innovative, flexible, and adaptive … Nurturing creative thinking is important for helping children become the inventors, entrepreneurs, designers, and more, building a productive global economy. 6. Confidence With content, critical thinking, and creativity in place, it is now time to take risks and develop the confidence to succeed—or to fail and try again. —Excerpted from The Classic Treasury of Childhood Wonders by Susan Magsamen. For the full text, go to http://bit.ly/6csoflearning.

Urbanite #87 september 2011 43

Inspiring the best in every boy. IT STARTS AT THE BOYS’ LATIN SCHOOL OF MARYLAND

OPEN HOUSE - October 23 11am in the Iglehart Center Grades K–12, Parents & Students For more information, please call 410.377.5192 x1137 or email admissions@boyslatinmd.com 822 West Lake Avenue Baltimore, MD 21210

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44 september 2011 www.urbanitebaltimore.com

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48 september 2011 www.urbanitebaltimore.com

The Graduates

They’ve lived education reform, and now they want a different way forward.

By Michael Corbin Photography by J.M. Giordano

he model determines the question, the question determines the answer, and the answer determines what the policy is going to be … right?” Dayvon Love, 24, is given to punctuating his answers to interviewers with that question. After listening a while, you understand that his “right?” is not pedantic or mere verbal f lourish. Rather, like the beat he takes before answering a question—when you can almost see him holding

up the inquiry and his interlocutor at once, turning them over, sizing them up—he merely wants to make sure you follow his argument. He wants to make sure you understand his major and minor premises. He wants to clarify your framing of the question as part of his answer. In 2008, Love and Deven Cooper, his teammate at Towson University, became the first African Americans ever to win the prestigious National Cross Examination Debate Association tournament. Now, Love and five other young men and women—all of whom were educated in and around the city— have created an organization called Leaders of a

On the Air: Catch the Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle on The Marc Steiner Show on WEAA 88.9 FM on September 19.

Beautiful Struggle (LBS). (The name traces back to a speech by Martin Luther King, but Love says they took it from an album by hiphop artist Talib Kweli.) They call their group a “traveling think tank,” offering workshops and presentations on public policy. They have produced an eleven-point “manifesto” for the “complete social, economic, and political independence of the citizens of Baltimore.” They have written policy papers and hosted public “freedom forums” on everything from education to health care to the criminal justice system. And with a confidence and ambition matching their outsized intellectual and rhetorical skills, they offer to debate any public official, anywhere, any time, on any topic. This fall, Love, who is the group’s president, is running for City Council in Baltimore’s 8th district. Love’s compatriots are Lawrence Grandpre, Candace Handy, Adam Jackson, Deverick Murray, and Shawna Murray. They are all between the ages of 20 and 25. While their ideologies are eclectic, they share an abiding desire to give Baltimore’s poor and workingclass African Americans more democratic and economic control of their lives. They present themselves as a post-civil-rights, hiphop generation combination of pragmatism and idealism, a postmodern mixtape of political traditions that abides no pieties of the status quo. “Most citizens in Baltimore are not educated in their own self-interest, nor is policy made in their interest,” says Love. “We are out to change that.”

ne of the Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle’s first missions has been to reframe the debate over education reform. Their goal is to shift the focus away from the narrow categories of quantitative “achievement” and ask more fundamental questions about the purpose of public education. The success of schools is not in their measure of “adequate yearly progress,” says Love, referring to the standardized test measurement of schools mandated by federal No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top legislation. Rather, schools are successful if they “improve the quality of life within communities.” To that end, the group has crafted an education proposal that attempts to speak directly to the intrinsic needs of the kids in Baltimore. They call for a reinvigoration of vocational education programs to give students an alternative to the generic college prep model. They call for a curriculum explicitly focused on community building, local entrepreneurship, and the “cooperative economics” that keep capital and human resources in the communities that need them the most. They want public education to be explicitly about creating a more just society. Lastly, they want

a curriculum that is centered on the cultural resources and experiences of communities that are educated in the city’s public schools. Earlier this year, the LBS leaders created a forty-six-page outline of their proposed reforms, distilling them into six “core tenets.” They sent their plan off to Baltimore City Schools CEO Andres Alonso, and, in the brassy prose of those who feel they have yet to be heard, the LBS leaders let Alonso know that they had experienced education reform firsthand and found it wanting. Alonso responded with a letter to LBS saying he was both appreciative of and impressed with their work. Yet he felt the young think tank members weren’t seeing the big picture. “Having worked for many years now

shawna murray

lived at Barclay and 23rd, off Greenmount Avenue, and from my beginning until the fifth grade I didn’t know that anyone lived differently than I did,” says Candace Handy, her intensity only slightly tempered by the smile on her stillbaby-faced features. “I loved school. It was the one thing I could control,” Handy says of her early years. After attending Dallas F. Nicholas Sr. Elementary, she obtained a scholarship to Roland Park Country School and was introduced to the educational chasm between Baltimore’s public and private schools. “At Roland Park Country I got the ‘if you’re black, then you must be on scholarship’ treatment, and then I’m catching the bus back to Greenmount Avenue every day and I am seeing this

lawrence grandpre

adam jackson

“… then I took a class on black culture in the United States, and it challenged everything I thought. I was like, why didn’t I learn any of this shit in high school?” —Shawna Murray in systemic school reform in Baltimore and New York City, I would suggest to you that it isn’t necessary to declare the school system a failure in order to work for change,” he admonished. “Dramatic reform is already in progress. I think you need to familiarize yourself with the many ways that City Schools is already moving forward, in order to best position your organization to be of service.” In rebuttal, LBS wrote back to Alonso that his paradigm of reform misses the larger issue. “Currently, the indicators of success of public education in Baltimore do not translate into students developing knowledge of themselves and their communities,” Love wrote to Alonso in April. What Alonso and his brand of reform misses, LBS members say, is the lived experience of American social inequity. Their personal experience, they say, illustrates how public school reformers speak passionately about abstractions and miss the struggles of real lives.

50 september 2011 www.urbanitebaltimore.com

difference that is so immense,” she says. Adam Jackson saw that difference when he went from West Baltimore’s Walbrook High School to the new-at-the-time Digital Harbor High School. Both were public schools, but Digital Harbor, with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, had become the city’s poster child for one era of reform. “I was like, wow, what is so different about the kids at Walbrook that they don’t get this? ” Jackson says. It wasn’t until his time at Towson University that he started to make sense of his experience. “I started to see this inequality was not random. Reform meant calling some schools failures. What they were really doing is calling kids who lived there failures.” Shawna Murray’s consciousness about education began to change during her time at the University of Maryland, College Park, which she attended on full scholarship after graduating from Woodlawn High School

in Baltimore County. “My mother has been struggling with addiction since forever, but I always wanted to be with her. If mom was on North Calhoun, or over in Cherry Hill, or on Pennsylvania Avenue, then that is where I was,” she says. “Freshman year, I’m living on campus but I’m back in Baltimore every weekend to be with my mom. Sometimes it’s like, mom’s nodding out and the next day I got a biology exam … “When I visited colleges [during my senior year in high school], my white counterparts on campus are like, ‘Oh you just got here because of affirmative action’ … and I’m trying to survive and make sense of all this. Then I took a class on black culture in the United States, and it challenged everything I thought.

deverick murray

education worldview fails them so greatly. My experience got deleted.”

he critique that education reform fails to address the day-to-day realities of inner city youth is one increasingly being made nationally. Paul Reville, Massachusetts Secretary of Education and a lecturer at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, was once a teacher himself and a supporter of reforms like those in Baltimore. “I am forced to admit that we have not attained our goal,” he wrote in an article in Education Week this summer. “We have not eliminated the association between poverty and educational outcomes. Consequently, we, as policymakers, need to

candace handy

dayvon love

“I could see how the politics and economics were stacked against me in [the drug] game, but I could also see how school provided no direction for that decision.” —Deverick Murray I was like, why didn’t I learn any of this shit in high school?” “I could see the guys on the corner. I was on the corner,” says Deverick Murray, who now coaches young kids in debate at Lakeland Elementary/Middle School. “I could see how the politics and economics were stacked against me in that game, but I could also see how school provided no direction for that decision.” “The real problem of the failure of [school] integration after the Brown [v. Board of Education] decision is that it promulgated the myth of equality of opportunity,” Lawrence Grandpre observes in his un-self-conscious academese. An International Baccalaureate graduate of City College high school, Grandpre is a senior at Whitman College in Washington State but is finishing his undergraduate work here in Baltimore. “Through the blind spots of that integrationist discourse, people just get deleted because the dominant

look at the evidence and revise our strategy, in the same way that we ask teachers to do when they examine data on student performance.” In an article in the New York Times Magazine this July, Paul Tough, a longtime education reporter and author of Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America, called on education reformers to think beyond the boundaries of the classroom, working with disadvantaged families to improve home environments for young children and providing low-income students with not only academic support, but also “a robust system of emotional and psychological support.” “School reformers often portray these efforts as a distraction from their agenda—something for someone else to take care of while they do the real work of wrestling with the teachers’ unions,” Tough wrote. “But in fact, these strategies are essential to the success of the schoolreform movement.” “What you get in education reform in

America and places like Baltimore is a kind of goal displacement, a co-optation of the language of reform,” says Diane Ravitch, former Assistant United States Secretary of Education, now a professor at New York University and one of the most prominent critics of No Child Left Behind, a policy she once supported. “What is not considered in current reform efforts are the intrinsic motivations for learning and teaching.” The Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle’s critique of education reform in Baltimore is part of a larger project of reframing questions about how to understand American democracy, says Daryl Burch, a former debate coach at the University of Louisville who now teaches debate in Maryland and has mentored members of LBS. “This group of young people have taken what began as a movement within the debate community and taken it into their community,” Burch says. “This is what makes them unique.” Beth Skinner, who coached Love’s debate team at Towson University when she sat on the faculty there, says we need to listen to LBS members because they personify what we should want from American public education: “Dayvon [Love] would make a worldclass scholar, but I think he feels the urgency to put himself in the everyday struggles that people face rather than cloistering himself in the ivory tower of the academy.” Of Adam Jackson, she says, “Every movement needs someone who is willing to put themselves on the line to say what others are afraid to say.” And of Grandpre: “He has one of the best critical minds I’ve ever encountered ... I sometimes think he would be happier if he was less critical—especially of himself—but I don’t think it’s happiness he is aiming at for right now. He is aiming at making the world around him a better, more just place.” Love, who graduated from Forest Park High School in West Baltimore, reflects on his own experience in the Baltimore schools. “I went to a middle school that was half black and half white. There, through the assignments, the testing, and how I was being treated and what I was being told, I remember deeply that I started to think of myself as stupid,” he says. “Part of me knew that either I really was stupid or something was fundamentally wrong with the structure around me.” Deverick Murray gets impatient with all the theoretical talk and is given to weaving rhyme into his analysis of city schools to tie off conversations that have gone too long. “Wait, wait, listen,” he says. “How do you manage/Collateral damage/Community standards/Development practice/If da devil done planned it/Ya levels unbalanced …” At the end, Murray smiles and says, “It’s about public, right? And education. You feel what I’m saying?” —Michael Corbin is an Urbanite contributing writer. Urbanite #87 september 2011 51

Come in for this season’s hottest looks at the lowest priCes around!

Visit Roland Park

Open House October 16 - 1:30 pm Educating Girls K-12, coed Preschool

www.rpcs.org Tay Williams-Jackson ‘11 • Friends’ Black Awareness Club • Hip-hop choreographer • Student Diversity Leadership Council • Fellowship of Christians in Universities and Schools The George Washington University Class of 2015 Rebecca Edelman ‘11 • Yearbook editor-in-chief • Varsity Cross-Country • Equestrian jumping • Photography Cornell University Class of 2015

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Balanced. Morally centered. Responsive. Coeducational. Join us for “Lunch and Learn” with the Head of School Observe classes, speak with students, meet faculty and administrators. Next sessions: September 26 and October 20. Visit friendsbalt.org or call 410.649.3211 to register.

Find all the great looks you need at one of our 26 convenient locations!

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www.goodwillches.org 52 september 2011 www.urbanitebaltimore.com

Staging my own wardrobe malfunction at the office holiday party?

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Find yourVoice at Mercy s m a rt . . . u n i q u e . . . c o m p a s s i o n at e . . . g l o b a l

fall open house November 5, 2011 from 12–3 pm for more information, call 410.433.8880 1 3 0 0 E A S T N O RT H E R N PA R K WAY, B A LT I M O R E M A R Y L A N D 2 1 2 3 9 | W W W. M E R C Y H I G H S C H O O L . C O M

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Baltimore Campus opening in Towson!

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Please contact us for details on admissions & inaugural year tuition discount. 7/20/11 4:13:25 PM

Poetry The Debt Ceiling by Shelley puhak

Outside DC, under a dome of heat and digression, I dream my usual: houses. Chalets, mansions, usually my college apartment. I return to a cat I’ve been starving in the basement. Once it was a giant tortoise. Another time a child, misshapen, staring at me through the spokes of its ribs. As if I owed something, and in this heat— could the sky press any more? The day is long and shapeless, and I wander into the store, forgetting my intent. Was it eggs? Was it bread? Back home, on the television, men circle and seat themselves at long tables. As if we could meet our obligations and stare them down. I abandon family to doze, slick under a sweat ceiling, into a new house: quiet, orderly, empty. I lead a long man of cooling stone up a long staircase, to a landing with longer windows, curtains half-drawn to the oddest light, late afternoon or something quite like it. What do I owe you and when are you coming for it?

Urbanite #87 september 2011 55

1. TAG Galleries TAG Galleries connects the world’s most progressive and innovative artists with large audiences of art lovers by producing and marketing high quality and affordable art reproductions and artistic apparel. Join us October 1st for the Ashton Howard Solo Show featuring work from the world’s premier wave artist.

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Talara nuevo latino bistro

Unique dining experience serving modern Latin cuisine, featuring an open Ceviche bar.

2. Talara Talara- Nuevo Latino Bistro is conveniently located in the heart of Harbor East and is open 7 days a week. Lunch menu features an array of delicious sandwiches and salads as well our very popular Bento Lunch Box (pictured). Bento Lunch Box is a four-course lunch served all at once and is perfect for a quick, high quality lunch. Large deliveries are available within Harbor East and Downtown with 48-hour pre-order.

In the heart of Harbor East 615 President Street Baltimore, MD 21201 410-528-9883 www.talarabaltimore.com

3. Urban Baby A cool shop for newborns and kids through 8 years. Modern clothing and accessories with a bit of edge, books and imagination powered toys with great design. Fall merchandise rolling in now. Visit us in Hampden, just off The Avenue or online 24/7. 4. Live Baltimore Some stories can only be told in Baltimore. City home prices are historically low and interest rates are, too. At Live Baltimore, we can match you with homebuying incentives, renovation information, neighborhoods, and more. So if you’ve ever told yourself, “Someday I’ll own my own place,” get in touch, www.SomedayBaltimore.com. 5. Chesapeake Wine Company Baltimore’s original wine bar in a wine shop, now in its 13th year. Full-service bar; 600+ hand-picked wines; top shelf spirits; craftbrews; artisanal cheese and meats; house cured olives and house made tapenades. No scores or big brands, just good stuff to eat and drink! Open 7 days a week. 6. Trinacria Since 1908, Trinacria has brought the best of Italy to Baltimore! Whether you need a deli platter for your next office gathering, game night or get-together, wine at fantastic prices, homemade breads, pasta dishes, sauces, a quick lunch or hearty dinner—come experience the taste of old world quality.

Breakfast in Hampden, bike ride through Gwynns Falls, art gallery in Hamilton, then back to Hampden for midnight tater tots. All before heading home to make salsa for tomorrow’s housewarming party.

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Tough cell: An 1855 jail seemed like an odd place for offices.

The Big House Towson landmark swaps inmates for office workers.

By Brennen Jensen

here it stands: a handsome, stone, Italianate edifice replete with a center tower overlooking verdant acreage and a busy Towson crossroads. Erected back when Franklin Pierce was in the White House, the relic reeks of history. Restoring this stout antebellum edifice for reuse in the 21st century would seem a no-brainer.

But then, we’re talking about the 1855 Towson Jail: cellblocks, barred windows, and a “hangman’s door” through which scores of condemned prisoners passed en route to the business end of a rope. If the walls could talk, the tales wouldn’t be so warm and fuzzy. Would tenants take the hoary building saddled with a grim pedigree? The short answer is, yes. After Baltimore’s Azola Urbanite #87 september 2011 59

Locked down: In order to get historic tax credits, the developer had to retain “defining elements” such as the bars on the windows and many of the jail cells. One possible use for the cells: wine cellars.

60 september 2011 www.urbanitebaltimore.com

space

“We love working here, and it’s been a great conversation starter for our clients as they come in for meetings at the property.” Brody Bond, creative director at Blue Ocean Ideas

Companies completed a fifteen-month renovation of the 8,000-square-foot former jail last winter, the space was fully leased in sixty days. And this amid a recession. But the path from centuries-spanning cellblock to the scrubbed office building—now called “Bosley Hall”—was torturous at times, exemplifying some of the hurdles historic renovation and reuse projects must clear before ribbons are cut. Azola, a firm that specializes in such work and whose past projects include the Bromo Seltzer Tower, the Maryland House at the Maryland Zoo, and the Ruscombe Mansion (see “Heart of Stone,” May ’09 Urbanite), first got involved with the jail two years ago when company president Martin Azola read an article about it in the Towson Times. According to the article, the jail, empty since 2006 when women prisoners in a workrelease program were its last occupants, needed $700,000 worth of work on the roof and other structures just to be stabilized. Did we mention the recession? This was money the county (which owns the building) was not looking forward to spending. The jail is perched near the courthouse and Towson University—invaluable land—but the building had been awarded landmark status, so it couldn’t be razed. Intrigued, Azola arranged to take a tour of the place. “When we walked in the front door it was a pleasant surprise to see this nice lobby, which was not what we expected,” Azola says. He had entered the section of the building originally erected as the warden’s house, where the chief jailer lived with his family amid domestic pleasantries such as ornate oak floors and a curvilinear stairway within a sky lit atrium. The rear half of the building was the jail proper, with three floors of cramped cells. (As it turned out, the last prisoners had actually been living dorm-style in the warden’s section of the building, with the cells used only for storage.) Although the details were nice, the conditions were deplorable. “There were freaking huge sheets of paint peeling, plaster falling down, and holes in the floor,” Azola recalls. “You shook your head at the thought of women living there.” Undaunted, his company—led on this project by Martin’s son, Tony, company vice president— arranged a long-term lease of the building and set about proposing ways it could be repurposed. “We didn’t know what the hell we were going to do with the jail cells,” Azola says. As it turned out, tearing them out was not an option, for two reasons. The first was structural. “The cell walls held up the floors above,” Azola explains. “If you yanked them all out the thing would literally collapse.” Then there were the state and federal historic tax credits the project needed to be viable—funds that ultimately accounted for around a third of the $1.7 million in restoration costs. With these credits come requirements to maintain the historical integrity of a given structure. In this case the cells were deemed a “defining element” of the building and the Azolas were told that to receive the credits, they would have to keep all the cells. Eventually, a balance was struck between integrity and lease-ability. One floor of cells had to remain

Monuments to Progress

he renovation of the historic Towson Jail into the Bosley Hall office building is but one of nine area projects nonimated for the 2011 WaverMaker Award from the Baltimore Chapter of the Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit trade group concerned with responsible land use. Now in their third year, the awards honor projects that are visionary, meet a need, reflect a sense of place, incorporate elements of sustainability, and in general are of a quality that warrants emulation. In other words, buildings and developments that make favorable waves in the region’s real estate development arena. Baltimore-area entrants include Restoration Gardens, a housing facility for homeless youth in Park Heights, the Palisades apartment building in Towson, the Mary Catherine Bunting Center expansion of Mercy Hospital, the mixed-use developments the Fitzgerald (Midtown) and McHenry Row (Locust Point), and the Thames Street Wharf office building at Harbor East. Winners will be announced October 6.

unmolested, while elsewhere some cells and their trappings (i.e. barred doors) had to be visible from the public areas of the remaining floors. In the end, the Azolas removed some cells, installing steel support beams to support the floors above. A few cells were converted into bathrooms and kitchenettes. A criminal defense attorney actually uses another for his office—which may or not be good advertising for the lawyer’s services. Other challenges in retrofitting a jail? How about cutting through stout stone and cement walls for new door openings and utilities access? Workers used diamond-tipped saws and jackhammers to blast the sort of holes former prisoners probably dreamed about. “I estimate we took some 20 tons of concrete out of the project,” Azola says of the demo work. So what’s it like to have an office behind bars? (Literally—the tax-credit folks required that the bars remain on exterior windows.) “We love working here, and it’s been a great conversation starter for our clients as they come in for meetings at the property,” says Brody Bond, creative director at Blue Ocean Ideas, a PR firm. Bond even suggests converting the remaining floor of cells into a hip eatery called The Joint. But Azola has conceived another way to lease cells: as perhaps the world’s most secure wine cellar. The concept is in the early stages, but special climate control equipment has been added to the cellblock with the idea that wine collectors and connoisseurs can store their liquid treasures behind bars. Such vino vaults are not uncommon on the West Coast and around New York, Azola says. Take heart, residents of Jessup: There may be a use for our outsized prisons when they’ve outlived their present purpose. Urbanite #87 september 2011 61

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food + drink

feature / dining reviews / wine + spirits

T photo by j.m. giordano; KIMCHI COURTESY OF JONG KAK

By Martha Thomas

Hot Pot

The kimchi chronicles: The fermented Korean side dish has an entrée-sized reputation.

he refrigerated area in the back corner of Catonsville’s Han Ah Reum grocery store may seem, to the uninitiated, a kimchi museum. There are gallon-, quart-, and pint-sized jars of the stuff: napa cabbage, stuffed with strands of radish and glistening with red chili, plastic boxes of cucumber kimchi laced with threads of seaweed, kimchi with tiny shrimp and anchovies, turnip and radish kimchi. First-time visitors may find the scene intimidating. Does all that bright red I see—darker and richer-looking than tomato paste—represent hot pepper? The unifying characteristic of most variations of the ubiquitous Korean dish is, after all, heat.

Spicy Korean kimchi lands at the crossroads of current foodie trends. Like many Koreans in the U.S., Yonsuk Jang, the store’s customer service manager, has memories of kimchi. She grew up in the seaside town of Sokcho, east of Seoul, and describes her mother storing the stuff in a clay crock buried in the ground to take advantage of consistent cool temperatures. She points to a 50-gallon plastic garbage pail. “About that size,” she says. Her mother would layer salted cabbage, its leaves interspersed with radishes, garlic, and ginger, to keep through the winter. The family ate kimchi every day. Yonsuk helps me fill my basket with ingredients : We start with the cabbage, two large heads. She squeezes to make sure each is firm. My recipe suggests Korean salted shrimp, and she hands me a jar of the tiny creatures, pink slivers the size of a cuticle that seem all eyes, packed in salty brine. The smallest bag of pepper flakes available is one pound,

Urbanite #87 september 2011 65

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feature / recipes food + Drink enough to keep my New England family in tears for several generations. And of course there’s the salt. Here’s where things begin to get familiar. Kimchi is, after all, not strictly a food but a process. And that process, familiar throughout the world, goes back more than 4,000 years. It can be found in the Byzantine Empire, Ancient Greece, and Northern Europe; in the sauerkraut on your Thanksgiving table; even in that jar of pickles living in the back of your fridge. But somehow, while the Europeans simply applied salt to their cabbage, allowing it to ferment until lactobacilli took over to create an environment that preserved the Vitamin C-rich vegetable, Koreans were a bit more inventive. They added flavors like garlic, ginger, other vegetables, fish or meat, and eventually chili peppers (once they showed up around the 16th century) to the brew. The result is what Koreans proudly call their national dish, one that can be a main course, served with rice, or part of a traditional array of small plates, called banchan. Not so different from the sweet pickled cucumbers and beets my Canadian-born great aunt used to set out on the dinner table or when guests came for tea. When it comes to kimchi, if you are currently among the uninitiated, there’s a good chance you won’t be for long. The dish plays a starring role in The Kimchi Chronicles, a PBS television show hosted by celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and his wife, Marja, who travel around South Korea sampling regional dishes— which almost always include kimchi. The Fancy Food Show in Washington, D.C., recently featured a pop-up Korean restaurant, highlighting chefs like Akira Back from Yellowtail in Las Vegas and Youngsun Lee, who opened the short-lived Persimmon Kimchi House in Manhattan’s East Village and operates the Kimchi Taco truck in New York (he is also scheduled to open Kimchi Grill in Brooklyn this fall). Lauryn Chun hopes that kimchi is the next big thing. “Think of salsa and hummus,” she says. “I think of kimchi like that: It could grow from its ethnic origins to something we all eat.” She clearly has a stake in her prediction: Chun launched her company, Mother-in-Law’s Kimchi, two years ago. The 16-ounce jars of napa cabbage, daikon, and soon-to-come vegan kimchi are available online and at Whole Foods and Fresh Market, New York’s Dean and Deluca and Zabar’s, and a

handful of stores on the West Coast. “My market has been non-Koreans,” says Chun, who was born in Korea and grew up in Southern California. She has lived in New York for more than a decade and says that on every trip home, her mother, who owned a soup restaurant in Garden Grove, California, would pack jars of homemade kimchi in her suitcase. “Finally, I started making it myself.” Chun’s company is named for her mother’s restaurant, Jang Mo Jip, or “mother-in-law’s house.” “The name is meaningful in Korean food culture,” Chun explains. “The mother-in-law would save the best food in the house for the bridegroom. It means, this house is saving the best for you.” There’s more than tradition to commend kimchi to its more recent converts. Fermented vegetables—like sauerkraut and pickles—are teeming with probiotics, the “good” bacteria that help with digestion, can prevent some food-borne illnesses, and can boost the immune system. Americans are crazy for probiotics—just ask Jamie Lee Curtis. And the worldwide market in probiotic foods and supplements is expected to reach close to $29 billion by 2015. Kimchi, Chun points out, combines two of the most compelling current trends in food: Probiotics and do-ityourself. “People want to get back to basics and become part of the food system. Pickling and canning, the traditions of our mothers and grandmothers, is part of that.” Meantime, Chef Youngsun Lee is incorporating kimchi into familiar American dishes. “I like to call it NeoKorean cuisine,” he says. “The idea is keeping the traditional side but adapting it.” One iteration is his Kimchi Taco Truck, where you can order bulgogi (Korean barbecue) and kimchi in tacos. Another is the kimchi lasagna he served at the Fancy Food Show. Lee likes to share his kimchi with fellow chefs, but says he frequently gets a call after the gift has been proffered. “They ask what to do with the old kimchi. They don’t know whether to keep it or throw it in the trash.” He says his chef friends are amazed when he suggests they use it for cooking: in stews, pancakes, and, yes, lasagna. So even as he readies to open his new restaurant, Kimchi Grill, Lee is putting the finishing touches on a book about cooking with kimchi. Along with being part of Korea’s banchan—kimchi might just become the main ingredient.

Recipes

any Korean families make their own kimchi, and some store it—for months at a time—in a special kimchi refrigerator. In Korean homes kimchi is served with every meal, says Victor Kim, a physician who, with his wife, Margaret, operates medical practices in Columbia and Ellicott City (Howard County has the state’s largest Korean population). Putting kimchi on the table helps to fulfill a Korean belief: “that having only one piece of food on your plate is bad luck,” Victor tells me. Margaret had warned that making kimchi at home is an all-day process. But it turned out, the most timeconsuming step was brining the cabbage leaves in salt water for several hours. After that, I simply mixed in the other ingredients before packing it in jars to sit. I decided to try making kimchi with cucumbers from my garden and altered the recipe using shallots and cilantro from the farmers market. In fact, the only non-local ingredients in my improvised batch (garden cucumber kimchi) were the red pepper flakes and a teaspoon of sugar.

Quick Traditional Cabbage Kimchi Adapted from Lauryn Chun of Mother-in-Law’s Kimchi 1 to 2 heads medium napa cabbage (about 2. 5–3 lbs) — choose a fi r m, dense weight 1 cup kosher sa lt ½ cup dr ied red chili pepper fl a kes (easily available at Korean markets)

¼ cup Korean sa lted shr imp 6 cloves garlic 1 tbs diced ginger 1 tsp sugar (to taste) or puree of ½ apple (sk in removed) ½ cup chopped sca llions (green par t only)

Clean and trim cabbage leaves and cut into bite-size pieces. Wash in cold water and drain. Toss thoroughly with salt and set aside for about 2 to 3 hours. Meanwhile, puree shrimp, garlic, and ginger and set aside. Rinse cabbage to wash off excess salt. Squeeze out water to prevent kimchi from becoming soggy. Mix cabbage with chili pepper, sugar (or apple), and shrimp paste; stir in chopped scallions. Pack tightly in canning jars and store in a cool, dark place for two to three days before serving. Refrigerate after opening.

Garden Cucumber Kimchi About 10 pick ling cucumbers ¹/³ cup kosher sa lt water 6 cloves minced garlic 1 bunch sca llions (about 5) chopped into ½-inch pieces

2 sha llots, diced handful of cilantro, chopped ¼ cup Korean chili powder 1 teaspoon sugar

Cut cucumbers into quarters (lengthwise) and place in brine of 4 cups of water and salt. Soak for about 20 minutes. Meantime, combine garlic, scallions, shallots, cilantro, and chili powder into a paste. Rinse cucumbers and add to the spice mixture, tossing until evenly coated. Pack into canning jars. Dissolve sugar in ¹/³ cup water and pour over cucumbers. Cover tightly and store in a cool, dark place for about three days before serving. Refrigerate after opening.

Urbanite #87 september 2011 67

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dining reviews food + Drink

O r ch a r d Ma rket & C a fe by David Dudley

photos by Allison Samuels

iddle age is hard. At 23, the Orchard Market & Cafe is too old to be a novelty act, too young to apply for institution-hood. This is often the point when the seams start showing—dog-eared menus, stained carpets, clunky websites. But Baltimore’s only Persian-style restaurant still seems frisky. It probably helps that it still has its niche to itself: If you have a hankering for a bowl of aash e-reshteh (Iranian noodle soup), this is where you’re going tonight. But its ongoing vigor seems to have more to do with right-sized ambitions and steady management. Owners Jason and Sharareh Bulkeley bought the restaurant in 1997, but Sharareh’s mother, Nahid Vaezpour, has been installed in the kitchen since 1990. This is a well broken-in machine. Secreted away in a fading strip mall far off Joppa Road, the Orchard is a peaceful one-room operation scattered with rugs and a menu that offers an accessible mix of traditional and “nouveau Persian” fare. Like

culinary cousins from Morocco to Afghanistan, Iranian food is subtle, complex, and often sweet—lots of dried fruits, nuts, saffron, and the distinctive pomegranate molasses that lends a sour tang to salad and stew alike. It also tends to be very beautiful, as with the brilliant sunset-orange of a warm feta dip, strewn with black olives and ringed by a corona of pita wedges. Salad Shirazi of fine-diced cucumber and tomatoes is crisp and minty—think a lighter tabbouleh, minus the bulgar. Among the many kabobs, the grilled lamb boasts fist-sized hunks of delicate rare meat in a simple yogurt-onion marinade; it’s an undemonstrative dish that should delight lamb purists but may strike others as too plain. A special of Persian-style “paella” presents a mostly successful Iberia-Iranian mashup of saffron-infused basmati rice laden with chicken and shellfish (the pork chorizo, naturally, gets lost in the conversion to Islam). Dessert is taken seriously in Iran: Don’t miss saffron ice cream served between Color palate: Orchard Market & Cafe is Baltimore’s place for Persian food. flaky slabs of pastry, an East-meetsWest Napoleon that makes a sweet clash of Towson; 410-339-7700; www.orchardmarket culinary cultures. (Lunch and dinner Tues–Sat; andcafe.com) brunch and dinner Sun: 8815 Orchard Tree Ln.,

P a ci fi c C o a st D in in g C om pa ny By Martha Thomas

he Pacific Coast Dining Company doesn’t seem overly attached to its West Coast identity—or to any identity for that matter— and that might just be its strength. The menu is packed with bi-coastal options from fried green tomatoes to fish tacos to a classic wedge salad. In fact, there’s nothing discernably Californian about the place, beyond Open table: Pacific Coast fills a casual neighborhood niche. the very laid-back staff, the occasional mention of avocado on the menu, and burgers named wood tables, tumbler-proportioned glasses of for a random assortment of raucous celebrities: house wine, and a menu of reliable and shareCharlie Sheen, Green Day, Paris Hilton, and able appetizers (firecracker shrimp, a platter oddly, the Geppi Burger—slathered with lobster of calamari, chicken fingers). In the pageant mac n’ cheese and creamy Fontina—named of restaurants that is Harbor East—each more after local comic book king Steve Geppi. hip or more elegant or more focused on its The restaurant, which opened in July, has chosen cuisine—it’s refreshing to visit a place a 1970s fern bar quality, sans hanging plants, absent of short skirts, towering heels, and with a pop-out greenhouse façade and simple patrons who text because it’s too loud to talk.

The portions are oversized, but not overpriced: pasta with “crab puffs” turns out to be a heaping bowl of spaghetti with four golf ball sized crab cakes, tossed in a creamy tomato sauce and easily plenty for another meal at home. The firecracker shrimp appetizer is a platter of eight fat shrimp arrayed on wedges of crostini with a sweet thai chili sauce. Burgers are robust and come with a heap of fries (the Paris Hilton, in case you are wondering, is a fried egg and bacon on an English muffin— presumably for those girls whose days begin at dinner time—while the Charlie Sheen has Fritos and jalapenos.) The restaurant has only been open for a couple of months but feels like it has been around for much longer. It may be that it fills a niche required by many an urban residential neighborhood: a place with a menu friendly to both families and late-night noshers craving a plate of gooey nachos or chicken wings (available seasoned with soy-ginger or Old Bay). Harbor East probably doesn’t need another upscale pizza joint or mojito outlet. But a place with eight flat screens, generous libations, and appetizers to share? Bring it on. (Lunch and dinner daily—kitchen closes at midnight or later; brunch Sun: 902 Eastern Ave.; 410-2441185; www.paccoastdining.com.) Urbanite #87 september 2011 69

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wine + spirits food + Drink

Spanish Inquisition What I drank on my summer vacation

By Clinton Macsherry

n a hot highway southeast of Madrid, we zip past mid-rises and industrial parks into the high, arid plains and rolling scrubland of central Spain’s vast meseta. What looks like a cement factory looms ahead. Winemaker Olga Fernández, our driver, issues a low groan, universally translatable as “what an eyesore.” After a few turns, rutted gravel replaces pavement, and we’re suddenly surrounded by nearly 50 acres of Tempranillo and Merlot grapevines, each row fronted by a pink rosebush. (Like canaries in a coal mine, rosebushes can alert Fernández to the appearance of certain diseases before they attack the vines.) The contrast couldn’t be more dramatic between this vineyard—one of three farmed by Fernández’s fledgling Bodegas Licinia—and what we’ve driven through to get here. Spain itself has journeyed through similar striking contrasts during recent decades. The death of Franco in 1975 and Spain’s 1986 entry into the European Union ushered in an era of modernization and investment that’s touched every aspect of Spanish culture, wine included. Although Spain has more vineyard acreage than any country in the world, it ranks third in wine production behind Italy and France. Historically most of its grapes have been destined for cheap table wine or bulk distillation, with limited exceptions for an armful of top bottles from Rioja or Ribera del Duero. Now, however, wine scribes routinely use words like “revolution” and “reinvention” to describe Spain’s ongoing transformation. Reference books struggle to keep up with new regional demarcations, production techniques, and other changes, particularly in central Spain. “Until just a few years ago, it was an internationally accepted dictum that nothing of quality was made here,” the all photos by Mary Lou Macsherry

Spanish Trade Commission conceded in a 2008 regional wine guide. Bodegas Licinia had barely released its first vintage at the time. It promptly won wine-biz acclaim, and subsequent releases have garnered increasing praise. Still in her 30s, Fernández stands at the forefront of a generation reshaping the meseta’s winescape. With long, dark hair framing her aviator specs and spilling onto a modprint blouse, Fernández strolls amid her vines and discusses winemaking in terms both technical and philosophical. “Tannin composition is extremely important to mouthfeel,” says Fernández. “We want lots of tannins, but we want them soft and ripe.” She’s committed to organic viticulture, in part so her vineyards “reflect their personality, their nature,” and she experiments restlessly with different groundcover and irrigation regimens. In one vine row, a Lost in Space-like gizmo with spindly appendages collects data on wind speed, solar exposure, water retention, and other environmental elements. A few miles away, in the town of Morata (“Licinia” to its Roman settlers), Fernández’s unassuming winery sits behind a low wall, surrounded by construction debris. Inside, stateof-the-art production equipment occupies a hangar-sized space with an adjoining lab and another room where Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Merlot from the 2010 harvest age in oak barrels. Fernández will eventually blend the wines to create one thousand cases of the winery’s signature bottling. Merlot hasn’t previously made the final cut. (I gather Fernández believes the vines needed more maturation.) Based on a barrel sample—rich with violets, cherries, and blond tobacco—its time will soon come. The current release, Bodegas Licinia 2008 (14.5 percent alcohol), combines 65 percent Tempranillo with 25 percent Syrah and 10 percent Cabernet. Inky purple, its ripe blackberry and rose perfume carries a hint of toast. Full-bodied but light-footed, layers of fresh berries and plum unfold through a long, spice- and mineral-tinged finish. At $50-ish, it’s ticketed above my everyday range, but it balances elegance and intensity more deftly than wines twice its price. Viva la revolución! Next month: new Spanish values.

Urbanite #87 september 2011 71

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SEPTEMBER ARCHITECTURE/DESIGN Local historian Wayne Schaumburg talks about the history of Dr uid Hill Park dur ing the Civil War on September 22 , tracing park development in the 1860s and explaining how the war affected the surrounding neighborhoods at the Mansion House on the grounds of the Maryland Zoo. Advance tickets are required. (Druid Hill Park; 443552-5277; www.marylandzoo.org)

COMEDY Chicago comedy group the Second City dishes up humor and wit with Charmed and Dangerous, running September 15–October 16 at Centerstage. (700 N. Calvert St.; 410986-4000; www.centerstage.org)

DANCE

On September 10 at the Tenth Annual Renee May Lecture : Our Lives in Common, Stuart Kestenbaum shares how his poetry was driven by experiences linked to his brother Howard’s death. The free event at the Walters Art Museum is preceded by a performance by Ensemble Datura, who draw on the musical traditions of Brazil, India, and Turkey. The concert is part of an annual series meant to provide meaningful ways to commemorate September 11. (600 N. Charles Street; 410-547-9000; www.the walters.org)

Indulge your inner poet September 18 at the Walters Art Museum’s Smartish Pace: Poetry Reading by Bradley Paul and Megan Snyder-Camp. Los Angeles poet Paul will read from The Animals All Are Gathering, winner of the Donald Hall Prize in Poetry, and SynderCamp will read from The Forest of Sure Things. (600 N. Charles Street; 410-547-9000; www.thewalters.org)

MUSIC The Creative Alliance presents a pair of thoughtful concerts in September. On September 9, local musicians including Anne Watts

MUSIC

The Avant Guard The High Zero Festival at Theatre Project, September 22–25

The Ailey II dance troupe from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York performs at the Stephens Hall Theatre at Towson University on September 16. The group, under the direction of Sylvia Waters, is known for both its inspiring, energetic dancing and its accomplished history of community outreach. (8000 York Rd.; 410-704-2787; www.towson.edu)

HISTORY To celebrate its thirtieth anniversary, the Baltimore Museum of Industry offers free admission on September 8. See the museum’s permanent collection, which focuses on the past, present, and future of innovation in Maryland, and check out its latest exhibit, Orientation, about Baltimore’s geographic growth as an industrial powerhouse. (1415 Key Hwy.; 410727-4808; www.thebmi.org)

LITERATURE The stories from all six collections of postmodern author Lydia Davis are this month’s selection from the Atomic Reading Club. Davis is known for her unique style of short, often humorous stories that blur the line between poetry and prose. The discussion starts September 28 at Atomic Books. (3620 Falls Rd.; 410-662-4444; www.atomic books.com)

New music: High Zero brings together international experimental musicians.

e have a very particular perspective on ‘What is music? ’” says Stewart Mostofsky, a member of the Red Room Collective, which hosts the High Zero experimental festival each year. Last year at the festival, music was synthesizers, the amplification of water in porcelain bowls, and saxophone growling. This month, High Zero, in its thirteenth year, once again brings together improvisational musicians from all over the world for a series of unpretntious, collaborative performances. Spontaneity is everything: Festival organizers group together musicians that

76 september 2011 www.urbanitebaltimore.com

may have never met, let alone played together, before stepping on stage. It’s also a festival of equality: All musicians are paid the same amount, not including travel expenses. “You don’t really know what you’re getting,” says John Berndt, High Zero’s founder. “But over the course of the night, you’ll probably find something that will change the way you think about music.” This year, special experimental film and dance nights will precede the festivities, allowing for a more participatory, multimedia experience. (45 W. Preston St.; 410539-3091; www.highzero.org) —Rebecca Messner

and Michael Raitzyk perform with their families for Pass it On: Musical Families Share the Stage! And to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., on September 11, Celtic ensemble Trio Galilei, which has played weekly at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center since 2008, performs Above & Beyond : A 9/11 Meditation. (3134 Eastern Ave.; 410-276-1651; www.creativealliance.org) At the Chesapeake Arts Center on September 29, the band SOREA , named for the “sound of Korea,” performs its modernized spin on traditional Korean music. (194 Hammonds Ln., Brooklyn Park; 410636-6597; www.chesapeakearts.org) The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra tackles Gustav Mahler’s Resurrection, the composer’s most popular symphony, which centers on rememberance and the possibility of an afterlife. Performances will take place September 15–17 at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and will feature soprano Layla Claire and mezzo-soprano Susan Platts. (1212 Cathedral St.; 410-7838000; www.bsomusic.org) The Ottobar hosts a trio of acclaimed bands in September. The banged ladies of Vivian Girls play their punk pop on September 7. Woodsy rockers Matt Pond PA perform on September 21, followed by indie rock crooners the Damnwells on September 25. (2549 N. Howard St.; 410-662-0069; www.theottobar.com) The Mash Potangos specialize in the nuevo tango music of Astor Piazzolla, which incorporates classical and jazz elements into traditional Argentine tango. Catch this international group of musicians at 2640 Space on September 18 with special guests. (2640 St. Paul St.; www.redemmas.org/2640) The New York City post-punk band Swans are back after nearly fifteen years of hiatus, thanks to singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist Michael Gira. The band’s performance September 8 at the Sonar Main Stage will feature guest Sir Richard Bishop. (407 E. Saratoga St.; 410-783-7888; www.sonarbaltimore.com)

Fall Arts Guide They may be from Oakland, California, but they’d do John Waters proud. Hunx and His Punx take their special blend of sweaty, retro rock and roll to the Windup Space September 4. Also, on September 25, don’t miss the local ten-piece band Lubbock, featuring some of Baltimore’s most talented improvisers—Eric Trudel, Adam Hopkins, and Dave Ballou among them. (12 W. North Ave.; 410-244-8855; www. thewindupspace.com)

THEATER

Much More Than Opera The Lyric Opera House reopens October 8 with Monty Python’s SPAMALOT.

Left photo by Stewart Mostofsky; right photo by Scott Suchman

Folk aces Br ight Eyes share the Rams Head Live stage with the promising young Swedish duo First Aid K it on September 5. Also at Rams Head, Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller showcases his “most dope” style of backyard hip-hop on September 27. (20 Market Pl.; 410-2441131; www.ramsheadlive.com)

THEATER The Everyman Theatre presents the groundbreaking classic A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, about the struggles of an African American family living on the south side of Chicago in the early 1950s. The play runs September 7–October 9. (1727 N. Charles St.; 410-7522208; www.everymantheatre.org) Young Jean Lee’s Church kicks off Single Carrot Theatre’s 2011–2012 season September 28–October 30. The play, which premiered in New York in 2007, tackles the innate theatricality of church services and breaks down the boundaries between audience and performer. (120 W. North Ave.; 443844-9253; www.singlecarrot.com)

VISUAL ART Maryland Institute College of Art presents Paul Emmanuel: Transitions September 8–October 2 , a touring solo exhibition of images that depict a film-like progression of five stages of human life. When examined closely, the South African artist’s “photographic” images are revealed to be detailed, handdrawn, photo-realist illustrations. (1300 W. Mt. Royal Ave.; 410-6699200; www.mica.edu) School 33 opens the exhibit Microcosm/Macrocosm: Two Communitites in East Baltimore on September 9. The exhibit, which

runs through October 29, will

Knights of the Round Table: Monty Python’s SPAMALOT stops at the newly renovated Lyric Opera House.

or a little more than a year, the Lyric Opera House has operated as a shadow of its storied self. With the main stagehouse closed off for renovations that began May 2010, the Lyric hosted only smaller-scale shows—mainly comedians—on a rather limiting thrust stage. But when the end product of a $12 million capital campaign is finally unveiled this month, the new Patricia and Arthur Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric (named for the former Baltimore Ravens owner and his wife, who donated $3.5 million for the remodel) will be anything but a shadow. The stage itself will be larger, which means that big sets will no longer need to be hacked down to

feature photographs by Michela Caudill and Ken Royster that highlight neighborhoods of change: one East Baltimore community that was displaced due to the expansion of Hopkins hospital and another that has seen an influx of Latino immigrants. Also September 9– October 29, see The End of an Era , presented by BHBITB, a “spiritual organization” that claims to have seen the future. (1427 Light St.; 443263-4350; www.school33.org) Painting in Parts, on display September 15–October 29 at Mary-

land Art Place, explores minimalist painting by artists including Anne Appleby, Jo Baer, and Jake Berthot. Meet the curators of the exhibit at a reception September 15. (8 Market Pl., Ste. 100; 410-962-8565; www. mdartplace.org)

fit the once-small space. A new subscription plan will allow Lyric-goers to “build your own series,” choosing any three Broadway shows they’d like to see— say, Monty Python’s SPAMALOT, Young Frankenstein, and Fiddler on the Roof—with the option of adding a dance or opera performance. This inaugural season will also include a Jackson Browne concert and stand-up from comedian Lewis Black—and yes, even some opera. “We’re diverse,” says Nicoletta Macris, the Lyric’s marketing director. “We’re the theater for the people.” (140 W. Mount Royal Ave.; 410-685-5086; www.lyricoperahouse.com) —Andrew Zaleski

Ogle a colorful array of paintings, jewelry, sculpture, and photography at the Third Annual Inner Harbor Art Festival. The event will be held at Power Plant Live in the Inner Harbor on September 17 and 18. (601 E. Pratt St.; 561-746-6615; www.artfestival.com) Students and art organizations join forces for a night of refreshments, music, and conversation with Will Noel, curator of the Walters Art Museum’s forthcoming exhibit Lost and Found: The Secrets of Archimedes at College and Ar ts Community Night. The event, September 22 at the Walters, is free to college students, staff, and faculty, and members of Baltimore arts organziations. Those who attend will also have a chance to win tickets to the

exhibition, which opens in October. (600 N. Charles Street; 410-5479000; www.thewalters.org) To capture the story of the Middle Passage, the movement of ten million African slaves to America between the 15th and 19th centuries, Joseph Norman created 401 black and white drawings. An exhibition of these images, The Middle Passage Mural: Joseph Norman runs September 24–October 29 at the Creative Alliance. (3134 Eastern Ave.; 410-276-1651; www.creative alliance.org) Artist and writer Patterson Clark , best known for his “Urban Jungle” series in the Washington Post, turns invasive weeds into art by using the plants as ingredients for ink and paper. Clark will share his insights on Urbanite #87 september 2011 77

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78 september 2011 www.urbanitebaltimore.com

Fall Arts Guide

MUSIC

alliance.org)

Girl Power

DANCE Towson University hosts a variety of dance performances in October. Be swept away by renowned baroque dancer Catherine Turocy and the talented musicians that accompany her on October 9 at Pro Musica Rara at the Center for the Arts Recital Hall. Turocy, along with Cynthia Roberts on baroque violin and Allen Whear on baroque cello, will give a 2:30 p.m. talk and 3:30 p.m. concert performance. Faculty, students, and alumni will perform the Inertia Dance Concert on October 21 and 22. (8000 York Rd.; 410-704-2787; www.towson.edu)

A season of strong women at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

Photo by Peter Miller

he 2011-2012 season of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra celebrates “revolutionary women,” a rather appropriate homage given that BSO conductor, Marin Alsop, now in her fifth year, is the first woman to ever lead a major American orchestra. Hilary Hahn will perform as a guest soloist at the BSO’s Gala concert September 10; the internationally renowned violinist, whose major orchestral debut was with the BSO in 1991, began her study of the violin at the Peabody Conservatory when she moved to Baltimore at age 3. A two-time Grammy Award winner, the 31-year-old Hahn will be playing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. And as a prelude to the upcoming 600th anniversary of the birth of Joan of Arc—the “Maid of Orleans” who claimed that God instructed her to reclaim her French homeland from the English—the BSO will perform Arthur Honnegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher (“Joan of Arc at the Stake”) for two nights in November. In March, the orchestra will present a multimedia performance of Richard Einhorn’s composition Voices of Light, written to accompany the 1928 silent film, The Passion of Joan of Arc, which will be projected on a screen above the orchestra. —Andrew Zaleski

LITERATURE The Maryland Humanities Council’s ultra book club, One Maryland One Book, takes on Ellen Forney’s

Our ingenue: Hilary Hahn performs at the BSO’s September gala.

National Book Award-winning illustrated novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Readings and discussions will take place all over the state; catch a dramatic reading on October 19 at the Strand Theater, part of Free Fall Baltimore. (1823 N. Charles St.; 443-874-4917; www.mdhc.org)

MUSIC eco-friendly art on September 30 at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. (1000 Hilltop Circle; 410-455-1000; www.umbc.edu) Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School

delivers life-drawing lessons with a twist. Classes include cabaret sessions and models who range from burlesque dancers to trapeze artists. Catch the “boozy fun for all” at the Windup Space September 12 and September 26. (12 W. North Ave.; 410-244-8855; www.thewind upspace.com)

OCTOBER Architecture/design As part of its collaboration with AIA Baltimore for Baltimore Architecture Month, Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood Museum presents a series of three lectures on History in the Landscape. The first, Pr ivies: Necessar y & Efficient, takes place October 10. The lecture Paradigms of Democracy:

Gardening and Agr icultural P ursuits of Mar yland ’s Founding Families will be held October 17; and on October 24, the series concludes with Architecture of Delight: The Amer ican Garden Folly. All lectures are preceded by a free reception at the museum. (3400 N. Charles St.; 410-516-6689; www.museums.jhu.edu) David Dixon, director of planning and urban design at Goody Clancy, and Tom Murphy, former mayor of Pittsburgh and current senior resident fellow at the Urban Land Institute, will discuss suburban sprawl and urban population decline at Shrinking City/Growing City—Baltimore’s Future, an AIA Baltimore lecture at RTKL Associates Conference Center on October 12. (901 S. Bond St.; 410625-2585; www.aiabalt.com)

COMMUNITY ARTS Take a walk through Druid Hill Park October 1 and help raise money for the John K. Gutierrez

Memorial Fund, which supports

community arts in Baltimore. The event starts at noon, and live music, food from Woodberry Kitchen, and beverages by Grand Cru will help draw a crowd. (2010 Clipper Park Rd.; 410-889-5341; www.gutierrez memorialfund.com) Free Fall Baltimore is back for

a sixth year of celebrating art through free festivities. October 1–October 31, watch dance, music, and theater performances; check out local art exhibitions; or try your hand at it in a variety of workshops for beginners. (410-752-8632; www. freefallbaltimore.com) It’s not just large, it’s the Great BIG Halloween Parade of Lights and Luminaria and it’s lighting up Patterson Park October 29. Artist/director Laure Drogoul is using recycled plastic bottles and enlisting willing participants to build luminaria and floats for the spectacle. (27 S. Patterson Park Ave.; 410-276-1651; www.creative

The Bach Concert Series continues this fall with the great classical composer’s Cantata 140 at Christ Lutheran Church October 2. Music

director T. Herbert Dimmock will conduct a choir, orchestra, soloists, and guests from the Maryland State Boychoir. (701 S. Charles St.; 410752-7179; www.bachinbaltimore.org) Cinematic instrumental ensemble Three Red Crowns plays the Metro Gallery on October 2 with electronic musician Er ik Spangler, known for his inventive use of turntables and recorded sound, and minimalist DJ The Expanding Man. (1700 N. Charles St.; www. themetrogallery.net) After making their New York debut last year at Carnegie Hall, the Beijing Guitar Duo of Meng Su and Yameng Wang take their talent to the Baltimore Museum of Art October 15. The musicians, who studied at

the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, will show off their signature cross-cultural style of Urbanite #87 september 2011 79

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80 september 2011 www.urbanitebaltimore.com

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Fall Arts Guide classical guitar. (10 Art Museum Dr.; 443-296-2247; www.bcgs.org) Help the Baltimore Jazz Education Project , a nonprofit organization providing middle school students with instruments and music lessons, while enjoying some smooth grooves at their annual benefit concert October 16 at the Harold J. Kaplan Concert Hall. All proceeds benefit the foundation. (8000 York Rd., Towson.; 410-7042787; www.towson.edu)

THEATER

Historical Fiction The Maryland Historical Society Players, Saturdays and Sundays

bottom painting courtesy of Grace Hartigan; TOP PHOTO COURTESY OF Maryland Historical Society

Ani DiFranco takes her unique

style of outspoken jazz-folk-rock to Rams Head Live October 22. DiFranco, who has toured with a five-piece band, goes solo for this show. (20 Market Pl.; 410-547-7328; www.ramsheadlive.com) The Creative Alliance brings a trio of string shows in October. Jonathan R ichman, founder of the proto-punk band Modern Lovers, makes his first appearance at the Creative Alliance alongside jazz pianist Billy Colucci on October 20. Ken Kolodner and Robin Bullock will infuse the place with Irish-influenced guitar, cittern, and mandolin on October 23. And Bob Friedman assembles a frightful group of bluesy alt-country musicians to sing Murder Ballads, October 28. (3134 Eastern Ave.; 410276-1651; www.creativealliance.org)

War hero: Kofi Owusu

ou’ll spend three and a half hours squirming in portrays Union soldier your car seat to get to Colonial Williamsburg, but Christian it takes no time at all to get a taste of historical Fleetwood. theater right here in Baltimore. Not to take anything away from Williamsburg, the world’s largest outdoor Abraham Lincoln. (This and two other skits were writliving history museum, but the Maryland Historical ten by local playwright and sometime Urbanite contribSociety (billing itself as “the world’s largest museum utor Jonathon Scott Fuqua.) The actors also offer tours and library dedicated to the history of Maryland”) has of the museum’s exhibit, Divided Voices: Maryland in brought a small acting troupe on board—and the re- the Civil War. Will the addition of this type of historysults are quite captivating. In 10- to 15-minute skits, the in-the-flesh be enough to reverse declining attendance Maryland Historical Society Players adopt the personas at downtown museums? Time will tell. But one only of such historical heroes as Christian Fleetwood, a free has to hear Harriet Tubman (Lucretia Anderson) sing black man who won a Medal of Honor for his bravery in a refrain from “Follow the Drinking Gourd” to believe the Union Army. There are villains here, too: John Wil- in the power of bringing history back to life. (201 W. kes Booth, played by Catonsville actor Christopher Kin- Monument St.; 410-685-3750; www.mdhs.org) slow, offers up a sinister soliloquy about why he killed —Greg Hanscom

THEATER Beatles fans, rejoice. The national tour of RAIN—A Tribute to the Beatles is stopping at the Hippodrome Theatre October 21 and 22. The musical, fresh off Broadway, features most of the band’s classic hits. (12 N. Eutaw St.; 410-727-7787; www.france-merrickpac.com) The Creative Alliance presents Slave Ship: The Middle Passage Today by Bashi Rose and Rosiland Cauthen on October 14. Dr. Raymond Winbush will comment on

excerpts from Amiri Baraka’s play

Slave Ship and Hardy and Rose’s film Me, Myself and Us, with psychologist Dr. Frances Cress Welsing and artist Joseph Norman. On a lighter note, the fiercely eclectic Charm City Kitty Club’s 10th Anniversary Show premieres October 15. The musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, about a rock band with

an East German transgender lead singer, will run October 21 and 22. (3134 Eastern Ave.; 410-276-1651; www.creativealliance.org)

VISUAL ART Hear two remarkable stories at the

Visual Art

AbEx: Painter Grace Hartigan is honored at MAP’s thirtieth anniversary.

Better with Age Maryland Art Place’s thirtieth anniversary gala, November 11

MPACT, the theme of Maryland Art Place’s fall benefit this year, refers to the historical and continuing female influence on the Baltimore art scene. The November 11 gala, which also marks MAP’s thirtieth anniversary as a nonprofit art center, gives special recognition to local artists from all media. Specifically, it will pay homage to Grace Hartigan, renowned abstract expressionist and director of the Hoffberger School of Painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art from 1965 until her death in 2008. The gallery will debut five original Hartigan paintings at the event, bequeathed

Walters Art Museum in October. On October 2, Margard Kennard Johnson, the mother of artist Lonni Sue Johnson, hosts Retur n from Amnesia, a lecture on her daughter’s struggle with amnesia and the relationship between memory and creativity. On October 16, Will Noel, curator of the exhibit Lost and Found: The Secrets of Archimedes, on view through January 1, will discuss the journey of the Archimedes Pamplimsest from Jerusalem in 1229 to Baltimore 700 years later. (600 N. Charles St.; 410-547-9000; www.thewalters.org)

to MAP when the artist died. Suzi Cordish, chairperson of MAP’s board of trustees, had a close friendship with Hartigan during the last fifteen years of her life. Hartigan “understood

the real role in alternative exhibition space and how critically important it is to the city and the region,” Cordish says. Hartigan’s donation to MAP was a surprise, she says, and “was an extraordinary vote of confidence that we are doing a terrific job.” The gala will also recognize eleven women who have impacted the local art community, including Urbanite arts/culture online editor Cara Ober, Zoë Charlton, Joyce Scott, Michel Modell, Hasan Elahi, Amy Boone-McCreesh, Mina Cheon, and Dawn Gavin, among others. (8 Market Place, Suite 100 ; 410-962-8565 ; w w w.mdartplace.org) —Ashley May Urbanite #87 september 2011 81

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Fall Arts Guide On October 5 at the University of Maryland, College Park, New York Times graphic editor and visual artist Kevin Quealy talks about the ways that visual elements (charts, graphs, etc.) help us read the news. On Octover 27, visual artist Corinne May Botz, a Maryland Institute College of Art alumna, discusses space and the emotional connections that tie us to architectural objects. (1000 Hilltop Circle, College Park; 410-455-1000; www.umd.edu)

NOVEMBER DANCE Morgan State University’s Modern Dance Ensemble hosts its ThirtySixth annual Dorothy P. Stanley Fund Modern Dance Festival

at the Murphy Fine Arts Center November 11 and 12 . Money raised

PHOTO BY TRAVIS JOHNSON

from the event will help members of the ensemble further their dance education during the summer. (2201 Argonne Dr.; 443-885-3463; www. murphyfineartscenter.org) The Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble combines old mountain and new urban percussive dance styles for two shows at the Creative Alliance on November 4. The dance troupe will be accompanied by a live band directed by multi-instrumentalist/composer Mark Schatz. (3134 Eastern Ave.; 410-276-1651; www.creativealliance.org)

FILM Watch classic and current opera divas on film at The Celluloid Diva: Great Operatic Moments on Film

at Towson University’s Center for the Arts Recital Hall November 14. WBJC-FM’s Jonathan Palevsky will help expand your knowledge of opera icons. (8000 York Rd., Towson; 410-704-2787; www.towson.edu)

MUSIC The New Jersey band Screaming Females, featuring the epic shredding of Melissa Paternoster on guitar, pay homage to the riot grrl movement and the great alt-rock bands of old like Garbage and the Smashing Pumpkins. Hear them play Golden West on November 3. (1105 W. 36th St.; 410-889-8891; www.goldenwestcafe.com) Jeremiah Ba ker will give a

Art/Culture

Flash Mob

Fashion’s Night Out, September 8

altimore’s fashion scene is staying up late, throwing a party, and inviting you. Fashion’s Night Out, originally a 2009 New York City fashion celebration complete with celebrities, cocktail parties, and stores open into the night, is blowing up Baltimore’s retail stores for the first time ever on September 8. The Intercontinental Harbor Court Hotel, the hub of the event, will house forty vendors, including designers, fashion manufacturers, and music provided by DJ Ken Rochon from the Good Fellas of Baltimore TV show. Organizer Christopher Schafer from the Baltimore Fashion Alliance has been working with such local boutiques as Cupcake in Fells Point and Sylk Cosmetics in Federal Hill to encourage shops to stay open late to celebrate fashion. Schafer, owner of Christopher Schafer

classical solo saxophone performance November 4 for Peabody on the Court. This is one of the free Friday lunchtime concerts on the Sculpture Court at the Walters Art Museum. (600 N. Charles St.; 410547-9000; www.thewalters.org) Join in on a weeklong performance of jazz at the Bill and Helen Murray Jazz Residency featuring Ellery Eskelin at Towson University’s Center for the Arts Recital Hall. (8000 York Rd., Towson; 410-7042787; www.towson.edu) American folk artists the Honey Dewdrops, singer Hugh Campell (nephew of Ola Belle Reed), fiddler Anna Roberts-Gevalt, and ballad singer Elizabeth LaPrelle will make up Caleb Stine’s Round the Mountain group. See the group perform November 12 at the Creative Alliance. (3134 Eastern Ave.; 410-276-1651; www.creativealliance. org) The Duende Quar tet will play Latin jazz tunes with a hint of the Blue Note sound of the 1960s on November 17. The group, made up of bassist Josh Schwar tzman, percussionists Mark Merella and Sam ‘Seguito’ Tur ner, and pianist Har r y Appelman, will perform at the Fine Arts Recital Hall at the University of Maryland Baltimore County. (1000 Hilltop Circle; 410455-1000; www.umbc.edu)

After-party: Baltimore boutiques stay open late for Fashion’s Night Out.

Clothier and a rock musician, says he hopes this event will reignite a passion for Baltimore’s eclectic fashion community. “We are going from couture to street clothes,” he says. (550 Light St. and various locations; www.baltimorefashionalliance.wordpress.com and www.fashionsnightout.com) —Ashley May

Listen to the Har monious Wail, made up of mandolin, guitar, bass, and female vocals, and reminiscent of Django Reinhardt, Tom Waits, and the Velvet Underground at Germano’s Trattoria November 19. (300 S. High St.; 410-752-4515; www. germanostrattoria.com) Yur y Shadr in, winner of the Yale Gordon Competition at the Peabody Institute of Music, will show off his talent November 20. Towson Unitarian Unversalist Church will host the Russian-born pianist and a patron reception in the Great Hall. (1710 Dulaney Valley Rd., Lutherville; 410-730-8812; www.migh.org) THEATER Black Angels Over Tuskegee, a historical drama about U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, will be performed November 3 in the Carl Murphy Fine Arts Center at Morgan State University as part of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Baltimore Times. (2201 Argonne Dr., Towson; 443-885-4440; www.btimes. com) The musical comedy La Cage aux Folles centers on a gay couple— Georges, manager of a nightclub featuring men dressed in drag, and his partner and main attraction, Albin—and the capers that ensue when Georges’s son brings home his fiancée’s ultraconservative parents. The Tony Award-winning drama

plays November 1–6 at the Hippodrome. (12 N. Eutaw St.; 410-5477328; www.france-merrickpac.com) Opera Vivente, as part of its season Love and/or Marriage (the first in the company’s new home in Mayfield), presents a new, Englishlanguage production of Mozart’s classic The Marriage of Figaro November 11, 13, 17, and 19. The production will be fully staged with a live orchestra. (3400 Norman Ave.; 410-547-7997; www.opera vivente.org) The UMBC Theatre presents The Laramie Project, about Matthew Shepard, a young gay man violently beaten and left to die in Wyoming in 1998. The play, by Moisés Kaufman, draws from interviews conducted after the murder. Catch a preview November 30. The play runs December 1–11. (1000 Hilltop Circle; 410-455-2917; www.umbc.edu) VISUAL ART Rebecca Hall, the Walters Art Museum’s Mellon curatorial fellow of Asian Art, talks about the museum’s special exhibit Thai Story: The Vessantara Jataka, which tells the story of one of the Buddha’s former lives as a generous prince in the manuscripts. Lunch and Learn: The Stor y of Vessantara takes place November 3. (600 N. Charles St.; 410-547-9000; www.thewalters. org) Urbanite #87 september 2011 83

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Maritime Magic 2011 Presented by Under Armour Benefiting youth served by Living Classrooms Foundation Friday, September 23, 2011 7:00 p.m. – 12:30 a.m. Living Classrooms’ Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park, 1417 Thames Street, Fells Point Great food and beverages provided by over 50 of the area’s best restaurants and caterers | Music by The Bridge and Orgone. | Fabulous auction, which will be held ONLINE only this year from September 14th to September 30th at www.biddingforgood.com/maritimemagic.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call 410.685.0295 or visit www.livingclassrooms.org. SPONSORS: Title Under Armour Admiral Merritt Properties Vice Admiral The Stephen and Renee Bisciotti Foundation Commander CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, Stifel Nicolaus,

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