Before and After Loss: A Neurologist’s Perspective on Loss, Grief and Our Brain

Lisa M. Shulman, MD (Johns Hopkins University Press)

In this poetic, insightful, and heartbreaking memoir, neurologist Lisa M. Shulman chronicles the diagnosis and eventual succumbing to cancer of her late husband, William “Bill” Weiner, former chair of neurology at the University of Maryland. His journal entries, her recorded dreams, and photos of meals they shared add a personal touch to the book that illustrates their love for one another, while quotes from philosophers, poets, and psychotherapists offer wisdom on death and grieving. Combined with scientific studies on traumatic brain injury and holistic approaches to healing, Shulman has created a unique book that touches on all aspects of grieving—the psychological, physiological, and those places where neurology and psychiatry overlap. It’s an invaluable aid to counselors and doctors, as well as anyone moving through grief toward wholeness.

The Ghosts of Johns Hopkins: The Life and Legacy that Shaped an American City

Antero Pietila (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers)

No citizen left a more profound impact on Baltimore than entrepreneur, abolitionist, and philanthropist Johns Hopkins, who, after his death, endowed to the city the great university and hospital system that bears his name. At the same time, because he thoroughly destroyed his private papers, no comprehensive biography exists of Hopkins—but this is a good place to start. Pietila, a Baltimore Sun reporter for 35 years, delves into not just Hopkins’ formative years but the formative years of the city itself, which he helped shape through his business and real estate ventures. If readers are looking for a work that dives deep into recent controversies around its syphilis or lead paint studies, for example, that’s not this book. If readers want to learn more about Baltimore’s history, particularly that of the east side, they won’t be disappointed.

See our full interview with writer Antero Pietila.

Longtime Baltimore Sun journalist Antero Pietila—who has also covered politics from South Africa to the Soviet Union—focuses his latest book around the central figure of Johns Hopkins. In The Ghosts of Johns Hopkins: The Life and Legacy that Shaped an American City, Pietila examines the life and legacy of the titular developer, as well as digs deep on the impact his institutions have had on the racial patchwork of Baltimore City.

We talked with Pietila about what inspired the book, writing the first real biography of Johns Hopkins, and whether his institutions are doing enough for modern-day Baltimore.

This begins as a prequel to your last work, Not in My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City. Then it becomes a companion.
We are at a very peculiar intersection of history in Baltimore. The names William Donald Schaefer and James Rouse mean less and less. Fewer people remember these individuals who had made a profound impact. These books are sort of designed as introductory assignments for those new to Baltimore. Like David Simon’s The Wire.

No credible biography of Hopkins exists, correct?
He destroyed his papers. Nobody knows why. He was very private in his personal matters and at the same time, had powerful friends, including Arunah Abell, the founder of The Sun. Yes, there were stories about Johns Hopkins in the paper, but nothing personally revealing.

Hopkins grew up on an Anne Arundel plantation and died in 1873. How did he view African-Americans?
He was a Union party member and believed in Lincoln and Reconstruction. But he did not believe in equality by today’s standards. The hospital had a humanitarian mission [to serve black patients], but at the same time, he never expected the University to have black students.

Hopkins was the one of the wealthiest people in the U.S. when he died, and the largest individual B&O Railroad shareholder. How did he make his money?
He started as a dry goods merchant, catering to the needs of Conestoga wagons traveling to the Shenandoah Valley and west to Ohio. He sold whiskey, “Hopkins’ Best,” and was involved in banking, shipping. There wasn’t an enterprise he wasn’t involved in.

During your research, did Hopkins remind you of anyone today?
I never thought of a comparison to someone. But thinking of it now, he was the principal investor in the B&O Railroad, which represented the Silicon Valley of its time.

Hopkins had no children and never married. When did he get interested in philanthropy?
Most likely through George Peabody, who was a close friend. He was also in contact with Enoch Pratt. The turning point seems to be after a brush with death at 37 when he contacted cholera.

What set the course for excellence at the university, medical school, and hospital that bear his name?
The university was modeled after the elite German institutions, and started with very few undergraduate students. It was primarily a graduate university and research institution. Similarly, the hospital was unique in that it began as research hospital.

The “ghosts” of Johns Hopkins refers not so much to various controversies around the University or medical school, for example, the syphilis and lead paint studies, but city’s development, in particular, around the hospital.
Not in My Neighborhood documented the ethnic rotations in West Baltimore, but nobody had outlined what happened in East Baltimore where there had been a strong Czech and Bohemian presence. In Old Town, the ethnic rotations included Germans, Irish, and then German Jews and Russian Jews. I don’t avoid the controversies.

You emigrated from Finland and started as a Sun reporter in 1969. What was your impression of the city?
I thought it was interesting, an ancient-looking city with its rowhouses and an atmosphere that was different than the parts of modern Europe, which I had visited. The extent of the segregation surprised me. I came to Baltimore one year after the riot. Not only was the mood of the city terrible, there were a helluva lot of questions about its future. The situation is tricky today.

And currently?
The mood is again not very good with the level of violent crime, but there are cranes and buildings going up everywhere by the waterfront. It makes you wonder if we are in the middle of a housing bubble.

But you see Hopkins Hospital as a bridge, potentially, spurring redevelopment on the east side from the harbor all the way to its campus.
The Hopkins campus never really brought to fruition the kind of renewal that we were told it would. But I see a lot of promise, particularly in the Broadway corridor. I think there is some kind of possibility for renewal that might connect to Preston Street and Greenmount Avenue. Hopkins has long had a strange, or perhaps stained, is a better word, relationship with the city. Given that this world-class university and medical school and hospital brand that sits in the midst of city with tremendous challenges. It is strange, and strained as well.

There is always the question is Hopkins doing enough for Baltimore? Today, there is the question whether it should have its own police force to set up a perimeter around its campuses. Something like 40 percent of the real estate buildings in the city don’t pay taxes because they belong to nonprofits and are exempt. Eventually that is going to become an issue as well, I imagine.

Visual Art

Artesanas Mexicanas y Artesanitos
Don’t miss your chance to view and purchase handmade piñatas, corn husk flowers, and traditional embroidery from the talented women of Creative Alliance’s Artesanas Mexicanas program and their child apprentices, who are part of a year-long program to learn these intricate arts. Stop by opening night for a reception that will include a traditional Mexican dinner and performances. Reception from 6-8 p.m. Nov. 16; On view from Nov. 16 to Dec. 1. Amalie Rothschild Gallery at Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave.

Baltimore Beneath the Surface
This exhibit pairing Baltimore-based street photographers Lashelle Bynum and Angelia Carter has been extended through the end of November, meaning there’s no reason to miss this series of portraits of the city and its people. Covering both individuals’ stories and the communities that surround them, these images offer a look at the many pieces that create the whole of Baltimore. On view through Nov. 30. Eubie Blake Cultural Center, 847 N. Howard St.

Lizzie Fitch/Ryan Trecartin
Longtime collaborators Lizzie Fitch and Ryan Trecartin have shown their videos, sculptures, and installations around the world, and their latest stop at the BMA brings all those elements into the museum’s hallowed halls. Venture into either of the sculptural theaters (one made to look like a bar and the other a sort of gymnastics center) to view films exploring the ideas of technology, identity, and communication in the 21st century. On view through Jan. 6, 2019. The Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Dr.

Music

The Art of Prelude and Fugue
This brand-new concert series from the Peabody Institute pairs Russian composer Dmitry Shostakovich’s book of Preludes and Fugues with the Baroque Bach compositions that inspired it. Join pianist Lura Johnson at the intimate Leith Symington Griswold Hall for the first of four explorations of these two composers and how their pieces, created 200 years apart, can work together. Pre-concert lecture at 6:30, Concert at 7:30, Nov. 19. Leith Symington Griswold Hall, 1 E. Mount Vernon Pl.

Joy Postell Album Release Show at the Ottobar
Local indie R&B artist Joy Postell has had a big year, and she’s closing it out with a bang. New music, new videos, and a mention in The New York Times’ piece “The Changing Sound of Baltimore” have all created buzz around the local singer, and now her debut album, Diaspora, is finally here. Get in line early to catch this free performance to celebrate the release. Doors at 8 p.m., Show at 9 p.m., Nov. 23. Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St.

Theater

A Wonder in My Soul
In a story that feels rooted firmly in the world around us, two Baltimore beauty shop owners must weigh their love of their neighborhood against moving away from the pressures of crime and the rising cost of gentrification. Friendship and community anchor this work from celebrated playwright Marcus Gardley. Nov. 29 through Dec. 23. Baltimore Center Stage, 700 N. Calvert St.

Drunk Classics: Shakespeare
Watch as the cast at Single Carrot and their guests deliver their tipsy interpretations of some of the Bard’s greatest scenes. Enjoy a live Drunk History-style biography of Shakespeare to start, and then who knows what the night will bring? A blitzed Benedick and Beatrice? A plastered Puck? An intoxicated Iago? Only the Carrots know what’s coming. 8-11 p.m., Nov. 17. Single Carrot Theatre, 2600 N. Howard St.

Film

Baltimore’s Strange Fruit Film Screening & Celebration
Celebrate the Black Yield Institute’s third anniversary this screening of the group’s documentary, Baltimore’s Strange Fruit: A Story of Food Apartheid and the Struggle for Sovereignty at the BMA. The event, which will also include entertainment and and a discussion with the filmmakers, will benefit the BYI’s food sovereignty work throughout the city. 3-6 p.m., Nov. 17. The Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Dr.

Literary Arts

Writers LIVE: Antero Pietila
Antero Pietila’s new book, The Ghosts of Johns Hopkins, may not include any spirits. But the ghosts examined in these pages are still haunting the city nearly 150 after the death of the Baltimore titan. Join Pietila to discuss the complicated legacy of Johns Hopkins and how his institutions helped shape the problems of the city we live in today. 7 p.m., Nov. 28. Church of the Redeemer, 5603 N. Charles St.

Festival of Jewish Literature
Catch the final weekend of this two-week celebration of Jewish literature throughout the Baltimore area. Head to Beth El in Pikesville Thursday night for a community reading with Eternal Life author Dara Horn, take in a Jewish Variety Hour Saturday night at The Ivy Bookshop, or bring the kids to a series of children’s programs at Chizuk Amuno Congregation on Sunday evening. Through Nov. 18, Times and locations vary.