Jane Austen never visited Baltimore. Yet, true Janeites know her deep connection to the area. This month marks 250 years since the acclaimed English novelist and social commentator was born, but she remains as noteworthy and popular as ever.

Since her death in 1817 at 41, Austen’s novels have rarely been out of print and her most popular tomes—Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma—are considered timeless classics that continue to be adapted for film, television, and theater. The 2025 French romantic comedy Jane Austen Wrecked My Life was shown at the Charles Theatre this past summer and an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion by Sarah Rose Kearns just closed at the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company.

But even with such an ardent fandom, it’s Goucher College that just might take home the prize for Biggest Jane Austen Devotee.

Goucher, the private, liberal arts college founded in 1885 and tucked into a quiet corner of Towson, is known for its innovative, interdisciplinary curriculum and small class sizes—but did you know it also houses the largest Jane Austen collection in North America?

Due to their age and fragility, the Jane Austen materials at Goucher College Library are not on permanent display. The collection materials are in a climate-controlled, secure stack area within the library’s Special Collections and Archives. But the collection is available via appointment for research requests, classroom visits, and group outings.

“Truly the opportunity to share all of this with Baltimore people—that’s the piece that I hope we will grow in the future,” says Juliette Wells, professor of literary studies at Goucher and one of the country’s foremost experts on all things Austen.

She’s sitting in the Goucher library on a late September morning and looks exactly how you’d picture a Jane Austen scholar should—small oval glasses, a short pixie cut, artsy earrings, bright top, and an easy smile. The first Austen book she read was Emma, in a literature class her junior year at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Annandale, Virginia.

“I had a wonderful AP Lit teacher, and she offered us a choice of readings. And I don’t remember what the other choices were,” she laughs. “I read Emma. I admired it. I wouldn’t say I loved it. I definitely knew I wasn’t understanding everything about it, but I found it really intriguing.”

“THE OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE ALL OF THIS WITH BALTIMORE I HOPE WILL GROW.”

Now Wells teaches at a college that owns a rare copy of Emma, printed in 1816 in Philadelphia. It’s one of only six known copies in existence and the only Austen book published in America during her lifetime.

It’s just one piece of the incredible collection began at the bequest of Alberta Hirshheimer Burke, a 1928 graduate of the college who, according to administrative records, was initially denied entry because the school had reached its unofficial Jewish quota. While a student at Goucher, Burke had read Rudyard Kipling’s story “The Janeites,” about World War I soldiers who bond over their love of Jane Austen, and she was intrigued.

In 1930, after receiving her master’s in literature and marrying her husband, Henry, Burke began what would become her lifetime passion project, building what she called her “Austen archive.”

“In the mid 1930s she wrote to the president of Goucher to say, ‘I am building a Jane Austen collection, and it is important I already have these first editions, I already have these manuscripts, and I would like to have Goucher in mind for the eventual recipient,’” says Wells.

And while Wells doesn’t know precisely what the Goucher president wrote back, she imagines it went something like this: “How perfect—such an important woman author. Here we are a women’s college, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” (The school became co-ed in 1986.)

Although she wasn’t a native of Baltimore, Burke lived her entire adult life in the city, at one point living in the Broadview apartments on W. University Parkway. She and Henry combined two apartments—one for living and one to house their books.

Over time, Burke built a distinguished private collection of Austen books and manuscripts. Upon her death in 1975 (and in accordance with her will), her collection was divided between Goucher and the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York (now the Morgan Library & Museum). Goucher received more than a thousand books, including early editions, as well as records of Burke’s collecting: correspondences with book dealers and scholars, as well as invoices and receipts for her acquisitions.

In some ways, the collection is as much about Burke, the intrepid alumna who pursued Austen with a nearly messianic fervor, as it is about Austen herself.

A highlight of Goucher’s collection is a set of 10 of Burke’s notebooks that include “anything which is in any way related to Jane Austen,” as Burke herself described them in a 1940 letter. The black-and-white marbled composition books are all labeled “Pride and Prejudice and Other Material Relating to Jane Austen” and are arranged mostly chronologically. Each item pasted in the notebook is annotated with its origin, the date, and, frequently, a notation from Burke.

In honor of Austen’s 250th birthday and the 50th anniversary of Burke’s bequest to the college, Goucher’s library staff carefully scanned all 10 notebooks and made digital copies available on their website. It’s a rare look inside Burke’s sweet obsession. Other collection highlights include a 1938 original Penguin edition of Pride and Prejudice.

Before his death in 1989, Henry donated more Austen-related material to Goucher and, as word spread of the college’s growing collection, subsequent gifts and donations have come from a variety of Austen enthusiasts, including Barbara Winn Adams, who donated her copy of the first American edition of Persuasion, printed in 1832.

Goucher also has more than 300 translations of Austen’s novels in 27 languages, not just from Burke, but from the likes of Edith Lank, author and former Jane Austen Society of North America board member, who donated her collection of 80 translations to Goucher in 2020, just three years before she passed away. Lank, who was in touch with people all over the world to source her Austen translations, once exchanged a Dolly Parton greatest hits cassette tape with a woman in Iran for a copy of Sense and Sensibility in Farsi.

“SHE TELLS STORIES THAT JUST REALLY CONNECT TO PEOPLE. EVERYBODY KNOWS SOMEBODY THAT IS A LADY CATHERINE OR A MR. COLLINS. EVERYONE WANTS TO FIND THEIR DARCY.”

Wells delights in hearing stories like this. She first arrived in Baltimore as an undergrad at Johns Hopkins, where she considered doing her thesis on Austen, but instead focused on Barbara Pym, the 20th-century British novelist who’s often compared to Austen. Supported by an undergraduate research fellowship, she spent several weeks at Oxford studying Pym’s archives.

“I had no training in archival research. I didn’t even know the term archival research.”

She graduated in 1997 and went on to Yale, where she completed her doctorate in 2003. While teaching at a college in New York, she spent a week doing research at Goucher in 2010 as the Burke Jane Austen Scholar-in-Residence.

Hired as a faculty member in 2012, Wells doesn’t just teach about Austen—though she offers plenty of enviable classes with names like “Unexpected Austen” and “Pride and Prejudice, Here and Now” and even conducts a Jane Austen Archives Practicum where students learn how to curate exhibits—but also conducts groundbreaking research and a bit of good old-fashioned detective work to uncover some of the mystery surrounding Austen.

It was back in 2018 when Wells was invited by the Morgan to co-curate an exhibit tied to Austen’s big birthday that would not only mesh their two collections but include special loaned pieces, as well. Seven years later, “A Lively Mind: Jane Austen at 250” opened in Manhattan. The exhibit ran for three months and showcased artifacts, manuscripts, books, a reconstruction of Austen’s sumptuous silk pelisse (a long coat), a reproduction of her writing table, and artwork including Amy Sherald’s painting, “A Single Man in Possession of a Good Fortune.” (The painting is named for the first line from Pride and Prejudice.)

The exhibit attracted an unprecedented number of visitors—more than 119,000—says Wells, a hint of pride (and maybe some prejudice) in her voice. And Burke’s name, Goucher College, and Baltimore were all over the exhibit.

It’s a few days into the Jane Austen Society of North America’s (JASNA) annual general meeting and 950 Austen fans and scholars are milling about the Marriott Waterfront Hotel. (Baltimore hasn’t hosted since 1980.) There’s a pop-up museum including artifacts dug up from Steventon Rectory (the house where Austen was born), English country dance workshops, and an opportunity to visit the two emporiums—one full of books and the other Regency apparel. But first, Wells is holding the audience captivated inside the large ballroom as one of the plenary speakers. The applause is deafening at the end—they know she’s Austen royalty.

“We don’t care how you arrive at an appreciation for Jane,” says Mary Mintz, president of JASNA, in her sweet North Carolina drawl. She’s sitting in the pop-up museum taking a 10-minute break. “But once you get into the novels, you find out that even though she is the one who originated that romance novel, a story that’s told over and over again today, where you have this woman and she’s not getting along well with this very attractive man who seems to be defective. But it turns out they’re a perfect match, right? Every Harlequin romance, every romance novel is based on Jane Austen.”

But Mintz, associate librarian emerita at American University, says it’s deeper than that. “Once you get past [the romance] you realize that she’s so much more multi dimensional and complex. She’s dealing with philosophical ideas, and she is dealing with women’s issues that still in some ways resonate for us today.”

Having the annual general meeting back in Baltimore was super special, says the Bel Air-based Jenn Jones, who coordinated this year’s annual meeting and is a branch manager at a public library. “There was a lot of synergy to Baltimore,” she says—noting not just all the big anniversaries but the fact that Henry Burke (Alberta’s husband) helped found JASNA.

Jones, who has been with JASNA since 2012, looks around the convention with pride. At the moment, everyone is bombarding her with logistics questions, but she pauses to answer why Austen has endured.

“She tells stories that just really connect to people. Everybody knows somebody that is a Lady Catherine or a Mr. Collins. Everyone wants to find their Darcy,” she says. “The stories are just human nature. You know, she doesn’t describe places. She doesn’t go into all these descriptions that a lot of the writers were doing at that time period. Instead, she’s talking about the stories of the community. And I think that’s what resonates and why she’s so timeless and able to be translated, not just from that time, but continues to be relevant.”

Later that evening guests will attend a banquet—with most dressed in their Regency finest, including hats festooned with feathers and ribbons—and end the night dancing at the ball—thanks to a very patient instructor—until almost midnight.

It truly feels like being at the Netherfield Ball in Pride and Prejudice or Mansfield Park’s coming-out ball where Fanny is given the honor of leading the first dance.

On a rainy Monday morning, many JASNA members will bus the 14 miles from Harbor East to Goucher to see parts of the collection up close and personal with an attentive Kristen Welzenbach, curator of Goucher’s special collections and archives, answering questions for the dazzled groups. It’s like showing a 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth rookie card to a hardcore baseball fan. They get how special it is.

It’s been quite the year for Austen, Burke, and Wells.

“I made a decision for myself that I would say yes to everything for this whole year,” she says. That meant not just the exhibit, but teaching courses through different organizations, finishing her new edition of Austen’s Mansfield Park, and giving almost a talk a week—including a quick trip to Australia—while still working as a professor.

“I do actually have a day job, which I cherish,” says Wells. “I have a sabbatical next spring in which to think new thoughts and possibly catch up on my sleep.”

Even when this big year is over, Wells knows there is still a collection to celebrate.

“I’ve always felt that telling her story, sharing her contributions, making use of her collection, was doing what she wished would be done,” she says of Burke. “And I hope that if she is looking down from ecumenical heaven, I hope she approves.”

Generation Z, often referred to as Gen Z, is the demographic cohort following the Millennial generation, typically defined as individuals born between 1997 and 2012. As the first generation to grow up with the internet, social media, and advanced technology from an early age, Gen Z is distinct in its values, behaviors, and interactions with the world. This generation is poised to shape the future in profound ways, especially in terms of digital communication, social justice, and consumer trends.

 

To the 11 students in Goucher College associate professor Lana Oweidat’s Theories and Practices in Composing, Tutoring, and Teaching honors course, the opening lines of the essay on Gen Z—and the two pages that followed—were reasonably good. Asked to assess the essay, the students, all tutors-in-training for Goucher’s Writing Center, quickly noted some strengths: The essay presented facts and provided seemingly solid data to back up its assertions. But there were weaknesses, too. There was no thesis and the essay flowed poorly, for starters.

Worse, with a little digging, the students encountered a larger flaw: shoddy sourcing.

“It turns out there was a source, but it was not accurate,” says Oweidat, who is chair of the department of Professional and Creative Writing and director of Goucher’s Writing Center. Despite its problems, the essay earned Cs and Bs from the tutors-in-training. Not bad considering the writer was none other than ChatGPT, the popular generative artificial intelligence tool.

“I think [the students] were surprised that the essay was pretty good,” says Oweidat. “Even I was surprised at what it came up with in five or 10 seconds.”

The essay review was part of a November 2024 class that taught students about AI tools and talked through steps to take when tutors suspect a student has used AI in their work without disclosure. As peer tutors, “They should have that knowledge to be able to tell students what AI is capable of doing and also help students navigate the issue of using AI ethically,” says Oweidat.

Gaining such knowledge and skill is only part of the future tutors’ training, but it’s a vital one at a time when AI tools are easily accessible and poised to be woven into work and life in ways we can only imagine—and some we can’t.

Across the Baltimore region, educators are grappling with a future that is already here. Once a staple of science fiction, generative AI is now a real tool that needs to be understood, harnessed, and, yes, sometimes restricted or even banned.

The educators we spoke to were surprisingly sanguine about the possibilities of—even excited about what it could bring to the classroom—and generally favor a proactive approach that embraces AI. At the same time, they recognize that such tools come with risks and that the development of best practices remains a work in progress.

So what is Generative AI? It’s a transformative type of artificial intelligence capable of creating original content—from essays (everything from the History of Feminism to My Trip to the Grand Canyon) and computer code to modern art, classical music scores, podcasts, and more—and streamlining a variety of tasks. As generative AI tools continue to evolve and gain traction, educators are faced with the challenge of ensuring students have all the skills they will need in an AI enabled future, including how to use AI tools effectively, ethically, and responsibly without becoming overly reliant on them as a replacement for in-depth research, synthesizing information, and critical thinking.

While so-called “adaptive” artificial intelligence tools (those capable of learning and adapting to new information) have been used in education for years, generative AI tools are a more recent development—ChatGPT, for example, became widely available to the public in November 2022.

“Right now, we are still in a place where educators are learning about AI,” says Tara Nattrass, managing director of innovation strategy at ISTE+ASCD, a nonprofit that seeks to help educators in K-12 and higher education use technology to improve education. “They are thinking through opportunities and risks.”

In addition to beginning to develop AI usage guidelines and revisiting their honor codes, many schools are seeking to enhance their digital literacy efforts. Educators are also exploring the ways AI can help streamline their own work—by doing things like assisting with administrative tasks, creating lesson plans, crunching data, or even tailoring learning to a student’s specific needs, which can create a more equitable learning experience for all.

And herein lies the paradox of AI: It has the potential to be simultaneously one of the best and worst things to happen to modern education. It presents tantalizing opportunities to improve the academic experience, enhance efficiency, free up time for higher-order thinking, and open doors for the future success of students. But yes, it also can be a tool for sophisticated cheating and even unintentional misuse by users who don’t understand its limitations and risks.

“I FIND MYSELF USING CHATGPT EVERY DAY. IT’S EXTREMELY USEFUL IN SCHOOL.”

In Maryland schools, colleges, and universities, guidelines for the use of AI vary by district, institution, and even individual educator. Current practices can range from an outright ban on the use of generative AI by students, to allowing its use in specified ways, to a full-throated embrace of the technology. As Oweidat notes, not everyone is comfortable with incorporating AI into the classroom.

“People are still processing and trying to do what’s best for students, of course,” she says.  “But some faculty are still grappling with the complexity of this and they’re not there yet.”

Aware of this complexity, University of Maryland has been proactive. In November 2023, they assembled a President’s Commission on Artificial Intelligence to explore the use of AI at the university. And in April 2024, they officially launched the Artificial Interdisciplinary Institute at Maryland, “focusing on responsible and ethical AI technology.”

Students, meanwhile, are making use of AI tools in and out of school. In a Spring 2024 University of Maryland campus-wide survey, 41 percent of students said they have used generative AI for academic purposes—and usage has almost certainly grown since the survey was conducted. The top three reported uses were for generating ideas, improving content, and summarizing concepts. Students across institutions say they also use AI to help with everything from organizing their work, to writing code, to getting a quick synopsis of a long technical paper. They may use it to get answers to questions they feel silly asking in class or to punch up a paragraph they’ve written but aren’t happy with.

For Towson University sophomore Krishan Patel, AI tools have recently become an invaluable resource. Although he’d used them since high school, “Honestly, before this semester started, I did not [expect to use] AI as often as I do now,” he says. “I find myself using ChatGPT every day. It’s extremely useful in school.”

For his algebra class, Patel found that having an AI tool solve math problems and show its work helped him practice solving similar problems on his own. For a speech class, Patel was able to use AI to brainstorm ideas. In both cases, his professors allowed and even encouraged such use.

And while Patel found his professors have been largely clear on allowable use—all addressed AI on their syllabus, with most prohibiting its use—students using AI for schoolwork can sometimes find themselves faced with tricky ethical questions. Like, is it cheating to ask AI for ideas for a paper you’ve been assigned? Or to summarize a reading for you? What about taking AI-generated editing suggestions that border on rewriting? The answer, for now at least, often is “it depends.”

At Goucher, the honor code prohibits the unauthorized use of generative AI to write papers and essays or to complete other assignments and directs students to ask their instructor and check course policies to determine if AI tools are allowed at any stage of their work. When instructors allow AI use, the rule of thumb is that anything taken from AI and incorporated into texts must be cited, says Oweidat.

Still, “there’s a lot of gray area,” admits Oweidat. “That’s why it’s very hard to come up with, ‘and this is how we do it.’ It’s complicated, and it’s an evolving issue.”

Even for areas that aren’t gray—having AI write large chunks of an essay without disclosure or permission, for example—potential solutions pose problems of their own.

“AI detectors are unreliable and the implicit bias within them will often flag work of multilingual learners and other students as being AI-generated even when it is not,” says Nattrass. “And we are now faced with this environment of distrust sometimes in our schools with teachers asking, was this generated by AI [or] was it not?”

And it’s not just educators who worry about the use and misuse of AI. Students also worry—that their peers will use AI to gain an unfair advantage or that their own use of AI will get them into trouble. In the UMD survey on AI use, a majority of student respondents said they were worried about how to use generative AI while maintaining the university’s code of academic conduct.

In addition to worries about cheating or unethical use, AI presents other challenges. As Oweidat’s students discovered, large language models like ChatGPT sometimes “hallucinate,” or create inaccurate content. That means their output must be verified by the user, says Soheil Feizi, a University of Maryland associate professor of computer science and founder and CEO of RELAI, which provides tools aimed at improving AI reliability.

“One of the main issues we see [is that] when people use AI models, they trust them. And that can obviously have significant consequences,” says Feizi, who is currently on leave from University of Maryland but plans to return to the classroom in the fall.

Educators who use AI in their work also need to be wary of the limitations of some AI tools, which might create content that perpetuates stereotypes or relies on misinformation or disinformation, says Nattrass.

The use of AI in education gives rise to other concerns too: about privacy, equity (not all students may have access to the technology), and the worry that an overreliance on AI will erode students’ skills in crucial areas.

“WE’RE ALSO GOING TO HAVE TO GET THEM READY FOR THEIR FUTURE AND THEIR FUTURE IS GOING TO INCLUDE AI…”

At McDonogh, a private college-preparatory school for students from pre-K through 12th grade in Owings Mills, embracing AI is a logical extension of a long-standing pedagogical approach that seeks to develop subject mastery in students while also fostering the skills to think deeply, explore a range of perspectives, and collaborate.

“There are certain things when you’re talking about a school that value the liberal arts and sciences that’s fundamental, that [students] are always going to have,” says McDonogh Associate Head of School Kate Mueller. “But we’re also going to have to get them ready for their future and their future is going to include AI—and a lot of different technologies for that matter.”

In spring 2023, McDonogh 9th graders worked through a multi-session course with Inspirit AI, an online artificial intelligence education program developed and taught by Stanford and MIT alumni and graduate students. As 10th graders, the students are continuing their AI instruction this year. Programs like this and others seek to help students understand AI’s workings, potential uses and limitations, and ethical considerations.

Taking a proactive approach to technology use, allowing students to use AI in a structured environment, and talking through ethical decision-making creates an environment that should limit the potential negatives, says Aisha Bryant, McDonogh’s director of educational technology. As part of their AI education, students practice creating an AI prompt, evaluating the response, and considering the ethics of using the AI-created content before making a decision about how much or how little of the content to use.

“Sometimes students, with pressure or being up against a deadline, don’t make the right choices,” says Bryant. But exploration and discussion of ethical choices helps them develop as responsible users of technology.

“By the end, they’re not even thinking, ‘Okay, write my essay for me,’” she says. “AI just becomes more like an assistant, because we have shown them how many different ways they can use it and they truly understand how AI works.”

As exciting as the potential for AI is, Mueller points out it’s just one of many tools students may use, none of which replace human-centered learning. “We want good, well rounded citizens to graduate from McDonogh and to make sure they are building relationships and interacting with each other,” she says.

To that end, some educators are redesigning assignments to be more creative and open-ended and are leaning toward tasks like group projects, oral presentations, and interactive learning experiences. The bonus: It’s harder for students to outsource that kind of work to AI and such assignments help build the durable skills that will help them thrive in an AI-integrated future.

As they move toward that future, educators and institutions will need to take steps to ensure all students have equal access to AI tools, says University of Maryland’s Feizi.

“What worries me is that we will have some people that are quite good at using these AI tools—and even better, they can contribute to these tools—and they are the ones who will see the majority of the benefits and that will potentially increase the economic gap and other disparities.”

For Goucher’s Oweidat, the path forward holds more exercises like the essay evaluation her tutors-in-training tackled, plus continued exploration and discussion of AI with faculty and students.

“The more I use the tool,” says Oweidat, “the more I teach about it, learn about it, the more comfortable I become and the more excited I become about the possibilities, which are endless really.”

William Freeman III graduated from Goucher College in 2020 with a degree in sociology and anthropology. He earned 73 of those credits through the Goucher Prison Education Partnership while incarcerated for murder. Released from prison in 2018 after serving 20 years of his life-plus-20-years sentence, Freeman, 43, is currently a Bloomberg Fellow and master’s candidate at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He also works at The Education Trust, a national nonprofit that works to close opportunity gaps that disproportionately affect students of color and those from low-income families.

What was the path that led you to prison?
I was kicked out of the house at age 15. My mom couldn’t do much with me, and I was dismantling the structure of the household. I was shot at 16, and still not allowed to come home. Somehow, I graduated from high school, I was pushed through.

Substance abuse was part of my existence. I was using and espousing street life—I wouldn’t call it a life because you don’t do very much living inside of those parameters. You’re just existing and surviving at a very basic level. Your animal instinct is primarily what guides you. I was arrested in 1998, four days after my son was born.

What about being in prison changed you?
It was in prison that I read my first book from front to back: As a Man Thinketh, by James Allen. That’s a book I have in my library and reread from time to time. One of my favorite passages is: “Circumstances don’t make a man, they show him to himself.”

When I talk to young people, I talk about two kinds of education: the kind I got from Goucher, and the kind I got from the elders in prison—that’s home-grown, what you need to know to be firm in being who you are.

So, the prison elders were the father figures you hadn’t had growing up?
Absolutely. A father figure is important for young males because who do you emulate, who do you want to be like? Where I had lived a young life of wanting to fit in, in prison I was starting to get on this course of understanding my own purpose, my own self. It is truly pivotal.

Education has clearly changed your life. Can you describe how?
At one point I realized I was being blamed: “It’s 100 percent your fault, you made the decision.” But when I got involved in higher ed in prison, I learned that at age 25, the brain fully develops, the frontal part of the brain where you make your decisions. I was 19 when I was incarcerated. Those things were therapeutic for me, to allow me to forgive myself, and to be honest about being able to seek forgiveness from others.

Folks are not empty, just because we’re incarcerated, or low-income, or didn’t have a quality education. College equipped me with some tools. Sharp tools. Name-brand tools, where I could measure things that I thought. Where I could observe, put together a method to track the idea that I had, and then use those tools to get to an outcome.

Education gave me the tools to undo the idea that I had become something stagnant and unchangeable. It gave me a sense of pride, that I could come back from this thing that I had done.

Do you have thoughts about the root causes of violence in our society?
What’s not talked about enough is that it’s too easy for people who we know don’t have access to therapy to deal with their rage and their anger to get guns versus to get sustainable employment. Violence is not high because people feel like they’re being listened to, and they have a process to vent their grievances, and have solutions meted out to them that fix the trajectories of their lives. You get a suicide bomber out of a sense of hopelessness and a lack of resources. Like, I’m going to inflict as much pain as I can, on everyone around me, to make them see me.

How is the work you’re doing impacting the criminal legal system and those who are part of it?
I believe that if the U.S. criminal legal system was more oriented toward evidence-based reforms like education, instead of toward punishment, we would focus less on recidivism and more on creating space at the table for returning citizens. We must create opportunities for people to use their past experience to inform more humanitarian prison reform practices, like higher education.

Education Trust is building and empowering students who were formerly incarcerated to help them apply their personal experience to policy advocacy. We know that some so-called second chances are, in fact, people’s first chances. Creating space at the decision-making table for people who involuntarily forfeited their citizenship is imperative to deconstructing racism, reducing crime, and rebuilding marginalized communities.

he phrase “the new normal” has been thrown around since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and as America struggles to define—and design—what that is exactly, colleges are paving the way for what it might look like.

After the chaos and uncertainty of 2020, colleges and universities throughout the Baltimore region began to find their groove as they moved into the 2021-2022 school year. Coronavirus safety committees had been erected, new mandates put in place, safety protocols implemented—everything from vaccine requirements to temperature checks to quarantine procedures and wastewater testing that can pinpoint a COVID infection before anyone is symptomatic.

By some counts, colleges may very well be the safest places to live and work.

“Just following simple rules of wearing face masks and social distancing, using wastewater management and testing when we need to, we have, in many ways, been able to return to normal life,” says Goucher College President Kent Devereaux. “Full athletics, student clubs, dining in the dining hall, use of the library—everything that you’d normally have, we’ve been able to return to.”

Despite the challenges and anxieties faced by students, staff, and faculty alike, some unexpected silver linings have emerged.

“It’s just incredible to watch how it’s grown into the vision that we, as a group of students, had.”

The widespread adoption of technology across college campuses has proven to provide more flexibility, efficiency, and innovation—and even accessibility, in some cases. Counseling sessions, for example, began to be conducted remotely during the pandemic and many students found that they preferred it to in-person sessions. Students who cannot, for whatever reason, make it to an in-person class can now study from anywhere.

Challenging times, combined with advances in technology and the general acceptance of it, have also brought more cooperation and collaboration among schools. It’s becoming more common, for example, for schools that offer complementary programs to partner with one another to offer students an educational pathway to continue studies in their chosen areas. That may mean a discounted tuition rate, a transfer of class credits, or an internship through a partner school.

Maybe most importantly though, schools, at their best, foster an environment where students are supported, expand who they are, and connect with like-minded people. At a time when gathering together is not always safe, being in a community has become even more precious, and students have found new ways to connect.

OCA Mocha, a coffeehouse in Arbutus founded by University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) students, is one example of how effective a gathering place can be at a time when people are craving human connection. What started as a class assignment—to design a community center of some sort—has become a gathering place not just for UMBC students and alumni, but the Arbutus community at large.

“We’ve heard a lot of stories from people who are extremely grateful to have this space,” says Michael Berardi, UMBC class of 2019 and co-founder and general manager of OCA Mocha, which stands for Opportunities for Community Alliances. The coffee shop includes a stage, a community room, and an art gallery, employs UMBC students and alumni, and provides internship opportunities for current UMBC students.

“We have local groups and organizations that meet regularly in our community space and are grateful to not have to meet in someone’s living room or church basement,” says Berardi. “We see a lot of connections being made. It’s just incredible to watch how it’s grown into the vision that we, as a group of students, had.”

We checked in with colleges and universities throughout the region to find out what’s new and what campus life and classes look like, two years into the pandemic.

COPPIN STATE UNIVERSITY
A historically Black institution founded in 1900, Coppin State University is situated in the heart of Baltimore City in the Mondawmin neighborhood. Part of the University System of Maryland in Baltimore, the school offers 32 undergraduate and 11 graduate degrees, along with nine certificate programs and one doctorate degree. It’s been rated No. 4 Best HBCU in the Nation (College Consensus), the Top 5 Best Value Online Program (Online School Center), and No. 17 Best Value in the Nation (College Consensus).

In the summer of 2021, CSU announced its Student Debt Relief Initiative, which clears roughly $1 million in student balances and provided a $1,200 credit to every student enrolled in the fall 2021 semester. CSU also created the Freddie Gray Student Success Scholarship, which is available to graduates of Carver Vocational-Technical High School, where Gray was a student.

Coppin also takes esports (competitive video gaming) seriously. In the fall of 2021, Coppin became the first HBCU to open a building on campus exclusively devoted to esports. The Premier Esports Lab opened in September with a guest appearance from Grammy-nominated artist Cordae.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 2,383 undergraduates, 341 graduates
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 13:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $6,809 in-state, $13,334 out-of-state
• ACCEPTANCE RATE: 40%
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Nursing, Business, Biology, Education, and Criminal Justice, Rehabilitation Counseling

DICKINSON COLLEGE
Founded in 1783, Dickinson College is a liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, with a suburban campus that spans 144 acres. The school offers 41 undergraduate degrees within 17 fields of study.

It’s been rated as one of the best schools in the country for its sustainability efforts, which include an 80-acre, USDA-certified organic farm. Princeton Review rated it No. 2 in the Top 50 Green Colleges, and it was rated No. 2 in Overall Top Performers among baccalaureate institutions in the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s “Sustainable Campus Index” in 2019 and 2020.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 2,345
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 9:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $58,708
• ACCEPTANCE RATE: 52%
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: International Business, Economics, Political Science & Government, International Relations & National Security, General Psychology

GETTYSBURG COLLEGE
Gettysburg College, a private, liberal arts school, sits on 225 acres adjacent to the historical Gettysburg Battlefield in Pennsylvania. Many of the buildings on campus are historically significant, so it’s no wonder that it draws students interested in studying history.

The school offers 65 academic programs, more than 120 campus clubs and organizations, and 800 events on campus each year, plus more than 100 study-abroad opportunities open to students.

Its Majestic Theater serves as a venue for the greater Gettysburg community, hosting national acts as well as performances by the school’s Sunderman Conservatory of Music students.

It’s ranked No. 12 for “students who study the most” by the Princeton Review, which also ranked Gettysburg College’s dining hall No. 9 in the country for best campus food.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 2,600
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 10:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $59,960
• ACCEPTANCE RATE: 56%
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Political Science, Economics, Health Sciences, Organization and Management Studies, History, Psychology

GOUCHER COLLEGE
A private, liberal arts college in Towson, Goucher College prides itself on its close-knit community.

Goucher was extremely proactive when it came to COVID-19 precautions, being the first in the state to implement wastewater testing, which is able to isolate COVID infections by dorm.

Also of note: The college recently opened two new residence halls as part of the school’s First-Year Village. One hundred percent of Goucher students study abroad, and the school is committed to sustainability.

Most recently, Goucher has begun exciting partnerships with other schools, such as Johns Hopkins University, Loyola University, and more to come, to provide a pathway for students to continue their education beyond Goucher. For instance, their 4+1 MBA Program allows students to earn an advanced business degree through Loyola via a “Fast Track” admission process, and at a 15% discount on tuition.

SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 1,100
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 9:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $48,000
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 79%
POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Psychology, International Relations, Economics, Political Science, Business Administration

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Johns Hopkins University (JHU) offers nine academic divisions and hundreds of courses of study, with campuses spread throughout Baltimore, including the Peabody Institute, a music and dance conservatory in Mount Vernon. Its main Homewood campus is located on North Charles Street.

The prestigious, world-renowned university has a strong reputation for its public health and medical studies and has been compared to Ivy League schools.

One of its points of pride is its financial aid program, which covers 100% of calculated need for every admitted student, without loans. This means JHU works with families to calculate what they can afford to contribute toward the total cost of attendance—including meals, books, travel, and other expenses—and JHU covers the rest with grants that don’t need to be repaid.

This school year, JHU added two new minors: Latin American Studies and Writing Seminars.

It also announced new efforts this year to move toward a broader, more flexible undergraduate educational experience that will include a required first-year seminar and the streamlining of major requirements to allow for greater intellectual exploration.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 6,333 undergraduates, 22,559 graduates
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 6:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $56,313 for Peabody Institute, $58,720 for the School of Engineering and the School of Arts and Sciences
• ACCEPTANCE RATE: 9%
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Computer Science, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Neuroscience, Economics, Public Health Studies, International Studies

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY
This private, Jesuit institution offers undergraduate and graduate programs on a beautiful urban campus in northern Baltimore City. Education at Loyola is based in the Jesuit tradition of scholarship cura personalis, or care for the whole person. Loyola is known for its academic rigor while helping students lead purposeful lives. Seventy percent of students study abroad. It currently ranks fourth in best universities in the North region according to U.S. News & World Report.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 3,787 undergraduates, 1,353 graduates
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 12:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $53,430
• ACCEPTANCE RATE: 80%
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Business, Management, Marketing, Journalism, Social Sciences, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Psychology, English Language and Literature, Engineering and Education.

McDANIEL COLLEGE
McDaniel College sits in a bucolic setting near Westminster in Carroll County. The private, four-year liberal arts college offers more than 70 undergraduate programs of study and more than 20 graduate programs. McDaniel’s most recent addition to its curriculum is a National Security Fellows Program that provides students with knowledge, skills, and experience in national security as well as the ability to specialize in an area of interest, such as interstate conflict, intrastate political violence, cybersecurity, ethics, and human rights.

Also new this year, McDaniel appointed an inaugural associate provost for equity and belonging who provides vision and leadership to the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and works in collaboration with the provost to co-lead the college’s diversity, equity, and inclusion administrative committee, and guides the Bias Education Response Support Team.

The school also launched a new STEM Center to serve as a physical hub to support students studying the sciences. It hosts workshops and other events while also supplying online and hybrid support.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 1,757 undergraduates, 1,324 graduates
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 13:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $46,336
• ACCEPTANCE RATE: 81%
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Kinesiology, Business Administration, Psychology, Biology, Political Science, International Studies

MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
The largest of Maryland’s HBCU’s (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), Morgan is a public institution founded in 1867. It is situated in northeast Baltimore. As a Carnegie-classified high research (R2) institution, Morgan provides instruction to a multiethnic, multiracial, multinational student body and offers more than 140 academic programs at undergraduate and graduate levels. As Maryland’s Preeminent Public Urban Research University, Morgan fulfills its mission to address the needs and challenges of the modern urban environment through intense community level study and pioneering solutions.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 6,270 undergraduates, 1,364 graduates
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 15:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $8,008 for in-state and $18,480 for out-of-state
• ACCEPTANCE RATE: 73%
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Civil Engineering, Communications Engineering, Business Administration and Management, Social Work, Biology/Biological Sciences, Architecture, Finance, Psychology, Sociology

NOTRE DAME OF MARYLAND UNIVERSITY
A private, Catholic liberal arts university in northern Baltimore, Notre Dame of Maryland University offers programs from undergraduate through PhD, as well as Maryland’s only women’s college. It recently launched the first master’s of art degree in Art Therapy program in the state.
The beautiful, wooded campus is just steps from the bustling downtown Baltimore culture. With values rooted in Catholicism, the school focuses on service to others and social responsibility.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 783
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 7:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $39,675
• ACCEPTANCE RATE: 88%
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Nursing, Education, Biology, Art Therapy, Pharmacy

TOWSON UNIVERSITY
One of the largest public universities in the state, Towson University offers more than 60 undergraduate majors and continues to draw students from other states, though it remains part of the University System of Maryland.

Its campus continues to expand, with a huge new dining hall, a 23,000-foot recreation and fitness facility with an indoor swimming pool, and its 5,200-seat arena for sporting events and concerts. In 2021, it opened its new Science Complex, the largest academic building on campus at 320,000 square feet.

In September, Towson opened its StarTUp at the Armory, a space for startups and new businesses to engage with the broader community and larger businesses. It serves as a home to Towson’s entrepreneurship programs, as well as student competitions and events.

While Towson remains the largest supplier of medical professionals and educators in the state, the university has also built a strong reputation for its College of Fine Arts and Communication, as well as its Asian Arts & Culture Center, both of which bring students into the wider community and the Baltimore community to Towson for enriching performing arts, music, and visual art programs.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 17,907 undergraduates, 2,949 graduates
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 16:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $7,100 in-state, $22,152 out-of-state
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Business Administration, Education, Nursing, Exercise Science, Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology, Biology, Computer Science, Information Technology

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE
University of Maryland, Baltimore is Maryland’s only public health, law, and human services university. Located in downtown Baltimore, it offers 86 degree and certificate programs through its six nationally ranked professional schools—dentistry, law, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and social work—and an interdisciplinary graduate school.

The school’s 14-acre BioPark is Baltimore’s biggest biotechnology cluster, employing 1,000 people, and remains on the cutting edge of new drugs, treatments, and medical devices.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 7,244
• ANNUAL TUITION: Varies by school
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Medicine, Law, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing, Social Work

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE COUNTY
University of Maryland, Baltimore County educates a campus of more than 10,000 students in programs spanning the arts, engineering, information technology, humanities, sciences, preprofessional studies, and social sciences. Located on the edge of Baltimore County, it allows easy access into the city and all the conveniences of suburban life and housing. It also offers plenty of opportunities for study abroad.

In the fall of 2021, UMBC opened the Center for Well-Being, a new two-story complex that houses Retriever Integrated Health, Student Conduct and Community Standards, and i3b’s Gathering Space for Spiritual Well-Being. UMBC’s already significant NASA partnerships have continued to grow. In October, NASA announced a major award of $72 million over three years for the new Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research II center. UMBC is leading the national consortium and will receive over $38 million. The GESTAR II consortium will support over 120 researchers, creating extensive opportunities for breakthroughs in Earth and atmospheric science research, and providing major opportunities for students to conduct research and be mentored by NASA scientists and engineers.

• SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 13,638
• STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 17:1
• ANNUAL TUITION: $12,280 in-state, $28,470 out-of-state
• ACCEPTANCE RATE: 81%
• POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Computer and Information Sciences and Support Services, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Social Sciences, Psychology, Visual and Performing Arts

Cited tuition costs exclude room and board and books.

A faculty member of Goucher College’s M.F.A in Creative Nonfiction program and a writer who splits her time between Baltimore and Brooklyn, Michelle Orange’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Harper’s, and McSweeney’s. Her first book, This Is Running For Your Life: Essays, was named one of 2013’s best by The New Yorker, and her new work, Pure Flame, reckons with her relationship with her mother—who essentially left the family to pursue a business career—amid the broader context
of a century of feminism.

It is a remarkably seamless weaving of family memoir, social history, and cultural criticism built around what Baltimore-born writer Adrienne Rich called “the great unwritten story” of the mother-daughter bond—a book that ought to appeal to any serious reader, regardless of gender.

Your mother lived an unconventional life, earning an MBA and remaking herself into an executive vice president in the 1980s, when that was especially pioneering.
I always knew she was doing something extraordinary, but she never framed her determination to reinvent and emancipate herself as feminist. I saw in her a strong, individualist drive to transcend her class and “succeed” on those terms. I was around 30 when, in quick succession, she fell in love, married, and retired from her CEOship at 60; I knew then I had to reevaluate everything I thought I knew about her choices.

You note that Adrienne Rich called the mother-daughter bond “the great unwritten story.” Is it fair to say that statement is the launching point for the book?
Indeed. I was equally convinced by Vivian Gornick’s argument that our modern, industrialized, individualistic world demands new versions of the stories that, from Oedipus on, have been dominated by father-son constructions—that, in fact, the mother-daughter “cathexis,” in Rich’s words, only grows more apt as a vehicle for all the old questions: about how to live a good life; how to grow up, individuate, and leave home; how to enact your desires for the world; how to be a hero; how to honor your ancestors.

When did you realize you wanted to write a memoir about your relationship with your mother?
I didn’t conceive of it as a memoir, but in the years after my maternal grandmother’s 2011 death at almost 96, it became clear to me that my mom would not live to such a great age, and that I had some things to figure out. She wouldn’t talk about her health, and I was writing a much less personal version of this book when her illness really turned in late 2016.

There’s a great scene early in the book about British suffragists taking knives to male-painted portraits at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
I did love learning about the intersection of the suffrage movement and the highly exclusive world of the arts and representation. That they chose the targets they did speaks to how complex and radical their mission was. The fight for suffrage was brutal, and went on for decades; there seems to be a lack of appreciation for what it took to secure that one basic right.

What is one thing you learned about the women’s movement of the 1970s or 1980s—your mother’s era—that stands out to you?
What still fascinates me is how many women, like my mom, felt alienated by “the movement” despite being in solid alignment with its aims.

How has writing the book helped process your grief since your mother’s death?
I actually turned in a first draft a month before she died. After about six months, I found my way back to the manuscript and had to almost start over. Now that it’s done, I can see the ways in which the book offered an outlet for my grief, but also provided a buffer, such that a new stage of mourning has just begun.

Visual Art

Shuttered Too: Steel Falls Beyond Baltimore

J.M. Giordano’s images chronicling the fall of the steel industry in Baltimore are currently on view at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, but take a trip around the harbor to Fells Point to the newly refocused Luann Carra Gallery and you’ll find this companion show highlighting the resilience of the communities steel built across Ohio and West Virginia. These stark black-and-white images both haunt and hearten. Through Oct. 10. Luann Carra Gallery, 1918 Fleet St.

Literature

Grand Reopening of the Central Library

Celebrate the return of the Central Library with a full day of music, art, lectures, games, food, and dancing along Cathedral Street and in the newly renovated library’s updated digs. Highlights include a conversation with Chris Wilson, Kondwani Fidel, and D. Watkins in Wheeler Auditorium and performances by the Black Cherry Puppet Theater in the Weinberg Children’s Library. Sept. 14. Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral St.

Unscripted: A Celebratory Evening with Patti Smith

Punk icon Patti Smith’s memoir Just Kids earned accolades for its delve into the decades-long relationship between Smith and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Now, Smith returns to her own past to recall the dreams and realities of a transformative year spent wandering the country. Join Smith at Goucher College for what’s sure to be an unforgettable evening of stories, song, and sage wisdom. 7-8:30 p.m. Sept. 25. Goucher College, Kraushaar Auditorium, 1021 Dulaney Valley Rd.

Music

Maryland Piano Masters: Daryl Davis & Lafayette Gilchrist

One of these two local legends on the bill would be enough, but the two together are a can’t-miss event. Join boogie-woogie pianist Daryl Davis and self-taught jazz-funk artist Lafayette Gilchrist for a night of dueling keys and styles from both past and present. 8 p.m. Sept. 27. Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave.

FIYAH Power Tour

Adbu Ali is a creative force to be reckoned with, and their latest album, Fiyahh!!, is chock-full of both poignance and power. Experience one of their singular live performances this month at the Ottobar as Ali celebrates this genre-blending release on home turf with guest Grace Ives. 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. Sept. 27. Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St.

Theatre

BIG Monsters: An Improv Puppet Extravaganza

Bring your nostalgia for the days of Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, but leave the kids at home for this improvised puppet show for adults put on by the folks at Baltimore Improv Group. Expect musical numbers, felted faces, and lots of laughs at this BIG Lab experiment. 7:30-8:30 p.m. Sept. 25. The BIG Theater, 1727 N. Charles St.

Film

InFusion East Baltimore Film Festival: Are We Loud Enough?

Art, film, and conversation will come together to highlight East Baltimore voices at this two-day festival. View works by dozens of local artists at the opening night East Baltimore: Her Artists and Her People exhibition, or stop by Saturday for a full day of selected short films, documentaries, and performances. Sept. 20-21. MICA PLACE, 814 N. Collington Ave.

California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris, the first African-American to announce as a 2020 candidate for president, did so symbolically today on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. And, her team confirmed to Baltimore magazine, the Harris campaign will be headquartered in Baltimore.

Why Harris believes she is the best person to serve as the next president of the United States is important—as is her record and her vision for the future. Those issues will certainly be addressed in the coming months, but Harris’ announcement also begs another, immediate question: Why Baltimore?

Earlier this month, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Harris had been looking to line up an East Coast location for her headquarters so that she would be near the major cable news outlets all of which operate on Eastern Time. Harris already has a strong presence on the West Coast so placing her campaign headquarters in Baltimore—square in the densely populated Mid-Atlantic region—quickly helps introduce her to a new set of voters as well.

“My initial reaction is that this is a really great move for a few different reasons,” said Mileah Kromer, associate professor of political science at Goucher College and the director of the Sarah T. Hughes Field Politics Center. “Baltimore is majority African-American city at a time when the backbone and lifeblood of the Democratic Party is African-American women, like those who turn out to vote here. It’s a setting that can play an outsize role in generating resistance to the Trump Administration. And, maybe foremost, it’s a city where the intersection of justice and race matters when she’s touting her record as a prosecutor and on criminal justice issues.”

Kromer adds that Harris’ record as California’s top prosecutor and that state’s attorney general could potentially generate some controversy in Baltimore’s activist community. But addressing those issues head on in a city like Baltimore sends the message that she’s a serious candidate.

The Harris campaign would not comment on when her Baltimore office will open or where it will be located, but did say a second campaign office will open in her hometown of Oakland, where a kick-off rally is scheduled for January 27. Harris’ logo—with its red and yellow colors and theme, “Kamala Harris For the People”—is a nod to another pioneering president bid: Shirley Chisholm’s 1972 campaign.

The 54-year-old Harris was by no means a stranger to the East Coast before her election to the Senate in 2016, however. She earned her B.A. From Howard University in Washington, D.C. in 1986. Harris has made a name for herself in the Senate from her seat on the high-profile Judiciary Committee, using her position to seize a Democratic leadership role on national issues from Supreme Court nominations to the Trump Administration’s child separation policy at the southern border. Her sister, Maya, former executive director of the ACLU of Northern California and Hillary Clinton campaign policy advisor, will serve as the campaign chair.

Harris previously made an appearance in Baltimore as one of the headliners of the NAACP’s national convention in 2017. She also joined Ben Jealous at one of his campaign rallies in Prince George’s County over the past summer. In the lead-up to election season, Harris has recently published her memoir, The Truths We Hold: An American Journey. A Facebook page, Kamala for Maryland, seeking campaign volunteers, launched in December.

Harris is not the first—nor certainly the last—Democrat who will make a bid for the nation’s highest office. Former Maryland Congressman and Montgomery County business John Delaney has been off and running since 2017. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts announced her candidacy at the end of December and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York announced last week. U.S. Rep Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii has also launched her campaign—bringing, with Harris’ entry, the number of women already vying to become the 46th president to four. Former Vice President Joe Biden, U.S. Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, among a host of others, are considered likely to join the fray.

Diane Fink, executive director of Emerge Maryland, a nonprofit that identifies and trains Democratic women seeking political office, was thrilled to see both that Harris was throwing her hat into the ring—and that she planned to open her campaign headquarters in Baltimore.

“The more women running for public office, for any public office, the better,” Fink says. “When one or two women are running among 10 men, their voices get lost and they’re subject to more unfair sexist attacks.”

Fink noted that just the presence of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 race created a huge uptick in the number of women running for office. She believes Harris’ campaign, being based in Baltimore, could have a similar impact citywide and statewide.

“It’s inspiring and demystifying when you see someone else up close run—especially if they are approachable, it takes some of the fear and apprehension of running away,” Fink says. “Maryland already has a strong history of women running for high office—Senator Barbara Mikulski and Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi. I think we’ll see many more women stepping up.”

The Mermaid Handbook

Carolyn Turgeon (Harper Design)

The latest by this Baltimore writer is both timely and gorgeous—timely, because mermaids have been trending as of late (see: those “I’d Rather Be a Mermaid” shirts and accessories, and the popular abalone hair color); and gorgeous, with full-color drawings and photographs ensconced in gilded pages and an embossed cover. The release comes on the heels of Turgeon’s 2017 The Faerie Handbook and her five novels, all of which feel like an invitation to enter a magical world of the writer’s own creation. This new handbook adeptly covers these aquatic creatures, from the mainstream to the obscure, through lore, metaphysics, fashion, poetry, DIY projects, and even recipes like seaweed cookies. Turgeon also serves as editor-in-chief of Faerie Magazine, which has a cult following. In short, her Mermaid Handbook is a must for anyone who finds themselves lured by the age-old mysteries and enchantment of the sea.

A Memory of the Future

Elizabeth Spires (W.W. Norton & Company)

In this new poetry collection, Spires seems to channel Rumi or Buddha or both. The poems feel like prayers, and in some cases koans—each unique but all with a timeless, spiritual quality. To say they’re Zen-like would be both literal and figurative; references to Zen Buddhism are strewn throughout Spires’ work, and her verses unfold like meditations. The Goucher College professor of English possesses the rare gift to present lovely, solemn passages with a light touch and deft use of metaphor while simultaneously feeding her readers profound and heady truths. These little nuggets of wisdom come like offerings placed on an altar, quietly, with grace and intention.

Hear Elizabeth Spires from 12-1 p.m. Sept. 5 on WYPR interviewed by Tom Hall; 7 p.m. Sept. 7 reading at the Ivy Bookshop with Michael Collier; 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26 reading at HOCOPOLITSO at Howard Community College in Columbia; and 6:30-8 p.m. Nov. 14 reading at Enoch Pratt Free Library Central Branch with David Yezzi.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH AT THE B&O
2/1-28. B&O Railroad Museum, 901 W. Pratt St. Mon.-Sat. 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Free-$20. Learn about the historic contributions of African Americans to the United States railroad industry.

FREEDOM: EMANCIPATION QUILTED & STITCHED
TO 2/28. Reginald F. Lewis Museum, 830 E. Pratt St. Wed.-Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sun. 12-5 p.m. Free-$8. This new exhibit features documentary-style story quilts that honor the lives and legacies of people of color in Maryland.

AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO SERVED DURING WARTIME
2/10. Benjamin Banneker Historical Park & Museum, 300 Oella Ave., Catonsville. 1:30-3 p.m. Free. Celebrate two decades of the park and commemorate Banneker relatives who served during times of war.

JOHNS HOPKINS BLACK HISTORY MONTH STUDENT COMPETITION & EXHIBITION
2/24-3/4. Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave. Tues.-Sat. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Free. Southeast Baltimore students showcase artworks inspired by and featuring historical black figures.

VISIONARY ARTISTS OF COLOR
2/14. American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Hwy. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Free-$15.95. In honor of Frederick Douglass’ 200th birthday, enjoy a self-guided tour through the art museum’s collection to view works by African Americans and other artists of color.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH TEEN LISTENING PARTY
2/6-27. Enoch Pratt Free Library, 3601 Eastern Ave. Tues. 3-4 p.m. Free. Throughout the month, young adults can listen to the works of celebrated black authors.

CIRQUE ZUMA ZUMA WITH TRADITIONAL AFRICAN DANCE
2/15. Goucher College, 1021 Dulaney Valley Rd., Towson. 10:15 a.m. & 12 p.m. $9. This lively performance includes music, dance, and acrobatics to create an African-style Cirque du Soleil.

TELL THEM WE ARE RISING
2/18. Reginald F. Lewis Museum, 830 E. Pratt St. 2 p.m. Free. During this documentary film screening, learn about the pivotal role historically black colleges and universities have played in American history.

I HAVE A DREAM: THE LIFE & TIMES OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
2/22. Goucher College, 1021 Dulaney Valley Rd., Towson. 10:15 a.m. & 12 p.m. $9. Performance artists present this biographical dramatization about the legendary civil rights leader.

ANNAPOLIS AFRICAN-AMERICAN HERITAGE TOUR
2/17. City Dock, Annapolis. 1-3 p.m. Free-$20. Explore the history and culture of Maryland’s African-American community through this guided walking tour.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS PATH TO FREEDOM WALKING TOURS
TO 9/3. 800 S. Broadway. Times vary. $7-15. These guided walking tours take history buffs through the iconic abolitionist’s life in Fells Point.

Behind the Moon

Madison Smartt Bell (City Lights Books) 

From the start of this novel, Madison Smartt Bell magically plays with your perception of reality. He weaves together narratives that read at times like honest declarations of facts and, at others, like hallucinations, challenging you to decide for yourself what you believe to be the truth. The central story involves Julie, a teenager who has skipped school and set off on a camping trip in the Badlands with her best friend and a group of boys. While fending off a drug-fueled assault, she falls down the shaft of an enormous cave, and as she hovers between life and death, she has encounters with the spirit world. At the same time, Marissa, Julie’s mother who placed her for adoption years before, feels mystically called to be at her daughter’s side, to help her back to consciousness. Bell—who co-founded the creative writing program at Goucher College, and is best known for his trilogy of novels based on the life of the Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture—has an engrossing, seductive style that keeps you urgently turning the pages. When you’re finished reading, it feels like you’re waking from a dream.

See the full interview with writer Madison Smartt Bell.

Not Without
Our Laughter

Black Ladies Brunch Collective, edited by Celeste Doaks (Mason Jar Press) 

For three years, a group of black female poets has been meeting monthly over brunch to talk writing and life. Now, we get to see what those literary conversations have inspired. These six belletrists run the gamut of poetic style, which they unite by organizing their works into distinct categories. They ruminate on body politics, aging (“I have snored so loud I made friends weep for my next breath,” confesses Saida Agostini), misbehavior, music, food, and, of course, men (“He is hot fudge topping / dripping over shiny silver piping / of the Harley,” writes Celeste Doaks). There are more serious words, too, like in “#NotYourModelSurvivor” by Tafisha Edwards: “This morning I drank wine for breakfast / So / what I’m saying is / I have no encouraging words / to give you.” What makes the collection shine is the writers’ honesty as they enlighten the reader to the black female experience. Through their words, the reader gets the sense that they, too, are sitting and listening in at the brunch table. 

You’re best known for your trilogy of books about the Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture, which is really different subject matter from this book. How did you come up with the idea?

Well, there actually is a connection. The first glimmer of an idea for Behind the Moon came from this Judith Thurman article in The New Yorker about the Chauvet caves. There’s some anthropologists that have a theory that cave paintings were part of prehistoric religious practice, the original shamanism. Some of the details reminded me of my experiences in the context of Haitian Vodou. I tend to fall back on that kind of stuff in Behind the Moon.

How did the idea evolve from there?

My previous novel The Color of Night had been rejected by my usual New York publisher, which perplexed me because I thought it was one of my best. About nine months went by where I didn’t know what was going to happen with that book, and then my New York editor changed his mind about it and published it anyway, which was nice. But during that gap, I was in the situation where I needed to write something, but I didn’t need to write to please anybody, so I thought I’d do something different, I’d do something strange and hopefully have a good time doing it. 

I rely a lot on unconscious processes and with this project maybe more so than most. Particularly the first movement had this thing going on where I found myself repeatedly fracturing the story line so episodes repeat with minor variations. Then the Marisa character appeared and she has a more conventional story line, and the parts with her in them are more realistic. Once she was in there, it hardened into an area of South Dakota. The upside of all of this, which I’ve really just started to understand from hearing people react to it, is there’s a non-linear process going on that’s in contention with the more linear story line. But that all happened kind of by accident. I didn’t do much planning for this one. 

I really appreciated the overall mood of the book.
One of the things I realized during the overall publication period—I was not conscious of this goal at the time—is not to describe the shamanic journey to readers but to have them actually experience that. So all the vagaries in the writing were toward that end. It’s a pleasant way to write. If you can write without thinking about what you’re doing too much, that’s the best way. 

I read an article in The New Yorker in which you talked said you put yourself in a trance to write. Is that still part of your method?
I honestly think that every writer does it, we just don’t necessarily think that’s what we’re doing. My wife and I were living in London in the early 1980s, and I went to a therapeutic hypnotist for some trivial cause. It was a really interesting experience. One part of me was saying, “Hey, this is cool, I could probably use this for teaching,” and the other part of me was experiencing it and thinking, “Wow, I didn’t know this was possible.” 

I thought it over afterward and I realized that writers try to get into a flow state where you’re writing easily, you’re not conscious of your material tools or craft knowledge, it just happens. It gets deployed automatically in the same way that musicians and athletes deploy their training automatically, and I think the mechanism for getting there is a kind of self-hypnosis through all the writerly rituals you hear about—the sharpening of pencils, writing in a certain place. Those basically are elements of the self-hypnotic induction.

Did you use that method when you were writing Behind the Moon?
It wasn’t so much that I thought, “Oh, I’m now going to do this.” I just realized I had always done it. I was a naturally committed daydreamer from the time I was a small child. Before I had this experience with hypnosis, I was trying to say to students, “I’m going to teach you craft, but the most important thing that can be taught is to enter the world you are writing about with your entire imagination. Once you can do that, describe what you’re experiencing and the whole thing becomes a lot easier.” 

You and your wife, poet Elizabeth Spires, have taught at Goucher College since 1984. How do you balance your own writing with your teaching?
The program has grown so much in the last few years. When my wife and I started it in the 1980s, there were a couple of courses and now we have this whole four-year program with about 60 students in it. A side effect of that is, though I used to teach everybody, now I get them typically in their third year so they’re all worked out and very committed and have some pretty good skill sets, so it’s really a luxurious teaching experience. 

For most of my teaching career, I’ve been able to say, “I’m going to write for two or three hours every morning and do whatever else I have to do after that.” I teach half time, since my wife and I split a single position at Goucher, so it’s not too arduous and probably more important than any of that, I am not one of those writers who feel drained by teaching. I’m actually able to take energy out of it and use it for my own projects. That’s a piece of good luck there. 

How has the Baltimore literary scene changed since you’ve started the program?
Having spent 25 years running around to readings and stuff like that, I don’t do too much of that any more. I’m an admirer of what Gregg Wilhelm and Jen Michalski do in terms of running reading series. And then the academic writing program at Johns Hopkins University—I think we can give them a run for their money at the undergraduate level, but at the graduate level, we’re not really doing what they do.

What can we expect to see next from you?
I have a novel that’s in submission right now, and then I have two contracts. One to do a biography of the late novelist Robert Stone. And then he actually owed a book to a publisher when he died, and they needed someone to curate that whole process, so I’m doing that on a second contract. I’m pretty busy. The unfortunate thing about that is I can’t really permit myself to write fiction until I’ve finished these project and I’m starting to get a little itchy about that. I’m on sabbatical this coming year and I hope to wrap both of them up in that amount of time.

When you start writing fiction again, do you already have ideas that you want to pursue, or do those come out once you start writing?
I do have a couple of projects that I had started before the Robert Stone stuff happened. One of them I might not go back to and one of them I probably will. 

Can you tell what it’s about?
A school shooting. It’s got the Columbine element in it. I created this imaginary place, a private school in this pocket between affluent neighborhoods that’s in the Rust Belt sector. The linchpin figure in this is a janitor who lives within the premises of the school who can go out the back gate to get to this other neighborhood, so he’s a person between two worlds. 

You could say that about Behind the Moon, too. The character Julie is literally caught between two worlds.
Yeah, I thought about calling it Girlfriend In a Coma, but that title was already taken.

Once the youngest president and CEO of the NAACP, Ben Jealous announced his candidacy for Maryland governor outside his cousin’s Northwest Baltimore flower shop on Wednesday, May 31.

Jealous, 44, who has no previous political experience, is seeking the Democratic nomination for the June 2018 primary. He is now the second Democratic candidate to formally announce candidacy joining tech expert Alec Ross, who announced his bid last month. Other possible Democratic incumbents include: Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, former Attorney General Doug Gansler, State Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr., Rep. John Delaney, Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker, and Baltimore lawyer James L. Shea.

After resigning from the NAACP, Jealous continued to be an advocate for social injustice by leading movements to abolish the death penalty in Maryland, defend voter rights, secure marriage equality, and combat racial profiling. More recently, he endorsed and became a proxy for Bernie Sanders during his 2016 presidential campaign, citing that his experiences with Sanders, among other qualifications, make up for his lack of political experience.

“I’m a community organizer—I’ve spent my life doing that,” he said. “I’m a civil rights leader. Pulling together, solving problems, and serving people are what I do.”

Dr. Mileah Kromer, assistant professor of political science at Goucher College, says that Jealous brings something different to the table than the other potential candidates. She labeled Jealous as a “true resistance” democrat that many within the party are looking for in the mold of Bernie Sanders. Similar to Sanders, he has a persona that appeals to a younger, more progressive demographic, especially African American voters.

“He has an ability to talk with a lot of credibility on important social justice issues,” Kromer said. “There’s no better messenger on racial and social justice issues than a former head of the NAACP.”

Although Jealous has the national recognition and civil rights experience, Kromer says that it may not be enough to compete with seasoned elected officials. Not all Democrats fall under the progressive umbrella, so he faces the challenge of appealing to those individuals less interested in social issues, and more concerned with economic development.

“Democrats want to know, who’s electable? Who can beat Larry Hogan?” Kromer said.  “Right now, all polls show that Hogan is one of the most popular elected officials in the country.”

In a poll of 85,000 registered voters released in April by Morning Consult, 73 percent of Marylanders approve of Hogan. A Goucher College poll from February shows Hogan with a 63 percent approval rating, and 57 percent of poll responders leaning towards a 2018 Hogan vote.

Without providing detailed proposals, Jealous said that, if elected, he will raise minimum wage to $15, enhance transportation by extending state highways and bridges, grow local businesses, and improve public safety.

“We will close corporate tax loopholes. We will end mass incarceration. We will cut the murder rate, and we will lock up the shooters,” he said. “We will restore trust by better training officers, and also holding officers who kill unarmed civilians fully accountable.”

But some advocates of the opposition are skeptical that Jealous’ lack of political experience make him unprepared to keep those promises.

“The voters of our state rejected this kind of rhetoric and the failed job-killing policies the Maryland Democratic Party represents when they elected Governor Larry Hogan in 2014,” said Brian Griffiths, editor-in-chief of conservative news outlet RedMaryland.com. “We are confident the voters will make the right choice again in 2018.”

However, support for Jealous came from all over the state to attend the rally, including Robert Julian Ivey, a council member of Cheverly, Maryland.

“It’s just so important that we put someone against Hogan that can stand up to for the ideals that the people of Maryland believe in,” Ivey said. “He’s someone that can stand up and keep organizing, and keep being an activist.”

Similarly, Karen Warwick of Anne Arundel County is hoping that Jealous will be “Maryland’s Bernie.”

“For the progressives nationwide, we were all in for Bernie,” she said. “But here in Maryland, we have a chance to elect this person that holds the same values as Bernie to be the governor of the state.”

Jealous may have the nationwide recognition, experience with social justice, entrepreneurial savvy, but the list of potential candidates that he is up against all have extensive resumés, with experience running and winning elections.

“It’s a long road to Hogan,” Kromer said. “There’s a lot before he gets to go head-to-head, and there’s a long journey to get to there.”

You grew up in a rural town outside Pittsburgh. How does that inform your perception of politics?
I had a firsthand view of what blue-collar America looks like. My dad worked in a plant and my mother was a bank teller and then branch manager. You see why pocketbook issues resonate with people. You also realize what “experts” miss is that there are differing opinions and factions within groups. You can’t paint everyone from the same place, the same demographic, with a broad brush. That’s what I try to get students to understand.

Since launching the Goucher Poll in 2012, you and your students have been surveying Marylanders, not just on candidates and races, but on the issues.
It makes me cringe when politicians dismiss polls, as if what the public thinks doesn’t matter. I think politicians have to do what they believe is best, but you can’t disregard public sentiment. Larry Hogan knows how to tap into that sentiment.

How do you determine what questions to ask in a poll?
If I ever hear a politician say something like, “The vast majority of the people in the state support this”—well, we’re going to test that.

You’ve written about the gender gap. Essentially, voters are equally willing to vote for female candidates, but there’s a shortage on the ballots?
Yes. The GOP in particular needs to recruit more. But there’s still an ambition gap. If I ask students in one of my classes if they’d consider running for office, a couple of boys will raise their hand. The smartest girl often will respond, “I can see myself working for a politician.” And I’m like, “No, you should run for office.”

Where do you live? Are you someone who gets involved in community issues?
Federal Hill. And yes, I’m the crime and safety chair for my neighborhood association. My husband is also now vice president of the Federal Hill South Neighborhood Association, and I’m so proud to be a politician’s wife. [Laughs.] Well, community activist’s wife.

Light City Baltimore
Mar. 28-April 3. Various locations. Free.
To celebrate the vibrancy of Baltimore’s arts scene, the city will host Light City Baltimore. The weeklong festival will combine art installations, music and theater performances, and tech and innovation conferences in an eclectic, electric experience unlike anything ever staged in the U.S. Highlights will include a 1.5-mile Inner Harbor promenade past 51 large-scale, luminous installations, and four innovation conferences with speakers ranging from AOL founder Steve Case to Radiolab host Jad Abumrad. All events are free, except for the conferences, but organizers are reserving a quarter of all conference tickets for community members, free of charge.—AM

Leon Bridges
Mar. 4. Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, 12 N. Eutaw St. 8 p.m. $48-58. 410-837-7400. Man, Leon Bridges. The 26-year-old Southern soul singer did a number on our hearts last spring when he dropped his swoon-worthy single, “Coming Home.” By summer, he was a radio sensation, reminding us of such seminal songwriters as Otis Redding and Sam Cooke, and by winter, he had become a likely contender for “Best R&B Album” at the 2016 Grammy Awards. Quick shot to stardom or not, he’s one of the best young voices out there, and his retro sound is here to stay.

Kurt Vile & The Violators
Mar. 4. Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St. 8 p.m. $20. 410-662-0069. We love the opening of Kurt Vile’s “Wakin on a Pretty Day.” You can feel every swipe of fret in each guitar twang; every ounce of suburban ennui in each lusty lyric; every inch of warmth in the song’s slow, heart-tugging prettiness. This former War on Drugs bandmate makes you feel as if you’re in on his internal monologue, like you’re riding in a car together, lazily staring out the window at the sun. Go out of your way to hear his gentle indie-rock in Remington at the beginning of the month.

Motown
Mar. 8-13. Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, 12 N. Eutaw St. Times vary. $48.50-213.50. 410-837-7400. It all started in Detroit, in a little white house with blue windows, and the words “Hitsville U.S.A.” above the door. There, Berry Gordy created an iconic record label that would go on to launch legends like Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, and The Temptations. This month, hear their hits at the Hippodrome, like “My Girl” and “ABC.”

Baltimore Jewish Film Festival
Mar. 12-Apr. 17. Gordon Center for Performing Arts, 3506 Gwynnbrook Ave., Owings Mills. Times vary. $5-15. 410-356-5200. Now in its 28th year, the Baltimore Jewish Film Festival returns with more than a month of cinema, featuring 13 films steeped in Jewish culture, tradition, and life. Each travels across the globe to show different perspectives of Jewish history, ranging from Paris in 1944 and Israel in 1985 to Argentina in 1994 and Texas in 2014. Through comedy, drama, documentary, and animation, the films tell tales of food and family, tragedy and triumph, with director presentations, Q&A sessions, and special guests.

St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Mar. 13. Washington Monument, 699 N. Washington Pl. 2 p.m. Free. During the month of March, Charm City turns into an Emerald Isle outpost as windows are riddled with shamrocks and taps overfloweth with green beer. On the weekend before St. Patrick’s Day, celebrate Irish culture and heritage with the city’s 61st annual parade, featuring bagpipes, marching bands, floats, and antique cars as they make their way to Market Place.

Ira Glass
Mar. 13. Goucher College, 1021 Dulaney Valley Rd., Towson. 7 p.m. $45-135. 410-235-1660. You know his voice. It comes to you in your car, at work, before bedtime, telling you stories of average and extraordinary people, from 9/11 survivors to long-lost friends. As the creator and host of This American Life, Baltimore native Ira Glass can be heard on his 20-year-old show via more than 500 stations across the country. This month, put a face to the name when he comes to town to talk about the future of radio. (See our recent interview with Glass.)

National Cherry Blossom Festival
Mar. 20-Apr. 17: Washington, D.C. Locations, times, prices vary. 877-44-BLOOM. Washington, D.C., dusts off its red and blue colors and turns a special shade of pink this month, during the 104th Cherry Blossom Festival. For more than three full weeks, celebrate the arrival of spring with over 3,000 beautiful, budding cherry trees, 1.5 million spectators, and countless international cultural performances and events, including a blowout party, kite festival, and parade down Constitution Avenue. While you’re there, be sure to swing through some of the city’s spectacular national landmarks and free museums.

BSO Pulse: Dr. Dog
Mar. 24. Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St. 8:30 p.m. $35. 410-783-8000. When it launched last fall, we praised Pulse for its innovative concept of creating concerts that paired indie-rock bands with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. But we didn’t fully appreciate its importance until we saw Baltimore’s beloved Wye Oak perform in November. Chills, is all we can say, so now we’re extra excited for the next one, with outside-the-box alt-rockers Dr. Dog.

If you were to pick a meaningful date for an annual reunion concert, you could do a lot worse than the winter solstice, a celestial return when the sun begins its cycle anew. But fiddler and hammered dulcimer player Ken Kolodner and flutist Chris Norman weren’t really thinking about that when they staged their first solstice concert in 1986 at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer on North Charles Street.

The duo—who originally met at a local folk-music festival in the early ’80s—were just excited that 400 people had turned up to hear their eclectic mix of American and world folk music. In fact, it went down so well that they returned the next year with another kindred musical spirit in tow—multi-instrumentalist Robin Bullock. And so it was that Helicon—named for the mountain in Greece where the muses were said to congregate—was born.

The group began performing year-round, cultivating an ever-larger fan base. “We moved [the concert] to Goucher College, and NPR came in and recorded it,” recalls Kolodner, 61, who lives in Guilford. The trio’s sterling musicianship and wide-ranging repertoire—“There might be some Israeli tune, then some Christmas music, then something from Ireland,” says Kolodner—attracted special guests such as acoustic guitar virtuoso Doc Watson and bluegrass favorites Alison Krauss & Union Station. Records deals, albums, and more touring followed, but, eventually, the trio disbanded. Bullock, now lives in Asheville, NC, while Norman, splits his time between Nova Scotia, Canada, and New York City.

Still, the solstice always summons them back. Says Kolodner: “We said, ‘Why should we stop doing this? This is a lot of fun.’”

Kolodner is particularly pumped about this year’s back-to-back shows at Goucher College on December 19 because they are both musical and family reunions: His son’s band Charm City Junction will share the bill, as will Norman’s daughter, Marlys, a former Peabody instructor.

Irish dancing champion Jonathon Srour, who grew up attending the concerts, will also take the stage. “It is a true honor to perform with these guys,” says Srour, 27. “They are musical geniuses. This is easily one of my favorite nights every year.”

After more than 100 years, The Nutcracker still has legs during the holidays and once again takes center stage in Baltimore this month. With its Tchaikovsky score, classic choreography, and whimsical Christmas Eve set, the beloved 19th-century Russian ballet transports audiences of all ages into a fantastical dreamland of snow and sweets.

12/11-12 & 18-19: Baltimore School for the Arts, Schaefer Ballroom, 712 Cathedral St. Times vary. $15-20. 443-642-5167. BSA high school and TWIGS students come together to perform this festive local favorite throughout the month.

12/12-20: Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, 801 Chase St., Annapolis. Times vary. $27-52. 410-280-5640. Join the Ballet Theatre of Maryland for a flawless performance in Annapolis.

12/11-13: Weinberg Center for the Arts, 20 W. Patrick St., Frederick. Times vary. $16-30. 301-600-2828. Members of the Maryland Regional Ballet take the stage as Clara, Fritz and the Mouse King in the Weinberg’s 35th annual production.

12/18-19: Hippodrome Theatre, 12 N. Eutaw St. Times vary. $46-198.50. 410-837-7400. Revisit the ballet’s roots with dancing, puppets, handmade sets, and elaborate costumes.

12/12-13: Goucher College, Kraushaar Auditorium, 1021 Dulaney Valley Rd., Towson. Sat. 6:30 p.m., Sun. 4 p.m. $15-40. 410-667-7974. The Baltimore Ballet celebrates its 15th anniversary with this Tchaikosvky classic on a quiet local college campus.

1/2-3: The Sudbrook Arts Center, 4300 Bedford Rd., Pikesville. Sat. 7:30 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m. $15. 410-446-1549. Children and young adults put on a perfect performance of young Clara’s fantasy.

Get a Grip
Kathy Flann (Texas Review Press)

There’s something about Flann’s characters that stays with you. The protagonists in her short stories range across the spectrum of age, social class, and life experience, so it may seem puzzling to feel so connected to them. But perhaps it’s because Flann, a creative writing professor at Goucher College, expertly illustrates the yearning for change and control that we all experience. Though you don’t know exactly what it’s like to be an Estonian teenager journeying from your blighted neighborhood to a college interview with your brother, maybe, like him, you’ve also craved a future rich with opportunity. And even if you’ve never been an unmarried, 40-year-old woman devouring your birthday cake by yourself, perhaps you, too, have ached for love and a purpose in life. Most of these narratives play out in partly real, partly imagined Baltimore neighborhoods that are so authentic you’ll feel as if you could run into any of the characters at the grocery store or the airport. Best of all are Flann’s unresolved endings. With each, she takes you to the precipice, and leaves it up to you to decide which way life will turn.

Chesapeake Oysters: The Bay’s Foundation and Future
Kate Livie (The History Press)

It’s easy to forget, as we’re slurping down these delicious bivalves, how much they’re entwined in our history as a state, region, and country. The earliest English settlers wrote about how they encountered the opalescent shells over an open fire, as Native Americans prepared a meal. Then, in the 19th and 20th centuries, thousands in Baltimore and on the Eastern Shore made their livings by harvesting oysters, so much so they nearly destroyed them. Oysters were in such demand that they were given the moniker “white gold” and became the frequent target of pirates, who would steal catches off boats. There was even an Oyster Navy patrolling the Chesapeake. Livie, the director of education at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, skillfully recounts this history and the science behind these fascinating creatures, weaving historical accounts with anecdotes and engaging tidbits. The information couldn’t be more timely, with oyster aquaculture booming and reminding us all how much we owe to these pearly beauts.

One Child for Another
Nancy Murray (11th Hour Press)

Memoir is both the easiest and hardest genre of literature to write. Easiest, because we are showcasing our own histories, what we know best. Hardest, because it can be difficult to face and chronicle our most miserable moments, to detail our failures and disappointments, to admit that yes, life is flawed. In her debut book, Murray, a graduate of the University of Baltimore’s MFA program, treads that ground with grace and sincerity, creating a poignant example of what memoirs can achieve. She details how she became pregnant as a teenager in the 1970s and her decision to give up her child for adoption. She relates the story with remarkable detail and candor—from her description of the outfit she wore as she journeyed to a home for unwed mothers to the excruciating, emotional pain of creating a new life she knew could not be a part of her own. Murray’s story is one of surviving abuse, sacrifice, and ultimately, resilience, told with such honesty that you’ll feel as if you are experiencing it with her. You won’t want to put it down.

Read an interview with writer Nancy Murray.

[Editor’s Note: This interview was conducted in May, before Dr. Bowen had moved to Baltimore and assumed the presidency of Goucher College, which he did as of July 1.]

You got your BS in chemistry from Stanford and you’re a jazz pianist, musicologist, author, educator, and administrator, so I think you qualify as a polymath. How do you juggle it all? Or do you just see them as part of a whole? It’s a little of both. I compartmentalize a little bit. But all the things I do involve process. They all involve listening, fitting your part in. Leadership is really—like chamber music—99 percent about listening and fitting your part in and helping to motivate other people, and, you know, goosing it a bit here and there, finding the right people to work together. It’s all about the ensemble.

Liberal arts education has come under fire recently. I’m assuming you are an advocate for it. Yeah, or I wouldn’t be taking the job. I think we need to re-label it because, you know, “liberal” is such a charged word, and even “education” is such a charged word. But I actually believe the way to do this is to take it head-on and say, ‘Look, a liberal arts education is going to try to change your children. That’s the point. And you want that because if you don’t know how to change, you won’t be prepared for the job of the future.’ I often say, ‘A liberal arts education is about preparing the mind for the unknown.’

You’ve been a dean at several places before, but this will be your first time running a whole school, so what are looking to do with Goucher? Well, in a lot of ways, in all of my positions, I have responded to the environment: You make what you’ve got with the ingredients you have. When I was at Georgetown they said, ‘We want to do something unique in music. We want to do what Yale does.’ and I said, ‘Well, that’s not unique, that’s what Yale does.’ I said, ‘But you’re in Washington. Why not be the first school in the country to do only American music?’ You don’t have any medievalists. You don’t have any Beethoven scholars. We don’t have any Bach scholars. Why don’t we just skip all that and just do the blues, and jazz, and musicals, and Leonard Bernstein, and Copland. So that’s what we did, and we created something unique for that institution that took advantage of its geography in Washington, D.C. Here in Dallas [at Southern Methodist University] it’s all about jobs. We have the highest employment in the country; we have the first art entrepreneurship minor. I wouldn’t have done that at Georgetown. It wouldn’t have made sense there.

So, I guess I don’t know what we’re going to do at Goucher because I don’t know what makes sense, but I am clearly going to honor its traditions and values. The question is, how do we amplify what we’re already doing and build a brand around it—and, again, I’m not afraid to say that. You have to stand for something. During the interview process I gave my rules of management. I said, ‘Here’s what you hold me accountable to: I promise you that I will 1) be humane 2) be strategic and 3) be transparent. That’s what you’re going to get from me.’ It’s not going to be all my ideas, although I have a million ideas. I send people e-mails at 3 in the morning, ‘What about this? What about that?’ Because my staff, typically, it takes them a whole year to figure out that I’m just throwing spaghetti at the wall. It doesn’t always stick and it’s not, ‘Here’s an idea go make it happen,’ but, ‘Here’s an idea, what do you think?’

Outgoing Goucher president Sandy Ungar implemented a lot of progressive policies—for example, the study abroad requirement was unique at the time it was introduced—do have similarly ambitious plans? I am going to push people at Goucher to say, ‘What do we do uniquely and better?’ So excellence is necessary, but not sufficient. I think study abroad is a great piece of the pie. I’m not sure it’s enough to sell to parents that we’re one of two schools that require that, because you can go to Georgetown and study abroad. But what I think all liberal arts schools need to figure out is what do you do better than anybody else? What’s unique about your campus? What is your unique set of programs? What is unique about your culture? I think Goucher has a unique culture.

How so? Well, I think . . . How do I say this right? I’m coming from Texas, and it’s not Texas.

No! It’s not Texas, that’s true. It is so not Texas.It’s a little like California. There’s a very open, accepting vibe. It’s a small place. There’s a lot of diversity on campus. And I think the faculty is very, very dedicated to that and to transforming lives.

You’ve done multiple TED talks, and one of them was about the education method you call “Teaching Naked.” Can you just give us a thumbnail sketch of it? Sure, the idea is that technology has changed our relationship to knowledge. Knowledge is now freely available so the point of teaching is not filling students with content. It’s changing people’s worldviews. And changing minds really happens best when faculty and students are talking in small groups.

It is a big cultural shift between Texas and Baltimore. Anything you’re looking forward to or nervous about? No, you know, I’ve lived in four or five foreign countries. I taught in England for five years. I was at Georgetown for five years. I was at Stanford. I’ve only been in Texas for eight years. But you learn something everywhere you go. So I will bring a little bit of the Texas excitement and the ability to do big things with me. But I am looking forward to being back on the East Coast. I am looking forward to four seasons. I’m looking forward to Goucher’s amazingly beautiful campus. We’re bringing our pets. We’re going to have the menagerie, the herd, so the students will be able to check out a dog and walk a dog.

It’s good that you’re looking forward to coming to Goucher. Is there anything about Baltimore that you’re looking forward to? I really don’t know Baltimore. When I was in Washington, I spent most of my time in Washington. I’ve been to Baltimore a couple times. I’ve been to an Orioles game. We know there are great museums. We know the harbor is great. We like all that big city stuff and Baltimore is an interesting size and we’re looking forward to getting to know it.

You’ve played piano with a lot of really famous people, everyone from Liberace to Dizzie Gillespie. Can you give us your favorite cocktail party anecdote? Oh god. Oh man. The problem is most of them aren’t publishable.

Well, I don’t want you to defame anyone. I’ll tell you a nice story then. Dave Brubeck’s wife, Iola Brubeck, did once babysit for my daughter, Naomi, while we were rehearsing. The Brubecks are one of the nicest families. Dave’s recent passing was fairly traumatic for a lot of us because he was the most generous soul on the planet. He didn’t know he was Dave Brubeck. There was the time when he and Duke Ellington were on the road together and there was speculation about who would be the first jazz musician on the cover of Time magazine. And of course, it should have been Duke Ellington and maybe it was Louis Armstrong the next year but, anyway, Dave is in the hotel room and he got a knock on the door and there was Duke Ellington holding a copy of Time magazine with Dave Brubeck on the cover. And anybody else would have been, ‘Oh my God!’ but Dave just felt terribly. I have the same kind of personality. It was never about Dave Brubeck. It was about everybody else. That’s part of why I think he was so successful. But it made him a joy to work with and he was a great human being and we remember him so fondly. And his children are great musicians and great people.