Walking into her first home health care visit 10 years ago, registered nurse Keli Gallagher didn’t know exactly what the next hour or  two would hold. Would her patient be doing well in his transition from hospital to home? Open to working with a stranger to move
toward better health and independence? Or struggling with his new reality?

Whatever the case, Gallagher knew that to really succeed—to ensure a patient recovering from a serious health crisis could heal and even thrive outside of a hospital setting—she’d need to provide more than medical care.

“Your first goal is to build that bond of trust,” says Gallagher, who provides services in Baltimore City and County for Bayada Home Health Care. “Then you get them to understand why you are in their home and what they can do themselves. Once you get that to happen, it’s amazing how much better people feel.”

Like many people released from the hospital to recover at home, Gallagher’s first patient was nervous. An avid baseball and football fan, the elderly man had suffered a serious exacerbation of his chronic illnesses and, though he was home, his challenges were far from over.

“He was overwhelmed and anxious about everything he had on his plate,” Gallagher recalls. After assessing him and ensuring he was safe, Gallagher got to work providing nursing care, plus a healthy dose of education and assurance. “I taught him and his wife how to manage his wounds and explained the chronic disease processes,” recalls Gallagher.

Over the next few weeks, Gallagher would return to the home regularly to provide care, assess her patient’s progress, offer encouragement, and connect the couple to community resources.

“The goal is to allow the patient to be confident and independent and then we just back off and supervise for a while,” she says.

Home health nurses like Gallagher are increasingly in demand due to an aging population, a rise in the prevalence of chronic conditions, shorter hospital stays, and a strong desire by many patients to remain in their home while they receive care. Such nurses provide essential skilled services—wound care, medication administration, post-surgical care, and disease management—and prepare patients and their families to manage their own treatment longer term.

For a patient hobbled with a fractured hip and newly home from the hospital, for example, Gallagher might visit one to three times a week for several weeks. “We go in to educate them on pain management, medications, diet, fluids, and fall prevention,” she explains. “I’m responsible for ensuring patients are safe and that they and their families are comfortable, confident, and competent in managing their care independently.”

To get the job done, Gallagher often coordinates with physical, occupational, and speech therapists, caregivers (like a spouse), and other health professionals involved in a patient’s care. She is among the roughly three percent of registered nurses who work in home health care, according to National Council of State Boards of Nursing.

Home health care is not the same as a private duty nurse, who may visit for longer blocks of time, for longer-term care, or to provide respite for family members or caregivers, with patients usually paying out of pocket. Home health nursing is often paid for by insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid for a limited period of time for patients deemed unable to leave their home for outpatient care.

“The benefit to the patient is that they get to stay in their home environment, they get one-on-one attention, a personalized plan of care, and a complete focus on them to meet their goals,” says Sarah Caro, a registered nurse and clinical assistant professor for Towson University’s Department of Nursing.

“Medicine is such a scary endeavor for so many people…I can’t tell you how many times people have said to me, ‘I’ve never had a nurse who taught me this,’ or ‘I didn’t know this is available.’”

Caro, a nurse for 30 years, has worked in hospital settings as well as in home health care and hospice. “We know people do better at home. With proper support, they really can have positive outcomes.”

It’s a benefit that has ripple effects beyond the patient, with care provided in a patient’s home—whether it’s in a house, apartment, assisted living facility, or other space—freeing up inpatient resources and lessening the burden on families once a patient is discharged.

For nurses, home health care offers autonomy, flexibility, and the chance to move beyond the confines of a facility. There’s also—for patients on the path to recovery—the reward of seeing someone regain independence, says Caro.

“Often in the hospital we don’t get to see that,” she says. “We’re happy when they get to go home, but we don’t get to see that independence come back.”

Even when recovery isn’t in the cards, there is the opportunity to develop deep and lasting connections with patients and their families. Caro’s career is peppered with such connections, including a special bond with one elderly patient in failing health. She’d often linger to chat—and frequently laugh—with her after the visit.

“I would usually save her for late in the day because we sure did enjoy visiting,” Caro recalls. “We worked together so long and she sat me down one day and she said, ‘I just need to tell you—and I don’t want you to argue with me—I am ready to be comfortable.’ She felt like she had to break it to me gently that she wanted to be a hospice patient. It was really precious.” (Caro’s response: “Sweetie, we can do whatever you want.”)

Beyond the relationships there’s also the opportunity for nurses to employ a wide range of skills as they encounter varied health conditions. While some care boils down to the basics, home health nurses also may also find themselves providing the type of complex care that was once limited to inpatient settings. Thanks to increased access to telehealth, remote monitoring, and other advances, these services can now be delivered at home.

“One of the things I really like about home care nursing is it gives me the opportunity to really use all the tools in my toolbox and to continue learning as well,” says Dawn Workman, a clinical nurse manager with Johns Hopkins (JHU) Care at Home’s Personal Care division, which provides private pay services for patients seeking the care of a nurse or certified nursing assistants.

On a typical day this spring, Workman started her day with a visit to a post-partum patient, then moved on to an elderly woman who needed drain and dressing care, plus help with medications, then on to a kidney transplant patient to draw labs and collect a urine sample. The day ended with a quick check-in on a patient who had a debilitating medical condition that has required extensive surgeries.

The variety requires home health nurses to be “expert generalists,” as JHU’s Care at Home likes to think of them. “There is really nothing typical about it,” says Workman, whose 26 years in nursing have included time in emergency care and as an EMT and a medic. “It is truly ever evolving.”

At times, the work requires tackling problems with skills you might not think of as traditional nursing. Polly Easton, a Stella Maris start-of-care nurse, recalls one patient early in the pandemic who was COVID-19 positive and recovering at home.

“So here I am with a double mask, gown, and shield, sitting in someone’s bedroom to go through her medications. She brought out a rolling suitcase filled with medication, and I was like, ‘What do I even do with this?’” Easton recalls with a laugh. A little digging revealed that the patient wasn’t actually taking the medications, unbeknownst to her doctors.

“They’d see her blood pressure was high and add another prescription, and she’d collect them all but never take them because she was too overwhelmed,” says Easton, who quickly devised a solution, working with the medical team to whittle down the medication list. “This is nursing,” she says, “but it’s not really what they teach you in school.”

As rewarding as it can be, providing nursing care outside of a facility brings its own challenges, the least of which may be the logistics of handling weather and traffic when you travel to multiple homes each day. While the autonomy that comes with the job can be appealing, it also brings weighty responsibility. While home health nurses work within a care plan, with an interdisciplinary team, and with a support team a phone call away, “you really are out there by yourself,” says Caro. “It can be a little daunting,” especially for nurses just starting out in home health care.

Home health nurses may also have to push past the worries patients and their families have as they take on medical responsibilities for themselves or their loved one.

“Medicine is such a scary endeavor for so many people and that creates more fear and more resistance,” says Gallagher. Often, she finds patients are surprised by what they can accomplish. “I can’t tell you how many times people have said to me, ‘I’ve never had a nurse who taught me this,’ or ‘I didn’t know this is available, I didn’t know that I could do this.’”

Another possible roadblock is the home itself. Easton has encountered patients whose homes had already been modified—with grab bars, wide doorways, even an elevator—for a parent or spouse. But often, homes are not ready to be makeshift care centers. Loose rugs, stairs, and slippery showers pose hazards for the elderly and infirmed. And then there are the pets.

“The pets are always interesting. There have been some that were small and mighty and gave me a run for my money,” says Caro, who once had a patient with a pet duck that would greet her at her car with a few not-so-friendly ankle pecks.

For Easton, the challenges of providing care in a home are also an opportunity. Walking into someone’s kitchen for example, Easton might notice their food is stored in hard-to-reach cabinets, or that their walk from the living room to the bathroom requires navigating a walker through a too-narrow path.

“I love that I can really figure out what people need that they may not be able to verbalize for themselves but that can really change their quality of life,” she says.

“The pets are interesting,” says Caro, who once had a patient with a pet duck that  would greet her at her car with a few not-so-friendly ankle pecks.

One of her easiest problems solved didn’t require any in-home modifications but instead involved removing a logistical obstacle. The elderly patient had always walked to a local pharmacy to pick up prescriptions, but after a hospitalization could no longer make the trip.

“He had been home from the hospital for three days and he didn’t have his meds yet,” she says. A quick call to switch the patient’s prescriptions to a pharmacy that delivers resolved the issue.

Of course, sometimes the problems are trickier, with medical needs that can’t be met in the home. “You come into the house and they’re like, ‘I don’t know if this looks good,’ and you’re like, ‘No, that does not look good, we’re going to call 911,’” says Easton, who developed the knowledge and skills to make such decisions over nearly 20 years of nursing.

Many home health nurses get their start in other branches of nursing, and some aren’t even aware the career path exists. For Caro, an introduction to in-home care came while she was working full-time on a telemetry unit in a small community hospital that sent nurses into the homes of congestive heart failure patients.

“Had I not had that opportunity early in my career I don’t know that I would have known how amazing home care is,” she says.

As a professor, Caro often encounters students who envision themselves tending to patients in an emergency room or an ICU after graduation. But she believes that nursing’s varied career paths are part of its appeal. “I don’t think people realize just how broad the field is and what can be done.”

The national nursing shortage has tightened the supply of all nurses—and that includes home health nurses. In response, the Home Care Association of America and the National Association for Home Care and Hospice have proposed a range of efforts, including implementing more loan forgiveness programs for nurses entering home health care, making salaries more competitive, and getting the word out so that more nurses consider home health nursing as a career option.

For Gallagher, home health nursing has been not only a viable and exciting career path, but also thoroughly rewarding. “It’s a really emotionally draining position but there are so many instances where it’s just a beautiful thing,” she says.

Often, the payoff comes as patients progress to confidently managing their own care. “I tell people all the time, the best thing is when I see them smile, when I know that they are comfortable enough and happy enough to be able to look forward to tomorrow instead of being scared,” says Gallagher, who recently had a patient burst into happy tears because she could finally leave the house on her own and take a bus to her doctor’s appointment.

Other times, the reward comes later. Gallagher will always remember her first home health patient, not just because she built trust and saw him improve enough to no longer need her care, but because a year later she got a call from his cardiologist with an update.

“He said, ‘I just saw the patient, he was in my office with his baseball cap on and he was about to go to an Orioles game,’” Gallagher recalls. “He thanked me and said, ‘You really made a difference.’”

Being an integral part of the team that helped the patient return to health and independence was its own reward, says Gallagher.

“That’s what makes us motivated to do what we do.”

From 1991 to 2011, Superintendent Nancy Grasmick oversaw all the public schools in the state of Maryland and, for five consecutive years during that span, they ranked top in the nation. Yet when she retired, the Baltimore native, now 85, still had a gnawing feeling that she could have done more. That’s the thing about real leadership. It always strives to better itself.

To that end, three years ago, she founded the Dr. Nancy Grasmick Leadership Institute at her alma mater, Towson University, with the goal of nurturing competent, ethical, and civic-minded leadership across a variety of industries. It has since welcomed about 2,700 participants—from organizations like Under Armour, the nonprofit ShareBaby, and the Maryland Department of General Services—to its programs, which range from one-day events to months-long workshops.

Why did you want to start the institute?
When I decided to leave as state superintendent, even though our schools were top-notch in the nation, I felt that if I had the opportunity to really dig into my own leadership—exploring where I felt strong, where I felt vulnerable—I could have been better than I was. I also had an opportunity to observe leadership not just in education, but business, nonprofits, and government. When I retired, I found that we had a lagging group of leaders in many ways, and it wasn’t necessarily their fault. You can see leaders who are just sort of stuck, there’s no creativity, and when I looked at government, I was also concerned about the ethical dimension.

What’s unique about your programming?
No two leaders are exactly the same, because we’re different people. We have a cascade of programs…You decide what’s right for your company, or as an aspiring or current leader. We don’t want people to leave saying we’re just a facilitator of some of the tried-and-true philosophies about leadership. We want them to say, “Wow, that was really fantastic.”

What are the challenges leaders face today?
There are some ethical ones. Part of it is, if you work with people who are unethical, it influences you. Often, if you are not in the lead position, there’s an expectation that you’ll buy into unethical behavior. How do you deal with that? If we don’t have ethics as a core, I don’t think we have anything. The other thing is people don’t think they have the clout to make changes if they’re not at the top. How do you get your thoughts heard? What’s persuasive? [The answer is] presenting yourself as knowledgeable and confident and deeply believing in something. We had someone from Under Armour. For her capstone project with us, she looked at family-leave policies. As a result of her having the confidence to be bold and suggest changes, they’ve changed their program.

It’s not easy being a leader today. Like in classrooms, we see teacher shortages. How do you address that idea?
Well, first you acknowledge that it is difficult…Things are changing rapidly. Look at how AI is influencing every profession. But you find ways of coping, overcoming, and turning what’s been negative to a positive.

On a chilly evening last spring, the auditorium of Stephens Hall Theatre at Towson University was packed with opera patrons who had scored a ticket for Opera Baltimore’s nearly sold-out performance of Verdi’s beautifully tragic La Traviata, composed in 1853. Translated as “the fallen woman,” it tells the story of Violetta—in today’s parlance she might be described as part party girl, part influencer, and part high-class sex worker—who catches the eye of the wealthy Alfredo. This is opera, so theirs is not an easy romance, as class and other entanglements thwart their happily-ever-after, including—spoiler alert—her battle with tuberculosis, which had no cure in Verdi’s day.

The graceful soprano Lindsay Ohse, whose credits include critically acclaimed performances with major companies like the Metropolitan Opera (Met), was a charming lead, and the performance garnered rave reviews. Yet many Baltimoreans had no idea the performance had even taken place. Their exposure to opera may be limited to Bugs Bunny singing “Kill the Wabbit!” to the tune of “Ride of the Valkyries,” from Richard Wagner’s The Ring Cycle opera trilogy.

“It seems that many people imagine opera to be people in horns shouting at one another,” explains James Harp, who currently serves as artistic director for Maryland Opera (the second area opera company in addition to Opera Baltimore) and has been a leader in the city’s opera scene for nearly four decades.

“But the stories of opera are more relevant than people could possibly imagine,” he continues. “They tell the highs and lows of the human experience, set to the greatest music of all time. Opera is the culmination of the arts: It brings together the visual, the musical, the vocal, and the dramatic to create this incredible work of art that really takes us to a level that is so profoundly personal and reaches our very core.”

Baltimoreans may not be aware that opera has thrived in the city for nearly three centuries, starting in the 1700s. Later, it was ground zero for the performance of perhaps the country’s first homegrown opera that rose to European standards, when Arthur Clifton’s The Enterprise premiered here in 1822.

“Arthur Clifton was an English composer who immigrated to Baltimore and was central in the theatrical scene here,” says Dr. Aaron Ziegel, associate professor of music history and culture at Towson University and scholar-in-residence with Opera Baltimore. “This was the first operatic thing to be composed and premiered in Baltimore during the Colonial Era. The local press was really excited and there was a feeling that, ‘We’ve done it for the first time! A real, live, American-produced opera here in our city, composed by somebody here in our city, cast with actors from here in our city.’”

The years following the Civil War became known as the “golden age of opera.” A new theater district popped up around Howard Street with the construction of the Concordia Opera House, Ford’s Grand Opera House—the same Ford who owned the D.C. theater where Lincoln was assassinated—the Academy of Music, and The Music Hall. These venues were constructed to mimic the grand style of European opera houses, with a substantial main floor, tiered balconies, and stages that would fit the scenery and full choruses the large-scale productions demanded.

Unfortunately, none of these venues survive today except one: The Music Hall, now known as the Lyric. This majestic space, modeled after Amsterdam’s famous Concertgebouw, was purchased by Met Opera board chair and influential banker Otto Kahn in 1909. Kahn renamed it the Lyric Theater, securing it as a venue for Met performances. As a Met presenter, the Lyric would host major opera stars throughout the early part of the 20th century.

The quality of operas in Charm City and the popularity of the genre at the time gave rise to a sizable community of opera boosters in Baltimore. Eugene Martinet, a celebrated singer and director, founded the Baltimore Civic Opera Company in 1932, which largely featured local, amateur singers. That all changed when the company reorganized after his death and superstar diva Rosa Ponselle helmed the company as artistic director from roughly 1950 to 1979. Her star power attracted leading singers and professionalized the company, which dropped “civic” from its name entirely in 1970 to become the Baltimore Opera Company.

Baltimore Opera Company enjoyed many decades of high quality opera performances. Luminaries who later became household names came here, including Beverly Sills, Birgit Nilsson, Plácido Domingo, and Anna Moffo. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, which shared the Lyric as its home venue until the 1982 opening of the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, served as the pit orchestra from the 1950s until the mid-1980s, when Baltimore Opera Company formed its own orchestra.

But like most arts institutions, Baltimore Opera Company faced its share of financial challenges. By the early 2000s, it was carrying significant debt. Operas are notoriously expensive to produce; revenue from ticket sales covers less than half of the cost of each production. The rest must be funded through public and private donations and an endowment draw. As a result, the annual budget can easily be blown off course. The 2007-2009 recession was the gust of wind that took down Baltimore Opera Company, which filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2008 and canceled its remaining two productions without issuing refunds to ticket holders.

James Harp, who served as Baltimore Opera Company’s artistic administrator beginning in 1989 and its chorus master from 1993 on, keenly felt the demise of the company he loved. “I felt it was like the plot of a terribly tragic opera of which I wanted no part,” Harp wrote to The Baltimore Sun in 2020.

Baltimore Opera Company eventually reorganized as Lyric Opera Baltimore and retained Harp as its artistic director. For five more seasons, it continued to perform at a high level at the Lyric—but Baltimore audiences’ changing tastes and increased competition in the market caused it to voluntarily fold in 2017.

But Harp and a dedicated team of board members felt opera still had a place in Baltimore; they just needed to find it. They tried again, forming Maryland Opera in 2018 with a rigorous eye toward sustainability.

“We came back with the intention of being an opera company with education programs and full stage productions but also acknowledging the new way of producing theater as being very flexible.” Harp explains. “And indeed we did not really have a home, but have found a home around the state.”

Today, Maryland Opera is appealing to new audiences, producing fully staged productions at unconventional venues like their popular First Friday performances at Boordy Vineyards. They’re also fostering a love of opera with a new generation through school programs and a two-week Opera Camp offered completely free for high school and early college-age students.

Baltimore Opera Company’s 2009 loss was another’s gain: The professional company Opera Baltimore was founded that year and today produces major, fully staged operas, such as this month’s production of Verdi’s Rigoletto.

“We began as a group of choristers who got together to produce one concert opera while the Baltimore Opera Company figured out how they were going to get past this hurdle and move forward,” recalls Opera Baltimore’s artistic director and general director Julia Turner Cooke, referring to Baltimore Opera Company’s bankruptcy. And from the start, they had a community-driven mission. “We’ve always been trying to do our best to run a conscientious, thoughtful opera company that honors all of the people involved,” says Cooke.

One of the ways Opera Baltimore lives out this goal is through community engagement initiatives. Last season, it partnered with several West Baltimore community organizations and the Enoch Pratt Free Library to create a series of events called Opera on the Avenue, to uplift the stories of African-American artists from Baltimore.

The first phase of the project celebrated African-American opera singer and Old West Baltimore native Anne Wiggins Brown, who was the first person to play “Bess” in George Gershwin’s famous opera Porgy and Bess. A special exhibit, titled “Baltimore Legends,” featured Anne Wiggins Brown and other Baltimore musicians and appeared online and in print at several city branches of the Enoch Pratt Free Library.

“Baltimore City is a predominantly African-American city. We are Opera Baltimore and we want to speak into—or sing into—the experience of our neighbors and our community. We want opera to be relevant and galvanize conversation,” says Catrin Davies, who serves as Opera Baltimore’s director of community engagement and development. In that role she also leads the organization’s other outreach initiatives that include school music programs and Opera Club, which she describes as, “like book club, only louder!”

Davies also wants to spread the word that Baltimore has performance opportunities for young and emerging singers, such as with the Young Victorian Theatre Company—known informally as “Young Vic”—where she also serves as artistic director. Each summer it performs an operetta—which tend to be lighter and often comedic—by Gilbert and Sullivan.

“Young Vic is fully professional in its staff and its principal [performers] and its orchestra. But the chorus is volunteer,” says Davies. “That alchemy is just so exciting because the principals are reminded of the joy of performing when they see these choristers coming to every rehearsal, prepared and bringing a high level of artistry, and, conversely, the chorus members get to be part of a very professional production.”

“WE WANT OPERA TO BE RELEVANT AND GALVANIZE CONVERSATION.”

Perhaps it’s no surprise that opera refuses to let the curtain fall in Baltimore given the city’s wealth of young talent, stemming from the its many exceptional opera-training programs.

At the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, singers have the opportunity to hone their craft in numerous performances, including a full opera production on the mainstage each semester—all of which the public is welcome to attend. And in preparation for graduation, they have access to classes and support to help them bridge the gap between being a student and a working professional through Peabody’s “Breakthrough Curriculum.”

“We want our students to think of what it means to be a citizen artist, and think about your career as being immersed in the community, and giving the community something that it needs or wants,” explains Elizabeth Futral, an internationally celebrated soprano who serves as Peabody’s Marc C. Von May Distinguished Chair of Vocal Studies.

Dr. Phillip Collister-Murray serves as professor of voice and chair of the music department at Towson University, which also performs a number of quality operas each year that are open to the public. He agrees that real-world skills are essential for today’s opera singers, who face a very different stage than their 20th-century counterparts.

“[Singers] need to have an entrepreneurial mindset and create for themselves the opportunities they will need to be successful,” explains Collister-Murray. “At Towson, you are required to take a number of courses outside of your discipline, which gives a broader perspective. We really nurture our students and are honest with them about what they need to do to be successful.”

A bit of a hidden gem is the vocal program at Morgan State University (MSU). At MSU’s Opera Workshop, students are acquainted with a broad knowledge of opera literature and receive practical onstage experience through the performance of solo and ensemble work. Marquita Lister, the workshop’s artistic director, whose stage credits include performing as “Bess” in New York City Opera’s Emmy Award-nominated production of Porgy and Bess, explains that the program is designed to engage participants in the intellectual and physical techniques used in the development of believable characters on stage and everything that goes into creating fully staged productions.

“For me, especially working at an HBCU [Historically Black Colleges and Universities], it is really important for our students to understand that we have excellence at all levels,” she states.

Students don’t have to look too far to find an exemplar of that excellence. Denyce Graves, one of the most acclaimed mezzo-sopranos of all time, whose Met performances of the title roles in Carmen and Samson et Dalila are the stuff of legends, serves as faculty member at Peabody Institute and is a regular presence in Baltimore. Her voice has been the soundtrack to some of America’s most important moments, including a memorial service for victims of 9/11 in September 2001 and the state funeral for Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Several years ago, Graves became aware of the story of the late Mary Cardwell Dawson—a singer of color who founded the National Negro Opera Company (NNOC) in 1941. In spite of Dawson’s talent and notable achievements—among them having her beloved NNOC perform on the Met stage—very few in the classical music world knew her story. Graves is working to change that. In 2021, she founded The Denyce Graves Foundation. Its Hidden Voices program seeks to sleuth out and elevate the stories of individuals like Dawson who deserve a place in our collective history.

“If we don’t tell a complete story of our history, whoever tells the narrative sort of controls what information we all learn,” says Graves. “I believe that this lack of information has hurt us all and created all kinds of stereotypes.”

Another key initiative of her Foundation is Shared Voices, a collaboration between HBCUs and top conservatories and schools of music in the United States that seeks to bring diversity, equity, and inclusion to music programming. Baltimore’s own Peabody Institute will host a Classical Vocal Arts Symposium for Shared Voices participants and others this fall, intended to provide students access to information about how careers in the classical vocal arts develop and focus on important aspects of a singer’s career, including vocal health, mental health, and physical fitness.

“HBCUs have this very rich [vocal] tradition, but oftentimes lack the resources to nurture this incredible talent,” says Graves. “I’m really proud that Peabody has really stepped out in front to develop and host this symposium.”

Inclusive, innovative efforts like these are what Baltimore’s opera scene needs to thrive into a fourth century. Says Graves, “I hope that more programs like this can be a bridge to help us all celebrate what is beautiful and what is great about all of us.”

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Laura Farmer is a communications professional and former opera singer.

It’s a conundrum: Do you go to college to study what you love or land a career?

For many students and families planning for or applying to college, this question weighs heavily—especially with the existing economic uncertainty. But administrators from colleges in the Baltimore region say it’s not a matter of one versus another, and they’re finding ways to help future and existing students carve out paths to meaningful lives and careers.

“It’s absolutely a myth that students need to know their major when they apply,” says Katherine Cole, the vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). “Most majors don’t correlate directly with a career, and roughly 80 percent of undergrads nationwide end up changing their majors.”

To help students find the right fit, UMBC offers freshman seminars that integrate personality and strength tests like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Seminars also teach students about the multiple avenues they can take to arrive at the same career—a concept that Cole calls “parallel pathways.” This means, for example, that students interested in law school might take the traditional route by majoring in political science. Or they might enjoy analytical thinking and major in something like sociology, or plan to pursue environmental law and study marine biology or environmental science.

Towson University (TU) offers a similar two-credit Personal Life and Career Planning course, which teaches students about existing and emerging careers, while helping them dive deep into self-exploration to determine who they are as individuals. “We want students to major in something that matters to them personally, and we tell them their major doesn’t dictate their career,” says Lorie Logan-Bennett, the assistant vice president of career services at TU.

At the same time, TU urges students to take advantage of the university’s experiential learning opportunities that let them “build skills by doing real-world work, while deciding what they like or dislike in a career,” says Logan-Bennett. Opportunities range from for-credit, in-person internships off campus to remote projects known as “micro internships,” made possible by TU’s partnership with the Chicago-based company Parker Dewey.

“Micro internships are time-delineated projects that students can take on without quitting their part-time jobs or giving up other obligations,” Logan-Bennett explains. For instance, a company in California might hire a student to compile or analyze data in a spreadsheet or synthesize research for a report. Students work on projects for a designated period and gain experience they can then use to bolster their résumés.

At Johns Hopkins University (JHU), too, opportunities abound in experiential learning, with programs and resources guiding students through the arduous process of identifying and honing values, interests, and goals. In addition to having access to a robust career center, Hopkins Hire, students benefit from the school’s innovative Life Design Lab (LDL), which, “takes an iterative, problem-solving approach to life- and career-planning,” explains Matthew Golden, LDL’s executive director. “The process involves doing research and coming up with a hypothesis based on your interests, talking to people, getting experience in that area, and then doing it all over again, building on what you’ve learned about yourself and that particular kind of work.”

The key, Golden says, is for students to keep an open mind as they follow their curiosity and determine or refine what they want—a process he hopes will stay with them forever.

LDL works closely with Hopkins Hire, JHU’s career center, which launched the DEI Collective to boost internship access for students from underrepresented communities. “In the past, unpaid internships were more common, and this created a disparity gap,” given that some students needed to earn money from part-time jobs and couldn’t sacrifice a paycheck to work as an intern, explains the executive director of Hopkins Hire, Alia Poonawala. “But through the DEI Collective, we require companies to pay students a minimum of $15 an hour,” eliminating the need to forego meaningful work experience.

As application deadlines near, and students and families weigh college options in the Baltimore area, remember that support exists to help you figure out and fine-tune your education, career, and life plans. “The key is to spend your time in college taking advantage of those supports and experiential learning opportunities,” even if you have a concrete path, says Logan-Bennett at TU.

Don’t worry about the lack of a clear-cut career connection to your major, advises Cole of UMBC. The liberal arts get a bad reputation, but, “we hear from employers all the time, whether it’s NASA or the NSA, that the soft skills students gain from a liberal arts degree are exactly what they look for in employees,” she says. “Academics make the individual disciplines, but the reality is that real life—and real work—are interdisciplinary.” And the college major is just one small piece of a larger puzzle.

If you are looking for the perfect fit for your college experience, look no further than Baltimore’s annual guide of regional academic institutions. Here is a roundup of what’s happening on area campuses.

BOWIE STATE UNIVERSITY
Bowie State University in Prince George’s County began with a mission to provide educational opportunities for Black citizens and, more than a century after opening, has consistently ranked among the best HBCUs in the country, offering undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as specialty certificates and doctoral programs. It also has a solid reputation for being one of the best values around.

SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 5,381
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 18:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $8,753 in-state, $19,544 out-of-state
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 87 percent
POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Business Administration, Criminal Justice, Radio and Television Broadcasting Technology/Technician, Psychology, Biology, Computer/Information Technology, Child Development, Nursing, and Sociology

 

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 57 undergraduate, graduate, and certificate degrees. It’s been rated in the Top 50 Best HBCUs in the Nation (College Consensus), the Top 5 Best Value Online Schools in Maryland (Online School Center), and No. 7 Best Colleges in Maryland by Salary Score (GradReports).

In 2022, CSU received two large-scale federal education grants, including a $3.7-million Teacher Quality Partnership grant from the U.S. Department of Education to increase teacher diversity, while boosting student success in high-needs urban and rural schools across Maryland. CSU also recently created the Freddie Gray Student Success Scholarship, which is available to graduates of Carver Vocational-Technical High School, where Gray was a student.

Coppin 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: 2,108 undergraduates, 240 graduates
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 0:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $6,904 in-state, $13,560 out-of-state
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 54 percent
POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Nursing, Business, Biology, Education, Criminal Justice, Rehabilitation Counseling

 

FROSTBURG STATE UNIVERSITY
For those who want to escape to the Appalachian Mountains while still benefitting from the low cost of in-state tuition, Frostburg State University in Western Maryland offers more than 100 bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs, as well as miles of wilderness areas nearby to explore. On that note, its online M.S. in Recreation & Parks Management is ranked the No. 2 most affordable program in the U.S. by GetEducated.com.

SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 3,677
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 14:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $9,804 in-state, $24,684 out-of-state
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 86 percent
POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Economics, Nursing, Business Administration and Management

GOUCHER COLLEGE
A private, liberal arts college spanning 287 wooded acres in Towson, Goucher College takes pride in its close-knit community and leadership in global education. One hundred percent of Goucher students study abroad, and the college offers more than 60 flexible programs around the world for students to develop international experience.

Goucher has continually ranked among U.S. News & World Report’s best and most innovative national liberal arts colleges. Goucher ranked in the top four percent of all public and private colleges nationwide for its impact on social mobility, according to Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce.

In the last few years, Goucher began exciting partnerships with other schools, such as Johns Hopkins University, Loyola University, Middlebury College, 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-percent discount on tuition.

Also of note: Goucher’s unique First-Year Village, which opened between 2016 and 2018, offers a unique space for 450 first-year students to live, work, and socialize. It features a sound-proof study room and communal spaces for students to cook, learn, and interact on each floor.

SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 1,100 undergraduate students, 900 graduate students
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 10:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $48,200
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 82 percent
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 point of pride is its financial aid program, which covers 100 percent 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.

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

It also announced new efforts 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: 6,331 undergraduates, 22,559 graduates
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 7:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $59,128 for Peabody Institute, $60,480 for the School of Engineering and the School of Arts and Sciences
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 10.9 percent
POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Computer Science, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Neuroscience, Economics, Public Health Studies, International Studies

 

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY MARYLAND
This private, Jesuit institution offers undergraduate and graduate programs on a beautiful urban campus strewn across 81 acres 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, and the school currently ranks fourth in “Best Regional Universities in the North,” according to U.S. News & World Report.

SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 3,822 undergraduates, 1,460 graduates
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 12:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $53,430
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 84 percent
POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Business, Management, Marketing, Journalism, Social Sciences, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Psychology, English Language and Literature, Engineering and Education

MARYLAND INSTITUTE COLLEGE OF ART (MICA)
Located in the heart of Baltimore, MICA is the oldest continuously degree-granting college of art and design in the nation. According to U.S. News & World Report, it ranks among one of the top schools for its fine arts, graphic design, painting, drawing, and sculpture programs. MICA also offers graduate-level degree programs including Master of Fine Art, Master of Business Administration Art, and Master of Professional Studies. According to its website, MICA offers, “education and experience that will prepare you to be a creative leader in the 21st century.”

SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 3,500
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 8:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $51,870 undergraduate
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 90 percent
POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Graphic Design, Illustration, Multimedia, Painting, Sculpture, Fine Arts, and Photography

 

McDANIEL COLLEGE
Founded in 1867, 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. A recent addition to McDaniel’s curriculum is a National Security Fellows Program that provides students with knowledge, skills, and experience in national security, along with the ability to specialize in an area of interest, such as interstate conflict, intrastate political violence, cybersecurity, ethics, and human rights.

The school also recently launched a new STEM Center to serve as a physical hub to support students studying the sciences. Equipped with adaptive workspaces and collaborative technology, the STEM Center hosts workshops focused on both the professional world and course-specific content, along with tutoring services and a study environment for students.

McDaniel earned a spot as the top-ranked Maryland institution on U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Value Schools” list among regional universities in the North for academic quality and affordability. The college also ranked as one of the “Best Regional Universities in the North” in their “Best Colleges” rankings for 2022-2023.

SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 1,681 undergraduates, 1,208 graduates
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 13:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $46,336
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 87 percent
POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Kinesiology, Business Administration, Psychology, Biology, Political Science, International Studies

 

MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
The largest of Maryland’s HBCUs, 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. Recently, Morgan launched the state’s first bachelor of science degree in cloud computing. 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: 7,034 undergraduates, 1,435 graduates
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 15:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $8,008 for in-state and $18,480 for out-of-state
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 87 percent
POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Civil Engineering, Communications Engineering, Business Administration and Management, Social Work, Biology/Biological Sciences, Architecture, Finance, Psychology, Sociology

 

MOUNT SAINT MARY’S UNIVERSITY
Located in rural, mountainous Emmitsburg on a massive 1,500-acre campus, “The Mount” is America’s second-oldest Catholic university. It offers more than 80 undergraduate majors, minors, concentrations, and special programs grounded in a Catholic liberal arts tradition, and several bachelor’s/master’s combinations in partnership with other universities. It’s a degree that pays: The Mount ranks in the top 10 percent of colleges and universities nationwide in terms of the long-term earnings for a four-year college degree. As an extra bonus, the school offers a rich NCAA division I athletic program.

SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 2,570
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 12:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $44,330
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 82 percent
POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Business, Management, Marketing, Social Sciences, Computer and Information Sciences, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Psychology, Communication, Journalism, Education, Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences, and Health Professions

NOTRE DAME OF MARYLAND UNIVERSITY
A private, Catholic liberal arts university in northern Baltimore, Notre Dame of Maryland University offers programs ranging from undergraduate to doctoral degrees, 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: 807 undergraduate students, 1,377 graduate and professional students
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 7:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $39,250
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 86.5 percent
POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Nursing, Education, Biology, Art Therapy, Pharmacy

 

ST. MARY’S COLLEGE OF MARYLAND
A state institution founded in 1840, St. Mary’s College of Maryland was recently ranked among the best public liberal arts colleges by Money magazine. Located on 361 acres in rural Southern Maryland, it is also know for having one of the lowest student-to-faculty ratios in the U.S. While its waterfront campus in historic St. Mary’s has the feel of a private institution, it offers all the affordability, accessibility, and diversity of a public school.

SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 1,526
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 10:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $15,184 in-state, $31,260 out-of-state
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 77 percent
POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Social Sciences, Psychology, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Natural Resources and Conservation, English Language and Literature/Letters, Visual and Performing Arts, Computer and Information Sciences, History, Mathematics and Statistics, Foreign Languages, Literature, and Linguistics

 

SALISBURY UNIVERSITY
For those who want to be close to the ocean, Salisbury University offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs at its campus in Salisbury, about a 40-minute drive from Ocean City. In 2020, Money magazine named it one of “America’s Best Colleges.” A public institution, Salisbury is a NCAA Division III Capital Athletic Conference school.

SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 6,695
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 14:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $10,396 in-state, $20,872 out-of-state
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 86 percent
POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Business, Management, Marketing, Education, Communication, Journalism, Psychology, Public Administration and Social Service Professions, Health Professions, Parks, Recreation, Leisure, Fitness, and Kinesiology, Social Sciences, Computer and Information Sciences, Biological and Biomedical Sciences

 

STEVENSON UNIVERSITY
Stevenson University is a liberal arts school on a suburban campus in Baltimore County. It offers bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, and preprofessional programs, as well as its Bachelor’s to Master’s option, which allows students to earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree in five years. The school is growing, having recently opened a 117-acre recreational and athletic hub on its Owings Mills campus.

SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 2,979
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 15:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $38,738
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 91 percent
POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Health Professions, Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Computer and Information Sciences, Education, Psychology, Visual and Performing Arts, Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, Firefighting and Related Protective Services, Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, and Legal Professions and Studies

 

TOWSON UNIVERSITY
One of the largest public universities in the state, Towson University offers more than 110 undergraduate majors, 47 master’s degrees, six doctoral programs, and 36 graduate certificates. The university 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-square-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. Towson also 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 and 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 and the wider community to Towson for enriching performing arts, music, and visual art programs.

SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 18,730 undergraduates, 3,187 graduates
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 16:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $10,818 in-state, $26,820 out-of-state
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 88 percent
POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Business Administration, Education, Nursing, Exercise Science, Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology, Biology, Computer Science, Information Technology

UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE
The University of Baltimore is situated in Mount Vernon, a Baltimore neighborhood rich in art, architecture, and history. UB has gained a solid reputation for its law and business programs, but it offers a wide spectrum of undergraduate and graduate degrees and doctoral programs, with an intense focus on connecting students to community and jobs, ensuring a sustainable career path post-graduation.

SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 1,605 undergraduate
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 11:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $9,506 in-state, $22,956 out-of-state
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 89 percent
POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Business, Forensic Science and Technology, Animation/ Video Graphics/Special Effects, Healthcare Management, Criminal Science, Digital Communication and Multimedia/Media, Psychology, Political Science and Government, Human Services, Information Science

 

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE
The University of Maryland, Baltimore is the state’s only public law, health, and human services university. Located in downtown Baltimore, it offers 90 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 more than 1,000 people in nearly three dozen life science companies, university-based startups, and bioscience industry leaders like BD, Illumina, Catalent, and Pharmaron. With more than 250,000 square feet of lab and office space, the BioPark has been named an Outstanding University Research Park of the Year by the Association for University Research Parks. It’s located in the heart of the university’s medical campus.

SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 6,931
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 student population 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, with NASA announcing a major award of $72 million over three years, from 2021 to 2024, 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 more than 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: 10,625 undergraduate students, 3,366 graduate students
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 17:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $12,606 in-state, $28,370 out-of-state
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 69 percent POPULAR
AREAS OF STUDY: Computer and Information Sciences and Support Services, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Social Sciences, Psychology, Visual and Performing Arts

 

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, EASTERN SHORE
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), the State’s Historically Black 1890 Land Grant Institution, is a teaching, research, and doctoral institution that nurtures and launches leaders in a student-centered environment. Located on over 1,000 acres in Princess Anne, UMES was ranked among one of the top HBCU’s by U.S. News & World Report in 2020. It is home to many unique programs and partnerships in health sciences, agricultural and environmental sciences, and renewable energy research and implementation, including a novel, three-year accelerated Pharmacy program and the UMES Coastal Ecology Teaching and Research Center, which plays a significant role in the diversification of the workforce of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 1,812
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 10:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $8,724 in-state, $16,467 out-of-state
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 81 percent
POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Aviation Science, Agriculture, Environmental Science, Applied Design, Kinesiology, Education

 

WASHINGTON COLLEGE
Founded in 1782, Washington College became the first college chartered after the American Revolution. This small, liberal arts school is based on a bucolic campus in Chestertown and offers more than 50 academic programs, small class settings, and a rich study abroad program. Recent news on campus includes the receipt of a gift of over $2 million to endow merit-based scholarships.

SIZE OF STUDENT BODY: 1,026
STUDENT TO FACULTY RATIO: 9:1
ANNUAL TUITION: $50,842
ACCEPTANCE RATE: 70 percent
POPULAR AREAS OF STUDY: Social Sciences, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Business, Management, Marketing, Psychology, Physical Sciences, English Language and Literature/Letters, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Visual and Performing Arts, Communication, Journalism, and Computer and Information Sciences

Cited tuition costs may exclude room and board, books, and other fees.

The night before the biggest game of his life, Bruce Zimmermann walked on to a quiet, empty, mostly dark Camden Yards field to imagine how things might go the next day—and take in the setting.

In a scene from a baseball fairytale, a little after 9 p.m. on Sunday, with no one else around, the 27-year-old that grew up a 20-minute drive away near Ellicott City stepped on the pitcher’s mound at Oriole Park and gazed at the sights.

There was the Opening Day logo spray-painted in white in the grass behind home plate. The new deeper, and higher left field wall, reconstructed in the offseason, to help pitchers just like him. And, of course, his eyes drifted to the iconic brick warehouse in right field, gently lit in the black sky.

“It was storybook, in a way,” Zimmermann said.

So was what happened the next day.

In the 30th Opening Day in Camden Yards on Monday afternoon—and the first home opener in two years where most of the stadium’s seats were filled—Zimmermann’s performance compelled thousands of fans to chant his first name, as if he were the New Jersey-born lead singer of the E Street Band.

Bruuuce!

On a warm spring afternoon, the 6-foot-1, 220-pound leftie buttoned-up his No. 50 Orioles jersey and threw four scoreless innings. He tossed 66 pitches in all, and allowed only three hits to power the Orioles to their first win of the year, a 2-0 victory over the visiting Milwaukee Brewers. (If you’re a fan of symmetry, it was the exact same score the Orioles won their first-ever game at Camden Yards, 30 years ago.)

For a guy only beginning his second full big-league season, who grew up in the Baltimore suburbs, went to high school at Loyola-Blakefield, and then had a mostly unremarkable stint pitching at Towson University, it was as magical a day as they come.

“This one will always be up there for sure,” Zimmermann said afterward, standing near his locker. “I have to put it right there with my debut, maybe a little bit more, with everything and the environment. The first time seeing Oriole Park like that, as a player, was incredibly special.”

It was for those of us in the crowd, too. For one thing, the noise was back, along with the sense of a freewheeling, communal experience that, even with limited crowds last year, has been largely missing from Camden Yards since 2019 because of the pandemic.

On Monday, when Orioles outfielder Cedric Mullins smacked a go-ahead, two-run single in the second inning, scoring lightning-fast shortstop Jorge Mateo all the way from second base, the cathartic sound of celebration was reminiscent of a big playoff moment.

“Oh yeah,” Mullins said. “That was awesome. It was an exciting moment. And we’re going to have a lot more.”

Frankly, Opening Day 2022 felt almost normal, as if we had we not lived through the past two years.

I was one of the rare few to attend the last two home openers. In 2020, I sat with a few dozen onlookers in the press box for an eerie July game against the Yankees played in front of no fans and in near silence with hand sanitizer use strongly encouraged.

Last year, a limited capacity of roughly 10,000 fans took in the O’s more traditional early April opener against the Boston Red Sox. We wrote then that it was a step toward life as we used to know it.

This year’s Opening Day marked another, and perhaps the biggest—in a baseball context. It was a crisply played game in which health protocols and COVID-19 worries finally seemed secondary to what happened on the field.

Before Zimmermann’s first pitch, fans strolled down Eutaw Street in orange-and-black gear, without masks, some in pursuit of a fresh Boog’s Barbecue sandwich, others in search of a table at Dempsey’s Brew Pub on the first level of the warehouse.

Yet a few other architecturally-inclined minds—and some kids in search of baseballs from the Brewers warming up on the field—headed straight to something new: the remade left-field stands.

In the offseason, the O’s removed roughly 1,000 seats from the short porch in left, making the field larger and home run wall a little higher, a design intended to reduce the number of home runs that fly out of the park, some that would be routine flyouts in other pro stadiums.

If it looks like someone—or specifically, construction workers—carved a slice out of what used to be there, that’s exactly what happened. There’s also now an awkward sharp corner in deep left field that we hope no one runs into full speed.

One game into the season: So far, so good.

Eventually, everyone (the crowd was announced as a sellout of 44,461 but there were obvious empties to the contrary) found their seats, and the lower bowl filled beneath a clear blue sky and gentle sun, as the orange carpet was rolled out in center field to cap off orchestrated pregame ceremonies.

As part of the festivities, Mullins received a giant Silver Slugger trophy—marking his peers voting him the best hitter in all of baseball at his position in 2021, following a breakout season in which he became the first Oriole ever to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a season.

Fan favorite, cancer-beater and longest-tenured O Trey Mancini, who started at designated hitter, received the loudest ovation. First baseman Ryan Mountcastle, who set a team record for home runs by a rookie last year, beating a mark previously held by Cal Ripken Jr., enjoyed a loud welcome back too.

After the game, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde, who, like the rest of us, didn’t sign up for the circumstances of the past two years, said, “It was fun to hear Orioles fans cheering, and a lot of them. Our guys fed off the energy.”

Also during pregame, on the scoreboard in center field, Baltimore-based poet and author Kondwani Fidel delivered a video tribute to Camden Yards’ 30-year anniversary that gave us chills.

The Morgan State University choir, which performed the national anthem at Oriole Park on April 6, 1992, did the same this year (more symmetry!), while a giant flag from Fort McHenry was draped behind the green facade.

And, for the ceremonial first pitch, Kortez Baker, the son of slain Baltimore City police officer Keona Holley, as well as relatives of the three city firefighters who died in action in January, and the one who survived, John McMaster, took positions near the mound.

Then there was Zimmermann, who became the first Maryland-born pitcher to start a home opener for the Orioles since 1990, and first to ever do it at Camden Yards. And it happened nearly four years after he first joined the Orioles organization as a minor-leaguer via a trade that sent pitchers Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day to the Atlanta Braves.

Before the game, Hyde said he hoped Zimmermann could handle the obvious butterflies in anticipation of the moment. He started 13 games last year after being called up late in 2020, but had never started Opening Day in his hometown ballpark. (Thus the night-before walkthrough, perhaps.)

After the game, Hyde said, “Zim pitched extremely well,” and highlighted his effective mix of fastballs, changeups and curveballs.

So how was Bruuuce’s anxiety level? “Pretty manageable,” Zimmermann told us. “It was high, but I knew it was going to be high. It was another start, with a lot of added adrenaline. I was more concerned about just getting through a clean first inning and setting up the rest of my outing.”

After a 1-2-3 first inning, we heard his first name being chanted a little bit in appreciation from O’s die-hards. And, after the second inning, when he struck out a batter with an off-speed pitch and a runner on second, it felt like we were at Springsteen concert. Same at the end of the third, when he got out of a bases-loaded jam following a brief mound visit from pitching coach Chris Holt.

“Walking off and hearing the Bruuuce chant and everything,” Zimmermann said, “that really hit and fired me up a little bit more.”

So did the knowledge that a large crew of longtime supporters, including his parents, aunts and uncles, and former college coaches were in attendance behind home plate.

Admittedly, though, Zimmermann tried not to look at them. He feared even a momentary distraction in the loud, jumpy environment could veer him from the vision of success he’d had on the mound in the quiet moments at Camden Yards the night before.

“Internally, there was a lot going on,” he said. “Usually, I do try to peek up, but [with] the magnitude of the day today, it was just kind of, ‘Stay focused as long as possible.’”

That was about four innings. On the surface, a performance of that length might not seem like something worth much glory, but it was the most that was expected of him. Given an abbreviated spring training stemming from labor negotiations between Major League Baseball owners and players that delayed the start of preseason and Opening Day, Zimmermann’s pitch count on Monday was predetermined to be 70.

He finished four just shy of his maximum, and he looked sharp, striking out four and allowing two walks. Two-thirds of his pitches were strikes, a very good sign of things to come.

“It’s a long season ahead,” Zimmermann said, “but getting this win and everything about today was the perfect way to set off a hopefully long, healthy, successful season.”

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.

niversity of Maryland sophomore Sara Berman of Baltimore is a poster child for camp. She started going to Camp Louise an all-girls camp in Cascade, Maryland, at age 10, spent eight summers as a camper, and is now a counselor. “I remember being homesick at the beginning of that first summer, but when I left, I couldn’t wait to come back,” she recalls.

Tom Rosenberg, CEO and president of American Camp Association (ACA) says, “ACA believes that camp, day or overnight, provides an environment created just for children. At camp they learn real life skills, develop self-esteem, and gain a sense of independence and community. Whether children are playing, exploring nature, conquering new heights, or becoming part of a camp family, they are creating memories that will last a lifetime.”

Berman can attest to that.

“Besides making life-long friends, camp gave me skills that helped prepare me for college and my future. It taught me to be independent, problem solve, live in a communal environment, and try new things.”

Even before the pandemic, many kids spent too much time on their screens. Camp provides a welcome break from technology. “We’ve found older kids really feel good about not having to keep up with texting friends, Instagram, and their Facebook page,” notes Rosenberg.

Unless a camp is geared to technology, cell phones at overnight camp are often collected and given back at the end of the session. Even most day camps don’t allow cell phones.

“At camp everything is 100 percent in person,” says Rosenberg. “Children have the opportunity to participate in human-powered activities and to learn important skills like communicating, socializing, collaborating, resilience, and empathy. Camp is a welcome opportunity to work on their human skills and be physically active, especially after this time of prolonged social isolation.” All these skills will be important in a camper’s future.

Today, the camp market has definitely widened. There are many different flavors, from traditional day and overnight camps to specialty camps. Facilities may include skate parks, go-karts, and zip lines. A camp might have pottery, silver works—even glassblowing. There are cooking camps and camps themed to wilderness skill building, circus performance, and debate. If you have a camper with a special need there are camps for kids with dyslexia, asthma, and diabetes. And if you want a camp with a little religion mixed in, you can find that, too.

Rosenberg says, “Now more than ever before, kids need camp. With the pandemic, many children lost ground with social and educational skills, while others had mental health issues.” Alicia Berlin, director of Camp Louise, says, “In summer 2021 we hired a mental, emotional, and social health director who oversaw a team of 11 people on our Wellness Team throughout the summer. We plan to have a similar model of professionals to support campers and staff this summer.”

COVID-19 still remains a factor for both administrators and campers. Last summer, kids enjoyed activities in pods, overnight camps had fewer children in bunks, many day camps limited the number of children, and camps kept children on campgrounds. As much as we all thought and hoped COVID would be behind us, it’s not.

For camp 2022, Rosenberg says, “Think fluid and flexible. No one knows what COVID will be like. Depending on how it is acting, camps will have to be flexible.”

Jon Bisset, executive director at River Valley Ranch camp in Carroll County, is cautiously optimistic for the season ahead. Bisset says that they offer a wide variety of camps on their 500-acre campus, from overnight to day camps and, “This summer, we are hoping to be up to full capacity.”

Still, he adds, “What’s important is that camp be safe and provide a meaningful experience for the kids.”

Camp Resource Guide 2022

FOLLOWING IS A LIST of just some of the camps in or near Maryland offering everything from religious study and computer skills to sports training. As with all things impacted by COVID-19, camp schedules are subject to change. Visit the camp website or call for the most up-to-date rates, dates, and COVID-19 policies, as well as to register.

BALTIMORE LAB SCHOOL
2220 St. Paul St., Baltimore, MD 21218.
410-261-5500. baltimorelabschool.org.
Designed for students in grades 1-12 with learning differences, this program has a low student-teacher ratio, on-site specialists, and an innovative arts-based curriculum. Baltimore Lab School’s summer program is designed to help students discover their strengths, exercise their creativity, overcome academic difficulties, and prepare for the school year ahead. Session runs July 5-29.

BETH TFILOH
400 Delight Meadows Rd., Reisterstown, MD 21136.
410-517-3451. btcamps.org.
Located on 70 acres, “BT camps” offers a range of traditional and specialty camps for kids ages 2-15. The facility includes four swimming pools and an aquatics center (with a triple-decker, double-barreled water slide), a lake with boats and a 25-ft slide, as well as arts and crafts, ropes course, zip line and plenty of ballfields and green space for play. June 20-August 12.

CAMP CENTER STAGE
700 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, MD 21202.
410-332-0033. centerstage.com.
Baltimore Center Stage will host three summer sessions for children in grades K-12. Each session is themed to “Creative Impressions,” and will explore everything from dance and improv to acting and STEAM activities. Sessions run June 27-August 5.

CAMP FAIRLEE
22242 Bay Shore Dr., Chestertown, MD 21620.
410-778-0566. campfairlee.com.
Camp Fairlee is a traditional overnight summer camp located outside of Chestertown on the Eastern Shore. Programs are for children and adults aged 6 and up. Camp is for people of all abilities, providing accessible recreation
for campers and family respite. Accessible activities include canoeing, kayaking, wall climbing, swimming, nature trails, and indoor games. There is a health center staffed with nurses. June 26-August 14.

CAMP JEMICY
11 Celadon Rd., Owings Mills, MD 21117.
410-753-8032. jemicyschool.org/camps.
The five-week summer camp for coed students ages 6-14 run by Jemicy School offers skills instruction, tutoring, and recreation for children with dyslexia and other related language-based learning differences. Full, half-day, and extended-day programs offered. June 27-July 29.

CAMP HORIZONS
3586 Horizons Way, Harrisonburg, VA 22802.
540-896-7600. camphorizonsva.com.
ACA accredited since 1983, Camp Horizons specializes in sports, outdoors, arts, sciences and technology, aquatics, outdoors, and equestrian activities as well as classic camp traditions! Open to campers ages 6-16. Camps will run June 12-August 14.

CAMP PUH’TOK
17433 Big Falls Rd., Monkton, MD 21111.
410-329-6590. camppuhtok.com.
Located on over 60 wooded acres in northern Baltimore County, Puh’tok has provided kids 5-16 with camp activities that emphasize leadership, appreciation of nature, and teamwork since 1942. Activities include archery, pony rides, swimming, tubing, and zip lines. Day and overnight camps are available. Camp will be open in one-week sessions from June 27-August 19.

THE CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL OF BALTIMORE
2800 Edison Hwy., Baltimore MD 21213.
410-732-6200. thecatholichighschool.org.
This school offers a variety of programs from June-August. For the most up-to-date programs, visit the website.

CENTER FOR JEWISH CAMPING
5708 Park Heights Ave., Baltimore, MD 21215.
201-417-0294. livecamp.org.
If you’re looking for a Jewish summer experience that’s perfect for your child, consult Alli Muser for free, unbiased, and personalized guidance for families considering Jewish day or overnight camp. The Center for Jewish Camping is a collaboration between The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore and The Louise D. and Morton J. Macks Center for Jewish Education.

CHESAPEAKE BAY OUTWARD BOUND SCHOOL
1900 Eagle Dr., Baltimore, MD 21207.
410-448-1721. outwardboundchesapeake.org.
Expeditions are open to middle and high school students and teach students technical skills like navigation, camp craft, the basics of backpacking or rock climbing, and much more. As students learn these skills in challenging situations, they also learn the value of teamwork, compassion for others, and the pursuit of excellence. Check the website for excursion dates.

COLLEGE SUMMER ACADEMIC PROGRAMS AT GETTYSBURG COLLEGE
300 N. Washington St., Gettysburg, PA 17325.
717-337-6924. gettysburg.edu/offices/conference-event-services/summer-programs.
Gettysburg College offers several virtual and in-person camps for high school students. Each one-week program is led by noted faculty, and campers can explore subjects including psychology, creative writing, and Civil War Era Studies. The school also offers several athletic camps. Visit website for rates and session dates.

COLUMBIA ACADEMY
Five locations in Columbia, Ellicott City, and Fulton.
columbiaacademy.com.
Every week, elementary and middle school campers explore a new theme. Just a few activities include engaging STEM activities, team-building quests, outdoor water days, and planned weekly virtual field trips and enrichment.
Sessions run June 13-August 19.

FORK UNION MILITARY ACADEMY SUMMER CAMPS AND SCHOOL
4744 James Madison Hwy., Fork Union, VA 23055.
434- 842-3212. forkunion.com.
Fork Union will offer three athletic-themed summer camp programs this year. Camp is for ages 7-17 (some are coed). There is also a non-military summer school program that combines academic study, leadership development, athletic activities, and summertime fun. Summer activities are located in Central Virginia.

GILMAN SUMMER!
5407 Roland Ave., Baltimore, MD 21210.
410-323-3800. gilman.edu/community/gilman-summer.
Enrichment and skill-building programs for kids grades K-12 designed and taught by Gilman faculty and field experts. Camp experiences include art programs, STEM courses, cooking and music, foreign language, and sports camps as well as Young Scientists, Makerspace, Outdoor Experience, and Nature Explorers camps. Camps will run June 6-July 1.

GLENELG
12793 Folly Quarter Rd., Ellicott City, MD 21042.
410-531-8600 ext. 2157. glenelg.org/summer.
Glenelg offers a variety of camps from traditional day and sports camps, to specialized camps for everyone from the budding chess player to nature explorers. There’s even a training program for high school students ready to move up as counselors, and campers enrolled in Adventure Camp take off-campus trips for hikes and to tour local landmarks like Fort McHenry. Camp runs June 20-July 29.

HARFORD DAY SCHOOL CAMP
715 Moores Mill Rd., Bel Air, MD 21014.
410-838-4848. harfordday.org/community/summerprograms.
This independent school located in Harford County offers an annual summer camp experience. Check the website for more details.

HOWARD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL
8510 High Ridge Rd., Ellicott City, MD 21043.
410-313- 2787. hocoarts.org/camp.
This year, campers may select from a wide range of age-appropriate visual and performing arts camps, including Cardboard Creations, Dance & STEAM, Monster Madness, Tiny Playwrights, and much more. Camps conclude with an exhibit or performance of student work on the last day of each camp session. Programs are open to the public, regardless of residency, for grades K-7. There are full and half-day programs as well as before and after care available. Sessions run June 27 -August 26.

ID TECH CAMP AT TOWSON UNIVERSITY
8000 York Rd., Towson, MD 21252.
1-888-709-8324. idtech.com.
Students ages 7-17 can code using Java, design video games, engineer robots, produce a YouTube series, and more. Kids meet new friends and gain a competitive edge for school and future STEM careers. One-week sessions run June 20-August 1.

IMAGINATION 101 SUMMER ARTS CAMP
4701 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21210.
410-472-4737. charmcityplayers.com.
This nonprofit camp conducted by Charm City Players at the LeClerc Auditorium at Notre Dame of Maryland University offers two-week performing arts classes for boys and girls ages 7-16, including acting, dancing, and singing. June 20- July 1: Shrek The Musical Jr.; July 11-July 22: Seussical Jr. the Musical; July 25-August 5: Disney High School Musical Jr.; August 8-August 19: Disney The Lion King Jr.

IT’S ALL FUN AND GAMES
1810 Valleybrook Dr., Kingsville, MD 21087.
410-879-4460. funandgamescamp.com.
Held on the 20 secluded acres of Valleybrook Country Club, this camp is open to children K-13 looking for old-fashioned fun! Activities include swimming, tennis, nature and science exploration, arts and crafts, field trips and special visitors, and individual and team sports. Camp runs June 20-August 19.

J CAMPS
3506 Gwynnbrook Ave., Owings Mills, MD 21117.
410-559-2391. jcampsbaltimore.org.
The Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore has 10 camps for all ages and stages of life. JCC’s facilities include a performing arts center, ceramics studio, adventure park, nature trails, and tennis courts, plus their signature swim lesson program. In addition to before and after care options, JCC offers express bus routes. Sessions run June 20-August 12.

MARYVALE PREPARATORY SCHOOL
11300 Falls Rd., Lutherville, MD 21093.
410-308-8551. maryvale.com/about-maryvale/events/camps.
Each summer, Maryvale Preparatory School offers a variety of camps that are led by varsity coaches and esteemed professionals. These camps are open to Maryvale students as well as local middle and high school students. This year’s camps include athletic camps, musical theater programs, art camps, and architecture/technology camps. Camp sessions run June 20-July 20.

MCDONOGH SCHOOL SUMMER PROGRAMS
8600 McDonogh Rd. Owings Mills, MD 21117.
443-544-7100. mcdonogh.org.
McDonogh offers extensive summer programs for ages 4-18, including traditional day camps, arts and academic experiences, STEM-centric camps, and day and overnight sports clinics. Camps utilize the school’s many facilities including riding rings, fishing ponds, an arts center—even a rock-climbing tower and ropes course.

MERCY HIGH SCHOOL’S “MAGICAL SUMMER”
1300 E. Northern Pkwy., Baltimore, MD 21239.
410-433-8800. mercyhighschool.com/summer.
A Magical Summer is open to rising 6-8 grade girls. Campers will be coached and instructed by Mercy faculty and coaches, area professionals, and Mercy Girl athletes and artists. Weekly sessions are offered in different areas such as dance and musical theater. There are also athletic camps such as soccer, volleyball, and lacrosse. Sessions run June 20-August 11.

MICA SUMMER ART CAMP
1300 W. Mt. Royal Ave., Baltimore, MD 21217.
410-225-2219. mica.edu/artcamp.
Have a budding artist? Then the art camp at Maryland Institute College of Art may be just the place for your camper this summer. Camp is open to children in grades K-12. Sessions run June 6-July 29. Check the website for more details.

THE PARK SCHOOL OF BALTIMORE-PARK CAMPS
2425 Old Court Rd., Baltimore, MD 21208.
410-339-7070. parkcamps.com.
Park’s experienced staff welcomes children ages 3½–15 for exciting summer activities hosted on its 100-acre campus. In addition to traditional day camp activities, age-specific camps offer sports and games, nature exploration, and music and movement. June 27-July 29.

RED BARN RANCH
175 Klees Mill Rd., Sykesville, MD 21784.
301-933-6888. redbarnranch.com.
This traditional day camp is open to kids in K-6 grades. Campers engage in arts & crafts, science, sports—even high ropes. All staff have had FBI and CPS background checks, and have been trained by Kids After Hours and Maryland State licensed trainers to ensure a safe and fun summer experience. Before and after care are available. June 17-August 26.

SUMMER AT GARRISON FOREST
300 Garrison Forest Rd., Owings Mills, MD 21117.
410-559-3433. gfs.org/summer.
Summer at Garrison Forest has extensive program options, including traditional day camps, specialty camps, equestrian camps, and overnight programs. Campers can play nearly every sport, including riding and polo, express themselves in an array of arts programs, make STEM discoveries, learn to cook, and more. Before and after care, lunch, and combo camp packages available. Located on Garrison Forest School’s 110-acre campus, Summer at Garrison Forest runs from June 6-August 19.

SUMMER NATURE CAMP AT IRVINE
11201 Garrison Forest Rd., Owings Mills, MD 21117.
443-738.9200. explorenature.org/summercamp.
Campers learn about nature in Maryland by exploring and playing in the woodlands, meadows, wetlands, and streams of Irvine Nature Center’s 211-acre campus. Campers get up, get active, and get outdoors daily! Led by professional educators, offering different themed programs weekly, no two sessions are alike. Irvine Summer Nature Camp 2022 will run from June 20-August 26. Full-day and half-day options available for 3-12 year-olds, with a new Counselor in Training program for ages 13-17.

SUMMER CAMP AT THE ODYSSEY SCHOOL
3257 Bridle Ridge Ln., Lutherville, MD 21093.
410-580-5551. theodysseyschool.org.
The Odyssey School’s camp is a specialized summer program for children with language learning differences in grades 1-8. The camp incorporates an individualized, structured academic experience in the mornings, designed to promote ongoing skill development in the areas of reading, written language, and math, followed by afternoons of outdoor activities and athletics. Full and half day options. June 27-July 29.

SUMMER AT THE ST. PAUL’S SCHOOLS
111232 Falls Rd., Brooklandville, MD 21022.
443-632-1083. stpaulsmd.org/summer.
The St. Paul’s Schools offer a range of coed and single-gender programs for children ages 5-17, including Gatorland Day Camp, sports, arts, cooking, and babysitting training. June 13-August 12.

YMCA CAMP CONRAD WEISER
201 Cushion Peak Rd., Reinholds, PA
17569. 610-670-2267. smymca.org.
Part of the South Mountain YMCA camps located in Berks County, Pennsylvania, Camp Conrad Weiser offers overnight experiences for boys and girls ages 7-15. There are traditional camps as well as specialty camps like the Immersive Literary Theme Camps and Horse Riding Specialty Camp. Camp offers three-tiered pricing to serve families with different abilities to pay. Check the website for the many session dates.

Win or lose on Saturday—but preferably after a win since “it’s kind of what we’re paid to do,” says Towson University men’s basketball coach Pat Skerry—he will eventually settle into a comfy chair at home at night, likely with his 10-year-old son, Owen, and wife, Kirsten, nearby. The family television will be tuned to—what else?—basketball, and on the screen the Skerrys will once again proudly see the fruits of their labor, the campaign that they started.

If you watch a college basketball game this weekend—and, even in February, millions of people will—pretty much every coach, even the well-known ones, will be sporting a blue puzzle piece-shaped pin on their suit jacket lapel.

What’s that for, you may ask?

Well, that’s the point. It’s for autism awareness. For the estimated one in 59 children in the United States today, like Skerry’s son, and more than 70 million people worldwide living on the broad autism spectrum. And it’s specifically for Autism Speaks, the advocacy organization pushing for more research into what’s hypothesized to be a brain and nervous system disorder, but whose cause is still largely debated as diagnosis rates continue to rise.

“It’s something that’s dear to us,” Skerry says, “but it’s also the largest developmental disorder in the world.”

This weekend, in what’s become a very visible nationwide autism awareness push, nearly 400 coaches will wear the small pins, which are shaped like a puzzle piece as a nod to the complexity and nuances of the disorder. And at Towson, which hosts the College of Charleston at 4 p.m. Saturday, you can find the campaign’s co-founder wearing his while the Tigers don blue Under Armour jerseys in honor of Autism Speaks’ signature color.

Skerry started all of this nearly a decade ago, around the same time he was hired at Towson, with coaching colleague and friend, South Florida assistant Tom Herrion, whose son is also autistic. Since then, it’s grown from a truly grassroots effort. In 2014, the Skerrys hand-mailed pins to coaches around the country, and explained why they should wear them during televised games in February. The purpose was to raise awareness of the challenges of life with autism, which can include a variety of symptoms typically including trouble picking up social cues, engaging in repetitive behavior, and sensory issues.

It’s expensive. The average family with a child with autism spends more than $60,000 per year in care, and not all states provide health insurance coverage. When Owen was diagnosed, the Skerrys could afford it, but knew not everyone could do the same. “Not every family has the resources that they need, especially financially,” Skerry says. “We wanted to create more exposure about where to look for them.”

Eighty-two coaches participated in the first year of the campaign, and its footprint has grown each season. In 2018, close to 350 coaches and television broadcasters—many of them appearing on national television games—brought attention to the cause. “The next step is, I want to make it better and bigger,” Skerry says. “I always say it’s an awareness weekend, and I would like it to grow into an acceptance weekend.”

We don’t want to use the stereotype of Dustin Hoffman’s character from “Rain Man,” as an accurate portrayal of each of the millions of people who live with autism, because it’s not, though it is based on a true story. And in fact, at first, that was Pat Skerry’s only impression of a developmental disorder. But the fuller truth is that not everyone with autism is a savant, nor is anyone diagnosed identical to the next. “It’s a spectrum,” Skerry says, “so no two people are exactly alike.”

In the case of the boy closest to him, Owen Skerry was diagnosed at age 2, around the time symptoms in children usually present. Today, he attends the specialized Trellis School in Hunt Valley and has regular appointments with occupational therapists and speech pathologists. Along the way, Skerry and his wife have cherished small moments of growth, like a cry-free swim class or Owen trying a new food. Skerry says Owen is doing well, and his wife Kristen, “is the real hero in our daily mission.”

For reasons like these, Skerry is going to keep spreading the word about what autism really is, answer any questions about it—such as how to best interact with a person on the spectrum (asking questions about their routine is a big suggestion)—and consider the bigger picture and open-mindedness in unfamiliar, yet increasingly prevalent circumstances.

“There’s nothing harder or worse sometimes for a parent that’s maybe out to eat or at a store with a child, or an adult, and there’s an issue or disturbance or a meltdown, and people prejudge, or stare,” Skerry says. “We’re not asking anybody to be perfect, but this is something that affects a lot of people. We’re sensitive because we’ve seen it.”

But he doesn’t want to be pushy, either. He’s not asking for money, though Autism Speaks definitely accepts donations and he admits more funding for grants and research would help the cause that he’s so invested in.

Skerry just wants people to pay attention, to come to Towson’s game Saturday, understand, and be aware. He also wants all those coaches to wear the blue pins, for kids like Owen and everyone else trying to put the puzzle pieces together.

For the past 15 years, Patrick McAvinue has been a rising star in the bluegrass world, first finding his string instrument at age six in Baltimore County before joining some of the region’s best string bands (see Smooth Kentucky, then Charm City Junction) and ultimately working his way to to the national stage and being named Fiddle Player of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2017. In fact, fusing his traditional sound with a medley of other influences, many consider the virtuosic musician a sort of best-kept secret of Americana. Though he now resides in Nashville, where he’s a regular at the Grand Ole Opry, McAvinue can still often be found in Baltimore, which he continues to credit as his home. On the heels of the release of his third solo record, Perfect Fit, we caught up with the fiddler to talk about his musical upbringing and evolving his old-school genre outwards for the entire world.

What does Perfect Fit refer to?
It’s a culmination of all the things that have come together in my life up until this moment. All the people I’ve met and artists I’ve been able to work with. I’ve been on the road since I was a teenager. My first tour was with Audie Blaylock at age 16. Then in college at Towson University, where I studied music, I learned about Bach and Coltrane and all these different techniques that I would then try to play at bluegrass festivals. In Charm City Junction, we tried to explore each other’s music in ways that respected tradition while pushing boundaries to create something new. I got the call from [national bluegrass band] Dailey & Vincent in 2016, so I moved to Nashville. I bought a house and just got married. All of these things have formed me as a musician. I’ve learned so much. And these tunes are diverse, but somehow, they fit together.

Do you consider this a bluegrass record?
It’s an expansion. No matter what, I’m a bluegrass musician. That’s what I’ve done all my life. But the music has to evolve. Bluegrass is still alive, still growing, and it’s made up of so many amazing pastimes—Old-Time Appalachian music, Celtic and [British] Isles music, the Mississippi Delta blues. Even Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass music, was just trying to form his own sound. I don’t want to be a torch-bearer, but I am by default because I’ve been playing this for a long, long time. The music I’m creating is music of the people . . . That’s something I want to champion for myself and for my own music students: keep your ears open and let the outside world influence what you do and how you create.

You discovered bluegrass at a young age, when so many other kids are fawning over electric guitar. What was it about the genre for you?
To me, it was electric. When you listen to Earl Scruggs’ banjo, it is as exciting as a Keith Richards or Eric Clapton guitar solo. It’s like Stevie Ray Vaughn music to me. It’s got that explosive power, and when I was a kid, that’s what I heard. But what really got me was when I was about six years old; I was at my friend’s house and his father yelled to him, ‘Hey Wills,’ grab your fiddle, let’s play something for Pat.’ They played the mandolin together and I thought, ‘I want to do that.’ From there, I went down a rabbit hole, then I went to college and studied music, and my interest exploded even more. It was coming into a consciousness. Your mind starts to expand, and you start getting a wider perspective of the world, and what your part is.

Speaking of the world, you include a number of other musical influences on this album outside of traditional bluegrass.
I spent a month in Ecuador on tour in 2012 and I got to work with these musicians and see how they feel rhythm in choro music. And at Towson University, my classical professors had a huge impact on me, too. I would listen to Bach, Debussy, Beethoven, even early Gregorian chant. I had a chance to study other worlds of music that are completely separated by culture and time and let them influence what I do. That was something I really wanted to champion for myself, and that I now want to champion for my own music students: keep your ears open and let the outside world influence what you do and how you create. It’s really important for me to be a broader part of the world community of music.

That being said, you’ve seen Baltimore’s music scene evolve so much over the last 15 years. Do you still find inspiration here?
I’m continually inspired by the artists and people who are creating in Baltimore and getting to see so many of my friends taking their own approach to music continues to influence me, too. The people of Baltimore are very open and appreciative of art and self-expression. They let you be you, and have a good time doing it. Those are traits I take with me everywhere I go. At the end of the day, even though I hang my hat in other places, Baltimore is my home and always will be.

After a 22-month investigation into President Donald Trump’s possible collusion with Russia, special counsel Robert Mueller’s 448-page report garnered riveting attention across the country Thursday after a redacted version was made public.

The key findings span a range of conclusions, and frustratingly to some, no conclusion in one key matter—the allegations of obstruction of justice.

The report found there were numerous contacts between Trump campaign advisers and Russians affiliated with the foreign government during the run-up to the 2018 election and afterward. But the special counsel did not establish that there was sufficient evidence to indict the president, or any Trump campaign official, with conspiring with Russian intelligence operatives to influence the election.

However, the Mueller investigation did find repeated examples in which the president directed officials around him to halt or derail the inquiry, including attempting to get Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to oust Mueller. Trump’s efforts failed because those officials did not comply with the president’s wishes and demands, according to the report.

“The President’s efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests,” the special counsel determined.

Rosenstein, who was nominated by Trump to his position, served as U.S. attorney for the district of Maryland from 2005 to April 2017. Following Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal from the investigation, Rosenstein appointed Mueller, a former director of the FBI, to head the inquiry.

Ron Weich, dean of the University of Baltimore School of Law, said that even without further indictments of president’s campaign team, the release of the report was important and necessary for the American people “to see the full conduct the president and his team.”

“The narrative of the report reveals the campaign willingly accepted and encouraged assistance from a foreign adversary, including [former Trump campaign manager] Paul Manafort, who shared campaign polling information to help Russia influence the election,” Weich said.

Among others, Manafort, former deputy campaign chairman Rick Gates, and Trump foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos have all already pled or been found guilty of crimes charged by Mueller’s team, though those convictions were not directly related to their campaign work.

Mueller’s team also declined to prosecute the president’s son, Donald Jr., the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and other campaign members for their participation in the infamous June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with a Kremlin-connected lawyer, who had promised political “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. In part, investigators said, because they couldn’t prove that they “willfully” violated the law.

In terms of Mueller’s decision not to indict the president on obstruction of justice charges, Weich, who served as an assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice during the Obama administration, noted that according to DOJ guidelines, a sitting president couldn’t be indicted. The decision to remove a president is essentially left up to Congress, which has the power to impeach.

That said, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who represents Maryland’s 5th District, told CNN that he does not expect impeachment proceedings to move forward.

“Based on what we have seen to date, going forward on impeachment is not worthwhile at this point,” Hoyer told CNN. “Very frankly, there is an election in 18 months and the American people will make a judgment.”

“I think Bob Mueller is a cautious man, a cautious prosecutor,” said Weich, who knows Mueller, the director of the FBI during his time at the DOJ, as well Rosenstein, whom he met after taking over as dean of the law school at the University of Baltimore in 2012. “Both Bob Mueller and Rod Rosenstein have sterling reputations.” Rosenstein will be the commence speaker at University of Baltimore School of Law’s graduation ceremony in May.

Overall, reactions to the report’s conclusions fell largely along well established partisan divides.

U.S. Rep. C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger, who represents Maryland’s 2nd District, pointed to “at least 10 instances” in the report in which President Trump attempted to interfere with the Mueller investigation. He encouraged all Americans to read the report, in particular, the sections on obstruction of justice “so they can determine for themselves if the behavior described in this report is becoming of a United States President.”

In a statement, Maryland U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, the chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, said Congress must subpoena the full Mueller report and all underlying documents. “This report catalogues in excruciating detail a proliferation of lies by the President to the American people, as well as his incessant and repeated efforts to encourage others to lie,” Cummings wrote.

Cummings also criticized current Attorney General William Barr’s favorable summary of the report earlier this month and again during a Thursday morning press conference. “Contrary to AG Barr’s attempts at misdirection, it is crystal clear from the report that DOJ’s policy against indicting a sitting President played a key role in Special Counsel Mueller’s analysis—in fact, it is the very first point in the obstruction section of his report.”

In the report’s conclusion in the obstruction section, the Mueller team said, “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, from Maryland’s 1st District, called the investigation “two years of wasted time, energy, and $25 million” in a tweet Thursday. “It’s time we move on from partisan politics to issues Americans truly care about, like securing our border, addressing the opioid crisis, and continuing to grow our economy.”

In terms of how the Mueller report plays out politically, Richard Vatz, Towson University professor of rhetoric and communication, called the investigation document “a perfect Rorschach test.”

“Republicans will take a look and say, ‘See what did I tell you?’ and smile,” Vatz said. “Democrats will take a look and say, “See what did I tell you?’ and smile.

“The president has never had a majority of the country’s support, but [the report’s release] will harden his base,” Vatz continued. “And the 30 percent that despise him will despise him even more. The question will become: If the economy keeps growing and there are no major foreign entanglements, will he get movement from those in the middle when the election comes around?”

Tom Flacco is used to it. He’s fielded questions about his brother, the NFL quarterback, since Tom played football in high school five years ago in New Jersey and older brother Joe was already with the Ravens. But there’s still times when the practice aggravates him, like in the press conference that followed Towson University’s win at nationally ranked Villanova earlier this fall.

A reporter from Philadelphia repeatedly asked about Joe Flacco. All Tom wanted to talk about was the team, and how everyone else played. “I don’t give a shit,” he finally said, cutting off the string of questions.

And if you’re wondering how he’s similar or different from his brother that might also show you.

It’s a story. When the younger brother of Baltimore’s Super Bowl winning quarterback shows up to play in the same city, it’s going to get attention.

“It’s a hard position for him to be in, especially in this city, but it’s kind of cool at the same time,” Towson head football coach Rob Ambrose says. Even more, when he’s about to play against older brother’s beloved alma mater, Delaware, on Saturday.

Tom is in his first season as the starting quarterback at Towson. Like Joe, who transferred from NCAA Division I program Pittsburgh to “small school” Delaware in search of more playing time—a move that set him on his path to professional football, and essentially laid the groundwork for this family tale—Tom left Division I Rutgers last summer, after spending the previous two years as a backup at D-I Western Michigan, to transfer to Towson. Like the school his brother attended a short drive up Interstate-95, its football team plays in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA).

Tom, the youngest of the five Flacco brothers, now 23 and already with a degree from Rutgers and pursuing a master’s in applied information technology at Towson, has lit up the scoreboard and stat sheet while leading the Tigers to a 6-1 record and No. 10 national ranking. Tom recently was added to watch list for the Walter Payton Award, given annually to the top offensive player in FCS football, and he just won this third Colonial Athletic Association Offensive Player of the Week award. He’s averaging 280 yards passing per game, has thrown 17 touchdowns and has rushed for 515 yards for four TDs ahead of Saturday’s game at the 21st-ranked Blue Hens.

Tom insists Joe’s presence in Baltimore didn’t influence the decision to transfer to here. “It wasn’t going to deter me from coming here,” Tom said. “And it didn’t make it more attractive.” But there is a logical connection. Towson assistant coach Jared Ambrose (coincidentally, the younger brother of the head coach, Rob), was graduate assistant football coach at Delaware and worked with the offense when Joe was there, reaching the 2007 FCS national championship game. Ambrose told Flacco 2.0, who was then a kid watching in the stands, about the talent on this year’s Towson team, and the potential to play right away.

Another perk? The family dinners now on the weekend are pretty nice. On the Sundays when the Ravens play at home, Tom, who lives on Towson’s northern Baltimore campus, will usually go up to Joe’s house nearby on Sunday nights to eat Italian food and see his four nephews and niece. Their mom, Karen, brings and cooks fresh spaghetti from Severinos Pasta Shop from their native New Jersey. Can we come?

“When I was at Western [Michigan], I would never admit it, but I guess I just admitted it, I missed it,” Tom says. “Now I’m definitely grateful for being around my family.”

Joe’s enjoyed it, too. He attended Towson’s season-opening win at Morgan State in person and has streamed other games on TV or the computer. The two exchange messages about each other’s games. “It’s been cool,” Joe Cool says. “It’s unique that he’s right here. I’ve been waiting to see him play for the last three years.”

If you see them stand next to one another, or sit at the dinner table, you don’t have to be a detective to see that they’re brothers, based on their facial features alone, though Joe’s a bit taller (listed at 6 feet, 6 inches) than the 6-foot Tom. How else are they similar? They share the same last name. Come from a competitive, athletic family. Their other brother, Mike, was drafted by the Orioles in 2009 then played college football as a tight end; and another brother, John, walked on the Stanford football team as a wide receiver. These Flaccos play quarterback. Close your eyes when listening to their quotes, and they sound similar. Tom says they share the same outlook on the life, but that’s largely where the comparisons stop.

“You talk about the relationship with his brother and he has it,” Ambrose said. “But everybody wants to compare the two. He doesn’t want any part of that. Tom’s Tom and Joe’s Joe.”

How they’re different? They’re 10 years apart and, yes, have different personalities. “Joe would probably be the best guy you’ve ever played poker against,” Rob Ambrose said. “He has a poker face in everything he does. Tom is a lot more overtly excitable. Joe’s excitable, you just can’t tell.”

And on the field, “The way I play is different, obviously,” Tom says, “You can see if you watch.” Forget being “Joe Flacco’s brother,”—that’s a good thing—Tom seems more interested in shedding other, more dreaded labels like “athletic,” or “running quarterback.” In football parlance, if you’re a quarterback, that’s usually code for “throwing the ball is not the strongest part of his game.” (At the same time, though, older brother has been dogged through his career for being “immobile,” so sometimes you can’t win.)

“I’m a quarterback that’s athletic, not an athletic person playing quarterback,” says Tom, who was a three-sport star at Eastern High in New Jersey and also was drafted as an outfielder by baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies. He sounds like’s talking straight to NFL scouts. “I can be a quarterback, execute the play and if things break down, I can execute that second play to keep things going.”

“He’s 6-foot, but he probably doesn’t get a lot of credit for some of the things big tall guys do,” Joe says. “He can do a lot of those things . . . He’s a really good player, great athlete, he can really throw the ball. Obviously, he’s my brother so I have some bias.”

Which brings us to the big, timely topic at hand. Asked this week who he was rooting for to win on Saturday—his brother or his alma mater?—Joe said family first.

“Why don’t you sit with us?” asked an unassuming stranger. “We have an extra seat at our table.” I was alone and grateful for the invitation. It was 2011 and I had been nervously looking for a seat in one of Towson University’s largest dining halls, where it seemed like everyone from freshman orientation had made friends and was sitting accordingly. My embarrassment and anxiety compounded as I passed row after row of already-full tables ringing with chatter and laughter. Now I had a seat of my own, and maybe a potential friend.

Across the table, the stranger, a cherubic upperclassman with a black bushy beard and glasses, sat with his smiling girlfriend. They asked what brought me to Maryland from New Jersey, how I liked campus so far, what my plans were for the next four years, taking genuine interest in me as we ate. When I explained that I was moving in with my dad and stepmom, who were both Towson political science professors, they listened attentively.

What I didn’t share were my experiences from four months prior—my mental breakdown, my extended stays in various mental hospitals, my bipolar diagnosis. I omitted that I was taking high doses of strong anti-anxiety medications, and that they weren’t working. I left out that earlier that year, when speaking to my parents, I heard the devil’s voice. I didn’t think it was necessary to mention that they had serious reservations about my ability to function in college, or that I probably had only passed my last high-school classes because my teachers were sympathetic. I wanted to leave my past behind. I was ready to reinvent myself.

Feeling like I was off to a good start, lunch with this couple was the highlight of my day. I felt at ease seeing his wide grin when I described my hobbies—basketball, reading, writing—and I enjoyed talking to his girlfriend, who was warm and welcoming. They seemed like healthy, happy people, and I was grateful to be included.

Halfway through lunch, we transitioned from small talk to him telling me about a club that he wanted to start a chapter of on campus: Youth for Western Civilization. “We need to defend American ideals,” he said. “They’re in danger.” He explained how foreigners were taking over the U.S. economy and that they posed a threat to national security. I then noticed the design on his T-shirt: a flexed arm holding a white hammer, which he enthusiastically stated was going to be the club logo. “Anyway, I need a certain number of signatures to have it legitimized,” he said. “Will you sign and help me get started?”

Something deep in my gut told me that his ideas were misguided, but he seemed like he knew what he was talking about, and I didn’t want him to know that I didn’t. During his pitch, he spoke of the dangers of multiculturalism, a term that I figured one of us must be misunderstanding. Surely it didn’t just mean diversity—he made it sound so dangerous. He seemed nice and spoke with confidence, and I was eager to please. My signature was one of the first for the club.

“Let’s keep in touch,” he said as he shook my hand after lunch. “Add me on Facebook—Matt Heimbach.”

That night, after dinner, I went to my room and opened Facebook, which revealed a different side of the friendly upperclassman. His profile page was full of Confederate flags and political rants. His friends included people who seemed odd, violent, or, in some cases, both, with one even posting about urges to kill people and drink their blood. Why was this seemingly nice guy friends with these kinds of people? Against my better judgment—perhaps out of desperation—I added him as a friend anyway.

Almost immediately, Matt started messaging me about “great opportunities.” When conservative commentator Bay Buchanan spoke on campus, I was one of the first to be invited. I was offered seats at different conventions around the U.S. and the opportunity to travel to Europe. Before college, I had barely left my small, rural hometown, and now I had a chance to see the world. It was tempting, so I told my parents.

“I might have ended up across the Atlantic Ocean with an incipient white nationalist.”

“Why does ‘Western Civilization’ need to be defended?” my dad asked incredulously. It was a weeknight, and we were sitting in his office as he took a break from grading papers. “I don’t think you should go. This sounds like a bad idea.”

I insisted, trying to restate my case with 18-year-old logic: “Europe will be good for me, because it’s fun! It’ll be fun, because it’s good for me!” After all, he had encouraged me to branch out and make friends. But he repeatedly shook his head. “You’re not going,” he said. The case was closed.

Looking back, I realize how this sounds: I had just met Matt, yet I was willing to fly halfway around the world with him just for the opportunity to have a friend. It didn’t take long for me to realize that my dad was right, and that I had been ignoring my own uncomfortable feelings about Matt: the aggressive T-shirt, his intense concern for American ideals, his intolerant views. Seven years later, it is now very clear what picture those details paint, but my naïve, medicated mind did not, perhaps could not, recognize that I was floating into dangerous waters. I was desperately lonely, and Matt was proof that I could make friends. I stuck around only to convince myself (and others) that I was normal, like everyone else. Had I not needed my parents’ permission, I might have ended up across the Atlantic Ocean with an incipient white nationalist.

In the past few years, college campuses have become a hotbed of extremist recruitment, with white supremacist propaganda—flyers, posters, marches, and direct confrontations with students—increasing by 258 percent between 2016 and 2017, according to a recent report by the Anti-Defamation League. “Young college students are perfect targets,” explains Katrina Bell McDonald, associate professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University. “They’re in intellectually vulnerable states, and they’re in environments in which new ideas and different perspectives are encouraged. When older, articulate people speak, students listen. It takes a critical eye to decipher the ambiguous language they sometimes use. They preach to the desperate. They isolate their targets and indoctrinate them into their ideals.”

The internet has played a major role in breeding racist ideologies, too, with extremist groups using social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit to recruit new radicals. Years before the recent rise of white nationalism, the Islamic State, or ISIS, was the pioneer of internet recruitment, using its websites and platforms to lure young jihadists from across the globe. The pre-internet Ku Klux Klan grew out of personal connections and word of mouth, but post-internet white nationalists are now harnessing the web’s ability to mobilize minds, and it seems some young people take these messages to heart. Then-22-year-old Severna Park native Sean Christopher Urbanski, for example, reportedly had ties to the “Alt-Reich” Facebook group before being accused of fatally stabbing Richard Collins III, a young black man, at a University of Maryland bus stop last summer. The web is also used by recruiters to coordinate rallies and events, like those Matt invited me to, which also further energize fledgling supporters. While Matt and I initially met in person, the rest of our correspondence existed in cyberspace, where he attempted to strengthen our bond.

Experts say several factors play roles in indoctrination—instability, lack of social networks, frustration with socioeconomic status—but even people with educations, solid mental health, and secure financial backgrounds are susceptible to recruitment. During Matt’s attempts, I nearly fit the bill for a model recruit: I was alone, unstable, and lacked confidence—plus I was a young white teenage male. But thanks to conversations with my dad, who eagerly supported my growing sense of unease about Matt, I slowly started to pull away. By the end of the semester, I no longer messaged him, but he would still message me—and as he became more comfortable, his sentiments grew darker.

“I hope you have a gun,” Matt said on Facebook one night that fall. “Especially if race riots break out in Baltimore.” He had been warning me about the dangers of a new Black Panther Party, which, he asserted, was calling for a race war against “whites,” especially if Barack Obama lost the 2012 election. I listened to NPR on the drive to campus with my stepmom each morning, but I hadn’t heard anything like this, and I definitely wasn’t interested in buying a weapon. “They allow you to protect yourself,” he insisted. “And as a constitutional member of the unorganized militia, it is your civic duty to own a firearm and be proficient.”

Firearms? Militia? I felt uncomfortable and politely disagreed until we switched topics. Before signing off, I decided to branch out and make some new friends. I had recently learned about the Fall Involvement Fair, which helps students discover activities and organizations around campus, and Matt’s comments inspired me to attend. His messages had started to scare me.

A few days later, I shuffled into Towson’s West Village Commons. Filling the ballroom were aisles and aisles of tables featuring clubs, sports teams, fraternities, and sororities, all led by seemingly confident and bright-eyed students. Amid the youthful buzz, I felt freshly awkward and isolated. It seemed like everyone already knew each other again, and though no one looked at me, all I could feel were eyes on my blushing face. As my thoughts tripped over each other, I heard a familiar voice call my name.

I turned to my right to see Matt’s eager grin. “Hey man, good to see you,” he started. “I’ve got something I wanted to ask you about.” A group of black and Muslim students had started to surround his table, and he seemed unconcerned by the atmosphere’s growing tension over the ideas listed on his posters. Before Matt could ask his question, an angry student interrupted him. “I’ll message you,” he said with a smile. I continued walking around the fair, feeling defeated and more alone than before.

“Hey dude! You like Frisbee?” shouted an unknown voice before I made my way out the double doors. It was the captain of the school’s Ultimate Frisbee team. And, actually, I did.

Ultimate Frisbee practice started the next week, and I was invited to the tryout tournaments. Finally, I felt like I had some potential real friends. As the team finished its first warm-up lap, one player asked the group, “Did you guys hear about that new racist group on campus?” “Yeah, ‘Youth for Western Civilization’—big ol’ bunch of racists,” another player answered before adding sarcastically, “Anyone wanna join with me?” I blushed as everyone laughed; Matt had been my only friend at Towson, and our friendship was a secret that I needed to keep from my new teammates. My willingness to overlook his myopic views and obvious intolerance felt stupid and shameful. I vowed to never talk to him again, and I stopped responding to his Facebook messages.

The next semester, I received a new message—this time from an Ultimate Frisbee teammate who worked for Towson’s student government. “This is just between you and me . . . assuming that’s what you want,” he started. “I was looking through my [student government] binder . . . and under [Youth for Western Civilization], I found your name. Are you in the group?”

It was the end of my freshman year, and I was by then an official Ultimate player. I had more friends now than I had in high school, and I was the most secure I’d ever felt. I explained that I didn’t realize what the club stood for when I signed Matt’s paper. But in order to remove my name from the list, he told me, I had to ask Matt myself.

It was a daunting task—I had just unfriended him on Facebook and had been ignoring his texts—but something I knew I had to do. Never one for confrontation, I ended up sending an impulsive text.

“Can you take me off your club’s list?” I asked. “Ouch,” he responded. “I guess so.”

That was the last time we ever spoke.

“I was alone, unstable, and lacked confidence.”

My sophomore year, I read about his proposed new club, named the White Student Union, in The Towerlight student newspaper and how its members patrolled campus to “protect the community.” Suddenly “White Pride” chalkings started to appear across school grounds, attributed to Matt and members of his club. Before long, Matt was the talk of not only campus but the country, with the subsequent uproar garnering national attention from outlets such as Vice. My classmates spoke out against his organization; we were frustrated and embarrassed that Towson had become home to such apparent bigotry. I felt this weight especially, as the signature I naively scribbled during my first freshman-year lunch helped launch one of the most controversial student groups in campus history.

Five years later, Matt Heimbach is now considered by some to be the next David Duke—the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. He resides in Indiana, where he founded the Traditionalist Worker Party, which is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. In 2016, he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct after shoving a black woman during a Trump rally in Kentucky. In 2017, he led white nationalist protests over the removal of a Confederate statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, which left one innocent bystander dead. Unafraid of hiding his extremism, he has been photographed at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., holding a sign that said: “6 million? More like 271,301.” After a terrorist attack in Belgium, he reportedly tweeted, “Hey Brussels, how’s that multiculturalism working out for you?” Most recently, Matt was arrested on domestic battery charges for a truly bizarre case: He allegedly slept with his wife’s mother and got into a fight with her husband, his stepfather-in-law.

Back at Towson, talk of his White Student Union is long over, and new students often don’t know the would-be club ever existed. Even now, after everything I’ve learned, I sometimes have trouble connecting the grinning, personable Matt I met in the cafeteria with the views that he espouses today. I certainly could not have imagined the upperclassman who invited me to travel Europe being banned from the United Kingdom for his extremist beliefs. All that seemed to matter back then was that he wanted to get to know me.

Since my brush with Matt, I’ve earned a master’s degree in professional writing, started a career in Hunt Valley, and my Frisbee teammates have become lifelong friends. My life has improved tremendously, and today I am far more confident and clear-thinking. Each day, I continue to develop a better idea of who I am and what I stand for—which, it turns out, is the opposite of Matt. I’m reminded of that notion every time his name resurfaces.

Last fall, after he led the Charlottesville protests to keep Confederate statues up, I marched in the streets of Baltimore to have the city take its statues down. This spring, as he was charged with domestic battery, I marched with hundreds of thousands in Washington, D.C., to protest gun violence. If Matt is outspoken about his intolerance, it is my duty to raise my voice for justice and acceptance, using my uncomfortable past to do right in the present and future. Every time he takes a stand, I plan to take my own.

This article has been edited for clarity from its original print version in the September 2018 issue.

Visual Art

Maren Hassinger: The Spirit of Things
Maren Hassinger’s four-decade career in art is rooted in sculpture and dance. A selection of her sculptures, made with wire rope, plastic bags, and newspapers, are on exhibit in the Contemporary Wing of the Baltimore Museum of Art in the solo show The Spirit of Things. Some have been reconfigured for this exhibition, which also contains video installations of her performance art and dance. She’s also known for her role at the Maryland Institute College of Art as director of the Rinehart School of Sculpture, which she has served since 1997. July 18-Nov. 25, performance and conversation with the artist at 3 p.m. Sept. 8. BMA, 10 Art Museum Drive.

ISLA: Regarding Paradise
Ironically, the etymology of the word “paradise” goes back to its Greek and Old Iranian roots meaning “walled enclosure.” In this group exhibit at Towson University, curated by Baltimore artist Jackie Milad, contemporary artists working in an array of mediums examine the figurative and literal walls that enclose the pristine beach images of the Caribbean islands, a place that has worked toward political autonomy and environmental justice. Sept.7-Oct. 20. Reception on Sept. 6. Center for the Arts Gallery at Towson University, 8000 York Rd., Towson.

DOS-à-DOS
Baltimore artists L. Nef’fahtiti Partlow-Myrick and Jenny O’Grady met as students in the Creative Writing and Publishing Arts master’s program at the University of Baltimore and will now exhibit the fruits of their labor: a collection of art books, made from a variety of materials both traditional and unorthodox (paper—but also metal and beans, for example). The show’s title references a bookbinding technique that ties together two text blocks with a shared spine-that spine being the MFA program, in this context. Sept. 7-30. Hamilton Gallery, 5502 Harford Road.

Baker Artist Awards 2017 & 2018
Recent Baker Awards awardees—Abraham Burickson (interdisciplinary, 2018), Sara Dittrich (interdisciplinary, 2017), David Marion (visual art, 2017), and Amy Sherald (visual art, 2018)—will show work in an exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Included in the show will be Burickson’s “The Odyssey Works Box,” an archival box filled with books, photographs, and other ephemera, accompanied by a video tour of the history of the arts collective Odyssey Works; Dittrich’s wall sculptures, arranged with hundreds of clay ears; Marion’s multimedia sculptures “Extinction Event” and “Fracking,” which explore violence perpetrated on the natural environment; and two portraits by Sherald. Sept. 12-Oct. 14, with a free opening event with performances on Sept. 13. Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Drive.

Balancing Act
Joseph Paul Cassar has been working in Baltimore for 13 years as a visual artist and art historian, and is a professor at the University of Maryland University College. He’s shown his work around the world, and this month will exhibit in our city, when Y:ART Gallery in Highlandtown shows his recent work in Balancing Act—drawings in ink and pastel, paper cut-outs, collage, and acrylic on canvas. Sept. 12-Oct. 20, opening reception from 6-9 p.m. Sept. 15, artist talk from 4-6 p.m. Oct. 13. Y:Art Gallery, 3402 Gough St.

Mark Bradford: Tomorrow is Another Day
Renowned contemporary artist Mark Bradford represented the U.S. at the 2017 Venice Biennale and will bring that work to Baltimore for the exhibit Tomorrow is Another Day, accompanied by a new site-specific installation, at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Bradford explores themes from his personal life, black identity, Greek mythology, and the universe through mixed-media pieces, paintings, and video. Sept. 23, 2018-March 3, 2019; opening celebration, 1-5 p.m. Sept. 23. Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Drive.

What Makes Us (Us)
Gina Pierleoni exhibits some 200 paintings and mixed-media portraits of people encountered over a 25-year period in Baltimore and beyond. She’ll lead a coinciding workshop which will include live music to help to dig deeper into questions of place and perception. Aug. 25-Sept. 29; workshop, 6-7:30 p.m. Sept. 15. Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave.

AfriCOBRA: The Evolution of a Movement
This group exhibit at Galerie Myrtis celebrates artists in AfriCOBRA, aka African Commune for Bad Relevant Artists, a coalition that was born from the black arts movement that began in the 1960s and is now celebrating its 50th anniversary. The aesthetic of these artists emerged from activism and aims to speak to black people specifically. The show will display paintings, photographs, prints, and 3-D pieces by the group’s earliest and most recent members, including Akili Ron Anderson, Kevin Cole, Adger Cowans, Michael D. Harris, Napoleon Jones-Henderson (founding member), James Phillips, Frank Smith, Nelson Stevens (founding member), and Renee Stout. Coinciding programming will include Tea with Myrtis (as in, founding director of Galerie Myrtis, Myrtis Bedolla) and an art salon with AfriCOBRA members who will talk about their artwork and its impact on the black arts movement. Sept. 15-Oct. 17, with an opening reception from 5-7 p.m. Sept. 15. Galerie Myrtis Fine Art, 2224 N. Charles St.

Music

Taste of Tuva
Celebrated artist Joyce Scott will host this special evening featuring the music, art, and food of Asia. Alash Ensemble, a trio of throat singers from the Central Asian state of Tuva, will bring both their music and culinary specialties, while collaborating with Baltimore musicians Shodekeh and J Pope. The event supports the Asian Arts & Culture Center at Towson University. 6-9 p.m. Sept. 15. TU South Campus Pavilion at Towson University, 8000 York Rd.

Abdu Ali’s Last Show of 2018
Baltimore music artist Abdu Ali will perform their last live show of the year this month at Metro Gallery, joined by Kotic Couture (hip-hop with pop, Baltimore club, and underground art influences), Pamela_ and her sons (the solo music project of Alessandra Hoshor), and W00dy (Philadelphia-based experimental pop artist). 8 p.m. Sept. 5. Metro Gallery, 1700 N. Charles St.

BeatClub at the Lewis
Over the years, Bmore BeatClub has met regularly inside clubs, bars, and initially a record shop to celebrate hip-hop and beats. Novice artists rap alongside experts at these gatherings, and this month’s event will be extra special, as Bmore BeatClub will bring hip-hop, spoken word, and poetry to the Reginald F. Lewis Museum. 7 p.m. Sept. 28. Reginald F. Lewis Museum, 830 E. Pratt St.

Theater

Fades and Fellowship Barbershop Stories
Barbershops are places of conversation and camaraderie—and from this idea came the production Barbershop Stories by Baltimore-based theater troupe Fades & Fellowship. A cast of real barbers will perform the stories overheard in the shop—and then give actual haircuts to selected audience members. Sept. 28. The Motor House, 120 W. North Ave.

Literary Arts

CityLit Swing: A Special Celebration Honoring Kwame Alexander
CityLit will honor poet, educator and New York Times bestselling children’s author Kwame Alexander with its Chic Dambach Award for Service to the Literary Arts during a celebratory evening at The Motor House. Sliding-Scale tickets are available for this CityLit fundraiser, which will include lite fare, libations, jazz, and a reading by Alexander. 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Sept. 13. The Motor House, 120 W. North Ave.

Small Press Expo
The annual Small Press Expo celebrates indie cartooning and comic arts, bringing more than 4,000 creatives to Bethesda for readings, workshops, and to meet with one another. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sept. 15 and noon-6 p.m. Sept. 16. Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, 5701 Marinelli Road, North Bethesda

Miscellanea

Mortified: Share the Shame
Everyday adults share their most mortifying moments via teenage diary entries, poems, love letters, lyrics, and locker notes in this popular show. 6 and 8 p.m. Sept. 22. Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave.

Mono Practice
Founding director Ruri Yi is opening a new contemporary art gallery, Mono Practice, in Station North this month, with a focus on abstract and reductive art. The inaugural exhibit, Pointing To The Sun | An Exercise In Abstraction, is curated by Rod Malin and will feature work by Baltimore-based artists David Brown, Zoë Charlton, Ariel Cavalcante Foster, Terence Hannum, Stephen Hendee, Bill Schmidt, and Yi. Sept. 6-Oct. 13, with an opening reception from 6-9 p.m. Sept. 6. Mono Practice, 212 McAllister St.

As if one Flacco wasn’t enough for us to constantly talk about, Baltimore is getting another. And he plays quarterback, too.

Tom Flacco, 10 years younger than his Super Bowl-winning brother, Joe, is transferring to Towson to play football this fall, in search of playing time he’s been unable to find at two previous college stops.

Flacco graduated from Rutgers in May with a degree in labor and employment relations, but he still has two years of college athletic eligibility left after sitting out the 2017 season and transferring from Western Michigan. He was a walk-on at Rutgers and showed promise in a crowded quarterback battle this spring before deciding to leave for an opportunity at Towson. Tigers coach Rob Ambrose confirmed the move late last month.

This Flacco, the youngest of Joe’s four brothers, is a little bit different than the one we know, according to Kirk Ciarrocca, who coached Joe at Delaware and Tom at Western Michigan. First off, Tom’s listed at 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds and was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies while he was a high school senior at Eastern (New Jersey), where he was a three-sport star and one of the most decorated quarterbacks in the region’s history. He runs around a bit more than his older brother, and shows, ahem, a bit more emotion.

“At times, [Tom will] make me smile because I’ll think, ‘Golly, are these guys different’,” Ciarrocca said. “Tom is much more outgoing than Joe was. He’s much more competitive. His reactions to things are much different than his brother’s. They’re just two totally different people. They’re both great men and are awesome to coach, but they’re totally different people.”

They look a little different, too. Here’s one and the other. If you spot them together at The Food Market, Miss Shirley’s, or Blue Moon Café—a few of the Ravens quarterback’s top dining spots—you’ll notice the difference.

Younger bro threw for 188 total yards and average 8.6 yards per carry in limited playing time during two seasons at Western Michigan. How often will he see time on Johnny Unitas Stadium field? Flacco Part II obviously hasn’t moved here to sit the bench, but he will compete with returning starter, sophomore Ryan Stover (no, not Matt’s son), and an incoming freshman. Towson, entering its 50th season of football, is looking to improve off last year’s 5-6 record and seventh-place finish in the Colonial Athletic Association. The Tigers open the season Sept. 1 at Morgan State.

Meanwhile, the 33-year-old Joe is also looking for a rebound season, amid the Ravens signings of a few other new QBs: former Redskins starter Robert Griffin III and rookie Lamar Jackson.

In the meantime, here’s some high school glory days tape of Tom Flacco until we get some of him in black and gold this football season:

After attending a lecture featuring a guest speaker who shared her experiences growing up in a Jim Crow-era Baltimore, assistant professor Gary Homana at Towson University was captivated by the power in her story. The guest speaker, Evelyn Chatmon, the first African-American female assistant superintendent in Baltimore County, would become the impetus and feature of Homana’s Voices of Baltimore: Life Under Segregation.

The hour-long documentary, debuting on February 16 in Stephens Hall Theatre at Towson University, will feature accounts from seven individuals who lived in Baltimore during a time when segregation was still pervasive even after the historic 1954 Brown v. the Board of Education Supreme Court ruling.

“These are colorful stories that needed to be preserved and archived,” said Homana, who teaches classes in elementary education. “Not only for the individual, but for the community. This is recognition of those who came before and their struggles for rights as human beings.”

Following the premiere, there will be a panel discussion with the subjects featured in the film, including Chatmon, Chief Justice Robert Bell, Morgan State University dean of education Patricia Welch, and Treopia Green Washington, who is the sister of Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock Nine.

Homana, along with fellow Towson faculty Franklin Campbell Jones and Morna McDermott McNulty, produced and directed the film over the past two years with the question in mind, “Where have we been, and where are we going?” The professors combed through historical archives, contacted local media, and conducted lengthy interviews with each subject.

“These stories speak volumes about how our nation, and its people, can become a more tolerant society,” Homana said. “Our society has become more ethnically and racially diverse, and yet inequalities persist—including a return to increased school segregation and poverty.” 

Among the many issues the documentary explores is housing segregation and “redlining” —a practice in which the government determined which neighborhoods are worthy of mortgage lending—as a way to restrict blacks to certain neighborhoods, specifically excluding blacks from home ownership in newly built suburbs. This fostered the city’s segregation and poverty during the Jim Crow era.

In addition to the Towson screening, the film will also be a shown at Bowie State University in honor of Black History Month on February 21. Homana has also been approached by the University of Maryland, College Park, and Brandeis and Tufts Universities in Massachusetts to host screenings as well. 

“The willingness of other schools to show the film is great,” he said. “These partnerships will promote thoughtful discussions about issues surrounding segregation and how they exist in society today.”

For the first time in decades, the Baltimore Blast are playing their hard-hitting, high-scoring, indoor-soccer games some place other than Royal Farms Arena. The team’s new home is the smaller, more modern SECU Arena on Towson University’s campus.

In an interview with Marty Bass and Linh Bui on WJZ team owner Edwin F. Hale, Sr. linked the move to his ongoing legal dispute with the city over the ownership of billboards outside Royal Farms Arena. And the deal with the college is the only reason the team is still around.

“Had we not gone to Towson University, there would be no Baltimore Blast this year,” Hale said.

Still, for Blast diehards, leaving may feel a bit like when the Orioles, and then the Ravens, departed Memorial Stadium. Though little about the building could be described as state-of-the-art, the old Baltimore Civic Center is not without its shabby charms and history. But the Blast are all we got and they’re still really, really good at winning games—they’re going for their third championship in a row.

This past Saturday, we ventured out to Towson to check out the new digs and see the Blast take on the St. Louis Ambush. Here are some pointers for enjoying an action-packed game at the new venue.

Buying Tickets

Even though the team’s maximum seating capacity has been cut by more than half (from about 10,000 to 4,000), there were still plenty of seats available for the game against the Ambush. The box office is located beyond the security check-in at Gate 2. With that said, it’s still best to call or check the map on Ticketmaster before banking on walk-up sales.

The small confines and smaller field really do put fans right on top of the action. My buddy and I started out in section 206 and had a great view nearly at midfield. It’s worth it to splurge and get seats in the lower bowl—we checked out club section 112—where you can clearly listen as the players call out directions to their teammates and hear the sound of the ball moving along the artificial turf.

Pregame

Given its location on York Road just off Towson’s campus, local sports bar staple Bill Bateman’s Bistro is, by default, the best place to grab some pregame beers and food. Even then, it’s about a 20-minute walk from Bateman’s to the arena, so you’ll probably still have to drive (responsibly, of course).

I asked our bartender if there were any Blast-related specials and he said there weren’t, but that he was thinking about mentioning it to his manager after seeing an uptick in business on game days. No pressure, guys.

But they did have their regular slate of deals, which on this day featured discounted Bell’s Best Brown Ale ($4.50 for a 22-ounce glass, $3.50 for a pint), and, of course, all the wings, burgers, and pub grub our appetites could handle.

Know Before You Go

SECU Arena is just off Osler Drive and, as the team has heavily promoted, parking is built into the cost of a ticket. As you head south on Osler, the first sign for Blast parking will lead you toward lots near Unitas Stadium. Keep going, though, and you’ll see a second sign that leads to parking near the Towson Center. The lots near the football stadium are much further away.

It took us a little more than five minutes to walk from our spot to the gate and through security. Though not quite as strict as Ravens game, SECU security doesn’t allow bags larger than 12 inches high, 22 inches wide, and 8 inches deep.

The In-Game Experience

Opened in 2013, SECU Arena still has a lot of new bells and whistles, including an overhead scoreboard with crisp graphics and rectangular video boards that wrap around the seating bowl, much like at M&T Bank Stadium. These new amenities give the game itself a much sleeker, professionally produced feel.

As for concessions, professional sports still means professional sports prices, with nachos at $6, pizzas at $8 ($8.50 for pepperoni), chicken tenders and Old Bay chips at $11, and beer and wine ranging from $7.50 to $8.50, just to name a few. There were only three main food areas and a couple of carts, but they all seemed to move customers through briskly. Only at halftime were there noticeable lines. A few things worth pointing out: There are no vendors walking up and down the aisles, and the food stands started shutting down early into the fourth quarter.

The team store is located below section 210 and sells standard sports fare, like jerseys, shirts, and soccer balls, as well as fidget spinners and, if you so desire, Hale’s autobiography.

Otherwise, the atmosphere is the same as ever: Kool & The Gang’s “Celebration” and a T-shirt toss after every goal, the once-per-game playing of the theme from SpongeBob Squarepants, and superfan Rickee Walker—decked out in a hat and vest covered with buttons and pins from years past—banging on a drum, shaking gas fans filled with chickpeas, or playing a vuvuzela to hype the crowd.

Postgame

Per usual, several players will head to the team store after the final buzzer to sign autographs for fans.

The official after-party is at Nacho Mama’s in downtown Towson, where players, coaches, cheerleaders, and their families enjoy a meal together and then mingle with fans. There were no specials there, either, but the restaurant does boast having its house margarita, the sour and salty Graceland, on draft.

Donald Trump is a fan of McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish; Hillary Clinton loves Sriracha and eats a hot pepper daily. While one might say that all presidential nominees have voracious appetites, what they eat actually can be construed as a political issue. To shed some light on the politics of presidential foods throughout history, we caught up with Towson University art and culinary historian Nancy Siegel to talk about her upcoming book (and possibly soon-to-be TV series), Political Appetites: Revolution, Taste, and Culinary Activism in the Early Republic.

What messages are politicians sending when they eat on the trail? For example, Hillary Clinton was photographed eating a pork chop on a stick at the Iowa State Fair.
This idea of sharing food publicly is a way for politicians to insert themselves with the general public—it makes them human. It makes them relatable.

What are some of the fun presidential predilections you discovered in your research?
Sometimes we are equally concerned with what a president likes to eat as with what their policies are. We know that Richard Nixon liked ketchup on cottage cheese. George W. Bush loved spicy cheese grits with shrimp. Thomas Jefferson liked crème brûlée, and Abraham Lincoln liked fricassee of chicken. Following candidates through their stomachs is very popular.

In the subtitle of your book, which focuses on the 18th century, you use the term “culinary activism.” What does that mean?
Women became culinary activists, who offered recipes and cookbooks—it was a place for women to be heard. Although most women were not physical participants in the theater of war, many of these women I’m looking at lived through the American Revolution and the War of 1812. They would prepare these sweet treats such as Election Cake and Independence Cake for their guests in praise of the new and fragile nation. Cookbooks with these recipes became plentiful throughout the 19th century.

Did the recipes change over time?
Once we got past the first few decades after the Revolutionary War, and we had a sense that democracy was solid, we started to find a rise of interest in state, so you’ll find a lot of recipes in praise of state and local regions, like Nantucket Pudding or Vermont Sugar Cakes or Maryland Plum Pudding. Food is
a way in which we can trace what becomes important in America as the independent states become successful.

Is there a connection between a candidate’s political platform and what he or she eats?
Politicians are just as concerned about what goes out of their mouth as what goes in their mouth. They are very strategic about this. George Washington had a distillery—he was convinced that there should be distinct American liquor; Thomas Jefferson wanted to produce American wine that could rival the French. There’s a lot of national identity tied up with food and the ways in which we promote our country. Donald Trump is promoting himself with Trump Steaks. Maybe Hillary will promote herself through Clinton hot peppers or something like that. There might even be a new variety named after her should she win the election.

Twelve miles separate the Ravens practice facility in leafy Owings Mills from the confluence of Whitelock Street, Woodbrook Avenue, and North Avenue in
West Baltimore, where Terrance West learned to run, but has never run from.

Sitting in a lounge in the plush building known as “The Castle” after practice one day in June, the running back is reflecting on the rocky road that’s
taken him from one of Baltimore’s toughest environments to one of its most renowned. For a man who travelled such a short distance, West certainly has come
far.

“I always thought I’d get here, even when I didn’t have [scholarship] offers when I left high school,” he says.

He’s here, true, but can he stay? The Ravens backfield is a crowded place these days, and West’s presence in it this season is uncertain. After one of the
greatest years in Towson University history, West’s career fizzled in the NFL. The Ravens signed him in the middle of last season, and offered him a shot
to compete for a job this year—nothing more, nothing less. West, 25, is determined to make the most of this opportunity, which very well could be his last.

“I don’t look at it like that,” he says between bites of a grilled chicken salad. “I just control what I can control. Right now I’m a Raven. Whatever the
future has for me, it is what it is.”

Some of the names tattooed on his arms, including those of his cousins, Damian and D.J., who were murdered, are permanent reminders that in life—especially
when you’re from West Baltimore—nothing is guaranteed.

An hour after
West leaves the Under Armour Performance Center to race home to his fiancée and newborn twin girls in Ellicott City, the streets of his old neighborhood
are hopping. It’s 3:30 on a Thursday afternoon, and in front of the CVS that burned during last year’s unrest, men mill about.

West grew up just a few blocks from here, in a household without a father. While a consistent male influence wasn’t around, the prospect of trouble
constantly was.

“We are surrounded by drugs, crime, so he had to fight through a whole lot that other kids . . . didn’t have to go through,” his mother, Onika West, told
Fox Sports.

West turned to athletics to keep him focused and on the right path. He first took to the gridiron at the age of 9. At Northwestern High School, he played
basketball and ran track, but it was clear from his freshman year that his future was in football.

“Just the way he worked was something special,” says Eric Woodson, his high school coach. “If we started workouts at 7 a.m., I would get there at 6:30, and
he would be sitting in the stands. I didn’t know exactly how he was getting there. Sometimes he would beat the guys that lived right around the corner. One
of the kids said, ‘You know, coach, West rides his bike up from North Avenue to Northwestern.’ That’s how hard-working that young man was.”

His practice habits translated to results on the field. In high school, West rushed for 5,949 total yards, an astronomical number that attracted the
attention of major college scouts.

“When he started getting recruited, I think it was an eye opener for the other kids that were there,” Woodson says. “I put some weight on him to let him
know it’s not just about you, it’s about letting these other guys know that they have a chance because, let’s be honest, in that area a lot of those kids
don’t think that they can make it. It’s sad. If you talk to a lot of those kids, they think they’re going to live until 21. They don’t see themselves going
to college. We used [West’s recruitment] as a talking point to get these kids to realize that there’s more than just Northwestern.”

Poor standardized test scores kept West from playing for one of the elite schools that recruited him (like Clemson University), so he enrolled at Fork
Union Military Academy in Virginia. When he returned to Baltimore after one season, he found himself in a situation so many young men in his
neighborhood do today.

“The drugs and the crime, there’s a multitude of things that these kids face on a daily basis that’s tough for them to get out of,” says Woodson, now coach
at Glen Burnie High. “I’ve been coaching 21 years now, and I’ve been to some funerals. For him not to get distracted or get swayed into doing things that
he shouldn’t be doing—he could have went down any one of those roads.”

Instead of giving up or giving in, West did what he does best: He went to work. He landed a part-time gig selling shoes at Jimmy Jazz in Mondawmin Mall,
and continued to work out on his own.

“It wasn’t something that I wanted to do, but it was something positive to keep me out of trouble and keep me focused,” he says. “It wasn’t looking too
good. I became desperate and tried to start walking on at [four-year] schools.”

The University of Maryland and Morgan State were among those that passed, but when Towson head coach Rob Ambrose heard West was available, he offered the
running back the only thing the kid was looking for—a shot. The Tigers coach had watched tape of West and knew he was an instinctive runner who possessed
the ability to deliver punishment but also to make defenders miss.

“He was humble,” Ambrose says. “He knew we didn’t have a scholarship for him. We said this is how you have to do it if you want to be here, be a part of
this. We’ll give you an opportunity.”

West was a raw player at that time. In practice, Ambrose saw flashes of brilliance followed by boneheaded mistakes. But he was coachable, and Ambrose was
impressed with his work ethic.

“I’m known for getting out of bed and going to work,” Ambrose says. “We started at 5:30. I’d be rolling in there at 4:30, and he was there. He had been
waiting for me on a couple of occasions. In 25 years of doing this, I don’t remember many players that beat me to work. Just didn’t happen.”

West would wake at 3 a.m. to catch the No. 13 to the No. 8 bus. The trip to Baltimore County could take up to 90 minutes.

“It didn’t matter what I told him to do, he just said, ‘Okay,’” Ambrose says. “His heart is in the right place, but sometimes the heart got in the way of
the head. When he was a sophomore, his great-grandmother passed, and he was a mess. I didn’t play him much [for one game], and he didn’t handle it very
well. But he became a better teammate, and we were a really good football team.”

West’s junior season was one to remember. He established single-season program records with 2,509 rushing yards and 41 rushing touchdowns, which was also
an NCAA Football Championship Subdivision record. Towson rode West to the FCS championship game, sparking the resurgence of the school’s football program.

After the season, Ambrose, for the first time at Towson, recommended to an underclassman that he leave school early for the NFL. West was 13 credits short
of his degree in sports management when the Cleveland Browns selected him in the third round of the 2014 draft. He vows to one day earn that diploma.

“I started college so I want to finish,” he says. “Everything I do I want to finish.”

But in the summer of 2014, his sole focus was on starting his journey to NFL stardom.

West’s debut in Cleveland
was an auspicious one. He rushed for 100 yards in the season opener against Pittsburgh, and finished the year with 673 yards on the ground, fourth among
NFL rookies. Yet before his second season, the Browns dealt him to Tennessee, a move that definitely raised eyebrows around the league.

He vaguely blames “a bad fit” for his departure from Cleveland, and insists that he asked for the trade. Others paint a different picture.

“With Terrance, it was just the accountability, the day-to-day practice habits, being a pro,” former Browns coach Mike Pettine told The Baltimore Sun. “It was unfortunate because Terrance is a likable guy. We just felt at the time it was in both of our best interest to move
on.”

West believes he was misunderstood in Cleveland, and needed a change of scenery.

“I just didn’t think that was the right place for me,” he says. “I didn’t feel the love. At the time, I just felt like I needed to be at a more
professional place.”

Ambrose speculates other reasons may have played a part.

“Just the way he worked was something special. If we started workouts at 7 a.m., I would
get there at 6:30, and
he would be sitting
in the stands.”

“A little bit of money when you don’t have it can cloud your vision,” he says. “Work’s never been a problem, talent’s never been a problem, but Terrance
hasn’t always been quiet—some of the things that he’s said aren’t always the things that he should be saying. At that level, they don’t care. Get on the
bus or get off the bus. That’s not the easiest thing for him.”

After playing in just two games for Tennessee, the Titans released him, and the Ravens signed him to their practice squad. Returning to Baltimore felt
almost like fate. It’s a city that’s given much to him and also taken much away, but donning the black and purple for his hometown team always was a dream.

“I love Baltimore—it’s the best city I know,” he says. “There’s a lot of kids that are good players, they just don’t get the opportunity. But me, I just
had that determination—I was going to get where I wanted.”

Apparently, that meant back home. Those around him believe he’s in a better place mentally than they’ve seen in years. The birth of his daughters, Lyric
and Harmony, in June have centered him, and his return to Baltimore has grounded him. In July, he hosted a free football camp for area youth at his old
stomping grounds—Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson.

“This is where I was born and raised,” West says. “I want to give back to my city. When I was coming up, we didn’t have opportunities . . . so I’m just
trying to give back and lead the kids in the right direction.”

West is hoping his own direction leads to a spot on the Ravens roster. So far, his coaches like what they see from the young running back.

“Terrance has done a great job,” said John Harbaugh, Ravens head coach, during mini-camp in June. “I would say he’s in the best shape of his life. He looks
good. He looks quick. He looks fast.”

At 5-foot-10, 225 pounds, West’s running style is similar to his old neighborhood: punishing, hard-nosed, and unforgiving.

“The more he’s grown up, the better he gets,” Ambrose says. “I’m glad he didn’t go to Baltimore first. Terrance needed to be in another city. I always
hoped one day he’d come back when he was ready.

“He’s ready now.”

Chris Tillman is bright light in series against his former team.
We admit that this week wasn’t the best for the Orioles, who lost the series to the Seattle Mariners. But the good news is that we’re still tied for first place in the division and that the three-game series had some shining moments.

One was Joey Rickard’s amazing defensive skills. And certainly another was Chris Tillman’s outing on Wednesday night against his former team. Tillman held the Mariners to two runs for 6 1/3 innings, making this his sixth quality start and holding his ERA steady at 2.61. Whether it’s a coincidence or not, Tillman remains undefeated against his former team. With characteristic modesty, the pitcher told The Sun that the win had very little to do with him. “We just seem to swing the bats well every time I pitch against these guys,” Tillman said. “A big defense night for us tonight, too . . . We took some really good swings off a really good pitcher.”

Towson and Loyola’s lacrosse teams will duke it out in NCAA quarterfinal.
Coming off of an upset over the No. 2 Denver Pioneers on Sunday, the Towson Tigers lacrosse team heads to Ohio to take on regional rivals Loyola. Just a few short years ago, the Loyola Greyhounds were considered the fierce and persistent underdogs in the Maryland lacrosse world, but now Towson is reminding us of a team with that same tenacity.

“To go out and beat the No. 2 see really showed the kind of team that we are,” Towson redshirt senior midfielder Ben McCarty told The Sun. “We were really happy to get that win.” The Tigers better keep that fire going when they meet the Greyhounds (13-3) in an NCAA quarterfinal Sunday at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. The two teams have already met earlier this year, when Towson defeated Loyola for the first time since 2007.

“Playing Towson is awesome because they’re close to home,” sophomore long-stick midfielder Zac Davliakos told The Sun. “We know they beat us last time. It really gets you fired up to go out there and try to put your best foot forward.” Watch it all go down on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. on ESPNU.

Ravens’ draft pick Chris Moore plans to give out footballs to fans.
ESPN’s Jamison Hensley had a great story on its website this week about Ravens fourth-round draft pick Chris Moore. Last Christmas Eve, the University of Cincinnati wide receiver got flagged for a unsportsmanlike penalty after he gave away the ball from a 47-yard pass to a young fan at the Hawaii Bowl.

“I was more upset that they took the ball from the kid,” Moore told ESPN. “After the game, I gave him all my stuff and all the gear I could. I felt bad.”

So it’s music to Moore’s ears that, unlike in college football, there is no penalty when players give out a football to the crowd. But, his first touchdown catch won’t be going to a fan. “Every other one after that, they can have them,” he said. “I’m not going to lie about that. The first one has to go to mom.”

After that, though, expect Moore to be handing out footballs Cam Newton-style. Moore is known for going deep—his 21.8 yards per reception in 2015 was ranked eighth in the nation, and he finished with 26 career touchdowns. “When I got the phone call on draft day, I got real excited. I know Joe Flacco has that cannon,” Moore told ESPN. “I love to go deep and I love to make the big plays and get the fans into the game.”

We like this guy already!

The Mechanical Horse
Margaret Guroff (University of Texas Press)

In 1819, a man named James Stewart displayed a device he’d built at a Baltimore concert hall. It had two wheels, and a handlebar-like contraption, and was called a draisine—a precursor to the bicycle. From these humble beginnings, Guroff writes, the bicycle grew to become a worldwide phenomenon, bringing change to many facets of our history—­women’s liberation, exercise, and warfare among them. Guroff, who was once Baltimore’s managing editor and now teaches writing at The Johns Hopkins University, has penned a fascinating account of how such a seemingly simple invention could have such a global impact.

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Thirst
Benjamin Warner (Bloomsbury USA)

If you’ve ever caught yourself pondering a post-apocalyptic “what would happen if” scenario, you’ll feel at home in this novel. Warner, a Towson University creative writing professor, brings us into a world where water has disappeared mysteriously, and survival forces his characters in what appears to be suburban Maryland to behave in ways they wouldn’t have dreamed. They resort to violence and threats while combating dehydration, which Warner relays in terrifying detail. Thirst is transportative and enveloping, so much so that you’ll feel relieved when you can shut the book and reach for a glass of water.

PRATT CONTEMPORARIES BLACK & WHITE PARTY
Jan. 30. Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral St. 8 p.m. $100. 410-396-5430. Don’t miss the party of all parties when the Pratt Contemporaries annual Black & White Party returns to the local library this month. This year, at the central Mt. Vernon location, guests will head out of the winter cold and into the warm forest of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Dress up in your finest fairy-queen garb, mingle with Chesapeake Shakespeare Company performers, and sip on beer from The Brewer’s Art. Like Puck’s love potion, this soirée will surely leave you enchanted by the end of the night.

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TEDXBALTIMORE
Jan. 14. Morgan State University. 2201 Argonne Dr. 8 a.m.-7 p.m. $60. 410-982-0799.
The annual TEDxBaltimore event will provide the perfect opportunity to clear out the cobwebs that may have gathered in your brain during the holidays. Modeled after the popular TED talks, the symposium will see 18 movers, shakers, and thinkers distill their messages into 18-minute multimedia presentations around this year’s theme of “Outliers.” In addition, speakers will address hot-button issues such as mental illness, the future of higher education, prison reform, reproductive rights, and African-American-led social justice movements. In between the talks, there will be time for refreshments and networking. We’re sure attendees will have no shortage of conversation material. —AM

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AS YOU LIKE IT
Jan. 15-Feb. 14. Towson University, Mainstage Theatre, 1 Fine Arts Dr., Towson. Times vary. $10-69. 410-332-0033. On the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, Center Stage kicks off the new year with a classic Bard comedy. Traditionally performed by an all-male cast, this new production lends the spotlight to the ladies with an all-female troupe. While its Mt. Vernon digs undergo renovations, the theater company sets up shop at Towson University to perform this entangled tale about love, politics, and gender roles.

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LOWER DENS
Jan. 15-16. Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St. 9 p.m. $13. 410-662-0069. It’s been a big year for Lower Dens. The local indie-pop quartet dropped a heavily heralded album, Escape From Evil, embarked on a European tour, and made national news with frontwoman Jana Hunter discussing topics like politics, race, and gender with big-name outlets like CNN, BBC, Pitchfork, and Cosmopolitan. As the band embarks on a new North American tour, hear its ambient, ’80s-tinged rock for two nights in Remington this month, with fellow locals like Abdu Ali, Microkingdom, and Chiffon.

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DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. PARADE
Jan. 18. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Eutaw St. 12 p.m. Free. 410-752-8632. It was more than 50 years ago that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. took the national stage to champion racial equality, nonviolence, freedom, and peace. Today, his words are more relevant than ever, and in light of recent social unrest and urgent calls for justice around the country, there’s no better time to honor his important civil rights legacy at this 15th annual parade featuring dance squads, school bands, handmade floats, and community organizations.

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UNDER THE SKIN
Jan. 20-Feb. 21. Everyman Theatre, 315 W. Fayette St. Times vary. $10-60. 410-752-2208. After a sold-out world premiere in Philadelphia, this new play makes its way to Everyman to join the local theater’s already-stellar season. The funny, moving, yet somewhat dark work by Michael Hollinger (also of award-winning drama Opus and spy spoof Red Herring) examines family dynamics, complicated relationships, and unexpected love. Follow a sick father, his estranged daughter, and a kidney-donating stranger in this tangled love story that explores what it means to give part of yourself to someone else.

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GARTH BROOKS
Jan. 22-23 & 29-30. Royal Farms Arena, 201 W. Baltimore St. Times vary. Sold out. 410-347-2020. Since 1989, Garth Brooks has won multiple Grammys, dozens of CMAs, and sold more than 100 million records, making him the best-selling solo artist of all time (outdoing even Mr. Presley himself). The Oklahoman country legend cemented himself in music history with top 10 hits like “The Dance,” “The Thunder Rolls,” and the ultimate drunken bar song, “Friends in Low Places.” This month, he comes to the RoFo Arena for five sold-out performances with his wife of 10 years and a superstar in her own right, the one-and-only Trisha Yearwood.

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THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Jan. 27-Feb. 7. Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, 12 N. Eutaw St. Times vary. $27.25-147. 41å0-837-7400. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s dark romantic masterpiece has been a Broadway bastion for nearly 30 years, with its timeless story, iconic half-mask, and organ-riddled theme song haunting us long after the curtain falls. Now helmed by musical producer Cameron Mackintosh (also of Cats, Les Misérables, and Mary Poppins fame), the smash-hit show comes to Baltimore bigger and better than ever, with an all-new production featuring fresh sets, choreography, costumes, special effects, and a 52-member cast and orchestra.

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FETTY WAP
Jan. 28. Towson University, SECU Arena, 8000 York Rd., Towson. 8 p.m. $20-30. 855-888-4437. This young rapper skyrocketed to stardom last year after his breakout hit “Trap Queen” met the masses and went viral. Within no time, the debut single became the hands-down song of summer 2015, racing up the Billboard Hot 100, racking up 300 million views on YouTube alone, and inspiring every mom to awkwardly ask her kids, “What’s a trap queen?” It solidified itself in pop and sports culture, too, as a trivia answer on Jeopardy! and a post-game prank, when the Kansas City Royals confused reporters by repeatedly slipping its lyrics into interviews during their World Series run this past fall. That kind of fame might be hard to follow up, but with his wobbly verses, infectious beats, and subsequent singles featuring the likes of meme-dream Drake, it’s safe to say the 2015 VMA Artist to Watch will have our attention for some time to come.

However top political communications consultant Ruth Sherman believes that, while Carson’s debate performance improved at the third GOP debate, he has a long way to go in that format. As a media coach, she thinks Carson remains too soft spoken.

“He was significantly looser in his presentation [at the CNBC debate]. He was more prepared and his presentation was more engaging, though his physical and vocal affect are still too quiet,” she says. “His voice is especially monotonous, which causes a mismatch. He is unable to show excitement or display passion. His facial expression is flat, though he didn’t close his eyes as much, which is a bad habit.”

Karen Bradley, the director of graduate studies in dance at the University of Maryland and a movement analysis expert, says that one of Carson’s strengths is that he speaks in clear, short phrases and can be animated with his eyes—“they can twinkle”—and hands. Carson, however, she says doesn’t generally give the impression that he fully “stands behind” what he says with strong “core” positioning, in the manner other, more practiced candidates do.

In that way, Carson shares a certain characteristic with Trump that may be helping voters identify with each political newcomer. Notably, neither of the two GOP leaders comes across as overly rehearsed in their speech. “We call this ‘flow’ and it’s fun to watch,” Bradley says. “They say what they think and move from topic to topic.”

Essentially, in terms of communication, it is this lack of self-censoring that is appealing about outsider candidates. Of course, it’s the same quality that makes both Carson and Trump prone to controversial statements.

“Carson appeals to the nonpolitical type, he’s someone who is viewed an uncorrupted by the political system,” says Shawn Parry-Giles, director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Political Communication and Leadership. “He says: ‘I’m not a debater, I’m just a person trying to do the right thing’ and that is really appealing right now.’”

On the other side of the aisle, Martin O’Malley’s communication skills, which can vary widely and send mixed messages, can be harder to parse. “I’ve seen him as ‘Mr. Nice Guy’ and ‘Mr. Nasty,’” Vatz said.

None of the experts we spoke with believe that the former Baltimore mayor and former two-term governor with a liberal record of accomplishment in Annapolis doesn’t mean what he says. He just doesn’t communicate “authenticity”—the signature quality primary campaigns are about when party activists are looking for candidates they can back with enthusiasm.

“He comes off as ‘too smooth,’” said Parry-Giles. “He wants to be the ‘cool guy,’ the Obama-figure—the young, energetic guy—but he hasn’t taken off and it’s too late now.”

O’Malley, in many ways, has been stuck in the outside lane, unable to get in-between Sanders, the self-declared socialist, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the establishment candidate.

It’s somewhat ironic, Parry-Giles said, that Bernie Sanders is one the seen as against the establishment. “He’s unkempt and unpolished, but he’s a lifelong politician, too.”

But while Sanders’ Brooklyn accent, at times, uncombed hair and emphatic gesturing communicate ‘genuineness,’ O’Malley often misses the authenticity target because his anger can feel rehearsed and his smiles ill-timed or forced.

“Psychoanalysts—and I’m not one—call this ‘misplaced affectation,’” Vatz said, referring to O’Malley’s occasional mismatched expression and context.

On the other hand, Bradley says, O’Malley on the stump or at the podium, speaks with a “tremendous” amount of core support, which communicates that’s he engaged and “stands behind” what he says. O’Malley is able to turn his body and look directly at other candidates on stage. He’s also able to look into the camera and use his smile, effectively, at times. O’Malley’s main problem, as Bradley sees it, is that he speaks in very long phrases that may be hard for some people to follow.

“He’s not easy to understand in the way that Bill Clinton is,” she said.

Cohen agrees with Bradley and takes it a step further. He says not only does O’Malley—a well known policy wonk—speak in phrases that are too wordy; he also tries to squeeze in each of his talking points when he’s interviewed on television or standing on the stage. The combination inevitably makes his presentation more awkward and stiff than necessary.

“It always looks like he’s trying to get everything he’s written down on his ‘3 by 5’ cards into his allotted time,” Cohen says. “That’s why he struggles to communicate on a deeper level with voters.” In Maryland, the University of Baltimore political observer says, voters have had time to get to know O’Malley, but that’s not true outside the state.

In fact, in some ways, the challenge O’Malley faces is similar to one that Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush face. All three have strengths based on governing experience and knowledge of policy, but they are not the most gifted nonverbal communicators.

All three want to make the case want that they are the “competent” choice for voters—and, to their credit, put forth their policy plans. Not exactly a recipe for excitement or how we tend market things in the U.S., however.

In the end, it will be interesting to see where Carson and O’Malley land even if neither wins their primary nominations. Some, cynically, already view Carson’s campaign as largely an effort to enhance his brand and book sales. Some also believe that O’Malley’s realistic aim in the short-term is not the Democratic presidential nomination—though he would certainly accept it—but the vice-president slot or a cabinet level position.

“He’s a really smart politician. I consider him one of the smartest politicians around,” Vatz said of O’Malley. “I don’t think he’ll be making unnecessary personal attacks at Sanders or Clinton and take the risk of offending the party.”

This Friday at 8 p.m., MSNBC host Rachel Maddow will moderate a Democratic forum from Winthrop University featuring O’Malley, Clinton, and Sanders.

The next Republican debate, the GOP’s Fox Business Network debate from Milwaukee, WI, is scheduled for 9 p.m. Tuesday.

For the second year in a row, Baltimore is hosting the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) men’s basketball tournament. Running March 6-9 at Royal Farms Arena, the Division I tourney will pit the league’s 10-member teams against one another with the winner earning a seed in “the big dance”—the NCAA’s March Madness tournament.

In advance of that, we sat down to talk to Towson University’s head coach, Pat Skerry. Here’s what he had to say about the league, the Tigers, and his future at Towson.

How long has Towson been in the Colonial Athletic Association?
That’s a good question. I think it has probably been close to 20 years now.

A lot of teams from the CAA have then gone on to the NCAA. Is that common? Is it seen as a feeder league?
There’s usually at least one from this conference that goes on to the dance. There have even been a few instances where we’ve had multiple teams go. That’s always the goal. That certainly depends on how well your non-conference [games] go, normally. But what happens now is whoever wins the conference tournament gets the automatic bid. That’s the true definition of why they call it March Madness. And what I think it really neat about the tournament. Last year was the first year it was in Baltimore—and I thought it was pretty good turnout. We’ve got to have some patience as the tournament grows—and we all know Baltimore is a great sports town. There are over 100,000 alums from all the CAA member institutions in the greater Baltimore area.

Right. The teams are William & Mary, Elon, College of Charleston, Hofstra, Delaware, James Madison, etc.—there are tons of people from all of those schools in Baltimore, and many bars that have allegiances to them. How was attendance last year?
There’s the quarterfinals, two games in the afternoon, two games at night. The semis are the next day, there’s two games, then the finals. I think they averaged about 5,000 people each session, which I thought is a pretty good start. I would anticipate that will grow. But I think that everyone involved in the tournament needs to be both mindful and have some appreciate for—it takes a little bit of time to build something, too.

Right. The CAA tournament is coming back to Baltimore again next year, right?
Yes. They initially signed a three-year deal, so my personal opinion and that of most of my coaching brethren in the conference is that they want to stay in Baltimore for a long time. Hopefully, Baltimore is willing to do that.

Well, it’s certainly very convenient for you guys at Towson. Do you get home-court advantage?
You know, it is, obviously, from a travel standpoint. It’s funny though because I don’t know if it’s any advantage. We don’t get to the tournament as early as the other teams.

Oh really, why?
Well, I don’t want them missing class. We’re right here, you know.

Well, but you must be able to attract more fans than the other teams.
Well, I hope. We’re still growing. We had good turnouts last year. Our last couple seasons here have been really good. We’ve got a young group right now, but certainly we think that our potential is pretty high over the next couple months and next couple years. I think our fanbase and everything at Towson has undergone so many good changes in athletics and academics that that will continue to improve. But we don’t get to play any games down in Baltimore, so it’s not like we have a big advantage where it’s the court or the floor that we play on all the time.

Your current record is 12-19. But a lot of those losses have been in really close games.
That falls on me. We’ve got to do a better job in close games. That’s something the last couple of years we’ve done a really good job of winning close games, and we’ve gotta get better with that. But I do like the group. We’re young. There’s roughly 350 teams in the country, and there’s an advance stats site called kenpom.com, and we were rated the 307th most experienced team in the country, so we’re very young. That’s not necessarily a good thing. We’ve got a lot of freshman and sophomores.

What are you doing to help that?
So we’re trying to put a pretty good emphasis on defense and rebounding. I think that gives you a chance every night out. And on offense, we want to try to get good players and help them get better and give them a lot of confident.

What’s the recruiting picture at Towson?
Pretty good. We also have a very, very good player sitting out who will be playing next year, a transfer from Wake Forest. He’s a Cameroonian kid. His name is [Arnaud William Adala] Moto. He’s a forward, 6-foot-7, 240 pounds, very athletic, skilled. He’s going to be really, really good. So we’ll have our whole team back, so I think our upside is really high.

Has Towson sent people to the NBA before?
You know, it’s funny you say that. A couple have played before, mostly recently—he’s still in there—Gary Neal. We had a special player my last two years I was here by the name of Jerrelle Benimon. He was played of the year in the conference the last two years. He is right on the cusp. He’s in the D-league, the NBA Development League right now. But he might be signing something. He’s close, he’s really close. He’s playing great. So not that often, but if Jerrelle can make it we’d actually have two guys from Towson in the NBA. That’d be pretty cool.

What made you want to come down to Towson in the first place?
I worked as a Division I assistant [coach] in a lot of places. I got a big break going to Pittsburgh a few years ago. We had a really good year. I thought I’d be there a while. We were the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, and this opportunity came up here. And everyone who was kind of a mentor close to me told me not to do it. We’d had, like, the nation’s third-longest losing streak as far as consecutive under-.500 seasons and all that good stuff.

But I just looked at the situation: great academics, a beautiful area to live, we had a new arena coming. In my mind, I thought the opposite: Why can’t we get good here? And I’m one of those guys who likes to kind of build something. I guess I’m a glutton for punishment. I mean that in a good way! I’m on my fourth year here and hopefully I’m fortunate to get to coach here for a long time.

How long is your original contract?
My original was for six. I think I’m signed right now to 2020, 2021, something like that. I’ve got a good marriage at home and a good marriage here with Towson.

So going back to the tournament. What’s it like to be in it? Is it a whirlwind?
Oh, no question. We could be playing three or four games in a weekend. You’re in the bunker. It’s quick turnover. You just survive and advance, pretty much. That’s what makes it cool for people to come to the games. It’s literally guys playing for their life, their dream to get to the big dance.