Alfred G. Vanderbilt Jr. owned Sagamore Farm for the longest time, from 1933 until 1986, and hundreds of mares and stallions were born there, raised there and trained to race there. Kevin Plank, the Under Armour CEO, bought Sagamore in 2007. He bred and trained horses there for several years before putting it up for … Continue reading Sunset at Sagamore Farm
September and all those mixed feelings
The lake was quiet on Labor Day -- four children on the beach, a dad with his little boy in a small boat making one last trip to a fishing spot on the far side, a middle-aged couple walking their dog. The quiet of the lake -- close to silence at one point -- suggested … Continue reading September and all those mixed feelings
If you’ve never been: The H.L. Mencken open house is Friday, Sept. 11
An open house featuring a casual piano performance and a presentation on H.L.Mencken’s place in the Jazz Age social scene is planned for 6-8:30 p.m. Sept. 11 at the H.L. Mencken House Museum in West Baltimore. The event, on the eve of the famed journalist’s 146th birthday, is planned in cooperation with the Mencken Day … Continue reading If you’ve never been: The H.L. Mencken open house is Friday, Sept. 11
Billy Bob Thornton and the honor in grief
My late brother Eddie would have been 70 on September 5. I know that’s not young, but we were not finished being brothers, and I still have a difficult time accepting his sudden illness and loss. It takes up a large space inside me, as I'm sure such deaths affect millions of other men and … Continue reading Billy Bob Thornton and the honor in grief
Annual Reminder: The official sandwich of Labor Day
Pardon me if you've heard this before, but as a champion of a good peppers-and-eggs sandwich I feel a need to keep reminding American workers -- and retired workers -- that it constitutes the official meal of Labor Day. It was so established in 2014 in the void of any official dish being associated with … Continue reading Annual Reminder: The official sandwich of Labor Day
Followup: Having our say on ‘the most important fish in the ocean’
I know: It's hard to give your attention to everything, especially given the daily chaos from the Trump regime. But attention must be paid: The industrial harvest of menhaden -- the most important source of food for other fish, marine mammals and fish-hunting osprey and eagles -- needs to be better managed, to say the … Continue reading Followup: Having our say on ‘the most important fish in the ocean’
‘Humans can’t handle abundance’
It was the late Bill Burton, outdoors writer for the bygone Baltimore Evening Sun and other publications, who said it: "Humans can't handle abundance." It was a couple of decades ago, when the shad were making a comeback to Chesapeake waters. Bill Burton Once plentiful -- massive schools of migrating shad coming up the bay … Continue reading ‘Humans can’t handle abundance’
Dan Can Cook: No-fry Eggplant Parmigiana (Parmigiana di Melanzane)
There is plenty of eggplant available right now. I scored a bunch at Baltimore's downtown farmer's market. If you want to make an eggplant parmigiana casserole and avoid the frying step, here's a way to do that -- by baking the discs of eggplant in the prep. I think the results are just as good; … Continue reading Dan Can Cook: No-fry Eggplant Parmigiana (Parmigiana di Melanzane)
Casting off TV anchors, Scripps hits the anti-AI nerve
Are anchors necessary for a television news show? In Baltimore, WMAR-TV made history as the first station to go on the air, in 1947. This month it became the first station to launch an anchorless broadcast, streaming news reports without the traditional introductions by a well-dressed man or woman. I made reference to this in … Continue reading Casting off TV anchors, Scripps hits the anti-AI nerve
Coal miner reading a book: A memorial to those who died in the Appalachians of western Maryland
Thousands of lives have been lost in the pursuit of coal to fuel homes and manufacturing since the Industrial Revolution, and in Frostburg, Maryland there’s a memorial to the hundreds of men (and some boys) who died in ghastly mine accidents between 1838 and 2007. The immersive memorial opened in August 2024. It sits on … Continue reading Coal miner reading a book: A memorial to those who died in the Appalachians of western Maryland
Dan Rodricks 