Category: Dan Rodricks

The image with this post might seem a little surreal or abstract; it’s certainly not an example of high-definition nature photography. But it gives a sense of what you see in April, when herring first arrive in a freshwater creek. You detect movement of some kind, but you’re not sure. Your eye has to adjust … Continue reading Trying to catch herring with your hands

A question about the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge — specifically, where will the steel come from to replace it? — got me to today’s Sun column: The state of Maryland should salvage as much of the FSK steel as possible, send it to modern mills, melt it down, refabricate it and use it to … Continue reading Americans still make lots of steel, mostly from scrap

My latest Sun column is about three of the many ironworkers who built the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the 1970s and who this week mourn its destruction. With this post -- and the photograph above -- we meet a fourth ironworker who worked on the bridge. His name is Jim Bollino. He's 80 years … Continue reading Elegy for a bridge: Ironworkers recall building the Francis Scott Key

When NBC News announced that the network had hired the former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee as an on-air political commentator, Twitter filled up immediately with calls for a boycott of NBC and MSNBC. It was a typical reaction to something that hacks people off -- stop buying the product. That works for pillows … Continue reading NBC’s Ronna McDaniel Mistake: A lesson in supporting journalists over ideologues

In this, the Year of Eating Chesapeake Catfish, Chef Nancy Longo of Pierpoint Restaurant in Fells Point will be hosting two Nights of Eating Chesapeake Catfish, specifically the invasive blue catfish that you've been hearing so much about (from me and others). There will be great eats in a multi-course meal and a discussion of … Continue reading Chesapeake Blue Catfish Dinners with Chef Nancy Longo, April 11 & 12

When the day gets too long and thoughts crowd into the room – regrets and feelings of loss, but also questions, the wonder-why and wonder-where of old acquaintances and absent friends – Trexler comes to mind. Yes, Trexler, my old friend. He’s the main character in E.B. White’s short story, “The Second Tree From The … Continue reading My old friend Trexler and the second tree from the corner

At a campaign rally over the weekend, Trump mocked President Biden for being a stutterer: “I’m gonna bring the country tuh-tuh-tuh-together,” he said, as if quoting a line from Biden’s State of the Union speech. It was a continuation of the ridicule Trump had started at a rally in January. “He’s a threat to duh-duh-duh-democracy,” … Continue reading Cruel and indecent, unworthy of a single vote

Among the most stark and depressing realities about America in 2024: We are stuck with a Supreme Court that represents the crowning achievement of an activist conservative plutocracy and serves a regressive agenda that undermines democracy.  Look at what just happened: The Court, with three of the nine justices selected by Trump, pretty much guaranteed … Continue reading The Supreme Court serves Trump and MAGA, and to hell with democracy

The skeleton of this 80-foot pine tree along the banks of the Youghiogheny River in western Maryland arrived at some point during the previous eight weeks. The last time I visited this spot, near the Yock’s confluence with Sang Run, it was not there. It was well upstream, half submerged. I assumed it would be … Continue reading Deadfall, and the power of big water

Winslow I have received almost as many comments about the sets of my two plays, “Baltimore, You Have No Idea,” and “Baltimore Docket,” as I have about the performances, and for good reason: The designer and artist, Christopher Winslow, and the set carpenter, Gary Flowers, went above and beyond my expectations for scenery. Flowers They … Continue reading The Overzealous Artist: Christopher Winslow