Dan Rodricks

Since the pandemic, regional theaters have been struggling, and the news from Center Stage in Baltimore last week was not great: Some layoffs and a cut in pay for the remaining staff. Center Stage underwent a $28 million renovation before reopening in 2017; it also saw a high turnover in board members in recent years. … Continue reading A new model for live theater?

Ron DeSantis, the annoying Florida governor who burned through a grotesque amount of money in a failed bid to wrest the Republican nomination for president from Trump, must, during his morning shave, look in the mirror and tell himself: "It's a cult, and you can't crack a cult." I have no proof of that, of … Continue reading DeSantis lesson: You can’t crack a cult

I bought a quart of milk in a glass bottle, and while I know milk-the-old-way is a thing – a Whole Foods/local dairy thing that has been around for a while – this was my first indulgence in glass in a very long time. The $2.99 purchase caused me to stop and think – because … Continue reading Milk in glass bottles

For more than two decades, Christine Lemarié and her sister, Dominque, sat in Maryland courtrooms for WBAL-TV and WJZ-TV to capture scenes from trials for the evening news. Cameras were not allowed in Maryland courtrooms -- they are still prohibited -- so it was left to the Lemarié sisters, immigrants from France, and their talented colleagues … Continue reading Deadline Art: The courtroom drawings of Christine Lemarié 

Readers might recall Bassam Nasser, head of the Gaza office for Catholic Relief Services and the subject of a recent column. He's the man who, after an interview at CRS headquarters in Baltimore a few years ago, surprised me with a gift of handmade rosary beads. When last we heard, he and his family had … Continue reading With love, from Palestine

Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, bowed out of the Republican presidential campaign tonight, and as I reflected on his effort over the last several months — his loud and consistent takedowns of Trump as a threat to democracy — I thought of another former Republican governor, Maryland’s Larry Hogan.Where is he? What has … Continue reading Chris Christie spoke the truth about Trump loudly and clearly. Larry Hogan? Meh.

Sometimes, as when the fishing's slow or when the whole world seems cloudy and ominous, I like to stand peaceably by a river, throw the dead branch of a tree in the current and watch it go. I did this when I was a kid -- so that my friends downstream would have something to … Continue reading A river ritual to start the year

Just a quick note on this penultimate day of 2023 to remind members of the Trump cult that Couy Griffin, founder of Cowboys for Trump, was banned from holding public office in New Mexico last year because of his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection against Congress. In September 2022, a state judge removed Griffin … Continue reading “If Griffin is disqualified, then it’s a little hard to see why Trump wouldn’t be disqualified.”

In his strong and convincing performance as Linwood Taylor in “Baltimore, You Have No Idea,” Kevin Richardson plays a lifelong mentor to the recovering Harry Calloway. At one point in a monologue about the difficulties of former inmates in recovery, Richardson’s Taylor says, “I figure, if you’re not encouraging someone somewhere at some time, you’re … Continue reading  A gift we have to give with words and deeds

Newspaper photographers hate check-passing photographs – every newspaper I worked for had an official aversion to them – but sometimes that’s all you’ve got and you gotta go with it because there's a good story to tell. In this case, I post the photo sent to me Thursday by Kate Loveless, executive director of the … Continue reading Picture this: The last child of a 9/11 victim from Maryland has graduated from college