Dan Rodricks

When I was new to column writing, a woman contacted me to discuss a legal battle that pretty much consumed her life — the matter of child custody resulting from a bitter divorce. Her ex-husband lived in Florida and wanted full custody of her two children while the woman, of course, had hired a Maryland … Continue reading Child custody: Among the most volatile of court cases

Henry Cawley, the central character of a scene in my play, “Baltimore, You Have No Idea,” is based on a real-life drug dealer named Harry Calloway, a man I first met 18 years ago when I wrote a series of columns in The Sun about the obstacles ex-offenders faced when they tried to find jobs … Continue reading Rewriting the play to reflect real-life: The Harry Calloway Story

I have developed a reaction to news of war — in Ukraine, now in Gaza — or news of violence anywhere, hate crimes, bigotry and ridiculous political developments such as the one playing out among Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives. My reaction, before engaging in the usual analysis to which a newspaper columnist … Continue reading Wasting valuable time as the Big Clock ticks against the life of our planet

My Sunday column in the Baltimore Sun, reported from a recent trip to Paris, is about Sam Schwarz, a young man from Baltimore and Towson who is living a dream to be a chef in a creative kitchen in the French capital. The column describes his odyssey -- dropping out of a "grownup job" with … Continue reading Chef Sam Schwarz on friends, the French and food. Plus, three of his original dishes described.

Todd Douglas of BoldYellow designed a new bumpersticker based on the title of my first play. We will be ordering a bunch in time for the December run at the Baltimore Museum of Art and offering them in return for a $5 donation to a charity to be named later. We might make other arrangements … Continue reading See the play, get the bumpersticker

Being a fan and supporter of opera, I pass along this release from Maryland Opera: Maryland Opera’s sixth season opens with “L’Amour, Toujours l’Amour” featuring fully staged scenes and acts from Roméo et Juliette, Werther, and Faust on Saturday, November 11 at 7:00 p.m. at the Church of the Redeemer on Charles Street in North … Continue reading Love Opera? Miss the Baltimore Opera? Here’s what Maryland Opera offers this season

You never know around here, you just never know what's going to turn up. Just last week, in a column about the things that make Baltimoreans happy, I wrote this: "We want that certain spontaneous wackiness that almost always happens when you open yourself to Baltimore and start conversations with amiable, quirky strangers." Maybe not … Continue reading Baltimore: Encounters with amiable, quirky strangers

Some years ago, my family went hiking through what's known as the GrandCanyon of Pennsylvania, Pine Creek Gorge, about 200 miles north of Baltimore. Iwanted to fish in Pine Creek and so I put on my waders, stepped into the streamand walked over rocks until I was in water above my waist, about four feet … Continue reading Birth waters of the Chesapeake Bay

Here’s some of what my readers had to say about Brooks Robinson after his death last week at age 86. We start off with two accounts of the same game, one from near the end of Brooks’ career. Irwin Weiss: It’s fair to say that Brooks was a terrific fielder, and a pretty good hitter, … Continue reading Readers share Brooks Robinson stories

I call this beautiful New Hampshire waterway Wasted River, and while that might seem like a harsh name, I think it’s appropriate. The Swift River in the village of Tamworth should be a prime habitat for trout, and it should be a destination fishery for fly anglers. But it’s not, and thus a wasted opportunity. … Continue reading Why I call it the Wasted River