“Nostalgia is death” always sounded pretty harsh. Bob Dylan made that pronouncement during a newspaper interview in 1991. He meant that he did not wish to be defined by the music of his past, or to dwell on it, no matter how much his fans wanted to hear it. When you stop focusing on the … Continue reading Dusting off memories
How a young journalist and future Nobel laureate exposed the corruption of a dictator: Gabriel García Márquez, 1955
A castaway sailor and the shuttering of a great newspaper Rojas Seventy years ago, the military dictatorship of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla of Colombia shut down one of the nation’s best newspapers, El Espectador, after an expose by a 28-year-old reporter who would go on to become one of the world’s most famous novelists. It’s a … Continue reading How a young journalist and future Nobel laureate exposed the corruption of a dictator: Gabriel García Márquez, 1955
WWYD: What Would You Do?
So you park your car in the shopping center parking lot, a couple of safe spaces from a carriage corral. You get out. You grab a carriage from the carriage corral. As you do this, you notice a double-roll package of paper towels in the lower tray of one of the other carriages. Having watched … Continue reading WWYD: What Would You Do?
Charging people to park at Baltimore Peninsula?
Nobody asked me, but charging people to park their cars on a surface lot at Baltimore Peninsula, a new neighborhood still waiting to happen in South Baltimore, is one of the most daft ideas I’ve seen within the city limits. Does Kevin Plank know about this? The sign accompanying this post stands on a mostly … Continue reading Charging people to park at Baltimore Peninsula?
Making the call from center field
Sept. 11, 2025: Baltimore Orioles v Pittsburgh Pirates: At Camden Yards on warm and sunny Thursday afternoon, the Orioles scored a go-ahead run shortly after fans had taken their 7th-inning stretch. Dylan Beavers’ clutch single brought Jackson Holliday home from second, putting the Orioles in the lead, 3-2. These photos, taken from a plaza above … Continue reading Making the call from center field
An osprey awaits an easy meal
It’s speculation on my part, but I suspect that the osprey perched high in a tree above the river was hoping for an assist from the two anglers down below. The bird was no freeloader, just an opportunist looking for an easy meal. Consider that this "fish hawk" had picked a spot directly above a … Continue reading An osprey awaits an easy meal
The best three-fish day of fishing ever
Fishing Journal Entry: Sept. 1, 2025, Labor Day Sometimes you just want to write things down so you don’t forget them, and that’s the case today: I just need to describe what the day was like and how it ended so that my son and I will have a record should one day memory fail … Continue reading The best three-fish day of fishing ever
Try this at home: Poached Peaches
With peaches bountiful in late summer, we tried this recipe for Poached Peaches on Sweet Cream from the 25th anniversary edition of John Shields' popular Chesapeake cookbook. You can find it on page 298. The poaching calls for spiced white wine, with a caution not to overcook the peaches -- they should be tender but … Continue reading Try this at home: Poached Peaches
Roadside assistance for a fellow angler who “ain’t from around here”
I had just come from the river when a big man in a big pickup truck pulled suddenly off the main road after spotting me in the parking lot, where I was about to take my waders off. He stopped in a cloud of dust and rolled his window down.“How’d ya do?” he asked, which … Continue reading Roadside assistance for a fellow angler who “ain’t from around here”
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
Dan Rodricks 