Dan Rodricks

My column in today's Baltimore Sun is a reminder of life before the Great Awareness — before Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” before the first Earth Day and the dawn of the modern environmental movement, before Americans questioned the motives of corporations, before we fully understood the damage that chemical compounds could do in the quest … Continue reading Spraying poison: Back in the day, it was OK

In 1954, the number of TV stations in the United States more than doubled, advertising revenue surpassed radio revenue for the first time, and Swanson introduced the TV dinner. NBC telecast the Tournament of Roses Parade for the first time in color. ABC broadcast the Army-McCarthy hearings live. And on CBS, the crusading Edward R. … Continue reading My Favorite Year: 40 years on, still my favorite movie

My weekend column is about the Catholic Church, the Maryland Attorney General’s report about clergy sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, and the latest meeting of the U.S. bishops. The first letter I received from a reader missed my point about the priesthood being the same – that essentially no fundamental change has occurred … Continue reading ‘They still think we’re all a bunch of superstitious peasants’

One of the delights in life is to be surprised by something that has become familiar or even old hat, or to discover something grand you missed the first few times around. Somewhere along the way, I am sure I heard the fourth and final movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. I am sure it was … Continue reading Worth a listen: The fourth of Beethoven’s 5th

In my Sun column today, 11 people, including the Orioles manager Brandon Hyde, give their reasons for thanksgiving. Here are a couple more Thanksgiving reflections I picked up just after deadline: Anthony Santander, Orioles outfielder and slugger: “I'm thankful for the excellent season we had as a team. I think that it's a really good … Continue reading Extra thanks: From an Orioles outfielder

I am just going to wing this because I don’t have the recipe, but I know how to make it. It’s a great stuffing, a traditional New England recipe adopted by a Portuguese immigrant named Justina Gomes Rodrigues (the little lady in the photo, my paternal grandmother) and made to her Madeiran tastes. Ingredients:One pound … Continue reading How to make Portuguese stuffing for Thanksgiving

Thanks to one and all who purchased tickets for the Dec. 2 and 3 performances of my “one-man play with a cast of seven (or eight)” at the Meyerhoff Auditorium of the Baltimore Museum of Art. Reminder: Seating is general admission. The email confirmation of your purchase serves as your ticket. Ushers will have your name … Continue reading Sold out: Baltimore, You Have No Idea

Thanks to one and all who purchased tickets for the Dec. 2 and 3 performances of my "one-man play with a cast of seven (or eight)" at the Meyerhoff Auditorium of the Baltimore Museum of Art. Reminder: Seating is general admission. The email confirmation of your purchase serves as your ticket. Ushers will have your … Continue reading Sold out: Baltimore, You Have No Idea

Neil Grauer, author, journalist and cartoonist, is well known for his Johns Hopkins Blue Jay. He’s drawn it thousands of times over more than a half-century, since his time as an undergrad at Homewood. (Photographer Jim Burger took the photo atop this post and wrote a profile of Neil for the City Paper in 2014.) … Continue reading Getting in toon for Maryland’s next governor

After Saturday's public hearing, Ken Rosenstiel wrote this report: The meeting went well and it started with Elisabeth Lardner of Lardner/Klein Landscape Architects announcing that they decided three weeks ago that there would not be any bikes in the park and that got the biggest round of applause. The rest was fairly boilerplate; new Nature … Continue reading Updated: Oregon Ridge, no bikes in the master plan