This is how a postal worker on Maryland’s Eastern Shore hopes to keep cool while driving around in a USPS mail truck — with a PVC elbow that catches the breeze from the open window and directs it inside the Grumman “long life vehicle” that the service has been using for decades. The LLVs have … Continue reading This serves as U.S. Postal Service air conditioning
Baltimore, You Have No Idea: New play slated for December
Baltimore Sun columnist Dan Rodricks tells stories from the hard streets and sweet spots of Baltimore, with six supporting players and a guy at a piano. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll sigh. “Baltimore, You Have No Idea,” directed by Will Schwarz with music by Mat Lane, will hit the stage at the BMA Meyerhoff Auditorium, … Continue reading Baltimore, You Have No Idea: New play slated for December
Bill Russell played for the Celtics, not Boston
It wasn’t until 1974, after his playing days with the Celtics were over, that I truly appreciated Bill Russell’s accomplishments. I knew what a great athlete he was, knew about the 11 championships. If you grew up in the Boston area in the 1960s, the greatest sports team in that sports town was the one … Continue reading Bill Russell played for the Celtics, not Boston
Andy Harris once cared about criminality
It's hard to believe from his recent voting record -- against the Frederick Douglas Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Act (which passed 401-20) and against the assault weapons ban passed by the House on Friday -- but Rep. Andy Harris once cared about crime and criminality. I know: It seems impossible that a Republican lawmaker … Continue reading Andy Harris once cared about criminality
On the Patapsco River: Three dams down, one to go
My Sunday column was an update of an earlier report on the migration of herring up the Patapsco River — to places such fish have been unable to swim since before 1906 — after the removal of the Union, Simkins and Bloede dams. Several Baltimoreans have written to me over the years, since I first … Continue reading On the Patapsco River: Three dams down, one to go
50 years of cheers for Baltimore’s Young Vic
Congratulations to Brian Goodman, general manager, and the Young Victorian Theater Company on its 50 years of staging the operettas of Gilbert & Sullivan in Baltimore. Any time someone keeps anything — particularly a theater company — rolling for a half-century, attention must be paid. And keeping G&S on the summer stage as the decades … Continue reading 50 years of cheers for Baltimore’s Young Vic
Former White House counsel: Trump ‘a severely wounded narcissist’
Ty Cobb, featured in my Sunday Sun column, served as a special counsel to the Trump White House during the Mueller investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. He left when his job was done, in 2018. He had this observation the other day when we spoke about his former client: "Trump does not … Continue reading Former White House counsel: Trump ‘a severely wounded narcissist’
A City Councilman challenges the angry narrative about squeegee workers of Baltimore
On Monday night, City Councilman Kristerfer Burnett of the 8th District said if squeegee workers were white, the narrative around their plight would be different. “The response would be different,” he said. While that comment makes headlines today, I thought it important to share the longer prepared statement Burnett made earlier in the day. Burnett … Continue reading A City Councilman challenges the angry narrative about squeegee workers of Baltimore
What part of nature excites you most? What’s your Nature Family?
It’s an old story, the stuff of legend and joke: In a 1981 televised interview, Barbara Walters (later of The View) supposedly asked the great Katherine Hepburn, “If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?” But the question wasn’t quite as New Agey as it sounds. At some point in the … Continue reading What part of nature excites you most? What’s your Nature Family?
What are we celebrating this Fourth of July?
I no longer assume we know what we are celebrating on the Fourth of July, or that we're celebrating at all. So I ask the question of myself and others. In 2022, the United States is still great for many of us — life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and all that — but its … Continue reading What are we celebrating this Fourth of July?
Dan Rodricks 