Dan Rodricks

I learned about "The Way of the Heron" one Thanksgiving from Evan Pritchard, a descendant of Algonquin-speaking people, director of the Center for Algonquin Culture in New York, a professor of Native American history at Marist College and the author of several books, including, "Native American Stories of the Sacred" and "No Word For Time, … Continue reading Algonquin wisdom: The Way of the Heron

The Republican Party, having done next to nothing to become the "big tent" it was advised to become after Mitt Romney's loss to Barack Obama in 2012, embraced Donald Trump and allowed him to trash all aspects of American democracy. They did this because it's the only play they have -- eschew precedent and norms, … Continue reading Make them pay a price for supporting Trump

Thanks to Max Weiss, editor-in-chief of Baltimore magazine and long-time critic of film, for taking on "The Queen's Gambit," not so much to review it -- that has been done aplenty elsewhere -- but to explain why it's a hit. When a crusty, old fishing friend from Florida told me he had binged all seven … Continue reading ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ is a great story, but it never happened. You know that, right?

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Everyone pretty much agrees that 2020 has been the worst year we've ever experienced. For people of a certain age, the only year that comes close would be 1968 -- nearly 17,000 U.S. military personnel killed and nearly 90,000 wounded in the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Rev. Martin Luther King … Continue reading Is 2020 the worst year ever?

In the most famous novella about fly fishing in Montana, Norman Maclean referred to his brother Paul’s special way of getting a rise out of a trout by repeatedly making a long false cast over a feeding lane or pocket: "He called it shadow casting. Keeping his line above water long enough and low enough … Continue reading Shadowing casting, East Coast style

My son, a certified guide now, goes about fly fishing like a scientist; he's very focused and precise in his choice of flies and his presentation of them as he prospects along the river for trout. I was sort of scientific in my approach once, and, recognizing that, I find it interesting and amusing to … Continue reading Transfixed by water, woods and light

Last December, during a political discussion on an MTA bus in downtown Baltimore, an older gentlemen remarked: "It's not Trump I'm worried about as much as the 63 million who voted for him." Now the count is 70 million. I am as happy as any Biden-Harris supporter today. I can’t wait until Inauguration Day and … Continue reading Barring prison or flight, Trump will still be with us and pose a threat

Chris Zogby drove from Virginia into Maryland to fish the Gunpowder River above Big Falls Road in Monkton, north of Baltimore. He caught a few brown trout — and the credit card you see pictured here. “Late morning, I decided to switch tactics and use nymph patterns instead of streamers,” he wrote me in an … Continue reading What the river turns up

Guest post by Tom "Bush Hog" James Now could be a time when lessons are learned, when corners are turned — maybe not, but maybe. And, whether or not the lessons are learned or the corners are turned, a word that stands out is "indefatigable."   My first full-time job was at a daily newspaper in … Continue reading The dance of the Indefatigable