Maryland Humanities Podcast

Did you know that Baltimore residents can explore over 50 buildings across the city with guided tours for free? Margaret De Arcangelis of Doors Open Baltimore and Shauntee Daniels of Baltimore National Heritage Area tell us more.

What does creativity look like? What inspires creative pursuits? Photographer Larry Marc Levine explores these questions with an exhibition entitled Creativity, with a capital WHY? now at Sandy Spring Museum.

As she read Unruly Bodies, an online magazine curated by bestselling author Roxane Gay, Aden Weisel thought of visual artists who addressed some of the themes as the magazine. Inspired by the magazine, Weisel – the Exhibitions Director and Gallery Curator at Stevenson University – then curated an exhibition with the same title. She tells us more.

Baltimore-based author Anthony Moll recently won the 2019 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Nonfiction. In Out of Step: A Memoir, he describes his time as a working-class, self-described queer from Reno who served in the U.S. Army during “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Today, he reads an excerpt from his book, an essay entitled “Cedant Arma Togae.” Moll uses photographs to explore his history and the people who mattered to him throughout military service. In this essay, he discusses the first close friend he lost in the War in Iraq.

How is one organization amplifying the presence, contributions, struggles, and experiences of LGBTQ individuals throughout Maryland’s history? Preservation Maryland’s Meagan Baco talks about the Maryland LGBTQ History Collaborative Initiative and their personal relationship with the project.

The Smithsonian Institution makes a stop in Calvert County with H2O Today, now at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum. This Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition explores the beauty and essential nature of water and the diversity and challenges of our global water sources. Rachelle Green, Acting Director at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum, tells us more.

Did you know that third grade is a pivotal year for students learning to read? Reading proficiently by the end of that grade can be a marker for successes through a student’s college years. Angelique Jessup, Program Director at the Baltimore Campaign for Grade Level Reading, tells us more about reading development.

Over 200 years after Jane Austen’s death, Kate Hamill published a new adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. How is one theatre using the play and community programming to explore the construction of gender? Suzanne Beal, Director of Pride and Prejudice at Frederick's Maryland Ensemble Theatre, tells us more.

How can language used to write about autism make an impact on public discourse? The Writer’s Center in Bethesda explores this and more in “#OwnVoices: Autism Through a Literary Lens,” a one-day-only symposium. The event focuses on characters and writers with autism and features workshops for autistic individuals and parents of autistic children, as well as a panel.  Panelist and writer Hannah Grieco is the mother of an eleven-year-old son with autism as well as a former teacher. Her byline has appeared in The Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, and more. Today, Hannah talks about how her son’s influence on her writing and how writing can help create a more inclusive world for those with autism.

Did you know that since 2013, a student-produced literary magazine has featured feature the poetry, fiction, essays, and artwork of 450 students in Baltimore City Public Schools? CHARM: Voices of Baltimore is a literary organization as well as a magazine. Whitney Birenbaum, Humanities teacher at Midtown Academy, and Executive Director of CHARM, tells us more about the organization. After she speaks, ninth grader Marian Tibrey — a CHARM participant — shares her original poem.  

Did you know more than 100,000 creeks, streams, and rivers flow toward the Chesapeake Bay across parts of six states? Historical Society of Baltimore County’s James G. Keffer talks about the history and stories of water in the County. The Historical Society is the first of six Maryland sites to host Water/Ways, a traveling Smithsonian Institution exhibition brought to smaller communities across the state by Maryland Humanities. Local Water/Ways host sites add their own local exhibits to complement the Smithsonian’s exhibition.

 “What Were You Wearing? Weaving a New Narrative” is an installation revealing pervasive cultural attitudes about assault while working to change those attitudes. Molly Cohen, a theatre artist and graduate of the Department of Theatre Arts at Towson University, talks about the installation.  This project is funded by a grant from Maryland Humanities to Towson University. We would like to reiterate that the subject of the segment is a humanities project about sexual assault.

How is one partnership encouraging open and honest dialogue about faith and race?  Drs. Felipe Filomeno & Tania Lizarazo – professors at University of Maryland, Baltimore County – talk about “Honest Conversations: Faith Community Dialogues on Immigration and Race.” The partnership between UMBC and the Latino Racial Justice Circle is funded with a grant from Maryland Humanities.

How is Outward Bound using the humanities in its outdoor programming to enhance young people’s reflection, leadership skills, and more? Kelly Reynolds, Instructional Designer at Baltimore Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound, talks about the organization’s Character Curriculum.

How is a local organization providing an opportunity for young people to share their stories through film, and to publicly speak about their own work? Jessica Baroody-Saada, Events Manager at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Foundation Parkway Theatre/Maryland Film Festival, talks about the Baltimore Student Film Showcase.

Salisbury Mayor Jacob Day will soon announce the city’s first-ever Poet Laureate to coincide with the annual Salisbury Poetry Week, April 1 -7. Tara A. Elliott, Salisbury Poetry Week’s founder, tells us more about this year’s week of programming. Elliott is also an English and Language Arts Teacher at Salisbury Middle School. She received the Christine D. Sarbanes Teacher of the Year Award, presented by Maryland Humanities, in 2018. Launched in 2017, Salisbury Poetry Week is supported in part by a Maryland Humanities grant.

How are two women pushing past the gatekeeping that sometimes occurs within cultural institutions? Amanda Figueroa and Ravon Ruffin started Brown Girls Museum Blog, a platform that aims to promote the visibility of people of color, especially women, in the museum field and in academia.

Did you know that journalist, suffragist and anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells was also one of the founders of the NAACP? Harford Community College will host screenings of IDA B. WELLS: A PASSION FOR JUSTICE, which includes selections of Wells’ writing read by Toni Morrison. The screenings complement figures of Wells and Mary Church, on loan from the The National Great Blacks In Wax Museum in Baltimore. Sharoll Love, Student Diversity Specialist in Harford Community College Office of Student Life, tells us more.

How can the humanities help teens process current-day issues and create a more equitable society? Staff at Wide Angle Youth Media have developed a curriculum called “Why Black Lives Matter: Discussing Race Through Film, Photography, and Design." The curriculum pairs youth media projects with instructional content. Dena Robinson –Wide Angle Youth Media’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Facilitator – tells us more. Maryland Humanities has provided support to this programming with a grant.

How can immigration experiences shape behavior, storytelling, and humanities scholarship? Dr. Mary Anne Akers, Board Member at Katipunan Filipino-American Association of Maryland, shares her perspective.  Maryland Humanities recently awarded the organization a grant for their project entitled “Locating Filipino Americans in Maryland: Our Immigrant Journeys.” Akers is Dean and Professor at Morgan State University’s School of Architecture and Planning.