WYPR Features

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we review two new memoirs - one by the late Poet Laureate Donald Hall, and the other a debut by Glynnis MacNicol.

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes!  They're really rolling in now, and the varieties seem endless.  Classics like Big Boy and Beef Steak, heirlooms like Cherokee Purple and German Stripe, and petite cherry and grape tomatoes are all out there.  Chef Jerry Pellegrino tells us, all this variety can be put to good use when you talk about making Gazpacho.

Rev. Alvin C. Hathaway of Union Baptist Church tells us about some of the good things happening in Baltimore, and how we must continue to work together to create the community we desire. 

As a former Latin teacher, I’m always interested in the evolution of the English language. Civilizations that we consider to be ancient (or at least unbelievably old) still shape the words and phrases that we use every day. Those ancient people developed some pretty interesting ways of communicating what they were seeing and how they were experiencing the world around them. I’m always struck by the way that cultures from around the world have influenced our modern English language – and the animal kingdom is a great place to see language in action.

When you think of an animal that purrs, grunts, croaks or hums, I’ll bet it’s not a fish. But, I’ll let you in on a secret: More than 150 species of fish on the East Coast of the U.S. are what scientists call “somniferous.” They make noise. Lots of it.

Forget those dreamy underwater documentaries where all is peace and quiet. The ocean is like New York City at rush hour. There are thousands of species, and many have something to say. The tiny cusk eel sounds like a jackhammer. Damselfish purr. Long-horned sculpins hum like an iPhone set on “buzz."

Hector tells us about extreme medical debt, even with insurance, and gives us the basics of paying for healthcare.

It’s open phones on this week’s episode. Tony and Chef Cindy take your calls and emails on everything from how to jazz up your instant ramen to how to care for a cast iron skillet. They also take your ingredient suggestions for the Chef Challenge. Tune in to find out what Tony does with a pound of butter and how Cindy handles a case of pilsner!

It’s been 32 years since Len Bias’ death sent the University of Maryland lurching about for its soul.

When that search was over, the entire power structure of the athletic department and the university itself had been toppled and the school emerged sufficiently chastened with a better sense of right and wrong.

Three decades later, it may take another death, that of football player Jordan McNair, to force people at College Park and beyond to examine what the university and its athletics are really about.

Anirban comments on the foreign purchase of American homes, the slowing down of the U.S. housing market, state finances, entry-level jobs requirements and discrimination in office housework.  

We know archaeology connects us to the past, but how does it reveal the humanity of our ancestors? Jane Cox, Chief of Historic Preservation for Anne Arundel County and Board Member for the Lost Towns Project, an Anne Arundel County-based nonprofit and recent Maryland Humanities grantee, tells us more.

Zinfandels go great with chunky barbequed meats. Al and Hugh tell us about some of their favorites. Click the links to purchase their recommendations at Kenilworth Wine & Spirits.

In 1836, Maryland native Ford McGill left the African colony of Liberia to attend medical school in America, where he faced discrimination before returning to Africa as a much needed doctor for his community.

I’m at Gertrude’s Restaurant on North Charles Street in Baltimore with its owner, famed Chesapeake Bay chef and author, John Shields.  I’m here to talk about his newest book, The New Chesapeake Kitchen, which makes the case that we should all make our eating habits more sustainable.

He escorts me into his inner sanctum: the kitchen.

“These are the single fried oysters, right here,” Shields said, lifting a clear plastic container brimming with mollusks.  “So you see here, you have the shucked oysters, and you make a mixture of cornmeal and flower. You just shake off the excess, and then it goes right over there, into the deep fryer. No muss, no fuss!"

As the breaded morsels sizzle and brown in the roiling oil, it becomes obvious that when Shields says he’s making his meals more environmentally friendly, he’s not doing what some people might associate with the term: inflicting hardship and denial, perhaps by demanding that we only eat kale and tofu.

During this season of grilling, some of us think that the process stops the moment we take the food off the grill. But you can really do a lot more to put together a fantastic plate. And as the French say, "the sauce is everything." Listen for some sauce recipes.

In the vast midwaters of the open ocean, there’s an animal so adorable that the Smithsonian Institution’s website said, "If this video doesn't inspire a whole cadre of budding teuthologists, we don't know what will." Any amateur teuthologists out there want to hazard a guess as to what group of animals they’re referring? Here’s a hint: teuthology is the study of squids and octopuses.

A few weeks ago, I was tucked snuggly into my bed, eyes closed, attempting mightily to fall asleep when a loud crash echoed from outside my home. I sat up quickly, listening for more clues about what the sound could have been. I heard nothing. I sighed, knowing that my already vain attempts at sleep were now well and truly dashed. I set my feet on the floor to investigate the noise.

When I arrived downstairs, I grabbed my flashlight and walked out my door. In the dark of the night, the bright light shone on what appeared to be many, many eyes. As my own eyes adjusted to the light, I could see four raccoons staring intently back at me from the area surrounding the trash can they had knocked over. 

On this edition of The Weekly Reader, we review two new novels from British rock critic Caitlin Moran.

If you’ve ever seen a talent show from the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem, you know that at some point when an act has stayed long past its welcome, a fellow named Sandman would emerge, with a hook to usher the offending performer off the stage.

The original Sandman has gone on to his eternal rest, but we sure could use him, or a reasonable facsimile to assist Ray Lewis out of our consciousness.

Catherine tells us what people should consider when mapping out a retirement budget.

Listen in to learn about the long tooth sawfish, a critically endangered but seriously fascinating member of the elasmobranch family. 

A few days ago, one of our teachers pitched me an idea for a weekend program, something called “forest bathing.” I’ll admit I was skeptical at first as she listed the benefits promised by this Japanese practice: reduced stress, lower blood pressure, and increased mindfulness. How could “taking a bath” in the forest increase your well-being and how exactly does it work?

Artist Maren Hassinger discuss how her sculptures came to incorporate everyday materials such as newspapers, wire, and plastic bags, as well as her 20-year career as director of the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art. The BMA recently opened Maren Hassinger: The Spirit of Things, a solo exhibition with sculptures, drawings, photographs of performances, and videos that span the artist’s career. The exhibition is on view in the BMA’s contemporary wing through November 25, 2018.

On the Saturday afternoon of July 25, 1943, something unusual was going on in Baltimore’s Penn station on Charles Street just above Mt. Royal. In those wartime days, the station was a round-the-clock melee of soldiers and sailors and husbands and wives and lovers and loved ones embracing in hellos and goodbyes. That is why on this wartime Saturday afternoon a couple chose to get married in Penn Station, in a hurry--while they could still be together, only minutes before the groom was to depart for duty. The priest who married the couple invited each of the servicemen to kiss the bride, who in a gracious act of patriotism, went along--one kiss per serviceman!

Benjamin Banneker is called “The first African-American man of science.” The Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum's Willa Banks talks about him and the "Stories in Textiles and Paper" exhibit.

Anirban on the lack of well-trained workers, Google's fine from the European Commission, price markups, and defining the "one percent" in different states. 

Part two of the the story of Montgomery County, Maryland native Rose O'Neale Greenhow, who worked as a spy for the Confederacy during the Civil War, sharing important military intelligence with fellow Southern sympathizers in Washington, DC.