In 2012, nearly 7,000 Marylanders, hailing from every county in our state, took part in the Maryland’s only statewide book club, One Maryland One Book (OMOB).  Partners—from libraries to universities to community centers—hosted book discussions, events, concerts, and other programs highlighting our 2012 selection by Steven Galloway, The Cellist of Sarajevo.  MHC was proud to bring Mr. Galloway to Maryland to speak with audiences across the state about his novel.

Recently MHC put a call out to the public to send to us suggestions for our 2013 pick.  Selections were accepted under the theme “a pivotal and impactful moment in time.”  There are other criteria for selections.  You can find our full criteria here or access our OMOB FAQ page for more information.

• Click here to discover One Maryland One Book selections over the last five years.

More than 140 suggestions were submitted to MHC, via the One Maryland One Book Facebook page, MHC on Twitter, and via email.  This list has been whittled down to 11 titles.  In the coming weeks the One Maryland One Book selection committee will meet to complete the selection process, but we thought we’d share the current list with you.

Have you read any of these books?  What qualities in a book make for great reading and discussion? Tell us what you think!  Comment below or share your thoughts on One Maryland One Book Facebook page.

2013 Top 11:

AUTHOR                                                                              TITLE

Wes Moore,  The Other Wes More
Rebecca Skloot,  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Alice McDermott,  That Night
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, The Dressmaker of Khair Khana
Hillary Jordan,  Mudbound
Yann Martel,  The Life of Pi
Jonathan Safran Foer,  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Toni Morrison,  Home
Cornelia Nixon, Jarrettsville
Peggielene Bartels and Eleanor Herman, King Peggy
Jesmyn Ward,  Salvage the Bones

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One Maryland One Book is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Maryland State Department of Education. Additional support was received in 2012 from Constellation Energy, the Verizon Foundation, and M&T Bank.  OMOB is produced in partnership with the Enoch Pratt Free Library.

By Antoine Rushing, Towson University Student

Over the summer, I got the opportunity to read the book The Cellist of Sarajevo, and as I was reading, I could not help but think of a quote recently stated by a popular artist: “Everybody dies, but not everybody lives.” The implication of this quote is that it is possible to be alive, but not be living. It could also be said that there is a difference between living and surviving. This fact is definitely evident in The Cellist of Sarajevo.

• Click here to find One Maryland One Book discussions  and programs about The Cellist of Sarajevo near you.

Like the citizens of Sarajevo, living comes naturally when life is easy. Prior to the bombshell, people made various choices and decisions about how to spend their time, and they enjoyed themselves. They were living life. It is after the tragedy that creates the book that the citizens of Sarajevo must actively decide whether they will continue living, or choose to simply survive. Of the three main characters- Kenan, Dragan, and Arrow- only one chose to keep living. That of course, was Arrow. The interesting thing about that decision is that Arrow chose to keep living by refusing to allow her surroundings to dictate her behavior and thinking. Kenan and Dragan chose to survive by allowing themselves to believe that their fate was not in their hands, but in the hands of the men on the top of the hills. The moment that we as humans relinquish our right to make decisions, the moment when we feel that there is only one option, we have stopped living, and have begun surviving.

Antoine Rushing. Photo by Ken Stanek

I found this book to be enlightening because it encouraged me to reflect on the type of person I really am. I live in the US so it is highly unlikely that I will ever be in a situation like that in Sarajevo. This being the case I probably will never have my sense of humanity tested to the degree of the three main characters in The Cellist of Sarajevo. Despite this fact, I used the small moments in the book almost as a mirror to the type of person I am now. Kenan recognized that integral part of living is preserving the sense of community. In order to do that, he had to view life in terms of how he could contribute to the lives of others, rather than in terms of his own needs. Like Kenan, would I go out of my way to help someone if there is nothing in it for me. If I saw someone drop their books, would I help them pick them up even though I have a class to get to? I don’t know. I hope so. I will find out the next time I see someone drop something. It is in those small moments that we can choose to view life by our contributions to it rather than our needs or wants.
The book opens with the explanation of how the work we now know as “Albinoni’s Adagio” came to be. It was reconstructed from a manuscript fragment found in the aftermath of a burned library. In the novel the cellist found that fact to be awe-inspiring and it gave him hope. Throughout the novel the music, and the cellist give the people of Sarajevo hope. The cellist exemplified each day that despite the circumstances, each person must still choose his/her own fate. The music illustrated that, like Sarajevo, something that seems impossible or hopeless could be recreated or rebuilt through time an effort. That would never, will never be achieved through survival.
Antoine Rushing is an honors college student at Towson University, studying Biology. Our thanks for Antoine for allowing the Maryland Humanities Council to publish his introductory speech, given to Baltimore City School students in October during the MHC’s One Maryland One Book Author Tour, featuring Steven Galloway, author of The Cellist of Sarajevo, the 2012 pick.

by Jill Cluff, reprinted from The Cecil Whig 9.10.12

Think about what you did this morning.  Get up, hop in the shower, brush your teeth, pop something in the microwave or toaster for breakfast.  Now imagine your morning without any of those things.  You have less than a cup of cold water to wash yourself with.  You have to work in the bathroom in the dark, because the sun is coming up later now, and you have no electricity.  Say goodbye to that morning bagel or coffee – no power to run those either.  And get ready to spend all day along dangerous roads to fetch enough water to last you for the next two days.  Rinse and repeat.  (On second thought, skip the rinse – there isn’t enough water.  Just repeat.)

In our society of “what-I-want-when-I-want-it” mentality, it’s amazing how these little things can be taken for granted.  But war changes everything.  Suddenly, a small act like washing your hands and microwaving last night’s leftovers can turn into a luxury.  And yet, it is in doing these seemingly mundane tasks that you maintain sanity; they may bomb my house, but I will always have my routine to call home.   Being normal becomes the rebellion.  The Cellist of Sarajevo exploits this paradox beautifully.  “What [we] want isn’t a change, or to set things right again, but to stop things from getting worse…Perhaps the only thing that will stop it from getting worse is people doing the things they know how to do.”¹

Besieged Sarajevo becomes the backdrop for the stories of four strangers, all connected by the tragedy of what they have already seen and the ferocity of their need to survive.  In the middle of them all is the cellist.  An ordinary man with exceptional musical abilities, he mourns death by doing the only thing he knows how to do: he plays.  One day for each of the 22 people who were killed while standing in line for bread outside his building.  And in this simple act of bravery, he becomes the beating heart of a Sarajevo that once was – the memory of what will never be again.  The story of the cellist is true, though the events and people around it are fictionalized.  But somehow knowing that such a person exists is in itself, heartening.  We hear so much of movie stars and political figures that it is refreshing to finally learn of a true hero whose sacrifice and humility define him.

• “Like” One Maryland One Book on Facebook to view a photo album of Mr. Galloway’s visit to the Elkton Library

Piercing in its simplicity, the novel is the perfect combination of bitter and sweet.  In very few pages, you find a piece of yourself in each of the characters, though sometimes you may have made a different choice, were you in a similar situation.  But, as each of them learns in turn, courage is costly.  Often just getting through the day is a battleground too fierce for traverse.  At the same time, an act as small as carrying extra bottles to fill with water for a neighbor becomes momentous in its hopeful defiance.  “As long as there’s war, life is a preventative measure.”²

In honor of One Maryland, One Book, he author, Steven Galloway, is coming to Cecil County to discuss his novel, Monday October 1, at 3pm at the Elkton Central Library.  Book discussions for both adults and teens will be held at each of the branches (see schedule below).  One Maryland, One Book is sponsored by the Maryland Humanities Council, and when you register for one of the book discussions, you get to keep your copy of the book, which is well worth owning.

4.75 stars out of 5
¹ Galloway, 5
² Galloway, 222

One Maryland, One Book 2012 Cecil County Discussion Dates, Times & Places:
September 17 – 6:30 pm | North East Branch
September 20 – 7pm  | Elkton Central Library
September 20 – 3:30pm (teen) |Perryville Branch
September 24 – 4pm (teen) | Cecilton Branch
September 25 – 7pm | Cecilton Branch
September 27 – 3:30pm (teen) | Elkton Central Library
September 27 – 7pm | Perryville Branch
October 10 – 7pm | Rising Sun Branch
October 18 – 1pm |Chesapeake City Branch
October 22 – 1pm | Rising Sun Branch

Jill Cluff

Jill Cluff is a sometimes librarian who is married to one giant and mom to another.  She loves all things book and foold related—often at the same time.

Thank you to Jill Cluff and The Cecil Whig for allowing MHC to reprint Mrs. Cluff’s review of Steven Galloway’s The Cellist of Sarajevo. It appeared in The Cecil Whig on September 10, 2012.

Kaplon Building Windows Recapture Excitement: Journey Stories opens in Frederick County August 31.
By Rebecca O’Leary, Curator at the Brunswick Railroad Museum.

Brunswick is gearing up for Journey Stories in a big way. The Smithsonian exhibit is rolling into town on August 31 and will feature six weeks of exciting programming and events and will offer visitors the chance to enter an iconic Brunswick building – the site of the V. Kaplon Company, which was Brunswick’s premier department store throughout most of the Twentieth Century.

“We’re especially excited about housing Journey Stories in the Kaplon Building,” said Journey Stories committee co-chair Robin Bowers, of the Brunswick Branch of the Frederick County Public Library. “We participated in the “Stories From Main Street” Youth Access program, during which local students took oral histories from a number of longtime Brunswick residents to produce a feature length video called Brunswick, which will be part of the Journey Stories exhibit and will also be treated to a “red carpet” premiere at the Brunswick Library on October 11.

During this process, we learned that Miss Fanny Kaplon made a yearly trip to New York every November to check out the Christmas displays at stores like Bergdorf Goodman, Saks, and Macy’s. She would return to Brunswick, cover the display windows with paper, and begin preparing the Kaplon Store’s display windows. People in Brunswick anticipated the moment when the paper would come down and the window displays would be revealed for days, and would gather on the streets for the big moment. We’re going to try to recapture that moment by covering the windows in mid-August and then loading in window displays celebrating local traditions and hot spots such as Brunswick’s baseball heritage, our railroad connections, and iconic local businesses such as the Imperial Theatre and the V. Kaplon Co. These window displays will feature artifacts from the Brunswick Railroad Museum and on loan from local citizens. The windows will be revealed at 10am on August 31st during a ribbon cutting ceremony.

In addition to the window displays, the Journey Stories committee has also created an interactive exhibit focusing on the popularity of mail order catalogs like Sears and Roebuck in railroad communities like Brunswick. “Mail order was huge around here,” said Journey Stories committee co-chair Rebecca O’Leary. “People ordered everything from musical instruments to sewing machines to houses.” Visitors will be able to see examples of typical mail order items and will learn more about the area’s Sears and Roebuck homes.

The action isn’t just limited to the Kaplon Building. Journey Stories events will be taking place all over the City of Brunswick. A full day of opening celebration events on August 31st include a Brunswick Stew cook-off contest in downtown Brunswick, displays of Native American hoop dancing, Irish dancing, and raks sharqi, and a special kickoff concert made possible by the Community Foundation of Frederick County featuring GRAMMY nominated performer Ray Owen in Brunswick’s Square Corner Park. Other events included living history demonstrations, festivals, and a gala celebrating the mid-century glory days of the Hawaiian Nightclub (a favorite haunt of Patsy Cline’s!), featuring the Star-Spangled Big Band and the Hub City Lindy Hoppers, courtesy of the Harry George Family Trust. Finally, Journey Stories will end on a high note with Project Run-a-Way, a dynamic living history performance based on the experiences of runaway slaves presented by the Historic Annapolis Foundation and made possible by the Tourism Council of Frederick County.

Journey Stories Brunswick offers something for everyone! Check us out at www.journeystoriesbrunswick.org.

This post was contributed by Rebecca O’Leary, Curator at the Brunswick Railroad Museum, and provides an overview of programs and events which tell Frederick County’s Journey Story. MHC is thrilled to bring the Museum on Main Street program to great cultural institutions across the state.

During the course of the Let’s Be Shore project, MHC wants to share posts contributed to our blog on www.letsbeshore.org.  Thank you to Dr. Bell, for his guest post.  We welcome your comments and encourage you to watch a video and leave your response.

It is an honor and a challenge to open the blog for MHC’s “Let’s Be Shore” Project. As former Director of the Washington College Center for Environment and Society, I developed a Rural Communities Leadership program that included new courses, guest speakers, and public forums all centered on sustainable development of Eastern Shore communities. The safety of academia allowed us to examine issues involving environment, land use, sense of place, and local economics from a wide variety of different and often divisive perspectives. Our findings met the real world as students, citizen and faculty colleagues, and I developed what became a Vision Plan for Sustaining Agriculture in Talbot County, Maryland. It took over a year to complete, but after many constructive revisions the plan was endorsed by both the Talbot County Farm Bureau and the County Council at the end of 2007.

What lessons were learned over the seven years that I was deeply involved in sustainable community development? First and foremost is the power of constructive dialogue. This is fairly easy to achieve within the walls of a classroom where issues can be debated without having to implement the outcome. It is far more difficult in a public meeting where opinions are strongly held and personal livelihoods are at stake. Let’s Be Shore is making maximum use of advances in technology to provide opportunity for public discourse and exchange. Trust and civility must be strengths, not casualties, of such opportunity.

My second lesson involves information. Despite the extraordinary source of knowledge that the Internet has become, it seems to me that people involved in controversial issues actually are less informed about perspectives different from theirs. We hide our ignorance by using blanket words and concepts: Chesapeake Bay is “polluted;” “big agriculture” is a “problem;” keep the Shore “rural.” What do these really mean, and how are they interrelated?

My third and final lesson is the importance of leadership. Civil dialogue based on shared information is necessary but insufficient if there is no leader to serve as translator and catalyst. The problems you are addressing are ongoing and solutions to them will be as well. Ultimate success will depend less on creating a favorable outcome to a given controversy and more on sustaining that outcome. An initiative should not end when its current leader moves on.

One important concept that emerged from our various activities is “working landscape” — land use that is economically significant for those who depend on it and environmentally sustainable for those who enjoy it. Public forums held under the Talbot County visioning project revealed that citizens value agriculture most as a contributor to Eastern Shore quality of life and the scenic beauty its open spaces provide. Economic return appears to be secondary to many — but not to the farmer! If agriculture were not profitable, would quality of life be the same? Most of the land on Eastern Shore watersheds is over 80% agricultural, the great majority raising grain sold locally to the poultry industry. Conversion to small farms for niche markets sounds appealing, but where are those markets? How many such farms can the shore support? And what happens to the remaining lands if grain is no longer a viable economic option? Ross Hanson, while chair of MD Environmental Trust in 2002, defined a working landscape as “. . . one that maintains and works to enhance the responsibility of private land owners, individually, to improve the land for successive generations of those who work it and, collectively, to pass on to each new generation a landscape that is a greater environmental asset than they received. Moreover, a working landscape is an irreplaceable cultural resource.” In your search to reconcile issues of land use, agriculture, economy, and water quality, remember to help us all keep the Eastern Shore truly working.

I wish you the very best as you embark on “Let’s Be Shore.”

Wayne Bell, Ph.D. is a Senior Associate at the Center for Environment and Society at Washington College. He holds a B.S. from the University of Miami (FL), 1967; A.M. from Harvard University, 1969; and a Ph.D. from Harvard University, 1976.

Thank you to Sara Romeyn, Ph.D., who allowed MHC to reprint her most recent blog post.  Ms. Romeyn is a teacher at Bullis School in Montgomery County.  You can read more of Sara’s posts at her site, Romeynwindow.

This Saturday, I will take 15 high school juniors to University of Maryland, Baltimore County for the state level competition of National History Day.  This is the third year Bullis has had students make it to states, and while the novelty has worn off a bit I am as excited and nervous as I was in 2010, when we began participating in NHD.

At the start, I was a little reluctant to integrate NHD into our 11th grade US History curriculum.  I especially worried that there wasn’t time in my AP classes for a major research project.  My colleague, Lisa, sold me on the potential benefits and we have had a program ever since.  With a little bit of creative scheduling (students covered much of Colonial America as part of a summer assignment, and I now make podcasts of lectures that students can view at home), we’ve managed to prepare fully for the AP exam AND engage deeply in research.  The students are better for it, and I am a better teacher.

So, what is NHD?  Briefly, it is a nationwide competition where students conduct research related to an annual theme, and present their findings in the form of a website, documentary, paper, performance, or exhibit.  Visit www.nhd.org for all the details and rules.

Our first year out, we had students craft websites related to the 2010 theme, “Innovation in History.”  I was thrilled when two of my students made it to the state competition,  Catherine for her website on the Brooklyn Bridge and Kamar for his work on the Brownie Camera. I was ecstatic when Catharine made it to Nationals.  I was awestruck when she won a $5,000 prize from the History Channel for best entry on a historic site!  And I was hooked.  Watch Catherine winning the History Channel Prize on YouTube.

Kamar, Sara, and Catherine

In 2011, the theme was “Diplomacy and Debate,” and Lisa and I began to fine tune the process.  Students began by exploring topics and conducting secondary research.  They drafted thesis statements and outlines.  They dug deep into primary documents.  They interviewed professors.  And they revised, revised again, and revised some more.  We expanded the choice of formats and sent nine students to states in the websites and performance categories.  Of those, five continued to Nationals and two won major prizes:  Kane was a finalist for his website on the Iran Hostage Crisis  and Cami won a college scholarship for her work on the Bay of Pigs Invasion . They were recently recognized by the Maryland State Legislature for their accomplishments.

Cami receives an award at the State Senate

This year, we pulled out all the stops.  The buzz about the program is growing, and students began brainstorming in the fall.  Every junior taking US History selected a topic relating to the theme “Revolution, Reaction, and Reform.”  We had an awesome Bullis History Night where our students displayed their projects for family, friends, teachers, and other classmates. View our History Night video on YouTube.
We pushed our students intellectually, asking them to dig a little deeper, provide additional evidence, and strengthen their arguments.   After selecting the top students to compete at the county level, we have 15 students heading to states…with representation in all categories, including documentaries, exhibits, and a research paper.
I don’t know what the outcome will be on Saturday–hopefully a few students will have the opportunity to continue on.  Regardless, the true victory has been in the process.  We’ve nurtured scholars who have gained ownership over a historical topic and are proud to share their work.  We’ve highlighted academic success and created a culture at our school where top history scholars are honored and celebrated.

Why NHD? Why NOT?

Recently our History Day program assistant, Auni Husted, interviewed Amie Sanner of Calvert High School in Calvert County about her History Day experience. Ms. Sanner was honored with the 2011 Patricia Behring High School History Day Teacher of the Year award.

[Auni] What classes and grades do you teach?

[Amie] I have 9th, 10th, and 12th graders in Honors World History, United States History, and AP World History. I am actually teaching a pilot 9th grade AP World History class this year too, and it is going great!

How many years have you participated in History Day?

I have participated for 5 years.

How many of your students are participating in History Day this year?

All of my students complete History Day projects, which comes out to about 150 students.

How do you use History Day in your classroom? Is it a required assignment for all of your students, for just a certain class, or an option for one or more individual students who express interest?

For my underclassmen (Honors World History and United States History) they get the freedom to choose which way they would like to present their History Day project, but they all must complete a project. They also get the freedom to choose their topics (as long as they fit it into the theme). For my AP World History students they must complete the research paper (since these are skills I would like them to focus on in a rigorous college level class) and it can be on a topic of their choice, as long as it fits into the NHD theme. I also encourage other students in the school, whose teacher doesn’t participate in History Day, to complete the project. I have after school help sessions for any student that needs extra help, or wants to dig deeper into reasearch.

Do your students receive a grade for their History Day projects?  Extra credit?

All of my students receive multiple grades for completing their History Day project. I start with smaller “process” grades (such as collecting sources, correct annotations, creating a thesis statement, etc.) over the entire period of the project. At the end when the final project is due I grade them on a “product” grade. This grade is broken up into multiple parts on a rubric (follows NHD guidelines, connects to the NHD theme, overall appearance, creativity/originality, good use of primary sources, etc.).

Do you make classroom time available for History Day work?  Do you provide after school sessions?

History Fair is a 6 month long project in my class. I use about 3-5 days a month in the media center working on computers with students on various things (introducing and researching the theme, finding topics, looking for primary and secondary sources, creating the process paper and annotated bibliography,etc.). I also provide 2 Thursdays every month from September to February for after school help sessions (which I open up for any student in the school working on History Fair), and then in February I open up my classroom after school for a week for students to work on constructing and creating their projects (exhibits mostly). I have a lot of lower-income students who need to have supplies provided for them to complete the project, so I call them “Martha Stewart” days, when they get to use everything in my classroom (backboards, hot glue gun, computer and printer for pictures, construction paper, markers, decorations, etc.), and they create their project.

How much class time to you devote to History Day (per week and/or throughout the year)?

As a class we work on History Day every month from September through February. We spend between 3-5 days a month in the media center, but we spend time in class too working out the kinks in things too.

Personally, I spend a lot more of my time working on History Day than I like to admit. J I use Noodletools with my students to interact with their Annotated Bibliography, and it helps me to communicate with them about poor sources or weak annotations. This is one of my favorite things about technology, I can work on their projects when I’m in my PJs at home, and they get the feedback immediately.

I am Calvert High School’s History Fair Coordinator, so I spend a good portion of my time working with other social studies teachers on their projects with students too. I try to come up with newer and better ways to have our school’s History Fair, and more efficient ways to have other teachers feel comfortable working with their students on completing a History Fair project.

Do you partner with teachers in other disciplines or bring in outside resource people (such as archivists, local museum professionals, etc.)?

I have reached out to our English department to help work on Historical Papers, and our school’s theater department to help with Performances and Documentaries. We have two wonderful Media Specialists also who help our History Day students every step of the way. We are also fortunate enough to have the local D.C. museums within driving distance, so field trips to places like the Holocaust Museum provide students with other resources they can use for their projects as well.

Are there History Day research field trips?

I wish. Our funding is very tight. I have to provide my own resources and materials for my after school help sessions.

How do you involve parents in the process (e.g., evening introductory session, regular updates, showcase projects for families and the community)?

Throughout the process of completing History Fair we have numerous things for parents and students. Our school’s Media Specialist has History Day as the welcome page to our Media Center’s website (http://chsmedia.blogspot.com/), and it is also on our school’s website. I also personally send out emails to parents with my History Fair resource packet and helpful places for them to research. We also have a History Fair showcase in the school’s auditorium and a website gallery in the media center during History Fair.

Gatherings of United Stated military veterans grab the heart—on parade, in advocacy groups, at other significant events.For those of us who are not Veterans, we give their impenetrable solidarity its due not as a matter of shared experience; rather, we do so out of respect for sacrifice and for enduring the traumatic.However, on Wednesday, 16 November, at the Old Executive Office Building at the White House complex, Veterans and members of the humanities community, including the National Federation of State Humanities Councils and their stakeholders gathered to acknowledge that there are, in fact, ways to illuminate the Veteran’s experience so that caregivers and others can better appreciate its dimensions.The appeal, of course, is to the humanities.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) offered “Using the Humanities to Support the Veteran Community” and highlighted a Maine Humanities Council-led program that now plays out in 20 VA facilities in 14 States.Jean Wortman, who organizes the Maryland Humanities Council (MHC) component of the Literature & Medicine program, was present, along with Phoebe Stein Davis, our Executive Director, Board members, and participants in the program as it takes place in Baltimore.NEH Humanities Chairman Jim Leach introduced the session, which engaged a broad audience in responding to a poem about airborne medical care and its sequelae:AB Negative (The Surgeon’s Poem) by Brian Turner.The conversation was stunning.The audience was moved.And once again, disparate individuals were able to rely upon the humanities to expose the universal in the unique and learn how such conversations in the health care environment are able to bolster empathic communication so generally needed in the hospital setting and so critically required among those who care for our Veterans.

Later in the afternoon, we also saw how New York’s Aquila Theater used the award-winning “Ancient Greeks/Modern Lives” program to place today’s combat veterans in a timeless setting.I was proud to be there among my MHC colleagues, program participants, and many others.But my mind kept drifting to the airborne poem and wondering whether the fact that its subject played out at an altitude of 10,000 feet made the subject soar in a heavenward direction, or simply elevated our discourse.In the end, what matters more is that all were in its grasp.

View the NEH White House Presentation on YouTube.

Photo From Left to Right (MHC Lit & Med Program Officer Jean Wortman, Baltimore VA participants Frank Williams Jr. and Mary Ann Wilkinson, MHC Executive Director Dr. Phoebe Stein Davis, and Baltimore VA participant Linda Keldsen.

The author, Adrianne Noe, is a member of the Board of the Maryland Humanities Council and a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association, an organization that fosters understanding of human health and medical issues at extreme altitude. She attended the November 16th presentation at the White House, “Using the Humanities to Support the Veteran Community.”

The following is a guest posting from a participant of the recent program “Moving Stories:  Getting Around in Baltimore”, as part of MHC’s Practicing Democracy Program. Thank you, Jessica, for providing your reflections.

Listen to an excerpt of Jessica’s performance:  Jessica Keller, Moving Stories excerpt

I love to speak about all forms of transportation but what I love to discuss most is being car free.  So, when someone forwarded the “Moving Stories” opportunity to me, I applied right away.  I was a little anxious too because I work for a transit agency and being car free isn’t always pretty; I didn’t want to be seen as disparaging my agency.  What I saw was an opportunity to show regular people that other regular people, like myself, use mass transportation. As I mentioned, being car free isn’t always pretty but those ugly instances, in hindsight, tend to be pretty funny and make for great stories.

After telling my not-so-pretty story, I had the chance to discuss transportation issues with people who I ordinarily wouldn’t come to meet.  I hope some of those people will reconnect with me in the future to help make Baltimore a better place to travel around.

I’m curious……have you ever taken transit and if not, what would encourage you to do so? OR, are you car free and loving it too?  Can you imagine giving up at least one car?

Jessica A. Keller, Storyteller “Moving Stories”

An article by British economist John Kay might just surprise you.

Kay’s article, “A Good Economist Knows the True Value of Arts” was published in London’s Financial Times August 11, 2010. In it, he analyzes what he sees as the fallacy of the way in which most economic studies quantify the value of sports, tourism and the arts. He states, “[…] the value of an activity is not what it costs, but the amount by which its benefit exceeds its costs….the economic value of the arts is in the commercial and cultural value of the performance, not the costs of cleaning the theatre.” (more…)