Baltimore Beat

OP-ED: Baltimore needs more community self-reliance projects

OP-ED: Baltimore needs more community self-reliance projects “Come on in, Barabara” says Myrtle Thompson-Curtis, the short, brown-skinned co-founder of Feedom Freedom Growers, an urban agricultural collective on Detroit’s east side during our interview for a short film. “I have some pizza and some eggs,” Barabara says, “Do you want me to put them ...

‘Preservation is also making the history’: Inspired by Harriet Tubman, two Eastern Shore aunties are determined to be the elders their community needs

‘Preservation is also making the history’: Inspired by Harriet Tubman, two Eastern Shore aunties are determined to be the elders their community needs In the brilliant July sun of this Monday afternoon in Preston, a family of five bald eagles soars overhead. Their wings are the only image interrupting the bare blue sky as they circle above the creeks of the Choptank river and the 111 acres of farmland known as Mt. Pleasant Acres Farms. Here on the...

In Baltimore, every brick has a story to tell. The Peale Museum wants to be where they’re told.

In Baltimore, every brick has a story to tell. The Peale Museum wants to be where they’re told. When I stepped into The Peale this May for the Charm City Fringe Festival, I entered a building that, for many years, I had only seen out of the corner of my eye when I walked down Holliday Street. Now, amid the throng of people gathered for the annual festival of new theater and performance, […]

For more than 10 years, Baltimore’s Youth Poet Laureate Competition has empowered young people to speak their truth

For more than 10 years, Baltimore’s Youth Poet Laureate Competition has empowered young people to speak their truth On a rainy Saturday afternoon at Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse in late April, bustling with people eating, working, and socializing, Marcellus Vinson is talking about prescription drugs and prisons to a rapt audience.  As Vinson closes the poem to a raucous applause, a woman from the audience,...

Excerpt from ‘Baltimore’s Black Arts Then & Now: Behind the Scenes of a Collaborative Public Humanities Project’

Excerpt from ‘Baltimore’s Black Arts Then & Now: Behind the Scenes of a Collaborative Public Humanities Project’ From 1966 to 1983, the community literary magazine Chicory was published in Baltimore by the Enoch Pratt Free Library. Called “the most authentic microphone of black folks talking ever devised,” by the Afro-American newspaper in 1969, Chicory developed both out of the liberalism of the War on Po...

Catch us at the Baltimore Book Festival this weekend!

On Saturday morning, Baltimore Beat Editor-in-Chief Sanya Kamidi and columnist Bry Reed will take the Peabody Heights Stage.

Sunday afternoon, Baltimore Beat CEO Lisa Snowden will talk to Monique Couvson about her book, “Black Stats.”

https://baltimorebookfest.com/full-schedule/

Baltimore has received more than $35 million in cannabis reparations money, but none of it has reached residents

Baltimore has received more than $35 million in cannabis reparations money, but none of it has reached residents In the three years since Maryland legalized recreational cannabis, Baltimore has received more than $35 million in tax revenue to reinvest in communities devastated by the War on Drugs. To date, not a single dollar has reached the people it was meant to help, and the first round of funding may still...

Baltimore’s attempt to treat drug users with compassion still centers courts and cops

Baltimore's attempt to treat drug users with compassion still centers courts and cops The War on Drugs has ravaged Baltimore’s Black communities for more than a century. Thousands of residents have been pushed into the destabilizing pipeline of the criminal justice system, all under the guise of improving public safety.  Baltimore’s police force has arrested fathers, mothers, an...

Dimples Bar & Grill serves up cheesesteaks and charm

Dimples Bar & Grill serves up cheesesteaks and charm Mary Miles, in her signature glasses and short-cropped white hair, stood by herself during the February 17 Board of Liquor License Commissioners’ hearing — she didn’t have an attorney by her side, as most business owners do.  At Dimples Bar & Grill, the cheesesteak is the core of what Miles o...

The 900 block of Tyson Street has a storied history. Which version will be preserved?

The 900 block of Tyson Street has a storied history. Which version will be preserved? On a sunny Saturday in early September, when neighboring Read Street is abuzz with the sounds of acid jazz and animated voices, the 900 block of Tyson Street remains tranquil.  The brick facades of the houses tucked away on the street are decorated with lime green shutters and window planters teemi...