Bob Cullen is a writer. He covered the fall of the Soviet Union for Newsweek and the New Yorker. He covered the diplomatic beat for the Associated Press. He is the author of 16 books, including five novels featuring a reporter stationed in the Soviet Union who won’t back down from a story no matter what and no matter who is shooting at him.

The Soviets did not normally issue visas for photographers, pesky creatures who poke their lenses where authoritarian governments think they don’t belong. So when Newsweek posted Cullen to Moscow, they “gave me a camera and a half-hour lesson and said ‘you’re going to need to do this,’” he recalled.

He caught the bug. He shot hundreds of photos in Moscow—funerals in Red Square, parades, street scenes, all kinds of things. When he got back from three years in the crumbling Soviet Union, he kept shooting.

“The more I do it the more I enjoy it. It is very expressive to me,” he says.

Tonight is the first night of a show of Cullen’s photographs at Five Points Tavern, 1120 E. Fort Ave. in Locust Point. The show, called “Addresses,” features ten Baltimore buildings in neighborhoods as different as Guilford and The Block. In front of the building is someone you wouldn’t expect to see there. For instance, why is there a barefooted surgeon lounging in front of a Fells Point antique store? That’s a good question, isn’t it?

“I wanted to put people in unexpected situations and locations,” Cullen said. “I wanted a juxtaposition of expectations and environment.”

To shoot “Addresses,” Cullen used friends and friends-of-friends as models, then set them up in those unexpected situations. One of the models, a friend of his son, is pictured sitting in a lawn chair on a corner in Little Italy, right by a fire hydrant painted like the Italian flag. By the way, the model is African American. “I wanted to see what people would think seeing him sitting there,” said Cullen. “The point is to see the picture and question, why are those people of that gender and race sitting there?”

Cullen lives in Chevy Chase, but he has spent a “fair amount” of time in Baltimore, and his son went to the Maryland Institute College of Art and still lives here. Through his son, Cullen [Read more...]

It’s time to embrace the bugs.

No, not stinkbugs and bedbugs. Cute, friendly bugs. Like Harry, a Chinese praying mantis who stands ready to take kids and their families on an educational journey through the insect habitats via the Maryland Science Center. (It’s a journey sponsored by a pest control company, too, but that’s a point for another time).

“Harry’s Big Adventure: My Bug World!” opens this Saturday, Feb. 4, and runs through through the end of April.

The exhibit divvies up the world into multiple zones (including water, forest, meadow, cropland and house) to see how insects impact their surroundings, the environment and ultimately human lives.

And since this is a kid-oriented exhibit, after all, there’s a ‘bug art’ area where visitors can express their creativity by building their own bugs, making a rubbing of insects found throughout the exhibit or drawing their favorite character from Harry’s Big Adventure.

The opening weekend includes segments by trained entomologists from the Audubon Insectarium. There’s also a feature, “Under the Bug Top,” with interactive games and competitions, as well as a bug petting zoo.

Oh, and there are regularly scheduled roach races, and insect delicacies cooked up by the Bug Chef.

We’ll wait while you read that last sentence again.

The exhibit is sponsored by Terminix since, well, who knows more about bugs?

Note: Information about “Harry’s Big Adventure: My Bug World” is available through the Maryland Science Center, 410-685-2370, www.marylandsciencecenter.org.

by Mary Helen Sprecher
newsroom@baltimoreguide.com

The Canton Branch of the Pratt Library is closing at 5 p.m. Saturday, and everyone’s excited about it.

“We can’t wait,” says Mary Jurkiewicz, president of the Friends of the Canton Branch.

Why is a woman who once picketed to protest a threat to close the library 15 years ago so pleased now?

Because it’s not permanent. The little library will be closed for a top-to-bottom, soup-to-nuts, complete renovation.

The rehab, which will begin Monday as Pratt Library staffers clear furniture, equipment, books and materials from the building, is expected to take two years, if all goes well.

“You never want to give an exact date when you are dealing with old buildings,” said the Pratt’s Chief of Neighborhood Services, Pat Costello.

It is an old building indeed. The Canton Branch was the first of the city’s libraries to open, and is the only one of the four original branches still in operation. Enoch Pratt himself cut the ribbon for the building 1n February, 1886.

The city has renovated the building several times over the years. It hasn’t always improved the building. The dropped ceilings are going to go, exposing the Canton Branch’s graceful arched windows and entries. The linoleum tile floor will be torn up.

And the library, which currently has its back end a half-story below the front-end reading room, will be brought to one level, increasing space for programs and creating [Read more...]

The money is sitting there. It’s just waiting for someone to ask it out.

Those who have been procrastinating about putting in their applications for the Southside Marketplace Grant Program have less than a week until deadline. Once January 31 rolls around, the chance to participate is going away.

It’s not just going once. It’s gone for good. This is the last year the grants will be offered.

The grant provides $10,000 a year to organizations that offer services to the South Baltimore Peninsula.

The grant’s history goes back to 1992, when the developers of the Southside Marketplace agreed that the shopping center would make payments to benefit the community for 20 years.

At the time, two decades seemed pretty far off. Now? Not so much.

“It is hard to believe that is has been 20 years,” says David Hirst, who has been involved with the program since the year 2000.

The disbursement of funds to the community is managed by a committee of representatives from six neighborhood associations: Locust Point Civic Association, Federal Hill South Neighborhood Association, Federal Hill Neighborhood Association, Riverside Action Group, Sharp-Leadenhall Planning Committee and the South Baltimore Improvement Committee.

The committee typically reviews applications in February and distributes checks in March.

Because the announcement for applications goes out just before the busy holiday season, however, and because the deadline is soon after the new year begins, Hirst is worried communities have forgotten.

“Requests have been few,” he notes. “I have received three or four applications with a few more outstanding.”

Hear that, South Baltimore? The time to apply is now, and the chances have never been stronger.

Hirst noted that the committee typically gets several dozen applications each year. The average grant award size is $500.

Among organizations that have received funds in the past are scouting groups (Brownies, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts), South Baltimore Emergency Relief (SOBER), the [Read more...]

Those who vowed 2012 would be the year they learned something new just got another opportunity to make good on their resolution.

The Rev. Oreste Pandola Adult Learning Center at St. Leo’s School, 914 Stiles Street in Little Italy, has opened registration for its 2012 spring semester.

Courses include Italian language, sports, culture, food and more. Most courses will start in March, although there are exceptions. Information on all courses, as well as registration, is available at www.pandola.baltimore.md.us or by calling 410-866-8494.

Language courses range from Italian for survival while traveling, to various levels of language courses, to advanced courses in conversations.:

Italian Cooking Classes include making mozzarella, sausages, “Cream” Limoncello, wine, Italian bread, Sweets and Biscotti, Raviola, Gnocchi, Pasta and Sauces, Italian Cookies, Anisette and cooking for children.

Italian cultural classes include instruction in palm weaving. Many Italian families grew up weaving crosses and other figures from palm during Easter. Basic [Read more...]

Learn to beat them at their own game

Summer is over. Long over.

So why is the air conditioner unit still in the window?

It shouldn’t be, says Det. Derrick Layton of the Southeastern District. At least not unless residents really want to make it easy for burglars to access their houses.

“I don’t know how many times we can say this,” says Layton, noting the recent number of burglaries where intruders accessed the house through unlocked windows where A/C units were still in place. “Just take out the air conditioner and store it, and lock the window.”

The Southeastern District Detective Unit has been cautioning people in the area to help avoid break-ins. There’s no ‘down’ season for burglaries, notes Layton, and criminals are always looking for easy ways to gain access to houses. Air conditioners are one way, but only one.

“People need to remember it’s not hard for someone to get to the second or even the third story of a house,” Layton says. “A lot of times, they don’t think about locking the slider door to their deck, or locking upstairs windows, but people get in there too.”

This past week, Southeast burglary reports contained information about an upper floor residential burglary in which the intruder had accessed a window by using a ladder that had been left in the back yard of the building.

Because ladders are unwieldy, many individuals are hesitant to try storing them in the house, and will leave them outside. Where, Layton points out, criminals find them, and put them to use. (And with all the rehab and repair work going on in these neighborhoods, it’s not unusual to see a ladder propped up on the front or rear of a house).

Broken sashes on windows are also an open invitation to burglars.

“We’ve asked people when they arrest them, what they look for when they’re breaking into a house.” says Layton. “A lot of the guys tell us, ‘If I see a stick holding up the window, I know it’s not going to be locked,’ and that’s where they’ll start trying to get in.”

While it should go without saying that all doors should be locked when residents aren’t home (from storm doors to deadbolts), not all residents are heeding this [Read more...]

Just about all of us resolve to improve our health in the New Year. This might mean weight loss, eating better, quitting smoking, etc.

You know the drill. The resolve lasts until about January 15, and then temptations like Super Bowl buffets take hold.

To help the newly resolved keep coming back, industry professionals say, a regimen should never become a chore. The idea is to keep the process fun and challenging.

“We want to keep things creative and interesting so that folks don’t lose focus,” says Dharmesh Shah, a managing member at Dundalk’s Planet Fitness.

Shah recommends a workout that includes strength and cardio (“You just can’t go wrong with cardio”), but also advises people who are out of shape not to do too much, too soon.

“You have to crawl before you walk and walk before you run,” he notes.

There is no lack of professional fitness facilities in the area, but for those who want to try some independent activities, our neighborhoods offer plenty of opportunities.

Weekly Walking Group: Patterson Park area’s walking group meets at the Pagoda on Mondays and Wednesdays, 6 p.m.-7 p.m. for a walk around the park. All welcome (adults, kids, babies in strollers, etc.) Info: katie@pattersonpark.com, 410-276-3676.

Yoga classes
Bilingual Community Yoga in Patterson Park. Wednesdays, 7 p.m.-8 p.m. at Virginia Baker Rec Center. In warm weather, class will meet outside. $5 donation per class. Pre-registration required, call 410-396-9156 to sign up.

The Locust Point Rec Center, 1627 E. Fort [Read more...]

The Maryland State Legislature starts its session today, and after some ceremonial foofaraw and a big dinner, the House of Delegates and State Senate will settle in to decide the business of the state.

There is the usual budget deficit to attend to, and some decisions to be made about table games at casinos, and authorizing more casinos, and natural gas extraction from the Marcellus Shale field in Western Maryland. There is a gas tax to consider, and lots of health care legislation as Maryland works to comply with new federal health care regulations. And then there is same-sex marriage, which is likely to raise a ruckus. Oh, and a possible tax increase to pay for public works projects and create construction jobs. Those are the big issues.

But there are smaller, more local issues. We elect our legislators to look at the big picture, for sure, but we also rely on them to tinker with all sorts of smaller, more local issues. Here’s a rundown of some of those issues that would greatly affect the 46th District.

Closing time at bars and restaurants: There has been some discussion of extending alcohol service times at bars and restaurants from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m., but no bill has been filed yet. What the law would do is authorize extending hours, but not require extending the hours—so perhaps there would eventually be a 3 a.m. closing time in the city, and perhaps not, if the law passes. It certainly would not happen this year, since alcohol law is a state issue and the City of Baltimore cannot decide by itself to extend the hours.

Growlers: Growlers, or containers of beer you can take home with you, are a cherished tradition in the working-class neighborhoods of the 46th District, but there is some question about their legality. At the moment, there is a law against refilling any kind of bottle in a liquor service establishment. The law discourages unscrupulous saloon owners from putting Old Liver Rot in the Makers Mark bottle, for instance, and also from buying booze from a state where the liquor tax is cheaper and pouring it into an empty bottle with a Maryland tax stamp on it.

State Sen. Bill Ferguson is working with restaurateur Hugh Sisson to allow restaurants and bars with a food license to apply for a separate license to sell growlers. (They are already legal at brewpubs.) Perhaps coincidentally, Sisson’s son-in-law is opening Heavy Seas Alehouse in Harbor East this month.

Universal pre-kindergarten in public schools: Ferguson says there is a “donut hole” for working class and middle class families with two working parents. Pre-kindergarten classes are very hard to find for an affordable price. Ferguson wants everyone to be able to send their children to public pre-K. The cost should be between $90 million and $120 million, which he hopes to finance by authorizing table games—poker, black jack, etc., at state-run casinos.

Nuisance abatement: He is also filing a bill to allow for expanded prosecution of nuisance properties. Community groups go through a very long, multi-agency process to solve problems associated with drug houses, chronic vacants and the like. Ferguson’s bill would simplify the process, and allow courts to impose fines or send the property to receivership.

Trucks: Interstate truck traffic through the City of Baltimore rattles windows, ruins streets and keeps people up at night. Del. Pete Hammen is intrigued by a new technology that would adapt a speed camera to measure the height of a vehicle traveling [Read more...]