Winter Newsletter 2022
"Listen to the wind, it talks, Listen to the silence, it speaks.
Listen to your heart, it knows."
— Native American Proverb
Having celebrated Thanksgiving in America last week, and November being National Native American Heritage Month, I’ve been thinking a lot about the land on which we live that was formerly inhabited by indigenous peoples. In Baltimore, we live on the land of the Piscataway, which means "the people where the rivers blend." This map shows the Mid-Atlantic region around the Chesapeake Bay, with Baltimore located up in the northern part of the estuary on one of the inlets between Tockwogh and Matapeake.
In a thoughtful piece called “Baltimore - Home to Piscataway” Emily Dufrane describes how, in the early 1600s, the Piscataway tribe was the largest and most powerful group between the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River. Their first contact with Europeans was in 1608, and with colonists in 1634. In 1666, Piscataway's tribal leadership and Lord Baltimore drew up a land treaty, but when this and subsequent treaties were broken by the settlers, the Piscataway tribe migrated into Pennsylvania and Virginia, becoming known by the Iroquois as the Conoy. Fast forward to 2012 when an executive order granted State Recognition to the Piscataway Conoy Tribe in Maryland, and then just yesterday President Joe Biden pledged to give Native Americans a stronger voice in federal affairs. I'm hoping it's not too little too late as I discover, with humility and in truth, that Baltimore belongs to the Piscataway people.
Low Tide by Barry Blitt
Meanwhile, as we continue our current quasi-territorial battles in America, who could have been more surprised than the Democrats when we held our own in the midterm elections last month, defying past precedent and managing to avoid the much-vaunted "red wave" from the Republicans? True, we lost the House majority, but by a much narrower margin than doom-sayers predicted, and even that fact seems somehow softened by New York congressman Hakeem Jeffries being elected House Democratic leader and becoming, in the new year, the first Black American to lead a major political party in Congress.
In other good news, in addition to happily returning my 3–8 pm slot on WBJC after a 15-month hiatus between evening announcers, I’ve been racking up some bucket-list interviews. The mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade was in Baltimore for a master class; the British cellist, Steven Isserlis returned to Shriver Hall Concert Series for a recital; and the bass-baritone Devóne Tines (who created the lead in Terence Blanchard’s opera, Fire Shut Up in My Bones) made his Baltimore debut fresh from his Carnegie Hall debut. You can listen to the podcasts of all three here (each is only a 4-minute listen.)
If you're going to be in the Baltimore area next week, the city’s four largest public radio stations – WYPR, WEAA, WBJC, and WTMD – are having a get-together on Thursday, December 8th at the Baltimore Museum of Industry for a celebration of public radio’s rich history and the remarkable impact it's had on Baltimore’s news, music, and culture. I'll be joining Tom Hall, Aaron Henkin, Sheilah Kast, Marc Steiner, and others to share stories of memorable moments from behind the microphone. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the program begins at 7 p.m. There's more info about directions, tickets, and what-have-you here.
December 6th at 7pm
Christmas With Choral Arts
And, next Tuesday at the Baltimore Basilica—America's oldest cathedral—it's the annual Christmas concert with the Baltimore Choral Arts Society. This is a photo I took from my perch up on the lectern during a rehearsal the first year they asked me to narrate, and you can get a small sense of what a gorgeous space it is. Interspersed with traditional carols and music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, John Williams, Felix Mendelssohn, and John Rutter, I get to speak the words of Maya Angelou, e.e.cummings, Emily Dickenson, and Alfred Lord Tennyson. More info about all of that is here.
Whether you will be celebrating Christmas, or Hannukah, or Kwanzaa, or nothing in particular, and whether you are in the warmth of the southern hemisphere or the cold of the northern hemisphere, I hope you have a wonderful festive season. I will talk to you again next year. Take care!
Judith