When we begin an evening at a fine French restaurant, we don’t expect it to end standing in a hot shower with all our clothes on. Late last year we had ventured out for a delightful dinner at Raleigh’s Jolie Restaurant with our friends David and Susan. Vaccinated, boosted, and feeling increasingly comfortable with indoor dining, this was one of our first breakout treats of the year. The meal was wonderful but the memory of what we ate and what we drank was wiped away by what

An ocean of old faces. A National Septuagenarian Portrait Gallery. I didn’t recognize anyone. As I would draw closer, there were familiar...

When we hear those three words, most people today would think they refer to the home improvement TV show premiered in 1979 and now a...

Allen David Carli, Jr. was a legend. A fraternity brother and friend of 55 years, Dave (Carli, Carlos, Los, etc, etc) was a successful...

When I was Director of Government Relations and Public Affairs (GRPA or GrrrrPaw...lovely acronym, eh?) at the Legal Services Corporation...

Local Preacher and Student With the Welsh Revival chapel attendance dramatically increased. There were many opportunities for local...

Minutes of the Baltimore Preacher’s Meeting re the Death of Bert Constance “The news of the unexpected death of the Reverend Bert...

There were two reasons that John Carlin, Archivist of the United States, and I were travelling to the FDR Library and Museum in Hyde...

Senator Charles (Mac) Mathias (R-MD) Governor Theodore R. McKeldin (R-MD) Ok folks, the topics today are political patronage and...

During my tenure at the National Archives, I got into the habit of attending St. John’s Lafayette Square each year on Good Friday. As an Episcopalian I enjoyed the familiar liturgy, the music was always excellent, and long-time rector Rev. John Carsten Harper, was a gifted preacher. A short walk from the White House, St. John’s had long ago been labelled the Church of the Presidents. Reverend Harper had preached to eight Chief Executives during his 30 years as the rector. Wh

November 1958, a rainy day in Catonsville, Md. My dad was at home having just returned from the hospital with the first of what would be...

And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that truly be said...

The first time my wife heard that request at the Constance Thanksgiving table she almost fell out of her chair. Sauerkraut at...

First week back at school, 1964. Eighth grade at Catonsville Junior High School was already a little weird. We weren’t the youngest kids in the school, so that was good news. But we weren’t the oldest kids in the school, so that still seemed a little dangerous. I have had a lifelong conflict with change, so anything new was unsettling at best. What happened next, still amazes me 57 years later. One sunny morning in September I walked through the door of my Spanish II class fo

In Flanders fields the poppies blow, Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place, and in the sky, The larks still bravely...

Forty nine years ago today, I awakened at the Davis home in Suffolk, VA still feeling the effects of my bachelor party from a week prior...

Last year I donated my dad’s papers and photos to the Baltimore Streetcar Museum. My daughter Brittany was surprised by that transaction,...

My oldest childhood friend is David Carter Christian, or “Chris” as he is still known by his sister Dale and me. Our moms worked together at the AAA of Maryland Insurance Agency, and we were eventually down the street neighbors. We lived at 302 Thackery Avenue in Catonsville and the Christians lived at 308. Chris is six months older than me and so I guess I don’t remember a day in my early life when Chris wasn’t there. When I was a toddler, my dad built a play e

Growing up in the Baltimore area I never gave a lot of thought to whether I was a southerner or a Yankee. As a lifelong Orioles fan, I...

With the recent whistleblower revelations that Facebook had chosen profit over the best interests of our Country, it is time. With the...