here is a little collage i made yesterday...

blog hiatus

hello! i am just letting any readers out there know that i will be studying abroad in copenhagen, denmark next semester (january-may) and thus will not be updating this blog until then. of course there's always options like first fridays on the avenue in hampden, the free walters art museum, the washington monument in mt. vernon (which you can climb to the top of for just $1!), the baltimore basilica (first catholic church in the united states!), lexington market, the museum of industry, little italy, a movie at the charles theatre, the great blacks in wax museum (unveiling their new barack obama wax statue on january 19!), etc.

here's a list of where i get my info, so you can continue to find cool events on your own--
baltimore metromix
City Paper
Baltimore Collegetown Network
baltimore.org
baltimore fun guide
the creative alliance

have fun exploring charm city!

holiday goodness coming up

so the end of 2008 is upon us but the cool events keep comin':
-tomorrow, thursday december 4, sheila dixon and co. will kick off the holiday season in baltimore with the annual lighting of the washington monument in mt. vernon. festivities start at 5:30 and include fireworks!
-parade of lighted boats in the inner harbor, this saturday december 6 from 5-8 pm
-merry mart, the creative alliance holiday craft sale, will be held on sunday december 7 from 11-5 at their lovely highlandtown space.
-also on december 7, local t-shirt company squidfire is hosting their DIY art mart at the lyric opera house in mount royal from 12-6:30.
-and also on sunday december 7 is the 37th annual mayor's christmas parade in hampden! even if you can't make it to the 2:00 function, make sure you stop by hampden's legendary 34th street to see the wonderful lights!
-binge, a letterpress printing demo, open studio and sale on december 14 from 12-8 in hampden.

now if only we didn't have finals to deal with...

crafty weekend!

guys- baltimore just does not stop coming up with cooler and cooler stuff. there are three awesome events scheduled for this saturday alone. take time to check these out!

tomorrow, thursday november 13, a bunch of nonprofit community leaders will be at goucher to discuss going into that field. meet folks from wide angle youth media, greater homewood corporation, urban leadership institute, community law in action... it is at 7:30 p.m. in the piano room of the t/welsh hall.

charm city craft mafia's holiday heap is taking place on saturday, november 15 from 10 am to 5 pm. check out the 50+ craft vendors selling their wares at the really cool st. john's church, 2640 st paul street in charles village.

also on saturday is this series of free workshops on music & the brain at the american visionary art museum. avam is a must-see even if you can't make it this weekend! demonstrations and concerts will take place from 10:30 am- 9 pm. the visioniary is in federal hill, just a short walk away from the inner harbor (which is easy to get to via the collegetown shuttle or light rail). avam is hosting their own holiday art marketplace, bazaart, on november 29. if this is anything like their gift shop, it will be utterly amazing.

yet another cool event taking place this saturday is caleb stine's round the mountain acoustic extravaganza at the creative alliance. although it is a bit pricey ($17), this will be well worth it considering the amount of talent that will be present. hear the baltimore shape note singers and other folk/traditional musicians at 8 pm. the creative alliance is a really, really cool community arts organization in highlandtown. it's not too hard to get there via public transportation. if you have a car, drive yourself and take a gander through patterson park while you're at it.

apparently wham city will be performing their interpretation of jurrasic park at goucher on sunday night! it is free at 8 pm in pearlstone atrium. it seems like there's just too much going on to fit it all in, but let's try, eh?

great halloween lantern parade

if you live in the baltimore area and don't have plans for next saturday, october 25, i would strongly encourage you to go to the

great halloween lantern parade!

an annual fall tradition in the southeastern neighborhoods around patterson park, city paper named this event the most photo-worthy in this year's best of baltimore issue. over 1000 hand-made paper lanterns will make up this year's jabberwocky-themed parade. if you want to participate, come with your lantern/costume to the pulaski monument at 7 pm. to watch, line up on the east side of linwood avenue by 7:30 pm. they also need volunteers-- if you're interested in setting or cleaning up or being a parade marshal, email the creative alliance.

below are some photos from the past weekend's lantern-making workshops:

free fall baltimore!

free fall baltimore is here!!!
[this blurb also appeared in the quindecim]
baltimore is sometimes a generous city, offering special deals to students, hosting a myriad of public festivals, and sponsoring the third annual free fall baltimore series. spearheaded by mayor sheila dixon's office, free fall baltimore grants free entry into a range of events, museums and cultural experiences. here are a few highlights:
-the homewood museum is offering a guided art walk to the baltimore museum of art, located just adjacent to johns hopkins university. these will take place every saturday in october. to get there, take the collegetown shuttle to hopkins.
-also offering free admission for the month of october is the contemporary museum, an art gallery in mount vernon. they are open from noon to 5 p.m. wednesday through sunday. to get to mount vernon, take the mta #8 bus northbound to lutherville (catch it by the quarter, across from superfresh), and then hop on the light rail southbound and get off at centre street. note that the acclaimed walters art museum, which is free year-round, is located just a stone's throw from the contemporary museum.
-the baltimore streetcar museum, which is only open from noon to 5 p.m. on the weekends, will be free for the month of october. the museum is located on falls road-- another short light rail ride away-- and usually costs $7.
-the babe ruth birthplace & museum will be offering free admission on fridays in october. the museum is located on emory place, close to the stadium at camden yards. this is easily accessible via light rail as well.
-learn about this nation's history at the flag house and star-spangled banner museum, a house located near little italy and the inner harbor. they will be offering free tours at 10 a.m. and noon every day. take the collegetown shuttle to the inner harbor and walk east on pratt street.
-the maryland science center will be open to the public for the first 200 guests to come after 5 p.m. on friday, october 31 (halloween). this includes admission to an imax movie. the museum is in the inner harbor area, which is best accessed via the collegetown shuttle or light rail to the convention center.

in addition to these awesome events, we've got the 35th annual russian festival coming up this weekend, october 17-19. held in east baltimore, it features performances, crafts and plenty of food.

below are some photos from the autumn glory festival held in oakland, maryland (in the very western most part of the state) last weekend. i would really, really recommend checking out western maryland if you have time to drive out there (3-4 hours each way). it is gorgeous this time of year: rolling hills plush with vibrant foliage. we went camping at rocky gap state park, visited the once-booming and now eerily-empty town of cumberland, and could have made it to west virginia and pennsylvania easily but instead chose to stop at antietam battlefield on the way back. also awesome. i saw more mccain signs out there than i ever have here. i definitely felt out of place among the largely older, rural, conservative, religious crowd, but found the town of oakland really interesting.

the festival seem to take over the entire county, ranging from the main parade-- lots of cheerleaders, high school marching bands, shriners and beauty queens-- to glass blowing, clog dancing, choral performances, free admission to the historical museum, a tour of the court house, and many food vendors. we saw a puppet show entitled "autumn declares god's glory," which featured gospel singing puppets proclaiming "jesus saves." very interesting stuff.

book festival!

i know it's supposed to be really dreary this weekend, but the baltimore book festival will be taking over mount vernon place and is totally worth the trip. goucher students and faculty will be reading at 2 pm on sunday afternoon! this was a really interesting event last year and i highly recommend going. you could take the shuttle to the inner harbor and walk to mount vernon, or take the light rail and get off at centre street. enjoy!