Monthly Archives: July 2010

 For the final New Mercury Readings of the summer,  on July 28th,  Heather Dewar, Rafael Alvarez, and Rashod Ollison reminded us why, in the era of newspaper shrinkage, that space was there in the first place.

Rafael Alvarez

Ex-sun reporter Rafael Alvarez’s essay, included in his collection Storyteller gave us a taste of what, back in 1993, old school reporters used to call new school journalism before new school became old school. Now that they’re all out of work, there’s one thing they can agree on:  we’re going to miss 3000 word pieces like this personal and religious meditation on the death of Richard Manuel, the quiet, bearded, and hard-drinking keyboard player for the Band.

Heather Dewar

Heather Dewar, who worked at the Sun from 1998 to 2004 as an environmental reporter, offered a selection from a work-in-progress. The piece, provisionally titled  ”Home Waters,” is a Florida-based voyage into the wilderness of Miami that indicates why Florida’s a nice place to write about, even if you don’t want to live there.  The piece isn’t ready for publication, but those who want to see her latest work are free to check out Urbanite, where she is now an environmental writer.

Rashod Ollison

In “The Invisible Black Homo Blues” (which can get accessed here) Rashod Ollison, who spent six years music and culture critic for the Baltimore Sun before leaving in 2009 –  closed the evening appropriately with a not-so-fond farewell to his former employer and several pseudonymous superiors: Viper, Nerve Button, Do Good White Man, and Used-to-be-Slick. It’s also a heartfelt account of an ambitious arts journalist gradually being strangled into irrelevance by a click-driven, fearful newsroom environment . 

There are many more stories like that — albeit in very different voices — now available in “Telling Our Stories,” a must read site sponsored by the Baltimore Washington Newspaper Guild.

Thanks for coming, it was a great evening, and have a wonderful end-of-summer. Visit this space soon for info on our next meeting, September 11, as we move into a fall season.

Composite Photo by William Hughes

Rafael Alvarez worked at the Baltimore Sun from the time he was 19 — dispatching delivery trucks in the circulation department — to his departure from the City Desk more than 20 years later. In his time at The Sun, Alvarez covered everything from cops and robbers to the last of the Mississippi bluesmen to old Polish ladies squirting down the gutters in front of their East Baltimore homes. His journalism has been anthologized in two books, “Hometown Boy,” and “Storyteller.” Ralph can be reached via the website alvarezfiction.com

Heather Dewar is a native Miamian who grew up around boats. She saw snow for the first time at age 18, as a college student in New England. After graduation she went back to Miami and worked as a reporter for The Miami News and The Miami Herald. Heather has covered cops and courts, hurricanes, riots and fugitive serial killers. In 1990 she found out that the environment beat is a good way to get free boat trips. She has been covering the environment ever since. After a stint at Knight Ridder’s Washington bureau, Heather joined The Sun in 1998. She left the paper six years later to freelance. She is grateful to The Sun for bringing her to Baltimore, immersing her in the Chesapeake Bay, and introducing her to the finest bunch of ex-newspaper people in America. She lives in Lauraville, where she is working on a non-fiction book with the working title “Home Waters.”

Rashod Ollison has been a pop music and culture critic for the Dallas Morning News, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Journal News in Westchester, New York and the Baltimore Sun. He has also contributed Essence magazine, NPR and PBS. In addition to his criticism and features, he has written liner notes for several compilations, including releases on Bill Withers, Aretha Franklin and the Isley Brothers. He is the entertainment writer for The Virginian-Pilot and writes a bi-monthly music and culture column for Jet magazine. He’s a 2000 graduate of the University of Arkansas, where he studied journalism and creative writing. A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, Rashod lives in Virginia Beach.

Reading at Seven O’Clock at Jordan Faye Contemporary, 1401 Light Street in Federal Hill.  Beer and Wine Served. Donations accepted — $5 or whatever works – to help cover rent and expenses.  Post-reading meetup afterwards at the  Centro Tapas Bar, across the street. Event cosponsored by CityLit.

Thanks for coming. It was a great evening, featuring three generations of Baltimore writers, once again reminding us that in this city at least you don’t need to make anything up. (Unless you’re H.L. Mencken…but that’s another story.)

Charles Cohen

Melissa Hale

Charles Cohen, documentary producer and local freelancer, read an essay on Baltimore graffiti artists that we don’t want to give away, but it should be appearing soon.Melissa Hale, Towson graduate and Sun intern, gave the lowdown on Baltimore’s boxing gyms. Washington Post associate editor Steve Luxenberg gave a look at some of the family secrets that he unravels in Annie’s Ghosts.

Steve Luxenberg

Many thanks to Jordan Faye Block for hosting, and check out her latest open Salon exhibit, opening on the first.