Midday

Nike coined the famous phrase, “Just do it.” For William Donald Schaefer, a powerhouse of Maryland politics at the local and state level for 50 years, it was “Do it now.”

That phrase, for years, scribbled on memos to Mr. Schaefer’s cowering staff, is also the title of a new musical based on Schaefer’s life.

The musical opens a sold-out debut run at the Fells Point Corner Theater tonight. It’s part of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival.

It’s the brainchild of the musician/composer Jonathan Jensen, and the actor/director Rich Espey. They join Tom here in Studio A.

Check the Fells Point Corner Theater website for additional options for acquiring tickets for the sold-out show, which runs through July 31st.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

And now, a conversation with the man in charge of keeping Baltimore’s 262 parks, 43 recreation centers, and dozens of pools, athletic fields, tennis and basketball courts and hiking trails in good order.

Reginald Moore was appointed the executive director of the Department of Recreation and Parks in 2017.

Rec and Parks Director Reginald Moore joins us on Zoom.

You are welcome to join us too. What’s your favorite park? Have you checked out one of the recently rehabbed pools? Let us know what you like to do for fun in our city... 

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

An arrest has been made in the investigation into the murder of Timothy Reynolds, who was fatally shot during an altercation with boys who were squeegeeing in the Inner Harbor last week.

Baltimore City Police Commissioner Michael Harrison joins Tom on Zoom from his office in downtown Baltimore with the latest on the investigation…

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

It's time for another visit with Midday theater critis J. Wynn Rousuck, who joins Tom each week with her reviews of Maryland's regional stage. Today, she spotlights Mean Girls, the hit Broadway musical whose touring company production is now on stage at Baltimore's Hippodrome Theater.

The satirical musical comedy about high-school social pecking orders is the product of an award-winning creative team, including director Casey Nicholaw (Aladdin, The Book of Mormon), composer Jeff Richmond (“30 Rock,” “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”), lyricist Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde), and book writer Tina Fey (“30 Rock,” Bossypants).

Mean Girls continues at the Hippodrome through Sunday, July 17. Follow the links for more information.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Today, we continue a series of conversations with educational leaders in the state of Maryland. We began our Midday on Higher Education series in 2018, speaking with college and university presidents throughout Maryland about the ways their institutions, large and small, fit into the communities in which they are located, and what they contribute to the state’s workforce and quality of life. We suspended these conversations for the most part during the pandemic, and I am happy to revive them today with Dr. Anthony Jenkins, the president of Coppin State University.

Coppin State is one of four Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in Maryland, and along with Morgan State, one of two here in Baltimore. Dr. Jenkins grew up in Washington, DC. He comes to Baltimore after serving as the President of West Virginia State University.

He was appointed President of Coppin State in May, 2020, when his campus was empty of students due to the coronavirus. Students have been back for a while, but Coppin is dealing with a decline in enrollment, a situation that most schools are experiencing across the country.

Dr. Anthon Jenkins joins us on Zoom. 

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Now, we turn to the Baltimore-based author and journalist Baynard Woods. His last book, written with Brandon Soderberg, was a chronicle of corruption in the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force. It’s called I Got a Monster: The Rise and Fall of America’s Most Corrupt Police Squad.

His latest book is a memoir that chronicles his reckoning with the legacy of his own family’s moral corruption as slave holders in South Carolina, and how he has tried to come to grips with his own culpability in advancing, however unwittingly, white supremacy. It’s an unflinching exploration of how an anti-racist attempts to reconcile the racist past of his family and people he was close to.

It's called Inheritance: An Autobiography of Whiteness. 

Baynard Woods joins us on Zoom. _______________________________________

Baynard Woods will be signing copies of his book tomorrow night (Thursday, July 14) from 6-8pm at the Urban Reads Bookstore at 3008 Greenmount Ave., Baltimore 21218. Follow the link for more information.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

We begin today with another edition of Midday with the Mayor, our monthly series of live conversations with Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott, in which he addresses Tom's questions about important issues facing the city.

Last week, the Mayor released what he called a one-year progress report on his violence prevention plan. He calls the last 18 months a “foundational” period for his Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, and he asserts that the agency charged with making Baltimore streets safer has made significant achievements.

Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott joins us on Zoom from his office at City Hall…

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

In 1985, in response to complaints about squeegeeing, the Baltimore City Council passed an ordinance prohibiting selling goods or services on the street by a vote of 18-1. The bill was initially opposed by the seven African American members of the council at that time, but they were eventually convinced that the bill wasn’t a racist attempt to fine and jail young Black men. Concerns at the time included the bill might also prohibit members of the Nation of Islam from selling pies, or other vendors from selling newspapers.

That same year, and remember this is almost 40 years ago, the city’s Neighborhood Progress Administration created a pilot program to train youths, aged 9 to 13, about courtesy, proper clothing, grooming, correct use of squeegee equipment and safety measures.A steady stream of programs and initiatives followed in subsequent Mayoral administrations, the most recent of which is a 90 day “Squeegee Action Plan” introduced by the Scott administration last November.

Police say they have identified a 15 year old “person of interest” in the death of Timothy Reynolds, a 48-year-old mechanical engineer from Hampden, who was killed on Thursday during an altercation with a group of squeegee people.The debate about squeegeeing continues, beginning with what to call the mostly boys and men who populate several corners throughout the city. Are they squeegee kids? Some aren’t kids, but many are. Are they squeegee workers? Many would suggest that they are at best, panhandling and at worst, extorting money from intimidated drivers. Some have taken to calling them squeegee thugs, which perhaps makes them feel better somehow. Some of the people who squeegee have, in fact, robbed drivers and vandalized cars. Most cars get through squeegee corners without incident, and many drivers give these young men money. The practice of squeegeeing continues because it is profitable for most of the people doing it.

As we have done on several other occasions here on Midday, let’s spend the hour today talking about what squeegeeing means for the young people who do it, for the quality of life in our city, and for the capacity of city government to address the challenges of poverty and employment.

So, let us know what you think…our number is 410.662.8780. You can email us at [email protected], or Tweet us: @MiddayWYPR.

Joining Tom today are two city officials who are on the front lines of Baltimore’s efforts to create alternative opportunities for the people who are squeegeeing.

Faith Leach is the Deputy Mayor of Equity, Health and Human Services. In that role, she oversees Recreation and Parks, Library Services, Homeless Services, immigrant affairs, the City’s COVID-19 public health response, and the Mayor’s Office of African American Male Engagement…

Dr. Andrey Bundley is an experienced educator who serves as the Director of the Mayor’s Office of African American Male Engagement…

They join us on Zoom from City Hall..

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Now, Tom turns to an author, advocate and activist who is working for justice and reconciliation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Catholics.

Francis DeBernardo has been the executive director of New Ways Ministry for 26 years. He’s also the author of a book about a gay Franciscan priest renowned for having died trying to save victims of the terrorist attack in New York on 9/11.

It’s called Mychal Judge: Take Me Where You Want to Go. Francis DeBernardo joins us on Zoom (and later, by phone).

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.

Today, conversations about advocacy on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community. A little later in the show, Tom speaks with Francis DeBernardo, the executive director of New Ways Ministry, a national organization that advocates for LGBTQ Catholics.

But we begin with Londyn Smith de Richelieu, the first trans member of Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s cabinet, and the director of the Mayor’s new Office for LGBTQ Affairs. She joins us on Zoom from Baltimore.

Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.