Midday

Tom's first guest today is Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, Commissioner of the Baltimore City Health Department. As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout continues, a new Goucher poll indicates that statewide, African Americans are trying to get vaccinated at rates that are just a few points lower than White Maryland residents. The poll findings contradict those who contend that the inequity in vaccination rates between communities of color and White communities is driven by reluctance or hesitancy as much as by a lack of access to vaccines.

Dr. Letitia Dzirasa has the latest on the city's efforts to ensure equitable access to the growing supply of COVID-19 vaccines. She joins us on Zoom.

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

Today on Midday, as WYPR begins its annual Spring Membership Campaign, it's a special Reporters' Notebook edition, as three members of WYPR's outstanding local news team -- Emily Sullivan, John Lee and Sarah Y. Kim -- join Tom to bring us insight into the Baltimore stories each of them have been covering.

We begin with Emily Sullivan, WYPR's City Hall and Baltimore politics reporter, who discusses highlights from her recent coverage of Mayor Scott's administration: confronting the challenges of COVID 19, appointees to key positions, and changes to the way the Board of Estimates does business.

Then, John Lee, WYPR's Baltimore County reporter, describes how the county school system, even as students and teachers head back to the classroom, is still recovering from last year’s ransomware attack. And he discusses whether County Executive John Olszewski will jump into what will likely be a crowded field in the 2022 Gubernatorial primary.

And Sarah Y. Kim, WYPR's Health and Housing reporter and the station's Report For America/Tony Brandon Fellow, details her reporting on the inequities in access to COVID vaccines that abound for people of color and people with disabilities -- and on what plans are in place to address the imbalance.

Members of the WYPR local news team join Tom on the line.

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

Midday theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Tom now with another look at the pandemic-inspired virtual theater scene. We begin with her review of Cry It Out, a new virtual production from Everyman Theatre of playwright Molly Smith Metzler's comedy about the perils of parenthood. Filmed using COVID-safe techniques, the production is directed by Vincent M. Lancisi, and features Laura C. Harris as Adrienne, and resident company members Megan Anderson as Lina, Beth Hylton as Jessie, and Tony Nam as Mitchell. The production is available for ticketed streaming through April 11. Judy also spotlights Covid Monologues, a new "COVID-19 research-based theater performance" from Single Carrot Theatre. It's part of a federally-sponsored arts project that's working with eight jury-selected playwrights and seven partner theaters to produce theatrical "monologues," based on peer-reviewed public health research on COVID-19. The monologues are being filmed and presented in virtual screenings. To check out the Single Carrot presentation, click here.

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

It’s another edition of Midday at the Movies, our monthly look at films and filmmaking.

We’re joined once again on Zoom by our good friend Ann Hornaday – she’s a film critic for the Washington Post and the author of the bestselling movie-goers’ guide, Talking Pictures: How To Watch Movies.

Also with us on Zoom is our friend Jed Dietz, the founding director of the Maryland Film Festival...

And listeners, we’d love to hear from you today as well. Tell us about the films YOU’VE been watching recently whether you streamed them or if you’ve ventured to watch them on the big screen.

Have you seen any of the films tapped for Golden Globe Awards this year?

Here are links to some of the films we're discussing today:
Minari​, an American odyssey, directed by Lee Isaac Chung, winner of the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. (streamable on Amazon Prime, others)

Malcolm & Marie, a Netflix original romance directed by Sam Levinson, and starring Zendaya and John David Washington. (Netflix)

Nomadland, directed by Chloe Zhao. This semi-documentary portrait of older Americans seeking new lives as nomads won Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture Drama and Best Director, Motion Picture. Its star, Frances McDormand, was a nominee for Best Actress. (Hulu and theaters)

The Father, a moving portrait of dementia, directed by Florian Zeller, and starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Coleman. (in theaters, streaming after March 26)

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

It’s Midday with the Mayor, another in our series of live conversations with the Mayor of Baltimore, Brandon M. Scott.

Among the topics Tom and the Mayor discuss:

The mass vaccination site at M&T Bank Stadium has been open for a week. When Governor Larry Hogan made comments about Baltimore getting more vaccines than it is entitled to, the reaction by the Mayor and other city leaders was immediate and angry. Hogan repeated the comments days later. The racial disparities between those who have received the vaccine and those who haven’t are clear for all to see. What is not clear is whether or not the State’s plan to erase that disparity will be effective.

Yesterday, the Mayor announced a new partnership with Everytown for Gun Safety on a Crime Gun Intelligence Platform, as children ages 10, 12 and 17 were victims of gun violence.

Mayor Brandon Scott joins us on Zoom. Listeners are invited to join as well.

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

Last December, Martha Jones, a historian at Johns Hopkins University, described in a Washington Post oped how her research had revealed that Johns Hopkins, the namesake of her institution, had owned slaves. Long thought to be an abolitionist, Mr. Hopkins, in fact, claimed at least four men as his property in 1850, and prior to that, had used Black people as collateral for a loan.

A couple of weeks ago, Dr. Emilie Amt, the Hildegarde-Pilgram Professor of History at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, published a blog post on a site devoted to African American history that revealed a legacy of slavery at her institution.

To discuss that legacy, and how it connects to the current national reckoning with race, Dr. Amt joins us, along with her colleague and a great friend of Midday, Dr. Terry Anne Scott, an associate professor of American history at Hood. Dr. Scott also directs the college's African American Studies program, and she has been researching a book to be published this fall on the history of lynching. Last August, she published this article about lynching in Truthout, the non-profit news platform.

Dr. Amt and Dr. Scott join us today on Zoom.

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

Tom's guest today is the American author, George Saunders. He’s published hundreds of short stories, and his first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, won the prestigious Man Booker Prize in 2017. Saunders’ short stories have been published in The New Yorker, Harper’s and many other magazines, and collected in best-selling books like The Tenth of December, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and which Time Magazine called one of the ten best books of the decade.

Tom describes George Saunders as "a wholly original, surprising and powerfully imaginative writer whose work is unlike anything I’ve read before. His writing seems to re-invent the rules for how fiction is structured and re-imagine how storytelling can unfold."

In 1997, George Saunders joined the faculty of his graduate school alma mater, Syracuse University. Earlier this year, he published his 11th book, which is a fascinating peroration that draws on his experience in the classroom.

Saunders has chosen seven stories by a quartet of famous Russian authors: Chekhov, Tolstoy, Turgenev, and Gogol. He examines, explains, and riffs on each story, and in the process, with joy and wonder and delight, he offers insight into how we read and how great authors, write.

It’s called A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Masterclass on Writing, Reading, and Life.

George Saunders joins us on Zoom from Oneonta, New York.

At a City Lit Festival event March 17th, George Saunders will lead a virtual (Zoom) Master Class in Anton Chekhov's "The Lady with the Pet Dog." For more information on the event, click here.

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

Today on Midday, an update from the General Assembly in Annapolis with one of the leaders of the Republican caucus in the House of Delegates.

Tom's guest is Delegate Kathy Szeliga. She’s the Minority Whip who represents District 7, including parts of Baltimore and Harford Counties.

Delegate Szeliga and Minority Leader Nic Kipke have headed the House GOP Caucus since 2013, longer than any other Republican caucus leadership in state history, but they have both announced that they will relinquish their roles at the end of the 2021 Session.

There are six weeks left in the Session. “Crossover Day,” when the Senate and the House of Delegates sends bills to each other that each chamber intends to pass, is in three weeks.

Del. Kathy Szeliga joins us from Annapolis, on Zoom.

Listener comments and questions are welcome.

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

Continuing today's focus on the 2021 Maryland General Assembly at the midpoint of its 90-day legislative session, Tom's next guest is Ovetta Wiggins, who covers the Annapolis State House and Maryland politics for The Washington Post.

She discusses the key legislative developments of the 2021 session thus far, including efforts to advance progressive policing reform.

Ovetta Wiggins joins us from Annapolis on Zoom.

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

It’s the Midday Healthwatch with Dr. Leana Wen.

Johnson and Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine, which is being manufactured here in Baltimore, has been approved for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration, adding an important weapon in the fight against the coronavirus. Unlike the vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna, the J&J drug requires only one dose, so it’s much easier to administer. The company is promising 100 million doses by June and a billion doses by the end of the year.

Just under 14% of Marylanders have been inoculated against the virus as of today. More than twice as many White people have been vaccinated than Black people. Only about 4% of those vaccinated so far have been Latino.

Today, Tom talks virus, variants and vaccines with Dr. Leana Wen, who is an emergency physician and a visiting public health professor at George Washington University. She is also a contributing columnist for The Washington Post and an on-air commentator and medical analyst for CNN. Previously, she served as Baltimore's Health Commissioner. She joins us on Skype.

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