Midday

It's another edition of Midday at the Movies, our monthly look at films and filmmaking. Tom is joined today on Zoom by our movie maven regulars: Ann Hornaday, film critic for the Washington Post and author of Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies; and Jed Dietz, founding director of the Maryland Film Festival and a leading player in the restoration of the historic Parkway theater on North Avenue.

Among the new films spotlighted today are Tenet and The Personal History of David Copperfield (both showing on the big screen this week at The Senator); and these virtual (theatrical streaming) films: Palm Springs; Bill and Ted Face the Music; I'm Thinking of Ending Things; Kajillionaire; and the documentaries, The Fight, A Thousand Cuts, Desert One, and Coup 53.

A little later in the hour, Tom talks with Kathleen Lyon, the co-owner of Baltimore's venerable Senator and Charles Theaters, about the Senator's reopening last weekend, after being shuttered by the pandemic for the past six months. Lyon says plans are in the works for the re-opening of the Charles, which continues to host a virtual schedule of films.

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

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

Yesterday, representatives of nine major drug companies signed a pledge promising not to file for federal approval of a Coronavirus vaccine without subjecting their drugs to long accepted scientific and ethical standards and clinical trials. Usually, we put our trust in institutions like the CDC and the FDA to oversee the safety and efficacy in medicine and the food supply. With nearly 190,000 pandemic deaths and 6.3 million infections nationwide, has that trust been eroded?

Dr. Wen is an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University. She is a contributing columnist for The Washington Post and a CNN medical analyst. She served as Baltimore's Health Commissioner from 2015-2018.

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

Today on Midday, it's another Reporters' Notebook edition, as Tom surveys some of the top local and regional news developments with two of the best journalists on the scene.

WYPR State House report Rachel Baye joins Tom first to discuss Maryland Governor Larry Hogan's plans to move the state to so-called "Phase 3" reopening; how the governor's thinking on COVID-19 has evolved since the pandemic's onset in the spring; the sharp differences in the approach to pandemic reopenings being taken by Baltimore City and Ann Arundel counties, for example; and why a large number of Catholic school teachers say they are quitting.

Then, Tom is joined by veteran local newsman Josh Kurtz. He's the co-founder and editor of Maryland Matters, the online news journal covering state politics and government. Among the stories Josh has been following: the resumption of eviction actions in Maryland; the decision by the State Elections Board to no longer require 2-person teams to count some ballots; and State Senate President Bill Ferguson's plan to limit the number of bills individual senators can sponsor.

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

Now, another installment of Midday on Higher Education, our occasional series of conversations with the leadership of the region's colleges and universities.

Tom's guest today is Dr. Darryll J. Pines. He was appointed earlier this year to be the 34th President of the University of Maryland, an office he assumed on July 1st. President Pines holds three degree in engineering, including a doctorate from MIT, and he’s been on the faculty at College Park for more than two decades, serving most recently as the Dean of the Engineering School.

President Darryll Pines joins Tom on Zoom to talk about how the University of Maryland is confronting the twin challenges of the viral pandemic and the national reckoning on racial justice. Dr. Pines explains how the pandemic has delayed the start of in-person instruction until September 14; and how he hopes to implement his ambitious 12-point plan for the university's future.

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

(This program first aired August 11, 2020)

Today, we revisit a conversation Tom had in August with the woman who heads a group of African American psychologists whose approach to counseling and therapy is centered in the traditions of Africa and the African diaspora.

How do the mental health needs of African Americans differ from those of Whites and other ethnicities? What approaches to treatment can be employed that address the particular challenges caused by COVID 19 in the Black community? Can Black psychology be used as a tool to confront institutional and systemic racism?

Tom's guest is Dr. Theopia Jackson. She’s a licensed clinical psychologist and the President of The Association of Black Psychologists. She is Co-Chair of the Department of Humanistic & Clinical Psychology and Chair of the Clinical Psychology degree program at Saybrook University in Pasadena, California. She recently relocated to Maryland after 30+ years of practice in the Bay Area. Dr. Jackson joined us via Zoom.

Because our conversation was recorded earlier, we can’t take any calls and e mails today.


Mental Health Services:


Black Mental Health Alliance or text 443-214- 2642

Mental Health Warm Line: 443-608-9182


Baltimore City – Baltimore Crisis Response, Inc: 410-433-5175


Baltimore County – Baltimore County Crisis Response System: 410-931-2214


First Call for Help (all types of referrals): 410-685-0525 or 211


Suicide Grassroots Crisis Line (suicide intervention hotline): 410-531-6677


Maryland Youth Crisis (suicide and other interventions): 1-800-422-0009


National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)


Domestic Violence and Abuse House of Ruth - Baltimore: 410-889-7884


Hope Works – Howard County: 410-997-0304


Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Hotline: 410-828-6390


National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1- 800-799-7233



This information shared is for educational purposes only and does not serve as treatment. Please contact your healthcare provider for treatment and health concerns.

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

(This program originally aired August 4, 2020)


When the novelist, journalist, playwright and activist James Baldwin died in 1987, his place in the panoply of great American writers was assured. He is remembered as one of the most eloquent observers of the Black experience, and an insightful and compelling critic of racial inequality. He was prolific and provocative, and one of the most important and invigorating public intellectuals of his time.


Dr. Eddie Glaude is one of the most important and invigorating public intellectuals of our time. He is the Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University, and a former president of the American Academy of Religion. In addition to many scholarly books and articles, he enjoys a wide audience as a contributor to MSNBC, and for his essays in publications such as the New York Times, Time Magazine and the Huffington Post.


Eddie Glaude’s latest book draws on his imaginative reading of James Baldwin and his own trenchant observations about the current American moment, as a racist, demagogic president stands for re-election, and while protesters in cities across the nation cry out for the kind of equality Baldwin so eloquently demanded. The book is called Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own.

Eddie Glaude joined us via Zoom…

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

(The original version of this program aired on April 24, 2020)

Some call it “The Uprising.” Some call it “the riots.” Whatever your point of view, the paroxysm of destruction that followed the death in police custody of Freddie Gray, in late April, 2015, exposed old wounds, and created a host of new ones for our city.


Today, we revisit a conversation Tom had earlier this year with Wes Moore and Erica L. Green, two thoughtful observers of Baltimore who examined what happened at that critical moment in our city's history in their new book, called “Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City.”


Wes Moore is the CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, one of the largest anti-poverty organizations in the country. He’s also the New York Times-bestselling author of The Other Wes Moore and is the host of Future City here on WYPR.



Erica Green is an award-winning reporter who covers education for The New York Times. She is a former Baltimore Sun reporter who was part of a team that was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for its breaking news coverage of the death of Freddie Gray and the events that followed.

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

(This program was originally broadcast live on July 22, 2020)

In his provocative new book, The People, No: A Brief History of Anti-Populism, Thomas Frank contends that most of our notions about populism are wrong. Today, “populism” is a term most often used to describe the racist and illiberal philosophies of Donald Trump and far right extremists in America and Europe.


Thomas Frank is the author of nine books, including Listen, Liberal; Pity the Billionaire; The Wrecking Crew; and What's the Matter withKansas? A former columnist for The Wall Street Journal and Harper's, Frank is the founding editor of The Baffler and writes regularly for The Guardian. He lives outside Washington, D.C.

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

(This program originally broadcast live on September 3, 2019)

Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, the founding director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, joins Tom to discuss his latest book, How to Be an Antiracist.

In this follow up to, Stamped From the Beginning, his award-winning 2016 book about the origin of racist ideas, Dr. Kendi’s latest offering is a pragmatic and instructive guide to fighting the roots of racism.

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

(This program was originally broadcast live on July 16, 2020)

Asian Americans have infection rates that are slightly higher than whites, but for the Asian community, the deleterious effects of the Coronavirus pandemic also include an increase in xenophobia and anti-Asian racism.

Dr. Charissa Cheah, and a group of professors at University of Maryland, Baltimore County have studied the prevalence of such racism against the Chinese-American community. She joins Tom with details of their findings.

Dr. Charissa Cheah is a professor of psychology at UMBC. She received a National Science Foundation Rapid Response Research Award this spring to research the effects of racism toward the Chinese-American community during the pandemic. You can read the full report, COVID-19 Racism and Mental Health in Chinese American Families, here.

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