Midday

On April 4, 2018, the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, seven Catholic peace activists cut fences and entered the King’s Bay Naval Base in Southeast Georgia, to protest the United States nuclear weapons arsenal. King’s Bay is presumed to be home to several Trident Nuclear Submarines. They called their protest a “Plowshares Action,” inspired by the book of Isaiah, from the famous passage, “They shall beat their swords into plowshares.” The King’s Bay 7, as they have come to be known, were arrested, and held at the Glynn County Detention Center in Brunswick GA.Four of the defendants accepted terms of release that allowed them to return to their homes while they awaited trial. Three of the activists, Elizabeth McAlister, who lived for decades here in Baltimore; a Jesuit priest from New York, Fr. Steve Kelly; and an activist from New Haven, CT, Mark Colville, chose to remain in jail.Fifteen months later, they are still there. Pre-trial hearings were held last November. Another hearing is scheduled before US Judge Lisa Godbey- Wood on August 7th. If the Judge decides to deny the defense motion to dismiss, the case will go to trial.I spoke with Liz McAlister from jail last January, in an interview that aired here on Midday on the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. She had recently celebrated her 79th birthday. This is the second time in her long life of activism that she’s been incarcerated for an extended period. She and the others have been charged with three felonies and a misdemeanor trespassing violation. If convicted, they could face up to 25 years in prison. Part of their defense invokes the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a 1993 law which protects the exercise of religion. That same act was key to the Hobby Lobby case in 2014, in which the company sought to deny its employees health care coverage for contraception because it violated the company’s religious principles. The King’s Bay 7 claim that because the Catholic Church considers nuclear weapons immoral, the Government must accommodate their religious beliefs. There have been more than 100 Plowshares actions since the 1980s. This is the first time a court is being asked to consider this particular line of defense. The founders of our country codified in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States freedoms and liberties that countless people have lost their lives defending, including the revolutionaries whose sacrifice we celebrate this weekend. Those freedoms and liberties were not extended to all at the outset of our founding. Many of those freedoms continue to be elusive for some people for reasons having perhaps less to do with law and more to do with hate and animus. And while the founders could not imagine a group of people like the King’s Bay 7, they did assert that the goal of a government should be to construct a republic in which citizens could flourish in whatever manner that meant for them as individuals. They understood that the pursuit of happiness means something different to every one of us. Elizabeth McAlister and her fellow activists have devoted their lives to the assertion that nuclear annihilation is a real and present danger. They are willing to sacrifice their liberty, comfort and their own pursuit of happiness to protest against our country’s participation in that danger. They are taking a stand, a stand not shared by the overwhelming majority of their fellow citizens, and they are exercising their freedom to discuss and display their convictions in a court of law. As a practical matter, will these Plowshares actions lead to nuclear disarmament in the U.S. or elsewhere? No. But will the King’s Bay 7’s dedication to the cause of peace, and their unrelenting reminders of the dangers of war, serve as an inspiration for others who commit to making our country more tolerant, less racist, fairer, more compassionate? Yes, I think they will. On this Fourth of July, as we celebrate the principals upon which this great nation was formed, and the courage of the founders who risked their lives and liberty to achieve freedom for all of us, let us also acknowledge the courage and sacrifice of people like Elizabeth McAlister for reminding us, from a jail cell in Georgia, what freedom means.

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As we prepare to celebrate America's July 4th Independence Day holiday tomorrow, it's fitting that theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins us today with her review of a little musical that's rolled into Baltimore that tells the story of one of the nation's most celebrated Founding Fathers.The touring production of Hamilton -- the multiple Tony Award-winning musical that was created and launched on Broadway in 2015 by Lin-Manuel Miranda -- opened June 25th at Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre. Miranda's hit show, a sung-and-rapped-through musical bio of Alexander Hamilton that earned the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, was inspired by Ron Chernow's best-selling 2004 biography, Alexander Hamilton. This touring production of Hamilton is the third to traverse the U.S. since the musical's debut. Its cast at the Hippodrome includes Edred Utomi in the title role, Hannah Cruz as Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, and Josh Tower as Aaron Burr. The musical is directed by Thomas Kail, with choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler and music supervision and orchestration by Alex Lacamoire.Hamilton continues at the Hippodrome until Sunday, July 21st. For information about general admission tickets, click here. To register for the $10 Hamilton ticket lottery program, click here.

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Today, a look at the state of American Conservatism with George Will, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author, and Thomas Frank, the author of the best-seller, What’s the Matter with Kansas: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America.

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Tom's guest for the hour is LaFontaine Oliver, who today becomes WYPR's new President and General Manager. Mr. Oliver succeeds Tony Brandon, who shepherded the station when the Your Public Radio Corporation purchased the broadcast license from Johns Hopkins University in 2002. Mr. Oliver, a veteran broadcaster who also serves as a director on the Board of National Public Radio, comes to his new post after six years as the General Manager of NPR affiliate WMFE in Orlando, Florida. Previously, he was general manager at Morgan State University public radio WEAA-FM here in Baltimore, from 2007 to 2013.WYPR is one of 265 NPR member stations, nationwide, all of which are independent and locally owned. About 90 of those stations, including WYPR, are not affiliated with a college or university, but are run by community-based boards of directors.What are the challenges facing our station and other media outlets as we enter this new chapter, in a marketplace of ideas, information and entertainment that includes an unprecedented number of choices?Listeners, this is a chance to weigh in with our new boss to let him know what opportunities you see for WYPR. How can we best contribute to the regional media landscape, and to our communities?The conversation with LaFontaine Oliver was livestreamed on WYPR's Facebook page, and you can watch the video here.

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Tom's guest for today is Maria Hiaasen. Maria’s husband, Rob Hiaasen, was an experienced reporter, columnist and editor at the Capital Gazette who was recently recognized with an award for the mentoring he did with scores of young journalists. Maria has overseen the posthumous publication of a novel by Rob Hiaasen called ----Float Plan----, as well as a collection of his columns called ----Love Punch----. Today, we mark the one year anniversary of the deadliest day in the history of American journalism. It was on this day last year that five members of the staff of the Capital Gazette were murdered in their office in Annapolis. Two others were injured.

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The first segment of today's edition of Midday on the Arts begins with a unique 2012 performance of the popular spiritual ----Wade in the Water,---- featuring vocalist Mashica Winslow.It's not the kind of arrangement, or the kind of symphony orchestra, that you’re likely to hear in most churches or concert halls. Winslow was performing with the Soulful Symphony, an eclectic, 75-piece orchestra founded nearly 20 years ago here in Baltimore by Tom's first guest today, Darin Atwater. Soulful Symphony is one of the few classical ensembles in the country whose artistic personnel is largely African-American and Hispanic. On Saturday night, they are performing their first concert in their new home: the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia. For more information on Soulful Symphony's June 29 concert and their 2019 summer performance schedule, click here.

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In the second segment of today's edition of Midday on the Arts, Tom welcomes to Studio A the legendary blues musician and storyteller, Guy Davis. Davis is also an author, a playwright, a teacher, and an actor in films,TV and on Broadway, and the son of actors/civil rights activists Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis. Guy has returned to this year's Common Ground on the Hill workshop and concert series which got underway earlier this week in Westminster, MarylandTom is also joined by the festival’s founder and executive director, Walt Michael, who is also a renowned blue grass musician and a master of the hammered dulcimer. Guy Davis's latest CD is the 2016 release, Sonny ---- Brownie’s Last Train – A Look Back at Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry. You can catch Guy Davis tonight at 8:00pm on the campus of McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland, where he will join the staff of the Common Ground on the Hill in a Blues Night concert.For a complete schedule of ongoing concerts and workshops at Common Ground on the Hill's Traditions Weeks series at McDaniels College, and for information about its 22nd Annual Roots Music and Arts Festival on Saturday, July 13th at the Carroll County Farm Museum in Westminster, click here.

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In the closing segment of today's edition of Midday on the Arts, theater critic J. Wynn Rousuck joins Tom in the studio for another of her weekly reviews of Maryland's regional stage. Today, she talks about the new production of Steel Magnolias at Baltimore's Spotlighters Theatre.Robert Harling's play, which premiered in 1987 at the WPA Theater, New York City's Off-Off Broadway mainstay, is a comedy-drama that explores the bond among a group of Southern women in northwest Louisiana. Set entirely in a hair salon, the play is based on Harling's experiences surrounding his sister's death.Directed at Spotlighters by Fuzz Roark (with Assistant Director Paul Saar), Steel Magnolias' all-female cast includes Suzanne Young as Truvy Jones, Valerie Lash as Louisa (Ouiser) Boudreaux, Karen Starliper as Shelby Eatenton-Latcherie, and Melanie Bishop as Mary Lynn Eatenton.Steel Magnolias continues at Spotlighters Theatre until Sunday, July 14. For more info, click here.

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Tom's guest today is writer and advocate Irshad Manji.In her new book, Don't Label Me: An Incredible Conversation for Divided Times, Manji examines the rhetoric we use when discussing “the other,” and how changing that rhetoric can lead to more understanding.

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On a Midday show last August 15, we spoke with three teachers from the Baltimore City Public Schools about their career choices, their experiences in the classroom, and their plans, hopes and aspirations for the coming school year. Enrollment in city schools continues to trend down, but graduation rates are up, and hopes are high as the recommendations of the Kirwan Commission on Education Reform begin to get implemented. On this edition of Midday on Education, the same teachers are back to talk about how things went this year in their classrooms, and to share their take on what’s ahead for the system, and their students.Robert Marinelli heads the Science Department at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, one of the city’s premiere city-wide high schools. They join Tom in the studio for the hour.This conversation was livestreamed, and you can watch the video on WYPR's Facebook page.

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