Panel of Writers

On Friday, March 16th, the Loyola Department of Writing hosted a Panel of Writers event in McGuire Hall. The panel consisted of four writers who have been living and working in Baltimore City. Each of the writers was able to discuss both the challenges and the pleasures of writing about such a complex and great city like Baltimore. The four writers of the panel were Gregory Kane, Elizabeth Evitts, Chezia Thompson Cager, and Jane Conly. As a group, they represented a wide variety of backgrounds and were therefore able to give interesting and unique points of view.

The first writer of the group to talk was the short and simple Gregory Kane. He has been a columnist for the Baltimore Sun newspaper for a good amount of time now. Perhaps, I thought that Kane was the most interesting of the four writers. He immediately caught the audience’s attention by making small jokes and trying to relate to the Loyola community. However, Kane still went on to describe his career as a writer in Baltimore. As a columnist, Gregory Kane tries write as closest to the truth as he possibly can. The good part of his job is that there is no end to material he has to write about, from events in politics to incidents in crime. Often times, he struggles with public officials and tries to get them tell him the story of which he wants to write about. The most popular response Kane gets from public officials is that the incident is “under investigation,” which really just means that the officials do not want to let the public know what is going on. For incidents such as these, Kane can easily get the same desired information inmates. Even though it may sometimes be a struggle to get the “truth” in a story, Gregory Kane still enjoys writing because he is able to write about the people in the community of Baltimore.

The next panel writer to talk was Elizabeth Evitts. Evitts is the editor-in-chief of the Urbanite magazine, which is a monthly periodical published in the city. Even though the magazine is concerned with the city, an interesting fact is that 40% of the readers live in the outlying communities of Baltimore. These people that may have been forgotten are the ones that work in and also come to the city for purposes such as entertainment. These people are just as important to the city as they are to the magazine. As editor-in-chief, Elizabeth Evitts usually tries to sit back, and in a way, let the stories of the people tell themselves. This concept that Evitts has developed has been inspired from the great Jane Jacobs. Jacobs had a great talent for playing the role of observer, and using research to make a great story. Writers of Urbanite are able to imitate Jacobs because the magazine is only monthly periodical which follows a certain theme. With this time frame, writers are able “sit” on their story for longer to make sure that it is worthwhile.

The next two writers to speak at the Panel of Writers were Chezia Thompson Cager and Jane Conly. Cager is an accomplished poet essayist and professor at Maryland Institute College of Art, and Conly is an award-winning author of children's literature. Both of these writers read from pieces of their extraordinary works of literature. Using their respective talents, the writers each painted a realistic, yet beautiful picture of Baltimore. Cager said that writing was her way of seeing life, and that despite the problems and issues of the city, she is still proud to call the city of Baltimore her home.

I thought that the Panel of Writers event was very interesting, and even entertaining. As said before, the panel was a very diverse group for only containing four people. In a way, this group represented the clash of cultures that can be found throughout the city of Baltimore. The main point that each of these writers touched upon is that a city definitely needs diverse cultures and it also needs the beautiful architecture to go along with it. However, the most important necessity of a city such as Baltimore is the PEOPLE themselves.