Year of the City

The Year of the City Panel of Writer’s event revolved around the experiences and writings of four different Baltimore authors. Each author portrayed their views of Baltimore through their literature. The authors that spoke at the Panel were Gregory Kayne, Elizabeth Evitts, Chezia Thompson Cager, and Jane Connelly. First to speak at the Panel was Baltimore Sun columnist writer Gregory Kayne.
Gregory Kayne is a columnist for the newspaper the Baltimore Sun. He objects to tell the truth when writing his column, however, he finds the lack of authoritarian participation in news stories challenging. Kayne stated that despite his persistence in question asking, he is often left with only “no comment” or “under investigation” statements for politicians, public officials, and other authorities. He told the audience that inmates were more willing to give information to him than most public officials. His column is written based on facts with his opinion. He prefers to relate information to the public in a truthful matter. Kayne has been a long time member of the Baltimore community. During the question and answer period of the Panel discussion, Kayne reminisced about the days in which he grew up. When a question about how the “stoop” was a testament of community was posed, Kayne described it as the place where kids grew up. He illustrated the idea of the “stoop” as the meeting place where children plotted mischief. Kayne also spoke about the difference between an article and a column. He said that an article is meant to be a quick read, something to skim for the important facts. A column, however, is meant to be read in its entirety. The end is just as important as the beginning. I thought that this applied to more than just a column but to life in general. No matter how old or young a person is, life is important. The journey is just as important as how it began.
Next to speak at the Panel discussion was Elizabeth Evitts, editor in chief of the Baltimore magazine Urbanite. Over the past couple of years, the magazine has shifted from a small community magazine to a magazine that encompasses all of Baltimore. Since the shift, circulation has changed from around 1500-2000 local readers to 150,000 readers nation wide. The magazine is written in creative non fiction. Evitts said that she has been very much influenced in her work by Jane Jacobs and her Death and Life of Great American Cities. Jacobs wrote about her personal experiences in correlation with the city community related occurrences. Evitts uses her as inspiration in her challenge to be an excellent researcher as well as observer in working at Urbanite. She also works with her colleagues to envelop the spirit of Baltimore with the different lives of the readers in relation to the city in fiction, non fiction, and poetry that is published in the magazine.
Chezia Thompson Cager is a Baltimore poet that gave her presentation in the form of, poetry. She read a poem that she wrote entitled “city woman, country woman.” Throughout her dictation, she expressed the ideas that everything is a poem and writing poetry is a way in which to converse with the world. The idea that everything is a poem reminded me of the “l(a” poem by E.E. Cummings. When reading this poem the question was posed, “What are the limits to which poetry can be pushed?” Cager answers this question by saying that everything is a poem. There are no limits to poetry. It is a boundless entity. Through her excellent oratory skills, Cager was able to project this message without actually stating the question.
Lastly, children’s author Jane Connelly spoke. She read excerpts from two of her literary works and then spoke about life in Baltimore. She told stories about her own personal experiences in Baltimore beginning from her early career at The John’s Hopkins University and volunteering at a medical clinic to being robbed of pets and bikes by young adolescent boys who had little else. Her stories gave light to the different worlds lived in by different people in Baltimore dependent on wealth. She used all of her experiences to write novels involving the realistic culture clashes that exist today.
Each Panel Writer shared something about the city of Baltimore unique to their own personal experience yet they also kept close to the idea of community and humanity. Community and humanity are themes commonly found in literature. Examples of themes of community and humanity found in literature read so far this year include Ihimaera’s Whale Rider, Whitman’s poem “I Sing the Body Electric,” and Komunyakaa’s “Slam, Dunk, and Hook.” These works help to depict each of the author’s ideas about Baltimore as the “Greatest City in America.”