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“Restoring Baltimore” neighborhood documentaries to premiere at Loyolapalooza

Loyola’s Restoring Baltimore program will screen the video records of a series of oral histories compiled by members of the College’s Advanced Studies in Communication class during the Loyolapalooza festival on Sunday, April 29.  The screenings will take place at 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. in McManus Theatre on the College’s North Charles Street campus.

Restoring Baltimore coordinates projects developed by several Communication Department classes, ranging from audio/visual production to public relations and journalism. One specific class allowed students not registered in one of the related courses to participate in the project, coordinate their work and receive credit for it.  Originated last summer by John Devecka of WLOY Loyola College Radio and coordinated throughout the year by Rev. Michael Braden, S.J., a member of the Communication faculty, the project aims to document the ongoing revitalization of Baltimore’s neighborhoods, landmarks and homes through various media, and to explore the impact the progress has on the people living in these communities.

The project was specifically designed to encourage Loyola students to venture off campus and into the city. 

“We wanted students to see the city beyond the taxi routes to Fells Point and the York Road corridor, and to meet the people in this city who work hard every day to improve their neighborhoods and make this city livable for all its residents – sometimes against great odds,” says Braden.

The first half of the semester was spent in six different Baltimore neighborhoods – Lauraville, Pigtown/Mt. Washington, Sandtown, Ashburton, Middle East, and Govans – where students conducted research and recorded oral histories offered by neighborhood residents.  The videos to be screened were edited in the second half of the semester and are but a sampling of the kind of information contained in the larger oral history record.

The class, comprising students from all specialties, was split into teams assigned to each neighborhood and asked to capture three oral histories and write a neighborhood profile or story.  A team captain was charged with setting meetings, assigning team members to jobs and updating faculty on progress. All team members participated in filming the interviews, transcribing them, writing the neighborhood stories and editing the 40-minute interviews into 10-minute features. 

“All the students had to cooperate to make a large project – a project beyond the means of any single student – a success,” said Braden.

And though the College invited experts from the city and beyond to come to the campus and discus the problems of Baltimore and urban areas in general, the project was specifically aimed at getting students off campus to personally encounter the people of Baltimore, to begin to understand the problems and possibilities of the city as it affects real people and to experience the power of their medial skills to make the stories available to others.

 “The project goal was for oral histories, but we learned so much more in the process,” said Jennifer Burke, the Ashburton neighborhood team captain and the project’s director of public relations.  “I myself know so much more about Baltimore and really connected with people in the neighborhood.  I have a whole new appreciation for Baltimore, and I think the Loyola Community will be really surprised to see how much history Baltimore has to offer.”

Student Activists Receive Recognition for Changing the World

Students Sharing Coalition (SSC) and the Athena Collaborative of Loyola College in Maryland will host a celebration for the publication of Changing the World Around Me: Profiles in Youth Activism, the culmination of a semester-long project between SSC and Loyola College  students and professors in the Writing and Communication Departments. The celebration will be held April 26, 2007 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Andrew White Student Center on the North Charles Street campus. Marty Bass, anchorman from WJZ-TV, will be act as master of ceremonies.

This sneak peek at the new book will be part of SSC’s annual awards ceremony.  The Honorable Catherine Curran O’Malley will be present to confer the four Scholarships for Service Awards-- $1000 tuition scholarships awarded to area high school students who have given extraordinary service to their community in recognition for their strong civic leadership.

 “The Profiles in Youth Activism book project has been a true collaboration between students, Loyola faculty and a non-profit that is meant to invigorate our community and provide acknowledgement to the power of youth,” said Linda Kohler, Executive Director of SSC.

 Profiling 18 student youth activists within the Baltimore community who have been involved with SSC over the past ten years, the book is intended will serve as a model, an inspiration, and a source of information on the lives, lessons and insights of young activists.  The SSC student leaders were interviewed by Loyola College students, who then wrote the profiles, along with other Loyola students who researched and wrote the rest of the book and designed and executed all the graphics and formats for the book, as form of service learning and civic engagement component of their coursework.  

Students Sharing is a non-profit organization based in Baltimore, MD.   Its mission is to provide meaningful service and civic engagement experiences to students from diverse backgrounds with the goal of developing these students into knowledgeable and responsible citizens, who take responsibility for their community and are committed to social justice.

Vintage elegance

Mount Vernon, just north of downtown Baltimore, is just 10 blocks from the Inner Harbor, but feels a world away from the hubbub of the city’s central tourist district. Bounded by Mt. Royal Avenue to the north, Mulberry Street to the south, Guilford Street to the east and Howard Street to the west, the National Landmark Historic District is known as Baltimore’s cultural center.

One of the city’s oldest neighborhoods, Mt. Vernon was once home to the city’s wealthiest and most fashionable citizens. The nation’s first Washington Monument, begun in 1815 and completed in 1829, remains the city’s social nucleus and defining feature of the neighborhood, whose name also pays tribute to good old George: it derives from the name of his home in Virginia. For just $1, visitors can trek the 228 steps to take in the panoramic view from the top. 

Today, the neighborhood is mostly residential, but also boasts a wide range of daytime and nightlife entertainment options.  There are more than 35 restaurants, ranging from the five-star Brass Elephant to the sexy Red Maple Lounge to the low-in-price-but-not-in-taste Howard’s Deli.  Mount Vernon also has more than 100 shops, ranging from supermarkets to bookstores to boutiques.  The neighborhood’s five-block Antique Row boast 15 unique shops.

Mainly, however, Mount Vernon is a site of culture.  The four garden squares flanking the monument are surrounded by the Walters Art Museum, the Peabody Institute and the largest row homes in Baltimore.

The nearby Lyric Opera house features much more than opera, which continues to thrive in the city today; comedians, magicians, motivational speakers and hypnotists all include stops at the Lyric on their tours.  The Meyerhoff Symphony Hall houses the Baltimore’s Symphony Orchestra. CenterStage, Maryland’s State Theater and leading professional company, operates out of Loyola College’s second campus on Calvert Street. Other neighborhood cultural highlights include the Contemporary Museum, dedicating to inviting artists to collaborate with Baltimore community members on projects of civic interest, and the Maryland Historical Society, which features a museum, library, press and education programs.

Mt. Vernon hosts a number of highly anticipated annual events, including the Baltimore Flower Mart in May, Artscape in June, September’s Baltimore Book Festival and the Monument Lighting in December, Baltimore’s unofficial kick-off to the holiday season.

The neighborhood is one of the city’s most accessible, with several bus routes, light rail and metro stops, and Penn Station just a few blocks to the north.