Commentary

There’s nothing particularly pretty about the latest round of maps carving up Maryland’s eight congressional districts — even by preschool finger-painting standards. The shapes fashioned in the four entries produced by a legislative redistricting committee last week are sensible in the rural periphery (the Eastern Shore, Southern Maryland and Western Maryland stay intact), but in the central part of the state, they swirl like the artist dropped her colors by accident. This was no mischance, however; the results were carefully crafted.

Dollar houses have become a sort of urban lore in Baltimore. The fabled William Donald Schaefer-era program breathed new life into neighborhoods like Barre Circle and Otterbein, and most people in Baltimore have heard about someone’s mother or aunt or cousin who was able to grab hold of a piece of the American Dream for just $1 if they promised to fix up a vacant and falling down house. Community members still ask: Can we bring back dollar houses? And over the years, elected officials and candidates for office have opined about the possibility of handing over the keys to vacant, city-owned properties to regular folks, so they can fix them up and live in them and revitalize neighborhoods house by house by house.

Anyone paying attention to climate news, domestic politics, or international relations is well aware of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) underway in Scotland this week. Intertwined in the announcements of emissions reduction commitments or reforestation promises is news about the ever-changing Build Back Better framework. While global leaders meet in Glasgow, here at home the stakes for negotiations on the Build Back Better framework are high. Ambitious climate provisions in the framework demand significant investment, and yet, willingness to pay for them weakens daily.

The continuing pandemic has dramatically altered the nature of work — where, when and how we labor. And within this environment, it is “remote” work that has brought the most significant change. There has always been a wide range of jobs that are “remote-intense” (for want of a better description), such customer service representative, writer, web developer, coder, data analyst and graphic designer. However, the pandemic has forced companies to reconfigure work arrangements so that as many jobs as possible can be performed remotely.

Gov. Larry Hogan’s Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission has proposed a new map of congressional districts that are compact and contiguous, respecting county boundaries and communities. It is a model of what a nonpartisan redistricting process would produce. And it has virtually no chance of being enacted by the Maryland General Assembly. Hogan formally accepted the maps for new congressional and legislative districts drawn by the commission on Nov. 5 and signed documents calling for a special session of the General Assembly on Dec. 6 to redraw the congressional boundaries.

As we honor our veterans this month, I cannot help but reflect on my early days in the Navy when I returned from Vietnam in 1973 aboard my ship after being deployed for 10 months. We were greeted with flags, bands and several thousand proud and happy faces on the pier as we pulled in. It was a very proud day.

For more than 100 years, Americans have set aside Nov. 11 as a day to honor the service and sacrifices of the men and women who have served in the armed forces to defend our country. Initially the day marked the anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I, famously signed at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.

Public education will be contentious in Maryland politics for many years to come. The academic life or death of our schoolchildren — especially those who are poor and of color — will be at stake. While the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future is praiseworthy, it charts a course that won’t be completed until 2034 at the earliest. There are many obstacles and uncertainties that lie ahead. My goal, in past and future commentaries, is to shine light on these looming school issues from inside and outside perspectives.

In July, I found myself in Massachusetts for the wedding of a good friend. While there, I took a day trip that had been on my mind since 2008: I traveled to the working-class town of Beverly, Massachusetts, to visit the grave of Stephen R. Fortunato, killed in action 14 October 2008 in Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan. Stephen was my good friend, my buddy. To me and other soldiers, he was just Fortunato. Fortunato had been in the Army a year longer than me when we both arrived at Fort Hood, Texas.