Essays
Looking for a Second Chance?
Yesterday I slipped across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to have brunch in Baltimore’s fun and funky Hampden neighborhood. On the way out of town, I stopped in to explore Baltimore’s Second Chance store - a warehouse covering three city blocks filled with deconstructed building materials, donated furniture, statuary and masonry - just an incredible collection of the discarded looking for, well, a second chance.
Fans of The Wire will recognize this statue of Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore and first proprietor of Maryland. It was created for the show and would look great in your garden.
Other oddities and treasures are scattered through the enormous warehouse space. It may not be on a list of Baltimore tourist spots, but it’s definitely a place to explore, a place where every piece of inventory comes with its own backstory.
"Who Am I? Why Am I Here?"
This is how Vice Admiral James Stockdale introduced himself to America 34 years ago at the start of the 1992 vice presidential debate. He was on the ticket with third-party candidate H. Ross Perot, sharing the stage with Dan Quayle and Al Gore.
Stockdale had all the presence of a confused grandpa who’d wandered out of his assisted living facility. Late night comedians savaged him, and he became the subject of one of SNL’s most famous cold opens.
The thing is, Stockdale wasn’t a demented grandpa. He was an American hero.
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