REPORTING

Howard County churches come together to heal after fatal shootings of black men, police officers

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/columbia/ph-ho-cf-community-healing-vid-premiumvideo.html

At a community prayer held Wednesday night at St. John’s Baptist Church in Columbia, high school senior De’Ara Graves talks about her fears following last week’s fatal shootings of two black men by police in Louisiana and Minnesota, and of five police officers in Dallas.

When the Music Stops: Peabody Institute Looks Beyond the Notes

http://chronicle.com/article/Video-A-Music-Conservatory/230005/

For over 150 years, the Peabody Institute has trained generations of classical musicians, including the cello soloist Zuill Bailey and the concert pianist André Watts. Now, faced with declining audiences and crumbling symphony orchestras, the 600-student conservatory, which teaches most orchestral instruments, as well as composition and jazz, is re-examining how to prepare its students for a rapidly changing industry, beyond teaching them how to master the violin, trumpet, or baton.

Howard Community College keeps Kids on Campus with unusual offerings

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/columbia/ph-ho-cf-kids-campus-0714-20160711-story.html

For 30 years, kids have come to Howard Community College’s Columbia campus during the summer to learn about a variety of unusual topics, from duct tape art to special effects makeup to jedi training. Administrators for the summer program, Kids on Campus, try to change over a third of the courses each year to keep students coming back.

Foreign Students Bring Global Exposure to Classmates at HBCU

http://chronicle.com/article/Foreign-Students-Bring-Global/229019/

Kristina Ackerman doesn’t have enough money to study abroad. But Ms. Ackerman, a graduate student in international studies at Morgan State University, found a more affordable opportunity to learn about global cultures through iPals, a program that pairs Morgan State students with international students on the campus to help them get accustomed to college life in the United States.

Muslim Students at U. of Maryland Say They Seek to Be Understood

http://chronicle.com/article/Video-Muslim-Students-at-U/190069/

Hajj, hijab, jummah. Last week Muslim students at the University of Maryland at College Park helped non-Muslim students understand what those words—translated as “pilgrimage,” “headscarf,” and “prayer”—mean in the context of Islam. In doing so they hoped to combat popular misconceptions about their faith.

Their efforts, part of Islam Awareness Week sponsored by the campus’s Muslim Students Association, have taken on added importance since the shooting of three Muslim students near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the subsequent conversation surrounding the hashtag and idea “#MuslimLivesMatter.”

Earlier on the same day as the shooting, Muslim students at College Park invited non-Muslim students to wear a hijab for a day—not only to feel what it’s like to conceal one’s hair but also to understand the hijab’s deeper religious significance.

Some of the Muslim students spoke later with The Chronicle. Above is an edited video of their remarks.

Women in Conducting

Professional conductor Alexandra Arrieche discusses how she got into conducting and why the profession is so difficult for women.

Clown heads and Magic at AT Jones and Sons

A conversation about the golden days of Halloween costumes with George Goebel from AT Jones and Sons, a costume shop founded in Baltimore in 1868.

Baker by Day, Musician by Night

Jenny Smoak is a french horn student at Peabody Conservatory and baker at Dooby’s in Baltimore. She finds common ground between making music and baking.