A number of us from UMBC have been working with partners from across Baltimore--artists, civic leaders, and faculty, staff and students from local colleges and universities--to plan for the Imagining America conference (October 1-3, 2015). In preparation for a recent meeting of this Baltimore Organizing Group, I put together a rough summary of themes that had come up in our previous meetings: a highly abbreviated account of Baltimore’s distinctive history, and its urgent challenges and opportunities, as seen through the eyes of the group’s members. I'm sharing it because I thought the key themes people came up with are so salient to recent events... (continue reading)