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Hewitt triplets at nine months

Hewitt triplets at nine months

0 Comment Daily Life, Photo essays, The Baltimore Sun

22 Photos

Since we last visited the Hewitt triplets three months ago, Ollie, Finn and Trip have become giggling, attentive, teething nine-month-olds. The fenced-in play area, once a mellow haven for bottle-feeding, is now a lively scene. Chubby arms and legs propel the boys as they crawl, pull themselves up, stand and play with toys and each other.

The kitchen is also a hub of exploration as the triplets eagerly feed themselves using spoons and fingers. Since the boys have each sprouted two bottom teeth, bottle feedings are interspersed with seated meals. Favorites include pancakes, yogurt, avocado, meatballs, watermelon and zucchini. Teething has presented the greatest challenge, triggering some low-grade fevers, more clingy behavior and sleep disruption – all taking its toll on parents Kristen and Thomas Hewitt Jr. Long daily stroller walks keep the caregivers in shape and providing both stimulation and nap time.

On a recent weekend, paternal grandparents Terry and Thomas Hewitt Sr., of Ramsey, New Jersey, were thrilled to see the changes since their last visit two months ago. “The progress they have made is unbelievable,” Terry remarked. Her husband added that the calmness of the triplets’ parents helps a great deal. “They are not hovering parents, but at the same time they are very protective.” Terry added, “The love that you see the boys have for each other matches how their parents feel. They all love one another.”

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Inside the closed Baltimore City Detention Center

Inside the closed Baltimore City Detention Center

0 Comment Hidden Maryland, Photo essays, The Baltimore Sun

20 Photos

When former corrections officer Lt. Melvin Easley toured the closed Baltimore City Men’s Detention Center recently, he was struck by the silence. The last inmates were relocated in August, and an eerie quiet had settled over the decrepit facility. No more hollering, as inmates tried to communicate across different sections, no more chatter from prisoners or guards, no more keys clanging, grills slamming, whistles blowing or heaters rattling.

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A second look at “Unsettled Journeys”

A second look at “Unsettled Journeys”

1 Comment Photo essays, The Baltimore Sun , ,

30 Photos

Amy Davis, Baltimore Sun

When education reporter Liz Bowie enthusiastically described her special project on refugee students at Patterson High School last winter, I was intrigued because it was a subject I knew little about. The goal was to examine the complex challenges faced by refugee students and the staff in a high school where one-third of the students are immigrants. It took Liz many weeks of observation and interviews to determine which students might best illuminate the varied issues that beset these teens at different stages of assimilation. We had worked together before, so I trusted her judgment as we felt our way along, bouncing observations off each other. As the photographer, I faced a familiar dilemma. Photographers want to be brought in early on a project, yet we don’t want to waste time documenting situations that will never appear in the final story.

See the full series | Part 1: Torn between two worlds

Part 2: Facing hardship, finding resilience | Part 3: The newcomer

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Bel-Loc Diner a Towson landmark for over 50 years

Bel-Loc Diner a Towson landmark for over 50 years

0 Comment Photo essays, The Baltimore Sun , ,

20 Photos

The brand-new Baltimore Beltway gave the 1964 Bel-Loc Diner the front-half of its name. The “Loc” comes from Loch Raven Boulevard, where the stainless-steel diner remains at the intersection with Joppa Road fifty-one years later. Today the Beltway is more congested, but less traffic finds its way to the diner. The jumbo neon sign is not working, and besides, the restaurant closes after the lunch shift. Yet the Bel-Loc perseveres as a Towson landmark, with the boldness of the space-age sixties expressed by its sky-piercing zig-zag roofline.

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Bobby Adams, an artist of unusual vision

Bobby Adams, an artist of unusual vision

0 Comment Photo essays, The Baltimore Sun , , , ,

27 Photos, 1 Video

Bobby Adams, a 69-year old flea market dealer raised in Dundalk, never expected to see his art in a museum. Now Adams, a self-taught photographer, writer and mixed-media artist, is seeing his creative output with new eyes at “The Big Hope Show,” which opened this month at the American Visionary Art Museum. Rebecca Hoffberger, the museum’s director, discovered Adams through another Baltimore original, John Waters. Adams, a hippie in the late 1960s, fell in with the young filmmaker and his renegade collaborators. “Pink Flamingos” was filmed at the Phoenix, Maryland farm where Adams was living. His photographs of those outsider days seem particularly at home at AVAM, the haven for intuitive visionary artists who thrive outside of society’s conventions.
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Senior softball tournament: fun and camaraderie

Senior softball tournament: fun and camaraderie

0 Comment Photo essays, The Baltimore Sun , , , ,

15 Photos, 1 Video

No bunting. No sliding. No stealing. These are some of the rules for the senior softball double elimination tournament held on June 10 at the Charlestown retirement community in Catonsville. There are two first bases and two home plates, to avoid collisions. The only score that matters is having fun.
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Artist Kim Parr Roenigk’s latest creative evolution goes big

Artist Kim Parr Roenigk’s latest creative evolution goes big

0 Comment Photo essays, The Baltimore Sun , , , , , ,

18 Photos

With a flick of her stubby paintbrush, artist Kim Parr Roenigk blocks in the flamboyant gesture of a Flamenco dancer. Another day, her sure hand outlines Matisse-like pineapples. These are some of the images springing to life on a dozen large canvases at her Ellicott City studio. Once completed, the murals will be rolled up and delivered to the boutique Ivy Hotel, under construction in Baltimore City’s Mount Vernon neighborhood. The 1889 mansion at North Calvert and Biddle Streets, originally a private residence, became the city-owned Inn at Government House in the 1980’s. More decorative painting by Roenigk and other local artists is already in place at the luxury private hotel, which is slated to open this summer.

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“Black Lives Matter” march in Baltimore

“Black Lives Matter” march in Baltimore

0 Comment Maryland, The Baltimore Sun , , ,

12 Photos

More than 500 protesters marched from Empowerment Temple Church on Primrose Avenue north on Reisterstown Road to Reisterstown Road Plaza for “Black Lives Matter Sunday.” On Reisterstown Road, near the entrance to the shopping center, the protesters formed a circle and many laid down to stage a die-in to show solidarity with Michael Brown. Brown, a 18-year old black man, was fatally shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. The officer was not indicted, sparking nationwide protests, including this one.

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