Bry Reed
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Articles by Bry Reed
A closer look at stress and success in Baltimore’s restaurant economy
How many James Beard Award nods does it take to get a city recognized as a food city? In the last five years, Baltimore’s restaurant scene has earned praise and curiosity from the in-crowd of culinary awards. At the same time, the revolving door of high commercial rent and bad actors blaming their restaurant’s failure on crime makes restaurant discourse a tense topic in town.
A closer look at stress and success in Baltimore’s restaurant economy
48 Hours in Pittsburgh: The Itinerary That Will Make You Fall in Love with the Steel City Pittsburgh doesn’t always get the attention it deserves, but this underrated city has transformed into one of the most enjoyable weekend destinations …
What’s Poppin’ #88
Davu Seru, from Minnesota, is one of dozens of musicians who will be improvising at the High Zero festival. Credit: Keith Miesel High Zero, The Theatre Project, 45 W. Preston Street. September 24 to 27, times vary.
Bry Reed: My family has made seafood salad for generations
I’d know a cookout was coming by the shopping cart at the grocery store. As a kid in the early aughts, rarely permitted to listen in on adult conversations (especially when they found out I was too literate for the classic spell-out-the-obscenity-so-the-baby-doesn’t-pick-up-our-bad-habits trick), these occasions snuck up on me. Nobody asked me what Saturday worked best for my busy schedule! Any major plans would’ve had to fit between clarinet practice and hours of playing WWE Smackdown! vs.
Bry Reed: Three recent books by local scholars analyze different aspects of police power
Six years ago, during a different too-hot summer, protest footage dominated the news. On broadcasts, CNN, MSNBC, and other mainstream desks filled the evening slot with overhead shots of city centers taken over by marches in response to the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. In print, staff writers and opinion columnists weighed in on the cost of police violence. In 2020, Baltimore and Maryland at large saw the same shift as the rest of the nation: more marches and more repression.
Bry Reed: Learning about the ghosts and grief of the queer neighbors Baltimore lost during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic
Baltimore’s queer history is a tale interwoven with stories of the city’s shifts pre and postindustrialization. At the height of factory and port work in the 1930s and 1940s, Baltimore’s population soared with the arrival of Black Southern farmers and Eastern European immigrants. At the same time, queer parties and performances, at the time labelled “pansy balls,” as documented by the AFRO American Newspaper, point to parallel growth of queer communities in the city too.
Bry Reed: No singular solution exists for young artists
My life as an artist did not begin when I got published in print or won an award. It began in the smaller moments. As a kid, I asked my mother every loose question rolling around in my dome on the bus rides back home from whichever errand we ran that day. From there, likely motivated by her own need for peace and quiet, she encouraged me to find my own answers in books — not dismissively, but practically.
What’s Poppin Issue #081
Toni Cade Bambara in Praxis Weekend: Lessons in Care, Sisterhood, and Cultural Work, April 10 to 11, various times and locations. “She’s helped me name myself,” says Sharayna Christmas of Baltimore’s Muse 360 on Toni Cade Bambara. Bambara, a pillar of Black organizing and Black artistry most known for her novel “The Salt Eaters,” passed away in 1995. Christmas, a teen at the time, learned about Bambara’s importance from her mother.
Maryland Film Festival returns
The 27th Maryland Film Festival brings 140 movies to Baltimore April 8-12. The Beat rounds up eleven favorites, including a horror short about gentrification, a story about stealing cars in Baltimore, an uncomfortable epic about the parasocial ouroboros of streaming, and an animated feature about a queer filmmaker from Morocco living in New York, plus documentaries.
Munchies
Pollo Burrito from El Mixteco plus Chips, Guac, and a Jamaica for the road 229 S. Broadway This local spot on South Broadway doesn’t get nearly enough love. The chicken burrito is a prime example of burritos done right, with standard orders including rice, black beans, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, and chargrilled chicken. The char on the tortilla is the exclamation on top of this classic post-toke meal. Why is this a top-tier munchie?
Maryland’s March Madness momentum
Maryland basketball players and March Madness are a match made in heaven. The stars and stories that make March a basketball lover’s dream and bracket nightmare are abundant. From Carmelo Anthony winning Syracuse’s first National Championship title in 2003 to Angel Reese’s historic run for the 2023 National Championship with LSU, hometown hoopers make waves on every stage.
The beauty of art and intergenerational connection in Baltimore
“It’s like all the grant and fellowship applications dry up after 30,” my dear friend says to me as I chop onions and garlic. We’re on the phone regaling each other with the happenings of the day, as we often are during the week, and we land on the subject of arts funding and craft. They, a visual artist and filmmaker months away from the big 3-0, and I, a writer squarely planted in my late 20s. Their qualm about arts funding and grant opportunities isn’t new.
The beauty of art and intergenerational connection in Baltimore
“It’s like all the grant and fellowship applications dry up after 30,” my dear friend says to me as I chop onions and garlic. We’re on the phone regaling each other with the happenings of the day, as we often are during the week, and we land on the subject of arts funding and craft. They, a visual artist and filmmaker months away from the big 3-0, and I, a writer squarely planted in my late 20s. Their qualm about arts funding and grant opportunities isn’t new.
Righting the past and forging worthy futures
In 2024, while visiting AFRO Charities’ processing team at the Maryland State Archives, lead archivist Megan McShea told me about their effort to process the entire collection before moving to their permanent home in the renovated Upton Mansion. With plans to open the Martha E. Murphy Research Institute in 2027, the team has spent years reorganizing the records and materials housed in the historic, massive collection.
Tené Wilder’s career is a testament of faith and family
When I meet Tené Wilder at Mama Koko’s, the bustling midtown cafe and restaurant tucked inside Hooper House on E. 23rd Street, she is smiling from ear to ear. Her curly hair is styled in a shoulder-length brown bob with honey-blonde highlights framing her face. The style feels elegant and free as she spots me near the restaurant’s back bar. Moments later, we’re deep in conversation about her success in Hollywood.
The Baltimore August Wilson Celebration honors the epic lives of working-class Black folks
In September 2024, I sat at Mera Kitchen across from two friends, both musicians, visiting from Philadelphia. As we ate, I gushed about the play I’d just finished reading: “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” by August Wilson. Between bites of rice and plantain, I continued on about how Baltimore’s theater community was taking on the novel feat of performing Wilson’s American “Century Cycle.” “No city has ever performed them all.
Poetry, radicalism, and economic development rest together uneasily in Mark Anthony Thomas’ beautifully shot short film
By day, Mark Anthony Thomas is the president and CEO of the Greater Baltimore Committee, an organization shaping Baltimore’s economic development. Now he wants Baltimore to recognize he’s a poet with stories to tell outside the boardroom. Speaking with Thomas before watching the film helped me learn about his early interest in storytelling and where Baltimore fits into his story. “I don’t foresee leaving Baltimore and going to work in another city,” says Thomas about planting roots in town.
Best Of 2025: Arts & Culture
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Sounds by Seven With family roots from the Black Belt to Brooklyn, Xavier Walker is picking up undeniable steam as a newcomer to Baltimore a little over three years ago. Known by many as Sounds by Seven, Walker proudly embodies the role of the DJ as archivist, curating spaces for Black queer joy, community wellness, and artistic excellence that we count ourselves lucky to have been able to experience at our Summer Jam this July.
By Eze Jackson, Lisa Snowden Verified, Baynard Woods, Grace Hebron, Rahne Alexander, E. Brady Robinson, Bry Reed, Alejandro Danois
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Baltimore Beat
Verified
Best Of 2025: For the Culture
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Old Major In one of its lower moments, the now-defunct Baltimore City Paper labeled a section of Southwest Baltimore as Scareyscape, based on the street signs for S. Carey Street (which have since added an ‘o’ so that it is So. Carey St.). It was dumb, but unfortunately a lot of Baltimore’s art and literature scenes seem to do their best to stay out of Southwest, seeming to envision a book community that stretches from Waverly to Hampden.
By Baynard Woods, Lisa Snowden Verified, Sanya Kamidi, Kori Skillman, Tamara Young, Grace Hebron, Bry Reed
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Baltimore Beat
Verified
“For evil is in the world: it may be in the world to stay.” – James Baldwin, 1961. The allure of the politician as charismatic, desirable, witty, well-read, and all-American is the lifeblood of our evening news and the morning paper. Which candidate do you want to have a beer with? Who can kiss your baby? How can they court your vote? Whether it’s church basements, schoolyard visits, or the perfect family photo, there’s a stage for every potential politician to shine.
Lawrence Burney’s ‘No Sense in Wishing’ is a critical debut
Imagine the book as a detailed transcript of the best road trip conversation you’ve had in ages, accompanied by a robust playlist. Each new story transports you to the scene as the soundtrack of Burney’s life plays on. By the final chapters, “Time Is Very Precious” and “MIKE’s World,” Burney delivers a critical perspective on music, culture, and the political commitments needed to survive the rising tide of a conservative milieu and rampant misinformation.
Charm City Classics: Remembering the places that brought working-class Baltimoreans together
Baltimore natives might have noticed the recent rise in coverage by national publications like Bon Appétit and visits from foodies across the East Coast, shining a spotlight on some hometown favorites and a few newer spots. But my mind wanders to the places that aren’t going viral — the spots that may no longer exist, yet hold lots of memories for locals and Baltimore natives. What are the gone-but-not-forgotten Baltimore gems in the culinary scene?
Jalen Eutsey’s latest chapbook, Bubblegum Stadium, is a marriage of verse and memoir, born from the poet’s unexpected longing for home in his early 20s. The collection, an exciting and cherished glance into his Miami, strays away from South Beach in favor of an otherwise world where a West Perrine Park baseball diamond transcends the majors through memory. What began as a documentary film idea morphs into a well-rounded collection worthy of all of our time.
Bry Reed: Nearly 10 years later, Ballmore continues to be a place of joy and connection
It’s the first sunny Wednesday in weeks this summer, and Patterson Park swells with people. The expansive green space in the middle of East Baltimore is lively as Jordan Carter and I seek out the eight hoops that make up the park’s basketball courts. The competition for court space is thick. Across the courts, all ages have shown up in the 85-degree weather to hoop as the evening crowd converges.
Gabby Samone is bringing Baltimore with her
Gabby Samone is a talented Baltimore native on a mission to move communities through her music. The 23-year-old singer wowed audiences and viewers at home with her evocative, passionate ballads on the latest season of “American Idol.” Now after dazzling her hometown on this year’s Artscape mainstage, she’s preparing to introduce the world to her original songs. I spoke with the rising star about her early inspirations and why “American Idol” is not the end of the road.
Bry Reed: To grow the game, the WNBA needs to market all of its stars
On Wednesday, May 28, I joined 11,000 other fans in welcoming the Washington Mystics to downtown Baltimore. The team, now coached by Sydney Johnson, a Towson Catholic High alum (previously on staff with the Chicago Sky), is led by veteran guard Brittney Sykes and Virginia native Shakira Austin. Their opponents for the evening were the Indiana Fever, featuring a roster full of champions, veterans, and rising stars in the league.
Prose to the People: A Celebration of Black Bookstores
Katie Mitchell of Atlanta, Georgia, is a writer, reader, and researcher whose online bookshop Good Books ATL offers vintage and contemporary reads from Black authors. As of last month, Mitchell is the author of her first book titled, “Prose to the People: A Celebration of Black Bookstores.” In March, I had the opportunity to speak with Mitchell about the book’s genesis, her travels, and the recurring themes throughout the text that allude to a larger history of surveillance for Black communities.
Black in Blues: Imani Perry at Enoch Pratt Free Library’s 37th Annual Booklovers' Breakfast
The Enoch Pratt Free Library held its 37th annual Booklovers’ Breakfast at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront on February 1, marking the beginning of Black History Month programming for one of the oldest public library systems in the United States. This annual event brings together hundreds of book club members, library enthusiasts, and community members from across the mid-Atlantic to Baltimore City to celebrate literacy and learn about the Pratt’s plans for the upcoming year.
Out of Many, One
At Everyman Theatre, a hazy purple and tangerine sunset lights the stage as the three-pane backdrop conjures the image of a mountainous Vermont skyline. Under the supervision of dedicated ushers, the crowd settles in for the opening night of “Queens Girl: Black in the Green Mountains.” The play is the final show in a trilogy of solo performances from playwright Caleen Sinnette Jennings.
Book Review: Tiffany D. Jackson’s ‘Storm: Dawn of a Goddess’
Last month, a new Marvel title hit shelves courtesy of Tiffany D. Jackson. The author of “Grown,” “What Happened to Monday,” and “The Weight of Blood” brings a young Ororo Munroe — the child who will become the superhero Storm — to life in “Storm: Dawn of a Goddess.” Jackson’s latest release is a delightful YA novel grounded in Storm’s East African origins and the hardships of teenage girlhood.
The Book of Juju: Juju Bae talks about her new book, Baltimore's old spirits, and honoring the ancestors
It’s a Monday evening when Juju Bae and I sit in front of our computer screens to chat about her debut book, The Book of Juju: Africana Spirituality for Healing, Liberation, and Self-Discovery. The text is a work of creative nonfiction that combines memoir, history, and guided prompts for readers hoping to begin (or strengthen) their practices of Africana religious and spiritual traditions.
Book Review: “There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension”
Hanif Abdurraqib’s latest release, “There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension,” challenges revered American myths about talent and prosperity while troubling the ground lying between fathers and sons. Structured in the style of a four-quarter NBA game — complete with intermissions and countdowns — “There’s Always This Year” places readers in the audience of an unyielding full-court press of cultural analysis.
CityLit Preview: Mateo Askaripour Takes Space Seriously
As Baltimore prepares for the 2024 CityLit Festival, writers and readers alike are glowing in anticipation of the literary marketplace. One of the many conversations on the horizon for Saturday, April 20, is between Baltimore’s D. Watkins and Mateo Askaripour, a Long Island native and author of “Black Buck,” his debut novel. The contemporary novel follows the rise of Darren Vender from barista to sales guru while chronicling the conflicts that begin to brew in every area of his life.
Cities Need Booklovers
“By the time I came along in 1977, my grandmother had worked as a housekeeper, a health aid in an elder care facility, a hairdresser, a seamstress, and finally as a worker in a pharmaceutical bottling plant,” author Jesmyn Ward told the crowd gathered at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront hotel for Enoch Pratt’s annual Booklovers’ Breakfast. “But my grandmother Dorothy was more than her labor.
Book Review: “How to Say Babylon: A Jamaican Memoir”
Across the African diaspora, there are texts—literary and otherwise—sifting through histories and revealing the violent price of girlhood. Released in 2023, Safiya Sinclair’s memoir, “How to Say Babylon,” offers her recollections about coming of age as a girl child in a Rastafarian household. Sinclair shares her own family history alongside the political and religious histories of Jamaica.
Looking Back at Greedy Reads’ Lost Weekend
A Baltimore Literary Festival that gathers readers together with authors December 22, 2023 Words: , Ana Preger Hart I had been contemplating the meaning behind the name The Lost Weekend ever since I first heard about the community literary festival organized by Greedy Reads, one of Baltimore’s independent bookstores. But when I asked Julia Fleischaker, the owner of Greedy Reads, about it, she replied, “It’s not too deep! We liked the idea of losing a weekend to a celebration of books.
Book Review: “Pomegranate”
September is National Recovery Month, when harm reductionists, health departments, organizers, and everyone in between host programming dedicated to sharing stories, life-saving information, and other substance use and recovery knowledge.
Compounding History
Understanding Brooklyn Homes means taking time to learn the neighborhood’s history and the impact history has on the community members who are still grieving. We must acknowledge that the tragedy on July 2 is one recent event in a long history of disregard. Both South Baltimore and grief are familiar to me. My own family history is interwoven in the communal history of South Baltimore, and suffers for it.
The Daily Practice of Abolition
The pieces of this book meet at the intersection of many seemingly endless cycles, some that have been repeating for years, some that promise to continue into a never-ending future: a pandemic, mishandled to deadly results and irrevocably changing our lives; the boom and bust of capitalist markets, alternatively showing their fragility and their resilience; the biggest militant street movement the United States has seen, echoing the various global uprisings of the 2010s, followed by the...
N. E. Davenport’s debut sci-fi fantasy, The Blood Trials.
In April 2022, N. E. Davenport’s debut sci-fi fantasy, The Blood Trials, was released and became one of the newest additions to the realm of novels depicting Black characters in fantasy worlds. The novel follows the (bloody) trials and tribulations that Davenport’s main character, Ikenna Amari, faces following the death of her beloved grandfather, Verne.
Review: Black Women Writers At Work
For my family, reading was a unifying activity. My grandfather never missed a copy of The Baltimore Sun and my grandmother’s vanity was covered in books by Zora Neale Hurston, Cornel West, and Lorraine Hansberry. No one in my family holds a formal college degree, and yet our family still cultivated a love of literature and learning. These moments at home with my family shaped my world and showed me that reading was valuable.
Surviving the Future by Scott Branson, Raven Hudson and Bry Reed
Home Catalog Queer Studies Paperback Abolitionist Queer Strategies By Scott Branson, Raven Hudson and Bry Reed Surviving the Future is a collection of the most current ideas in radical queer movement work and revolutionary queer theory. Beset by a new pandemic, fanning the flames of global uprising, these queers cast off progressive narratives of liberal hope while building mutual networks of rebellion and care.
Will Democrats win the Georgia runoffs? If they do, Stacey Abrams helped by building on generations of Black women’s organizing. Original
Following in the organizing footsteps of Black Southern women, Stacey Abrams and other Black grass-roots organizers in Georgia mobilized so many of Georgia’s Black voters that a longtime Republican state turned to favor Democrats. As Georgians prepare for the Jan.
"Unbowed" by Bry Reed
There is fire in the streets. This time, it began with Minneapolis. Long ago, it was Detroit, it was Los Angeles, it was Birmingham. The fire has always been here. Time after time it sparks and rages. Right now, I feel it in my throat. Yesterday, it was in my gut. Five years ago, after the murder of Freddie Gray, it burned in my palms. No matter where I feel it in my body, it stays with me. Fire has made a home of my skin just as it has made a home of this nation.
"I’ve Never Known Normal" By Bry Reed
On April 25, Writers in Baltimore Schools held a write-in for its members to respond to the death of Freddie Gray and the Baltimore Uprising five years later. All this week, the Beat is running the poems, essays, and reflections that came out of the write-in… When Freddie Gray was murdered in 2015, I learned a lot about venom. News about Freddie Gray spread across the city as his neighbors and family fought for media attention. For me, hearing about Freddie Gray started slowly.
For Some Survivors, Phone Sex Can Be A Path To Healing
Knowing I control my pleasure and boundaries comforts me. With phone sex, survivors can get creative on our own terms without sacrificing our pleasure. CW: This piece discusses sexual assault, rape, and harassment trauma. By Bry Reed In my first year of college, I experienced a lot of new things: parties, midterms, and yard shows. Outside of the classroom, the social climate on campus revolved around first-year students getting to know older students and making connections.
Irene Diggs Was More Than W.E.B. DuBois’s Assistant
Born in Ellen Irene Diggs in 1906 in Monmouth, Illinois, Irene Diggs was a scholar of Afro-Latin culture with degrees from the University of Minnesota, Atlanta University, and the University of Havana. While at Atlanta University, now Clark Atlanta University, she met W. E. B DuBois and her impressive scholarship earned her a job as his research assistant. Some of her duties included managing his correspondence with publications and reading his manuscripts.
Health and Wellness Is About Mental Health, Not Food Intake
These standards place a burden on fat scholars to shrink themselves and their bodies to fit the mold of health and wellness constructed by white supremacy. CW: this article discusses food, diets, and other content around fatphobia. By Bry Reed It’s Sunday and my mother stands over her black cast iron skillet. The grease pops as the smell of fried fish, whiting to be specific, rises and fills our apartment.
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