Taylor Holbrooks

To commemorate America’s 250th birthday, StoryCorps and NPR’s Morning Edition are inviting listeners to participate in Connect250, a nationwide storytelling initiative. Connect250 will pair listeners from different regions for virtual conversations about their lives and experiences, creating a living time capsule of who we are as Americans at this milestone moment in our nation’s history. Each conversation will also be preserved in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

Baltimore Open Water Swimmers (BOWS) is a nonprofit organization that Baltimore artist and ultra-marathon swimmer, Katie Pumphrey launched at the beginning of May. BOWS aims to create an inclusive community through swimming to advocate for healthy and accessible waterways for everyone. Pumphrey announced BOWS’s inaugural 1-Mile Swim through Baltimore’s harbor to take place Sunday, June 7.

The National Edgar Allan Poe Theatre’s Doomsday Poe readathon returns to Baltimore on May 16 for 24 hours of readings from Edgar Allan Poe’s iconic writings. Baltimore’s In the Dark Circus Arts will host the fifth annual Doomsday event, and the celebration will be streamed live on YouTube. The event begins at noon on Saturday, May 16, and will end at noon the following day, with Poe-themed activities happening around the clock.