Christopher Corbett Essay
Summer Reading
When our daughter was young we were eager to encourage her to read. Actually, desperate might be a better word. I favored childhood classics that were read to me in my youth: “Treasure Island,” “Heidi,” “The…MOREThe Money Pit
People often refer to older houses, such as my circa 1900 barn, as money pits. But the real money pit is not the house. One actually lives in the house. A modern kitchen is a fine…MOREMy Brother’s Keeper
Our house phone number is one digit different from a pizza place and one other digit removed from a doctor’s office. Drunks call late at night wanting pizza. Sometimes I take their orders, telling them that…MOREHip, Hip Hooray
I had barely recovered from the astonishing news that Forbes magazine had proclaimed dear little Hampden one of the hippest neighborhoods in the Republic when The New York Times proffered advice on what any hipster should…MOREMom’s Home Cooking
My mother was not a great cook. Of course, that never occurred to me when I was growing up. Back in the 1950s and ’60s, I believe no one’s mother was a great cook. Maybe it…MOREStormy Weather
I did not begin to hallucinate during last summer’s week without electricity until Day 5. The temperature in our house was 96 degrees on the third floor. I was splayed on the front porch in a…MOREWalking The Walk
Imagine if Baltimore hosted an event that cost the city almost nothing and allowed hundreds, perhaps thousands, of folks to get outside and enjoy fresh air and modest cardiovascular exercise. Imagine an event that did not…MORETo Market
Rain or shine, every Saturday morning, if I am in Baltimore, I swing by the 32nd Street Farmers Market, a habit of city life for me since I moved to Baltimore 32 years ago. Thousands of…MORELast call
The death of celebrated restaurateur Morris Martick late last year reminds us that the city is fast losing its character— or, more precisely, its characters. Even though Baltimore lost William Donald Schaefer— mayor, governor, comptroller and…MOREOne For the Books
I’m no Luddite, but I adapt to technology slowly. I’m not living in the woods in a yurt and eating brown rice, but I am not ahead of the curve. I’m not cutting-edge. (Have I got…MORERadio Days
They say it’s hard to get that first job these days. I believe that to be true. So I am eternally grateful that long, long ago, I stumbled into a position at a country and western…MOREHome Improvements
One of the great things about the Internet is that it lets you track the movement of a shipment around the country. It’s amazing. You go online and, at the click of a mouse, you can…MOREAppetite For the Past
Several times a day someone tells me one of two things. Thing one is “no worries.” And thing two is “it’s all good.” Often the same person tells me both things. Alas, when I hear “no…MORETime Change
When I was a kid my mother would let my two brothers and me call one telephone number that offered weather information and another that offered the correct time. We loved it. It was free. We…MOREThe Wasteland
I remember seeing TV for the first time, a Boston Red Sox game, black and white and grainy. This was about 1956 or 1957. In memory it seems like a daguerreotype. We did not own a…MOREBorder Town
By the time we encountered him he was a very old man who sported a beret and an ascot and carried a walking stick. He was our next-door neighbor and the first person we met when…MORE
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