Mark Twain

Obama's revealing reflections

2013-05-03 00:00:00

Probing questions at presidential news conferences sometimes have a way of getting their principals to reflect on their state of mind -- and at the same time the state their presidency, particularly when things aren't going well. Back in 1995, when Bill...

Vatz: I don't discriminate against Democrats

2013-03-19 08:22:14

I believe it was an English preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon (and not Mark Twain, to whom the saying is often attributed), who once said, "A lie travels 'round the world, while truth is putting on her boots." Blaine Taylor states that I have failed to...

A message to Obama, served cold

2013-02-13 10:27:00

In an earlier era, Dr. Benjamin Carson's speech before the National Prayer Breakfast last week would have been a really big deal rather than mere fodder for a brief squall on Twitter and cable news. Born in crushing poverty to an illiterate single...

In a word: autodidact

2013-01-07 07:07:00

Each week The Sun's John McIntyre presents a moderately obscure but evocative word with which you may not be familiar — another brick to add to the wall of your working vocabulary. This week's word: AUTODIDACT One of the most notable self-...

Book advises: Drink wine. With food. Not too much

2012-12-13 06:00:00

Every once in a while, a really, really good wine book comes along … something destined to become a classic. The "Food Lover's Guide to Wine" by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg is an amazingly fresh and novel exploration of the world of wine and...

Eagle Archive: Where were you when Twinkie the Kid and Captain Cupcake died?

2012-12-08 16:08:00

November 21, 2012, was a sad day. As many were looking forward to sharing Thanksgiving dinner with friends and family; Hostess Brands, the makers of Twinkies, Wonder Bread, Ding Dongs and many other culinary delights high in the food pyramid,...

A grass-roots cure for the Maryland GOP

2012-11-20 09:18:00

Mark Twain supposedly quipped, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." For Maryland Republicans, the joke is no laughing matter. Gov. Martin O'Malley and Democrats all but engineered the demise of the Maryland GOP through redistricting at...

Lexicographers and the damned

2012-08-23 07:01:00

You know about bibliomancy, right? Divination by books? You take the Bible, for example, allow it to fall open at random, close your eyes, and stab your finger at a passage. Opening your eyes, you read it for guidance about the future. It's a very old...

Volunteers from Halethorpe church among those helping homeowners in need

2012-07-23 10:59:00

The sun hadn't reached its peak intensity by 10 a.m. on July 17, but the four volunteers from Halethorpe-Relay United Methodist Church were already sweating. Temperatures would rise into the upper 90s that day as volunteers painted the fence of a...

Graphic novels, e-books on students' summer reading list

2012-07-25 19:57:00

Tom Miley, a media specialist for Baltimore County Public Schools, relayed something of an odd desire to a group of summer school reading students at Ridgely Middle School in Lutherville on Wednesday, July 25. "My goal in two or three years is to be...

In a word: parvenu

2012-08-06 06:28:00

Each week The Sun's John McIntyre presents a moderately obscure but evocative word with which you may not be acquainted--another brick to add to the wall of your working vocabulary. This week's word: PARVENU The Mark Twain character who says, "A year...

When the legislature meets, no man (or dog) is safe

2012-08-12 12:30:00

Many people credit Mark Twain with coining the phrase "No man is safe when the legislature is in session." Maybe that is why Maryland's state constitution limits the legislature to only 90 days a year. But the current trend is to have special sessions...

Carol Burnett will receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

2013-05-21 12:44:09

Theresa Rebeck, Nikki Salter, Frank Rizzo and David Lindsay-Abaire at a playwrights panel at the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford.

2013-05-09 15:18:00

Theresa Rebeck, Nikki Salter, Frank Rizzo and David Lindsay-Abaire at a playwrights panel at the Mark Twain House & Museum

2013-05-01 10:57:00