Black And White

The temperature was perfect -- a prize-winning 75 degrees most of the day. It was the ideal recipe for stylish springtime dressing, and the race-goers at yesterday's 132nd Preakness Stakes didn't miss the opportunity to let their inner fashion maven shine. l Strapless dresses were all the rage, particularly in this season's trendiest color combination: black and white. Hats were tamer this year than at previous races, but ladies more than made up for it with trendy wedge shoes, patent leather slides and fabulous handbags.

Read the report in yesterday's New York Times about a scholarly paper that suggests racial bias in NBA officiating, chew on it long enough, and there's only one conclusion you can come to: The biggest mistake James Naismith ever made when he invented basketball was not dressing the players in long pants, long-sleeved shirts and ski masks. Since he didn't, race has been part of basketball's story ever since, and it always will be, no matter how it seems as if it's not.

Last spring, UniSun brought you fashionable men of Baltimore. That issue was particularly popular, especially with the ladies. Now it's the women's turn. Fashion writer Tanika White chose four women she thinks represent the spectrum of looks worn by many residents of Baltimore. As you will find out, each woman exudes a certain confidence in mixing and matching blouses, skirts, pants, shoes and jewelry to come up with looks that fit their personality and mood. Dressing with style seems to come easy for some women because they understand how colors and textured items can make or break an outfit.

Madi Jackson's father didn't encourage her to explore her black identity. David Matthews hid behind his looks in an attempt to live life as a Jew. And Rain Pryor's Jewish mom went so far as to don a blond afro wig to help her daughter love her big, kinky hair. These are stories that locally have sparked a discussion about what it's like to grow up biracial. Jackson, a dancer with Full Circle Dance Company, recently choreographed and performed with other dancers a piece titled "Borders Uncrossed," which drew upon her experience of growing up as a biracial child (black father, white mother)

At Universal Lodge No. 14, prominent black men of Annapolis set about making brotherhood. Men like former Mayor John T. Chambers Jr. and William Bishop, the first black physician at the former Anne Arundel General Hospital, gathered to uplift the community. At one point, they numbered 110 members. While the chapter - among the oldest in Maryland - has been around since 1865, its home since 1940 has been a plain, two-story brick building at 64 Clay St. Yesterday, a state panel recommended the lodge be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The big-headed puppets confused some who lined the route of yesterday's Martin Luther King Jr. Parade in Baltimore. The oversized, papier-mache heads - more common at anti-globalization and environmental rallies - seemed to have wandered accidentally into a parade known more for its sassy steppers and funky high school bands. But it was no accident. The puppets were carried aloft by members of Women in Black, a peace group that says its mission is exactly in step with the man whose birthday was celebrated yesterday.

CHICAGO -- Byron Hurt takes pains to say that he is a fan of hip-hop, but over time, says Hurt, a 36-year-old filmmaker, dreadlocks hanging below his shoulders, "I began to become very conflicted about the music I love." A new documentary by Hurt, Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, questions the violence, degradation of women and homophobia in much of rap music. Scheduled to go on the air in February as part of the PBS series Independent Lens, the documentary is being shown now at high schools, colleges and Boys and Girls Clubs, and in other forums, as part of an unusual public campaign sponsored by the Independent Television Service, which is based in San Francisco and helped finance the film.

City officials in Vidor, Texas, screamed foul when news broke that their town was once one of America's notorious "sundown towns" for blacks. In the segregation era, that was the town fathers' not-so-discreet way of warning black people that they would be jailed, assaulted or worse if they were caught in town after dark. Vidor officials vehemently insisted that they have long since disavowed that naked, in-your-face racism. They contend that the press latched onto the town's woeful past to grab cheap, sensationalist headlines.

REWIND A FEW DECADES and you could've said Ladew Topiary Gardens was the cat's pajamas last weekend. But pajamas were scarcely the style. Instead, think lots of fringes and feathers, headbands and pearls as guests celebrated Ladew's 35th anniversary at a 1920s-themed gala. Party co-chairs Wendy Griswold, Dudley Mason and Susie Reichhart were completely flapper-ized. "My signature thing is my fishnet stockings. I wear them to every event," announced Griswold, bedecked in a black feather boa. Though most of the men went the present-day black tie route, there were a couple of exceptions.

If you want decorating ideas that won't lose their sparkle over time, simply go back 50 years. In the work of legendary decorator Dorothy Draper, you'll find pure champagne. Born to upper-crust New York society in 1889, Draper used her social connections to launch a decorating business that got the city's attention. She decorated floors with overscaled black-and-white checks, covered sofas with oversized cabbage roses and hung huge chandeliers for aerial drama. She was modern. She was traditional.