Exodus

It looks like a toy boat made from yesterday's papers, a half-century old sheet of folded newsprint sailing away from the darkness of war toward the elusive light of peace.The image -- part of a 5-by-7-foot tapestry of nearly a million stitches -- represents "Exodus 1947," the Chesapeake Bay steamer from the Roaring '20s whose fate was pivotal in establishing the nation of Israel.The boat, and its reflection in the water below it, form the Star of David.The tapestry, designed by Russian artist Alex Gelfenboim, was unveiled last night at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

Siskel and Ebert may have given two thumbs up to "The Prince of Egypt." But a gathering of Baltimore clergy and religious leaders had most of their thumbs turned toward the floor.Their complaint? The animated film plays too much with the story line and misses the theological point of the book of Exodus. The group, which included about 20 representatives of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, gathered at the Senator Theatre for a showing and discussion arranged by the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies.

By the time Scott Melendez-Stewart was 19, he had spent half his life asking God to "cast out his demons." The young man from Arizona prayed, fasted and prayed some more. "I had to do," he says, "whatever it took not to be a gay person."What it took, in his mind, was religious rehabilitation. Scott entered a self-help group for homosexuals in Phoenix in 1985. There he found 10 other gay men, all wanting desperately for God to set them straight. In the company of the others, Scott says, "I felt hope."

Israel at 50 section on nation's struggle a journalistic triumphYour April 26 section, "Israel at 50: A Dream in Progress," was a journalistic and historical triumph. The research, writing, photos and graphics are worthy of a leading newspaper.I wish, however, in your references to the Baltimore connection, you would have included the significant Exodus plaque at the harbor side of the World Trade Center at the very site the ship (the President Warfield at the time) was outfitted for its historic voyage.

REZALA, Yugoslavia -- Hana Zabeli, an 85-year-old invalid, died alone last week. So did her village.Life ended for this ethnic Albanian settlement and its oldest inhabitant on the day Serbian paramilitary police struck, burning dozens of homes and shooting Zabeli in her bed.Zabeli and her village were abandoned in the same panic that has emptied scores of Albanian communities during an anti-guerrilla sweep of Serbia's separatist-minded Kosovo province, uprooting...

Cleusa Millet,67, who reluctantly gave up a career as an obstetrician to become the high priestess of a widely practiced African-Brazilian religion, died of cardiac arrest Thursday in her hometown of Salvador da Bahia, Brazil.Known to her followers as Mae Cleusa, or Mother Cleusa, she was the leader of the most famous temple of a religion known as candomble.Maynard Parker,58, who was editor of Newsweek magazine for 17 years, died Friday in New York of complications from pneumonia. He had recently recovered from leukemia.

By the cats with the hatsKangol, the British purveyor of hats to the hip hop nation, has extended its collection to include street-smart jackets, coats, TTC sweats and T-shirts. The outerwear is fashioned in today's hot iridescent and waxed nylon and in tough cotton canvas.The familiar kangaroo logo has been updated, too, and is now encased in a space-age bubble or comes as an embroidered patch that glows in the dark for those who want to show their colors. Kangol lines are carried by Cavalier men's shop in Landover Mall.

UNITED NATIONS -- U.S. and Cuban negotiators met for six hours yesterday in their first face-to-face talks in nine months amid indications that Cuba was seriously weighing Clinton administration proposals to resolve the crisis created by thousands of refugees setting sail for Florida.The talks, which administration officials said went well, were held as another 1,484 Cubans were picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard in the waters off Cuba as of 6 p.m., bringing the total to more than 20,000 since early August.

SARAJEVO EXODUS -- Four centuries ago, Sarajevo accepted Jews fleeing the Spanish Inquisition, and they lived happily in the city until the Nazis came during World War II. But even after the Holocaust, a Jewish community remained in the Bosnian capital.After the siege of Sarajevo began 23 months ago, the Joint Jewish Distribution Committee worked to get many Jews who remained out of the city to safety in Israel or elsewhere. Most of the 1,200 Jews who lived in Sarajevo have now been evacuated.

REPUBLICAN gubernatorial candidate Ellen Sauerbrey points to the former Maryland residents who have crossed the state line to live in Pennsylvania as folks who are running from high taxes. But taxes aren't the reason for the exodus -- crime is.After living in Baltimore for nearly 40 years, I recently moved my family to Shrewsbury Borough, Pa., because we felt unsafe in Baltimore. We're among the latest refugees to move to "Little Baltimore," so dubbed because supposedly about 80 percent of the population is from Baltimore and 50 percent commute there daily.

Henry "Sonny" Schloss, president of a Southwest Baltimore manufacturing plant who was prominent in Baltimore Zionist circles and assisted in the refitting of the ship that became the doomed Exodus in 1947, died July 1 of complications from Alzheimer's disease at the Arden Courts assisted-living facility in Pikesville. The longtime Pikesville resident was 86. Mr. Schloss, who was born in Baltimore and raised in the 2200 block of E. Baltimore St. near Patterson Park, attended city public schools.

There's a mixed bag of movies today, with no real standouts, but a bunch of enticing contenders. In Hang 'Em High (1 p.m., AMC), Clint Eastwood is the victim of a near-lynching who dedicates himself to bringing justice to his Old West town ... and maybe exacting a little legal revenge while he's at it. Inger Stevens, Pat Hingle, Ed Begley, Ben Johnson and Dennis Hopper also star in a film that may not be on a par with the spaghetti Westerns Eastwood made...

Close on the heels of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's bold presentation of Leonard Bernstein's Mass, the area is about to get another jolt of music for voices and orchestra that incorporates sacred texts - Handel's Israel in Egypt. "It's going to seem old-fashioned and stodgy compared to Mass," says Tom Hall, artistic director of the Baltimore Choral Arts Society. "It's not one of Handel's more theatrical oratorios." One of his greatest, though. "The story it tells is very dramatic," Hall says, "but the oratorio is not dramatic in the way that we're used to. I should point out that, at the time, it was not one of Handel's most popular oratorios.

An environmental discussion set April 9 The Howard County Citizens Association invites the community to join in a discussion about protecting and improving the environment at 7:30 p.m. April 9 at the Howard County Conservancy's Gudelsky Center on Mount Pleasant Farm, 10520 Old Frederick Road, Woodstock. Susan Lower, a science teacher at River Hill High School, will talk about "Climate Change: Individuals Can Make a Difference." Local organizations will provide information about their environmental programs, and members of the Howard County Commission on the Environment and Sustainability will attend.

North Carolina State defensive end Ray Brooks was academically ineligible last season, and teammate Martrel Brown was a reserve defensive tackle who never started a game. The expectations for both are a little higher this year. When the Wolfpack opens its season Saturday against Appalachian State, Brooks and Brown are the projected starters to replace two of the best ends in school history in Mario Williams and Manny Lawson on a defensive line that coach Chuck Amato described as as solid as "scrambled eggs."

The coming exodus of baby boomers into retirement may draw down the nation's Social Security coffers and overload its golf courses, but to International Business Machines Corp. it looks like a gold mine. IBM plans to announce today an initiative to help enterprises cope with brain drain as large waves of employees near retirement. "Aging population will be one of the major social and business issues of the 21st Century," said Mary Sue Rogers, an executive with IBM's human capital management group.

Whether you're a hiker or bicyclist, history buff or railroad enthusiast, leaf-peeper or craft-seeker, the town of Cumberland has two words for you. Exit. Now. Even if it's just a spur-of-the-moment getaway to see the fast-fading remnants of Western Maryland's fall foliage, Cumberland -- whether you're in Baltimore, Washington or Pittsburgh -- is less than a three-hour drive. You can leave after work and get there in time for dinner. And don't worry about finding Cumberland in the dark.

JUPITER, Fla. - The Florida Marlins are well aware that their 2003 World Series championship is supposed to have a short shelf life, but they went ahead and showed up for spring training just in case. They came out of nowhere to win a wild-card playoff berth last year and parlayed it into the franchise's second unlikely world title in seven years. Who seriously believes that they can weather another free-agent exodus to get back to the postseason this year? Manager Jack McKeon, 73, and still fooling them after all these years, puffs on one of his signature stogies and smiles the smile of a fox who just found a hole in the henhouse.

On February 29, 2004, JACK DUNN. Member of New Exodus Fellowship Church and devoted friend to everyone in the Charles Street and Inner Harbor community. A Memorial Service will be held at Cangialosi's Restaurant, 336 N. Charles Street, on March 8, 2004 at 3 P.M.

BEIJING - Ignoring government pleas to stay, Wei Jisheng fled Beijing on a sold-out train last week, jamming himself in among hundreds of other migrant workers packed like so many standing sardines for a 19-hour trip to remote northeast China. In this capital city of 14 million, an authoritarian government with decades of experience at controlling its people might seem well-positioned to attack the spread of an infectious disease such as SARS. But despite announcements of a series of tough measures, people rushed out of Beijing unimpeded for days last week, crowding onto buses, trains and airplanes in an exodus exceeding 100,000 a day - perhaps approaching twice that.