Footsteps

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The marchers came to the old man in the wheelchair, some to tell him he was forgiven, some to whisper that he could never be forgiven, not now, not a million years from now.Yet to all of the people who retraced the steps of the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights march 30 years ago, George C. Wallace offered an apology for a doomed ideal.The former Alabama governor, whose name became shorthand for much of the worst of white Southern opposition to the civil rights movement, held hands with men and women he had once held down with the power of his office.

Each week, The Baltimore Sun publishes a Q&A with an area college lacrosse player to help you become more acquainted with the player and his/her team. Today's guest is UMBC midfielder Shannon Harkey, the youngest of four lacrosse-playing siblings from Purcellville, Va. A junior, Harkey ranks fourth on the team in scoring with 12 goals and three assists as the Retrievers are off to a 4-2 start heading into Friday night's home game against Mount St. Mary's. She began her college career at Florida but transferred before last season to UMBC; her father, Jay Harkey, played on the Retrievers' 1980 Division II national championship team before transferring and competing at Maryland.

Under Armour gave a sneak peek at its latest advertising campaign during last Thursday's season debut of "Jersey Shore," and you might have seen a 30-second "Footsteps" spot on TV or the Internet this week. The company's latest commercial, which is embedded at the bottom of this post, was directed by Peter Berg of "Friday Night Lights" fame. It features cameos by NFL quarterbacks Tom Brady and Cam Newton, and though Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis isn't seen in the ad, he narrates it in a very Ray-like manner.

A beautiful fall afternoon provides youngsters with many options. Last week, more than 100 area schoolchildren chose to steer clear of video games and stay outside instead after they got out of class. Riderwood Elementary School was awash in runners on Oct. 23, as students from that school were joined by runners from eight other schools for the last scheduled elementary-school cross country event of the season. Cromwell Valley, Stoneleigh, Hampton, Rodgers Forge, Pinewood, West Towson and Kingsville elementary school students also participated in the program, where youngsters from grades three to five competed in six separate races in boys' and girls' divisions.

When American Dime Museum owner-curator Dick Horne auctioned off his mass of oddities Monday, he raised $107,000 but kissed goodbye such wonders as a 9-foot Peruvian mummy ($3,000) and a monkey automaton ($2,100). Now that fate has banged down its gavel on the Dime, we wondered: What is Baltimore's quirkiest collection now? Do you own 3,241 pairs of bowling shoes? Is your cousin's basement overrun with Elvis hairpieces? Does your friend have an entire room devoted to gourds that resemble politicians?

"I only represent those people in the clutches of powerful government, who are activists from the left or center or those who are being persecuted . . . I choose very politically," William Kunstler said in an interview with The Sun last spring.He put it another way once, saying, "I'm not a lawyer for hire. I only defend those I love." Statements like that, plus his flamboyance, his gift for choosing high profile clients and his keen sense of p.r. made him probably "the most controversial lawyer since Clarence Darrow," as one observer of the legal scene put it.It also made him many enemies.

When Alexander the Great set out to conquer the known world some 2,300 years ago, he did more than simply fight his way across Asia, southern Europe and northern Africa. He introduced civilizations to one another, opening the door for trade - both commercial and cultural - between regions that barely acknowledged one another's existence.Michael Wood is no Alexander, and he's not looking to conquer anyone, but his BBC- and Maryland Public Television-produced TV series, "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great," does much the same.

Assistant Maryland football coach Greg Gattuso pointed across a dining-hall table at Joe Vellano and said in his best deadpan: "His dad was better. " Gattuso said it loudly enough to make certain Vellano heard. Vellano, arguably Maryland's top returning player as the Terps open training camp today, only smiled at the coach, refusing to take the bait. Even after Vellano's 20-tackle game against Georgia Tech last season - impressive as it was - the defensive tackle was still teased by Maryland insiders that it may not even have been the best performance by a member of his own family.

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France -- Painters know the region well because it has served so beautifully as subject matter: the French-blue Mediterranean, gnarled black-and-silver olive trees, chalky mountains, flirtatious villages, timeless brasseries and, of course, the ruins of an ancient Roman domain.Last fall, that fabulous setting attracted a swarm of amateur artists from Santa Barbara, Calif., who gathered noisily one rainy October morning in the medieval darkness of the breakfast room at Hotel Les Augustins.

Walk on the beach together --it will be cool there.Taste the salt.Seaweed is clotted around a dead clam.The sun rolls like a blind eye.The waves steam.It is delightful here, they will say.Yellow-decaying waterforms your footsteps.

If Dunbar's Carlos Austin slips a tackle, his next stop likely will be the end zone. The senior slot receiver and kick returner is just plain fast. That's no surprise, however, considering his last name and high school. Carlos is the half-brother of former Poets superstar Tavon Austin , who set a handful of state rushing records at Dunbar and is now blazing trails as a college senior at West Virginia. After seeing Carlos' speed, it's easy to draw comparisons to Tavon, Dunbar coach Lawrence Smith said.

Assistant Maryland football coach Greg Gattuso pointed across a dining-hall table at Joe Vellano and said in his best deadpan: "His dad was better. " Gattuso said it loudly enough to make certain Vellano heard. Vellano, arguably Maryland's top returning player as the Terps open training camp today, only smiled at the coach, refusing to take the bait. Even after Vellano's 20-tackle game against Georgia Tech last season - impressive as it was - the defensive tackle was still teased by Maryland insiders that it may not even have been the best performance by a member of his own family.

He didn't fall — but it looked like he came close. Daredevil Nik Wallenda made it nearly all the way across a wire over the Inner Harbor, stepping steadily and deliberately, when he stopped to kneel and pump his fist in the air. He was walking 300 feet across, up to 82 feet in the air, in a stunt to mark the imminent opening of a Ripley's Believe It or Not museum. The rapt crowd, cell phone cameras in the air, sighed with relief. But their celebration — and Wallenda's, too — was premature.

For the second time in 40 years, a member of the "Flying Wallenda" family will wow Inner Harbor crowds Wednesday with nothing between him and the murky harbor waters but a wire cable. Self-proclaimed "King of the High Wire" Nik Wallenda will follow in the footsteps of his great-grandfather, Karl, "The Great Wallenda. " While Karl Wallenda crossed the harbor over 600 feet of wire 60 feet in the air in 1973, Nik Wallenda will ascend a wire stretched 300 feet from the Light Street pavilion to a barge in the harbor, up to a height of about 90 feet.

When it came time to choose her college lacrosse path, Shannon Aikens initially steered away from the place that had been her second home for half her life. Loyola appealed to the Mercy senior, but she wasn't sure she could forge her own identity playing in the program her mother built into a national power. Diane Geppi-Aikens' idomitable spirit remains with the team nine years after her death following a long and public battle with brain cancer. "Ever since I was little, I've been introduced as Diane's youngest," Aikens said.

Graham Motion shrugs his shoulders when asked, then offers, as usual, a dirt-honest appraisal of his horse, Went the Day Well . "He's a good horse, deserves to be here," the trainer of last year's Kentucky Derby winner, Animal Kingdom , said about his entrant in the 138th running of the Triple Crown's first leg. "We'll find out if he's good enough to win it. " It takes a few seconds, but Motion then realizes it: he didn't feel...

About art -- Frederick Lewis of Ohio University will show his documentary film on illustrator Rockwell Kent at 7 p.m. today in Smith Theatre at Howard Community College, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia. Lewis, who followed in Kent's footsteps and shot footage in Greenland, Newfoundland, Alaska, Ireland and Russia, will answer questions during the intermission. A reception is planned. Admission is free. Jim Adkins, 410-772-4512.

Each week, The Baltimore Sun publishes a Q&A with an area college lacrosse player to help you become more acquainted with the player and his/her team. Today's guest is Navy senior defender Kierstin King, a Hereford graduate and three-time All-Patriot League selection. The Midshipmen's only team captain, she is Navy's career leader in ground balls with 150. Despite missing the last six games of her sophomore year with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, she will break the program record for career starts Friday in the Patriot League semifinals when the two-time defending champion Mids (15-2)

Most Marylanders who oppose the Dream Act, which grants undocumented immigrants the resident tuition discount on a state college education, probably never met the likes of Onan Marroquin. If they did, they might have a change of heart and mind about the Dream Act. They might come to see it as the fair and smart way for the state to support the bright and highly motivated young people who come through our schools and who, with more education, might join the ranks of the state's innovative and future-thinking professional class.