Gathering

After mounting menorahs atop minivans and gathering in Park Heights, members of Baltimore's Jewish community paraded in a caravan south to the Inner Harbor, where they ate latkes and jelly doughnuts, danced and listened to traditional music before lighting the city's 30-foot-tall menorah in McKeldin Park. Under a misty rain Sunday evening, another Hanukkah season was marked downtown, with celebrants of the festival of lights proudly announcing their faith on Light Street. "Hanukkah has a special message, not only for people of the Jewish community but also for the larger community," said Rabbi Shmuel Kaplan, director of Chabad Lubavitch in Maryland, which helped organize the event.

Even those of us who enjoy the intimacy (and challenge) of sit-down-style dinner parties like the more informal holiday gatherings that revolve around appetizers and desserts for larger get-togethers. The host gets to strut a greater variety of interesting edibles than he usually whips up, and the guests get to mingle while enjoying each other's company and what are essentially finger foods. Another virtue of an appetizer and dessert party is that the "menu" can be eclectic, drawing inspiration from world cuisines in offerings that can appeal to virtually any tastes.

Two dozen volunteers were on their hands and knees Sunday morning, harvesting abundant greens or bagging them to give away in a Baltimore neighborhood where both healthy food and money are in short supply. Thanksgiving was on some of their minds, but the effort is about far more than eating well on one day of the year. Gather Baltimore, the fledging group that organized the rapid harvest, does this work every week - collecting food that would otherwise go to waste and distributing it in city neighborhoods.

Activists fighting a state plan to build a new $70 million juvenile detention facility in Baltimore received some high-profile backing Thursday night, as the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson joined their cause. "We must revive the war on poverty tonight, not the war on the poor," the prominent civil rights activist and Baptist minister said before a crowd of more than 200 people who gathered in Baltimore's War Memorial Building to rally against the state plan. Jackson said that with thousands of vacant homes degrading neighborhoods and unemployment leaving families unstable, Gov. Martin O'Malley could better serve the city and its youth by reallocating the jail funding to jobs programs, community initiatives and neighborhood redevelopment.

A small group gathered Saturday at Baltimore Cemetery for the unveiling of a headstone for Norman "Chubby" Chaney, a child star in "The Little Rascals" whose grave had gone unmarked for 76 years. The small constellation of fans was brought together by Detroit-area rock musician Mikal C.G., who led an online fundraising drive to buy stones for Chaney and his mother. He led the low-key ceremony Saturday, giving a short speech and pulling a white sheet off markers, to coos of "beautiful!"

Students at Liberty High School greeted local veterans in the school media center on Thursday, Nov. 8, for a special Veterans Day celebration. The event was designed to acknowledge the "service and sacrifice that was made to ensure our freedom," according to the school. The morning ceremony included a presentation by the school's History Club, as well as participation by members of Liberty's JROTC members and other students. Students had the opportunity to talk to veterans to learn about their service experiences.

Several dozen people turned out Tuesday evening in Towson to share the final stop on the 2012 general election. "Election 2012: Returns After Dark," was held at the Towson Library, and featured a Johns Hopkins professor providing instant insight into day's election results. "It's just fun to follow,” said Owings Mills resident Dan Wentland. “It has an impact on us for the next four years.” Wentland, a Towson University alumnus, said he found the event on the county library system website and was enjoying the discourse between the attendees, all of whom he believes have a vested interest in the election.

As old photographs of local jazz musicians flashed on a screen, those gathered in the Pennsylvania Avenue branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Druid Heights on Monday night shouted out names or furrowed their brows, racking their memories for old acquaintances and friends. About 50 people gathered for local historian Thomas Saunders' program "Revisiting Pennsylvania Avenue: A Trip Down Memory Lane" at the library branch and long-standing community landmark, which just completed a three-month renovation.

A Baltimore County judge allowed the release Wednesday of the names of people who signed petitions to challenge the county's zoning maps, saying the information is "clearly a public record. " In the latest turn in a battle between developers, Circuit Judge Kathleen Cox ruled that the county board of elections should make the documents public. Referendum opponents asked for the names because they want to lay the framework for a legal challenge to the petition filings. Several development firms are funding the referendum drive while others whose projects depend on the new zoning are fighting the effort.

On Oct. 23, a purse was the ticket to a good time at Power of the Purse, an event hosted in Towson by the Baltimore County Commission for Women 's and the nonprofit Samaritan Women. The night's goal was to raise awareness — and ultimately money through the resale of donated purses — to fight human trafficking, an issue that commission members say has shown increasing concern in Baltimore County, and Maryland overall. Outside 7 West Bistro Grille, people were asked to drop off new or gently used purses.