Kaleidoscope

Join Harford Community College at Kaleidoscope of Cultures on Thursday, Nov. 15, at 6 p.m. in the Chesapeake Theater to celebrate International Education Week 2012. This event, designed to broaden participants' global perspective, will feature three performances by culturally diverse artists with free, interactive workshops led by the performers. Enjoy performances by the Baltimore Salsa Dance Company, Lesole's Dance Project and Wrhatnala USA. Audience members will feel the Latin beat with the Baltimore Salsa Dance Company.

Join Harford Community College at Kaleidoscope of Cultures on Thursday, Nov. 15, at 6 p.m. in the Chesapeake Theater to celebrate International Education Week 2012. This event, designed to broaden participants' global perspective, will feature three performances by culturally diverse artists with free, interactive workshops led by the performers. Enjoy performances by the Baltimore Salsa Dance Company, Lesole's Dance Project and Wrhatnala USA. Audience members will feel the Latin beat with the Baltimore Salsa Dance Company.

ONE LOOK AT "Kaleidoscope," NBC's movie tonight, tells you both why Danielle Steel sells a zillion of the books she churns out and why they make such lousy movies.And that's not lousy in the way a Judith Krantz or Jackie Collins book is lousy -- a low-taste, trashy, offensive sort of way -- but lousy in the sense that they just don't have the stuff to make it on the screen."Kaleidoscope," which will be on Channel 2 (WMAR) at 9 o'clock, is the opening jab in the combination NBC has to counter this week's sports programming.

I've always been partial to female artists. Regardless of the genre, they generally give more heart and soul to the music. In the urban realm, women certainly lead the pack with fearless music that smartly synthesizes various influences, creating a sound that's fresh and distinct. Erykah Badu immediately comes to mind. Her latest CD, New Amerykah: Part 1 (4th World War), is a murky, politically charged effort that brilliantly turns hip-hop and modern soul inside out. On the playlist this week, we check out three ambitious female newcomers - Santogold, Adama and Esperanza Spalding - who strive to dissolve style barriers.

After more than a year of talking about plans to use Danielle Steel to lure women viewers away from CBS' telecast of the World Series, NBC abruptly changed plans. The network instead will run "Danielle Steel's 'Kaleidoscope' " at 9 tonight on WMAR-TV (Channel 2), even though the World Series does not start until tomorrow.NBC last week declined to explain why it backed out of its much-trumpeted showdown with baseball. Network publicists said they did not know why the change was made, but promised to get a programming executive to explain.

A summer camp workshop featuring improvisation, movement and monologue and designed to bring the excitement of live theater to teen-age students will begin Monday at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis. Called Kaleidoscope, the program was started by local actress Sharie Valerio in 1983. She wanted the workshop to spotlight each student's unique gifts and to help raise their self-esteem. Actress Carol Cohen joined Kaleidoscope in 1984, forming a lasting partnership with Valerio that is perhaps the program's only constant.

`Honest View' -- Continuing Columbia's 40th birthday celebration, the Lakeside Cafe and Deli in the American City Building, Columbia, will show paintings by Mary Jo Tydlacka, a longtime resident artist at Howard County Center for the Arts, through Aug. 31. The show, Honest View, presents a kaleidoscope of local and regional scenes. A reception is planned from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. today at the cafe, 10227 Wincopin Circle, open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.

Kaleidoscope, Oakland exhibits come to centerHistoric Oakland and the Columbia Arts Center will present "Afternoon Tea at Oakland" from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday, followed by the exhibit "Kaleidoscope In Stained Glass" at the Oakland Mansion at 5430 Vantage Point Road.The exhibit will also feature a discussion with artist Susan Keiholz.Admission is $12 and includes the four-course tea. Advance reservations are required.Information: 730-4801.Central Library seeks grandparentsThe Howard County Central Library in Town Center is looking for grandparents to volunteer their time and share experiences with some of the library's youngest patrons.

"I GET A Kick Out of You," "It's De-Lovely," "Friendship," "Let's Misbehave."It's hard to imagine a musical with funnier, more romantic and durable songs than Cole Porter's "Anything Goes," and you can enjoy all the shipboard sweetness and intrigue in Atholton High School's production March 28, 29 and 30.Cast members include Sara Glazer, Dave Johnson, Courtney Bell, Jeff Hubbard, Melissa Millin, Kyle Hubbard, Ryan Sullivan, Jon Sanford and Maggie Sheer.Keith Marin, Jon Sykes, Tom Lukacsina, Jordon Schulman, John Armstrong, Patrick Morton, Danny Dworkin and Alan Landsman also have roles.

A summer camp workshop featuring improvisation, movement and monologue and designed to bring the excitement of live theater to teen-age students will begin Monday at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis. Called Kaleidoscope, the program was started by local actress Sharie Valerio in 1983. She wanted the workshop to spotlight each student's unique gifts and to help raise their self-esteem. Actress Carol Cohen joined Kaleidoscope in 1984, forming a lasting partnership with Valerio that is perhaps the program's only constant.

`Honest View' -- Continuing Columbia's 40th birthday celebration, the Lakeside Cafe and Deli in the American City Building, Columbia, will show paintings by Mary Jo Tydlacka, a longtime resident artist at Howard County Center for the Arts, through Aug. 31. The show, Honest View, presents a kaleidoscope of local and regional scenes. A reception is planned from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. today at the cafe, 10227 Wincopin Circle, open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.

It took a heartbreak, a decade and the persuasion of relatives about 3,000 miles from home to get Amanda Burrows and Leslie Johnson to the Annapolis courthouse. On a brilliant Thursday at noon, the bride and groom stood in the chapel flanked by their two young sons, Jason and Nathan. The family had flown in from the Lake District in northern England to visit relatives in Maryland, who had persuaded them to finally take the leap 10 years after their spouses ran off with each other. "Nobody at home knows we're doing this," Burrows said, holding a bouquet.

Jade Fertich day-tripped down to Baltimore yesterday not because he was worried about the end of Pimlico; he feared the end of the world. "Lots of sin coming in," the Mechanicsburg, Pa., resident advised, surveying the beer-burdened Preakness Day crowd entering the race course. "Drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Despite sunny skies, the start of the day did have a certain cataclysmic feel. Medics pocketed fistfuls of surgical gloves. A policeman stood on a median with his hands in his pockets, as if he had already realized the futility of directing traffic.

Walt Clark stood in the 30-foot-high grand hall of his Fulton home where a crystal chandelier refracts the sun's rays. A kaleidoscope of prismatic speckles dots the walls and the white marble flooring. Clark, 41, was thrilled to share what he refers to as " ... the experience and joy of finally building our dream house." In August 2003, Clark, owner of a money management firm, signed a contract for a 1.5-acre property in the Howard County development of Pindell Chase. For the next 13 months, he would work closely with Toll Brothers on the design of his home.

Cozy Baker is, well, kaleidoscopic. Aficionados call her "the grande dame of kaleidoscopes," "the first lady of American kaleidoscopes" and even "the patron saint of kaleidoscopes." She looks marvelous in a red-plum pantsuit as she shows off the largest collection of kaleidoscopes in the world - more than 1,000 and growing - at her home on a wooded hillside near the Potomac River in Bethesda. She's a handsome, youthful woman with beautifully coifed silver-white hair. She's of a certain age, which she charmingly declines to disclose.

Consider "Consider Yourself." In Oliver!, it's the number in which young Oliver Twist makes the acquaintance of the Artful Dodger and, in the process, gets his first glimpse of London street life. And, in the touring version of Oliver! at the Lyric Opera House, what a splendid glimpse it is! Under the direction of Graham Gill, with choreography by Matthew Bourne, this street scene is played out on two levels. With various London buildings gliding by in the background, the scene features merchants, washerwomen and even a couple of mimes.

My grandmother had a kaleidoscope. Someone gave it to her during her long last illness and I used to sit in her room and hold it up to the light, tilting it and watching the colors, the pieces, the patterns fall into place.Did she play with it when she was alone? I like to think so. I like to think, in part, it helped her maintain her unfailing good cheer that gave something back to everyone who visited her.But that was a long time ago, before my children, who now have children of their own, were even born, and since then I had largely forgotten about kaleidoscopes until last year when I saw one in a craft store.

If you looked closely at the walls in the background of "Kaleidoscope" last night, you might have noticed what appeared to be a painting by Mark Rothko hanging in the apartment of the character played by Jaclyn Smith. And that was certainly an Ellsworth Kelly canvas at her office.Such a display is the touch of Douglas Cramer, who was executive producer of "Kaleidoscope" and tonight's "Fine Things," both based on books by Danielle Steel. That's because Cramer has one of this country's most renowned collections of contemporary American art and is on the boards of numerous museums and other cultural organizations.

A summer camp workshop featuring improvisation, movement and monologue and designed to bring the excitement of live theater to teen-age students will begin Monday at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis. Called Kaleidoscope, the program was started by local actress Sharie Valerio in 1983. She wanted the workshop to spotlight each student's unique gifts and to help raise their self-esteem. Actress Carol Cohen joined Kaleidoscope in 1984, forming a lasting partnership with Valerio that is perhaps the program's only constant.

A summer camp workshop featuring improvisation, movement and monologue and designed to bring the excitement of live theater to teen-age students will begin Monday at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis. Called Kaleidoscope, the program was started by local actress Sharie Valerio in 1983. She wanted the workshop to spotlight each student's unique gifts and to help raise their self-esteem. Actress Carol Cohen joined Kaleidoscope in 1984, forming a lasting partnership with Valerio that is perhaps the program's only constant.