Theme

The Boston taxi driver didn't seem to enjoy much of his workdays, best as Richard Leider could tell."He was a crusty old Boston cabby with the hat and cigar to match," said Leider, who was making a speech about the power of purpose in life. It's a theme Leider champions as an author, lecturer and founding partner of a management consulting firm, the Inventure Group, based in Minneapolis."He asked me what I was doing in Boston. I told him; then he asked me whether I was a minister or something."

It's impossible to think of a better pairing of artists than Elizabeth Catlett and Faith Ringgold. Two separate one-person shows of their work opened side by side at the Baltimore Museum of Art last week, and they have a chemistry that comes from dealing with the same subject matter in strikingly different but equally impressive ways.Seeing the two of them together is like listening to two great voices sing a duet in which the words are different but the melody unites them. The melody in this case is that both are African-American women whose work deals with being African-American and a woman but, at the same time, has a breadth of appeal that knows no boundaries.

Got your multiple boxes of cereal ready? Ovaltine in case a Bania shows up and Bosco for a George? And don't forget the silverware and china in case anyone wants to eat a Snickers.Food figured often in "Seinfeld." The terminally adolescent gang tended to eat true to form, heavy on the Pez and Jujyfruits slice of the food pyramid and ordering the same meal after meal at Monk's diner. But this puts the hosts of various "Seinfeld" send-off parties tomorrow night in something of a quandary: What exactly is Seinfood, which you, of course, will want to serve if you've invited friends over for a Seinfete.

Just when you thought it was safe to read the newspaper, the World's Most Dangerous Poetry Contest returns!That is correct! The 11th Annual Roger Simon Greater Eastern Seaboard Poetry Contest is now under way!As we all know, without rules life would be chaos (or at least a lot like high school), so here are the rules:RULE ONE: All poems must be on the official theme. The theme is always that subject which is dominating public life at the moment.In 1985, the theme was squeegee kids, and this nifty haiku by Allison Doherty won:Squeegees remove grimeAllowing us to see lifeMore than we wished to.After she won, Allison appeared on the "Tonight" show where she was discovered by a top literary agent.

It's truly a wonderful life these days. Angels are everywhere -- in movies, on TV, in books and sometimes right in our own back yard.Gay Henricksen of Annapolis says she has an angel. Albert Gorsuch of Westminster and Jane Howard of Upperco say they do, too.Since October, a growing number of Baltimore-area residents have been traveling to Hanover, Pa., to share their heavenly stories in a sort of Angels Anonymous format. In a few months, the group has expanded from 30 people to almost 200, outgrowing the shop where the meetings started.

Bitter about headlines that say Americans are getting more bitter?Cynical about stories that say we have become too cynical?Then this column's for you!Because the 10th Annual Roger Simon Greater Eastern Seaboard Poetry Contest is back!And even though life in these United States has descended into anarchy and chaos (you can ask William Bennett if you don't believe me), my contest has rules:RULE ONE: All poems must be on the official theme.In 1985, the official theme was squeegee kids (remember them?

PRESIDENT Clinton has at last offered a basic theme to define his administration, and it is a good one -- security. In a major address last Tuesday in Chapel Hill, N.C., the president astutely linked "economic security, health care security, personal security."Connecting this theme to his oft-repeated campaign mantra -- "We must change" -- he told his audience: "People resist change when they are most insecure." Distinguishing his conception of security from a culture of dependency, Mr. Clinton declared, "The security we seek is like a rope for a rock-climber, lifting those who will take responsibility for their own lives to even greater pinnacles.

The summer doldrums are over! The World's Most Dangerous Poetry Contest has returned!The Ninth Annual Roger Simon Greater Eastern Seaboard Poetry Contest kicks off today.And as with life itself, there are many rules and few rewards:RULE ONE: All poems must be on the official theme.In 1985, the theme was Squeegee Kids, and this haiku by Allison Doherty won:Squeegees remove grimeAllowing us to see lifeMore than we wished to.Allison won an appearance on the Johnny Carson show, where she was noticed by a top literary agent and today she writes under the name Michael Crichton.

Baltimore composer Lynn Kowal wrote theme for TV drama 0) 'Homicide'When Lynn Kowal wrote to Barry Levinson's assistant about the theme song to "Homicide," she wasn't sure she'd get a response, much less the job.But after three months of sending faxes, tapes and resumes, she learned that "African Ventures," a composition written while she was a grad student at Peabody Institute, would open and close the show about Baltimore homicide detectives."

Often the tone of a shower is set by the bride, who requests a certain type, such as kitchen, linen, honeymoon or lingerie, for which the guests bring appropriate gifts. Other gift-related themes are "round the clock" or "all year round" showers, for which a certain hour of the day or month of the year is written on each guest's invitation, and a suitable gift is brought for that particular hour or month.Many themes are carried out through the decorations, centerpieces and favors.To capture a Victorian look, select floral prints in muted shades of champagne and dusty rose accented with satin ribbons, pearls and lace.

It was just like a pep rally, complete with Baltimore Ravens stunt-performing cheerleaders, the band playing songs to fire up team spirit and the mascot hyping up the crowd. But instead of getting ready for the next big game, the crowd at BWI Marshall Airport Tuesday was getting amped for the newest addition to Baltimore's NFL football team: Ravens 1. The AirTran Airways Boeing 717, unveiled by the Ravens and the airline, is part of a new fleet of NFL team planes being rolled out by AirTran, the second-largest carrier at BWI. The Ravens plane is purple and black, with the team emblem on the tail.

No less an authority than Rolling Stone declares that Baltimore has the nation's best "scene." Really. "Hotbed for rap and art rock," it says. Part of the appeal: Golden West Cafe, "the late-night post-show hangout." There's also some stuff about "electronic party starters," unlicensed concert venues and "Wire-inspired Hamsterdam mixtapes." But frankly, the only thing I grasped was the restaurant. And even that confused me. Isn't Golden West a family-friendly, crayons-on-the-table kinda place?

Frankie Laine, 1950s pop singer Frankie Laine, the big-voiced singer whose string of hits made him one of the most popular entertainers in the 1950s, died yesterday. Mr. Laine died of heart failure at Mercy Hospital in San Diego. With songs such as "That's My Desire," "Mule Train," "Jezebel," "I Believe" and "That Lucky Old Sun," Mr. Laine was a regular feature of the Top 10 in the years just before rock 'n' roll ushered in a new era of popular music. Somewhat younger listeners might remember him best for singing the theme to the television show Rawhide, which ran from 1959 to 1966, and the theme for the 1974 movie Blazing Saddles.

One of the greatest things about making an herb garden is there are so many choices. It's also one of the worst. So. Many. Choices. Especially if you define "herb" as our ancestors did: any plant useful to humankind. That is why it's helpful to have a theme. The theme can be sentimental (herbs that Grandmother grew) or practical (herbs to scent the closets and repel the bugs), or even disease-focused. For example, Topher Dulaney, a San Francisco landscape architect and cancer survivor, makes inspirational herb gardens using plants that are sources for drugs used in chemotherapy.

Long before 9/11, before war, before yellow ribbons that say "Support Our Troops," and long before red and blue states, the theme for the 2005 Philadelphia Flower Show was chosen. It would be "America the Beautiful," and the patriotic theme would be played out in flowers of red, white and blue. The Philadelphia Flower Show, March 6 to 13 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, is the granddaddy of all flower shows. Now in its 176th year, it is unmatched in longevity, scale, perfection and creativity, and it is such a monumental undertaking that planning begins at least five years in advance.

David Lindsay-Abaire's Kimberly Akimbo combines a tried-and-true theme with a tried-and-true subgenre. The theme is that old chestnut about the insane being saner than those who are supposedly normal (think King of Hearts or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest). The subgenre is that American theatrical favorite - the dysfunctional-family play (think Eugene O'Neill or Tennessee Williams or Edward Albee or Christopher Durang, etc.). In Lindsay-Abaire's variation on this plot and theme, the primary ailment is physical, not mental.

Brush up on your Shakespeare. When it comes to an intimate knowledge of bullying bosses, weasely co-workers and corporate skullduggery, the Donald can't hold a laser pointer to the Bard. It's true that Shakespeare's comedies, romances and tragedies are about other things, as well - lovers and fairies, murder and war - but the theme of power in all of its corrupting allure is at least an undercurrent in most of the playwright's works. And, of course, power is the main theme - perhaps the only theme - of NBC's The Apprentice.

Colonial Players starts its 55th season with a newly renovated lobby and a themed season for the first time in its history, along with a restructured board that has created an artistic director position and directors of production, human resources, and marketing and community relations positions. Predicting that renovations will enhance the theatergoing experience, past Colonial Players President Joan Hamilton says that the theater company "has a new feel in its first season woven around a theme.

Colonial Players starts its 55th season with a newly renovated lobby and a themed season for the first time in its history, along with a restructured board that has created an artistic director and directors of production positions, human resources and marketing and community relations. Predicting that renovations will enhance the theater-going experience, past Colonial Players President Joan Hamilton says that the theater company "has a new feel in its first season woven around a theme.

LET'S EXAMINE the major themes to emerge thus far at the Democratic National Convention, where everyone was apparently handed a four-day supply of Prozac and love is in the air: Theme 1: We're United As Never Before! It's true! All of us Dems, black and white, rich and poor, young and old, are consumed by one goal. And that one goal is to unseat the Evil One, the Dark Prince, He Whose Name Dare Not Be Spoken. Oops, sorry. We said there'd be no Bush-bashing. We want to remain above that sort of thing, the gutter politics of old. Oh, sure, a sweetheart like Teresa Heinz Kerry may occasionally lose it at a crowded reception, perhaps after a white wine or two, and tell a hostile reporter to "shove it."