Seeing the World in Stories

A couple weeks ago, I was having my almost routine Thursday lunch at Zia's Cafe. With one hand, I plunked away on my keyboard. With the other, I enjoyed my usual, a sunflower powerhouse.

Thursday, of course, is the Towson Farmers Market. It's always a great chance to see what's in season, meet cool people and do some people-watching.

In an hour, I had filed a story, put in some phone calls and conquered my emails. So I pack up and get ready to walk home. And who should I find standing out there, working on his canvas, but Ted Tihansky.

Here this guy was, faithfully painting the streetscape week after week. As far as I know, he was still there this week.

People walked by, stopped and looked, maybe complimented him. But me? My instincts took over. I pulled out my notepad, recorder, camera and talked to him. Within minutes, I had his story, a great weekend feature.

There's a condition called synesthesia that causes people to see sounds as colors or taste words or think of numbers as shapes. I have a condition like that. It's called journalism. It causes me to see the world as stories. I don't need any medication. Towson is my clinic. 

Being so close to Baltimore, there are so many people with unique stories to tell. And here at Towson Patch, we have free reign to tell them. But it's not every day someone like Ted or like Rob Reilly is just there waiting for us, and that's where you come in. Send us your tips. Let us know about people doing cool things in Towson. Who intrigues you? Who inspires you? Or maybe it's you with a story to tell.

Let us know! Send a news tip by clicking the link at the bottom of this page.