Some people stumble into their life’s work. Others are pushed into it by circumstance. For former Talbot County Council president Corey Pack, the Responsible Fathers Initiative began as more of a calling. After 25 years in Maryland state government as a probation supervisor, Pack saw the same men cycle through the system again and again—followed, years later, by their sons and daughters. It was a pattern that troubled him deeply, not just as a public servant, but as a citizen watching families unravel in slow motion.

Pack came to believe that the system was largely reactive, stepping in only after harm had already been done. While he understood its limits, he felt compelled to try something different—to work upstream, where prevention might still be possible. In 2019, he left state service and launched the Responsible Fathers Initiative, focusing on one basic but often neglected idea: that engaged, supported fathers can change the trajectory of families and communities.

The program began inside the Talbot County Detention Center, working directly with incarcerated men. When the pandemic hit in 2020, Pack and his partners pivoted quickly, moving the program online and keeping it running when many others shut down. In fact, Talbot County became the only jurisdiction in Maryland to operate a fatherhood program continuously throughout that first year of COVID, eventually expanding to include mothers, youth, and community-based programs.

Since then, the initiative has grown well beyond its original scope, partnering with schools, nonprofits, Washington College, and agencies across Talbot and Dorchester counties. At its core, though, the mission remains simple: help men move from being occasional contributors to fully committed fathers, and keep asking one central question—how do adult choices affect the child? In this interview, Pack talks candidly about what he’s learned, what works, and why he remains optimistic, even when the work is hard.

This video is approximately six minutes long. For more information about the Responsible Fathers Initiative, please go here.

It’s one of those moments that makes you thrilled to be living on the Mid-Shore: a small regional museum in Easton hosting one of the most ambitious and fragile works by one of the giants of modern art. As part of a global celebration marking the 100th birthday of Robert Rauschenberg, the Academy Art Museum has opened Rauschenberg 100: New Connections, anchored by the rarely exhibited Chinese Summerhall, a monumental 100-foot photograph.

The exhibition grew out of a deep and largely unknown connection between Rauschenberg and Talbot County, and how  Don Saff, Rauschenberg’s longtime collaborator and founder of Graphicstudio, whose work helped make Chinese Summerhall possible, and whose presence ultimately brought a significant body of Rauschenberg material to the Academy’s permanent collection.

To understand how this exhibition came together and why Chinese Summerhall matters so deeply within Rauschenberg’s career, the Spy talked to Lee Glazer, the Academy Art Museum’s Curator at Large. In our conversation, Glazer walks through the backstory of the work, the almost-impossible task of producing it, and how this singular project helped shape the artist’s later global and socially engaged vision.

This video is approximately six minutes in length. For more information about the Academy Art Museum, please go here.

Featured Programs

Friday, January 16th, 6 pm
Thomas Moore Performance: White Paintings and Silent Music, John Cage and Robert Rauschenberg in the 1950sFREE, Register Here

Saturday, February 21st at 6 pm
Christopher Rauschenberg Lecture: Robert Rauschenberg’s Photographic Legacy In Context

Friday, March 27th, 2026, 6 pm
Don Saff Lecture: Robert Rauschenberg in China and the Overseas Cultural Interchange