Articles by Diana Beechener

This Week’s Creature Feature: Beauty and Beasts

Anne Arundel Countians ponder their animal magnetism at the first annual Do You Look Like Your Pet Competition

Fifty-five Marylanders visited Quiet Waters Park May 2 in hopes that they would be told they looked like a dog. A cat. Even a rabbit. The people were participating in a new kind of beauty pageant, Anne Arundel County’s first annual Do You Look Like Your Pet? Contest. The brainchild of County Executive John R. Leopold, the contest judged which countians bore remarkable resemblances to their pets. - “I came up with the idea because I thought it would be fun. And it was,”...

Article - Creature Feature; by Diana Beechener; 5/6/10

Doggie Distractions

AAA finds that careful driving has gone to the dogs

It’s now illegal for Marylanders to drive with their hands on their phone, but according to a AAA study, we’re still likely to fall victim to another driving distraction: our animal companions. The study — a joint effort between AAA and Kurgo Pet Dog Products — polled 1,000 dog owners who have driven with their dogs over the past year. Fifty-nine percent of pet owners admit that travel with their pets distracts them from the job at hand. The trouble arises because...

Article - Creature Feature; by Diana Beechener; 10/7/10

Faces only a mother could love

Their names are Kirby and Cecil, and they don’t have tusks — yet. The newest arrivals to the Maryland Zoo, two male warthog piglets, made their first public debut at seven weeks. Though they were part of the same litter, the warthog twins are easy to tell apart: Kirby is big brother, with a slightly larger build and red hair, while Cecil remains petite and brunette. The twins, with mother Kumari leading the way, explored their new home in the warthog yard. Mother made sure...

Article - Creature Feature; by Diana Beechener; 5/13/10

Taking a Roadside Stand

Volunteers hoof it across the country, picking up litter and lecturing on waste

Jeff Chen doesn’t like trashy people. He’s willing to take steps to remedy his dislike. As one of the founders of Picking Up America, Chen is committed to riding our roadways of litter and pointing out American’s wasteful tendencies. “It was an idea I had in 2006 when I was an intern in Yosemite Park,” Chen recalls. “I did a pretty epic hike to the top of Half Dome and on the way noticed some trash. On the way down, [my friend and I] picked up...

Article - People; by Diana Beechener; 5/13/10

First Date Blues

How the Bay Blues Festival helped me ditch the blues

Some girls view a first date with excitement. I view first dates with dread. What if he’s a poor conversationalist? What if I have nothing to say? What if he collects the skulls of all the women he’s dated? Admittedly, I need to stop watching Silence of the Lambs. I drove to the Navy-Marine Corps Stadium parking lot to meet Jack for our first date, 2009’s Bay Blues Festival, my stomach was churning and I was considering exit strategies. In a blind panic, I called...

Article - Bay Reflections; by Diana Beechener; 5/20/10

If Trouble Was Money ...

After nine years, Don Hooker compiles the Bay Blues Festival’s greatest hits and biggest catastrophes

If there ain’t pain, there ain’t the blues. Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival CEO Don Hooker knows this fact intimately. It took a painful lot of work and more than a little suffering on the side for Hooker to turn his charitable idea into a juggernaut fundraiser. Looking back at nine years of festivals, Hooker talks about the logistics, lunacy and love of music that have sustained him and the festival for nearly a decade. Track 1: History Repeating Since founding the...

Article - People; by Diana Beechener; 5/20/10

Furry Fido can help save the Gulf Coast

Look around your home. Do you see fine feline or canine hairs coating the couch, the floor or your clothes? Before you break out the lint roller, consider that all that excess animal hair in your living room could be floating on the Gulf of Mexico, absorbing harmful oil. Hair — from humans and animals — is woven or stuffed into sponge-like mats and booms that are flung onto the oil spill. The hairy barriers are laid near shores and marshes, helping to protect these fragile...

Article - Creature Feature; by Diana Beechener; 5/27/10

Bug Off

Life stinks for Marylanders

The brown marmorated stink bug has made itself Maryland’s least welcome invader of 2010. Fat from feasting on orchard and soybean crops, flocks of the Asian alien have invaded homes and gardens, causing more than a foul odor. “The populations this year have been astronomical when compared with years past,” says Dr. Joe Fiola, specialist in viticulture and small fruit for the University of Maryland Extension. “Multiple bugs per fruit, whereas with green stink bugs [the...

Article - Creature Feature; by Diana Beechener; 9/30/10

Treat Our Flag Right

It’s Alive, U.S. Code Says

On Monday June 14, our nation celebrates Flag Day, a national holiday that honors the Continental Congress’ adoption of the official American flag. With 13 bars and 50 stars, the American flag is one of the most recognizable symbols of our union. Here’s how to treat it with the care it deserves. • Don’t wear the flag. Resist the temptation to buy apparel imprinted with the American flag. The United States Code forbids the flag to be used as “wearing apparel,...

Article - Things; by Diana Beechener; 6/10/10

Music to Soothe Wounded Warriors

Ensemble Galilei’s June 13 concert promotes their Walter Reed music

--Every Friday, Carolyn Surrick, Ginger Hildebrand and Sue Richards drive from near Annapolis into Washington, D.C., to practice their music. For a year and a half, the Ensemble Galilei performers make the trek every week to Mologne House, an outpatient hotel for Walter Reed soldiers who manage without round-the-clock care. These practice sessions were the brainchild of viola da gamba player Surrick, who thought she could get more out of her practice time. “As musicians, you...

Article - People; by Diana Beechener; 6/10/10