Articles by Sandra Olivetti Martin

The Wonders of Water

In the water, humans become amphibious. Try for yourself; you can feel the magic.

Wonders happen in water. Capture water in a pool, and creatures can’t resist it. We gather in the liquid, and make magic. Here’s what I mean. Consider that the narrator and title character in the novel Life of Pi, named Piscine for swimming pool in French, devotes pages to second-hand elegies to the early 20th century swimming pools of Paris — despite sanitation far beneath the standards of modern pools. Consider that the Druid Hill and Patterson Park swimming...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 8/5/10

Oysters and Oystering

The new era begins now

In a decade or two, we might be hearing this conversation: You know, fat oysters like that one you’re eating used to be hunted in the wild, like the buffalo. Really? Like cowboys, Chesapeake watermen rode out on low-rise boats, even in the worst weather in the middle of winter, and scraped oysters from the bottom of Chesapeake Bay. Like tobacco farming, oyster harvesting has been a way of life in most of the Bay’s recorded history. But mark the year 2010 in the history book —...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 9/16/10

Read It Now

Or weep when you see who you’ve hired

It’s downright terrifying how much control we give away on Election Day. Scarier still is how few of us bother with these decisions. What we’re really doing when we go out to vote is hiring people for a job with vast responsibility over our public and private lives. Everybody we hire to work for us in both county boards and councils and the Maryland General Assembly will be deciding how to spend our money. We give our county hires huge control over how we’ll live: how...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 9/9/10

Farewell Summer Vacation

It’s back to work we go

A holiday is always welcome, no matter when it falls. But many of them seem to fall as randomly as the leaves that will soon illustrate for us the meaning of deciduous. New Year’s Day, for example. What business does it have falling in the middle of winter, when nothing is new? And if in winter it must be, why not on the equinox, when the new year really does begin with sunlight’s slow enlargement? Christmas, too. Midwinter seems an unlikely time for the birth of the redeemer of...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 9/2/10

Why Do We Love Them So?

Despite embarrassment, indignity and mess, animals are our family

The animals in our lives can get us in trouble. There’s a story circulating through the Bay Weekly office, and possible beyond, about Nipper’s appearance at a family picnic. It wasn’t Nipper’s family picnic. Alerted at distance by the aromas of food, he broke away from his walk with his own family and made for the party. So fast did he run that no one had seen him before he bounded onto a picnic bench, stretched giraffe-like up to the table and stuck his nose into a bowl...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 8/26/10

This Week’s Creature Feature

Maryland’s Most Humane Lawmakers

The Maryland General Assembly is a pretty animal-friendly place, according to the Maryland Humane Scorecard released this month. Across both houses, 117 of 188 members scored 75 percent or higher; only 12 legislators scored less than 50 percent. Forty lawmakers — six senators and 34 delegates — scored 100 percent. Representing Anne Arundel and Calvert, House Speaker Michael Busch (District 30) and Del. James Proctor ((District 27A) are 100-percenters. Eight lawmakers scored even...

Article - Creature Feature; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 8/26/10

Pain-Free Prognostication

A new website takes the sting out of your summer by predicting jellyfish migration patterns

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water — it is. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has created a website that forecasts the location of sea nettles throughout the Chesapeake and its tributaries. NOAA colors the Bay map according to a sliding population scale, using bright red for heavily infested and cool blue for jelly-free swim zones. To predict nettle nests in the water, scientists relied on their knowledge of environmental factors. Using satellite...

Article - Creature Feature; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 8/19/10

Summer’s Not Over Yet

So don’t quit trying to have too much fun

On Tuesday, August 24, school resumes in both Anne Arundel and Calvert counties, and it’s back to work for not only those tens of thousands of students but also for principals, teachers, counselors, librarians, cafeteria workers, custodians and school bus drivers. For as long as my soon-to-be 10-year-old grandson Jack Knoll lives in Anne Arundel County, where he was born — or at least until he graduates high school — he’s likely to celebrate his August 25 birthday in the...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 8/19/10

Extra, Extra! Read all about it!

Bay Weekly’s new and improved online edition gives you a voice

I’m writing these words on a screen, and it’s more likely than ever that’s where you’ll be reading them. Not that newspaper readers have abandoned print pages in their run to e-journalism. Millions are still print readers: 385 million people buy a newspaper each week, meaning we print-makers have, conservatively, one billion weekly readers. Count me among them. It’s no doubt conditioning, but I love reading a newspaper. Having the known world delivered each day to me in five or six sections...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 8/12/10

Maryland’s Black Bears

You can hunt them, paint them or spend $5 to support them

It’s about that time of year when Maryland’s black bears go from being predators to prey. On August 2, Maryland Department of Natural Resources began accepting applications from hunters who hope to shoot a bear in the season opening October 25. Two-hundred and sixty hunters will be picked by lottery from an expected 3,600 applicants (based on last year’s figures). Garrett and Allegany counties will have 65 to 90 fewer bears when the season ends October 30 — or earlier,...

Article - Creature Feature; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 8/5/10