Articles by All

Dogs of a Different Color

Both these artists love their dogs — as pets and as subjects. That’s where the similarity ends.

Kelley Donnelly looks at a dog and sees a colorful character. Blue, red, yellow. Her pooches are a flamboyant lot. Paula Waterman sees light and grace. Her dogs are realistic and often in motion, flying across a field in dogged pursuit of a ball or romping in snow. Waterman, 56, has been making art as long as she can remember. “I drew before I wrote my name,” she says. She spent a year and a half in art school, but she considers herself self-taught. Her subjects are mainly waterfowl...

Article - Arts and Culture; by Margaret Tearman; 8/26/10

PETA Says No SeaWorld

Dear Bay Weekly: Federal officials have determined that SeaWorld is at fault in the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau and issued citations for three safety violations, including one for willfully exposing employees to life-threatening hazards. A willful violation is defined as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health. SeaWorld was fined $75,000. SeaWorld should take Brancheau’s death as the wake-up call it is and immediately begin...

Article - Correspondence; by Jennifer O’Connor; 8/26/10

Summer School for County Officials Beat the Beaches

Dear Bay Weekly: I am writing about Marilyn Recknor’s article “Beating the Summer School Blues” (Aug. 19) on the Maryland Association of Counties conference. It is the best explanation I have ever seen of the work that gets accomplished in Ocean City. It truly is summer school for community leaders. Again this year, I did not get out on the beach, because the classes consume so much time. Yes, there is a crab feast, but even there, I was catching up with state officials and...

Article - Correspondence; by Susan Shaw; 8/26/10

Elkin’s Review Led Me to Dignity Players

Dear Bay Weekly: After reading the Aug. 12 issue, I have two praises to bestow on Bay Weekly: First, Jane Elkins’ great review of Dignity Players’ The Trial of Judas Iscariot. I saw the play, and it was everything that Jane had led me to expect. It was funny, irreverent and thought provoking. The venue of this avant-garde production, in the Universalist Unitarian Church, adds a dimension of authenticity to a play that elsewhere might seem mere parody. Second, I commend Bay Weekly...

Article - Correspondence; by Richard E. Wilson; 8/26/10

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

The Osprey Saga

Week 24: Peering into a Young Bird’s Future

The days go by, but I don’t see Junior catching his own fish yet. The other morning, I looked out the window and saw Mom and Dad both sitting separately on nearby pilings eating a fish of their own while Junior was sitting demurely on the nest site waiting for breakfast. Could the parents be purposely trying to drive him to get his own breakfast? Maybe. He’s gone all day now from the nest site, but he manages to be back for meal times and bed time. Typical kid. Late August and early...

Article - Osprey Saga by M.C. Koblos; by M.C. Koblos; 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

The Switch

An accidental sperm donor awakens to love by bizarre circumstances in this entertaining but run-of-the-mill romantic comedy.

Kassie (Jennifer Aniston: The Bounty Hunter) needs a kid, and neurotic best friend Wally (Jason Bateman: Couples Retreat) looks on jealously as she searches for a donor. Soon enough he’s a liquored-up mope at the conception party, where she will administer Roland’s (Patrick Wilson: The A Team) sample. But in the thick of blurry fugue he spills the intended specimen and swaps in his own to cover tracks. She leaves town soon after, and it’s not until seven years on, when Kassie...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Mark Burns; 8/26/10

Bay Gardener’s Cat

From a Norwegian forest to Upakrik Farm

Spooks adopted Upakrik Farm on the evening of All Souls Day in 1996. Our black cocker spaniel Dixie and I both saw a cat in our driveway. I thought it was our cat Pumpkin, a Maine coon cat, but Dixie gave chase and the cat jumped into the shrubbery. When I found Pumpkin in her basket, I concluded we had a visiting cat. Then I heard a yell from my wife. From the window ledge, which is seven-foot six-inches above the ground, a big gray cat with a white chest starring at her. The cat jumped with...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin; 8/26/10

Chasing Civilization

One of our greatest feats follows us on four legs

When you look to the constellations, it’s like paging through history. Creatures abound in the constellations, both real and fanciful. We see kings and queens, beasts and heroes, all recounting the travails and triumphs of ancient times. Today, many are obscure and unfamiliar. But testament to perhaps the greatest triumph of civilization survives the test of time in the heavens. There is no constellation in recognition of the harnessing of fire. Nor is their a constellation commemorating...

Article - Sky Watch by J. Alex Knoll; by J. Alex Knoll; 8/26/10