Articles by Sandra Olivetti Martin

A Letter on Letters

On one, I ask you to be the judge

Your letters are the high point of my week. Of course praise is ice cream after dinner. Of that I had a full serving in W.R. Kraus’ words from Edgewater: We very much enjoy your paper. Since we moved here in 2004, it has helped us understand the area we live in; manage our garden; and find lots of fun things to do. It also has the added benefit of not making me want to jump off the roof after reading the news! Dessert is good, but I’ve never been one to skip dinner, so I happily dig...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 10/21/10

Fascination: That’s What Bay Weekly Promises Every...

What fascinates us comes to define us

What fascinates you? I’ve built a career of getting people to tell me their answer to that question. Over the years, I’ve learned that people are fascinated by many things, often things you or I might call odd. Like stretch-and-sew sewing. That was the short-term fascination of one dear old friend whose obsessions, I’m glad to say, changed frequently. I’m glad because I’d hate to sum up Sue’s life by saying she hand-made T-shirts. Because what...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 10/14/10

Where Are Your Osprey?

From here to Venezuela

Where have our osprey gone after abandoning Chesapeake Country over the last six weeks? In general, we know that Chesapeake osprey fly from between 2,000 and 4,000 miles. Their journey takes 15 to 50 days, depending on the individual’s flight plans. Transmitter-tagged birds can tell us much more. So we turn to 40-plus-year osprey researcher Rob Bierregaard of the University of North Carolina. He’s been banding birds since 2000 on Martha’s Vineyard and in New York, Rhode Island...

Article - Creature Feature; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 10/14/10

How Big Is Your Neighborhood?

Can readers see beyond the block to the big picture?

A small slice of Chesapeake Country gets a new newspaper this week. Starting May 6, The Chesapeake Current promises to appear in print and online every-other Thursday. The new arrival has nothing to do with Bay Weekly. But the birth of any newspaper, like the birth of a new baby, is good news. It’s an act of faith in the future that brings a smile to the face of even experienced mothers, who know the truth and trouble that lie ahead. Newspapers are not as risky an enterprise as...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 5/6/10

From Clay Street to the Sailboat Show

Telling the stories of a city at work

“Oh my Lord, thank you. I never thought I’d live to see this day,” gushed Mrs. Beatrice P. Smith, 89, of Annapolis, after throwing her arms around former President Jimmy Carter on Pleasant Street, just around the corner from — but out of sight of — downtown Annapolis. October 5 was the kind of day that evokes enthusiasm. The 86-year-old former president and his wife Rosalynn Carter were not only visiting the Clay Street neighborhood. They were also bringing...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 10/7/10

What, Me Worry?

My unofficial readers’ poll takes you to the sunny side of the street

What’s worrying you? Thirteen minutes ago, the biggest problem on my mind was on my tail, in the form of a dump truck a lot less than four truck-lengths behind my little car across the Rt. 2 bridge over the South River. Now at my desk, my worry has changed. My chest throbs with the weekly high-anxiety, high-adrenalin pressure of getting Bay Weekly to you. For the next 12 hours, I’ll be outrunning that worry. If it weren’t for sweating the small stuff, I’d be...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 5/13/10

Endangered Species Day, International Day for...

How are you planning on celebrating?

Have you encountered any American bison lately on the Maryland range? Such a sighting would have been more likely had you been around a few hundred years ago. Like gray wolves, wild bison have been pushed out of Maryland. People did the pushing, people who believed this land was made for you and me. I note this extirpation because this is a big week for rare, threatened and endangered species. Upcoming are Endangered Species Day, on May 21; International Day for Biological...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 5/20/10

Feathering their nests everywhere

Have you ever found a hummingbird’s nest? More precisely, a hummingbird’s nest perched atop a clothespin? An Anna hummingbird found the perfect abode on a California clothesline. It’s an incorrect assumption that birds nest only in trees and hedgerows and similar places. In reality, if it doesn’t move — or seldom does — it’s a possible site for a nest. Like flower baskets, old boots and abandoned teacups. Or basketball hoops, mailboxes and...

Article - Creature Feature; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 5/20/10

The Veterans are the Best Part of the National World...

But their living memories are dying history

The National World War II Memorial — epically situated in the memorial heart of our capital city, on the National Mall between the Lincoln Memorial to the west and the Washington Monument to the east — looks like it will be around for a long time. It’s solid as a rock, built of granite and brass. It’s as basic as the elements, water and sky, that join with manmade structures in defining its reach. But the animating force of this great plaza survives now in...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 5/27/10

The Week Secret Gardens Are Unlocked

Who knows what you’ll find if you step inside?

Since the Garden of Eden closed, who hasn’t wanted to get back in? It must be that archetypal connection that makes gated, walled or out-of-view gardens such an obsession. They show up all the time in literature. Oscar Wilde wrote about the frozen garden of the selfish giant, which thawed when a child was invited in. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Secret Garden, written at the beginning of the 20th century, has inspired many a child to enter the magic territory of imagination....

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 6/3/10