Articles by Sandra Olivetti Martin

Cat-aloguing Cat-astrophes

Dog Day reflections on feline companionship

This affectionate kitty loves people and rewards you with purrs when you pet him. So says The Capital. That’s a healthy note of skepticism you read in my words. Or perhaps it’s jealousy. For assertions like this one crank up a notch or 10 the friendly competition one newspaper editor feels on reading the pages of another paper. Can every cat featured in Adopt a Pet — not just the homeless little dreamcicle pictured...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 8/16/12

This Week’s Creature Feature ... Fast, Faster,...

Cheetahs named to honor America’s fastest man and woman

On top of their Olympic medals, America’s fastest man and woman have another cause for pride. They’re the namesakes of two of the world’s fastest animals, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s cheetah twins born April 23 at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Va. Girl cub Carmelita is named in honor of Carmelita Jeter, the fastest American in the 100-meter dash. On Saturday, Aug. 4, Jeter ran the 100 meter in 10.78 seconds...

Article - Creature Feature; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 8/9/12

Stretch Your Comfort Zone

That’s what the Olympics teach us about life and journalism

I’d blame it on Olympic fever, had not the urge to stretch our comfort zones begun before the Games of the XXX Olympiad opened on July 27. Certainly, aspiration is fed by the spectacle of human beings attempting superhuman feats of strength, agility, grace, speed and endurance. By back-stories recounting achievement by sweaty, disciplined years-in-and-out perseverance. By slips and falls and rededication as much as by success. By the sight of...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 8/9/12

Doubling Down

Maryland lawmakers return to take up gambling in their second special session of the year — here’s what you need to know

When? Opening Thursday, August 9 and running “two or three days,” according to Sen. President Thomas V. ‘Mike’ Miller, a champion of expanded gambling. Certainly no than 30 days; the Maryland Constitution forbids it. But in the fall of 1991, a special session on congressional redistricting came close, running from Sept. 25 to Oct. 22. Why? To prepare a ballot question on gambling for the Nov. 6 general election...

Article - News; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 8/2/12

Half a Cup of Summer Left

Drink deeply of 2012. It’s a vintage year

Summer is half over. August 2 marks the midway point between the solstice, which began our summer on June 20, and the autumnal equinox, beginning fall on September 22. That’s the woeful way of saying we have half the season of good times left. So let’s make the most of it. Over the years Bay Weekly has made an art of gathering ways to enjoy summer. You’ll have misspent your summer if you haven’t made time for these. 1. Get Cool in...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 8/2/12

Lighthouse Keepers’ House for Rent

Pack your pjs for three, four or seven nights

If your approach to historic tourism is the closer the better, here you go, with deluxe comfort and rare opportunity. Calvert Marine Museum is now booking both sides of the Cove Point Lighthouse Keepers’ House for seven-, four- or three-day overnight rentals. It’s the only lighthouse in the Mid-Atlantic where you can sleep over. No, the light won’t keep you up. At 38 feet, it rises higher than the two-and-a-half story...

Article - News; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 7/26/12

Summertime, and the Eating is Good

Maryland chefs show you how to make the cool best of Buy Local

“Can you imagine eating a poor little tomato that had to drive all the way across California before it got here?” Gov. Martin O’Malley asked his guests at the fifth annual Buy Local Cookout on Government House lawn on a hot evening last week. Summer is no time to entertain such thoughts. Desperation may drive us there midwinter. But now Maryland is tomato heaven. The skyscraping plants have leeched enough water out of dry soil to grow dense with foliage and...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 7/26/12

Working at Play

From plays to sculptures, what’s the good of art in our communities

The Library of Congress list of books that shaped America didn’t include Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class among its 88. But it’s one of the big books that did some molding of my mind. I’ve never been sure, however, that the crotchety social critic was right in putting art on his list of conspicuous consumptions you indulge only when you’ve worked successfully enough not to have to work. This heady speculation is the brainchild of...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 7/19/12

Who’s Eating Whom?

Find out at Calvert Marine Museum’s Sharkfest

Millions of years ago, long before there was a Chesapeake, sharks thrived in the saltwater marine environment of the flooded river we now call Susquehanna. Big sharks that could have swallowed a man whole, had any men or women been around to be eaten. The megalodon, ancestor of the great white shark, was the apex marine predator of those waters. Rivaling today’s blue whale, the megalodon grew up to 50 feet long. He’s long gone, but his kin are...

Article - History & Lore; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 7/12/12

The Best Job Is One You Love

Sometimes, you even get paid for doing it

When I was an impressionable young woman, I believed the wise old man who told me that’s it’s a lucky fate to love your job, because you’ll spend a lot of your life doing it. Achieving that happiness takes stepping in the right direction as well as luck, newspaperman Joe Akers advised, though there is no recipe for the correct proportions. I’ve met some happy people this week, and a couple I hope will find their happiness right here...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 7/12/12