Articles by Diana Beechener

Article - Green Living; by Diana Beechener - 8/12/10

Do Your Part to Mow Down Air Pollution

Maryland Department of Environment makes it easier — and cheaper — to ditch your dirty old mower

Find a greener way to care for your lawn Saturday, August 14, at the Great Maryland Lawn Mower Event in Baltimore’s Camden Yards. The first 1,000 people who bring their gas guzzling power mowers to the event can exchange them for a discount in purchasing one of two environmentally friendly electrical Neuton mowers. “This is actually going to be the fourth lawn mower exchange that we’ve done in Maryland,” says Maryland Department of the Environment’s air quality regulation development division...

Article - Creature Feature; by Diana Beechener - 8/12/10

Last Call for Your Pet Tales

Show off your animal relations

We know you have pets. According to the Humane Society of the United States, 77.5 million dogs and 93.6 million cats around the country share our homes. On top of that staggering census, the Humane Society reports that we also spend generously on our pets — at least $200 per year on vet bills alone. Why not show off your furry money pits? This week, Bay Weekly collects the final reader submissions for our annual Pet Tales issue August 26. So far, we’ve got...

Article - Arts and Culture; by Diana Beechener - 7/29/10

Backstage Romance

Acting team Anna and Alan Ostroff find a Fantastick way to express their love

The curtain goes up on a real life love story in Infinity Theatre Company’s production of The Fantasticks. The play, which tells the tale of two lovers overcoming familial obstacles, opens at the Children’s Theatre of Annapolis this Friday. The production is the first for fledgling Infinity Theatre Company, whose founders Anna and Alan Ostroff found love and creative fulfillment on stage. “We both have been in love with the show since we can remember,” explains...

Article - News; by Diana Beechener - 7/29/10

Backstage Romance

Acting team Anna and Alan Ostroff find a Fantastick way to express their love

Article - News; by Diana Beechener - 7/22/10

Extreme Makeover

Grants from Maryland Heritage Areas Authority makes two groups flush (with cash)

It’s surprising the difference a bathroom makes. As Maryland Heritage Areas Authority divided its $2,617,146 of grant money between 55 projects, at least two projects in Anne Arundel and Calvert County got cash for bathroom upgrades. At Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, executive director Linnell Bowen has long hoped to update the old Annapolis high school’s facilities. “We have the volume of people,” she said, “and we need to keep up.” The hard part...

Article - News; by Diana Beechener - 7/22/10

Extreme Makeovers

Grants from Maryland Heritage Areas Authority
makes two groups flush (with cash)

Article - News; by Diana Beechener - 7/15/10

Hearing Hope in the Melody

Musicians Carolyn Surrick, Ginger Hildebrand
and Sue Richards perform to soothe wounded warriors

Before we go inside, viola da gamba player Carolyn Surrick touches my arm. With serious eyes and concern in her voice, she lays out the facts: Most of the people I’m about to see have been injured horribly. On some, the scars will be invisible; on others, all too visible. Her message is implicit: Don’t freak out. She tells me this not for my benefit but for the benefit of her audience, the residents of Walter Reed’s Mologne House, where she and sister Ensemble...

Article - Creature Feature; by Diana Beechener - 7/8/10

This Week’s Creature Feature Taking Wing Against...

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a person in a chicken suit

Chesapeake Bay is full of crap — literally. An EPA study found that 17 percent of nitrogen pollution and 26 percent of pollution in the Bay comes from animal manure. Environment Maryland wants you to hold the biggest polluters responsible — even if motivating you takes dressing up like a chicken to do it. To educate you about the damage your chicken dinner can cause, the people at Environment Maryland meet you at the point of contact: grocery stores. “We wanted to make...

Article - News; by Diana Beechener - 6/17/10

Saving the Bay One Festival at a Time

The Chesapeake Green Living Festival producers hope their event leaves you seeing green

Save the Bay. Everyone wants to do it. But every year, Maryland seems to miss the mark. Amidst overwhelming reports on oil spills and global warming, rain barrels and natural landscaping can seem small beans. Yet they’re effective weapons in the war on environmental pollutants. As Jim Barthold and Elvia Thompson see it, people have been too busy thinking globally to act locally. To help Anne Arundel Countians find a greener way of life, Barthold and Thompson organized this weekend...

Article - People; 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...