Articles by Sandra Olivetti Martin

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 5/10/12

Ask the Right Question

And you hit the jackpot

Imagining a question that works like a Rorschach test is the secret of success for stories like this week’s feature, Mothers at Work. You know you’ve got it when you and your test subjects spill out answers the way Maryland gamers are hoping slot machines spit out quarters. We hit the jackpot this time. Here’s how it happened. Mothering choices have been topics in more than one presidential campaign. This time around...

Article - Creature Feature; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 5/10/12

This Week’s Creature Feature ... Thespians of...

Avenue Q’s puppet actors are ready to steal the show

The human actors who’ll bring Avenue Q to the stage of Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre from July 5 to 29 are already hard at work. They’ll invest over 100 hours in the production before the high intensity of tech week begins June 28, according to Theatre president Carolyn Kirby. But, she says, you’ll hardly have eyes for them. Your eyes will be on actors of another species. Despite their striking resemblance to the species whose trademark is held by Walt...

Article - News; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 5/3/12

Extreme Reading

2000 dyslexic students relay-read for World Record

A couple of thousand students from 30 schools — including The Summit School in Edgewater — join in a historic celebration of literacy on May 10. From Baltimore to Honolulu to Cairo, they’ll be relay-reading a single book for pleasure, honor and conviction. The book, The Sword of Darrow, is a fantasy novel that begins, beneath the image of a spooky spider, with these words: Evil: Within this simple word lies a vast collection of deeds. ...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 5/3/12

The Hound Dogs of Journalism

We’re happiest when we’re following a scent

Writing for newspapers is one of the best jobs in the world. If routine, long hours and butt in the chair, fingers on the keyboard — who wouldn’t rather be out fishing, or boating or gardening? — lull me into forgetting how lucky I am, I don’t forget for long. Every week proves that truth anew, and this week has stepped to the head of the proof class. Mine is a job that lets — no, demands — me to follow my curiosity...

Article - Creature Feature; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 4/26/12

This Week’s Creature Feature ... Life Isn’t All...

Cole Bros. Circus pays for elephant mistreatment

Elephants that traveled with Cole Bros. Circus — which visits the Anne Arundel County Fairgrounds this week — were so thin that the circus has been fined for bad care. “The gravity of the violations herein is great and includes the repeated noncompliance with the regulations for veterinary care, handling and licensing,” a U.S. Department of Agriculture attorney wrote of the plight of Asian elephants Tina, Jewell and Boo. U.S....

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 4/26/12

The Locally Grown Movement Sprouts Feathers

Annapolis’ new chicken ordinance is part of a bigger trend

The census of creatures in our neighborhoods is adding new categories. Annapolitan chickens are the latest, as this week Mayor Josh Cohen signed an ordinance welcoming small flocks of hens, but no roosters, on a three-year trial. Of course there are conditions, thoughtfully debated by the City Council. You’ll need permission from all homeowners whose property abuts yours; if you’re a renter, your own property owner must agree. If that goes...

Article - People; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 4/26/12

Backstage at Bay Theatre Company

The curtain rises four times a year, but the drama never stops

Janet Luby, the woman behind Bay Theatre Company, is a little surprised to see her brainchild reach double digits. It’s not as if she expected her effort to bring professional theatre to Annapolis to fail. “The idea of its not working out didn’t even factor in,” she says. “Anything is possible.” In Bay Theatre Company’s 10 years, most anything that could happen, did. I Do! I Do! The first eight...

Article - Gardening; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 4/26/12

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Bay Weekly’s Ephemeral Guide to Spring Plant Sales

The flowers that bloom in spring are often ephemerals, their precious blooms here one day and gone the next. So, too, is the season for plant sales. Starting this weekend and continuing to mid-May, local garden clubs, historical and horticultural societies and nurseries bring out their abundance. These small, often one-day-only affairs offer hundreds of plants at bargain prices, including unusual and rare varieties that you won’t find elsewhere...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 4/19/12

Many Hands Make Light Work

Hundreds have helped us keep Bay Weekly in your hands these 958 issues

Nine-hundred fifty-eight issues in 19 years would be heavy lifting, were it not for all the people who’ve carried part of the load of Bay Weekly since our birth as New Bay Times on Earth Day, April 22, 1993. Each year at this time, I page back through our 19 leather-bound volume books. Each one of them making heavy lifting — not only for all the newsprint pressed in them, nor for all the words typed on that yellowing paper. The memories are heavier still, revived...

Article - Features; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 4/19/12

Memorable Moments

A look at the highs and lows along Bay Weekly’s 19 years

1993 • New Bay Times born April 22 to Sandra Olivetti Martin, Bill Lambrecht and Alex Knoll and delivered every two weeks. • Bill Burton, just retired from the Evening Sun, hires on as outdoors columnist. New Bay Times stock soars. • Inaugural issue of Bay Weekly’s summer guide, 101 Ways to Have Fun. • No longer black and white and read all over; our first spot color (on front and back covers) is green. • Rampant diseases MSX...