Articles by All

Article - Correspondence; by Herbert Syre - 11/4/10

South African Election Analysis

Dear Bay Weekly: I congratulate you on the Election Educator [Oct. 28]. The present, mid-term election is my second experience in your country after the Barack Obama victory two years ago. The rubbishing of candidates of opposing camps is no different from electioneering in my own country, South Africa. You aptly put it as “a season of mud-slinging.” As a retired councilman of the City of Cape Town, I discern certain similarities and differences in the contenders, here and back home...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 11/4/10

The Skunk and the Ghost Fish

Encounters under the full moon

An angler’s skunk may stink only metaphorically, but it can be every bit as unpleasant as an encounter with the actual Pepe Le Pew. I’m talking about a day spent fishing without catching a fish. Fish Are Biting Drifting eels is producing really nice-sized rockfish, with 36-inchers being boated on occasion. Chumming and fishing cut bait is working now as well. If you don’t have a favorite honey hole, try the mouth of any of the Bay’s tributaries for some...

Article - Where We Live by Steve Carr; by Steve Carr - 11/4/10

Last Farm on the Magothy

Survival of Spriggs Farm is touch and go

There aren’t many farms left once you head north from Annapolis. The Spriggs Farm on the Magothy River is part of a dying breed. With its sweeping views of Dobbins Island and bird-draped, saltwater tidal pond, it’s a one-of-a-kind place. According to legend, Ulmstead Point, its promontory, was the site of feasts between the Indian tribes of western Maryland and Gibson’s Island. Touring the farm with Jack Neil, trustee of Spriggs Farm Preservation Foundation, a group of...

Article - People; by by Al Caplins, interviewed by Lill Caplins - 11/4/10

To China and Back

A Veterans Day Memoir

Veterans’ Day holds special meanings for native Marylander Lillian Caplins, of Huntingtown, who was a cadet nurse at McGuire General Hospital in Richmond, Virginia. Like her husband Alphonse, Lill was born in Baltimore of 100 percent Lithuanian stock. Like Lill, Al served in World War II. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in August 2, 1942, and on June 20, 1943, left for China with the Air Force in the India-Burma-China Theater of Operations in support of General Claire Lee...

Article - News; by Margaret Tearman - 11/4/10

Batten Down Your Hatches

Winter is on the way

We lay in bed, just before lights out, and watched the small battalion of gunmetal gray tanks make their way across the top of our curtains. Three windows, three stinkbugs each. After fall’s bombardment, we didn’t get too worked up over just nine of the little buggers. But we did wonder what entrance they were using. My husband suggested our double-hung windows were probably not shut tight, and the slender gap at the top and bottom of each gave the invaders — and the now...

Article - Special Editions; by Bay Weekly readers - 11/1/10

The Polls Have Closed

Best of the Bay voting is over … look for the winners in the December 30 issue of Bay Weekly.

Article - Movie Reviews; by Mark Burns - 10/28/10

Hereafter

This meditative speculation on the spiritual realm is easily the quietest death-minded movie in the Cineplex this Halloween.

Three strangers are wrestling with death. Marie (Cécile De France: Mesrine: Killer Instinct), a French journalist, is revived after nearly being consumed by the Indian Ocean tsunami and emerges shaken by her brush with the afterlife. Marcus, a British schoolboy, is left rudderless when his twin brother Jason is stolen by tragedy (Frankie and George McLaren in their debut). And George (Matt Damon: Green Zone) is a genuine psychic talent who laments his burden of communing with the dead. Through...

Article - Movie Reviews; by Diana Beechener - 10/28/10

Paranormal Activity 2

A bigger budget means louder, not scarier, thrills in this horror prequel

I don’t think of myself as a horror wimp. I’ve seen it all, and I’ll watch the sequels. That said, the first Paranormal Activity creeped me out. Days later an unexplained noise or a movement in my peripheral vision would cause me to tense and search for its demonic origins. Paranormal Activity 2 is a worthy step in the series, but it nowhere nears the original’s scare-power. Part of this is the budget. In the original, a tiny budget necessitated small-scale practical...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin - 10/28/10

The Parable of North Beach

Where government is a friend, not the enemy

The year’s political babble has the tenor of a neo-Freudian emergency room. Lots of people in obvious psychic pain are loudly blaming government — not mom or dad — for all that’s wrong in the world. So it was a refreshing change to visit the Calvert County town of North Beach, population 1,873, where government seems to work pretty well. So well that all three candidates in the non-partisan race for mayor say they’re setting their electoral sights on making...

Article - Correspondence; by Dr. George N. Demas - 10/28/10

Read, Then Vote

Dear Bay Weekly: I would like to take the opportunity to thank the Bay Weekly for its excellent primary election issue. Nowhere else can a voter find such a comprehensive, unbiased guide to the local candidates. This election, I made a point to save all the campaign literature that arrived at my door and in my mailbox. Now that the election approaches, I have a pile six inches thick. I have to take to screening my calls every evening due to campaign calls. I am sure many voters feel as I...