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Articles by Sandra Olivetti Martin

To stop emerald ash borers, you’ve got to think like a bug

To stop a thief, you’ve got to think like a thief. To stop a bug, you’ve got to get more basic.     That’s what Maryland Department of Agriculture has learned in its 10-year effort to stop the inexorable march of the emerald ash borer.     In the early years of the 21st century, Agrilus planipennis escaped from China, likely stowed away in a pallet in the hull of a cargo ship bound for the Great Lakes. Since then, the insect has gnawed its way...

Sorting out our stuff takes many more days

The move in Bay Weekly’s future is an 800-pound gorilla making a big mess in the here and now.     1629 Forest Drive is still our office, and will be until Tuesday, May 29. We’re doing business here, and putting out the paper as we’ve done every week for 19 years. At the same time, we’re letting go, demolishing the space we’ve worked in since December, 2007.     We’re only moving across the street, literally, but that doesn...

Baby warthogs, prairie dog pups, small-clawed otters and zebra foals

Yes, panda infertility is a problem. But while we’re waiting for the experts to solve it, plenty of other babies are looking adorable in our regional zoos.     At the Smithsonian’s National Zoo (nationalzoo.si.edu), a new family of Asian small-clawed otters (Amblonyx cinereus) is making up for Mei Xiang and Tian Tian’s cublessness. Eleven otters — two parents and two litters of their offspring — are happily playing, swimming, foraging for bugs,...

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...

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 gamblers 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...

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...

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.     ...

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...

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...

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...