Articles by Sandra Olivetti Martin

Kennedy Center Debut for Londontowne Symphony...

Local musicians join Iraqi conductor for a Musical Dialogue Between Nations

What’s a small-town orchestra doing at a place like this? You usually hear the Londontowne Symphony Orchestra at South River or Annapolis High School. This weekend, the community-based orchestra of some 80 local professional, community and student musicians plays the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. “This will put us on the map,” says Anna Binneweg, Londontowne’s conductor and a professor at Anne Arundel...

Article - News; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 9/13/12

This Weeks Creature Feature ... The Cutest Fish in...

Meet Facebook favorite Puff

There are many fish in the sea. The census of the Chesapeake extends to the thousands, filling 324 pages of Fishes of Chesapeake Bay. But few are as cute as the young northern puffer John Mayer, captain of the charter fishing boat Marauder, caught in the Patuxent River about six miles above Solomons. This little fish was so cute that Mayer carried him in a bucket to Calvert Marine Museum, which agreed to a rare adoption. “Walk-in identifications are...

Article - Creature Feature; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 9/13/12

Talking Trash

Annapolis jumps on the once-a-week bandwagon

This bandwagon is a trash truck, and it’s picking up speed in Maryland On September 10, the city of Annapolis reduced its trash and recycling pickup from two days to once a week. Anne Arundel County made the same move in June, reaping countians a savings of $17 on their solid-waste disposal fee, now $298. Annapolitans will do better in increased saving and services. With the city’s switch from government to private pick-up...

Article - News; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 9/13/12

Plenty to Read, Plenty to Do

We write Bay Weekly for many tastes — especially yours

Bloody Murder is a play that “will slay you,” according to Bay Weekly theater reviewer Jane Elkin. Do you care? Is 2nd Star Productions on your radar? Jane’s opinion matters a lot to 2nd Star and the dozen community and professional theater companies whose plays are routinely reviewed in our pages. Davina Grace Hill, Bay Weekly’s other regular theater reviewer, and Jane damn or sanctify months of effort with their opinions....

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 9/13/12

Whoever Fixed That Up Deserves a Thank You

Nominate champions of preservation for Calvert historic awards

Calvert County sped up in the last quarter of the 20th century, zooming from a fishing and farming county of 15,826 in 1960 to a D.C. exburb of 88,737 people. In the 1990s, Calvert was Maryland’s fastest-growing county. Yet its rural ways are part of its appeal, as well as its identity, so keeping its heritage alive in a new century is a priority. It’s also a job for Kirsti Uunila, who goes to work every day as Calvert’s historic preservation planner....

Article - News; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 9/6/12

Saving the Bay Foot by Foot

Grants to restore shorelines multiply dollars and deeds

Restoring the Bay is like cleaning house: We do it chore by chore. Fortunately, the Bay multiplies much of the effort we put into it. Put water in motion and it keeps moving. Put $800,000 into shoreline restorations, and the grants multiply dollars and deeds. The dozen new shoreline restoration grants in Maryland and four in Virginia are putting that money to work, multiplying the momentum. This Bay chore is supported by the Chesapeake...

Article - Green Living; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 9/6/12

The Reader

Janet is an utterly personal book describing the human experience with purity, truth and guilelessness. That is how elegies work.

The elegy is a literary form dear to the human heart, for it’s the best reply we can summon to death’s speechlessness. Janet is such a work, created by Bay Weekly contributing writer Al McKegg in honor of his wife, Janet. With soaring highs and crashing lows, theirs was a love story made for literature. It was too cruel for real life. Cupid struck them with wayward arrows. Al was 12 years older than Janet and otherwise...

Article - Books; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 9/6/12

The Path to Success

Step one is putting the pieces together

The Labor Day weekend rain mostly skipped Chesapeake Country — at least my part — but tumultuous skies and soggy forecasts dampened a lot of parades. In Annapolis, First Sunday Arts Festival cancelled this month, and the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra moved its Labor Day Pops concert inside Maryland Hall, quashing plans for musical picnics in Quiet Waters Park. Our personal parade changed locations, too. Instead of cruising the Chesapeake, Bay Weekly the boat...

Article - Letter from the Editor; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 9/6/12

Finding Your Way in Our Capital City

Good signs make ‘meaningful experiences’

Are we there yet? No, dear. But in a couple of years, visitors to our capital city will arrive surely at their destinations, guided by a new Wayfinding Master Plan. Wayfinding is a fancy word for signs with a lot of thought behind them. Sixty-five thousand dollars worth of thought. That’s how much Merje Designs is earning to plan a system of signs to guide visitors into...

Article - News; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 8/30/12

School Is for Everybody

At Parks and Rec classes, even old dogs can learn new tricks

Feeling envious as kids strap on their new backpacks to explore the wonders of the universe? Don’t let age stop you. Whatever your age, or youth, Anne Arundel and Calvert counties can open new worlds for you. And for your dog. Want to learn wedding calligraphy? Hip-hop dance? Sign language? German or Spanish? Get fit in a couple of dozen ways, including Tom’s No-Nonsense Karate? Play senior billiards? Do art in the park? Partner with you dog...

Article - News; by Sandra Olivetti Martin; 8/30/12