The Universe Runs on Attraction
The universe is sparkling with the news that all the gold in the world was formed in the ancient explosive convergence of neutron stars. At least my universe.
That marvelous Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics report has led me as if by the hand to the conclusion that things like company.
How else to explain why atoms of free floating gold got together in coalescing Earth to form nuggets and seams?
The nature of things is miraculous. Perhaps that awe illuminates the quests of scientists as well as filling everyday life with wonder.
This very early morning I saw a pretty miraculous reminder of the attraction of matter. A big clump of flowering Joe Pye Weed had attracted a crowd of butterflies. Hundreds of tiger and black swallowtails were visiting, poking the probes of their proboscises into the myriad tiny cups of the flower masses. The awe of the sight — plus a trip to retrieve my camera — made me late for work. So I can show you, as well as tell you all about it, in Creature Feature next week.
This week’s paper is already full of wonders.
Take the attraction of tiny creatures into the fouling communities. Their natural interest in getting together has been — in the words of scientist Anson ‘Tuck’ Hines, director of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater — “the bane of boaters from the beginning.” So it is today, despite the intervention of antifouling bottom paints. Not such good news from a human perspective as gold or butterflies. But awesome nonetheless.
Tracking the amazing things that happen from the multitudinous interactions of the communities of Chesapeake Country is what we’re about at Bay Weekly. Information streams in for us to mine, and we go out prospecting for more. Because the universe runs on attraction, when you seek stories, you find them.
Thus the job of journalism is fun, whether the people doing the job are traditional journalists like us newspapermen and women or some modern species like bloggers. We get to discover; then we bring our discoveries home as stories to share with you.
To create the stories you’ll read in this paper, reporters were out in Severna Park examining rain gardens; in North Beach, interviewing youth playwrights; in the fouling hub of the Chesapeake, interviewing scientists and boat power washers; at Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary checking out box turtles; plus fishing, crabbing, gardening and watching both movies and the night sky.
And because the universe runs on attraction, Bay Weekly lures you to pick it up, read the stories and ads, then go into Chesapeake Country inspired by those discoveries to make more of your own.
You might, for example, see the kids direct their own plays in the Twin Beach Players’ Kids Playwriting Festival this Friday, Saturday or Sunday … Inspired by John Dawson’s experience as a Watershed Steward, you might learn how you could follow in his footsteps … You’ll find two options in distant ends of Anne Arundel County in 8 Days a Week and in reporter Emily Myron’s story … You might volunteer to feed a turtle, go crabbing or take your own look at our night skies. You might volunteer to give blood for a good cause, then restore your equilibrium with Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt.
You might eat crabs and watermelon and meet watermelon queens at the Annapolis Rotary Crab Feast or help The Old Stein Inn celebrate 30 years in business; get details in The Dish.
You might shop Parkemoor’s Hooker furniture sale (35 percent off) or West Annapolis’ sidewalk sale. You might spend Sunday afternoon in downtown Annapolis at the First Sunday Street and Arts Festival.
Having sampled all those events and more, we reporters and writers think we see a lot of Chesapeake Country.
Compared to Bay Weekly delivery drivers, we don’t see so much.
Each week, our five drivers make 500-plus stops in Anne Arundel and Calvert counties, from Severna Park to Solomons Island, to deliver Bay Weekly. They know our shared region like the back of their hands, and they make lots of friends along the way.
If you’d like to get in on the fun, delivery routes are open for northern and southern Anne Arundel County. Call General Manager Alex Knoll at 410-626-9888.
You make your connection with Bay Weekly because of the hundreds of people who willingly share their space to allow our free paper in. Special thanks this week to Red Hot & Blue on Old Mill Bottom Road for bringing back Bay Weekly. Thank them when you stop in for barbecue and your paper.
Sandra Olivetti Martin
Editor and publisher; [email protected]