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March 22, 2023

The Talbot Spy

The nonprofit e-newspaper for the Talbot County Community

Spy Highlights Spy Top Story

The Groove is Back: A Chat with “Wolves” Director Izzy Clemens

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One of the small signs that things are getting better on the Mid-Shore as our region recovers from the pandemic is the return of the performing arts. And perhaps the most exciting will be the return of Talley Wilford’s new Groove Theatre in Cambridge next weekend with its performance of Sarah DeLappe’s “The Wolves” directed by Izzy Clemens.

The play focuses on the experiences of high school girls in a competitive indoor soccer team, as they warm up weekly on Saturday mornings before their games as they progress towards the championship. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, this play has grown in popularity over the years.

The Spy sat down with “The Wolves” director Izzy Clemens to hear more in anticipation of the Groove coming back. A graduate of The Country School, Gunston and Washington College, the biology teacher at Easton High talks about her passion for theater, her love of Sarah DeLappe’s work, and the powerful experience of working with her talented cast to share the challenges of growing up as a teenager in contemporary America.

This video is approximately three minutes in length. “The Wolves” will be performed at the Dorchester Center for the Arts for the next two weekends. For ticket information please go here.

Election 2022 Profiles: Addie Eckardt for Maryland State Senator

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Today, the Spy continues its informal series on profiling candidates running for office in 2022. Over the next eight months, we will be offering long-form interviews with those running for Maryland’s Governor, MD Congressional District 1, and several local elections in Dorchester, Kent, and Talbot Counties.

As per our educational, nonpartisan mission concerning all public affairs on the Mid-Shore, we believe these in-depth conversations offer a unique alternative to the traditional three-minute sound bite or quick quote. We will be talking to each candidate about their background, qualifications, and policy priorities as well as how they differentiate themselves from others running for the same office and the previous Hogan administration.

We continue with Maryland State Senator Addie Eckardt who is running for re-election in 2022. Senator Eckardt has been the incumbant since 2016. Prior to that, she had represented the Mid-Shore as the General Assembly Delegate for District 37B.

This video is approximately fifteen minutes in length. For more information about Addie Eckardt for Maryland State Senator please go here.

 

 

Ask Irma: How to Say Goodbye

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One of the greatest challenges of life is when one needs to say goodbye to a loved one facing a terminal illness. Be it cancer or some other dreaded diagnosis, these patients, along with their family and friends, are sometimes given an significant advanced warning that they should put one’s affairs in order with each other. But how?

While there seems to be significant progress in helping those with these grave conditions, many of that person’s extended circle still might struggle mightily with how to best express their love and support during this challenge time.

As part of our regular series Ask Irma, we ask Irma Toce, the CEO of Londonderry on the Tred Avon retirement community, to give us her thoughts on how all of us can navigate these delicate conversations.

This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more information about Londonderry please go here. 

Talbot County Council Approves Clarification Letter to MDE on Lakeside Project

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The Talbot County Council last night approved a letter by a vote of 3-2 to the Maryland Department of the Environment to clarify the Council’s position regarding the wastewater treatment plans for the Lakeside housing development in Trappe.

At the Council’s request, County Attorney Patrick Thomas drafted the letter to update the MDE on the Council’s deliberations on the proposed development water treatment plans. Council members Pete Lesher and Laura Price had recommended revisions to the draft prior to approval but were not able to gain the support of the majority of the Council members.

The letter noted that “the Project may proceed in accordance therewith, notwithstanding the County Council’s e Resolution No. 327, which is currently scheduled for a public hearing and vote on April 12, 2022. If Resolution No. 327 is adopted, it will still require final approval from MDE pursuant to Md. Code Ann., Environment § 9-507.”

Here is the full segment where the letter was discussed.

Final letter sent to Maryland Department of the Environment 

 

 

 

200 Cheers for Harriet: The Tubman Bicentennial Kicks Off

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It’s a shame that plans to introduce the Harriet Tubman $20 bill have been postponed until 2030 rather than in her bicentennial year, but that hasn’t stopped the United States and, in particular, the Mid-Shore, from making 2022 a memorable year in honoring this remarkable American hero.

One of those leading that effort has been Dana Paterra, the park manager for the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park. Hired eight years ago to help plan for this multi-million dollar Maryland State Park, Paterra has been capturing and documenting (and some might say even channeling) Harriet waiting excitedly to this important milestone. Seeking to maximize the national spotlight, Dana has been working with local, state, and federal agencies as well as leaders from the Harriet Tubman Museum & Educational Center in downtown Cambridge to make the most of the next nine months.

This educational campaign kicks off at the Tubman State Park on March 11 for a weekend of special programming. Starting with the virtual premiere of Rooted Wisdom, a locally produced documentary made in partnership with Adkins Adbordeum, on how the knowledge of nature helped those seeking freedom in the 19th century, the celebration continues on Saturday for lectures, music, and the appearance of Harriet herself in the form a gifted reenactor.

This week, we sat down with Dina at the WHCP/Spy studio in Cambridge to get the lowdown.

This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more information on this event and others please go here.

 

 

 

Spy Report: Cambridge Council Highlights on Role of Mayor

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The Spy was particularly impressed with a few of the Commissioners remarks last night at the Cambridge Council meeting. At the end of the two-hour meeting, the agenda calls for comments from each ward representative. Commissioners Lajan Cephas and Brian RocheRouch spoke about the process regarding a current review of the City’s form of government and the role of the city mayor in the future.

We were impressed with their comments enough to share with our readers.

This video is approximately four minutes in length.

In Remembrance: WC First Lady Libby Anderson Cater Halaby

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Libby Anderson Cater Halaby, who served as First Lady of Washington College during President Douglass Cater’s tenure  from 1982 to 1990, passed away last night in San Rafael, CA, at the age of 96 years old.

Campaigning for Obama at the Chestertown Farmers’ Market

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Libby Anderson started her remarkable public service career early as the first female SGA President at The University of Alabama. After marrying Cater in 1950, the couple would make Washington, D.C. home for the next three decades, where she became a staff member for Congressman Laurie C. Battle, raised her family of four children, and eventually joined the Johnson Administration as special assistant to Lady Bird Johnson. In the 1970s, she served in a similar capacity at the National Endowment for the Arts, the Aspen Institute, and President Jimmy Carter’s Commission on Women.

When her husband became president of Washington College in 1982, she became his primary partner in significantly raising the school’s profile nationally as the couple hosted the Who’s Who of American politics and culture in Chestertown with such novel events like their annual Celebration on the Chesapeake weekend.

Libby Cater, Washington College First Lady

As the college’s first lady, she became one of the key fundraisers for the school’s $41 million capital campaign, which lead to dramatic improvements of the college’s campus and financial equilibrium. The college awarded her an honorary degree for Public Service in 1990.

After Douglass Cater’s death in 1995, she married Najeeb Halaby, the celebrated aviator and the father of Queen Noor of Jordan in 1997. During that time, she joined the Board of Visitors and Governors of Washington College, as well as served on the the board of Maryland Public Television. She was also an advisor to the Spy Newspapers.

The Spy will have more to say about Libby and her remarkable contributions to the Mid-Shore of Maryland over the next few days.

 

Spy Report: The Avalon Holiday Show is Back in the Avalon with White Christmas

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One very positive sign locally as the region recovers from the pandemic is that the Avalon’s extremely popular annual holiday show is finally back in the Avalon’s main theater. And they have come back with one of this country’s most beloved seasonal favorites, Irving Berlin’s classic White Christmas. 

But, according to director Tim Weigand and musical director Kimberly Stevens, their version is based on the newer stage production rather than taking the script and songs from the earlier Paramount Pictures release From 1954.

Veterans Bob Wallace and Phil Davis (played by Will Chapman and Phil Roberts)  have a successful song-and-dance act after World War II. With romance in mind, the two follow a duo of beautiful singing sisters en route to their Christmas show at a Vermont lodge, which just happens to be owned by Bob and Phil’s former army commander. With a dazzling score featuring well-known standards including “Blue Skies,” “I Love A Piano,” “How Deep Is the Ocean” and the perennial title song, White Christmas is an uplifting musical worthy of any Holiday Season.

The Spy talked to the Avalon gang yesterday as they finished their final rehearsals and prepared for taking the stage for the opening on December 9.

This video is approximately four minutes in length. For more information about tickets and schedule, please go here. All ticket proceeds go toward the Foundation’s year-round mission to provide diversified arts and educational programs that improves the quality of life here on the Eastern Shore.

Spy Report: Checking Out the New UM Shore Cambridge Medical Pavilion

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There are a couple of reasons to love to new UM Regional Shore Health Pavilion in Cambridge, according to managing nurse AnnMarie Hernandez. The first is that this 82,000 square feet facility and emergency room is a vast improvement to Cambridge’s aging hospital.

While AnnMarie, a Cambridge native herself, feels a great sense of nostalgia for the old building and memories of babies being born and patients getting well, her lifetime career as a health provider had known for years that her community needed a much more modern center.

The second is that the Pavilion significantly expands the number of people that can be served locally. With state-of-the-art equipment, expanded examination and triage rooms, pediatric care, women’s services, a three-bed psych pod, and cardiology services, the new Cambridge site will be the kind of health hub AnnMarie feels Dorchester County deserves.

And finally, the new health center has become a business anchor for a decaying shopping center on Route 50. Beyond the easy access for both her patients and staff, the new Pavilion has attracted several new stores and restaurants that have dramatically improved the streetscape. It also doesn’t seem to hurt that AnnMarie and her co-workers are steps away from a new Starbucks and Chick-fil-a.

The Spy took a short tour last week to see firsthand what the Pavilion has to offer.

This video is approximately two minutes in length. For more information about the UM Shore Medical Pavilion at Cambridge please go here.

Mid-Shore Arts: The Academy Art Museum Craft Show is On for October

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There was a bit of hesitation with volunteer leaders and staff about whether or not to hold the extremely popular Academy Art Museum Craft this year. This summer’s surprise visit of the Delta variant of the coronavirus was an unanticipated bump in the road as AAM trustee Diz Hormel took over this summer as the major fundraiser chair. Diz and AAM staff manager Jennifer Chrzanowski had to think twice before the museum decided to move ahead with plans with what may be one of the most popular crafts shows in the Mid-Atlantic region.

In fact, almost 250,000 people were tracking the craft show last year via social media, and with the help of simple safety measures, including the vaccination of all the artists coming to the Easton museum, and good old common sense, the good news is those folks will not be disappointed. As they say in show business, the show will, indeed, go on.

The Spy sat down with Diz and Jennifer for a short preview of what visitors can expect when the Crafts Show opens its doors during the October 15th weekend. This includes the special preview shopping event for patrons on Friday evening and some innovative ways to keep young children engaged while parents walk through the museum and the Waterfowl Building to find the perfect gifts for loved ones for the upcoming holiday season.

This video is approximately two minutes in length. For more information about the Academy Art Museum’s 2021 Craft Show please go here. 

 The Academy Art Museum is looking for volunteers to help out at the Craft Show. Volunteers get free access to the show all weekend. Click here to sign up: https://bit.ly/CSVolunteer2021

 

2021 Academy Craft Show

Friday, October 15, Preview Shopping Event, 5:30 – 8:30 Pm
Saturday, October 16, 10 Am – 6Pm
Sunday, October 17, 10 Am – 3 Pm