MENU

Sections

More

September 22, 2021

The Talbot Spy

The nonprofit e-newspaper for the Talbot County Community

Archives News News Homepage

Talbot Begins Process for Confederate Monument’s Removal; Easton Panel OK Will Be First Step

by Leave a Comment

Following the Sept. 14 vote for its relocation, Talbot County officials are beginning initial steps to remove the Confederate monument from the courthouse green.

The administrative process includes seeking approval from the town’s historic district commission for the monument’s removal and likely will require a bid process for its removal and relocation.

As that process continues, those who have been working to keep the monument at its current location are seeking out possible Talbot County sites for its relocation.

The county currently is preparing an application to Easton’s Historic District Commission, Talbot County Council Vice President Pete Lesher said he was told by staffers.

An application would need to be submitted by Monday for the monument’s removal to make the commission’s Oct. 11 agenda, Lesher said Wednesday in an email. If the application is heard Oct. 11, the commission could take action at its Oct. 25 meeting.

“The HDC application is the appropriate first action ,” Lesher wrote. “No steps have been taken on the physical removal until we get through this initial action.”

Lesher said he wasn’t yet aware of a bid process for the monument’s removal, but said “the county has rules for the disbursement of funds, and I am sure this project falls within them.”

Asked about the possibility an appropriate site for the monument could be located in Talbot County, he said “No one has proposed to me an alternative site.

“It seems that a publicly accessible site that is associated with the Talbot Boys named on the monument — such as the Cross Keys battlefield — would be hard to equal,” Lesher wrote.

“Others searched for over a year to find a site, without success,” he said. “I give (Councilman Frank) Divilio great credit for finding and securing such a suitable and appropriate site.”

Since the Sept. 14 vote, David Montgomery, president of Preserve Talbot History, has said several Talbot County sites have been offered for the statue’s new location.

In a Wednesday afternoon email, Montgomery said the group has not had any “formal discussions with Council members about possible sites.

“We are still doing our homework and hope to have something solid to discuss soon,” he wrote.

Montgomery added that several site characteristics have been discussed. Those are:

• Physical feasibility, that the site be accessible to moving equipment and provide a stable base.

• Public access, now or in the future, so that the educational purpose can continue.

• Security, so that random or political vandalism can be discouraged.

Divilio, who previously had joined a 3-2 council majority in voting against the monument’s removal, introduced an administrative resolution during the Sept. 14 council meeting to move it to the Cross Keys Battlefield in Harrisonburg, Va., “a private park, under the custody, care, and control of Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation….”

The resolution requires the monument’s removal and relocation to be paid by private funds.

Although the foundation had agreed to take the monument, its executive director sent a letter shortly before the Sept. 14 meeting noting the foundation’s monuments policy supports keeping a monument at its original location, with relocation within the county the next best option.

However, the letter also reiterated the foundation’s willingness to accept the monument and become its permanent steward “if and when it is evident that the monument will not and can not remain safely” in Talbot County.

Divilio was joined by Lesher and Councilman Corey Pack in voting Sept. 14 for the resolution. Pack had sought the monument’s removal from the courthouse grounds last year, but his measure was only supported by Lesher.

As a result of the Sept. 14 vote, the federal lawsuit seeking the monument’s removal from the courthouse green is on hold.

After years of debate, protests, letters, emails, public comment, several votes against removal, and the lawsuit, a majority of the Talbot County Council voted Sept. 14 to relocate the monument to a battlefield site in Virginia.

Three days later, a federal judge granted a motion for a limited stay, putting the case on hold for 30 days and requiring a joint status report by the end of that period.

An attorney for Talbot County sought the stay in a Sept. 16 consent motion, noting “Removal of the statue is the central issue in this litigation.

“Because the statue is a historic structure within the meaning of local preservation laws, some additional administrative steps are required before removal is effected, including a public hearing before the local commission charged with certifying that removal is appropriate under the related local regulations,” Kevin Karpinski, the county’s attorney in the case, wrote in the motion.

Karpinski said the attorneys for the organizations and individuals who had filed the lawsuit had “graciously consented to this request for a stay.

“The County respectfully submits a temporary stay is in order to: 1) permit the parties to determine whether a compromised solution is a possibility in light of this recent development and pending developments in the administrative process; and, 2) to avoid unnecessary consumption of the Court resources,” he wrote.

 

 

Mid-Shore Natives: Hurlock’s Plant Nursery by Debra Messick

by

The road leading out of Hurlock meanders through pastoral farmsteads, the landscape’s defining feature since European settlers started manicuring the Shore’s wilderness. At one such site, until a few years ago, a soybean field stood; now, wetland grasses and other native plants are carefully cultivated, bordered by a thriving pollinator friendly meadow.

Since putting down roots in Dorchester County, Delmarva Native Plants has emerged as a thriving regional source for native upland and wetland flora, crucial to supporting native pollinators and other fauna for conservation. DNP has become a vital local supply source for restorative living shoreline projects, such as Poplar Island (the Paul S. Sarbanes Ecosystem Restoration Project.)

From local provenance seed, DNP grows essential 2-inch plugs of smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), salt meadow hay (Spartina patens), and spike grass (Distichlis spicata) in specially created beds. (Additional native plant varieties are available throughout the growing season for all sizes of projects.)

Although both founders hail from New York and the Western Shore, they are dedicated to pursuing and purveying this corner of the Mid-Atlantic’s original botanical offerings as much as possible.

Clark DeLong

Growing up outside Baltimore in Howard County, DNR co-owner Clark DeLong remembers when farms still dotted the countryside during his childhood. But by the time he’d reached his 20s, they were gone, swallowed up by developers. His business partner, Jillian Parisi, saw similar sprawl consuming the open land of her Long Island hometown.

Earning bachelor’s and master’s Plant Science degrees from the University of Maryland, DeLong had considered a career in landscape architecture or installation. But first he needed to find an environmentally centered way to proceed within the industry.

With a Bachelor of Science degree from Salisbury University, Parisi remained in Maryland, in large part, to help restore the Chesapeake Bay. Along with her fiancé, she actively worked with Talbot County’s landmark Harris Creek oyster sanctuary restoration project.

The two met while working for another nursery, and soon discovered they shared common ground believing that commercial horticulture could be successfully rooted in responsible ecological practice. The pair began taking slow steady steps to germinate their fledgling business.

Jillian Parisi with sea lavender (Limonium carolinianum)

“We were renting a spot for our first six months in Salisbury, checking every single day trying to see what would pop up,” DeLong recalled. “We got super lucky finding the Hurlock site, in that this is the kind of parcel that usually a farmer will say to another, ‘hey I’m done with this, you want to pick it up?’ But this one decided to list it. And it was just what we were looking for. We wanted shelter, because we can’t deal with (pesticide) spray drift, being right next to another agricultural field would have been really bad. So, finding this sheltered spot for the right price was awesome,” he noted.

DeLong brings a strong passion for plants and a storehouse of knowledge about them. But he also contributes crucial working knowledge gleaned from those he referred to as his role models, individuals from businesses he’s worked for, who successfully operated under environmentally responsible protocols. Rather than being dependent on grants to fund projects, they were able to reinvest their profits.

(Another of DeLong’s role models is his dad, a retired dentist who raised him with a strong outdoor work ethic and “counterculture” environmentally responsible values.)

With sales experience from the nursery, Parisi’s years working with oyster aquaculture also provided insight into which marine contractors were doing work on the water; both were crucial as she undertook rounds of cold calling to introduce Delmarva Native Plants as a viable local source for cultivars crucial to shoring up land to withstand rising tides and the challenges of encroaching climate change.

DeLong noted that not having grown up here, it’s tough to comment on how extensively things have changed. But even his relatively limited residential experience has provided him a sense of perspective.

“When I first came to the Shore in 2014, there were several icy storms. But since then, there really haven’t been any extremely harsh winters; I would have expected at least one,” he mentioned.”

Purple flower is Lobelia puberula

Weather is also a vital factor during late summer and fall, DNR’s crucial seed gathering season.

“So, it’s all on us every year to go and get the seeds to make the whole next year possible, and the fall is crucial. The two main Spartina grasses we grow bloom a couple weeks late in August, then you’re ready to collect seeds, depending on what the weather is like in September and October. You sort of have to just start checking in the fall to make sure that everything is going well, and, knock on wood, that a hurricane doesn’t blow through and just wash it all away; we’ve been very lucky so far that we’ve been bypassed for the last few years,” DeLong noted. (Just a week later, a large tornado touched down a quarter mile away, fortunately leaving the site unscathed.)

“In addition, we work with government groups that have access to space and give permission, or groups who have installed large projects in the past willing to let us come back and reap additional seed,” he added.

“I always have bags with me when I’m out and about, because you never know when you’re going to find something by the roadside and you gotta grab seed before the mowing crew comes through,” he said, smiling.

Most of all, DNP makes sure that each plant they provide is grown from “local provenance seed” of bona fide local ecosystem origin, ensuring maximum ecological benefit.

During their first year in Hurlock in 2018, they erected six high tunnel style greenhouses, putting up the seventh and eighth, and last fall, another two, with more on the way. “I like having a good winter construction project,” DeLong added.

Spartina alterniflora (smooth cord grass)

Thanks to the swath of reemerging meadow surrounding the dedicated growing areas, no insecticides are needed. With a veritable banquet right next door, insects and deer have plenty of other goodies to munch on. “The first year a family of foxes showed up; turkeys have visited too,” he mentioned.

While high and low marsh grasses make up the bulk of DNP’s output, a plan to expand and offer additional upland native species is underway. Relatively uncommon offerings of butterfly milkweed, hairy beard tongue, spotted bee balm, seashore mallow, pale purple coneflower and others are being grown in the one-gallon pot sizes generally requested by landscapers and nurseries. Production is expected to ramp up once the currently advertised nursery manager assistant position is filled.

The plant selections represent DeLong’s extensive research aimed at providing varieties closest to those originally grown here. He hopes that doing so will help educate others, from uninformed homeowners to horticulture industry professionals who sometimes unwittingly dispense misleading information. Based on his own retail nursery experience, DeLong has seen that once people understand the benefits native plants provide to the overall ecosystem, they tend to go with those, rather than stick with strictly ornamental varieties.

“Overall, the business is moving towards this, and we’re definitely not the only ones seizing on this trend. But I’m hoping that this idea, that we should be landscape gardening for nature, not just for ourselves or ease of maintenance, will continue to catch on,” he stated.

For more information, visit here.

Debra Messick is a retired Dorchester County Public Library associate and lifelong freelance writer. A transplanted native Philadelphian, she has enjoyed residing in Cambridge MD since 1995.

Mid-Shore Arts: The Work of Daniel Robbins

by

After Plein Air Easton 2021 this summer, there was a good bit of talk on the street about the art and artists that were awarded with best of show recognition. That wasn’t too surprising but what was to the Spy was the universal praise for the work of Daniel Robbins, who took the Artists Choice Award and was the winner of the quick draw competition. And given all this positive noise on Danny’s work, we decided to stop by his studio in Virginia for a quick check-in before his work goes on display at Studio B this weekend.

Almost unlike every other artist the Spy has profiled over the years, Danny had a clear sense of his artistic calling by the age of four. From those early days, his parents caught on that their son was destined for an art career,  and were willing to support his attendance at Virginia’s high school programs for the arts. That lead to an arts degree at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, where he would eventually become an adjunct professor in the art department.

And while Robbins has explored many different approaches to his artwork during his lifetime, he talks in his Spy interview about the profound and lasting impact of his daughter’s birth, his wife’s post-birth health challenges, and finally the COVID pandemic over the last four years. During this time, his works with light, and his rediscovered passion for the ocean, which only a native of Virginia Beach could have, made him recast his work in ways he could never have imagined before these significant events impacted him and his family.

This video is approximately two minutes in length. For more information about Daniel Robbins and his new representation at Studio B, please go here.

COVID 19: Assessing Risks for Pregnant Mothers and Children with Choptank’s Dr. Adeline Melvin

by

When Choptank Community Health’s Adeline Melvin talks about the impact of COVID-19 on pregnant mothers and children, she has more than her impressive  medical credentials to give her credibility on the subject. As a pregnant mother in 2020, she had to go through what many families are debating now; and that is  the sometimes torturous decision on whether or not to get the vaccine. She did.

So when Dr. Melvin says she believes the vaccine is safe for children and pregnant mothers, it should reassure hundreds of families that now is the time to get the shot.

That was just one of the topics the Spy chatted with Dr. Melvin at the Choptank’s Denton center as the Mid-Shore comes face to face with the Delta variant. She notes with alarm the increasing signs of its presence on the Eastern Shore, the uptick in patients and the number of new COVID positive results, just at a time when our five counties region was starting to believe we were reaching the finished line with the pandemic.

In. her Spy interview, Dr. Melvin makes a compelling case for following CDC guidelines which recommend that children aged 12 and over and pregnant women take the vaccine, by  sharing her own experience after getting the shot herself.

This video is approximately five minutes in length. For more information about Choptank Community Health please go here.

Editor note: The data that Dr. Melvin shares in our interview reflects information from August 16. Please click on Caroline County,  Dorchester County, Kent County, and Talbot County for the latest numbers. 

Infrastructure Bill would Boost Bay Restoration Funding, Senate Eyes $238M Funding Increase over Next Five Years

by

The struggling Chesapeake Bay restoration effort stands to get a hefty infusion of funding from the ambitious $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal reached over the weekend in the U.S. Senate.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act calls for providing $238 million over the next five years to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Program, which coordinates the state-federal restoration effort.

The Bay restoration effort is among $21 billion in environmental remediation projects that would be funded under the bill. The 2,702-page measure also includes money for physical infrastructure, such as highways, bridges, transit and rail, airports and ports, power and water systems, waterways, broadband access and electric vehicle charging stations.

Hammered out by a bipartisan group of senators, the infrastructure bill is much smaller than the $2.6 trillion plan that Biden proposed in March. Many Republicans had criticized that plan because it included funding for things not traditionally deemed as infrastructure, such as workforce training and care for the elderly and disabled.

Those are now to be included in a separate $3.5 trillion spending bill that Democrats are working on, which faces an uncertain future in the closely divided Congress.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill, which is expected to pass the Senate with the backing of Republican leaders, also slashed funding for clean energy tax credits intended to help fight climate change.

But the bill increases spending overall on environmental remediation above what Biden had proposed. It would provide funds for cleaning up abandoned mine land and Superfund sites, as well as for improving the resiliency of degraded ecosystems, such as the Great Lakes, Puget Sound and Gulf of Mexico.

The Chesapeake restoration effort also could get additional help from the bill’s proposal to boost funding nationally for water and wastewater infrastructure. Two EPA programs that provide loans to states for upgrading sewage and stormwater treatment facilities and for enhancing drinking water systems each would get an additional $14.7 billion over the next five years. That would more than double the current annual level of funding for such projects.

The Chesapeake Bay Program received $87.5 million for fiscal year 2021, and President Biden has proposed increasing that by $3 million for fiscal year 2022, which starts Oct. 1. The House has already approved that level of funding. The infrastructure measure, if passed, would boost that by roughly 50%, providing an additional $47.6 million a year.

“As we work to modernize our infrastructure and tackle climate change, it’s crucial that we’re investing in protecting our watersheds,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “That’s why we fought to include funding for the Chesapeake Bay Program in the bipartisan infrastructure deal.”

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) cited the Bay Program funding as one of the reasons he supported the infrastructure bill. “Marylanders will be pleased to see this includes funds for ecosystem restoration,” he said in a statement.

The bill’s text doesn’t say how the EPA is to use the additional money. The Bay Program typically funds research and helps assess cleanup progress, but nearly two-thirds of its money also goes to states, local governments and nonprofit groups for on-the-ground projects.

Even without such details spelled out in the bill, Bay advocates hailed the proposed funding increase. Kristin Reilly, director of the Choose Clean Water Coalition, called it “a shot in the arm” for the states and federal government, which could help them get closer to putting all needed pollution reduction practices in place by their 2025 deadline.

“While currently there is ambiguity on the exact allocation of this funding, we are heartened to see the restoration of our waterways is recognized as a national priority,” Reilly said in a statement. “This investment will not only help provide all the benefits clean water brings, but the many on-the-ground restoration projects this funding supports will also deliver good jobs and stimulate local economies.”

With just four years to go to meet the deadline of the “pollution diet” that the EPA set for the Bay in 2010, advocates and state and local officials have been urging Congress to boost funding for the restoration effort, which remains far short of many of its goals.

At least one-third of the outcomes pledged in the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement are lagging badly or in limbo. An internal Bay Program review found that seven, including the key goal of meeting nutrient and sediment pollution reduction targets, are unlikely to be met by the 2025 deadline.

In May, governors of the six Bay watershed states, the mayor of the District of Columbia and the chair of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, a tri-state legislative advisory body, wrote Congress seeking an additional billion dollars for the effort. They didn’t specify how the extra money could be spent.

The Choose Clean Water Coalition, representing dozens of environmental and community groups across the six-state watershed, also wrote congressional leaders that month asking in part for a $132 million boost in Bay Program funding. It proposed distributing the increased funding in grants to states and local governments to support their restoration efforts.

By Timothy B. Wheeler

At Offshore Wind Announcement, New Hope for Steel Industry, but Climate Change Gets Short Shrift

by

The topline news carried a political, economic and cultural wallop: State, federal and local officials, along with corporate chieftains and union heavyweights, announced Tuesday that steelmaking would return to the iconic Sparrows Point industrial complex in eastern Baltimore County, as a prominent wind energy developer looks to expand its operations in Maryland.

But the announcement, bathed in a celebratory air near the hulking remains of the old Bethlehem Steel plant, comes with many questions — some of which probably won’t be answered for years. And while the development is a huge boost for the fledgling offshore wind energy industry in the U.S., the words “climate change” were barely uttered by the long line of speakers.

The four-pronged announcement centered around the plans of US Wind, Inc., one of two companies state regulators have selected to build wind energy turbines off the coast of Ocean City. US Wind CEO Jeff Grybowski told hundreds of dignitaries who assembled Tuesday that the company:

  • Hopes to expand significantly its offshore wind presence in federal waters off Maryland with a new project called Momentum Wind to complement its ongoing MarWin development;
  • Has reached major labor agreements with the Baltimore-D.C. Building & Construction trades union and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to provide union labor for ongoing work on the first phase of the offshore wind development;
  • Has signed an agreement with Tradepoint Atlantic, the company that has taken over management of the Sparrows Point development, to invest $77 million in a new 90-acre port facility to service offshore wind development in Maryland;
  • Wants to build a new steel fabrication facility at Tradepoint Atlantic, which would eventually hire 500 welders, painters, crane operators and equipment operators — with the blessings of the powerful United Steelworkers union.

U.S. Wind CEO Jeff Grybowski addresses the crowd at Sparrows Point on Tuesday. Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) is to his left. Photo by Josh Kurtz., Maryland Matters

Grybowski and many other speakers called the announcement “transformational” — for the Tradepoint Atlantic development, for the Baltimore-area economy, for Maryland’s potential as a clean energy leader, and for the overall U.S. offshore wind industry.

“We’ve been waiting for a long time for some good news, and here it is,” said U.S. Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), a former Baltimore County executive whose district includes Sparrows Point.

The potential economic impact of the developments is stunning. According to US Wind, just the second phase of the offshore wind project could produce 3,500 direct construction jobs, over $300 million in construction labor income, 100 direct operations jobs, and over $500 million in operations labor income over 25 years.

Several of the leaders who spoke harkened back to the old Bethlehem Steel plant’s history as a key supplier for the American military during two world wars and for public works landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge.

“We are at a historic location — the former home of U.S. Steel,” Grybowski said. “The shipyard. One of the most important industrial sites in the history of the U.S.”

Kerry Doyle, managing director of Tradepoint Atlantic, called the announcement “a full-circle moment.”

Jim Strong, assistant director of the United Steelworkers, offered perhaps the most poignant remarks.

“Prior to this announcement, the only thing steelworkers had was memories,” he said. “…We know now that there’s a future. We know it’s just a matter of time before steelworkers return home. And it’ll be here at Sparrows Point.”

But despite the multiple agreements signed, commitments made and vows of support by powerful leaders, it could be years before the projects fully come together — and most haven’t even gone through the earliest stages of government approval.

Even US Wind’s MarWin project, approximately 17 miles from the Ocean City beach — which would build up to 22 wind turbines generating enough energy to power 80,000 homes — still awaits final approval from the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Offshore Energy Management (BOEM). The company also still needs approval from the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) to build taller windmill towers than it originally proposed — a process that Ocean City leaders hope will prompt the PSC to push the windmills farther offshore. And US Wind has yet to figure out where to land the electric cables it would run onshore from the wind turbines out at sea.

US Wind currently estimates that this first segment of the wind development will be up and running by 2025.

The next phase — Momentum Wind — envisions 82 turbines in the ocean, just west of the MarWin project, enough to power 400,000 homes. That proposal requires PSC approval as well as a sign-off from the federal government — a process that could take years.

Last month, Ørsted, the Danish offshore wind developer that also has secured state approval for the first phase of a wind farm in the ocean and awaits a final green light from BOEM, announced that it had submitted a bid to the PSC for a second offshore wind project. Ørsted officials are aiming to have the first phase of the wind development up and running by 2026.

Even the agreement to build a new steel plant at Sparrows Point — a dream of local leaders that has taken on almost-mythical proportions over the years — is probably years from fruition and will require approval from federal, state and local regulators.

Still, the second phases of the US Wind and Ørsted developments, if they are approved, would help burnish Maryland’s reputation as a place where clean energy projects can flourish, as would a manufacturing hub for wind energy at Tradepoint Atlantic. Right now, Maryland is behind certain other Northeastern states when it comes to development of offshore wind, but these projects can help close the gap.

“Offshore wind presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the state of Maryland to expand and diversify our economy and our energy portfolio,” Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) said at the ceremony Tuesday. “For six and a half years now, our state has been leading the charge when it comes to supporting responsible and clean energy projects, and we are proud to continue setting an example for the nation of strong environmental leadership.”

Legislative permission to bring offshore wind projects to Maryland came in 2013, when Hogan’s predecessor, former Gov. Martin J. O’Malley (D), was in office. And the Democratic-led General Assembly passed legislation in 2019 to expand clean energy mandates in the state — a bill that Hogan criticized but allowed to become law without his signature.

So it was perhaps fitting that the only mentions of the climate crisis during Tuesday’s public presentation came from the presiding officers of the legislature, Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County).

“These projects are further indication that we can take aggressive action to reverse climate change while stimulating the state’s workforce and economy,” Jones said.

Some environmentalists — many of whom attended the event but were not invited to speak — were privately irked that climate change got short shrift in the narrative. But they seemed generally happy with the substance of the announcement.

Gesturing to the massive tent-like structure that was erected to house all the dignitaries, and then to the cross-section of political, business, civic and environmental leaders present, Jamie DeMarco, the federal and Maryland policy director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network observed, “Offshore wind is the big tent.”

Food Friday: Summer Go-To Recipes (Almost All Involve Tomatoes)

by

This is it, folks. It’s summer. It’s the time of year we think about, and long for, during the dark, cold days of winter. When we shiver in glacial bathrooms, drying off after showering. When we have gelid wet feet after walking the dog. When we turn the kitchen lights on at 4:30 in the afternoon. When we can’t bear to get out of our warm cocoon bed, because it is still dark outside.

Now we get to complain about the sun waking us up in the morning. We whine about the heat index. We mutter opprobriums about having to wear sunscreen every day. We can barely hear the radio in the car because the noisy A/C is blasting out at its highest setting. We are suffering because it’s too hot to sit on the back porch for cocktail hour. We kvetch because the sand is scorching our feet.

Quit your bellyaching. We have been vaxxed. We can talk with our neighbors. We can go to the grocery store, and the farmers’ markets. We can load up on delicious foods that barely need cooking. We are going to enjoy fresh summer produce if it kills us. And in all the extra daylight time we can enjoy, we’ll read beach novels, weed the tomato patch, paint the front porch, go to the drive-in movies and count Persiad meteors. (Don’t forget to check for ticks!)

I had a bowl of watermelon cubes for breakfast this morning; cool, refreshing, nutritious and deelish. Since my breakfast companion was Luke the wonder dog, I used my fingers and kept the silverware in the drawer. That was a perfect summer meal. No cooking, and no cleaning.

I heard – although I have not tried this myself – on the Table Manners podcast that you can toss a couple of frozen bananas into a food processor, and whip them into a frenzy, to make banana ice cream. Jessie Ware was skeptical, but her mother’s dish of frozen bananas (topped with double cream) persuaded her that it works, and it is delicious. I don’t have double cream, but I bet a nice dollop of whipped cream would do the trick for me. Be sure to cut the bananas up before freezing them in an tight container. https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/total-health/food-for-health/recipes/frozen-banana-whip

Table Manners is a charming podcast. I listen to it every week: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/s11-ep-27-emerald-fennell/id1305228910?i=1000528809476

Our friends at Food52 find so a million ways to make a very simple tomato sandwich. Here, in the Spy Test Kitchens, we use Pepperidge Farm white bread, Hellmann’s Mayonnaise, a pinch of black pepper, a shake of Maldon salt and a couple of big, fat slicing tomatoes from the back yard, with a generous handful of potato chips as an elegant side dish. Follow your heart: https://food52.com/recipes/6734-my-best-tomato-sandwich

As irritating as Martha Stewart can be, she has had some very good ideas, which I gleefully pass along as if they were my own. I have prepared these pasta recipes often enough that I have memorized them. I highly recommend them for their ease, their beauty, and the satisfaction of a job well done. They are perfect for meatless Mondays, too. Thanks, Martha!

One-Pan Pasta: https://food52.com/recipes/30147-martha-stewart-s-one-pan-pasta
This genius recipe makes an enormous amount of pasta – I always halve it.

Pasta with a fresh, uncooked sauce: https://www.marthastewart.com/904229/pasta-fresh-tomato-sauce I like to make this ahead of time and keep it in the fridge. It is like having money in the bank – dinner solved. And it is accompanied by a solid wall of garlic that will knock you over when you open the fridge door! Priceless!

I will occasionally turn the oven on in the summer to toast a baguette for garlic bread. And then I will use it in a tasty Panzanella salad. Because in the summer you can never eat too many tomatoes: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/panzanella-12529

In the summer, when I am loathe to cook, I am aware of the middle-class conceit that we must eat three times a day. I can skate by with tomato sandwiches, watermelon, and bananas when I am by myself, but Mr. Sanders likes to sit down to dinner. Usually on the weekends he takes over and prepares something ambitious with many difficult-to-procure ingredients, or something simple on the grill. And for this I am truly grateful. Summer.

“Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.”
-Russell Baker

A Washington Post Analysis of the 1st District: Could Harris Lose His Job?

by

In today’s Washington Post, we found an interesting analysis of the 1st Congressional District and the fate of incumbent Andy Harris as Maryland begins the process of redistricting the state.

“Ten years ago, as Maryland Democrats sat down to redraw the state’s eight congressional districts, they considered making Republican members of Congress go extinct.

There were two in office at the time: brand-new Andy Harris on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and Roscoe Bartlett in rural Western Maryland. As former governor Martin O’Malley (D) later admitted in federal court, Democrats ultimately decided just to go after Bartlett, if only because it was easier. And their plan worked: A Republican has not won that seat since.

Now, ahead of a new round of redistricting, Harris is fundraising off the possibility that he could be Democrats’ next — and last — Republican target. “Democrats are trying to REDRAW my congressional district to DEFEAT ME,” he claimed in a recent campaign mailer.”

Read the full story here. (readers may encounter a paywall with this article)

Publisher Notes: Spy COVID Reporting and Summer Spying

by

Today marks an important moment for the Spy. After 427 days of reporting daily on the status of the Mid-Shore’s COVID cases and other essential data points, we have issued our last report in this edition.

With the unsurpassed dedication of the Spy’s public affairs editor, John Griep, the Spy began its daily reporting in April of 2020. No one could have anticipated that this sometimes tedious crunching of numbers would be a commitment spanning 14 months, but we are very proud to have been a critical resource for our community during this very dangerous moment in Eastern Shore history.

Our discontinuation of daily reports is by no means the end of our coverage of the pandemic. Working with our government and health partners, the Spy will continue to provide timely updates on the course of the disease. And if conditions change, such as the possible threat of the new Delta Covid variant of the virus, we will return to our daily coverage in a New York moment.

This decision to end daily reports was one related to resources. By forgoing the COVID report, we can free up staff time to focus on some issues that may have been overlooked during the pandemic. That has been particularly true in the case of our coverage of public education, our Chesapeake ecosystem, local government issues, and other health-related concerns.

With the Spy’s limited capacity as a nonprofit news source, we will always need to make hard decisions about how we spend our limited funds. We do hope, however, that will the support of our 685,000 unique readers a year, the Spy can expand our ability to focus on the issues that have the most community impact.

And that is why the Spy will once again ask our readers to support us next month. While it remains a painful task to use pop-up ads to encourage donations, it is essential to the life of the Spy to count on those that can financially help our mission to provide access to community news for everyone without a paywall dividing those who are informed and those who aren’t. Speaking on behalf of the Spy’s editors and writers, we will be forever grateful for this critical support.

In other news, we are so grateful for the return of one of the Spy’s most popular columnists, George Merrill, last Sunday. George will be moving to a fortnightly schedule for the duration of the summer, but we have hopes that he will return to a weekly routine this fall.

We have also allowed Al From and Craig Fuller to have two weeks off this summer starting this Thursday. Like the Washington pros they are, they both will be vacationing on Massachusetts Islands this month, but we expect them back on July 15 with their political wisdom and wit.

With gratitude and with warm wishes for an enjoyable summer,

Dave Wheelan
Publisher

 

Riding on the Narcissism Train by Angela Rieck

by

One day I was bored and turned on the TV. To my surprise, a former friend, a minor celebrity, was featured on the show. He had been my husband’s best friend growing up. Although he and his wife lived a thousand miles away, we visited each other several times a year and traveled together throughout Europe and America. My husband and his friend went on annual golfing trips. It was great fun! One day, after returning from a golfing trip in Scotland, my husband announced he had grown weary of the relationship and didn’t want to continue it. My husband had a steady moral compass, and I always trusted his judgment. Periodically, I would ask him if he wanted to reconsider, but his answer was always no.

Watching that show, I realized why. My husband’s friend was a narcissist.

I am not a clinical psychologist, so I am not qualified to have more than a layman’s opinion. Over the years I have had some degree of involvement with several narcissists. That is not unexpected, it is estimated that 10% of the population has some degree of narcissism. Since few go to treatment (it is everyone else’s fault); it is considered a rare condition.

Why hadn’t I noticed? Because I had been on the narcissism train. And you can only identify a narcissist if you don’t get on that train or see it from the rear-view mirror.

When you are not in a narcissists’ orbit, they are easy to spot. Narcissists are self-important, exaggerate their achievements, demand attention, monopolize the conversation, talk only about themselves, exploit and have little interest in others, and, most importantly, lack empathy.

Most people know about narcissism, but many do not know that there is more than one type. And some are difficult to spot.

Malevolent Narcissists. These are the narcissists that most people are familiar with and are the most dangerous. They are easy to spot if you are not in their orbit. Here are their characteristics:

  • Dominant and controlling
  • Easily bored, looking for the next stimulation
  • Enjoy meanness, callous, mock others, lack empathy
  • Arrogant, exploitive
  • Never take responsibility and blame others
  • Rules and the norm mean nothing to them.

Many qualified psychologists and psychiatrists have diagnosed former President Trump as a malevolent narcissist; but he is not alone, there are other celebrities who fit in this category.

But there are other less obvious types.

Grandiose Narcissists. These people demand attention, can be pompous, dominate conversations and are only interested in their needs, their stories of “greatness.” They are often focused on superficial achievements. They are not malevolent and can be generous. In fact, some successful businesspeople, academics, entertainers, and politicians are narcissists. Steve Jobs was an example.

Covert Narcissists. These are the sneaky ones; and the hardest to spot. They use physical ailments, disappointments, and self-degradation to keep the attention on themselves. Often, they feel the world doesn’t recognize their greatness or that life has done them wrong. They may appear to be depressed, but they do not try to get better because the goal is to have others attend to their needs.

A close friend has a stepdaughter (Emma) who is a covert narcissist. Emma is over 50, has no friends and has never married, because (according to Emma), she is unlucky, her bosses and coworkers are mean, her friends are not there for her, and her boyfriends are not emotionally supportive.

To my friend, Emma is a victim. On every occasion and vacation, the family must focus exclusively on Emma’s constant needs; while Emma smiles painfully and says that she only wants everyone to have a good time. When my friend’s daughter got engaged, Emma indicated that she would try her best to be happy; but since Emma so desperately wanted to be married and have children, it would be very hard not to cry (she ended up crying, of course).

So obvious, right? But not when you are in the narcissist’s black hole. To my friend, Emma is unlucky, misunderstood, and underappreciated.

How do you know if you are sucked into a narcissist’s vortex? Here are some tips.

  1. Do your loved ones warn you?
  2. Do you believe this person is misunderstood? Are you his/her apologist?
  3. Do you believe that you can help this person? (Enabler)
  4. Do you find yourself attending to their needs to the exclusion of others?
  5. Are you walking on eggshells to make them happy? Are they hypersensitive?
  6. Are their compliments based on what you do for them rather than who you are?
  7. Are their compliments aimed at getting self-attention? (You look so nice; I wish I looked nice.)

If you think you are involved with a narcissist, there are a number of Internet videos that can help. Dr. Les Carter’s videos on narcissism are thorough and entertaining.

Once my celebrity friend was in my rear-view mirror, I recalled how we always followed his agenda. How he sought attention and demanded special treatment.

It is painful to watch someone you love feed the narcissist beast. It is so obvious from the outside looking in, but not to someone who is ensnared in the narcissist’s web. All we can do is give them access to information and hope that one day the scales fall from their eyes. Because once the narcissist is laid bare, the spell can be broken; and your friend can live a happier life sans narcissist.

Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.