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June 30, 2022

The Talbot Spy

The nonprofit e-newspaper for the Talbot County Community

Point of View Angela Top Story

The Muse’s Secret

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As many of my readers know, my dog, Gus, is my muse.

One of the things that never ceases to amaze me is how Gus is over-the-moon excited to begin each day. He waits for any movement (often around 4 a.m.) and starts to get excited. If I am not ready, he tries to wait.

He tries.

But it is hard for him, because, he knows, he just knows, that today is going to be the most awesome day, ever.

Once I awaken, he can no longer contain his excitement, twirling rapidly, running around, often in circles, going up and down the stairs (even with his heart condition); just so excited that today has finally arrived.

For Gus, life is joy.

And that joy is meant to be shared. On our walks, Gus encounters each stranger with the assumption that the stranger wants to pet him. He hovers for a few minutes, giving them every chance to take advantage of his affectionate nature. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t, but he waits patiently in front of them, until they decide.

Because Gus sees humanity in every human.

Including the homeless. It doesn’t matter how dirty, angry, unkempt, or hirsute they are. Some homeless use their appearance and expressions to keep us away.

But all Gus sees is a person who might need some affection. And many actually do. A pat on the head to Gus almost always elicits a smile. Gus stays until they are done and then walks back. The stranger, a stranger no more, smiles. His hidden humanity exposed.

One of the most profound demonstrations of Gus’s capability was at the dog park in Key West. A homeless man chose to spend every day at the dog park, sitting on a bench. He sported a long dirty beard to match his unkempt appearance. He scowled as we entered the park and kept his head down, muttering.

Gus would have none of that. He went over the bench and waited patiently by the man’s side. It took less than a week before the man reached down to pet the 12-pound fluffy white dog. Gus snuggled with him until the man was done and trotted back to me. Every day, Gus came over and as the days progressed their time together grew longer. The man would call Gus as soon as he saw him. It took only a couple of weeks before the man was talking to everyone. Other dogs started to come over and people began to share a smile or a commence a light conversation. Within a couple of months, he was clean shaven, washed, and every morning he waited for that little soft fluffy white dog to come over and gaze at him with his soft doe-eyes. When I returned to Key West the next year, the man was gone; I hope he found a home.

It happened again recently. A man who walked with this head down was no match for Gus. After Gus weaved his magic, we now smile and greet each other.

Last week I was in the supermarket when I noticed an elderly woman having difficulty with her groceries. I came to her aid. It took no longer than a couple of minutes to help her; and afterwards, I felt a euphoria. It is called the Helper’s high. And it is an amazing feeling.

I may have stumbled upon one of Gus’s secrets.

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.

Looking at the Masters: Niagara Falls  

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“Front of the Falls” (1698)

Niagara Falls is one of nature’s wonders and one of America’s treasurers. Formed over 12,000 years ago from melting glaciers, it was first discovered by Native Americans of the region, and then written about by the Belgian explorer Father Louis Hennepin in December 1678. Hennepin’s “Front of the Falls” (1698) (print) was drawn according to his description of the Falls. There are several theories regarding the name Niagara, given to the Falls by the Indians who lived in the region. The Iroquois names in English were “point of land cut in two” and “noisy point of portage.” The Mohawk called it “the neck,” the portage and neck of land between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Hennepin’s description of the Falls brought it to the attention of Europe, and explorers from many European nations arrived to survey the land and witness this natural wonder.

“Niagara Falls” (1818)

Boston artist Louisa David Minot traveled to see the Falls in 1815, and she wrote an essay in the North American Review that same year in which she described the Falls: “The roar deepened, the rock shook over my head, the earth trembled. It was some time before I could command my pencil.” Minot’s “Niagara Falls” (1818) is one of two paintings she made, and they are the only known works by the artist. Minot’s view from Table Rock clearly reflects her words. Two tiny humans perch on Table Rock, witnessing the immense power of the rushing water and the dramatic sky.

The Erie Canal opened on October 25, 1825. It was 365 miles long and connected Lake Erie and the other Great Lakes with the Hudson River. The trip from Albany to Buffalo took only five days, rather than two weeks over land. Because of its link to the Canal, New York became America’s major port city. The Erie Canal promoted the great western expansion, and a great number of businesses created to enhance sightseeing at Niagara Falls.

“Distant View of Niagara Falls” (1830)

Thomas Cole (1801-1848) immigrated with his parents from England to the United States in 1818.  Cole was determined to be a painter. His first sketching trip in 1825 took him up the Hudson River into the Catskills. The result was three landscape paintings he exhibited in a bookseller’s window in Philadelphia. They were purchased by three prominent Pennsylvania Academy of Art members. The following year, these three artists and others formed the National Academy of Design (1826). The purpose of the group was to establish an art that would define the American experience. Landscape painting was considered a third-rate genre, but when Cole was elected to the Academy as a landscape painter, landscapes were elevated officially to equal status with history paintings and portraits. Cole’s landscapes were the beginning of the Hudson River School.

Cole first visited Niagara Falls in May 1829. Returning home to New York City, he began to paint the Falls. “Distant View of Niagara Falls” (1830) (19” x 24’’) (Art Institute of Chicago) depicts Cole’s view of America and its vast landscape as both epic and romantic. Set in autumn, when nature blazes with reds, oranges, and yellows, the scene shows the immense power of the Falls. Cole provides a panoramic view from Table Rock of forest, Falls, and mountains, against a cloudy sky. Typical of Cole landscapes, the factories, scenic overlooks, and hotels that were by then a part of this popular tourist attraction were omitted. 

Cole’s paintings reflect his view of America, the grandeur of untrammeled nature. He was concerned about the environment and what industry was destroying. The two solitary Native Americans on Table Rock are meant to express this sense of loss. Cole wrote poetry, and his writing expresses his opinion: “The landscape belonged to every American. It is his own land; its beauty, its magnificence, its sublimity – all are his; and how underserving of such a birthright, if he can turn towards it an unobserving eye, and unaffected heart!”

“Horseshoe Falls” (1857)

Thomas Cole’s first pupil was Frederick Edwin Church (1826-1900). Cole passed on to Church his unbounded appreciation of nature, and of Niagara Falls in particular. Church studied the Falls intensely, making dozens of oil and pencil sketches. Church made a fifth visit to the Falls in 1856, before he painted “Horseshoe Falls” (1857) (40” x 90.5”) (National Gallery of Art). Church’s panoramic view is seen from the Canadian side. The viewer does not stand on the shore, but hovers over the rocks and the rushing water. In the lower left, the branch of a tree rises precariously above the water. Whether it is caught in a crevice of a rock or being swept over the Falls, viewers are reminded of their insignificance in relationship to nature. Mists and sprays of the water in the flickering sunlight cause the rainbow effect.Terrapin Tower (upper left) is revealed in the distant landscape beyond the Falls. Built in 1829, it was the first tower erected to provide a view of the Falls.

Church’s painting was exhibited in a Manhattan gallery from May 1 until May 29, 1857. Tens of thousands of people paid 25 cents to view it. A chromolithograph was made of the painting, and over a thousand subscriptions were sold; an artist’s proof cost $30.00, and a print $15. “Horseshoe Falls” was then exhibited in England and Scotland in the summer of 1857 to great acclaim. When the painting was returned to New York, the Cosmopolitan Art Journal echoed the praise heaped upon it by the European press: “The reputation of this work has greatly increased by its English tour. It is now regarded as the finest painting ever executed by any American artist.”

Church began the Free Niagara movement in 1856. He was joined by such notable Americans as Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of Central Park in New York City; Henry Hobson Richardson, designer of the New York State Capitol in Albany; and writers Henry James, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Their objective was to preserve the natural beauty of the Falls on both sides of the border. In 1883, Grover Cleveland, then governor of New York, signed legislation establishing the Niagara Falls State Park. Queen Victoria Park was established in 1888 on the Ontario side.

Note:  American Independence Day is celebrated on July 4.  Canada Day is celebrated on July 1.

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years.  Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes in exhibitions at Chestertown RiverArts and she paints sets for the Garfield Center for the Arts.

The Supreme Court and  the “Right to Live” by J.E. Dean

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Last week the Court, as expected, overturned Roe v. Wade. Reactions are, as expected, mixed. The “pro-life” and “pro-choice” arguments of the last 50 years resurface as women, states, churches, and others scramble to pronounce their points of view. The decision is likely to play a significant role in the 2022 and 2024 elections. 

Much has been written about Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the decision overturning Roe. Technically, the decision does not ban abortion. Instead, it rescinds the right to an abortion and sends the regulation of abortion to the states. Because at least 22 states already have banned or severely restricted abortions, the decision effectively bans abortions for millions of women. Thousands of women will be forced to birth babies they had determined they did not want or were unable to care for.

While many have focused on the legal arguments of Dobbs, I reflect more on the logical inconsistencies reflected in a court that has effectively banned abortion but still allows the death penalty. Similarly, the decision will result in thousands of babies being born that may lead lives of misery not just because their mothers were unprepared to raise them (or didn’t want to), but because of poverty. 

The Declaration of Independence references the “unalienable rights” of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Many babies born because of Dobbs may not have much of a life, may have extremely limited liberty, and may be denied the pursuit of happiness. Of course, many such babies may lead happy, healthy, productive lives despite being “unwanted children.”

Some babies born as a result of Dobbs may eventually commit capital crimes and be put to death by the government. Ironically, some of the younger justices on the Court, including the Trump Trio of Gorsuch (54 years old), Kavanaugh (57 years old), and Barrett, (50 years old), may still be on the Court when appeals of death sentences of some of the babies (now adults) will reach the Supreme Court. Ironically, the same justices who effectively forced their mothers to unwillingly give them birth will vote to let them be executed. 

Another deeply troubling aspect of the decision is the matter of effectively forcing the birth of human beings and then not caring for them. If you adopt a dog and then abuse it by not feeding it, giving it proper shelter, or otherwise treating it in a humane manner, you can be prosecuted. The concept is that when you adopt a dog, you accept a slate of responsibilities. In the case of an unwanted child, a child born because a woman was unable to get an abortion after concluding she did not want or was unable to care for the child, the state (the government) is responsible for the child being born. Shouldn’t the state be responsible for ensuring the child receives proper healthcare, an education, and the right to “pursue happiness?”

I am angry at Republicans and religious zealots who champion the “right to life” but oppose universal healthcare, spending on education, job, and income security, and other “basic human rights.” Those people championing the “sanctity of life,” are hypocrites, in my view, when they force babies to be born without also championing the “right to live.” 

Child poverty in the U.S. is a disgrace. Eighteen percent of all children live in poverty—thirteen million children. The Supreme Court’s decision, coupled with the hypocrisy of the Court and others in not somehow ensuring that the babies forced to be born are not doomed to join the thirteen million, is effectively denying the “right to live” for many of these babies. 

A final reflection on the decision is that it suggests the Supreme Court and other aspects of the Constitution may be broken or obsolete. The Court returned the decision on whether to permit abortions to the States based on a controversial reading of the Constitution and its amendments. That result is contrary to the wishes of 65 percent of the population.  Is it too much to suggest Dobbs is evidence of Constitutional dysfunction?

The disconnect between the current Supreme Court and the wishes of much of the country suggests that it may be time to rethink the role of the Supreme Court and other aspects of the Constitution. Should Justices be subject to term limits? Should the process of amending the Constitution be made simpler to facilitate the adoption of amendments to establish rights such as same-sex and interracial marriage, or the right to contraception and abortion? These are tough questions, but they are becoming increasingly “ripe for consideration.”

J.E. Dean is a retired attorney and public affairs consultant writing on politics, government, birds, and other subjects.

 

Out and About (Sort of): Single-Issue Consequences by Howard Freedlander

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As much as I admire Dan Watson and the increasingly large group of Talbot County residents who want to thwart the pro-development thrust of the current county council by electing individuals who want to preserve a pristine part of Maryland, I question the focus on one issue, to the exclusion of other important matters facing the county.

Please excuse my 54-word lead sentence.

More concisely, the candidates endorsed by the Talbot Integrity Project (TIP) do have other priorities that need to be evaluated along with their views of land use. I counsel caution; Single-issue criteria tend to distort a more holistic perspective.

I do understand that our country is replete with interest groups advocating a particular policy stance and supporting candidates sympathetic to their perspective. These groups, however, seem less rigid in demanding absolute fealty and more aware of political opinions that might diminish the favored candidate’s credibility and effectiveness. In other words, fellow acolytes may carry viewpoints injurious to an interest group’s objective. The message then becomes muddled; voters are distracted, if not disenchanted.

TIP undertook a process unknown previously in the county, excepting the anti-tax campaign many years ago that successfully enacted the tax cap on the property tax. The result, while applauded by many in Talbot County, has impeded the delivery of necessary public services. I digress.

Do I agree that the current county council, excluding Pete Lesher, is oblivious to the comprehensive plan? Do I agree that the decision to proceed with Lakeside in Trappe is foolhardy and hurtful to the Choptank River and a sense of proportion in Talbot County.

Please record two unequivocal yeses for me.

But I am concerned that some of these candidates, and one in particular, might also advocate for changes in public school curriculums,or other divisive social positions that would bury the county in a constant whirl of controversy. County council members should focus on the budget, not on what’s taught, what’s not.

I am aware that I am deliberately avoiding calling out that particular Republican candidate, already the subject of criticism in readers’ comments.

Why my reluctance to mention this person’s name? I believe he is entitled to his opinions. They are diametrically opposed to mine. I prefer to forsake personal attacks. He and I have disagreed agreeably in the past. He is highly intelligent. He articulates his positions clearly and convincingly (to some).

Admittedly, I do not feel equally restrained in my criticism of current county council members. After all, they are public figures. Their actions warrant review and criticism, if necessary.

Voters must view the total picture of a candidate and his/her views on a slew of policy issues. To do otherwise is irresponsible.

Those elected based upon one overriding issue often are rigid and doctrinaire. They consider compromise anathema. They impede the political process. Teamwork is a foreign concept. This is true on both sides of the aisle. And collaboration is increasingly rare in our currently divisive public arena.

The public spotlight on the Talbot County Council has never been so intense. That’s beneficial. Democracy is working. Increasingly more people are engaged. The community is stronger. County members are feeling the discomfort imposed by public accountability.

TIP, organized by Watson, a citizen extraordinaire, exemplifies democracy at its best. Talbot County citizens are participating in the election process in a transparent manner. They are not accepting the status quo. They are seeking change in a respectable and responsible way.

Beware, however, of single-issue selection criteria. Understand that issues, such as the Lakeside development, do require singular focus and opposition. Also, as we all know, national battleground policies like abortion and gun control justifiably call for laser-like, if not fierce discussion, in Washington, DC and state capitals.

Columnist Howard Freedlander retired in 2011 as Deputy State Treasurer of the State of Maryland. Previously, he was the executive officer of the Maryland National Guard. He also served as community editor for Chesapeake Publishing, lastly at the Queen Anne’s Record-Observer. In retirement, Howard serves on the boards of several non-profits on the Eastern Shore, Annapolis and Philadelphia.

The Evening of America by Jamie Kirkpatrick

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Once—not all that long ago—we were a great nation: confident, aspirational, perhaps even blessed. A shining city, set upon a hill. But now it seems to me the sun is setting on America. We’re torn and tired, sad and angry, divided, lost, maybe even defeated. Is our day done or is there still a little daylight remaining? We’ll know soon enough.

We did this to ourselves. Six years ago, we elected a flawed man of questionable character who remade the Supreme Court with ideologues of his ilk, three newly minted justices who lack the experience, temperament, and intellectual gravitas to make thoughtful, centrist judicial decisions. In so doing, Mr. Trump and his GOP minions made the Supreme Court, at least in Constitutional theory, the only non-partisan branch of our government, into a vengeful political weapon. Equal justice under law? Not anymore. The decisions of this court only seek to further an extreme political agenda that runs against the grain of a majority of Americans who believe that guns should be regulated, that a woman has the right to choose, and that love is love. 

There is no true north anymore; our collective moral compass spins wildly. We are polarized, paralyzed. We separate into tribes and reorganize in the wings, farther and farther from any common ground. Just over a hundred years ago, William Butler Yeats predicted all this in his poem “The Second Coming,” written coincidentally in the aftermath of another global pandemic:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

When I was younger, I was a patently cheerful optimist. But now that I’m older, I see things differently. It took several centuries for the Roman Empire to decline and eventually fall, leaving the Western World in darkness. Barbarian threats from without, political instability and corruption from within, a failing economy, and the rise of other empires slowly eroded the power and sway of Rome, eventually causing it to collapse. More recently and much closer to home, there was a time when the sun never set on the British Empire, but within only a century or two, that empire also shrunk and disappeared, writing one more painful chapter in history’s long textbook.

These days, events move more swiftly; the slope is much steeper. The evening of America—if that is indeed what this moment is—might only last a few short years. I would like to think there’s still time to right our ship, but it sure feels like the tide is running fast and the wind is blowing hard. I’m worried.

But over on the horizon, there is still that small glimmer of light. Maybe there’s still time to get this right. We have to ask ourselves if we have the will, the resolve, and the patience to maintain our place in this world. We like to think of ourselves as a great experiment in the power of democracy, an ideal for others to emulate, but I’m sorry to say we’re looking less and less like that shining city set upon a hill. Yeats was right: things are falling apart.

I sound like Eeyore: “things could be worse, but I’m not sure how.” I’ll do my best to rekindle my faith in America. Will you do the same? Maybe it isn’t the evening of America, only the darkness before the dawn.

I’ll be right back.

Jamie Kirkpatrick is a writer and photographer who lives in Chestertown. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Washington College Alumni Magazine, and American Cowboy Magazine.  Two collections of his essays (“Musing Right Along” and “I’ll Be Right Back”) are available on Amazon. 

 

Off The Bench: Changing a Charter – A Work in Progress by Steve Rideout

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If you think that changing your city or county charter can help improve the functioning of your local government, give it a try. It is challenging work. It is detailed work. It takes time and lots of research. Over the time that you work on your effort there will be highs and lows that provide you with great hope and sometimes despair. 

In the final analysis, with the right support, whether you are successful or not, you will positively impact your community and make its citizens understand how important good government is and how important it is to have good candidates for elective office.

In Maryland, cities can change their charters either by action of their city council or by the referendum process that requires obtaining enough signatures of registered voters to put the matter on the ballot for the citizens to vote for or against. I participated in the successful effort to change the charter of the City of Cambridge to establish a city manager form of government. That happened by a vote of the City Council. While there have been challenges in transitioning from one city manager to another and transitioning from one city council to the next, the improvement in the functioning of government and the resources that have come to Cambridge in part because of our having professional management have been significant. 

When we hired our first city manager, a national developer by the name of Charlie Fairchild saw promise here that has resulted in the redevelopment of what is now called Cambridge Marketplace with the Shore Regional Health Emergency Room and medical offices, new businesses, and some fast-food restaurants. In addition, he redeveloped a portion of nearby Dorchester Square for additional businesses, government offices, and fast-food restaurants. He is now developing up to three hundred homes on the Hyatt property all of which helps to improve the tax base and the quality of life for the city and county. 

Other development has followed with the recently opened Philips Packing House Building F and the Sailwinds property that is now looking for developers for the various parcels of property there for businesses and residential and other property uses.

With counties, the charter change process is different in that the only way to change a county charter is by referendum after obtaining signatures of 20% of the registered voters. Not only is the process different, it is also more difficult. While we are in the midst of that effort at this point, we can already see change happening.

With primary elections coming in July and then the final vote in November, the two issues that the Dorchester Citizens for Better Government have raised have grabbed the attention of registered voters, the candidates for the positions on County Council, and last Tuesday evening the current County Council.

One of our issues has been the lack of transparency by the current council. Despite requests of the citizens, the County Council by 3-2 votes previously refused to show their meetings on CATV or the internet despite the challenges of Covid-19. During the campaign process, the Dorchester Chamber of Commerce was able to hold candidate forums that included questions on the two issues that the Dorchester Citizens for Better Government had been advocating for in its petitions. All the candidates that participated in the forums, except one incumbent, supported in one way or another the basic issues that we raised.

This past Tuesday evening the County Council reversed itself on the issue of holding the meetings on CATV or the internet and voted to do just that. Because I had to listen in on the phone; the audio for the meeting was poor; and microphones were either not available or poorly placed, I am not sure if the vote was 4-0 or 5-0, but it passed. Now all we need our County Council to do on this issue, at this point, is to vote to provide the non-confidential documents for each meeting to the public electronically by placing them on the County website for anyone interested to review. While we need to have the charter changed on this and the issue of allowing the county manager to actually manage the day-to-day operations of staff, they will have to wait. What we want is to ensure that future County Councils are not able to be less transparent as they have been. The other night was a good first step that would not have happened without the work of the Dorchester Citizens for Better Government.

More on these issues will be coming as things progress.

Thanks for Reading. Please be in touch.

Judge Rideout is the former Chief Judge of the Alexandria, VA Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court (1989-2004). From 2004 until the present he has consulted in different states to support their efforts to improve their child welfare systems. From 2016 to early 2021, he was the Ward 1 Commissioner on the Cambridge City Council. Throughout his career, he has been an advocate for improving the lives of children in his and other communities.

 

 

Delmarva Review: Criers by Joe Baumann

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Author’s Note: I spend a great deal of my writing wondering about and exploring masculinity; here, I wanted to look at the idea that “men don’t cry” and really twist that around to ask questions about the value of emoting.  As a queer writer, I’m also always trying to examine what it’s like to feel islanded outside of the world of heteronormativity, and when those two things came together, this story emerged.

Criers

EVERY DAY AT RECESS, SOMEONE MADE LARRY HELVIG CRY. We kept eyedroppers in our pencil cases, extracting them right before the bell rang if it was our turn to suck tears from the corners of his eyes or draw them up off his cheeks. Larry’s tears were magic. A single drop squeezed onto a worksheet made the answers appear, written in perfect black graphite. Spiking our parents’ wineglasses ceased their fighting. A tiny smear rubbed into the palms transformed a klutz into an expert free throw shooter or pitcher. Daubing Larry’s tears on a scrape dissipated the pain like a powerful analgesic. Larry, we all knew, would one day change the world. His tears would cure cancer, eradicate AIDS, probably create world peace. But while we had him, we would use his tears to pass science and get better at playing the oboe. 

Making Larry cry wasn’t difficult. Some people, especially the girls, tickled him, the ribs on his left side were particularly tender. Others smuggled Tabasco sauce in their lunch boxes and dabbed it on his sensitive tongue. Naomi Marcus had a knack for singing sad songs, and these made Larry bawl profusely; some of us subcontracted her to serenade him, for which we promised her a portion of the take. Others, like Willy Ziegfeld, used pain, pressing into the tender spot of Larry’s shoulder or giving him rabbit punches to the sternum. 

The great tragedy was that the only person his tears couldn’t help was Larry himself. For him, they were just saline and salt. They could give the rest of us exactly what we wanted but left him only hiccupping and red eyed. Larry was small, pale—rumor was he suffered scoliosis—and we all knew he was madly in love with Peter Frost, a tenth grader with bronze calves who played soccer and swam for a club team. We once sent Peter’s younger sister home with a vial of Larry’s tears, a massive dose that she slipped into one of Peter’s protein shakes. They made him run faster but did nothing to make him notice Larry. 

But we noticed Larry. We noticed that he smelled like stargazers and sweet alyssum, which his mother grew in a tiny greenhouse in their backyard. We noticed how hollowed out he looked after weekends with his father, who had left his mom for his secretary. We noticed everything but that which we should have, and when he didn’t show up for school on the last day of eighth grade, it took awhile for us to realize something was deeply wrong. When we learned what Larry had done to his eyes, we cried. But we sobbed not for what the world had lost or for Larry’s hungering pain but for what had slipped away, all our hopes and dreams leaking out of our eyes in tiny, hollow twinkles. We tried using our own tears, but all they did was sting, soaking our mouths in our own bitter taste. 

⧫

Joe Baumann’s fiction and essays have appeared in Phantom Drift, Passages North, Emerson Review, Another Chicago Magazine, Iron Horse Literary Review, Electric Literature, Electric Spec, On Spec, Barrelhouse, Zone 3, and many others.  He is the author of Ivory Children, published in 2013 by Red Bird Chapbooks.  He possesses a PhD in English from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.  He was a 2019 Lambda Literary Fellow in Fiction.  His debut short story collection, Sing With Me at the Edge of Paradise, was the inaugural winner of the Iron Horse/Texas Tech University Press First Book Award, and his second story collection, The Plagues, will be released by Cornerstone Press in 2023.  His debut novel, I Know You’re Out There Somewhere, is forthcoming from Deep Hearts YA.  Website: joebaumann.wordpress.com.

Delmarva Review publishes evocative new fiction, nonfiction, and poetry selected annually from thousands of submissions locally and nationally. Designed to encourage outstanding writing, it is an independent, nonprofit literary publication. Financial support comes from tax-deductible contributions, sales, and a grant from the Talbot Arts Council with funds from the Maryland State Arts Council. Website: DelmarvaReview.org.

Morality in Politics? By Al Sikes

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Five years out of law school I went to work for the newly elected Missouri Attorney General. He was distinctive. He had two graduate degrees from Yale; one in law and the other in divinity. He baptized and married our youngest daughter, Marcia. His name: John C. Danforth or Jack to friends or St. Jack to his critics.

My appreciation for that beginning has been underscored by today’s political mess and I am talking about more than former President Donald Trump’s actions preceding and following the January 6th attack on Democracy. 

Words and phrases about the politics of kingdoms and tribes were first written on tablets; later printing technology and democracy widened the field. Now, writing a book about humble beginnings and self-catapulting success accompanies all national ambitions. 

My life, as told by the political aspirant, introduces the ambitious to careful editing and ultimately to a pattern of robotic answers when questioned. Spinmeisters abound. Never in a democracy has candor been in such short supply. Let’s see, “should I support a candidate who won’t really tell me what he is thinking?”

____________

Senator John McCain had been raised by an Admiral, told what to do by the Naval hierarchy at Annapolis and later by his captors in North Vietnam and still later by his political handlers. In part Senator McCain who was the Republican nominee for President in 2008 remained interesting because he didn’t take instruction. John McCain unplugged was a moral man because he meant what he said and was prepared to be judged by both his words and actions. He refused to hide.

And while I am on “unplugged” it is easy to imagine hundreds of intensely argued moments in the political life of Donald J. Trump. I am sure he must bristle at instruction, convinced he knows best. Yet, his originality in politics served him well, until it didn’t. 

One of my later in life political lessons occurred in the aftermath of Trump calling McCain a loser. I was certain his characterization was a fatal error. What I failed to understand was the lure of Trump Unplugged. 

Politicians and their enablers have lowered the standards; they are mostly scripted, although Hollywood doesn’t come calling. Years ago, I was on the set of the TV comedy Cheers. During a break in the filming Ted Danson quipped: “you people in Washington are just like us, we are all actors.” Well maybe, but the Washington version of acting is a façade to cover evasion and avoidance. Actors are a stories characters while most politicians are the real-life characters in what is often a bad script. 

Morality in politics? We were given a vivid standard by a Republican Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives, Rusty Bowers. He made a notation in his diary after Trump and Rudy Giuliani teamed up to declare there was fraud in the Arizona election that Trump lost and insisted that he should refuse to certify the results. Rusty Bowers wrote:

In a Democracy Bowers’ words and actions writ large are all the protection we have. We get the morality we deserve. Perhaps there was a time when standards of morality were set at the top. They certainly were when I worked for Attorney General Danforth. More often today they are set at the bottom—the foundation. Politicians are free to say what they want; we should pay attention to what they do. If we can’t get it right, corruption will be our legacy.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books. 

 

Crab season off to Painfully Slow Start by Dennis Forney

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The 2021-2022 oyster harvest on public grounds was one of the best in years.

Some younger watermen say it was the best oyster year of their lives.

Crabs, however, are another story.  Pretty much the opposite.

“This so far is the worst crabbing season I’ve ever had in my life,” said a commercial trotliner.  “It’s all I can do to catch one or two bushels.”

To make matters worse, inflation appears to be putting a dent in demand. While the season started out with watermen earning $200 per bushel and more for their crabs, that number has dropped now to the $150 per bushel range.

That translates into anywhere from $250 to $300 per bushel for consumers at the retail and restaurant level.  With gas hovering around the $5 per gallon mark and prices for everything else on the rise due to all kinds of inflationary pressures, people aren’t running as quickly to buy their crabs for summertime feasts. Typically in supply and demand scenarios, shrinking supplies lead to rising prices. But this year, with supply chain issues dogging the marketplace, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the tenacious coronavirus and all of its variants continuously injecting new doses of uncertainty around the world, there’s nothing typical about supply and demand behavior.

Delmarva artist Jack Lewis included this drawing of Crab Packers, Crisfield, in his 1953 book titled The Chesapeake Bay Scene. He wrote about this scene: “These colored people so near the edge of having nothing, find joy, wonder, and great entertainment in the most insignificant items. Perhaps the essential Christianity is poverty.” A lack of crab pickers and packers is another headwind currently plaguing the Chesapeake crab industry.

Scientists monitoring the overall Chesapeake Bay crab population predicted an off year in 2022 based on the results of extensive sampling in the winter dredge survey. That survey projected the lowest number of crabs in the Chesapeake system since the winter dredge survey started in 1990.

One buyer said even if the harvest were stronger, he would still have a hard time moving the crabs throughout the mid-Atlantic region. “People are having to make choices and crabs aren’t always their first choice when the cost of essentials is going up.”

“It’s a good thing the watermen had a good oyster season,” said another industry observer. “Now, with the cost of bait and fuel, and fewer crabs, many are having a hard time making ends meet.”

It costs between $160 and $200 in fuel and bait to leave the dock in the darkest hours of morning.  Two bushels of crabs – if watermen get those – barely cover costs.  That doesn’t take into consideration the eight to ten hours of labor to catch the crabs.

Adding to the sour recipe is the large numbers of blue channel catfish and skates in the Chesapeake system, creatures that enjoy eating crabs as much as people do.  “There might be lots of small crabs out there, but there’s also lots of other animals feeding on them and taking their share.”

While nature and economic forces are taking their toll, state shellfish managers are considering how to manage the blue crab resource in the face of this year’s record-setting low population. At a recent meeting of Maryland’s Blue Crab Industry Advisory Council, resource managers proposed everything from limiting the harvest of males and females, especially, for the rest of the season by reducing the daily take of bushels permitted.  Also being considered is closing the harvest season in October or November or shortening the number of days each week when harvesting is allowed.

Whatever management tools the state decides to implement have to be announced prior to July 1. That’s the traditional date for announcing any revised harvesting regulations, after resource managers have had a chance to evaluate the results of the annual winter dredge survey.

Many watermen may be looking forward to the start of the 2022-2023 oyster season Oct. 1 with greater anticipation than usual.  The good news on that front is that Maryland’s oyster managers have proposed no changes to the regulations that were in place for last year’s strong season.

Dennis Forney has been a publisher, journalist and columnist on the Delmarva Peninsula since 1972.  He writes from his home on Grace Creek in Bozman.