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June 10, 2023

Talbot Spy

Nonpartisan Education-based News for Talbot County Community

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Cambridge Matters: A Update on the Dorchester County Council Charter

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You may recall the petition initiative for changing the County Charter that was started last spring by the Dorchester Citizens for Better Government and wonder what happened to it. I hope that what follows will help you understand what we were able to do and not do and what I understand will be happening in the near future. 

With the Petition effort, we sought to gather over 5,000 signatures prior to the 2022 November elections in order to have two changes to the County Charter placed on that ballot that we felt were important. They involved sections 405-406 of the County Charter related to the County Manager position and a new section 606 that addressed government transparency.

We had started this effort in the fall of 2021 by gathering a group of people that supported the idea of making some changes to the County Charter, meeting to discuss possible changes, and finally hiring a lawyer to help draft the changes that the group agreed upon. The changes we proposed are attached. With the help of many people at church events, farmers’ markets, and fire houses we collected signatures of registered voters. 

During our research of the County Charter, we learned that the County Council should have appointed a Charter Commission in 2021 but did not finally approve all of the members of that body until May of 2022. The intention of the majority of County Council was to have a report and recommendations by the Commission by July 2022. That gave the Commission members two-three months to do their research and make their recommendations. Under the law, the Commission should have had at least a year to do their work.

During the Spring of 2022 and time that the Charter Commission did their work, the Citizens for Better Government made presentations to community groups about our effort, collected signatures on the petitions, and attended the Charter Commission meetings where we were able to suggest ideas for consideration. In the end, after meeting and making recommendations to the County Council, the County Council declined to adopt any of the Commission’s recommendations for placement 0f Charter revisions on the ballot for the November 2022 vote.

Despite our efforts to collect the required number of signatures, we were on able to collect about 1,300 signatures for each petition, but that was not enough; so, we felt that our next best option was to support the efforts of the Charter Commission, which we did, for the most part. When the Commission failed to receive the vote of County Council, we realized that our hope to place any issues on the 2022 ballot was not going to be successful. We then decided to wait for the November election to see what those results would be in order to have a new council that might support some of our ideas.

We were successful in one respect, which was the former council agreeing to place the council meetings for viewing by the public on town hall streams. In addition, the new County Council has hired Jeff Powell as the Acting County Manager, which is already paying dividends toward making the progress we anticipated. As some members of the former council and candidates for election had signed our petitions, we knew that with a new County Council there was the possibility that it would restart the Charter Commission to allow it to reconsider past recommendations and offer any new ideas that might be brought forward.

That is now happening. The County Council is in the process of appointing a new Charter Commission that may have some of its former members reappointed. When they start meeting, the Dorchester Citizens for Better Government will be present supporting their efforts to help improve how our county government can run and to give to the citizens of Dorchester County the opportunity to vote in the November 2024 election on proposed changes to the County Charter that will, hopefully, provide for a better and more efficient and effective government.

Thanks for reading.

Steve Rideout is the current mayor of Cambridge

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

The Talbot Boys Conversation (Redux): NAACP & County Council Begin the Dialogue

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Editor’s Note. On July 30 of 2015, the Spy published the first public conversation between the local NAACP chapter and the Talbot County Council on the organization’s request that the Talbot Boys memorial be removed from the courthouse green. We recorded it with only minor edits to give our readers the full range of views expressed that afternoon. 

With civility and calm voices, the leadership of the NAACP of Talbot County met with four out of five Talbot County Council members late yesterday afternoon to discuss the future of the Talbot Boys statue. The memorial on the County’s courthouse lawn commemorates local Confederate soldiers who had lost their lives during the Civil War.

While mutual respect was observed throughout the meeting, there were a few tense moments as the conversation turned to the role played by the statue of Frederick Douglass, the famed native son of Talbot County and abolitionist, located less than a hundred feet from the Talbot Boys display.

Given the depth and complexity of this issue, the Spy has shared most of the meeting’s highlights of the lengthy discussion. The public conversation will be continued with a open community meeting on September 9th. The Spy will publish venue and time when it becomes available.

This video is approximately 35 minutes in length 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Meet Robbie Schaefer, By Far Talbot County’s Most Popular Musician — at Easton Elementary-Moton

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Students from four classes at Easton Elementary School gave tribute to musician Robbie Schaefer, who has been introducing them to writing their own music for the last four years. Schaefer, through his program ONEVoice, also gave some of the students an opportunity to do a joint project with children suffering through the Syrian refugee crisis.

The entire program is part of The Avalon Foundation’s Outreach to area school students through the support of the Dock Street Foundation.​​​​The students and Principal Redman had a special message and presentation of a plaque for Schaefer, who is also the creative force behind the successful, alternative music act, Eddie from Ohio. “Dear Robbie,” the plaque reads, “On behalf of the staff and students at Easton Elementary-Moton, I want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. The work that you have done and the work that you continue to do encourages all of us to help make this world a better place for all, regardless of race, religion or relative location of this Earth.”​​​​​​​​The plaque for Schaefer further reads, “We have been blessed to have you work with our children at Easton Elementary-Moton for several years now.

Each time you come, I see the eyes of our children light up with pride, hope and love—the pride that comes from ‘writing a song with Robbie Schaefer!’—the hope that one day all of our communities will be united and able to speak with One Voice on behalf of all of humanity, and—the love that comes from your positive energy. It is contagious, and we are so fortunate that we get to welcome you home each year. We hope that you enjoy your time here as much as we look forward to having you!”

Last year Schaefer visited a Syrian Refugee camp in Greece and carried a special message from Easton Elementary halfway around the world with him. “It gave the school kids here an opportunity to send a message, to people their own age in another part of the world, that they were thinking of them and worried for them, loved them and hoped they were safe,” said Suzy Moore of The Avalon Foundation’s Outreach Program. On his visit to Greece, Schaefer took two puzzle pieces with him, one of which the students in Easton had colored, and the second was colored by the refugee children. When he came back with the colored pieces from Greece, the students here and children there shared in the message that we are all one. ​​​​​​​​​​Schaefer’s teaching sessions start with him saying, “Songs can come from your imagination, where you make them up, or they can come from something you have experienced in real life.” In the classroom setting, Schaefer meticulously mines the minds of the students to get whatever sounds and lyrics are in their heads, and creates songs complete with verses and choruses that the children make up entirely by themselves. In this way, music, creativity, and the positive effects on the students are magnified. The students’ tunes include characters such as two best friend giraffes, Peanut Butter and Jelly, and subjects like human nature and the importance of realizing that we are all different in our own special ways.​​​​​​​​​​

“Our 5th grade class wanted to let Robbie know how much his commitment to being a good person meant to them, because they will be graduating to Middle School next year and will leave this particular program behind,” said Ms. Heather Orr, teacher at EES- Moton. “He really has a special connection with the children and they love the classroom work they do with him. And then comes the opportunity to perform both in front of their peers and their families on The Avalon Theatre stage. It is an especially rewarding program that has fully blossomed over the last four years.”​​​​The plaque borrowed words from one of Schaefer’s own songs that the children also learned and concluded. “ ‘You were born with endless love inside you; the whole world is calling your name. Everyone’s singing ‘Hallelujah’; everybody rides on the Miracle Train. You are powerful beyond imagination; you are made of indelible light. Who is going to change this world for the better? You just might.’ Well, no truer words have been spoken when it comes to describing you. We are all here to tell you that YOU Are Beautiful, and that you have absolutely changed this world for the better. Thank you for spreading your love every single day!”​​

More information on The Avalon Foundation and its programming, including their Outreach program is available online at avalonfoundation.org or by calling and talking directly to Jess Bellis or Suzy Moore at 410-822-7299.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Maryland 3.0: Sprouts Starts to Take Over the Eastern Shore

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Just so you know….perhaps one of the most significant “foodie” experiments in the country is taking place on the Mid-Shore.

A young couple, primarily trained in nutritional science and fitness, decide to escape the rat race of the Western Shore and relocate to Trappe to start a food delivery business dedicated to high quality prepared meals with locally sourced produce and meat.

The concept was simple. Rather than send clients the raw materials to make a nutritious meal (think Blue Apron), Sprout owners Ryan and Emily Groll would take it to the next level and actually cook the meals for its customers.

Sprout would do all the work. Whether it be breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even a snack, Ryan and Emily identify local farmers within a 200-mile range that produce some of the most exquisite examples of fruit, vegetables, chicken, pork, or beef in the region to produce meals that could be left at your doorstep twice a week.

Fast-forward one year later Sprouts has become an increasingly important provider on the entire Eastern Shore as well is in Annapolis. With Ryan’s mother in Chestertown, the couple continues to seek a local partner to help as a delivery station, which they call a “Sproutlet,” but they hope to cover the entire Mid-Shore within the next two years.

The Spy spent some quality time with Ryan in his portable kitchen in Trappe to discuss the couple’s courage and conviction it took to start a business of this kind and their aspirations over the next few years.

This video is approximately four minutes in length. For more information about Sprouts please go here. 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Mid-Shore Education: The Homeschooling Option with Denise Chapman-Toth

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With serious debates going on about the quality of public education and expensive private education, it is easy sometimes to overlook the third option for parents and their children when it comes to elementary and secondary education. And that is the possibility of homeschooling.

At present, close to 700 families have selected this option rather than sending their children to various public and private schools on the Mid-Shore. That sparked our curiosity about what it takes to have a successful homeschool program and the kind of commitment it requires from one or both parents during the year, and that is why we were able to track down Denise Chapman-Toth, president of the Home Educators of the Eastern Shore, to talk about this rarely used but relatively successful alternative to mainstream education programs.

In our Spy interview, Denise talks about her own experience over the last sixteen years in homeschooling her children, as well as the satisfaction of having two of them move on to higher education and be on the honor roll. She also talks about the mechanics of starting a homeschool program for your children and the kind of typical day required for parent teachers.

This video is approximately six minutes in length. For more information about the Home Educators of the Eastern Shore please go here.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Rosie Revisited by George Merrill

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Screen Shot 2017-03-12 at 4.02.31 PMThe adjacent picture is one among many images depicting the iconic Rosie the Riveter of WWII fame. The image packs a whole story, especially today, about gender and society. It’s a timely statement. They say pictures are worth a thousand words? This one is worth more. It tells tells several stories.

The portrait represents a woman who is not about traditional feminine business, at least as we’ve known it historically, being agreeable and deferential. She’s in what we think of as a man’s world and appears to belong there unapologetically. She wears the blue denim shirt like the one I wore when as a young man I worked in shipyards. She’s a skilled laborer. Rosie was showcased as the kind of woman who, needing only the chance, was up to doing any man’s job as well if not better.

The woman’s facial expression is serene and confident, almost regal. It’s not the facial expression we’d expect from somebody who was feeling angry and defiant. The way her arms are configured, as I read it, is indeed a protest, but her expression suggests to me she is confident in her defiance, that she’s not just being reactive. She’s affirming who she is, a competent no-nonsense woman not about to be patronized.

Her right hand is placed over her left bicep, her left arm bent with fist held high in the air.

She might be just rolling up her sleeve but as I see it, she is multitasking. This is unmistakably the universal gesture of defiance normally associated with angry men, frequently low-lifes or tough guys. The French, always nuanced in delicate matters, call this gesture the ‘bras de’honneur;’ the Italians who are more proprietary say it’s the ‘Italian salute’ and Americans who are characteristically course know it simply as, ‘up yours.’ Defiance is a distinct part of the message here.

This is not a woman a guy wants to mess with. She knows just who she is. As I interpret this image for our time, I think she’s telling the world; “Let’s get serious. No more eighty cents on every dollar a man makes for the same job. It’s time for equal pay for men and women, and for blacks and whites as well.”

Stereotypical gender roles are rapidly changing. They’re challenging the way men and women relate to one another. The ‘little woman’ being protected by the ‘big guy’ is now an unsustainable fiction. Women’s safety stratagems that once depended on feminine wiles are antiquated. Tears of helplessness and fluttering eyelids are to the modern woman’s armamentarium for survival as the bow and arrow is to todays fighting Marine. For those guys still clinging to their traditional gender prerogatives, this change in social conventions may come as a shock.

According to New Yorker columnist, Lizzie Widdicombe, Dana Shafman, an Arizona native, is the inventor of the Taser party. Similar to the traditional Tupperware party women hosted in their homes, Shafman’s presentations are not about freezer containers or dishes for leftovers. Her wares are displayed on a coffee table like Tupperware. This is, however, serious weaponry proffered for sale, a lucrative, legitimate business, presented with a characteristically feminine touch: hospitality offered in the hostess’ living room, along with cookies, coffee and demonstrations in the uses of the Taser. This changing convention is not good news for men. It will require men to exercise more caution in the mating game and with women in general. Guns used to be strictly a guy thing. Now Mr. Macho can’t be sure when his disgruntled squeeze may be packing a piece.

The Taser, although ostensibly non-lethal, is a weapon like a gun, used by the military and police to subdue suspects who might become violent. In living room presentations to neighborhood women, Shafman showcases Tasers customized to suit the most discriminating woman’s tastes. The C2 Taser, small, “Virginia Slims” as the model is dubbed, has been developed for civilians and some specifically designed for women. Some come in pink, perhaps anticipating today’s confluence of traditional femininity with some of the instruments historically associated with masculinity. Shafman’s customers are promised that if the first shot doesn’t drop the miscreant, not to worry. The Taser can still be used as a stun gun.” Go for the jugular,” Shafman advises her customers.

It’s a new day.

March eighth this year the world observed International Women’s Day. The timing of the observation came at a particularly advantageous time since the occasion was set in sharp relief by the recent contempt with which the president publically denigrated women. It some ways his attitudes gave a greater impetus for increasing public awareness of the long standing issue of gender inequality. For all the wrong reasons his attitudes may have aided in propelling issues of gender inequality into public awareness.

It’s interesting to note that increasingly men and women are “partnering” rather than entering a marriage. Perhaps “husband and wife” still carry enough of the suggestion of inequality to trouble women in particular. The word partner or co-worker suggests equality.

What about good old-fashioned romance, you ask? That’s a subject for another conversation. My guess is that the glow endures among men and women who regard each other as equals.

Columnist George Merrill is an Episcopal Church priest and pastoral psychotherapist. A writer and photographer, he’s authored two books on spirituality: Reflections: Psychological and Spiritual Images of the Heart and The Bay of the Mother of God: A Yankee Discovers the Chesapeake Bay. He is a native New Yorker, previously directing counseling services in Hartford, Connecticut, and in Baltimore. George’s essays, some award winning, have appeared in regional magazines and are broadcast twice monthly on Delmarva Public Radio.

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Food Friday: Pie Day

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Winter is winding down, or so they say. Though I see there is snow in Friday’s forecast, and the weekend temperatures are supposed to plunge. The long range forecast says spring. Let’s heat up the kitchen another couple of times while we wait for spring to come peeking around the corner, and let’s get ready to celebrate Pi Day. https://www.piday.org/

Pi Day is March 14, and it celebrates the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, which is approximately 3.14159. (Pi Day = 3/14 in the month/date format.) I have a friend, a former math major, who does not count sheep when she has trouble sleeping. Instead, she calculates π digits. The infinite number amuses her and lulls her to sleep, but if I could hold all those numbers in my head there wouldn’t be room for Joni Mitchell song lyrics or English murder mystery plot points.

Instead of whipping out our iPhones and finding the calculator app, let us celebrate another aspect of Pi Day, and bake some pies. March 14 is also Albert Einstein’s birthday, so you can kick up your heels doubly. And you can rejoice that Pi Day rolls around every year, whereas Square Root day won’t happen again until May 5, 2025. (According to Wikipedia, Square Root day is celebrated on days when “both the day of the month and the month are the square root of the last two digits of the year.” I kid you not.)

Sweet or savory, there are pies for just about every appetite, and every level of skill. It is easy to pour chocolate pudding into a store-bought graham cracker crust and slather it with clouds of whipped cream. More complicated are lattice-work pies, which require forethought, and dexterity, and a good hand at pastry. You can be Sweeny Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street, and make a name for yourself with meat pies. Or you can be James Taylor, and sing an ode to your own Sweet Potato Pie.

My favorite pie is chicken pot pie. I do a variation on Martha’s – but I buy the pie crust already made. Which is probably why I have never calculated pi since leaving school – I am always looking for an easy way out. https://www.marthastewart.com/891257/classic-chicken-potpie Easy as pie, my foot. I can’t roll out a perfect circle, but those wily folks at Pillsbury can. And no one is the wiser. Mr. Friday would never notice if I toiled with butter and flour and sharp knives to make a homemade crust. Martha might, but so far our parallel universes haven’t come close to colliding. My secret is safe…

I also like a nice Key Lime pie. I always use the recipe on the bottle of Key Lime juice, but this is pretty close: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014850-key-lime-pie It is lovely for Easter, when you don’t want to make a huge and vastly expensive cheesecake, and almost anything with whipped cream is a delight. You don’t have to wait for summer to have a little taste of the Keys. You could welcome Pi Day with a fluffy, mile-high Key Lime pie.

We managed to let George Washington’s birthday get away from us without the ritual and apocryphal cherry pie. What were we thinking? Unless you have Martha’s (Stewart – not Washington!) year-round access to fresh cherries, you will have to use frozen like the rest of us. https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/traditional-cherry-pie-232579

If spring is coming, can rhubarb be far behind? https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/deep-dish-strawberry-rhubarb-pie

And to hit all the relevant holiday notes – St. Patrick’s Day is next week. Maybe you should be preparing a beer-infused Guinness Chocolate Cream Pie. All of the sweet decadence of whipped cream, combined with dark chocolate and darker beer. Swoon-worthy. Thanks again, Food52 for setting the bar (and the beer) high! https://food52.com/recipes/20120-guinness-chocolate-cream-pie

We do a Boston Cream pie for birthdays here. It might not have the celebratory gusto of a pie topped with whipped cream, but the combination of the shiny chocolate ganache and thick custard filling is surprisingly festive. A heady combination of pie and cake, with candles. https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/boston-cream-pie-recipe Albert Einstein would have loved our Boston Cream Pies.

A place in London I would like to visit, and not for the food, is Eel Pie Island. Can you imagine? Henry VIII was overly fond of the eponymous eel pies, but I think I would visit just to see the artists’ studios. Doubtless none of them has though much about pi since school, either. https://www.messynessychic.com/2014/08/21/the-tiny-island-on-the-thames-that-once-held-the-rolling-stones-david-bowie-and-the-uks-largest-hippie-commune/

Happy Spring – it’s coming!

https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jamestaylor/sweetpotatopie.html

“I went to sit in the bus station and think this over. I ate another apple pie and ice cream; that’s
practically all I ate all the way across the country, I knew it was nutritious and it was delicious, of
course.”
― Jack Kerouac

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

CBF Issues Statement On OMB Proposal to Slash Bay Restoration Funding

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Following reports in the Washington Post today of the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) proposal to cut Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funding in support of the Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint, Chesapeake Bay Foundation President William C. Baker issued the following statement.

The OMB proposal reduces funding for the Chesapeake Bay Program from about $73 million annually to $5 million in the next fiscal year. EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program coordinates science, research, and modeling to implement the Blueprint, as well as grants to state and local governments and others to help reduce pollution.

“Reducing funding for the successful Chesapeake Bay clean-up, begun by Ronald Reagan, seems inconsistent with the President’s remarks about clean water.

“The proposed reduction in federal investment in Chesapeake Bay would reverse restoration successes. The EPA role in the cleanup of the Chesapeake is nothing less than fundamental. It’s not just important, it’s critical.

“Restoration efforts are working. There is measurable progress in restoring local rivers, streams, and the Chesapeake Bay. Crabs and oysters are rebounding, the dead zone is getting smaller, and Bay grasses are at their highest levels in decades. The progress is the result of the federal and state partnership implementing the Clean Water Blueprint, as well as the work of citizens, business, farmers, and local governments all doing their share to reduce pollution.

“The Blueprint has bipartisan support, as was recently demonstrated in a letter led by Chesapeake Bay Task Force co-chairs Congressmen Bobby Scott, Rob Wittman, Andy Harris, and John Sarbanes from seventeen members of Congress to President Trump, calling on his administration to continue full funding of Bay restoration efforts.

“We urge all local partners—residents, businesses, watershed groups, universities, and state and local governments—to let their voices be heard.

“The OMB proposal is only the first step in developing EPA’s budget, and we hope that Administrator Pruitt will want to take advantage of a program that’s successful, bi-partisan, and non-controversial. It works.”

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Senior Nation: The Science of Forgetfulness with Dr. Constantine Lyketsos

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The celebrated poet Billy Collins wrote in one of his poems that his memory had retired “to the southern hemisphere of the brain, to a little fishing village where there are no phones.”  It is perhaps one of the most accurate descriptions of memory loss and the disorientation it causes in almost every human being of a certain age from time to time.

But what if the feeling of “no phones” was a more permanent condition?  That beyond the simple and temporary experience of forgetting where one left the car keys, one also could not remember what those car keys do. In that case, the condition is called dementia. And what has intrigued Johns Hopkins doctor Constantine Lyketsos is why those “phones,” the neurochemistry of the brain, are not working.

On March 8, the Talbot Hospice will be sponsoring a lecture by one of the leading experts in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease at Easton High School. Dr. Lyketsos, from the Hopkins department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, will address these issues and the devastating effects of the illness, but also promising new treatments that give hope to patients and their families.

The Spy traveled to Baltimore to sit down with Lyketsos before the event for a primer on dementia and memory loss.

This video is approximately six minutes in length. For more information about the event please go here

 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Spy Profiles: Making the Match with Talbot Mentors’ Natalie Costanzo

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It doesn’t take long to figure out after listening to Natalie Costanzo’s accent that she is not a “from here.” In fact, she freely admits that her life on the Eastern Shore was the product of serendipity when her husband, Dr. Simon Costanzo, agreed to a position at UM-Horn Point Laboratory five years.

After never hearing the name “the Eastern Shore” while growing up in Brisbane, Australia, Natalie nonetheless threw caution to the wind and agreed to relocate to Easton with the simple aspiration of raising a family of two young children while husband Simon pursued his work as a climate change scientist.

Nonetheless, within months, she found herself working for the Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy, and increasingly started to accept Talbot County has her adopted new home. And that commitment led her to take her current position as executive director of Talbot Mentors.

In her first interview with the Spy, Natalie talks about the history and mission of Talbot Mentors, perhaps one of the county’s most respected nonprofit organizations, and her passion in pairing together almost one hundred Talbot County mentors with some of its most promising young people in our region for lifelong friendships, advice, and support.

This video is approximately five minutes in length. For more information on Talbot Mentors and volunteering to be a mentor, please go here. 

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.