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December 9, 2025

Talbot Spy

Nonpartisan Education-based News for Talbot County Community

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At the Visionary Art Museum with Founder Rebecca Hoffberger by Jim Dissette

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Recently, the Spy crew trekked to Baltimore in search of a pigeon skeleton. Yes, really. But there was a method to our madness: the skeleton was on loan from Chestertown resident Pat Trams Hollingsworth and placed as an iconic symbol greeting visitors to the new environmental exhibit at The American Visionary Art Museum.

American Visionary Art Museum Founder and Director, Rebecca Hoffberger noticed the skeleton while visiting Hollingsworth’s home in Chestertown and knew instantly that she wanted it to be part of the new 25th annual exhibition she was curating.

“Rebecca saw the bird skeleton —a learning tool I once used to prepare for a dreaded veterinary tech exam—and off she went with it. It was one of those eureka moments, and she has lots of them. I was fascinated with how she was going to include it,” Hollingsworth says.

The Spy team found the bleached and brittle armature accompanied by a porcelain pigeon in a glass case installed along the entry corridor to the amazing American Visionary Art Museum. The placard above it recalled Hamlet’s existential question, “To Be or Not to Be, That is the Question”, an elegant choice given that AVAM’s new exhibit, “The Secret Life of Earth: Alive! Awake! and (Possibly Really Angry!),” challenges visitors to engage in critical questions about our relationship to the environment that sustains life on Earth.

Chestertown’s Trams Hollingsworth’s pigeon skeleton to illustrate the core message of the new environmental exhibit.

But first: if you have never visited the American Visionary Art Museum, it’s unlike any museum you’ve experienced. You won’t find the trained classicists or hear the reverential whisperings of art admirers. Instead, AVAM is dedicated to art that is rowdy, poignant, haunting and joyous, a collection of unschooled masterpieces from the hearts and minds of individuals who worked out their visions with materials at hand. For example, a centerpiece for the permanent collection has a detailed 15 ft. replica of the Lusitania made out of 200,000 toothpicks as two human figures shaped out of hundreds of wood and felt piano hammers convene silently together.

Johanna Burke’s “Another Green World” mixed media of dry plants, seeds, beads and glass was originally designed for a window at Bergdorf Goodman’s New York store and donated to AVAM.

However, the new environmental exhibit is not a bludgeon wielded by political or environmental activists. It is a collection of personal visions by individuals who would not even consider themselves artists, using materials at hand. It is an invitation to explore our environment through alternative perspectives and along the way to muse over the simple scientific facts of the challenges we face if we continue to ignore the ecological emergencies at hand. Even the ramp to the exhibit begs a fundamental question—hundreds of plastic items collected from a single beach in California are suspended from the corridor ceiling. On the wall, a text panel history of plastic. How will we deal with with an ocean choked by discarded plastic and drinking water suffused with hidden threat microplastics now being detected in humans all over the world?

The Spy was lucky to have as their guide Founder, Director and curator of the exhibit, Rebecca Hoffberger whose knowledge about each of the “artists” and their works reveal the depth of her dedication to the exhibit at hand and the overall mission of AVAM. Hoffberger led us through the labyrinth of exhibits describing their origin, the artist, and how she felt it shaped the conversation we must have about our environmental crisis.

But what are we looking at when we see giant green gorillas fashioned from fiberglass, beads, and plants, or a wax rubbing of a crosscut of a tree compared with a human fingerprint, and why does it move us so different from the art spaces of other museums?

Understanding AVAM’s mission is to understand Hoffberger’s original interest in creating a space for art created outside the classical world of classically trained artists.  In her mission statement, she wrote, “Visionary art as defined for the purposes of the American Visionary art Museum refers to art produced by self-taught individuals, usually without formal training, whose works arise from an innate personal vision that revels foremost in the creative act itself.”

In the mid-eighties, Hoffberger was employed as the Development Director of People Encouraging People, a program of the Department of Psychiatry at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore, and it was there she became impressed with patients’ elaborate imaginations. She wondered how she could showcase these alternative visions, not as an illness but as a strength. Were there galleries or museums showcasing this kind of personal vision? She and her future husband and museum co-founder LeRoy E. Hoffberger decided to visit French artist Jean Dubuffet’s Art Brut Museum in Switzerland where the largest collection of anti-cultural Art Brut (raw art) was exhibited, including the intense and intricate work of psychiatric patient Adolf Wolfli. Impressed with the collection and its simple exhibition style, the two returned with ideas for a museum that would widen and redefine the “outsider’ genre to include “intuitive creative invention and grassroots genius.”

Adolf Wolfli’s “General view of the island Neveranger,” 1911. Wolfli, a psychiatric patient for most of his life was championed by French painter Jean Dubuffet and became one of the first artists associated with the Art Brut or “outsider art.”

Intense fundraising efforts were begun. The City of Baltimore helped with acquiring a place, Senators Barbara Mikulski and Bob Dole were early supporters of the effort including getting a Congressional resolution designating the museum as America’s official national museum. The museum design was created by architect Rebecca Swanston and artist and designer Alex Castro who later became Director of Washington College’s SandBox project in Chestertown. AVAM held its grand opening in 1995 and the accolades have poured in ever since. CNN described the museum as “…one of the most fantastic museums anywhere in America…”

“The Secret Life of Earth” exhibit of 88 artists is a perfect manifestation of AVAM’s mission. Johanna Burke’s mixed-media “Another Green World” shares equal billing with every other artist from Brian Pardini’s found driftwood sculptures to Santiago Navila’s video installation “Untitled” and Julia Butterfly Hill’s journal entries from her 738 consecutive days perched in a California redwood tree to defy a lumber company and its threat to clear cut old-growth redwoods. There is no promotion of gender, race or ethnicity, and Hoffberger is adamant about keeping it that way.

The Spy found the delicate pigeon skeleton from Chestertown and it pointed the way to an extraordinary and personal journey guided by visionaries whose directness and self-taught raw talent stunned us into a visceral connection to the primal network of life we threaten with our abuse and denial.

Pioneer in time-lapse cinematography Louis Schwartzberg once said that “beauty and seduction, I believe is nature’s tool for survival, because we will protect what we fall in love with.” The American Visionary Art Museum’s “The Secret Life of Earth” exhibit is no less than an illuminated path to the heart of our environmental dilemmas. It’s a braid of science and raw vision without sermonizing and dedicated to the awakening of all who long to curate, protect, and love the world we need to survive.

James Dissette a contributor to  the Chestertown Spy and Talbot Spy, a Washington College graduate, and was awarded the school’s Sophie Kerr Prize for Literature in 1971.

“The Secret Life of Earth” special exhibit will be available until September 6, 2020 For hours, ticket prices and more information about The American Visionary Art Museum, see their website here. The Spy and the Academy Art Museum will host a lecture by Rebecca Hoffberger on February 21th starting at 6 pm. For ticket information please go here.

Don’t miss the latest! You can subscribe to The Talbot Spy‘s free Daily Intelligence Report here. 

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

Snifter’s Having the Last Laugh in Easton

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Word is that if you’re looking for an evening of great comedy, you don’t have to cross the bridge or even leave Talbot County. Snifter’s Craft Beer and Wine Bistro in Easton wants to be the place you think of when deciding on an evening of laughter and entertainment. That certainly was the case last month, when headliner Mickey Cucchiella, former co-host of 98Rock out of Baltimore, Davine Ker from Northern VA, and Easton Shore’s own Macy Morris played to an appreciative standing room only crowd.

“There’s nothing happening like that here in Easton,” says Snifter’s (and adjoining Hair o’ the Dog Wine & Spirits) owner, Joe Petro. “We’ve got the Avalon, thank God, and the club above it, but there’s really no other entertainment. So, the idea of bringing in a comedy club, or comedy night, I thought was really a cool idea.” The idea appears to have caught on with most shows selling out days before the performance.

To assist in booking talent, Petro chose Big Timing Comedy, a production and promotion group from Baltimore after Big Timing co-owner, Eric Jolicoeur, approached Petro about doing shows at Snifter’s. “Wine and craft beer places are perfect for live entertainment,” said Jolicoeur. “They usually have a great customer base and together, make a strong partnership.”

But comedy is just one of the ways Petro is trying to keep Snifter’s relevant, not unlike what he has done with Hair O’ the Dog, which recently celebrated its 15th year. “We pride ourselves on being different than everybody else, says Petro. “Little odd-ballish little geeky. We have more of a broader range of products and we shy away so much from the big brand name commodity brands and try to find a more niche-y kind of products. So, we’ve always had that in our veins–being a little bit different and unique and offering customers different choices than the standard liquor store.”

That’s because Petro thinks he sees the writing on the wall. “The business model of liquor stores is changing,” he says. The future, as he envisions, are people belonging to wine clubs, getting their wines through the mail, or buying beer, wine, and alcohol at grocery stores or big box stores, such as Walmart.

Joe Petro

“You have to be good in more than one thing,” he says, and that one thing became Snifter’s, which opened in June of 2018.“We wanted a venue that not only offered products that would appeal to adults, but we wanted the atmosphere to be conducive to just chill out, have a nice bottle of wine, hear some nice music, have something to eat, and have a conversation.”

Petro prides himself on trying to find fun things that people want to do. So far, what people have wanted have included wine dinners, cider tastings, gin making classes, even Prosecco Yoga in the morning. There are also the standards, which are live music from local talent and OpinioNation, a trivia type, survey-based game, similar to the show Family Feud. Stop by any Wednesday, and you will see groups of people sitting around the table, eating dinner, sipping their drinks, and comparing answers in hopes of winning prizes. “And they can’t even Google it because there are no right answers,” says Petro.

Connecting to the community that supports them, is vital to Snifter’s, who believe in giving back. “We’re big on nonprofits coming in and taking over the restaurant for the night, says Petro. “We’ve done events with ARC, St. Peter and Paul School, Talbot Humane, Talbot Interfaith, and Neighborhood Service Center. One of the OpinioNation game nights each month, will be hosted by one of the nonprofits and 10% of everything we take in that night is donated to them.”

When asked about future plans, Petro is clear on his objectives. “The future is going to be two-fold. One is to improve what we’re already doing. So, there’s always areas that we can improve, whether it’s service, or food, or selections of wine or products. We’re looking at expanding our craft cocktails on the menu right now from 4 to either six or eight. The other is our food. Right now, it’s primarily small plates, flatbreads and cheese boards, along with two entrees a night. We’re looking to expand that because we’re hearing from our customers that they want a broader selection of options and more dinner entrees.”

Immediate plans, however, are preparing for the upcoming Comedy Night this Saturday, January 25th, when Snifter’s will host Headliner Tommy Highland and will feature Rose Vineshank, and Mila Simon. Doors open at 6:00 and show starts at 7:00. Tickets are $25.00 and they sell out fast. “We encourage folks to get here early, if they want to have dinner beforehand. Of course, we do food and drinks throughout the show, as well.” But the bottom line to Petro is this: “It’s just a great inexpensive night out of fun.” If past performance is any indication, he’s right and you just might be on the cusp of being part of the inaugural comedy club of Easton.

Upcoming shows (check Snifter’s FaceBook page for more complete details):
March 7th – Headliner Josh Kuderna
May 2nd – Headliner Tommy Sinbazo
June 13th – Headliner Mickey Cucchiella

Val Cavalheri is a recent transplant to the Eastern Shore, having lived in Northern Virginia for the past 20 years. She’s been a writer, editor and professional photographer for various publications, including the Washington Post.

Don’t miss the latest! You can subscribe to The Talbot Spy‘s free Daily Intelligence Report here. 

 

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

Snapshots of Daily Life: Canes by George Merrill

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My mobility has returned slowly, but steadily. I’m now able to do basics, but no quick moves or heavy lifting. I’m pleased.

I’ve had a cane for a while. After the worst of my back ailments, I used it around the house. Then I abandoned it, doing well without it.

One day, recently, I took an extended walk around my neighborhood. Not being confident of my gait, I considered the practicality of using the cane to avoid falling, but my pride resisted it mightily.

“Why not get into the practices appropriate to the next phase of my life,” I lectured myself half-heartedly. “Consider the cane a kind of warm up for the future.” I only hoped no one would see me. Taking the cane turned out to be a good call, but not without some lessons.

I walked up the driveway out onto the street. I noticed that the cane assisted me in making a surer footing. This increased my confidence. It had been shaken in the last few months. Now, with the cane, I walked longer while experiencing little pain. I was getting into it; placing the cane deliberately to the ground, listening as it struck the ground, tapping rhythmically in synch with my stride; it seemed like a dance. It was neat.

Walking along smartly, I felt proud; wasn’t this like my good old days? Emotionally buoyed, I tucked the cane under my left arm, fancying myself a Marine officer in a movie I’d once seen. He carried a swagger stick. I picked up my pace confidently. I felt jubilant, imperious like a Commander reviewing his troops, the measure of his authority and command resting tidily under his arm. Was he cool, or what? Was I cool, or what?

I didn’t see the rock.

I stepped on it. It turned my foot abruptly. I stumbled just enough to throw me off balance, but not to drop me to the ground. I retrieved my step. Humbled, I returned the cane to its proper use. I’d thought more highly of my new mobility than I ought – or perhaps more accurately, thought of myself as someone I simply wasn’t. I was neither walking in the light I had nor taking the stride that was proper to me.

During this period of my increasing mobility, something else had also been going on within me; the difficulties I experienced in finding my new stride, which I had regarded as limitations for all these months, even humiliations, were not diminishments at all, but another way of being in my world. It was an oblique imperative to slow down and live with increasing awareness of what I was doing in any moment.

Some years ago, I’d done several yoga practices. It was portentous that the walking meditation then was the one exercise that made me the most impatient; it drove me nuts. I was far more of a fidget then. Whether it was walking or doing anything else, I simply wanted to get on with it. I fought against the slow, deliberate measured steps required of the yoga walking meditation. But that’s the only way I can really feel the ground under my feet, the only moments I will ever commune directly with what is always holding me in place no matter what I happen to be about; literally, the ground of my being.

As a younger man, I was an unconscious but willing participant in the frenetic velocity modern culture drives us. I moved quickly, drove fast, walked hurriedly, and wolfed food down – sometimes not even bothering to sit at the table. I answered questions barely taking a breath. I rapidly dispatched anything I was about, getting it out of the way as soon as possible so I could go on to something else. My governor had been stuck for years at full throttle. The challenge to my mental lifestyle began imperceptibly years ago when I first read one of Thich Nhat Hanh’s pithy aphorisms: “When you wash dishes, wash dishes. When you put them away, put them away? I remember reacting to this with a dismissive, “Right, whatever.” However, I never quite shook his thought.

My world view was simple and practical then: dishes were there to be washed and dried and put away swiftly so I could get on with more important things. What was Thich Nhat Hanh getting at anyway?

When I took the cane from the ground, tucked it under my arm and turned it into a swagger stick I lost awareness of where I was my world. I surrendered my alertness to enter an illusory world where I didn’t belong nor ever had I. In the here and now where I walked, my world was in fact right under my feet touching it at every step. Then, too, the more I noticed my steps I also noticed how the ground was strewn with small affirmations of life, past and present. Some were very endearing, like the undulating bodies of the Woolley Bears, executing their tasks of crossing the road to find a place of refuge for the winter.

Others were cryptic. As wind blows hard, Conifer trees broadcast pine needles everywhere and they fall onto the macadam road where I walk. They form curious patterns like Chinese pictograms. The configurations that their thin and supple lines formed demanded my attention, like half completed puzzles. They seemed to express a language of their own as if having left their last habitations on the tree limbs and fallen to earth, and now had a message to communicate to me, something from the life in which they participated as part of the tree. I was a man reading tea leaves.

All very fanciful to be sure except for this: I finally stopped playing soldier that day and got real, and resumed walking with the cane. When I walked, I walked; when I stopped, I stopped; and when I looked at the ground, I looked to the ground and I knew there was no place, at least for those moments, where I wanted to be, except right there where I was.

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.

Running Around Race in the Justice System by Angela Rieck

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Columnist’s note:  I am writing a series of columns in anticipation of the February 2020 publication of Margaret Andersen’s book, Getting Smart about Race: An American Conversation.  

After my first column, I learned about two organizations that are hosting conversations about race right on the Eastern Shore!

In this column, I want to gain more insight from Margaret about the justice system.  As a psychologist, I know that perceptions are facts to people…period. 

Historically the justice system was complicit by enforcing Jim Crow laws, looking the other way at lynchings, disproportionately enforcing laws for blacks vs. whites, handing out longer sentences for black people and disproportionately targeting blacks at road stops.  

The justice system has improved since the 1960s especially in the south.  But it is still not a justice system for African Americans. There are hundreds of statistics showing disproportionate treatment by race.  Here are just a few (and not the most egregious). Black American men are six times more likely to be incarcerated in their lifetime than white or Hispanic men. Black Americans are jailed on drug charges 10 times more often than whites, despite similar drug usage rates.

There are half a million people incarcerated because they cannot afford to make bail, most of them are African Americans. Sixty percent of the people in jail have not been convicted of the crime but are jailed because they cannot afford bail.  Most have been charged with misdemeanor crimes; riding a bicycle on the sidewalk (yes!), driving without a license, petty larceny, bar fights, resisting arrest, etc. To avoid prison stays of up to 18 months while awaiting trial, 90% plead guilty. For those who ARE able to POST bail, only 2% of the cases result in a jail sentence.  To recap, of those who cannot make bail, 90% plead guilty but of those who can make bail, only 2% end up being incarcerated.

These are statistics. The human stories that have sparked the “Black Lives Matter” movement are painful. The most disconcerting to me was the Sandra Bland story: A police officer pulled her over for failing to use her turn signal when she moved over to allow him to pass.  After refusing to put out her cigarette, he arrested her using brutal force. Unable to make bail and overwhelmed with depression, she committed suicide in jail. 

There are dramatically different perceptions between the blacks and whites about law enforcement.  Black parents feel they must “give the talk” to their children about how to stay alive if they are stopped by the police.  Yet, whites believe that these incidents, while reprehensible, are isolated and reflect only a few “bad apples.”

Question: How can we have a conversation about these different perceptions?

Dr. Andersen: The first thing I would say is that whites need to be aware that the high rate of incarceration for people of color, men especially, is based on the longstanding stereotype of criminality among Black (and now, Latino) men. Since slavery, black men have been perceived by whites as threatening—a painful irony, given that white men engaged in far more horrid violence against black people than black people did against whites.  This is all too easy for people to forget (or, worse, be unaware of). The stereotype of men of color as a criminal threat continues to influence the discrimination that black and Hispanic men face in the criminal justice system. At every stage of the criminal justice process, men of color are discriminated against–likelihood of arrest, discrimination in sentencing, discrimination in administration of the death penalty, and so forth. Even starting early in school, research finds that young, black and Hispanic men are more likely to be disciplined–even for the same behaviors that young, white men engage in.

Question:  Why are black rates of incarceration so much higher than for whites?  What can be done to fix this?

Dr. Andersen: Social policies that incarcerate people for rather minor offenses (three strikes, you’re out and mandatory sentencing for drug offenses) have contributed to the mass incarceration of people of color–including women of color whose incarceration rates have been increasing. One way to alleviate this problem is to offer alternative forms of sentencing.  Sentences such as community service can be more effective and are less likely to result in repeat offenses.

Question: What can our society do to reduce racism in the justice system?

Dr. Andersen: We desperately need policies that offer jobs for those with a felony record. To permanently disenfranchise people because of past mistakes leads to a potential lifetime of unemployment–which can then force ex-felons into the underground economy and, potentially, more crime. I wish we had a culture that was more forgiving, especially considering that so much of the behavior that lands people of color into jail and prison is youthful misjudgment. Ask yourself if you would want some misjudgment in your younger days to change the entire course of your life! To deprive young people of opportunities for work (and participation in voting and other civic behavior) only invites further problems.

To me, the criminal injustice system is one of the most heartbreaking issues of our time.  Last year the Chesapeake Film Festival premiered The Sentence.  Now an HBO documentary, it told the story of Cindy Shank, a mother of 3, who received a 15-year mandatory prison sentence. In her youth, she fell in love and lived with a drug dealer. Although she never did or sold drugs, she was convicted for NOT reporting him to authorities. Six years after the incident, the authorities arrested and convicted her. The film chronicles her story as a mother of three young children (one of them, six weeks old). It shows the extraordinary damage to her and her family. 

There is hope.  There are movements to reform the justice system.  The movie Just Mercy chronicles the work of Bryan Stevenson, a native son of the Eastern Shore, who has dedicated his life to defend those wrongly condemned and those who did not receive proper representation. One of his first cases was Walter McMillian, who was sentenced to die in 1987 for murder, despite eyewitness testimony proving his innocence.

Other organizations have been created to help.  One of my favorites is the Bail Bond project, which posts bail for minor offenses (less than $2000); 50% of those lucky recipients get their cases dropped and only 2% receive jail time.  

In the meantime, the more we know, the more we can understand.  Dr. Margaret Andersen’s book, Getting Smart about Race: An American Conversation will be published this February 2020.

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.

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

Academy Art Museum Bids Farewell to Chief Curator Anke Van Wagenberg 

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Academy Art Museum Director Ben Simons announced that Chief Curator Anke Van Wagenberg has accepted a new post in Vero Beach, FL as Senior Curator of the Vero Beach Museum of Art. Simons stated: “The Academy Art Museum is very grateful for the eight years of service Anke has provided to the Museum and the community, mounting  outstanding exhibitions, growing the Permanent Collection, developing the Collection Society, and forwarding many other curatorial programs. The Board, staff and entire community join me in wishing her all the best in her new post. Her legacy here is secure, and her new opportunity is an exciting one, congratulations to Anke!” 

Van Wagenberg told the Spy, “I am so grateful for my time here at this small gem of a museum, specifically to our Director Ben Simons and the Chair of the Board, Cathy McCoy, and a most talented group of docents, staff, and the museum members. There have been many proud moments for me here at the Museum.I mention a few exhibitions, James Turrell, Mark Rothko, Pat Steir, Lynn Meiers, Peter Paul Rubens, Robert Rauschenberg, Bill Viola, Richard Diebenkorn and many more local, regional and national shows. I have no doubt the Academy Art Museum will continue  to be successful on every level.”

 

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

Yes, Human Trafficking is on the Shore: A Chat with For All Seasons’ Katharine Petzold

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It’s typically hard for most Eastern Shore residents to know that human trafficking is alive and growing in their backyard. Beyond the false narrative that this inhumane treatment of adults and children is an urban phenomenon in the United States, the fact remains that these crimes are tough to see even if they are taking place in broad daylight.

Some of these victims are hidden behind locked doors in brothels and factories. But in other cases, they are interacting with community members on a daily basis. In the labor market, it can be found agricultural work, particularly with seasonal fisheries and crab processing as well as construction, nail salons, hospitality industries, and domestic work. With the sex trade, it is showing up locally on online, secret brothels, and “massage parlors” as well as truck stops, private homes, or on the street.

That is one of the many challenges that For All Seasons, the Mid-Shore’s behavioral health center, face as they increase their work to identify and rescue victims in the region. And part of that work is ensuring that members of the health and education professional community understand the signs of human trafficking in a variety of different environments.

Leading this effort for For All Seasons is their anti-human trafficking coordinator, Katharine Petzold. In her interview with the Spy from last week, Katharine talks about her growing awareness of the global problem when she toured Southeast Asia as a professional singer and songwriter, which led her to change careers thirteen years ago.

This video is approximately minutes five minutes in length. For more information about For All Seasons and their anti-human trafficking please go here

Don’t miss the latest! You can subscribe to The Talbot Spy‘s free Daily Intelligence Report here. 

 

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

Harm and Probability by Al Sikes (Part Six)

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Rising sea levels—resulting inundations. Extinctions—a serious blow to bio-diversity. Artic ice melting releasing more carbon dioxide. And on and on. 

It is important to keep in mind that these are not ideological theories but scientific ones supported by the analysis and trajectory of past and current data. The next time a politician minimizes the risks of climate change ask him/her whether they favor de-funding the scientific work done by the National Space and Aeronautics Administrations (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 

Climate change forecasts and consequences are not few in number. Yet, another kind of heat, political, often causes a quick thumbs up or down of a given study, chart or essay depending on the source. So here are readable summaries of key findings by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, from which we all get our weather forecasts. https://www.climate.gov/climate-and-energy-topics/climate-projections-0  

Devastated forests, acidic oceans, tidal inundation and, and; well I don’t want to roll the dice for my children, grandchildren and beyond.  Which, of course, brings me again to the question of probability. 

With apologies to the forgotten source, this analogy makes sense to me. A doctor can diagnose an illness just as NOAA can accurately predict the weather for several days.  A doctor can also predict troubles ahead if his/her patient is overweight and sedentary. Global choices of production, transportation, energy use and the like have altered atmospheric gasses in perilous ways. We, yes the global we, are overweight and sedentary.

Paris Climate Agreement

So, what should we do? Here again the literature is not sparse. There is no end of scientific journals, government agency studies and the like that point to ways we can mitigate the threat. And, of course, there is the Paris Climate Agreement that points to specific targets. There must be targets and initiatives that achieve their ends. The internationally agreed upon target of limiting global temperature increase to no more than a 2 degrees Celsius or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit is the result of careful analysis. America should be an active member of the Convention which led to the Agreement and use its targets. 

Markets

The United States knows the power of markets. There is a carbon credits market—we should be a part of it. At its simplest, carbon emitters (for simplicity sake companies) are assigned acceptable levels of greenhouse gas emissions. Companies that emit less receive credits that they can sell to companies that exceed the limit. The force of financial rewards or penalties works.

Nuclear

I am all in favor of alternative energy incentives, but to meet ambitious goals we will need to use zero-carbon emission nuclear energy. It has always been passing strange to me that America has a nuclear navy but now resists civilian nuclear power generation. Since the Navy is well organized to manage a widespread nuclear program, I would be happy to put them in charge of a civilian one, a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) if you will. TVA is the nation’s largest government-owned power provider and among other things sells electricity to local power companies. 

One thing to keep in mind, the worst power plant accidents in the United States were hydroelectric ones. Climate change threats, if taken seriously, need a comprehensive response.

Transportation

Transportation is a major source of greenhouse gasses and increasingly we buy things that are brought to our houses by trucks. China is already using drones for rural delivery. We should be doing the same.

Plus, all fossil fuel subsidies should be phased out. It will need to be done over some period of time so as to not drive up fuel prices rapidly with the likelihood of severe political backlash.

These thoughts are in no way exhaustive. Progress is being made in greenhouse gas recycling and sequestration, for example. What I do know is that if incentives are created for technologies that reduce greenhouse gases, American ingenuity will find solutions and build companies that cannot be currently imagined. Related investment, business start-ups and jobs will provide a significant economic boost. 

But here is my fear. We are in the middle of a political brawl. Too many Republicans dismiss science as somehow a part of the other side’s playlist. And, too many Democrats suffer from Three Mile Island syndrome, notwithstanding minimal health effects and noted precautionary improvements since the accident. 

Final Thought

A friend of mine recently used the word Staycation. I asked that it be repeated. I learned that it means a stay at home vacation. Maybe we need to think more about the wonders of our own backyards and the power of we.

We is a powerful pronoun, The power of we or if you prefer, concerted action, can move mountains. We have spent much of our energy seeking to dominate nature. We need a campaign to live with it. 

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al recently published Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books. 

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

Food Friday: New Year’s Resolutions

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I’m going to check back in three months and see if the enthusiasm I currently feel for for all my new 2020 rules of clean living are still true. It’s easy today, ten days into the new year to be proud of my new, adult approach to life. But as my daughter, the former Pesky Pescatarian has observed, sagely, that all this adulting is hard work.

Luke the wonder dog and I have been taking two walks every weekday. It’s been easy, so far. Sure, it’s been chilly in the mornings, but bright and sunny in the afternoons. No excuses have been sought. I’m trying to maintain that lofty goal of 10,000 steps a day, and so far, every day this week we have been successful. I don’t know what we will do on a rainy day, though. Luke hates to get his feet wet in the rain. Never mind that he loves pools and oceans and rivers. No; he does not like to go out in the rain. I’ll have to leave him here while I go off trekking.

Dry January is a little trickier. This is the second year that Mr. Friday and I have joined in Dry January – no alcohol for the month. We didn’t realize how much we like that glass of cheap white wine when he comes home at night, or choosing the right wine to pair with Friday Night Pizza. This abstinence is good for the liver, pocketbook and waistband. I’ve lost 2 pounds since Christmas, which included inhaling city blocks of créme pat in the Christmas cream puffs and acres of homemade peppermint bark. Plus a whole flock of Champagne; some really nice Veuve Clicquot Rosé, too. Weight-wise, it has been an excellent New Year, so far. https://www.npr.org/2020/01/06/793895415/dry-january-the-health-benefits-from-taking-a-break-from-alcohol

My dentist is sang froid and easy-going. She is just pleased that I wander through every year. Her martinet of a dental hygienist is another story. Every 6 moths I get Miss Minchin’s soul-crushing assessment. She knows that I don’t floss every single bloody night. Not so in 2020! 9 for 9! So far! And I replaced the head of my electric toothbrush on January 1. Who says I am not serious about oral hygiene?

Santa brought me a nice pile of books that I haven’t been able to find at the library, so I will not be indulging in an impulse buys on Amazon for a few months. I even tidied up the stack of waiting books on my bedside table. Now, if only the New York Times would call to see what I am planning to read this year. Among them are: Virginia Woolf’s Garden, Nigella Lawson’s At My Table, Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret, Penelope Lively’s Life in the Garden, Nigal Slater’s The Christmas Chronicles, Donald Hall’s On Eagle Pond, and The Old Success by Martha Grimes. Murder, gardens, food, poetry, gossip and more food. (I’m thinking I might re-read Little Women, too. I know just where my well-thumbed copy is, too!)

Which brings us to the kitchen. For the most part our kitchen is fairly well organized. There are drawers dedicated to potholders and trivets, rolls of aluminum foil, parchment and waxed paper. A drawer for baking tools: cookie cutters, measuring spoons and cups, offset spatulas and icing bags. A drawer for tea towels, another for silverware, one for matches, straws, razor blades, twist ties, and other rarefied junk. There is just one for all the key cooking utensils. Mr. Friday and I have a lot of repeat items. I have two turners I like, thin and sleek and metal. He prefers a few of icky, clunky black OXO silicone pancake turners. I like an old fashioned, easy-peasy cork screw – he likes a fancy battery powered one. (Luckily that isn’t an issue this month!)

We have two sets of indoor cooking tongs, and an outsized pair for outdoors. We have cheese graters, micro-planers and a nutmeg grater. We are down to one garlic press, and one can opener. Several slotted spoons. Lots of sterling serving pieces. A basting brush. Two cooking forks we got from our mothers, that are exact matches, which makes us suspect they were both acquired through the assiduous application of child labor pasting S&H Green Stamps into books, as we both have vague recollections of being entertained as tots…

My next character improvement is going to be organizing this shambles of a kitchen drawer. Wish me luck. Luke says it is going to rain this weekend…

“One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.”
-A.A. Milne

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

McCarthyism…Trumpism? By Angela Rieck

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PBS American Experience aired the story of McCarthyism this week. I was struck the similarities to our current environment.  

McCarthyism began and was fueled by fear—fear of communism. The Eastern European countries and China became Communist regimes. North Korea invaded South Korea. From America’s perspective, its enemy, communism, was spreading like a virus. In our own country, some intellectuals, believing that greedy, rapacious capitalism was the cause of the depression, dabbled with Soviet-funded communism as a solution. The conservative press printed sensationalist stories about the spread of communism into America.

Trumpism was created and is fueled by fear—fear of losing our standard of living. So, he made immigrants the bogeymen.  Many Americans have experienced a downturn in their standard of living while Wall Street has gotten richer and richer. High paying, skilled jobs have been moved offshore by greedy capitalists, leaving low-paying service jobs. Wages are declining and many fear that the cause is undocumented workers who are willing to work for lower wages.  These Americans perceive that they are ignored or mocked. The conservative press prints outrageous stories about immigrants, their detrimental impact on society and how they are taking over America.

Enter Joe McCarthy. He was a failed junior senator, lacking a moral compass and worried about re-election. In a speech he gave at the Wheeling Women’s Republican club he claimed to have the names of 205 communists working in the government. It was a lie, but the conservative press picked it up. 

Enter Donald Trump, a failed businessman lacking a moral compass. With over 3500 lawsuits brought against him, having declared bankruptcy, most of his empire came from selling his brand. Trump claimed that immigrants were coming to rape, murder and steal our jobs. The conservative press reported supportive stories while the mainstream press ridiculed him.

Joe McCarthy loved the limelight. He held televised hearings to harass and destroy the “elite” government insiders, accusing them of being members of the communist party. When he lacked evidence, he lied. His supporters marched in the streets. Aided by the conservative press, he searched for other high-profile government insider “communists” to humiliate and destroy.

Donald Trump loves the limelight, believing that any press was good press.  He lied and harassed people on the election trail, creating the “lock her up” slogan about his opponent. His supporters marched in the streets, carrying obscene signs about his opponent and immigrants. The conservative press supported his accusations.

Joe McCarthy craved the spotlight. He investigated over 600 people in 15 months. He used lies, innuendo and outrageous statements to make the front page.

Donald Trump craves the spotlight. He uses lies, attacks, rumor, innuendo and outrageous statements to get attention.

What brought down Mr. McCarthy?  Most of us believe that it was Edward R Murrow’s broadcast condemning McCarthy and his tactics.  That awakened many, but it mostly spoke to those already opposed to McCarthy. 

McCarthy’s downfall came when he went too far. He attacked the Army, Eisenhower’s “club”.  Eisenhower had been content to ignore McCarthy; he wasn’t willing to lose the support of McCarthy’s followers.  But after the attacks on the Army, Eisenhower worked with the senators to hold televised hearings to investigate McCarthy, shining a light on his misstatements, lies and innuendos.  Still, his followers continued to support him. Ultimately, moderate fellow Republicans decided that “enough was enough” and courageously risked losing the support of his voters by censoring him.  After that, McCarthy lost his spotlight and declined into alcoholism.

What have we learned from this?  We have learned that the human condition does not change a whole lot, even as we think that we are getting more sophisticated.  When fear is the motivator, bad decisions follow…always. But mostly, we learn that the press can’t fix this, only moderate members of Trump’s own party can.  They must decide “enough is enough” and no longer fear his supporters. They must be the change.

Let’s hope they will.

Let’s hope that it is not too late.

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.

 

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

What’s Next by Craig Fuller

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Beginning a new decade seems like the right time for serious reflection. And, over this holiday period just passed I did a good deal of reflection. For those on the planet over several decades, the perspective can be more than a little mind expanding regarding the path taken.

In my case:

1950 – It all started in 1950 and I arrived on February 16, 1951

1960 – Happily, one of a family of four living in Arcadia, California…soon to move to Walnut Creek, California

1970 – Into my freshman year at UCLA moving from a major in psychology to a major in political science

1980 – Engaged in a presidential transition after the election of Ronald Reagan as President which took me to the White House for eight years

1990 – Outside of government, enjoying the second year of the George H.W. Bush administration having served four years as his chief of staff while he was vice president and seeking the presidency; and, I entered my second year as the president of a wonderful public affairs firm in Washington, D.C.

2000 – Just beginning my tenure as the president of a large health care related association in Washington, D.C…..and, the initial version of FIRST MONDAY is launched

2010 – Entering my second year as the president of the world’s largest general aviation association based in Frederick, Maryland…flying 400 hours a year in all types of aircraft

2020 – Living with Maggie, my Weimaraner, on Trippe Creek in Easton, Maryland

So, during the holidays, what I reflected on most was the blessing of health and happiness after leading an interesting and fulfilling life up until now. And, like a lot of friends, I asked, “…what’s next.”

When looking at the mosaic of decades, I must confess that at the beginning of each I could never have forecast where I’d be ten years later. That in and of itself is a bit daunting when pondering the “what’s next” question. Still, a worthy inquiry I think, but it must be tempered by the knowledge that the effort relates more to focusing on a direction than on predicting a point upon which one will land in ten years’ time.

There certainly is a freedom as this decade begins quite unlike anything in my past, or at least if feels that way. Blessed with resources and great friends, the options are many.

As I reflected on this question of what comes next, two words became central to my thoughts: discovery and connection.

Discovering something is beyond just an experience. And, if you are fortunate, the “that which is discovered” becomes core to living your life for some extended period of time, if not throughout your life.

I discovered at a very early age that I loved being near water. Living in Southern California, the Pacific Ocean drew me early on as a young swimmer, as crew on a sailboat, as a scuba diver trained at UCLA and this attraction continues to this day.

On a family vacation while in high school, I discovered the thrill of flying in a small airplane. Today, I have a logbook describing nearly 6,000 hours of flying that includes piloting business jets to back country flying in two-seat aircraft. And, my interest in the promotion of aviation continues with business involvements involving flight simulators and the development of electric powered training aircraft.

While at UCLA, I came to appreciate art. I also developed an interest in history. Today, I find myself engaged in both on the Eastern Shore of Maryland serving on the boards of the Academy Art Museum and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.

I also delight in photography and discovered a strong interest in photographing waterfowl here on the Eastern Shore as well as images from trips throughout the world. While government and business have taken me to well over sixty countries around the world, I now have a chance to really spend time in the places that are new as well as returning to places I desire to discover more thoroughly.

Clearly, one directional theme for the decade ahead of me is discovery!

As suggested, though, discovery is associated with the other concept I thought about, that of connection. Up until the later part of last year, I would have thought this meant a focus more on connecting with my brother in California and great friends now spread around the country. And, it most certainly does mean that. However, probably the best possible connection occurs with someone with whom you desire to share discoveries. And, in my case, the opportunity for such a connection is by far the best discovery at year’s end. Unexpected and wonderful and very much in the making, a connection with someone equally interested in sharing discoveries makes the beginning of a new decade look pretty exciting.

We will see what comes next, and with any luck at all, future commentaries will share a bit more about the discoveries ahead.

The best to one and all in this new year! May your discoveries and your connections be exciting and meaningful!

Craig Fuller served four years in the White House as assistant to President Reagan for Cabinet Affairs, followed by four years as chief of staff to Vice President George H.W. Bush. Having been engaged in five presidential campaigns and run public affairs firms and associations in Washington, D.C., he now resides on the Eastern Shore.

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