Friday, May 18, 2012
My friend and I thought we were joking. School leaders took it seriously.
This sounds unbelievable, but it’s true. My life was almost completely changed, because days before my high school graduation, some school staff members had reason to worry that I was part of a plot to bomb the library. This was 13 years ago this May, and I still remember it like it was yesterday. And, it’s also one of the more difficult stories for me to tell, and it usually comes out after a few beers or with a very trusted friend. But writing Wednesday about senior pranks gone awry, resulting in arrests with student mugshots splashed across news websites, I got a cold pit in my stomach, remembering. It could have been me. I was a straight-A student in a senior class of about 70 or so at a small high school in Iowa, Dike-New Hartford. I …
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Reisterstown and Owings Mills Patch readers sound off on this week’s news.
Police: Armed Robbers Tie Up Family in Home Invasion “This is very scary. I live on the same street and I saw the cops around the house and I was freaking out.” -Sam Zickers Decals Store Hopes to Give Spark to Main Street “I'm encouraged that new small businesses are filtering onto Main Street. I wish the new owners all the success! (although it reminds me of the SNL skit about the Scotch Tape store at the mall!)” – Carl J. Galler Legislators Speak Candidly on Victories, Embarrassments in General Assembly “There is no reason to raise any taxes if those in Annapolis would get spending and waste under control. Times are tight but our "big spender," O'Malley, increases the budget by 1.5 billion dollars. The budget last year was 34 billion and…
Sunday, April 29, 2012
And this time, barely surviving.
If you prefer to save yourself 1,500 words, here’s the bottom line up front: I ran a marathon. Barely. I finished, but not before I threw up in the vicinity of an NFL All-Star. And I’d do it again. The long version follows. I’ve written about running in this space before; I remain convinced that running is an essential human function, the only sport you were literally designed to do. However, you may have noticed that I failed to file an article on the Elkridge Patch last week. (You didn’t? Sad emoticon!) I missed my deadline because even Tuesday night, 26 hours after I had crossed the finish line, my body still refused to obey even the simplest of commands. That included typing or, more realistically, thinking. Doing two things together (…
Monday, April 16, 2012
Healthy? Scary? What’s wrong with Enviropig?
There's a lot of talk about genetically modified foods, but we’ve been eating them for years. The history of agriculture is based in selective breeding for "better" plants and animals -- corn, apples, bananas, cows; many of the plants and animals we eat have been carefully selected over hundreds and thousands of years to be bigger, sweeter or juicer. Today, genetic alteration can be done in the lab over much shorter timescales. As opposed to the (relatively) slow process of breeding similar organisms, biotechnicians can insert the gene of one organism into the gene of another -- including an unrelated organism. Enter Enviropig. Recently, CTV News reported Canadian pork farmers decided to pull their financial support for the …
Friday, April 13, 2012
The dream is free, but the ticket'll cost ya.
On March 30, six white plastic balls, whose fate would otherwise have landed them in a cup of beer during a college beer pong competition, rolled out of a spinning machine and changed forever the lives of three Maryland public school employees. Over the past few days my mind has often dwelled upon these lucky Baltimore folks who just hit it big in the $656 million Mega Millions jackpot. The self-dubbed “Three Amigos” purchased the winning ticket at a 7-11 in Milford Mill. After the March 30 drawing, each of the amigos immediately became $35 million dollars richer, approximately 583 times more money than the average yearly salary they likely receive as public school employees. This afternoon I discussed the big local win with my son who is…
Monday, April 9, 2012
I've attended many Passover Seders through the years, but the story and meaning stays the same no matter where I've been or who I've been with.
I have experienced many different kinds of Passover Seders in my short 23-year lifetime. Small seders, musical seders, feminist seders...you name it. When I was little, there were the times where my parents, siblings and myself drove to places near and far to spend the holiday with family friends. There were plenty of people I didn’t know, but there was plenty of charoset and brisket, and it was always interesting to go searching for an afikomen, the dessert matzah, in someone else’s house. Then there were the times my dad put on his theatrical productions for our small family seders and brought out pig and cow masks, toy gummy frogs, threw red food dye in a glass of water to turn into blood and flickered the lights on and off. I attended …
Sunday, March 25, 2012
But what about the environmental impact of grills, especially charcoal?
It’s grilling season early this year, and the scents fill my neighborhood each evening. So…gas or charcoal? According to a 2009 study by scientific research firm Atlantic Consulting, charcoal grills leave a much larger carbon footprint - about 2/3 more in fact -than their gas-powered counterparts. And most of that footprint is from the charcoal itself being burnt. The study included everything – from the process of manufacturing the grills to the transportation of the different fuel to the actual production and burning of the fuels themselves. And charcoal briquettes are inefficient and dirty. They produce smoke and soot particles that can pollute the air, irritate your lungs and exacerbate existing heart and lung problems. In addition…
Thursday, March 22, 2012
As I waited for Mitt Romney to enter his town hall meeting in Arbutus Wednesday afternoon, I took note of the songs playing on the PA system.
How do you entertain a hyped audience of Mitt Romney supporters as they wait for the Republican presidential candidate? Play some good tunes, of course. Before Romney’s campaign song, Kid Rock’s “Born Free,” played, and before he spoke to a packed house at Arbutus’ American Legion Post 109, a playlist consisting almost entirely of songs I have my own iPod played. I’m not sure what it all means, but it seems like the majority of the music was Motown or classic rock – songs that have a multi-generational appeal. I did miss a song or two, after all I was covering a presidential candidate’s town hall meeting, but here is the playlist from what I could tell: 1. Martha and the Vandellas – “Dancing in the Street” This is a pretty festive song, …
Monday, March 19, 2012
I know, I know. Just try one or two of these before you call me crazy!
In a small town in a country that's about as meat-centric as they come, tofu gets no respect. (Try ordering it in a restaurant and see what kinds of stares your friends give.) But the time may come, or may be now, when you're feeling a little more adventurous. Maybe your vegan brother/cousin/colleague is coming over for dinner and you want to feed him more than salad. Maybe you've been keeping up with the pink slime question in the news and are looking for something a little more natural: tofu is just soybeans and water, plus a mineral that makes it firm up, and you can make it yourself. Or maybe you're just looking to save a little money: meat, especially clean meat, is expensive, and tofu is quite cheap. The key to cooking tofu is to …
Monday, March 12, 2012
The best pots and pans don't come cheap, but they are worth every penny.
I had visited the Le Creuset store half a dozen times over a span of several years before I finally purchased the pot I'd been eyeing all along. I gulped, signed the receipt and brought home the cherry-red skillet, waiting to see whether it would change my life. Paying almost $200 for one pan was hard to do but it was amazing how quickly it became the most indispensable item in my kitchen. The cast iron conducted heat beautifully, and the enamel finish came clean instantly. I used it for everything: chili, coq au vin, rice pudding. Bacon left beautiful, crispy browned (not burned) spots that came off with a damp sponge and a drop (really!) of dish soap. Jim Lahey's bread emerged perfectly puffed and dense. After a few years of cooking …
