Last Saturday, a friend invited my husband and me to join her for a swing dancing lesson followed by an evening of dancing at the Black Rock Arts Center. I have never learned to dance, but I know many people can and have a good time. I was tired of being afraid. My husband...
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Features
Fear of Dancing
Mike at the Movies
“The Other Guys” (PG-13) *** I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t start laughing at this film, no matter how hard Will Ferrell and the rest of the cast tried to get me started. If it had been Steve Carell doing these crazy bits, it might have been hysterical, and some of you will laugh...
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Summer Scoop
I’m not too proud to say it. I was in Rockville, I was having a bad day and I needed an ice cream cone. I spotted an ice cream place up the street and had a sudden, triumphant vision of myself eating a beautiful ice cream cone with no dripping or mess — not my...
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Chili Out
Summer will be over soon and the kids will be back in school, so let’s eat out while we can. I recently met Spike at a charity affair and was very impressed by him, his food and his book. The great recipes and great color photos made me head for my kitchen. Hope you...
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“1000 Places To See Before You Die: A Traveler’s Life List”
“1000 Places To See Before You Die: A Traveler’s Life List” Written by Patricia Schultz During a Christmas shopping trip to a mega-bookseller in 2003, I noticed a display promoting the newly published “1,000 Places To See Before You Die: A Traveler’s Life List” by Patricia Schultz. It brought to mind an old Life...
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Savoring Steinbeck Country
Ever since I read “John Steinbeck: A Writer” by Jay Parini, I’ve longed to visit his literary landscape of Monterey County, Calif. I’ve yearned to see Cannery Row in Monterey, Monterey Bay, and especially Salinas, Calif., Steinbeck’s birthplace and now the home of the Steinbeck Center. The Center may be one of America’s less...
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Mike at the Movies
“The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” (PG-13) ** I still don’t like vampire movies. Call me contrarian and I know that what the critics say will not touch these pictures, but that does not remove from us the responsibility for commenting on their weaknesses. Start with the actors: Robert Pattison still mumbles, poses and slinks his...
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Gaithersburg Takes Leadership Role In Suppression, Intervention and Prosecution of Gangs
Gaithersburg has won a federal grant to run a pilot program using digital surveillance cameras to combat gang crime. The pilot is to run for one year. The cameras, to be initially located in Olde Towne, should be installed by January 2011. Congratulations to the city and its Police Department for a continued proactive approach...
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The Way Grandmother Rode
I never knew my Grandmother Nora. She had died more than a quarter-century before I was born, but my mother used to tell me stories about her. One in particular I can still remember: “Your Grandmother Nora rode on a sidesaddle in a torchlight parade for William Jennings Bryan.” I pictured my handsome grandmother...
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“Eva Moves the Furniture”
“Eva Moves the Furniture” Written by Margot Livesey Margot Livesey has explained how “Eva Moves the Furniture” (2001) came about again and again, because interviewers invariably ask her about its genesis. The story is quite unlike anything Livesey has written before or after. Her book, after all, concerns a young woman growing up in...
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