About this column:
Matt Ward is a journalist who lives in Overlea, MD with his wife and daughter. He writes a column to answer reader questions about what's going on in the neighborhood.There’s no good argument anymore for not wearing a helmet when you ride a motorcycle. The notion that a human being’s hair flowing in the breeze on the open road represents some sort of romantic freedom pales in comparison to the notion of rattled skulls and squished brains. The same goes for seat belts. You wear your seatbelt, right? Because if you don’t, and you get in an accident, you can get tossed from the car. You can go through the windshield at whatever speed you were traveling—say, 40, 50, 60 miles an hour. The other day, I was driving home on I-95 when one of these incredible …
Think of Parkville. Think of White Marsh. What comes to mind? Shopping centers, grocery stores, houses, roads, road names, traffic lights. Schools, cars, power lines, banks, the McDonald’s drive through, people ordering burgers, people renting movies. People shopping, people driving, people mowing their lawns. Think of the geography of these places. What stands out? There’s the huge hill, topped by St. Joseph Church, on Belair Road. There’s the open flatness of White Marsh, a sort of reedy wetness, maybe the vestigial impression of a wetland. There is the soaring interchange at 95 and 695, a …
I have a few small puncture wounds in the palm of my hand today from some sticker bushes along the north bank of the Gunpowder River. In a rush to look smooth and in control while launching my kayak, as my wife watched from the side of the road, I attempted the sort of idiotic cast off that has gotten me dunked before—I put the front of the boat in the water, and, with the back of the boat still on land, climbed in and attempted to push off. But the angle was too steep, and the boat listed from side to side, and I very nearly went in the drink. This was just below where the Big Gunpowder …
A few years ago, I was driving down Bel Air Road through Kingsville. It was getting close to midnight, and it was a bit foggy out. Mine was the only car on the road. I was passing the Kingsville Market when I caught a brief glimpse of something I’d never seen before. Right there in the middle of the road were two foxes, canoodling. The pair was standing over the double-yellow line, with their muzzles pressed together. At somewhere around 45 miles an hour, I didn’t have time to brake. I struck and killed one of the foxes, and in my rearview mirror, I saw the other animal still standing in …
I’ve been wondering: Why doesn’t anyone sue restaurants that hire waiters and waitress based on their looks? The legal test case goes like this: You are in charge of casting the Broadway musical Annie. You are looking for a young person who can sing and dance, someone with a lot of personality. But most of all, you are looking for someone with red hair. If you’re going to sell tickets, you’ve got to have a redhead in the lead role. If an elderly person with gray hair shows up to your casting call—let’s say she can sing and dance like Ginger Rogers—you can be excused for not giving her the …
The wooden posts of the old white sign in front of Rosedale library were rotting. The vandal who has been defacing the library and other buildings in the vicinity had left his ugly mark there, too. So the library removed the sign a few days ago. Judy Kaplan, who’s been the manager at Rosedale library for seven years, said there are no immediate plans to replace the sign. Kaplan, energetic and well-spoken, has a tall stack of library books in her office at the Rosedale branch. She’s reading up on California in preparation for an upcoming trip. While she’s there, Kaplan said, she will …
Dear Vandal, You are young, and there’s so much about the world you don’t understand. You have no idea, really, how schools and libraries get built, and it’s never even occurred to you to ask the more important question of why they get built. What went through your mind, I wonder, as you defaced the sign outside the public library? What were you rebelling against? Learning? Free access to information? Or was it teens having a safe, quiet place to go after school to do their homework? All valid targets for your pubescent ire, no doubt. If your mother or your grandmother asked, “Why would you…
Severe weather forces people together. A few years ago after a tropical storm, I pulled off Belair Road at the Gunpowder River and walked out onto the bridge. Several people were gathered there, watching the swollen river. Folks who would normally be tailgating and exchanging angry glances on the road were standing together, talking. The rushing river, carrying all manner of fallen trees and debris in its path, was a break from the norm. And in that break, social barriers were washed away for a few minutes. I saw the same thing happen after a late summer storm in Ocean City in 2009. Heavy …
This column started out, when I was thinking it up this week, as a screed against Pottery Barn. Pottery Barn is an emporium of overpriced, pre-worn-out lamp stands and end tables. It’s a place where you could spend a hundred dollars on a few throw pillows. Last year, I had some gift cards to spend there, so I picked up a Jazz Age cocktail shaker for $14. I got it home that evening, loaded it up with some ice, vermouth, vodka, and a spoonful of juice from the olive jar, and shook vigorously. Martini splashed all over the kitchen counter. I took off the cap and dried it off, and tried again. It…
My question is this: how is Tilted Kilt, the new restaurant at The Avenue in White Marsh, different from Hooters? I don't think a Hooters and The Avenue's Christmas tree lighting, for instance, would make very good neighbors; and I'm pretty sure Charlie Brown would agree. I also wouldn't bring children to a summertime concert held next to an outdoor restaurant that's more about T&A than BBQ. The Avenue has been a boon to the local economy since 1998. The movie theater and the book store were a revelation when they opened – flashy anchor stores that helped transport the image of White Marsh …
How long did Edmund Dantes wait before exacting his revenge? Years, I tell you. Years. Dantes was born a commoner in Marseille, and just as he was working his way up the ranks as a mariner, he was thrown into prison by a rival and left to rot. There, he met a sage old man who gave him a treasure map. Dantes perpetrated a wild escape, claimed the treasure, and became the Count of Monte Cristo. He built his revenge from the ground up, laying post upon foundation, lintel upon post. For years the count crisscrossed the face of Europe like a wraith, pulling a string here, influencing politics …
I didn't believe it when I first heard about Patch. A new website that pays people to report and write local news? Yeah, right. My first job out of college was working as a reporter at a small newspaper in Harford County called The Aegis. The pay was low, the hours were odd, and I loved it. I covered parades, chicken dinners, fires, military funerals, hurricanes, elections, piglet races, and zoning cases. I wrote a lengthy obituary for Ronald Reagan, covered an execution on a snowy night outside the Baltimore Detention Center, and reviewed an outdoor Bob Dylan concert. It was a summer night…
