Radio host lets others speak
Marc Steiner, the acclaimed talk-show host, podcaster, writer, teacher and civil rights advocate, says he was just in the right place at the right time. “I stumbled into radio,” Steiner said in an interview with the Beacon. In the waiting room of his dentist's office 31 years ago, Steiner struck up a conversation with the assistant general manager of Johns Hopkins... READ MORE
Hosts love exchange students
At work one day in 2022, Montgomery County Public School teacher Annette Watford got an email that changed her life. “Consider hosting a foreign exchange student,” the email read. “Students come from all over the world and are excited to become part of an American family, and you can make that happen.” Watford, who said that hosting an exchange student “was always in the... READ MORE
Summer camps for grownups
Many people recall the ups and downs of summer camp as youngsters: campfire songs, leaky tents, latrines and s’mores. At today’s “adult camps” — whether at a campground, on a college campus or at a high-end ranch — you can revisit some of those experiences more comfortably. Every summer an estimated one million older campers spend a week or two away to take music lessons,... READ MORE
A passion for keeping healthy
Quick: What’s Maryland’s official exercise? Columbia resident David R. Conway knows: It’s walking. Conway, 70, is the new volunteer president of AARP Maryland, which advocates for 850,000 members and their families. “We are very focused on walking,” he told the Beacon in a recent interview about his priorities there. And he said walking 30 minutes a day is the best way... READ MORE
State’s largest farmers market
Every Sunday morning, an asphalt parking lot under the Jones Falls Expressway blooms with color. In the pre-dawn darkness, farmers arrive in their trucks, bringing fragrant fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers. Local artists and musicians trickle in. Their colorful creations brighten the urban canvas, and their music echoes off the overpass and cement pillars. The Baltimore Farmers’ ... READ MORE
Area farmers markets thrive
Every Sunday morning in Bethesda, Maryland, a line forms in front of Bethesda Elementary School. People wait, chatting with others in line, their dogs on leashes and babies in strollers, until a man named Mitchell Berliner steps up on a bench and says, “Good morning, world’s greatest farmers market patrons! Today, we have strawberries, tomatoes and morels. Three, two, one,... READ MORE
Devoted to raising, racing pigeons
When Beverly Gottlieb was growing up in Hanover, Maryland, other teenagers had to clean the house after school. She had to clean the pigeon coop. Her father taught her not only how to raise pigeons, but how to race them. “I was born into it,” said Gottlieb of the hobby. She still races pigeons today with the Greater Baltimore Pigeon Club. Pigeon racing is a sport — some say an... READ MORE
Documenting lost WWII stories
Many stories from World War II have been lost, many heroes forgotten. For instance, on a bombing raid in Japan, U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Francis Stevenson took the seat of future U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson on the B-26 Wabash Cannonball when Johnson briefly deplaned. Johnson ended up on another bomber, while Stevenson’s bomber was hit, killing everyone on board. Johnson... READ MORE
The Bachelorettes of the DMV
The hope that lasting love can happen later in life recently got a huge boost, thanks to Joan Vassos of Rockville and Nancy Hulkower of Alexandria. Both appeared on the first season of the popular ABC program “The Golden Bachelor,” which premiered last fall. The show is a spinoff of the reality TV shows “The Bachelor,” which premiered in 2002, and the 2003 series “The... READ MORE
United by Birmingham childhoods
When Freeman Hrabowski was 12 years old, in 1963, he was so inspired by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that he not only marched in the Children’s Crusade for civil rights in Birmingham, Alabama, for three days, but he went to jail for five. When Hrabowski reached the steps of city hall, ardent segregationist and Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor spat in his face, picked him up and ... READ MORE
