Artist retires, rekindles dream
This past August, LeeNan Hayden Manzari was watching “Project Runway” — the long-running fashion design reality television show — when to her amazement, her painting of a flamenco dancer flashed on the screen. She’d submitted it online to the show’s Remake It Work contest, where fans of the show submit artwork inspired by the program. But she never thought it would... READ MORE
TV to protect our fragile world
From fly fishing in the hemlock-shaded tributaries of the Savage River in Garrett County, to exploring the marshes and woodlands of Dorchester County that Harriet Tubman traversed to lead slaves north, Mike English is an intrepid explorer of Maryland’s natural environment. His Maryland Public Television (MPT) show, “Outdoors Maryland,” has given viewers more than 700 vivid slices... READ MORE
Foster parents give and find love
The nationwide heroin epidemic has not left Baltimore unscathed. Drug-addicted parents who can no longer care for their children have led to an increasing number of kids who need a secure, stable and loving home environment — a home provided by foster moms like Janis Oglesby. Oglesby, who lives in Baltimore County and is “past 65,” has been a treatment foster care parent with the... READ MORE
Couriers transport gift of life
The snowflakes fell fast and furious, blanketing roads, shuttering runways and canceling Jim Frison’s flight. But what might be merely an inconvenience for some was a matter of life and death in this case. Frison was gripping a bright blue cooler containing recently donated bone marrow on its way to a cancer patient, and it was Frison’s job to get it there. With just 48 hours to... READ MORE
Columbia’s candid cameraman
Ron Fedorczak has spent the last 43 years — more than half his life — putting the history of Columbia in focus. He has attended seminal events at various locations, wandered up and down the streets, cruised highways and searched out byways, always clicking away with his trusty Nikon at whatever was happening in the town he says he became enamored with ever since moving here in... READ MORE
Finding art in Antarctica’s ice
Not everyone’s idea of a summer vacation includes hiking through Antarctica’s frigid expanses for seven weeks, but Helen Glazer was dogged in pursuing the opportunity. She applied five times over a 10-year period for the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, until she finally got her chance in 2015. Glazer, who is 62 and lives in Owings Mills, is the... READ MORE
An activist inside government
Before Laura Newland became executive director of the D.C. Office on Aging (DCOA) two years ago, the Georgetown University law graduate had worked in public interest law and nonprofit advocacy, representing victims of domestic violence, consumer fraud and other issues. A project she spearheaded at AARP Legal Counsel for the Elderly led to the creation of a new D.C. Ombudsman in 2014, and ... READ MORE
Climbers reach for new heights
For Holly Summers, indoor rock climbing started as a mother-daughter activity.“My daughter was climbing indoors regularly, and I wanted to be able to do it with her,” said Summers of Ellicott City. Though her daughter is now in grad school, Summers, 58, can be found regularly scrambling up the climbing walls at the Roger Carter Community Center.She probably had a leg up when she ... READ MORE
A way to pick up a few bucks
Barry Belle spent 30 years as a project manager for the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company. But when the 75-year-old Pikesville resident retired in 2014, he still wanted to work — just not as much. “I just wanted to get out of the house two or three days a week,” said Belle, who’s now a driver for the ride-booking services Uber and Lyft, in addition to having private... READ MORE
‘Camp’ pumps up music lovers
Marie Celano, of Clarksville, was a newcomer to the Piano at Peabody program this summer. The intensive one-week “piano camp” for adults brings together experienced and beginning pianists for a full slate of daily music lectures, master classes, classical and jazz recitals and performances. But most of all, it forges a community spirit among the participants, some of whom have... READ MORE
Cover Stories 2024
