Still smokin’ after all these years
When William “Smokey” Robinson, Jr. was a young boy, his godfather Claude nicknamed him “Smokey Joe” since they both loved cowboy films. In his early teens, he shortened it to “Smokey.” Though his dreams of the Wild West had faded, he still loved the nickname. Now 76, the singer, songwriter and producer was recently in Washington, D.C. to receive the Library of Congress... READ MORE
A resource for the community
Ms. D., a 77-year-old woman who lives alone in an old, one-story house in Columbia, was without heat as winter was approaching. She called her contracted home services company to repair her furnace. The company refused, saying they discovered two dead cats in the crawl space beneath her home where the work had to be done. A company spokesman said they could not deal with the health and... READ MORE
Area comics live for the laughter
Stand-up comedian Jeff Hysen is at D.C. Improv performing a short routine on an open mic night. “I’m the oldest comedian of the evening,” begins the 58-year-old attorney from Silver Spring, Md. “I had a show recently, and before it began the other comics were asking each other about the effects of drug use on comedy. They asked me my opinion, and I said, ‘Lipitor has no... READ MORE
Crafts knit enthusiasts together
Grandmas have long been associated with knitting, but it’s more than doting grannies who are part of the craft movement that has been sweeping the country in recent years. From teens, to millennials, to — yes — grandmothers, do-it-yourselfers are re-discovering, or in some cases, discovering for the first time, the satisfaction of making by hand something that is both beautiful and ... READ MORE
Offering comfort for all faiths
Spending day after day in a hospital bed can be a daunting, dispiriting experience. And winter brings added poignancy, when many patients are unable to join in family gatherings over major holidays. Fortunately for patients at Howard County General Hospital (HCGH), the Chaplain’s Office offers a program of pastoral care that sends caring volunteers to visit patients in their rooms to... READ MORE
It’s ‘game on’ for these players
Since 1974, Nancy Sacks has had a standing Monday evening engagement. The 66-year-old realtor gets together with five other women for a weekly mah jongg game.When Sacks began this tradition, she and the other women were young mothers who all belonged to the same philanthropic organization. Forty-two years later, some of the players have moved on (Sacks and her friend Sue Belle are the... READ MORE
An ear that helps the blind read
On a recent Friday, Bob Gallagher and Sharon Palmer-Royston skim the front page of the Washington Post, taking note of tongue-twisting or unfamiliar names and words — from Oded Revivi the mayor of Efrat, an Israeli town in the West Bank, to the Iraqi village of Tiskharab outside of Mosul. Soon, they will begin reading these stories aloud on a special radio frequency to thousands of... READ MORE
A look back at 70 years of TV
TV’s arrival, depending on how you see it, can be marked at any of a number of moments in the last century. Maybe 1927 — when 21-year-old Philo Farnsworth transmitted the image of a horizontal line to a receiver in the next room of his San Francisco lab. Or maybe 1939 — when the RCA Television Pavilion opened at the New York World’s Fair with the exciting news that RCA’s... READ MORE
With siblings, it’s complicated
Our relationships with our siblings are, generally speaking, the longest relationships we have. “They are with us throughout life,” said Geoffrey L. Greif (rhymes with “life”). “They’re like a shadow.” Greif, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, has been teaching and practicing family, group and individual therapy for more than 40 years, and is... READ MORE
