While it is true that the Spy attempts to cover regional news with an unbiased perspective, that it very hard to do when discussing Emily’s Produce in Dorchester County. This gem of a food store is one of the most successful, valued-driven local businesses on the Mid-Shore, and we make no attempt in covering up our admiration for its owners and what Emily’s has brought to the greater Cambridge community for 22 years.

Starting as a simple farmstand in 1999 by Kelly and Paul Jackson to supplement their salaries as a Maryland Highway Patrol officer and sixth-generation farmer to establish a college fund for their then newly born daughter, Emily, the store and Emily have graduated to a new level.

For Emily, the daughter, she has now graduated from college with a degree in agriculture and is now enjoying an internship at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.

And for Emily’s, the produce store, it will be 22 years of transitioning from that simple farmstand into a robust role model for entrepreneurship and community investment. Over those two decades, Kelly and Paul have slowly grown into a full-service stop for those seeking the best of local meat, produce, dairy, and now Maryland wine and beer.

With a staff of twenty-five, this tight-knit family of devoted employees plays host to countless local customers but also a stream of visitors who venture off Route 50 on their way to the coast to stock up on the “good stuff” before hitting the beach.The Spy sat down with Kelly the other day to check in on both of her “Emilys” as the Jackson family starts their 22nd season with both child and store.

This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more information about Emily’s please go here.

When one thinks of a church making radical changes in the role it plays in people’s lives, it’s pretty rare that it has the name “cathedral” attached to their name. Normally for a denomination, or even laypeople, the name “cathedral” is associated with the institutional core of those faiths; a venue where the most sacred services are held and, more often than not, where the administrative offices are for those dioceses.

So when the Spy was tipped off the other day that Trinity Cathedral Easton, the home of the Disease of Easton, was in the process of rewriting the rules of worship and fellowship at one of Mid-Shore’s most historic churches, we reached out to The Very Rev. Gregory Powell, to understand more about his congregation’s plans to comprehensively change its concept of what a Sunday service looks like and more importantly, feels that experience.

A native of the deep South, Rev. Powell would not have been considered a “game-changer” when he came out of divinity school nor in his first decade of church leadership. In fact, after moving to Pocomoke City to serve as St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, he would be the first to call his ministry in those days evangelical.

But as Greg became more exposed to some of the more progressive leaders of the Episcopal Church, including the work of Bishop John Shelby Spong, his own spiritual journey, and his ideas on what a church needs to be in the 21st Century, started to take a new direction. And that included speaking out against racism and other serious social issues facing his community.

In his interview with the Spy, Rev. Powell talks about this transition and how he envisions Trinity in the next few years as he and his church become a safe and accessible place of worship for all.

This video is approximately nine minutes in length. For more information about Trinity Cathedral Easton please go here.

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Not that long along, Dominique Sessa had set her sights on being a dancer. As a child, she loved to dance, and her dreams of finding a career in that field seemed quite natural given her ample supply of self-determination. But a freak accident when she was 13 years old changed her life forever, including her transition from ballet to being a leading advocate for the disabled in the State of Maryland by the time she had turned 25.

That childhood accident would turn out to be the earliest sign of a rare and progressive neuromuscular disorder that would eventually rob her of the use of her legs. While it was hard to detect at first, Dominique’s condition would eventually lead her to move to the Eastern Shore and the particular health care for her condition only available in Salisbury.

This life journey would be a profound challenge for anyone so young, but for anyone who knows Dominique Sessa, it comes as no surprise that she has not only been able to cope with her disability but almost instantly rise to be a lead advocate for those on the Eastern Shore, a region that has historically been without a voice in city government and more recently the state of Maryland.

Last year, Governor Larry Hogan appointed Dominique to be a member of the Maryland Commission on Disabilities. Not only is she one of the youngest members to serve, but she is also the only representative of the Eastern Shore.

In her Spy interview, Dominique talks about the unique needs of the disabled in such a rural environment as the Shore. She also talks about the need for frank and honest conversations between the general public and a growing number of citizens who must navigate in a society that still finds it awkward to ask questions or actively listen to those with special needs.

This video is approximately five minutes in length. For more information about Dominique Sessa  work please go to her website here.