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Making the Case for Benedictine with Claudia Cunningham

September 28, 2022 by The Spy Leave a Comment

Perhaps the most important tool an organization can have when entering a serious phase of fundraising is an document called the case for support. In as few words as possible, the school or museum will clearly articulate what the institution needs to carry on their public mission.

Sometimes these come in the form of a physical document, and more than often than not these days, they are starting to turn up as videos, podcasts, and other multimedia tools, but they all have the challenge of winning a sometimes skeptical audience on why the causes need significant philanthropic investment.

The task of building that argument falls on staff to develop this narrative, and for Benedictine in Ridgely, Claudia Cunningham, their new chief advancement officer, is on point for this $20 million plus service provider of non-sectarian caring for individuals with special needs.

The Spy sat down the Claudia to talk about making the case for Benedictine.

This video is approximately five minutes in length. For more information about Benedictine please go here.

At the Avalon: Hannah Gill Comes Home with The Hot Toddies Jazz Band

September 8, 2022 by The Spy Leave a Comment

As many of our readers know, one of the Spy’s favorite vocalists has been Hannah Gill ever since we saw her at the Avalon in 2014. She was 16 years old back then, and one of our great pleasures is watching her grow over the years.

Hannah comes back to Easton This Thursday evening at the Avalon Stolz Room. And she comes back singing swing music with The Hot Toddies Jazz Band. The Spy talked to her and colleagues Gabe Terracciano and Patrick Soluri about what they are planning for the evening.

A word of advice, bring your dancing shoes.

This video is approximately three minutes in length.

The Hot Toddies with Hannah Gill
Thursday, September 8, 2022
Doors: 7:30 p.m.; Show: 8 p.m.
The Avalon Theatre 40 E. Dover Street Easton, MD
Tickets: $25

Izaak Walton on the Mid-Shore: A Chat with Chapter President Calvin Yowell

August 22, 2022 by The Spy Leave a Comment

While the famous saying goes that success has many fathers, it’s a matter of record that the Izaak Walton League had precisely 50 of them when it was formed in Chicago in 1922. Created by a unique group of lawyers, doctors, and advertising executives, one of the country’s oldest conservation organizations grew from a small number of hunters and fishermen into a significant force in land and water protection.

And yet one prominent figure was not among the founders. Izaak Walton, whose name is honored as the organization’s masthead, had been dead for almost 250 years before its forming, but those 50 original members had good reasons to recognize and pay tribute to the man considered to be the father of flyfishing.

Walton, whose book The Compleat Angler gave birth to recreational fishing, was a unique visionary. As one writer noted, he was a man “‘knowing how’ before ‘knowing that'” in the unheard-of field of water protection. His legacy led his followers to protect fishing opportunities for future generations.

While the Izaak Walton League has intentionally been low profile since its founding, the impact of the organization’s work on the Mid-Shore has been impressive. With a Talbot County chapter created in 1949, the IWL has not only protected and maintained its 50-acre Bolingbroke Park in Trappe, where it holds its meetings and provides opportunities for hiking, kayaking, and fishing but took a leadership role in recycling in the region and now provides over $13,000 in scholarships, much of which is dedicated to students at UM’s Horn Point Lab.

The Spy sat down with Chapter president Calvin Yowell the other day to learn more.

This video is approximately five minutes in length. For more information about the Izaak Walton League please go here.

Publisher Notes: The Spy Welcomes Laura J. Oliver

May 15, 2022 by The Spy

One way the Spy thought it could best honor the late (and very great) George Merrill, our Sunday morning columnist for the past eight years, was to check in with Wilson Wyatt a few weeks ago to discuss a suitable successor. Wilson is the publisher and driving force behind one the region’s great literary gems, the Delmarva Review, and it was his kind recommendation that led us to George in 2014.

Laura Oliver

Back then, I was looking for a unique voice to anchor our Sunday edition. Eager to depart from our weekday pieces on politics and local matters, George’s spiritual, almost transcendental, subject matter was a perfect way for the Sunday edition of the Spy to challenge its readers with the unexpected musings from a creative writer rather than an opinion maker.

The Spy’s goal after George’ passing, which was shared by Wilson, was not to find someone who could replicate his themes or voice but to use this slower Sunday morning space to explore and celebrate writing itself. And on the top of his list was the author and writing teacher, Laura Oliver.

With that as background, the Spy is delighted to announce that Laura Oliver will be our Sunday columnist starting today.

Laura is an award-winning book editor and writing coach who has taught writing at the University of Maryland and St. John’s College. She is the author of The Story Within (Penguin Random House), named by “Poets and Writers Magazine” as one of the best writing books ever published. Oliver’s own fiction and essays are published in national newspapers, magazines, and top-tier literary reviews such as The Washington Post, Country Living Magazine, The Writer Magazine, The Sun Magazine, Baltimore Review and Glimmer Train.

A graduate of Washington College and with an MFA from Bennington College’s highly regarded writing program, Laura has called Annapolis her home for most of her adult life. I hope that the Spy’s readers will join me in welcoming her to her new virtual home every Sunday and enjoy her deeply engaging essays for many years to come.

Dave Wheelan
Publisher and Executive Editor

Spy Recall: Remembering George Merrill

May 1, 2022 by The Spy 1 Comment

Editor’s note: Like many of our readers, The Spy is finding Sundays a lot less fulfilling and a lot less fun with the absence of George Merrill’s columns. George passed away on Easter Sunday at the age of 87, just hours after his last column for the Spy, in the loving care of his family. It will take time for the Spy newspapers to fill this huge gap in our publications and our lives. Still, in the meantime, we wanted to share again an interview with George we did in 2018 to remind ourselves and our readers what a real gift he was to all of us.

From November 6, 2018

The Spy Columnists: George Merrill

It seems somehow fitting that the Spy will be ending our series on our public affairs columnists with George Merrill on Election Day. Perhaps the most apolitical of the five writers that volunteer each week to offer their unique point of view with our readers, George, an ordained Episcopal minister, has been the most inclined to bring public debates down to questions of spirituality and the workings of the soul.

While George does not skirt the issues of the day, his Sunday essays have been more about his only reaction to the challenges of life than focusing on the foibles of a particular politician or policy. His intense interest in his own makeup encourages the reader to explore their own sense of soul as they work through the news of the day.

Now eighty-four years old, Merrill has also reached a point where he can, he laughingly notes, “say anything I want,” knowing full well that this sense of liberation has allowed him the freedom to explore and take delight in what he doesn’t know as much as the wisdom that comes with living over eight decades.

In his Spy interview, George talks about his writing style, spirituality and politics, and the pure enjoyment he has in taking pen to paper.

This video is approximately eight minutes in length

The Groove is Back: A Chat with “Wolves” Director Izzy Clemens

April 16, 2022 by The Spy Leave a Comment

One of the small signs that things are getting better on the Mid-Shore as our region recovers from the pandemic is the return of the performing arts. And perhaps the most exciting will be the return of Talley Wilford’s new Groove Theatre in Cambridge next weekend with its performance of Sarah DeLappe’s “The Wolves” directed by Izzy Clemens.

The play focuses on the experiences of high school girls in a competitive indoor soccer team, as they warm up weekly on Saturday mornings before their games as they progress towards the championship. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, this play has grown in popularity over the years.

The Spy sat down with “The Wolves” director Izzy Clemens to hear more in anticipation of the Groove coming back. A graduate of The Country School, Gunston and Washington College, the biology teacher at Easton High talks about her passion for theater, her love of Sarah DeLappe’s work, and the powerful experience of working with her talented cast to share the challenges of growing up as a teenager in contemporary America.

This video is approximately three minutes in length. “The Wolves” will be performed at the Dorchester Center for the Arts for the next two weekends. For ticket information please go here.

Ask Irma: How to Say Goodbye

March 25, 2022 by The Spy Leave a Comment

One of the greatest challenges of life is when one needs to say goodbye to a loved one facing a terminal illness. Be it cancer or some other dreaded diagnosis, these patients, along with their family and friends, are sometimes given an significant advanced warning that they should put one’s affairs in order with each other. But how?

While there seems to be significant progress in helping those with these grave conditions, many of that person’s extended circle still might struggle mightily with how to best express their love and support during this challenge time.

As part of our regular series Ask Irma, we ask Irma Toce, the CEO of Londonderry on the Tred Avon retirement community, to give us her thoughts on how all of us can navigate these delicate conversations.

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

Talbot County Council Approves Clarification Letter to MDE on Lakeside Project

March 23, 2022 by The Spy Leave a Comment

The Talbot County Council last night approved a letter by a vote of 3-2 to the Maryland Department of the Environment to clarify the Council’s position regarding the wastewater treatment plans for the Lakeside housing development in Trappe.

At the Council’s request, County Attorney Patrick Thomas drafted the letter to update the MDE on the Council’s deliberations on the proposed development water treatment plans. Council members Pete Lesher and Laura Price had recommended revisions to the draft prior to approval but were not able to gain the support of the majority of the Council members.

The letter noted that “the Project may proceed in accordance therewith, notwithstanding the County Council’s e Resolution No. 327, which is currently scheduled for a public hearing and vote on April 12, 2022. If Resolution No. 327 is adopted, it will still require final approval from MDE pursuant to Md. Code Ann., Environment § 9-507.”

Here is the full segment where the letter was discussed.

Final letter sent to Maryland Department of the Environment

200 Cheers for Harriet: The Tubman Bicentennial Kicks Off

March 4, 2022 by The Spy Leave a Comment

It’s a shame that plans to introduce the Harriet Tubman $20 bill have been postponed until 2030 rather than in her bicentennial year, but that hasn’t stopped the United States and, in particular, the Mid-Shore, from making 2022 a memorable year in honoring this remarkable American hero.

One of those leading that effort has been Dana Paterra, the park manager for the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park. Hired eight years ago to help plan for this multi-million dollar Maryland State Park, Paterra has been capturing and documenting (and some might say even channeling) Harriet waiting excitedly to this important milestone. Seeking to maximize the national spotlight, Dana has been working with local, state, and federal agencies as well as leaders from the Harriet Tubman Museum & Educational Center in downtown Cambridge to make the most of the next nine months.

This educational campaign kicks off at the Tubman State Park on March 11 for a weekend of special programming. Starting with the virtual premiere of Rooted Wisdom, a locally produced documentary made in partnership with Adkins Adbordeum, on how the knowledge of nature helped those seeking freedom in the 19th century, the celebration continues on Saturday for lectures, music, and the appearance of Harriet herself in the form a gifted reenactor.

This week, we sat down with Dina at the WHCP/Spy studio in Cambridge to get the lowdown.

This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more information on this event and others please go here.

In Remembrance: WC First Lady Libby Anderson Cater Halaby

January 8, 2022 by The Spy 1 Comment

Libby Anderson Cater Halaby, who served as First Lady of Washington College during President Douglass Cater’s tenure from 1982 to 1990, passed away last night in San Rafael, CA, at the age of 96 years old.

Campaigning for Obama at the Chestertown Farmers’ Market

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Libby Anderson started her remarkable public service career early as the first female SGA President at The University of Alabama. After marrying Cater in 1950, the couple would make Washington, D.C. home for the next three decades, where she became a staff member for Congressman Laurie C. Battle, raised her family of four children, and eventually joined the Johnson Administration as special assistant to Lady Bird Johnson. In the 1970s, she served in a similar capacity at the National Endowment for the Arts, the Aspen Institute, and President Jimmy Carter’s Commission on Women.

When her husband became president of Washington College in 1982, she became his primary partner in significantly raising the school’s profile nationally as the couple hosted the Who’s Who of American politics and culture in Chestertown with such novel events like their annual Celebration on the Chesapeake weekend.

Libby Cater, Washington College First Lady

As the college’s first lady, she became one of the key fundraisers for the school’s $41 million capital campaign, which lead to dramatic improvements of the college’s campus and financial equilibrium. The college awarded her an honorary degree for Public Service in 1990.

After Douglass Cater’s death in 1995, she married Najeeb Halaby, the celebrated aviator and the father of Queen Noor of Jordan in 1997. During that time, she joined the Board of Visitors and Governors of Washington College, as well as served on the the board of Maryland Public Television. She was also an advisor to the Spy Newspapers.

The Spy will have more to say about Libby and her remarkable contributions to the Mid-Shore of Maryland over the next few days.

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