ARTICLES

Profiles & Investigative Features

The Washington Post, Sunday, October 5, 2008
It's Never Too Early to Learn to Say 'Hola'

When María Giraldo Greene rolls out La Caja de Sorpresas (the surprise box), all eyes are fixed on her. The box can hold any number of wonders, from pompoms to puppets. In this brightly lit classroom at Mount Olivet Methodist Church in Arlington that is home to ¡Hola Baby!, Greene's Spanish immersion program for children, La Caja de Sorpresas holds the key to the day's lesson. Children and parents are transfixed in anticipation of the big reveal, even though some of the children are barely a year old. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE


Baltimore Magazine, June 2008
"Mission Possible"
When the honeymoon is over, can Frederick Bealefeld III be the top cop with the solutions?
Police headquarters are quiet on President’s Day but Frederick H. Bealefeld, III is in his dress uniform, nevertheless, still on the job. He quips that there are no holidays for him anymore as he settles himself behind the desk in the commissioner’s office, a Coke in one hand and a blackberry that seems to be constantly vibrating in the other. For this reporter, it took three attempts to get to this point in February, when Bealefeld could sit down and spend a few hours talking about how he’s going to change the Baltimore police department, and the public’s perception of the office of commissioner. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE


Baltimore Magazine, January 2008
"The Rookies"
For three rookie cops, the allure is the same: helping people and “getting the situation under control.
It is nearly 2:30 a.m. on a cold Saturday in November when police officers Patrick Dotson and Lynell Green arrive on the scene at what appears to be a domestic disturbance in the Eastern District of Baltimore City. Dotson, 25, is barely two months out of the Police Academy. So he’s pretty clear about the basic rules of law and police administration, but it is on the street and under the tutelage of training officer Green that he is learning how to be an officer.
“You have to learn the streets, the hot spots for drugs, and discerning who’s a bad guy and who’s not,” says the soft-spoken Dotson, who comes across as a bit shy. “That’s the hardest part—finding out who the criminals are. It’s the same guys all the time. You know what they’re doing, but you need to catch them in the act.” CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

People, March 2003
"Street Savior"
Heroin rotted most of his teeth and needles dug craters in his skin. "Most of my track marks have healed, except this one," says Rev. Lonnie Davis Sr., pointing to a scar on his neck. "That was from a 3 cc needle. I tell people that's where the devil sucked me." The devil has no hold on Davis anymore. A former drug addict with a $600-a-day heroin habit, Davis, 51, performed something close to a miracle by transforming five crumbling, mismanaged homeless shelters in Baltimore into models of cleanliness and organization. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE


Business/Real Estate

The Christian Science Monitor, September 29, 2008
"For consumers, more incentives to go green"
Buy a computer, help plant a tree. Do such offers live up to their promise?
Eliot Winks was buying a plane ticket when a chance to be environmentally responsible presented itself during online checkout. For an additional fee, about $25, Expedia.com offered to offset the carbon dioxide generated by his trip through its partnership with TerraPass, a carbon-offset provider. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE


Baltimore magazine, April 2008
"The Boom Is Done. . . . Now What?"

Well, it was fun while it lasted. After year upon year of rising values and sales numbers, the great real estate boom of the early 21st century is now officially over. And not only is the boom over—in a lot of areas of the country and the region, it’s turning into a full scale bust. But here in the greater Baltimore area, everything indicated we were set for a soft landing: After the roaring market began to taper off in the region, home sale prices ceased to skyrocket and a level of corrected normalcy seemed to return to the marketplace. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE


Baltimore magazine, August 2007
"Get It Here"
As the local-foods movement gathers steam in Baltimore, is there enough product
available to make it last?
Do not expect to get tomato on your sandwich in January at Dogwood Deli. The Hampden eatery, along with its companion restaurant, The Dogwood, is committed to buying and using only locally sourced produce and meats whenever possible (and organic when available), which means that if it ain’t growing in Maryland, it ain’t going on the plate. Hence, there are no bland, artificially reddened tomatoes on sandwiches and salads in the middle of winter.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE


Interior Design/Architecture
Style, May/June 2007
"Green Acres"
A rustic and beautiful house in the woods is friendly to its owners— and to Mother Nature.
Many people like the idea of “green architecture,” which utilizes environmentally sound principles in the design of living spaces. But when it comes to actually putting the principles into action, lots of folks lose momentum, opting to assuage their guilt by shopping organic or buying a Prius. Plus, aren’t “green” buildings odd looking? Not so, say Marcia and Dan Brown, who built a home in the woods that encompasses their environmental priorities without sacrificing style. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE


House Beautiful, May 2005
“Barn Raising”
When Stanley Mazaroff and Nancy Dorman needed more space for their extensive modern art collection, they decided to move some of into an old barn at their Maryland farm. The only problem was that the barn was a dilapidated hulk in dire need of renovation. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

Lifestyle

Style magazine, July/August 2007
"From Nantucket, With Love"
Summer after summer, Baltimore families return to the tiny island to walk the beach, sail, swim and connect with their past.
 For almost nine months a year, the tiny island of Nantucket, Mass., slumbers 30 miles off the East Coast, shrouded in fog. Known both as “the gray lady of the sea” and, in the language of the original American Indian inhabitants, “the faraway land,” in the off season only 10,000 permanent residents call this place home. But as spring arrives, the ferry makes more frequent trips and the airport gets a bit busier, and by June, the island is hopping with the arrival of 30,000 “summer people.” Many Baltimoreans have made this seasonal pilgrimage for generations starting in the late 19th century, when tourism took over as the primary source of income on an island once famous for its whaling industry. It only takes one trip to understand the big attraction of this little island. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE


Style magazine, July/August 2007
"Spiritual Retreat"
More than a century after a Methodist camp thrived at Emory Grove in Glyndon, people still travel there each summer to find peace and community amidst the quiet hills.
 Every year on April 15, Bill Jones makes the trip from his home in York, Pa., to a hidden parcel of woodland in Glyndon for opening day at Emory Grove, the historic Methodist camp where Jones’ family has been coming to summer for four generations. Although the campground’s religious fervor has mostly calmed since its creation in 1868, when the water is turned on each April, “Grovers” still return to carry out the ritual of preparing their cottages in the woods for the summer season. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE



Just For Fun

Shop Etc., March 2005
“Grin & Bare It”
When it comes to group dressing rooms, practice makes perfect. Or something close to it.
It all started in Baltimore when a friend, who always wears the perfect jeans, finally spilled that she buys them from Loehmann's. My friend has one of those figures most aptly described as "willowy." In light of what is to come, I should reveal that I am most aptly described as "optimistic." CLICK HERE TO READ MORE