Mike McClure, General Curator and Elephant Manager, The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore
"I honestly never expected to work with elephants, and I never gave them a whole lot of thought. I have a bachelor's in biology, and when I was studying I put a lot of my focus on animal behavior and physiology. I worked in a small state park-run zoo in South Carolina the whole time I was in college. After school I came up to Baltimore and worked in the animal department. There was an opportunity...
You're middle-aged and you've got the body of a teenager. But should you really be shopping in the teen department?
When Janine [not her real name] is out scouring the racks at her favorite department store, the numbers rattling around in her head have nothing to do with sizes or price tags. They began creeping into her consciousness—a whisper at first, then louder with each passing year—when she hit her late 40's. Now, at 64, they're all but shouting at her.
Those "numbers" are Janine's age. And...
The O's prez on Boog's height, Trembley's appeal, and a player he wishes he had on his roster right now.
How cool is this? Andy MacPhail grew up rooting for the Orioles and now he's the team's president of baseball operations. What's more, what was supposed to be a slow, character-building (for fans, that is) rebuilding process seems to be ahead of schedule. We caught up with the chief Bird to get a progress report.
Where did you go to school?Friends School into the sixth grade in Baltimore....
Norman James's love of old neon compels him to rescue old signs and plant them in his yard.
Driving around town, Norman James keeps an eye out for old neon signs. Called "projectors" by sign guys, they generally hang over sidewalks in front of businesses—dry cleaners, record stores, and taverns—that may have been shuttered for years.
"I'm on the lookout whenever I'm on any major artery," says James. "Reisterstown Road. Belair Road. Ritchie Highway. That's where the cars were."
Then, he...
Widely criticized in recent years, top prosecutor Patricia Jessamy is more certain than ever that she'll win her case.
It is 6:57 p.m. on a steamy evening in East Baltimore and Patricia C. Jessamy is running late after a very long day that isn't over yet. The city's top prosecutor spent her morning in meetings, her afternoon attending a charity golf tournament, and the dinner hour at a board meeting. Now her driver is rushing her to the corner of East North Avenue and Hope Street, where a crowd of people is...
Kathryn Zent, female bodybuilder and Lutherville mom.
"When I was a freshman in college, I ended up taking weight training as a physical education course only because that was what was left when I went around to do my courses. I was a freshman, so I was one of the last ones to be allowed to register for courses and my last name began with Z, so I was really out of luck.
I took weight training and I took jogging, and I really liked it. I'd never done...
From gambling addict to gambling counselor, Michael Osborne has had a remarkable journey.
The woman from Connecticut contacted Michael Osborne desperate for help. Her boyfriend, a 63-year old retired Fed-Ex employee, had been ruining his life and destroying relationships for years. Despite having a good pension, he borrowed constantly to make rent, wearing out those around him with deceits and lies because of his casino gambling. She didn't know where else to turn.
Two days later, a...
The longtime WJZ personality on Baltimore's snow daze, storm chasing, and his message to fans.
Three things all Baltimoreans can count on: death, taxes, and Bob Turk. For 35 years,the avuncular meteorologist has delivered the weather—warmly, you might say—and made us feel like a member of his family. Below, we get Turk's forecast for The Baltimore Grill.
What is the best advice you ever got?If you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life.
What was your favorite Smalltimore...
The secret second life of top retina surgeon Bert Glaser.
Drop the name Bert Glaser in Baltimore medical circles, and many will know him as the surgeon who heads up the National Retina Institute that he founded 20 years ago. But there's a swashbuckling side to the good doctor: When he's not brandishing a scalpel, he's president of Midnight Express, a company that makes some of the fastest—and priciest—speedboats money can buy, with a client list that...
Associate professor Steven Soifer isn't afraid of toilet talk.
When you're away from home and nature calls, it can be challenging to find a clean, well-lighted place in which to answer.
But one Baltimore-based organization is on a mission to change that. The nonprofit American Restroom Association is dedicated to promoting the availability of sanitary, safe, and well-designed public restrooms across America.
"My vision is that ARA becomes the AAA of public...
