Each month, we try to offer something for everyone in the issue, and I think we’re scoring pretty high on the variety gauge for July.
First off, grab a mallet (the mallets are only for your out-of-state guests, of course) for our summer roundup of 20 great places for steamed crabs, then check out our colorful summer Home section. There’s also a fun story on how we stack up against other cities. (I personally got into this, forwarding to the editors every national ranking I stumbled across on the web.) As a sports fan, though, the feature that got my attention the most was Mike Unger’s piece on Michael Phelps, whom I know personally and run into often at sports events.
But, lest we forget, Phelps is not the only Maryland athlete whose hopes are pinned on London.
Among the better-known of our home-grown contenders is swimmer Katie Hoff of Abingdon and Baltimore-raised New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony, part of the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team. Another is Atlanta Dream forward and Charm City native Angel McCoughtry, who’s playing for the U.S.A. Women’s National Team.
But how about former University of Maryland soccer goalie Chris Seitz, track-and-field star James Carter, or Farrah Hall? (Farrah who?) Those into her sport would know that this Annapolis native is at the top of her game and was named in December to the U.S. Olympic sailing team based on her results from the 2011 Skandia Sail for Gold and 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships.
Then there are local athletes who are going to need even more PR to become the household name that Phelps is, like Suzanne Stettinius, a McDaniel College alumna who recently qualified to be on the U.S. Olympic team for modern pentathlon. The 24-year-old Hereford High graduate grew up on a horse farm in Parkton, and one of her trainers is McDaniel’s head swimming coach Jeff Hiestand.
Of course, we want Phelps to come back with his usual bucket of medals. But I’ll also be rooting for these lesser-known neighbors who might one day achieve the same fame.
While what our readers think of us trumps any industry awards, we at Baltimore are naturally pleased when we get a tip of the hat from our peers, which we did last month in Las Vegas at the City and Regional Magazine Association Annual Conference, where art director Amanda White-Iseli won the “Best Spread Design” award for her feature treatment of “Mario Sings The Blues” in our January 2011 issue. Freelancer Gregory Kane wrote the piece, and freelancer Daniel Bedell was the photographer.
It’s a fine compliment for Amanda personally and professionally, but she isn’t defined as a distinguished art director because of this particular award—she’s demonstrated her great talent at this magazine for 14 years. Congrats to Amanda and the whole Baltimore team.
