Searching for new love mid-life
When life gave writer Laura Stassi lemons, she didn’t just make lemonade; she hosted a podcast on WAMU, wrote a book, and created three radio specials, one of which will air on NPR stations this fall. After her 29-year marriage ended in divorce, Stassi, then in her mid-50s, found herself alone and living in her first-ever apartment in Fairfax, Virginia, wondering how to start... READ MORE
Poet teaches the art of healing
Vanita Leatherwood grew up in the 1960s in Washington, D.C., “at a time when everything on the news was violent, particularly against Black people,” she said. But it wasn’t only on the news that Leatherwood saw violence. She is herself a survivor of childhood abuse and trauma. As a teenager, Leatherwood was deeply moved by poet Maya Angelou’s memoir, she told the Beacon in a... READ MORE
Free advice for entrepreneurs
When the pandemic hit, Miesha Rice, the owner of a therapy practice in Pikesville, Maryland, had to go virtual or go out of business. Rice needed help, so she turned to SCORE, a nationwide nonprofit with a mission to help small businesses. Rice now says that was “one of the absolute best decisions I have made, business-wise.” SCORE matched Rice with a mentor, retired CEO Norman... READ MORE
Family-run camp for 32 years
Imagine living your whole life at summer camp. That’s what the Markoff brothers — Nick, Alex and Matt — have been doing for 32 years. The co-founders of Calleva, based in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, are “living the dream,” said Matt Markoff, executive director of the beloved area institution that buses kids to day camp to learn to kayak, go whitewater rafting, rock... READ MORE
Both dog and trainer are fast
A dog aptly named Nimble is a blur of black and white fur as she leaps through a ring, jumps high over a bar,and then races through a tunnel. Her speed and dexterity, even when charging up a see-saw and confidently prancing down the other side, led the 6-year-old Ellicott City dog to become the first mixed-breed to win the agility competition at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show in... READ MORE
Growing age-focused startups
What if you had a bright idea for a gadget that could help older adults? How would you turn that idea into reality? Six years ago, Pam Cacchione, a Philadelphia nurse, had such an idea. Her brother, who lives in Maryland, had developed heart failure, which caused his legs to swell. She wanted to help him but was too far away to check on him personally. “I resorted to looking at his sock ... READ MORE
Radio host lets others speak
Marc Steiner, the acclaimed talk-show host, podcaster, writer, teacher and civil rights advocate, says he was just in the right place at the right time. “I stumbled into radio,” Steiner said in an interview with the Beacon. In the waiting room of his dentist's office 31 years ago, Steiner struck up a conversation with the assistant general manager of Johns Hopkins... READ MORE
Hosts love exchange students
At work one day in 2022, Montgomery County Public School teacher Annette Watford got an email that changed her life. “Consider hosting a foreign exchange student,” the email read. “Students come from all over the world and are excited to become part of an American family, and you can make that happen.” Watford, who said that hosting an exchange student “was always in the... READ MORE
Summer camps for grownups
Many people recall the ups and downs of summer camp as youngsters: campfire songs, leaky tents, latrines and s’mores. At today’s “adult camps” — whether at a campground, on a college campus or at a high-end ranch — you can revisit some of those experiences more comfortably. Every summer an estimated one million older campers spend a week or two away to take music lessons,... READ MORE
A passion for keeping healthy
Quick: What’s Maryland’s official exercise? Columbia resident David R. Conway knows: It’s walking. Conway, 70, is the new volunteer president of AARP Maryland, which advocates for 850,000 members and their families. “We are very focused on walking,” he told the Beacon in a recent interview about his priorities there. And he said walking 30 minutes a day is the best way... READ MORE
Cover Stories 2024
