Jazz heats up Saturday nights
Even on the coldest nights of winter, for many WAMU listeners, the evening grows hot as Rob Bamberger ramps up the rhythm on his three-hour weekly radio show, “Hot Jazz Saturday Night.” Bamberger inspires listeners to dance around the kitchen or tap to the beat on pots or toasters. Some fans go from waltzing to Louie Armstrong’s “Up a Lazy River” to toe-tapping to the... READ MORE
Radio host writes of her journeys
For 24 years at the same microphone, radio host Judith Krummeck, her well-modulated voice sounding both authoritative and soothingly sweet, has rattled off breaking news while queuing up the next classical music piece from Dvorak to Mozart. During her four-hour weekday presentation, Krummeck unveils a fount of selections featuring piano and violin sonatas, oboe concertos, wind quintets... READ MORE
Wounded vets find fishing can be healing
Tony Escalona’s head was “rattled,” he said, after he suffered several concussions during 31 years of U.S. Army service all over the world, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. As he wound up treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder at Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center, a counselor urged him to go upstairs and learn about fly fishing, a sport new to him. A volunteer... READ MORE
Restaurateur: Let them eat steak
When D.C. restaurant owner Mark Bucher has a gut feeling, he acts on it. In the early days of the pandemic, Bucher, who owns Medium Rare, a chain of steakhouses, sent out a message over Twitter: “If anyone knows of anyone over 70 in the DMV that is quarantined, at home and needs a meal tonight, please [contact] me. We will make sure they get dinner.” Bucher, 53, acted on instinct, ... READ MORE
Columbia Yoga Center reaches 30
At the beginning of a yoga class, the teacher may ask students to “set an intention” for their practice — a goal they hope to achieve, whether it is a deeper stretch or a calm mind. It’s been hard to set intentions the last few years, as the pandemic has wreaked havoc on day-to-day routines, let alone trying to make future plans. But as the Yoga Center of Columbia celebrates... READ MORE
Parents of adults living with autism
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night nor COVID-19 can keep David Marmer from the Hunt Valley Giant supermarket, where he has worked for the past 11 years as a part-time courtesy clerk. With the assistance of a job coach from the Abilities Network, a Maryland nonprofit that provides support and community for individuals with disabilities, Marmer, 35, is responsible for bringing... READ MORE
Waller & Co. Jewelers offers spring bling
At age 8, David Waller swept the floor and wiped the glass counters at his family’s jewelry store, Waller Jewelers, in downtown Richmond. By age 12, Waller understood how watches worked and could do minor repairs. “I grew up in it,” said Waller, now in his 50s, in an interview with Fifty Plus. The venerable family business has been thriving for the past 122 years. In 1881,... READ MORE
Carrying on Rachel Carson’s work
Those who contemplate the beauty of the Earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. —Rachel Carson This year marks the 60th anniversary of the publication of Silent Spring, writer Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking book about the devastating effects of pesticides on the environment. Largely as a result of that book, which she wrote at her home in Silver ... READ MORE
H&S Bakery rises to the occasion
On a frigid day in January, a stretch of Interstate 95 became a 10-mile-long parking lot. Stranded by ice and snow, hundreds of drivers just south of Washington, including a U.S. senator, were trapped in their cars for nearly 40 hours, shivering and starving. Gazing hungrily at a stranded bakery truck near their car, Casey Holihan Noe, an Ellicott City resident, and her husband, John... READ MORE
Heart and soul of Black History Museum
In Mary Lauderdale’s cozy office at the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia in Jackson Ward, a framed quotation by former astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison hangs over the desk like a guiding light: “Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.” As head of the museum’s operations and visitor services, Lauderdale, 62, is inspired by Jemison’s message and... READ MORE
Cover Stories 2024
