Ripple effect: The vibration of this frog’s croaking mating song created concentric rings around it.
Photo by Julie Wiatt

New Slideshows
Merasi visit Takoma Park	Dawn of the Morris Dancers	House and Garden Tour

Picks for the week:

Friday,
July 4

CELEBRATION: Takoma Park’s 111th Annual Independence Day Parade. 10 AM. Carroll Ave from Ethan Allen to Maple, then Maple to Philadelphia. Concert (7 PM), Fireworks at dark (9:30 PM). Lee Jordan Field, 7611 Piney Branch Rd. Free. Info: www.takomapark
4th.org

FAMILY: All-Star 4th of July Block Party. Live music, kid's activities, food. 11 AM-7 PM. Silver Plaza on Ellsworth Drive, Silver Spring. Info: www.downtown
silverspring.com

GRAND RE-OPENING: House of Musical Tradition celebrates its new digs after the parade. Music at the Gazebo and HMT featuring Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, Billy Coulter and more. 12-4 PM. 7010 Westmoreland Ave., Takoma Park. Info: www.hmtrad.com.

Saturday,
July 5

DANCE: Deviated Theatre. Kimmie Dobbs and Enoch Chan's blended Dance-Theatre. 8 PM, repeats Sunday. Dance Place, 3225 8th Street, NE DC. $22; $8/age 2-17. Info: 303-389-2600 or www.danceplace.org.

HISTORY: Walking Tour of Silver Spring's Original Main Street (Georgia Avenue), hosted by Jerry McCoy of Silver Spring Historical Society. 10 AM-Noon. Begins at B&O Railroad Station, 8100 Georgia Ave. $5/person; free for under 13 and SSHS members. RSVP not required. Info: 301-537-1253 or sshistory@yahoo.com

MUSIC: Groove Killers. (Motown, Funk) Silver Spring Free Summer Concert series. 6:30-8:30 PM. Silver Plaza. Info: www.silverspring
downtown.com or 301-565-7300.

MANY MORE EVENTS in the online calendar

NEWS

General Assembly opens,
but hard feelings remain

Legislators and environmentalists work to lower greenhouse gas emissions

Governor O'Malley focuses on education and public safety in 2009 budget

Maryland can weather tough times, says O'Malley in State of the State address

Reagan Day?
Maryland senators want to remember the Gipper

Legislator wants proof of citizenship for voter registration

Domestic partners and insurance companies get the rules

More restrictions possible for oystermen

O'Malley's Baystat may control cleanup funds

O'Malley scolds EPA for vehicle pollution roadblock

Governor and General Assembly grapple with foreclosure crisis

Franchot worried about
mortgage crisis and taxes

Law would punish drivers with loose pets in pickup beds

Looking ahead: 2008

Takoma Park:
New year, new mayor, new opportunities

County:
Keeping priorities straight during a budget crunch

Maryland:
A chance for progress

Congress:
A year of transition from Republican control

Retrospective

A look back at twenty years

Looking back at 2007 in Silver Spring and Takoma Park

Best of the Best of the Best 2007: You voted for your favorites... Read the results

Takoma news

Takoma fails to keep carbon diet set in 2000

ISO Republicans: Takoma Park lacks non-Democratic judges for 2008 elections

It's a done deal: new council takes office

Kathy Porter: Q & A

Is Takoma Park going condo?

Talk of Takoma: George’s Leventhal's collision with near-death—“You come this close, it makes you pause”

Talk of Takoma: Professor Backwoods discovers Broadway—John Guernsey's Valentine of a musical

Talk of Takoma: Don't trash-talk Brennan

Talk of Takoma: Leon Seltzer documents the Salvadoran "children left behind"

Spring Park spring sees the light

Takoma Park remains a Sanctuary City

The ethics of eating: Local non-profit promotes compassion at the dining table

Takoma Pork

Colbert loses mayoral bid. But read about his inspiring campaign

Focus on schools

Critics are raving about Pork TV's new fall lineup

Silver Spring

Silver Spring construction to reach new heights

Coalition works to reopen the Old Blair Auditorium

Montgomery County

Infrastructure responsibility is a must; Poplar Run developers face unprecedented requirements to contribute

Sligo Creek Golf Course
Big changes, major reservations

U.S.

Edwards, Wynn face off on bankruptcy, corporate donors

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FEATURES

Staying Alive

Vintage stores bring fashions of proms past to life

¡Zumba!

Roda Movement Studio brings Latin energy to Old Takoma

Girl Power

When I was in college in the mid-Seventies, I took a course called “Women in American History” that, as its title suggests, examined American history from the Puritans to what was then the present by focusing on women. Nowadays a course like this might be called “American History,” but back then, the central assumption, even in academia, was that men constituted some kind of default setting from which women were an aberration.

Read more...

New on Editor's Blog

Letters:

Our Purple Line vote: What we learned

Is Takoma Park becoming a gated community?

From Alabama to Obama

Stand up for animals

If you register them, they will vote

Granola Park: Inaccredable

"Really, all the council needs to ask is two questions: “Are you breathing?” and “Do you expect to continue breathing for a year or so more?” This could be done in writing - on a VERY SIMPLE form. Nobody would have to get all dressed up to appear before the council (hmmm, the goddess-motif dress, the tie-dyed t-shirt, or the pants-suit?)...."

Granola Park: You and your bright ideas

"A resident posed a problem to the city council at its March 24th meeting. A stay-at-home mom, she would like to drop by her friends’ houses or Jequie Park* and NOT get a ticket for parking in a permit-only zone...."

Granola Park: The WMATA Matter

"Break out the chains and your copies of “We Shall Overcome”! It is time to affix yourself to the nearest Metro bus...."

ap•PARENT•ly: Rosa Parks and the dishes at AOL

"My daughter was recently studying about Rosa Parks at her school. I've always found the sort of courage which Rosa Parks epitomized to be the highest form of courage; the one form to which all people can aspire, and which if even 10% of us mustered the world would continue to transform in marvelous ways. However, I was taken aback at a question she asked me. She asked, "Dad, do you do any work like Rosa Parks, getting bad laws changed?...."

Bike riding for nervous parents

"My daughter had been rather indifferent about riding bikes for a while. She had a glamorous two-wheeler bought by my mother for a few years, but has been rather steadfast about not having the training wheels taken off (since a brief attempt last summer). However, recently a neighborhood kid who is younger has mastered the two-wheeler herself, so it became urgent to be rid of the training wheels...."

From the editor: Resolution

Sin of the Month: Hope?

Progressively Speaking: Omnivore's Democracy

GreenThink

Resolution Earth: How can I reduce my carbon footrint

Activists take polar plunge
to fight global warming
Click image for slideshow

Sligo Naturalist: Sneaking around the gutter.... or the attic as the case may be

Green Money: Four great green funds for 2008

Jane Lawton remembered for environmental legacy

Montgomery County setting new climate change agenda

Maryland burning: state could pay heavy price for global warming, researchers warn

EarthTalk: Without good soil: nothing!

Mission: Food self sufficiency

Calvert Cliffs meltdown could spell disaster, anti-nuclear groups say

State encourages cover crops to cut erosion, pollution, but funds lag

Biz Buzz

Takoma Park's Window Wonderland
Click image for slideshow

Arts & Entertainment

Resolution: Art!

Takoma issues call for public art

Wammies

The World on a Plate: Nicaro Restaurant Lounge; Eclectic American cuisine from a Nicaraguan chef

The Local Dish: Splurging for scratch at CakeLove

Your own personal pizza: A panel of experts (um...college students) rate local pies

Home & Garden

Mile a minute weed meets its match? Bob Trumbule turns loose the Chinese weevil

Quite simply, they blow:
Leafblowers do more harm than good

Gardening Coach: Landscapes and the Law

Easy Gardener: Bare bones and spring dreams

Health & Fitness

Old Age in a New Age: Local author shines a light on movement to transform eldercare

Resolution Evolution: Start where you are

Experts warn: drug-resistant staph developing in communities

Family

Parenting: The perfect child

apParently: Doing nothing

"When you sit down at the end of the year and attempt to tote up the accomplishments, the stay at home parent has an invisible list."

International connections

Teaching Peace

Et al.

Queries for Carrie: Cold comfort

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Go for community impact

Frankie Blackburn is inspired by personal connections:

Clear the air

Betsy Taylor
imagines blue skies in our future:

"Imagine...instead of feeling hopeless about a global economic machine built on coal and oil, you are feeling excited about the new ways we generate power, grow food, and live in community"

Join the local revolution

Michael Shuman sees another option in the global marketplace:

"The Small Mart Revolution is not about getting people to take morally sound acts that only the rich can afford. It's about all of us taking advantage of the local bargains that inundate us."

Be a change agent

Gustavo Torres urges his neighbors to get involved in the immigrant debate:

"Don't limit yourself to theoretically supporting immigrants.

Live up to the tradition of American history."