August 2010 Baltimore Beacon by The Beacon Newspapers

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Do-it-yourself publishing arrives PHOTO COURTESY OF LARRY AND ROSEMARY MILD

By Carol Sorgen It used to be that if you wanted to become a published author, you had few options. You could try to get your manuscript into the hands of an editor at a publishing house, with or without an agent’s help, hoping they could whip it into shape, get it into some book stores, and drum up enough interest to sell a few copies and earn you some modest royalties. Or you could go to a “vanity press” that would churn out a few thousand copies at your own expense. You’d then store them in your basement and give them away to friends and family, while trying to get local papers and book stores to give you some publicity. Today, however, things are changing — and fast. While traditional publishers are facing financial issues, making it even more difficult to get a toehold in a major publishing house, technology — including the ability to print books on demand and to sell them worldwide via the Internet — has transformed the self-publishing industry. And in the process, the stigma formerly attached to a self-published book has all but disappeared.

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L E I S U R E & T R AV E L

Chilling with the celebrities on Martha’s Vineyard; plus, simple jetlag cures, from sunlight to melatonin page 19

A technological revolution According to Sue Collier, co-author of The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing, print-on-demand technology — which now makes it cost-effective to print one book at a time — has “revolutionized” the industry. “Previously, authors…risked having a couple of thousand books languishing in their garage. Now, orders can be filled when they come in — no garage storage needed and no big printing bill. “Or authors can skip the printing altogether and publish an e-book” which is sold and downloaded online for reading on your computer or an e-reader like a Kindle. These technologies make self-publishing rather simple, whether your masterpiece is a mystery — like the work of Rosemary and Larry Mild of Severna Park — or a how-to book for professionals — like that of Tom Dezell of Belair. Dezell, 53, a career advisor with the Maryland Department of Labor, was interested in writing a book on the importance of networking in finding a job. He wrote a manuscript and approached several traditional publishing houses that

ARTS & STYLE

Larry and Rosemary Mild have written a series of mysteries, some printed and distributed by traditional publishing houses and some self-published. Technology that permits books to be printed one at a time has revolutionized publishing, leading to rapid growth in self-published looks and services for authors.

A local playwright’s darkly comic work about two Baltimore con artists; plus, Baltimore Museum of Art offers two wildly divergent exhibits page 22

focused on career-related books, but “never got anywhere.” “I think my major shortcoming,” he said, “was that I just wasn’t known to them.” Frustrated, Dezell eventually heard about the concept of “supported” or “subsidy” publishing, in which an author pays money to a publisher but is then guided through the publishing process. After exploring various subsidy publishers, Dezell chose to have his book, Networking for the Novice, Nervous or Naive Job Seeker, published by iUniverse. iUniverse offers dozens of professional services — from content and copy editing (even ghostwriting), to book design, index-

ing, printing, public relations, Internet marketing and more — at package prices ranging from $600 to more than $4,000 per title. Dezell’s package came to around $2,000, but included help with marketing the book, and he has recently been featured on MSNBC.com, ABC.com and in the Washington Post. Now that he has more name recognition, Dezell said he might try a traditional publisher for his next book, so he wouldn’t have to lay out any money of his own. But he also says he wouldn’t be at all opposed to self-publishing again. See SELF-PUBLISHING page 7

LAW & MONEY k Playing defense with stocks k Dividend outlook

FITNESS & HEALTH k Sex survey results k How food affects memory

CAREERS & VOLUNTEERS 17 k A new career in nursing PLUS CROSSWORD, BEACON BITS, CLASSIFIEDS & MORE

AUGUST 2010 — BALTIMORE BEACON

Securing Security The Social Security program is on the once the baby boom generation fully reverge of its 75th anniversary, and there is tires, revenues will cover only about 76 much to celebrate. It has percent of promised benefits. helped transform the financial Unless Congress makes situation of America’s seniors. some changes, that is. A rePrior to its establishment in cent report from the Senate 1935, nearly half of all AmeriSpecial Committee on Aging cans 65 and over lived in lays out a large number of oppoverty. Studies show that tions that, alone or in combieven in recent years, about nation, could solve the prohalf of those 65 and over still gram’s financial problems for have incomes below the the next 75 years. poverty level before counting FROM THE For example, we could their Social Security benefits. PUBLISHER raise taxes a bit. The payroll But the program’s payments By Stuart P. Rosenthal taxes that fund the program lift all but about 10 percent out of poverty. Perhaps surprisingly, a recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that adults 65 and over have been “much less likely than younger age groups” to have trouble paying for medical bills or housing, or to need to increase credit card debt or reduce spending due to the recession. No doubt the stability of Social Security payments explains a good bit of this. But as we often hear, Social Security is in trouble. This year, revenues from Social Security payroll taxes are already proving insufficient to cover current expenditures for the program. And forecasts show that

are currently 12.4 percent of wages (paid half by employees and half by their employers, on income up to $106,800). Were these taxes to be increased to 14.6 percent of wages, the entire $5.3 trillion estimated shortfall for the next 75 years would be eliminated. Too big a burden to impose all at once? Well, how about increasing taxes by 1/20th of one percent every year for the next 20 years? That would eliminate nearly 70 percent of the 75-year shortfall. The shortfall would also disappear if current taxes were levied on all income, not capped at $106,800 (a number that increases every year, even now). Or what if, rather than raising taxes, we

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like these when every penny counts. But if we want ourselves — and our children and grandchildren — to be able to enjoy for the next 75 years the benefits of a program that has changed the face of aging in America for the past 75 years, we will all have to show some flexibility. What do you think? Please share with us your opinion on this topic, or any other topic that moves you. E-mail info@theBeaconNewspapers.com, or write: Letters to the Editor, The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915-2227. Also, if you use e-mail, we invite you to join our new reader e-mail list. We will send you monthly notices with links to the online version of the latest Beacon, as well as information about upcoming Beacon events and occasional offers you may find of interest. Of course, you may unsubscribe at any time. To sign up for the Beacon E-mail Blast, go to www.theBeaconNewspapers.com/signup. Our recently revamped Facebook page also features news, pictures and “extras” that wouldn’t fit in our print edition. Find us at www.facebook.com/BeaconNewspaper and add us to your “likes.” And please let us know what you think of these new features! You can call us at (410) 248-9101.

Readers are encouraged to share their opinion on any matter addressed in the Beacon as well as on political and social issues of the day. Mail your Letter to the Editor to The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915, or e-mail to barbara@thebeaconnewspapers.com. Please include your name, address and telephone number for verification.

Letters to the editor appears on page 25 this month.

The Beacon is a monthly newspaper dedicated to inform, serve, and entertain the citizens of the Greater Baltimore area, and is privately owned. Subscriptions are available via third-class mail ($12), prepaid with order. MD residents add 6 percent for sales tax. Send subscription order to the office listed below. Publication of advertising contained herein does not necessarily constitute endorsement. Signed columns represent the opinions of the writers, and not necessarily the opinion of the publisher. • Publisher/Editor ....................Stuart P. Rosenthal • Associate Publisher..............Judith K. Rosenthal • Vice President, Operations........Gordon Hasenei • Director of Sales ................................Alan Spiegel • Assistant Operations Manager ..........Roger King • Managing Editor............................Barbara Ruben • Contributing Editor ..........................Carol Sorgen • Graphic Designer ..............................Kyle Gregory • Advertising Representatives ............Ron Manno, ........................................................................Steve Levin • Staff Writer......................................Mary C. Stachyra

postponed the age at which full benefits were payable by one year. That takes care of about 23 percent of the shortfall. If we gradually raised the full retirement age to 70, nearly a third would disappear. We could also trim the growth in benefits to recipients by reducing cost-of-living increases. Cutting COLAs by 1 percent would eliminate more than 75 percent of the shortfall. You get the idea. There are many ways we can avoid the dire predictions and maintain an effective Social Security program. And by sharing the burdens among all the stakeholders — a fraction of a percent from current recipients, workers and employers and some delay in benefits for new retirees — the pain can be mitigated and present recipients can be largely protected. But it will take considerable political will (and some goodwill on the part of all Americans) to get there. The French, whose standard retirement age is only 60, recently had mass street protests over the government’s plan to raise the retirement age. Those of us who remember the angry crowds in Washington after Congress (briefly) passed the “catastrophic insurance” law 20 years ago might well imagine similar scenes taking place here should Social Security benefits be reduced. People don’t easily give up entitlements they currently enjoy, and no one likes to see their taxes raised, certainly not in times

Chesapeake eats 26 pounds of fish per day. Holy mackerel. 2009 Outstanding Publication Award

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BALTIMORE BEACON — AUGUST 2010

Mom bought her first convertible!

NEW

The WeGo from Rascal solves a variety of mobility problems making it the most versatile product on the market today. It’s simple, easy-to-operate, portable, and can be steered by you or a walking companion. This portable, companion (or self) controlled, compact, motorized transport chair seeks to replace cumbersome manual wheelchairs, heavy scooters and power wheelchairs for all transport needs. The rider no longer has to feel guilty about being pushed around in a wheelchair, and the burden of the caregiver's neck, shoulder, back and leg injuries should be dramatically reduced with this modern, motorized mobility solution. y Mother is getting up in years-81! And she loves to get out of the house. She gets bored at home, especially since it’s a two story house, and she’s basically confined to the first floor. She’s always calling me to take her to the mall or to restaurants. I love doing it, but she’s unstable on her feet, so she goes in a wheelchair. I'm small, not overly strong and not so young myself. I have a lot of trouble pushing her around – so much so that I’ve even made up excuses to avoid taking her ... I feel really bad about this, that is – I used to feel bad. That was before a friend told me about the WeGo from Rascal. It’s given Mom back her independence, and it’s given me back my peace of mind. Gotta go– I'm taking her to her Tuesday Bingo game.” Do you, or someone you love, have difficulty walking? If so, solutions in the past were to get a manual or electric wheelchair, power chair or scooter. Don't get me wrong, each of these products provide help for millions of Americans with mobility issues, but each one is limited in how it can be used. Power chairs are fine for getting around your home, but they are too heavy to take in the car. Scooters are more portable, but they are too big to fit through most doorways.What's worse, if you are riding one in a crowded situaRider Operating tion, like a mall, Steering Column you can’t see included to allow for where you are self operation and going and might rider independence! hit someone. Manual wheelchairs are fine, that is, as long as you have someone handy that’s strong enough to push it around. Now, for

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the first time, there's a product that solves all of these problems. It's from Rascal, the nation's mobility leader, and it’s called the WeGo. It's taken design engineers years to come up with just the right features for this remarkable product. They've taken a traditional power chair and made it more versatile than ever. Your companion or caregiver can operate it from behind, so

Why WeGo is Better: • Adjusts to accommodate both the caregiver and loved one’s individual size, arm length and stature • This portable, stable, compact, motorized transport chair makes transportability easier than ever • Features a wireless connector system for easy 3-step frame disassembly and assembly • The Rascal WeGo has a weight capacity of 250 lbs. and a top speed of 3 mph with up to an all day range • WeGo comes with a one-year service contract

they can walk with you without having to push — it even has variable speeds in forward and reverse. Ramps and inclines can now be ascended and descended without effort or worry! The ergonomic position of the attendant operating system helps reduce carpel tunnel injuries and can be adjusted easily to all heights. If the rider prefers independence, simply attach the Rider Operating Steering Column and they can operate it by themselves. The WeGo features a complete line of safety enhancements to ensure that when you want to stop moving, you stop moving. It has an automatic parking brake to protect against accidental "runaways" on inclines and ramps prevalent with manual

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wheelchairs. Hills and inclines are a breeze for The Rascal WeGo's powerful electric motor. The automatic regenerative braking provides another level of safety, even on inclines the wheels automatically and instantly brake when the power lever is released. Even if you already own a scooter or power wheelchair, you and your caregiver can benefit from the Rascal WeGo. It's better and safer to use in crowds because it's compact and the caregiver has a better view to see oncoming pedestrians. It's easier to transport than almost any scooter or power wheelchair because of the wireless connections and lightweight design. It serves as a back-up chair in case of an emergency when the primary mobility vehicle breaks down. The Rascal WeGo comes with a one-year service contract. If, for any reason, you are not completely amazed by how this product improves your life, simply return it for a “No Questions Asked” refund of the product purchase price within 90 days. Call now.

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AUGUST 2010 — BALTIMORE BEACON

Money Law &

WHICH BONDS ARE BEST? When interest rates rise, bond prices fall. Learn how to build a diversified portfolio of the right bonds to hold in a rising interest rate environment

Dividend outlook sunny; tax cloud looms By Mark Jewell Dividend investors are enjoying fatter payouts again, to the tune of $10 billion per year. The reason? More than one-quarter of companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 have increased their quarterly payouts over the past five and a half months, with just two cutting dividends. “It speaks to confidence in the strength of the underlying economy, and their ability to cover dividend payments without breaking the bank,” S&P analyst Howard Silverblatt said. Yet there’s a bump on the road to recovery from 2009, which saw the most cuts and fewest increases since S&P began collecting data in 1955. President Obama and Congress must

shore up the nation’s budget, and are almost certain to approve higher taxes on dividend income.

Tax could rise almost 40% In fact, investors in the top tax bracket could see dividend taxes more than double next year to 39.6 percent. That’s up from the current 15 percent. For most taxpayers, a more likely scenario is a new rate of around 25 percent. Whatever increase Washington settles on, it will change the math for dividendpaying stocks and mutual funds with a strong dividend tilt in their portfolios. They’re big draws for retirees and others who prefer a steady income stream, not just potential paper gains from appreciat-

ing stock prices. “If shareholders can only keep 60 percent of their dividend income compared with 85 percent, that’s big,” Silverblatt said. “It’s not what you make, but what you keep” that counts. Still, market pros say the recent surge in companies reversing dividend cuts appears to have staying power. Here are five things investors need to know about dividend investing now: 1. It can only get better, and it is: When stocks tanked in late 2008, companies that had reliably raised quarterly dividends year after year suddenly cut them, opting to hold on to extra cash to ride out the recession. It was a matter of survival for many, especially bailed-out banks that

had been among the most dependable dividend payers. This year’s turnaround has been sharp. The list of 25 companies announcing increases in April alone included IBM, Exxon Mobil, Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. Still, Silverblatt predicts it will take until 2012 or 2013 to return to the 2008 S&P 500 dividend payout of nearly $248 billion. He projects a 5.6 percent increase this year compared with 2009. 2. Watch the taxman: Expect a quick end to the historically light tax bill that dividend investors have faced in recent years. Taxpayers in all but the lowest two brackSee DIVIDENDS, page 5

The best funds to hold in falling markets By Mark Jewell Investors are having a hard time getting a handle on the stock market lately. And many are getting worried. The whipsaw returns are producing flashbacks to late 2008, when triple-digit swings in the Dow Jones industrial average were the norm. A select group of mutual fund managers have shown they’re masters of defense, capable of picking the stocks most likely to emerge unscathed when trouble strikes. They can cushion the blow further by selling some of their riskier picks and shifting heavily into cash. It’s worth remembering how unkind math can be when markets sour. If your stocks lose 50 percent in value, you’ll need a 100 percent gain — not 50 percent — to get back to where you started.

Seven strong funds Below are seven funds with top records during two especially steep recent declines in the Dow Jones industrial average: Jan. 14, 2000 to Oct. 9 2002, when the dot-com bubble burst, and Oct. 9, 2007 to March 9, 2009, when subprime mortgage troubles spread throughout the financial system. The seven, screened by Morningstar, are diversified stock funds that finished in the top 3 percent among their peers during both downturns. The list excludes funds

that had a significant manager change over the past 12 months, or invest in such narrow slices of the market that they’re suitable only as niche holdings. Also excluded are pricier funds charging more than 1.5 percent in annual expenses, and funds requiring more than $5,000 to get in. The screen also removed funds that lost more than 35 percent from October 2007 to March 2009, even if the fund happened to finish within the top 3 percent of their peers in that steep downturn. But these funds are about more than just defense. They’ve held up in rising markets as well. All have 10-year records placing them in the top 10 percent among their peers. The seven, in alphabetical order: American Centur y Equity Income (TWEIX) has one of the strongest records among large value funds over the past 15 years, with low volatility. Lately, the fund has bet heavily on utilities stocks, typically good defensive plays in times of trouble. About 13 percent of the fund’s stock holdings were in utilities at the end of March, nearly three times the average for its category. One favorite: natural gas distributor WGL Holdings Inc. Calamos Growth & Income (CVTRX) supplements its stock holdings with convertibles — stock-bond hybrids giving the holder the option to swap from a bond to a

stock at a predetermined price. It’s a way to get more potential upside than with regular bonds, along with a steady income stream and reduced volatility. Recently, Calamos Growth & Income has favored information technology, healthcare and energy stocks. Forester Value (FVALX) was the lone U.S. stock fund to finish 2008 with a gain, up 0.4 percent, while nearly every other fund suffered a double-digit loss. Forester Value trailed 79 percent of its peers last year as the same defensive characteristics that protected it in 2008 held it back when the market turned around. But it’s still a solid long-term option, thanks to manager Tom Forester’s conservative stock-picking. Lately, Forester has stuck with steady companies with plenty of cash, like Microsoft and 3M, and avoided bank stocks. He also likes healthcare stocks such as Bristol-Myers Squibb that weather downturns well. The fund has beaten nearly all its peers with a loss of just 5 percent over the past month because investors have been seeking safety. “People have been jumping out of the volatile names into the more conservative names we’re already in,” Forester said. Parnassus Equity Income (PRBLX) emphasizes mature dividend-paying stocks that can ride out downturns. The strategy has landed the fund in the top 1

percent among its peers over the past 3and 5-year periods. The fund recently had big stakes in defensive sectors like utilities and healthcare, while avoiding consumer discretionary stocks. Royce Special Equity (RYSEX) buys stocks of small companies with clean balance sheets and steady cash flow, and rarely trades them. It’s helped the fund post an average 11.5 percent return per year over the last 10 years. At the end of April, it held a hefty 19 percent of its portfolio in cash — enough to provide a decent cushion if stocks tumble further. Sequoia Fund (SEQUX), which typically holds just 10 to 25 favored stocks and sticks with them for years. Its latest top holding, at 20 percent of the portfolio, is Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett’s investment company. Yacktman Focused (YAFFX) focuses on large-company stocks. Its performance ranks in the top 1 percent of its peers over the last 3, 5- and 10-year periods. Lately, it’s found safety in beverage stocks that aren’t buffeted by economic cycles. The fund’s top holding at the end of March was PepsiCo at 9.8 percent of the portfolio, with Coca-Cola its third-largest at 7.7 percent. If the recent slide extends into a bear market — defined as a drop of 20 percent or more — these funds should serve investors well. — AP

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ets currently pay 15 percent on dividend income. President Obama proposed an increase to 20 percent. But a proposal that cleared the Senate Budget Committee last month would go further, with steeper increases for those in the middle tax brackets, and a 39.6 percent rate for those in the top rung. The House is expected to begin debate soon. The outcome: A $1 dividend paid this December would leave an investor with 85 cents after taxes. But in January, when the new rates would take effect, it could be closer to 70 cents or 60 cents, depending on your income. 3. Expect bank dividends to come back — if you’re patient. Financial stocks like Bank of America and Citigroup have historically been among the most reliable dividend payers, but that changed in 2008. The market meltdown hit bank stocks especially hard, and they cut dividends deeper than those in other sectors. Many financial companies are still restricted from paying dividends as a condition of receiving government bailouts. But even those no longer facing restrictions remain cautious. They’re uncertain how tougher financial regulations will crimp their business, once a final package clears Congress. That might not happen until late this year, or longer. “Even though their balance sheets are healthy again, they’re going to wait until the regulation battle is over,” said Dan Genter, CEO of RNC Genter Capital Management, which runs the RNC Genter Dividend Income Fund (GDIIX). 4. Dividends could be safe harbors if the market drops again. Dividend-

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From page 4

paying companies typically have more cash on hand and steadier income than growth-oriented companies that plow profits back into their operations. Think: Energy utilities vs. high-tech start-ups. Channing Smith, co-manager of the Capital Advisors Growth Fund (CIAOX), figures those advantages will protect dividend stocks if the economic recovery loses momentum. Dividend stocks haven’t done as well as growth stocks since the market turned around in March 2009. That’s a key reason why Smith’s dividend-oriented portfolio has lagged most of its rivals over the past 12 months. But another downturn, or another market shock from debt troubles in places like Greece, could play to dividend stocks’ strengths. “Their downside is much less than for the overall market,” Smith said. “If there is another market drop, these stocks are already there.” 5. Dividends are solid long-term. Even after 2009, dividend stocks still have a good long-term record. S&P 500 stock prices ended up the last decade slightly below where they started, after the dot-com bubble burst early on, and the more recent subprime mortgage mess sent stocks tumbling. S&P stocks lost an average 2.7 percent per year over the decade, while dividends returned nearly 1.8 percent. Going back several decades, dividends have normally accounted for one-third to 40 percent of the overall return of S&P 500 stocks, said Jim Boothe, manager of the Nuveen Santa Barbara Dividend Growth Fund (NSBAX). “Dividend stocks manage to do well in volatile markets,” Boothe says. “The income component kind of cushions a portfolio.” — AP

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Law & Money

BALTIMORE BEACON — AUGUST 2010

Law & Money

AUGUST 2010 — BALTIMORE BEACON

The right bonds for a rising interest rate By Kathy Kristof Investors, made nervous by two years of roller-coaster performance in the stock market, have been pouring money into bond funds over the last year, seeking a haven for their assets. But if interest rates start to rise next year — as most expect they will — these mutual funds that hold bonds may not look quite as profitable, experts say. “As [interest] rates go up, bond prices come down,” said Steve Huber, head of portfolio strategies for fixed income at T. Rowe Price, a big mutual fund company in Baltimore. “The longer the maturities on your bonds, the bigger the risk you’re taking.” If interest rates were to rise by 1 percentage point, the price of a 30-year U.S.

Treasury bond would decline by 14.13 percent, according to a T. Rowe Price analysis. The price decline on a 10-year bond would be about half that, the company says. Price declines on shorter-term Treasury bonds would be more modest — roughly 2 percent for a note with a twoyear maturity and 4.5 percent for one with five years to go before the principal would be repaid. Naturally, if rates rise more, bond prices drop even more. Yet experts concur that investors need bonds as part of their portfolio, even in an environment of rising interest rates. The question is: How do you buy bonds that won’t get trashed as interest rates rise? Look for a step-up. A number of issuers sell bonds that offer a fixed price for

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a set stretch of time, stepping up to better rates later, said Marilyn Cohen, author of Bonds Now! For instance, a new Fannie Mae “stepup” bond offers a 2 percent yield until November of 2011 but promises to pay 5 percent after that. The rate would rise to 6 percent in 2015 and to 7 percent in 2020. The catch? If market interest rates rise faster than the “stepup” on this bond, you’re stuck with the lower rate and no way to sell without taking a hit on the bond’s principal value. Do you get the benefit of an above-market rate if market interest rates rise more slowly than the “step-up” schedule on the bond? Probably not, Cohen said. If interest rates are lower than the promised rate on the bond, the issuer has the right to “call” — or pay back — investors at any time. Check out floating rates. Corporate borrowers also issue some floating-rate debt that pays a variable interest rate based on an index, such as the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, said Ann Benjamin of Neuberger Berman, a New York-based investment firm. Individual investors can get into this market by buying mutual funds that invest in floating-rate corporate debt. That gives you a “natural hedge” against rising interest rates, she said. Consider junk. Interest rates are primed to rise now because the economy appears to be recovering, Benjamin added. That makes highly leveraged companies that issue high-yielding debt — often termed junk bonds — appear more financially stable. As a result, the debt that these companies issue can rise in value even as interest rates rise because buying this debt becomes comparatively less risky.

Look at quality corporate bonds. Good-quality companies have also solidified their finances over the last year, cutting costs and hoarding cash, Cohen said. These companies now have balance sheets that should sustain their bond payments for a long time. That makes quality corporate bonds look attractive, too. A-rated corporate bonds don’t pay as much as junk bonds, but they still pay considerably more than Treasuries, with very little additional risk. Tour the international markets. Buying the bonds of foreign governments may make some investors feel queasy, thanks to the Greek debt crisis that’s reverberated through the financial markets. But T. Rowe Price strategists think that the debt of some less-leveraged countries, such as Germany, France and Canada, is a good buy. The caveat: When you buy bonds issued by foreign governments you also have to cope with currency risk because you must convert your U.S. dollars into foreign currencies when you buy, and convert back into U.S. dollars when you sell and repatriate your money. Currency swings can have as big an effect on your investment as the yield on the bond. Diversify. Also be sure to diversify your bond portfolio just as you do with stocks. Investors sometimes forget to buy different types of bonds because bonds are typically less volatile than stocks. But that changes when interest rates are on the rise. You would be smart to hedge your bets by buying many different types of bonds. Kathy M. Kristof welcomes your comments and suggestions, but regrets that she cannot respond individually to letters or phone calls. E-mail her at kathykristof24@gmail.com.

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Self-publishing From page 1 “When should you self-publish?” asked Judy Katz, founder of Katz Creative in New York. Her public relations agency specializes in working with authors to “birth” their books. “I’m such a strong believer in self-publishing that my answer to this is: Always.” Among the self-publishing companies Katz referred to are iUniverse.com, parapublishing.com, cafepress.com and lulu.com, but she urged careful evaluation of the options, as services and quality vary. Among the benefits of self-publishing, she said, is that in return for bearing the upfront costs for the book, self-published authors generally get to keep 80 to 100 percent of the net profit from sales, instead of the 10 percent royalty traditional publishers usually pay. Katz also noted that self-publishing has become so respectable that Publishers Weekly now covers self-published books, which was unheard of a few years ago.

Getting a foot in the door According to Katz, self-publishing is also an excellent way to test the market for a book and establish a presence. After building a market themselves, authors can sell their book’s reprint rights to a much larger publisher for a good advance, she said. (Copyrights are generally retained by self-published authors.) Something like this worked out for Highland resident Mark Amtower, 59. His latest book, Why Epiphanies Never Occur to Couch Potatoes, was self-published through Happy About Books. Afterward, a mainstream publishing company contacted him on the advice of another of its writers, and now he has another book coming out this fall that they are publishing. The latter is “more lucrative,” he said, “because they gave me a nice advance.” But he added that few people get rich writing books. A trend in the opposite direction is illustrated by the Milds, who together write cozy mysteries, adventure/thrillers, short stories, articles and essays. They also teach others how to write and get published. Larry, 77, retired from a career as an electrical engineer in 1993, but he had long been interested in writing. In fact, on his very first date with Rosemary in 1986,

he told her that he planned to write a novel and wanted her to help him. “I’d only known him four hours, but I knew he was the one,” said Rosemary. The couple laughingly admits that meshing their writing styles has had its moments, but “we haven’t killed each other yet,” she noted. They used a traditional publisher for one of the books in their “Paco & Molly” mystery series. “It was a very bad experience,” said Rosemary, 75, a former assistant editor of Harper’s. “They were dragging their feet, designed a cover that had nothing to do with the book, and set a publication date that made it difficult to get reviewed.” So most of their other books, including their new suspense novel due out in September, have been published by the Maryland-based company, PublishAmerica. Unlike self-publishing companies that charge writers for design and layout services or for a fixed number of copies, PublishAmerica absorbs any upfront pre-publication costs in return for publishing rights. It makes its money from the sale of its authors’ books on its massive website at prices ranging from $15 to $30. However, the company expects its authors (who number more than 40,000) to promote and market their own books, which typically requires them to purchase a significant number of copies themselves.

Do-it-yourself marketing The downside of not being published by a mainstream publisher is that you are unlikely to get on the shelves at Barnes and Noble. “So what?” said Katz. Self-published books are sold on the book selling behemoth Amazon, eBay and other online sites. In fact, the Milds consider the self-marketing aspect of self-publishing to be a benefit. First, they say, you don’t need an agent to get your work into print. “You may be able to find an agent, but finding a good agent, who can get results, is another matter,” they say. The couple spent six months trying to interest someone in their first mystery, Locks and Cream Cheese, and finally “got tired of looking.” It’s much easier in this techno-age to market your book yourself, they say, with the aid of Facebook, Twitter, Internet radio, webzines, personal blogs and so on —

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though they admit that they’d rather be spending their time writing than marketing. Besides, not every self-published author wants to make money or become widely known through their work. Take Catonsville resident Helen Stansbury, 82, who gives away copies of her book, Helen’s Potpourri. It’s a collection of essays, stories and other items she has penned throughout the years that she wanted to share with others. As she put it, “if I don’t do this now, it will never get done.” So she self-published Helen’s Potpourri in 2006 through Baltimore-based Gateway Press (now called Otter Bay Books). So far, she has given away nearly 6,000 copies to friends, family members, coworkers, church parishioners and others she thinks might find solace, support or even humor in her words. “There’s something in there for every age,” she said.

Stansbury is about to order her seventh printing. In part because anyone can now publish anything they write, there is still somewhat of a stigma associated with self-publishing. But according to Collier, it is primarily coming from those in the traditional publishing world who are fighting the trend. The reality is that many authors don’t look at self-publishing as “settling” for less. “For these authors, it isn’t about feeding the ego by getting a ‘stamp of approval’ from a ‘real’ publisher,” she said. “It’s about sharing their message rather than filing rejection letters…So a lot of authors are simply taking things into their own hands by doing it themselves. “Potential readers pick up books not knowing — and not caring — who the publisher is,” said Collier. “Indie publishing is here to stay.”

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Health Fitness &

CHOCOHOLICS REJOICE A recent study provides even more reasons to eat dark chocolate (in moderation) OLDER AND WISER A study shows that wisdom increases with age, especially in conflict resolution DO YOU HAVE IBS? If this gut disease always has you on the go, consider entering a new study TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING Fine tune the amount of supplements you take through micronutrient tests

Brain food: What you eat affects memory By Carl Sherman The brain needs glucose (a simple sugar and the brain’s favorite carbohydrate) not only for energy, but also to build neurotransmitters for cell-to-cell communication. Since the brain can’t store energy, it needs a steady supply of glucose. Small surprise, then, that boosting blood sugar stimulates the brain: Most people think and remember better after eating. That is, after eating the right things. Wake up, pad into the kitchen, down some sugary confection and you’ll get a swift lift in short-term memory. But consume a breakfast of more complex carbohydrates, from which the sugar is released more steadily, and there will be positive effects on long-term as well as short-term memory — even among older adults with relatively poor recall. Retention of facts goes up as much as 25 percent.

The role of insulin Broadly speaking, two major factors

regulate glucose supply to the brain. One is, obviously, how much fuel you consume and when. The other is how effectively that glucose has access to cells. And that is a function of the hormone insulin, produced by the pancreas and best known for its role in diabetes. One of the surprising stories in nutrition is how insulin is turning out to be a critical hormone for brain function, regulating both learning and memory, and possibly saving the brain from cognitive decline. The bagel dip: Give type-2 diabetics a bagel [which has a high glycemic index] and memory dips, not rises. It’s long been known that type-2 diabetes hastens cognitive decline and raises the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Canadian researchers now find that foods with a low glycemic index — fruits, veggies, whole grains — protect against post-meal memory loss by modulating insulin levels. The response in diabetics is extreme but not

unique, say scientists. Remember this: Fish insulin plays a big role in brain signaling pathways; to lay down memories, you need insulin. Anything that messes with insulin function — loss of insulin sensitivity (insulin resistance), diabetes — messes up memory. But some foods aid insulin’s brainwork, and the trail leads to omega-3 fats, found in canola oil and fish such as salmon. Omega3 lipids called protectins and resolvins boost insulin tolerance. Drat that sat fat: The typical American diet (high in saturated fat) does more than block arteries. It hinders insulin action in the brain and generates an excess of free radicals, leading to oxidative damage in neurons. Animals fed a diet of 39 percent fat have trouble navigating mazes, and their brains lack BDNF, a nerve growth factor needed for learning. The high-fat diet especially slows recovery of memory after trauma. Avoiding memory lame: In addition to

impacting memory via signaling pathways, insulin plays a direct role in preventing the memory loss of Alzheimer’s disease. The hormone acts on memory-forming synapses to block the buildup of toxic amyloidbeta proteins associated with the disorder. Northwestern University researchers now view insulin as a possible treatment for the brain disorder. Snooze news: Want to preserve brain function into old age? Get a good night’s sleep tonight. Just three nights of poor sleep increases insulin resistance. And insulin activity doesn’t rebound even after four days of sleep recovery. The altered response to insulin may explain why sleep loss is also linked to obesity. Lost snooze time boosts food consumption in animals. One result: They are on a fast track to diabetes. — Psychology Today Magazine © 2010 Sussex Publishers. All rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Media Services, Inc.

Changing sexual attitudes and behaviors By David Crary Americans 45 and older are far more open to sex outside of marriage than they were 10 years ago, but they’re engaging in sex less often and with less satisfaction, according to a major new survey by AARP. What’s the problem? AARP’s sex and relationship expert, sociologist Pepper Schwartz, thinks financial stress is a prime culprit. “The economy has had an impact on these people,” she said. “They’re more liberal in their attitudes, yet they’re having sex less often. The only thing I see that’s changed in a negative direction is financial worries.” The survey is based on detailed questionnaires completed last year by 1,670 people 45 and over. AARP, which represents 40 million Americans over 50, conducted similar surveys on sexual attitudes and practices in 1999 and 2004.

Satisfaction declining One of the most pronounced changes over the 10-year span dealt with sex outside of marriage. In the 1999 survey, 41 percent of the respondents said nonmarital sex was wrong. That figure dropped to 22

percent in the new survey. Yet sexual activity — marital or not — seems to be less frequent overall for this age group. In the new survey, 28 percent said they had intercourse at least once a week, and 40 percent at least once a month — both categories were down roughly 10 percentage points from 2004. Asked if they were satisfied with their sex lives, 43 percent in the new survey said yes, down from 51 percent in 2004. One intriguing finding: Respondents who had a partner but weren’t married had sex more frequently and with more satisfaction than respondents who were married. “These long-term married couples may get a little less interested,” Schwartz said. “Older people in nonmarried relations work harder at it and enjoy it more.” Schwartz, a professor at the University of Washington and author of 16 books on relationships, said it was notable how even respondents in their 70s and 80s stressed that sex was important to their quality of life. “The big difference as people age is not that sex becomes less important, but that a partner becomes less accessible,” she said.

Pronounced gender differences Gender differences were pronounced in several responses. Men think about sex and engage in it more often than women, and are about twice as likely as women (21 percent versus 11 percent) to admit to sexual activity outside their primary relationship. With many older men likely to have multiple partners, Schwartz expressed concern that only 12 percent of the survey’s sexually active single males reported using condoms. She cautioned that older adults should not ignore the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. According to the survey, men are more than five times as likely as women to say they think of sex at least once a day, and nearly three times as likely to say they engage in self-stimulation at least once a week. Dr. Stacy Tessler Lindau, a professor of medicine at the University of Chicago who has studied seniors’ relationships, said her research — not connected to the AARP — suggests that men are increasingly more satisfied with their sex lives, compared to women.

One possible reason, she said, was the surge in use of erectile-dysfunction drugs by men. Comparable drugs to enhance older women’s sex lives have not yet emerged on a broad scale. According to the AARP survey, 10 percent of the male respondents took medication to improve sexual functioning, and 23 percent reported being diagnosed for erectile dysfunction or impotence. The survey asked respondents what would improve their sexual satisfaction. Twenty percent of the women and 37 percent of the men said better health; 14 percent of the women and 26 percent of the men said better personal finances.

Online dating catching on One heartening development, Schwartz said, was that more older singles are venturing onto online dating services. Epitomizing that trend are Tony Cost, 74, and his wife, Rosemary, 68, of Cherry Hill, N.J., who met in 2007 through the online dating service eHarmony and married in May 2008. See SEXUAL ATTITUDES, page 10

Fitness & Health

Sexual attitudes From page 9 Tony Cost said he had been a widower for about three years before trying eHarmony. “It was just a point in my life where I decided I wanted to do more than just sit. I wanted to look for someone to share the rest of my life with,” he said. The couple said they exchanged 55 emails before their first face-to-face meeting, a dinner at a restaurant that went on for five hours as they chatted. “It was like we’d known each other forever,” said Rosemary, who’d been divorced about 10 years before trying online dating. Speaking of his generation as a whole, Tony Cost said there’s more interest

AUGUST 2010 — BALTIMORE BEACON

among divorced and widowed singles in finding new partners. “We’re living longer, we want to enjoy life,” he said. “There are a number of incentives to take that first step and reach out.” AARP said the survey had an error margin of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points for questions answered by all respondents. The AARP survey was administered in both English and Spanish, and included 630 Hispanic respondents — a bigger share than in the general population in order to provide data for a separate upcoming report. The Hispanic respondents reported a higher-than-average level of health concerns, but the survey found, “Hispanics are more sexually active and satisfied than the general population.” — AP

Don’t let heart attack kill your sex life By Marilynn Marchione Surviving a heart attack can kill your sex life. But it doesn’t have to, and a new study shows doctors play a key role in whether it does. Patients were less likely to resume having sex if their doctors did not talk about when it was safe to do so, the study found. Many heart attack survivors fear that a tryst could land them back in the hospital — or even in the graveyard. But the chance of that is extremely small, doctors say. “People perceive it might kill them. And it’s not just the person with the heart attack, but also their partner [who fear this],” said Dr. Stacy Tessler Lindau, a gynecologist and sexuality researcher at the University of Chicago. “If you can walk up two flights of stairs or do moderate exercise, then it’s OK to have sex,” she said. Lindau led the study, the largest ever on this topic. It involved 1,184 male and 576 female heart attack survivors taking part in a bigger nationwide study, funded by the federal government. The average age was 60. Less than half the men and only about a third of the women said advice about resuming sex was part of

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the instructions they got when leaving the hospital. Even fewer had that talk with their doctors over the next year. One year after their heart attacks, more than two-thirds of the men and 40 percent of the women reported some sexual activity. They were 30 to 40 percent more likely to be having sex if they had talked with a doctor about it. Doctors say it is safe to resume sex as soon as the patient feels better and can handle moderate exercise. Chest pain during sex means you should stop and consult a doctor, Lindau said. Depression and mood swings are common after a heart attack and can dampen interest in sex, but this usually goes away within three months, says the Heart Association. It has these tips for resuming sex: • Prepare by improving your physical condition and personal hygiene. • Choose a time when you’re rested, relaxed and free from daily stress. • Wait one to three hours after eating a full meal. • Pick a familiar, peaceful setting that’s free from interruptions. Good advice for anyone. — AP

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Yet more reasons to enjoy dark chocolate In the past decade or so, chocolate’s reputation has undergone an extreme makeover — from fattening indulgence to health food. A steady stream of studies has given cocoa and dark chocolate high marks for cardiovascular benefits, including improvements in cholesterol levels, blood pressure, blood clotting, coronary artery function, and insulin sensitivity. The most likely explanation for these good effects is that the cocoa bean is rich in flavonoids — naturally occurring antioxidants found abundantly in certain fruits and vegetables, tea and red wine. A recent study suggests that the flavonoids in chocolate may be good for the heart in yet another way. In a randomized trial involving 42 older women and men at high risk for cardiovascular disease, Spanish researchers gave half the participants 40 grams (about 1.4 ounces) of unsweetened cocoa powder in 16 ounces of skim milk every day. The other half drank plain skim milk. After one month, the cocoa drinkers had lower levels of adhesion molecules — proteins that cause white cells and other substances to stick to the walls of the arteries. Adhesion molecules are an inflammatory marker, linked to heart disease because they contribute to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques that can obstruct an artery or rup-

ture, triggering a heart attack or stroke. In addition, cocoa was found to increase “good” HDL cholesterol levels. The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The darker, the better The perceived benefits of cocoa date back to the ancient Mayans, who mixed ground roasted cocoa beans with spices to make a fortifying, albeit bitter, drink. These days, cocoa is often processed with fat, sugar and sometimes milk to mask the bitter flavor. The problem: This processing lowers flavonoid content and adds calories. Not all chocolate is equal, so here are some things to keep in mind: Pure chocolate is made of nonfat cocoa solids and cocoa butter. The higher the nonfat cocoa solid content, the higher the flavonoid content will be. White chocolate contains no nonfat cocoa solids. Cocoa butter is combined with cocoa solids in varying amounts in chocolate products to give chocolate a melt-in-your-mouth quality. It’s the key ingredient in white chocolate. Most of the fat in cocoa butter is stearic and oleic acids, which don’t raise cholesterol. But gram for gram, fat of any kind packs twice as many calories as protein and carbohydrates, so read labels and keep an eye on calories.

While the news about chocolate, especially cocoa, is encouraging, research hasn’t yet identified the optimal dose for cardiovascular benefits. For now, it’s best to limit yourself to a few squares of dark chocolate a day — the darker the better — and make sure the first ingredient listed is cocoa or chocolate, not sugar. Health isn’t the reason to start eating chocolate, but if you’ve decided to add it to your daily pleasures, be sure to cut calories elsewhere to control weight.

Percent of nonfat cocoa solids in various chocolate products: • Unsweetened cocoa powder: 82 percent • Unsweetened baking chocolate: 47 percent • Dark chocolate: 23 percent • Semisweet chocolate chips: 17 percent • Milk chocolate: 6 percent • Chocolate syrup: 6 percent Harvard Women’s Health Watch © 2010 President and fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. TMS

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Wisdom increases with age, study finds A new study indicates that older people, as grandma said, are indeed wiser. Researchers led by Richard E. Nisbett of the University of Michigan found that older people were more likely than younger or middle-aged ones to recognize that values differ among people, to acknowledge uncertainties, accept that things change over time, and to acknowledge othersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; points of view. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Age effects on wisdom hold at every level of social class, education and IQ,â&#x20AC;? they reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In modern America, older people may not have greater knowledge about operating computers or TV remotes, Nisbett acknowledged, â&#x20AC;&#x153;but our results do indicate that the elderly have some advantages for analysis of social problems.â&#x20AC;? The researchers recruited 247 people in Michigan, divided into approximately

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equal groups aged 25-to-40, 41-to-59 and 60 plus. Participants were given fictitious reports about conflict between groups in a foreign country and were asked what they thought the outcome would be. The responses were then rated by researchers who did not know which individual or age group a response came from. Ratings were based on facets like searching for compromise, flexibility, taking othersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; perspectives, and searching for conflict resolution. About 200 of the participants joined in a second session, and a third section was conducted using 141 scholars, psychotherapists, clergy and consulting professionals. The study concluded that economic status, education and IQ also were significantly related to increased wisdom, but they found that â&#x20AC;&#x153;academics were no wiser than nonacademicsâ&#x20AC;? with similar education levels. While the researchers expected wisdom to increase with age, they were surprised at how strong the results were for disputes in society, Nisbett said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is a very large advantage for older people over younger people for those,â&#x20AC;? he said. Lynn A. Hasher, a psychology professor at the University of Toronto, called the study â&#x20AC;&#x153;the single best demonstration of a longheld view that wisdom increases with age.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;What I think is most important about the paper is that it shows a major benefit that accrues with aging, rather than the mostly loss-based findings reported in psychology. As such, it provides a richer base of understanding of aging processes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It also suggests the critical importance of workplacesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; maintaining the opportunity for older employees to continue to contribute,â&#x20AC;? said Hasher, who was not part of the research team.

Vitamin E treats fatty liver disease People with a common, obesity-related liver disease that has no known treatment got a surprising benefit from vitamin E pills, researchers report. It appears to be the first time that a vitamin supplement has been shown to help treat a major ailment not caused by a nutrient deficiency. However, doctors warned that this does not mean people should automatically take vitamin E since some research suggests it might raise the risk of other problems. The latest study tested it for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Fat buildup can cause the liver to become inflamed and scarred over time and in severe cases, to fail. The disease usually develops in people who are middle-aged and overweight or obese. Up to 5 percent of Americans have the most serious form of it, and as many as 20 percent have fat in their livers but no organ damage. In the study published online in the New England Journal of Medicine, 247 adults with advanced fatty liver disease were randomly See HEALTH SHORTS, page 13

Fitness & Health

BALTIMORE BEACON — AUGUST 2010

Health shorts From page 12 assigned to take a high dose of vitamin E (800 international units), the diabetes drug Actos, or dummy pills for nearly two years. Biopsies before and after treatment showed that liver function improved in 43 percent of those in the vitamin E group compared with 19 percent in the placebo group. “In all honesty, I was surprised,” said the lead researcher, Dr. Arun Sanyal of Virginia Commonwealth University. “A vitamin has not been previously used to cure a serious disease” that is not caused by a deficiency. Study participants on the diabetes drug Actos also improved, but to a lesser degree and with a drawback: gaining 10

pounds on average, which remained even after they stopped taking the drug. Four people who took vitamin E developed diabetes, but the study was too small to determine if the vitamin played any role. Dr. Zobair Younossi, executive director of research at the nonprofit Inova Health System in Virginia, said people with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease at the very least should make lifestyle changes such as eating a healthy diet and exercising to shed the pounds. While vitamin E may help certain people with obesity-related liver disease, “I wouldn’t get started on high-dose vitamin E without discussing it first with a doctor,” said Younossi, who has no connection to the research. — AP

BEACON BITS

Aug. 12

GRANDPARENTS’ CLASS If you’re expecting a first grandchild, sign up to learn about infant

care and infant CPR at St. Joseph Medical Center. The class will be held on Thursday, August 12, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on the Towson medical campus at 7601 Osler Dr. The cost is $10. Call (410) 337-1880 or visit www.StJosephTowson.com to register.

Ongoing

LEARN ABOUT CLINICAL TRIALS Interested in learning more about clinical trials? Visit www.trials.johnshopkins.edu to see if there is one right for you.

Ongoing

OSTEOPOROSIS SUPPORT GROUP Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) offers an osteoporosis support group. Call (443) 849-3308 for dates and times.

BEACON BITS

Ongoing

SAFE DRIVING ASSESSMENT Are you still OK to drive? Find out at this assessment program at

St. Joseph Medical Center, 7601 Osler Dr., in Towson. The program costs $180. Call (410) 337-1412 for more details.

Ongoing

PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT NETWORK

We provide counseling and coaching for family caregivers “Caregiving is the hardest thing I've ever done. Your encouragement as someone who's been there has been invaluable.” – Brian M.

Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) sponsors a free group for prostate cancer survivors and loved ones the first Monday of

each month. Call (443) 849-2961 for information and to register.

410-583-7443 The Center for Aging Families at The Counseling Center 602 Providence Road • Towson, MD 21286

Beverly Parsons, LCSW-C

% of our rehab patients return home

After surgery, illness or injury, you want to get home and back to your life as quickly as possible. Choosing the right medical and rehabilitation team will strongly impact your recovery. ManorCare offers state-of-the-art equipment, trained therapists and nurses, similar to a hospital setting. Our team offers alternatives for patients making the transition from hospital to home by using an intensive approach that teaches lifestyle adjustments to promote independence. Come tour ManorCare, see our staff in action and receive a complimentary tour package. We will also show you our outcomes that are targeted to getting patients back home.

c 2010 HCR Healthcare, LLC

Providing post-hospital skilled nursing and rehabilitation care. ManorCare – Dulaney 410-828-6500 ManorCare – Roland Park 410-662-8606 ManorCare – Rossville 410-574-4950 ManorCare – Ruxton 410-821-9600 www.hcr-manorcare.com

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Fitness & Health

AUGUST 2010 — BALTIMORE BEACON

Health Studies Page

THE PLACE TO LOOK FOR INFORMATION ON AREA CLINICAL TRIALS

New treatment tested for those with IBS By Carol Sorgen Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a disorder characterized by cramping, abdominal pain, bloating, constipation and diarrhea. While IBS does not cause permanent damage to the intestines and does not lead to serious illnesses such as cancer, it can cause a great deal of discomfort and distress. Most people can control the symptoms

of IBS through diet, stress management and prescribed medications. For others, however, IBS can be disabling and can seriously limit their ability to work, attend social events or travel even short distances. As much as 20 percent of the adult population has some symptoms of IBS. It is one of the most common disorders diagnosed by doctors, and occurs more often in women than in men. In approximately

BEACON BITS

Aug. 6+

SUMMER SOUNDS AT BELVEDERE SQUARE Bring a chair and sit back to enjoy the music of the Apple Scruffs

(Beatles music), the Remainders (classic rock), Barleyjuice (Celtic rock), and FINS (beach music) every Friday in August at Belvedere Square, 540 E.

50 percent of patients, symptoms begin before the age of 35. Symptoms can vary from person to person. Some people experience constipation, with hard, difficult-to-pass, or infrequent bowel movements. On the other hand, some people with IBS experience diarrhea, and have frequent, loose, watery stools. People with diarrhea frequently feel an urgent and uncontrollable need to have a bowel movement. Still other IBS patients alternate between constipation and diarrhea. For some people, IBS symptoms may subside for a few months and then return, while for others symptoms continuously worsen over time.

Belvedere Ave. Concerts are free and are held from 6 to 9 p.m. For more informa-

Volunteers needed

tion, visit www.belvederesquare.com.

Spectrum Clinical Research in Towson is currently conducting a clinical research study of an investigational medicine for people who suffer from diarrhea-predomi-

July 23

BSO HONORS BALTIMORE-BORN COMPOSERS Music Director Marin Alsop will conduct the BSO in “The Music

BEACON BITS

of Frank Zappa and Philip Glass” on Friday, July 23, at 7:30 p.m.

Aug. 19

at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. The concert pays tribute to the musical triumphs of the Baltimore-born composers who pushed the musical envelope. Tickets range from $21 to $48 and are available through the BSO Ticket Office, (410) 783-8000, or www.BSOmusic.org.

CRUISING AND CRABS

Join the Catonsville Senior Center on Thursday, Aug. 19, as it hosts an all-you-can-eat crab feast while cruising to Suicide Bridge on the Choptank River on a reproduction of a 1900s riverboat. Cost is $78. To reserve a spot, call (410) 744-0170.

Aug. 24

Studies on Aging: Johns Hopkins University

nant IBS and have moderate to severe abdominal pain. You may be eligible to participate if you are between the ages of 18 and 79, have moderate to severe pain in your abdomen associated with relief by bowel movement, change in frequency of bowel movements or change in appearance of stool, and have had at least 28 stools over a seven-day period. Participants in the 12-week study will be randomly assigned to either take the investigational medicine or a placebo. Neither they nor their doctors will know which substance they are taking. Participants receive study-related care, diagnostic tests and study medication at no cost. Payment for time and travel to the study center may be provided. For more information, contact Spectrum Clinical Research at (443) 828-0344. Spectrum is located at 120 Sister Pierre Drive, Suite 304, Towson.

TAKE A TRIP TO PARADISE

Paradise, Pennsylvania, that is. Join Ateaze Senior Center on Tuesday, Aug. 24, for a trip to see The Busy Body, at Rainbow Dinner Theatre. Cost is $68. For reservations, call (410) 285-0481.

Are you 70 years or older? Investigators from the Division of Geriatric Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Campus are looking for individuals aged 70 or older to participate in a research study that is looking at the aging process. Tests would include measurements of strength, walking speed and questions about your physical activities. We may also request a blood draw and urine sample. You will be paid $10 for participating depending on the study and we can conduct the study in your home. No travel required. If you choose to travel to Bayview, a parking pass will be given to you.

For more information, please call our study coordinators at Bayview:

410-550-9016 or 410-550-2113

Dec. 2+

CRUISE ON THE DANUBE

Join the Community College of Baltimore County for a cruise on the Danube from Dec. 2-10. Visit the Christmas markets and much more. Cost is $3,099 per person double room, middle outside cabin, or $3,199 per person double room, upper outside cabin. Or visit London and Paris from March 30 to April 7, 2011 for $3,366 per person double. Contact Ingrid Bortner, (443) 840-1933 or Terry Walter, (443) 840-1717 for more information on these and other trips.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Seeking Men and Women The University of Maryland & Veterans Aﬀairs of Baltimore are conducting a research study to better understand FALLS in aging individuals. With your participation you will receive:

Do You Have Osteoarthritis Of The Knee? The University of Maryland is conducting an investigational research study to determine if an herbal supplement is useful for persons with osteoarthritis of the knee.

• Health evaluation • CT scans of waist, hip, and leg • Balance and strength testing

You may be eligible if you: Have been diagnosed with OA of the knee. Are at least 40 years old. And are in good general health.

410-605-7179

Participants will be seen at Kernan Hospital located just off I-70 and Security Boulevard. Parking is free.

Mention code: FALLS You must be at least 65 years old and in good health. You will be compensated for your time.

Call 1-877-861-6037 now to see if you are eligible. You will be compensated for your time.

Fitness & Health

BALTIMORE BEACON — AUGUST 2010

Supplement only what your body needs Dear Pharmacist: companies and order tests immediately. I started taking five new suppleHere are some examples that demonments, but I’ve been noticstrate the value of the informaing occasional butterflies tion provided by this type of in my chest, hair loss, testing: heartburn and muscle Zinc — A trace mineral. Too twitching. much can cause metallic taste I think it’s related to my sensations, nausea and copper vitamins because when I deficiency. Too little could stop them, the symptoms cause shortness of breath, go away. Should I stop? hearing loss, infertility and — T.E. prostate/erectile problems. Dear T.E.: Copper — A trace mineral. Yes, and then find out what DEAR Overload is sometimes tied to specific nutrients your body PHARMACIST use of estrogen drugs or low needs — don’t just use a shot- By Suzy Cohen zinc levels. It can cause migun approach. I’ve been very supportive of nutraceuticals over the years, but moderation is key. The problem is that most doctors don’t know how to test a patient for nutrient deficiencies, so you are forced to guess what you need. Misinformation abounds. Nutritional deficiencies can actually be tested with special “micronutrient” blood tests. There are three tests that I’ve taken myself: “Comprehensive Nutritional Panel” by SpectraCell Labs, “NutrEval” by Genova Diagnostics, and the “Cardio/ION” from Metametrix. Practitioners with appropriate health licensure can become providers with these

graines, mental racing, anxiety, depression, frequent colds and interestingly, chocolate or avocado cravings. Deficiency can cause anemia, fatigue, arthritis and reproductive problems. L-Serine — An amino acid. Deficiencies are sometimes related to a rare metabolic disorder and have been associated with cerebral palsy, epilepsy, seizures, stiffness/weakness in muscles. Excessive serine can cause immune suppression or psychological symptoms. Vitamin K — A vitamin that you need to keep from bleeding to death, as it allows blood to clot. An excess can cause health problems, as the liver can only store so

much of it. Inadequate K results in bleeding gums, easy bruising, bone loss and higher cancer risk. Niacin — A “B” vitamin. Too much causes diarrhea, itching or nervousness. Deficiencies may be associated with high cholesterol, indigestion, burning mouth syndrome, canker sores, fatigue or anemia. Glutamine — An amino acid that protects the brain and gut. Having too much is rare. Low glutamine however, can lead to leaky gut, food allergies, Crohn’s disease, poor

wound healing, skin rashes and arthritis. One reason a person may have a deficiency in some of these nutrients is that the drugs he or she is taking (or tea and coffee they are drinking) are stealing these nutrients from their body. I call them drug muggers. Here are some some very common “diseases” that might be due to the drug mugging effect: See SUPPLEMENTS, page 16

If you are age 65 or older… and experiencing symptoms of overactive bladder (OAB), you may be interested in a research study that is evaluating an approved medication for OAB. For a phone screening, call toll-free:

1.800.817.4009 To refer a family member or friend to the study, call 1.800.817.4009 for more information

In order to qualify you must: • be 65 or older • have experienced overactive bladder symptoms for at least 3 months • have strong, sudden urges to urinate • have frequent urination • experience frequent wetting episodes • have health problems related to aging Qualified participants: • receive study-related care at no cost • receive study medication or placebo (inactive substance) at no cost • may be compensated for time and travel for the required 5 doctor visits over 14 weeks

Knee arthritis pain?

SavaSeniorCare Administrative Services, LLC • Skilled Nursing Services • Full-Service Rehabilitation ▲ Occupational ▲ Physical ▲ Speech • Transitional Care from Hospital to Home • Comprehensive Long-Term Nursing Care • Medicare, Medicaid and Other Insurance Plans Accepted Overlea Health and Rehabilitation Center Baltimore, MD 410-426-1424 Bel Air Health and Rehabilitation Center Bel Air, MD 410-879-1120 Glen Burnie Health and Rehabilitation Center Glen Burnie, MD 410-766-3460

Forest Hill Health and Rehabilitation Center Forest Hill, MD 410-893-2468

Volunteers are needed for a research study conducted at Johns Hopkins Bayview

Summit Park Health and Rehabilitation Center Catonsville, MD 410-747-3287

Patuxent River Health & Rehabilitation Center Laurel, MD Heritage Harbour Health 410-792-4717 and Rehabilitation Center Annapolis, MD North Arundel Health 410-897-1300 and Rehabilitation Center Glen Burnie, MD 410-761-1222

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To study sleep in pa ents with osteoarthri s of the knee. To par cipate, you must be 50 years or older. Both good and poor sleepers are needed. Parking, and tests are provided at no cost. Compensa on is provided.

Call 410-550-7906 and/or visit the website at

www.SleeplessInBaltimore.com Principal Inves gator: Michael T. Smith, Ph.D. Protocol NA_000118021

Approved 08/24/2009

Fitness & Health

AUGUST 2010 — BALTIMORE BEACON

Supplements From page 15 Depression, osteoporosis or irregular heartbeat — Could be caused by a deficiency of the mineral magnesium. Com-

mon drug muggers include female hormones, diuretics, raloxifene, tea/coffee, anti-inflammatories and aspirin. Bald patches, loss of taste/smell, erectile dysfunction or chronic diarrhea — Might be due to zinc deficiency.

BEACON BITS

July 28

STARTING AND FINANCING A BUSINESS Tonia R. McCoy, Business Development Specialist, will discuss

how to start and finance a business in the state of Maryland. McCoy will discuss how to register a business, how to deal with the IRS, the ins and outs of a business plan and much more. The workshop will take place on Wednesday, July 28, at 6 p.m. at the Forest Park Branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. Call (410) 396-0942 for more information and to register.

Common drug muggers are anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, antacids, ulcer/heartburn meds, diuretics and estrogen drugs used for birth control and menopause. Leg cramps, muscle spasms, memory loss or fatigue — May be due to a deficiency of CoQ10 (ubiquinol). This life-sustaining antioxidant gets demolished by hundreds of medications including statin cholesterol drugs, metformin, anti-depressants, beta blockers and diuretics. I’ve posted a “Big List of Drugs that Mug CoQ10” at my website: www.dearpharmacist.com. Cell damage, high homocysteine, cataracts, macular degeneration, liver problems — Could be tied to low glutathione. Acetaminophen is a possible drug mugger of glutathione. Pins and needles nerve pain, de-

pression, fatigue, anemia, weight gain — Could be related to a deficiency of B vitamins. Your stash gets depleted by female hormones (menopause and birth control), antacids, ulcer meds, diuretics, raloxifene, cholestyramine, diabetic drugs, tea/coffee. If you read this and just said, “Aha!” then get approval from your doctor to order micronutrient testing and then supplement as required. This information is opinion only. It is not intended to treat, cure or diagnose your condition. Consult with your doctor before using any new drug or supplement. Suzy Cohen is a registered pharmacist and the author of The 24-Hour Pharmacist and Real Solutions from Head to Toe. To contact her, visit www.dearpharmacist.com.

BEACON BITS

Oct. 30+

BERMUDA CRUISE

Join the Pikesville Senior Center on this six-day, five-night cruise from Baltimore to Bermuda on Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas from Oct. 30 to Nov. 4. Cost: $525 to $823, depending on cabin choices. For details and reservations, call (410) 887-1245.

Sept. 25

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR MUSEUM DAY

It’s not too soon to start your travel planning for autumn. Smithsonian magazine has designated Saturday, Sept. 25, as its sixth annual Museum Day. Participating museums and cultural institutions across the country will open their doors free of charge to all visitors who download tickets, which are now available, from www.smithsonian.com/museumday.

HELP FOR FEET & LEGS Dr. Stuart M. Goldman, Podiatrist Fellow, American College of Foot & Ankle Surgeons Board Certified in Foot & Ankle Surgery by the American Board of Podiatric Surgery Marquis Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare, Who’s Who in the World

Special focus on conservative (non surgical) treatment of foot & leg pain. • Bunions • Hammertoes • Flat Foot • Burning Feet • Leg Cramps • Ingrown Nails

• Heel & Arch Pain • Fungus Nails • Surgical Failures • Corns & Calluses • Morton’s Neuroma • “Growing Pains”

• Peripheral Neuropathy • Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome • Warts & other Skin Growths • Arthritis and Tendinitis of the •

• Sleep Interference from •

Foot & Ankle Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy

•

Leg Pains Walking Limitations from Leg Pains Foot & Leg Symptoms of Spinal Stenosis

• Diabetic Foot Management including “Comprehensive Diabetic Foot Exam” We welcome patients with persistent symptoms despite other medical or surgical care to come in for evaluation and treatment. Dr. Goldman, who has been included in Marquis Who’s Who in America, has published many articles (1997-2008) on

Peripheral Neuropathic Symptoms including numbness, burning, cramping, difficulty standing, walking or sleeping. Approximately 60% of diabetics and 40% of nondiabetics receive relief of neuropathy symptoms, within 3 days to 3 weeks!

Medical Staﬀ: Sinai Hospital, Northwest Hospital, GBMC Medicare • BlueCross/BlueShield • Aetna • Bravo • Hopkins Medical Assistance & most other insurances

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4000 Old Court Road, Suite 301 Pikesville, MD 21208

HelpForYourFeet.com

(410) 235-2345

BALTIMORE BEACON — AUGUST 2010

Careers Volunteers &

Does your organization use senior volunteers or do you employ a number of seniors? If you do and you’d like to be considered for a story in our Volunteers & Careers section, please send an e-mail to info@thebeaconnewspapers.com.

Bookkeeper finds new rewards as a nurse

Encouraging words Her husband encouraged her, but Haas was hesitant to tell her friends, thinking they would tell her she was “nuts.” When she finally got up the nerve to confide in a few close friends, she was happy to hear that they

thought it was the ideal career choice for her. Haas already knew that nursing school would be difficult — she remembered that from her first go-round. “There were a number of moments when I felt that I just didn’t want to do it anymore,” she recalled. But when she was discouraged, her husband would tell her, “Well, you haven’t failed yet, and you said you’d keep going until you did. So just keep going.” She found all the hard work paid off. “Before I knew it, I was capped and pinned, and six weeks later I had a job as a nurse,” said Haas, who has been a full-time R.N. at Greater Baltimore Medical Center (GBMC) for almost three years. What has been surprising, said Haas, is that nursing itself is more “intense” than she had imagined. “When I first put my badge on, I couldn’t believe there was an R.N. after my name,” she said. “I felt unworthy and unequipped…There’s still so much to learn after you finish nursing school.” Nursing, Haas came to find out, is more than “just holding a patient’s hand.” “The life and death decisions you have to make are mind-boggling,” she said, quickly adding, “But I love it.”

12-hour days Haas initially wanted to work eight-hour shifts because she didn’t think she’d have the stamina of her younger colleagues who were putting in 12-hours days (or nights). But eight-hour shifts are few and far between, and Haas has found that eight hours at a time wouldn’t be enough to get the job done anyway. She works three 12-hour shifts a week, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., which gives her the opportunity to get to know her patients

Baltimore City Health Department Senior Community Service Employment Program • Employment training for seniors • Be placed in non-profit or government agencies to train for a new job • Earn $7.25/hour while training • Required to train a minimum of 20 hours per week • Must be 55 or older, unemployed and a resident of Baltimore City

For more information, call

410-545-7290 or 410-545-7291

PHOTO COURTESY OF GBMC

By Carol Sorgen Though Sandy Haas had always wanted to be a nurse, she spent 30 years with the Baltimore County Public Schools, working mostly as a bookkeeper at Loch Raven High School. “I attended nursing school when I first graduated from high school,” recalled the 63-year-old Essex resident. “But it got hard, so I dropped out.” Marriage, a baby, a divorce and remarriage followed, and Haas put her nursing dreams on the back burner as she earned a living and raised her family. But one of the perks of working for Baltimore County was that she was able to take nine college credits each semester free of charge. She started doing that, at first with no particular career goal in mind. But when it became apparent that she was well on her way to earning an A.A. degree, she decided to focus her efforts on science courses to see if had the “right stuff” to go back to nursing school. Turns out — much to her own surprise — she did. “I just kept telling myself that I’d go ‘till I failed,” she said. “I never thought I could pull it off.” Not only did she receive her A.A. degree, but she was then accepted into the Community College of Baltimore County’s nursing program at the Essex campus. At the age of 56, she was working fulltime and attending school full-time on evenings and weekends.

After working with the Baltimore County Public Schools for 30 years, Sandy Haas went back to school for a degree in nursing and is now an R.N. at Greater Baltimore Medical Center.

and their families, and to establish connections with them. Many of Haas’s patients are elderly and/or terminally ill, and because of that experience, as well as caring for her moth-

er who had Alzheimer’s disease, Haas thinks that she eventually will want to move into hospice nursing. See NURSE, page 18

Volunteers & Careers

AUGUST 2010 — BALTIMORE BEACON

Free training for older healthcare workers Last year, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded nearly one million dollars to the Baltimore County Office of Workforce Development to train people over age 55 for careers in the healthcare field, helping them re-enter or stay competitive in the workforce as well as addressing the region’s high demand for skilled workers in healthcare. The program, (Maturity Works: Tapping Older Workers for High Growth Healthcare

Careers), began training its first students in June. In all, the grant will be used to provide training to more than 500 older workers, place more than 200 workers in healthcare-related jobs, and educate more than 500 employers about hiring older workers. “The grant is part of a demonstration project. We chose healthcare because the [local] area is rife with healthcare facilities, hospitals and research institutes,” said Ed-

ward Fangman, who is the executive liaison with the Baltimore County Office of Workforce Development. Participants in the project receive training in such direct patient contact jobs as certified nursing assistants, geriatric nursing assistants and surgical technicians. They can also train for jobs in medical billing and medical coding. They will also get basic skills training in language and math targeted to the health field. All costs are covered for students accepted into the program, which is held at the Community College of Baltimore

County. The training takes between six and 13 months, depending on the field chosen. To qualify, students must read at an eighth grade level and be proficient in sixth grade math. Applicants will be tested. “With the job market the way it is, we have been getting good results on the tests. These are people who have lost good jobs and now want to retrain,” said Varvara Kymbriti, the program manager for Maturity Works. For more information, call Kymbriti at (410) 887-5516. — Barbara Ruben

National Family Caregivers Support Program is offering one-day workshops to pre-

Nurse

pare new caregivers to manage the care of their older or disabled loved ones.

From page 17

Caregiver 101 will be offered from 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, July 24, at the Arnold

In addition to her nursing duties, Haas has spoken several times on behalf of a million-dollar federal grant entitled “Maturity Works: Tapping Older Workers for High-Growth Healthcare Careers in the

Baltimore Region.” (See related article, this page.) Though Haas’s education was not funded through the grant, she was chosen as a testimonial speaker because she went back to school to earn a nursing degree later in life. It’s a decision she couldn’t be happier with.

BEACON BITS

July 24+

CAREGIVING 101 AND 102 The Anne Arundel County Department of Aging and Disabilities’

Senior Activity Center, 44 Church Rd. This workshop will provide caregivers with information needed to prepare for hospital or rehabilitation facility discharge and other issues. Caregiver 102 will be offered from 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, August 14, at the same location. In this workshop caregivers will learn essential home care skills. To register for the free workshops, call (410) 222-4464, ext. 3043, or register online at www.aacounty.org/aging.

Aug. 13

The Woodlands

• Round-the-clock professional staﬀ Assisted Living It’s About Living • On-site therapies 1320 Windlass Dr. • Baltimore, MD 21220 • Diabetic 410-918-2139 • woodlandsliving.org management • Short- and Quail Run long-term admissions Assisted Living When there’s no place like home...

9900 Walther Blvd. • Baltimore, MD 21234

410-529-9400 • quailrun.org

BEACON BITS

Managed by Quail Run Eldercare Communities

Adults 62+ – Make Your Move!

INTERGENERATIONAL WII BOWLING TOURNAMENT

Bring your grandchild to compete in Wii bowling at Essex Senior Center, 600 Dorsey Ave., on Friday, August 13 at noon. Participants are encouraged to come up with a creative team name. Prizes will be awarded, and ice cream will be served afterward. For more information, call Ben Hoffman at (410) 887-0267

Aug. 31

OPEN HOUSE AT RENAISSANCE INSTITUTE

Renaissance Institute, a lifelong learning program at College of Notre Dame of Maryland, will host an open house for new members on Tuesday, August 31, from 9:30 to 11:30 am in Fourier Hall. To register for the open house, call Becky Straub at (410) 532-5351. To learn more about the Renaissance Institute and view the Fall 2010 class schedule, visit www.ndm.edu/renaissance.

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BALTIMORE BEACON — AUGUST 2010

Travel Leisure &

The town of Menemsha in Martha’s Vineyard is a great place to eat fresh seafood.

Chilling with celebs on Martha’s Vineyard

Celeb sightings That’s a major reason why a long and

COURTESY OF CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FOR MARTHA’S VINEYARD

varied list of celebrities have visited and, in some cases, built homes there. If a visitor thinks he saw Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, James Taylor or Carly Simon at a shop or grocery store, he’s probably right. Mike Wallace and Spike Lee may be spotted lining up like everyone else to order seafood at a modest take-out shack. Along with about 15,000 year-round residents, a number that can swell to over 100,000 on busy summer weekends, they have discovered the appeals of the triangular shaped, 9-by-23 mile island. My wife Fyllis and I hoped to do the same, delving into the island’s history, sampling available activities, and learning what makes it special to so many luminaries. We weren’t disappointed on any score. The history of Martha’s Vineyard encompasses the Wampanoag Native Americans, immigrants from England, well-to-do African-Americans, and an influx of people from the Cape Verde islands of Portugal. A small Wampanoag reservation still serves as a reminder of nearly 70 villages throughout New England that, in the 1600s, were inhabited by up to 40,000 people of that Indian tribe. They were there when a parade of explorers began to arrive, including an Englishman named Bartholomew Gosnold. After landing in 1602, he named the island for his daughter and the wild grapes that he found growing there. Forty years later, the first English settlement was established.

Oak Bluffs is known for its multi-colored homes covered with gingerbreaded gables and porches. It also is home to the largest marina in Martha’s Vineyard and is a popular resort town.

Oak Bluffs and other towns Not long after that slavery came to the island, providing workers for both whaling ships and sheep farms that produced wool and woolen cloth for export. After slavery was abolished in 1783, a small neighborhood of free AfricanAmericans sprang up in what now is the town of Oak Bluffs. About a half-century later, a Methodist camp meeting was held in the village. Over time,

COURTESY OF CHAMBER OF COMMERCE FOR MARTHA’S VINEYARD

By Victor Block It took scant minutes after arriving on Martha’s Vineyard to get a quick fix on what the island is all about. I passed winding driveways leading to mansion-size homes with gentle names like Swans Way and Sweet William Path. Roadside wooden tables were laden with flowers, eggs and vegetables for sale, with hand-written signs indicating how much money to leave for purchases made on the honor system. Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., is bestknown as a tony hideaway for celebrities, politicians, and the rich and powerful. That reputation was enhanced last summer when President Obama and his family took their first vacation there since moving into the White House. But another appeal of the island, I discovered, is that Martha’s Vineyard offers visitors not just an inviting destination, but a way of life. As one year-round resident told me, “This island is a place where you can be yourself.”

The Aquinnah Cliffs at the western tip of Martha’s Vineyard are a national landmark. Their multiple colors stem from the layers of glacial sediment they consist of, including red and white clays, green sands, white quartz and black soil.

it evolved into an annual event, which by the 1870s was drawing thousands of participants. Attracted by the worship, augmented by the lure of beaches and sea, some visitors constructed cottages around the meeting site. Rather than the simple shingled houses and occasional grander structures that cover most of Martha’s Vineyard, homes built in Oak Bluffs show a very different face. They are whimsical wooden cottages adorned by turrets and towers, fancy trimmed gables and porches, all painted a variety of pastel shades. Among those attracted to this little enclave were African-American doctors, lawyers and other professionals from major East Coast cities. The integrated village continues to be a vacation destination for the fifth and six generations of some of the original families. Each of the other five towns on Martha’s Vineyard also has its own distinct character. As the entry point for most people who travel there by ferry, Vineyard Haven provides the first, somewhat disappointing, impression of the island. The initial view includes low-lying terrain and a row of oil storage tanks along the shoreline. Then the eye notices imposing houses in the background spilling up gentle hills,

and the masts of sailboats in the harbor swaying in the breeze. Vineyard Haven was one of New England’s busiest ports during the time of wind-powered ships and whaling. Today it’s home to the largest year-round population on the island, about 2,000 people. A former Methodist meeting house, constructed in 1833, is home to the Vineyard’s year-round playhouse. Wandering in nearby Edgartown is akin to a stroll through an early 19th-century seaport. Brick sidewalks along narrow tree-shaded streets lead past stately Greek Revival homes that were built by whaling captains, as well as countless art galleries for which the town is known. Clinging to its nautical past, Edgartown is a popular yachting center, as a glance at its protected harbor indicates.

Rural enclaves To reach the other tiny enclaves that rate being called “towns” on Martha’s Vineyard, we drove “up-island.” That term, a holdover from days of whaling ships and schooners, describes the rural, western end of the island. West Tisbury encompasses nearly oneSee MARTHA’S VINEYARD, page 20

Leisure & Travel

Martha’s Vineyard From page 19 third the area of Martha’s Vineyard, but the town itself is little more than an intersection that includes a church, town hall and general store. The largest homes were once owned by sea captains, and some are occupied by their descendants. Alley’s General Store, which has been in business since 1858, is a gathering place for locals and visitors alike. Some residents come to check the flurry of bulletin board notices about community events and items for sale, while others shop for items ranging from scrub brushes and hardware to souvenirs and snacks. The 963 residents of Chilmark live among rolling hills with views of the sea. For visitors, it serves primarily as a landmark for two other destinations.

AUGUST 2010 — BALTIMORE BEACON

Menemsha is less a town than a working harbor. Small, weather-beaten boats chug out to sea and return with catches of fish and lobster, while modest restaurants and carryout shops prepare and serve the seafood not long after it stops moving. Many locals rate Larson’s as the best place to order clam chowder and lobster rolls, and The Bite for fried clams. Aquinnah, on the western tip of the island, is known for a mile-long stretch of multi-colored cliffs overlooking the beach. Nature has fashioned layers of sand, clay and gravel into a kaleidoscopic mixture of reds, whites and grays. Many residents of Aquinnah are descendants of the Wampanoag, some of whom operate handicraft shops and restaurants. The history of the tribe is traced at the Aquinnah Cultural Center, housed in a 19th-century farmhouse.

Anyone attracted by the offshore isolation of Martha’s Vineyard is sure to relish a side trip to Chappaquiddick, a tiny dot of land in Edgartown Harbor. Cut off since a storm in 2007 breached the land connection, “Chappy,” as it’s affectionately called, is reached by a one-minute ride aboard the tiny “On Time” ferry. Seclusion is what residents of Chappy seek, and that is what they enjoy. For visitors, attractions include a seven-mile-long beach, one paved road, a number of sand tracks for hiking and biking, and salt marsh that is home to plovers, terns and other birds. The Chappaquiddick beach is one of more than a dozen stretches of sand that tempt warm-weather visitors. Three-milelong South Beach near Edgartown is most popular, and most crowded during summer months. The list of other to-do’s extends to outstanding fishing for blues, striped bass (rock fish), bonita and other scrappy fighters, spotting some of more than 300 species of land and water birds that inhabit and visit the island, and pedaling on 44 miles of flat bike trails and roadways on your own or with a bicycle tour company. Whether experiencing the solitude of an isolated forest, reliving an intriguing chapter of American history, or simply enjoying a vacation at a place where numerous celebrities head for a bit of R-and-R, Martha’s Vineyard has variety enough to

fill many a traveler’s wish list.

If you go While most visitors travel to Martha’s Vineyard during the summer, the weather is also inviting in spring and fall, and the fishing excellent in September and October. There are scheduled flights to the island from Boston, Providence and several other nearby cities. Car ferries run from Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and a passenger ferry from Rhode Island. The least expensive round-trip flight from BWI Marshall Airport starts at $204 on Continental Airlines. The Edgartown Inn has apparently changed little in appearance since it was built in 1798 as a whaling captain’s residence. Furnished with antiques, it counts among past notable guests Daniel Webster, Nathaniel Hawthorne and then-Senator John F. Kennedy. Room rates begin at $125. For more information, call (508) 627-9420 or log onto Edgartowninn.com. The Wesley Hotel, overlooking the harbor in Oak Bluffs, is 80 years younger but no less charming. Its wide front porch and turreted outline speak of the past. Summer rates begin at $245. For more information, call (800) 638-9027 or log onto wesleyhotel.com. To learn more about Martha’s Vineyard, call the Chamber of Commerce at (800) 505-4815 or log onto www.mvy.com.

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Leisure & Travel

BALTIMORE BEACON — AUGUST 2010

Melatonin and sunlight help cure jet lag By Jaime Stengel For many travelers who cross several time zones, the exhilaration of taking in sights like the Eiffel Tower or the pyramids of Egypt is quickly tempered by the grogginess of jet lag. Veteran flyers often have their own remedies to overcome those signals from the body that it’s time for sleep. But an Oregon researcher recently detailed in the New England Journal of Medicine three basic strategies for overcoming jet lag: • Reset the circadian clock that tells a person to stay awake during the day and sleep at night. You can do this by taking the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin, timing your exposure to bright light, or both. • Adjust your sleep schedule. Take short naps if you are sleepy the first few days after arrival. If you can, shift your sleep schedule by a couple of hours before travel. • Use medications to get to sleep or stay awake. Or turn to the old reliable remedy for keeping your eyes open: caffeine. “We have mechanisms to adjust our clocks, but those mechanisms have to be called on to go into high gear,” said Dr. Robert Sack, a psychiatry professor at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon. He wrote the journal article that takes a science-based look at jet lag remedies.

How to take melatonin Sack said melatonin is the most extensively studied jet lag treatment, with a majority of double-blind, placebo-controlled trials showing it helped symptoms. “Its effect is based in good science,” said Sack. He said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not evaluated melatonin, but no significant adverse effects have been reported. Melatonin is sold as a nutritional supplement in the U.S. and no prescription is needed for it. No drugs have been approved by the FDA for jet lag, but Sack says drugs that help with alertness or insomnia can alleviate jet lag. So for eastward travel, from the U.S. to Paris for example, on arrival a traveler might go for a walk in the sun and then sip a latte at an outdoor cafe. Sack said travelers who are unbearably sleepy as the day wears on should take a short nap. Then take melatonin — a dose of 0.5 to 3 milligrams — before heading to bed, and hopefully you’ll be adjusted to your new time zone within a couple days. For westward flights — such as Europe back to the U.S. — travelers should expose themselves to bright light in the evening to help them stay up later. Then if their eyes pop open before 5 a.m., take a

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low dose of melatonin. “Your internal dawn is occurring before you want it to,” Sack said, adding “it’s easier to lengthen your day, which is what you do when you travel westward.” While trouble sleeping or waking up is the main symptom of jet lag, travelers can also experience irritability, difficulty concentrating and upset stomachs, Sack said.

People react differently Dr. Clayton Cowl, chief of aerospace medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota,

said that jet lag can be a difficult condition to pin down since it affects different people in different ways and can be influenced by an array of factors. “Everyone will seem to have a signature strategy that will work for them, and I think this article helps to identify the palate of things that are safe and for the most part effective,” Cowl said. “Unfortunately, there’s not just one straight recommendation: Take these two pills and you’ll be fine.” —AP

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Style Arts &

“Log Cabin Shirred Rug” by Barbara Evelyn Merry is part of the BMA’s exhibit on textiles.

Playwright festival features dark comedy follow Vera’s lead, luring homeless men off the street for a chance at a better life, only to rob them of their greatest treasure. She feels some regret, like one who has become too close to the farm cow or chicken, which now must be slaughtered for the meal.

Middaugh, 63, has been a professional writer for more than 30 years and turned to writing plays while in her 40s. She also entered a play about middle-aged love in the 2006 festival.

Black comedy Black Widows has its comic elements (there are many laughs in this play), but it’s not Arsenic and Old Lace. There isn’t much likeable about Vera and Gwen. Vera uses her early life’s tragedy as an excuse to take whatever she can get from whomever she can get it. In fact, she shares Hitler’s “survival of the fittest” mentality toward life and has more in common with the Nazis than she perhaps realizes. Beyond a love of animals, particularly her two dogs, Gwen’s character is also tattered, filled with holes that permit her to

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Older actors shine However, while there is little to like about these two characters, there is much to enjoy in their portrayal by Mainolfi and Dentz. Mainolfi, a staple of Baltimore theater for nearly 50 years, is a whirlwind of energy on the stage, constantly on the move like an animal that has been trapped once before and intends never to be caught again. She

plays Vera with spigot-like emotions, turning the taps of weeping sadness and relentless avarice on and off like a faucet. Dentz, adopting a Brooklyn accent in contrast with Mainolfi’s Russian one, has the more difficult role, as it is her character that grows, albeit slowly and minimally, through the course of the play. Glenn Vitale brings his 20 years of experience in theater to the role of John McCardle, the one-legged, trumpet-playing Vietnam veteran who becomes ensnared in the black widows’ web. Vitale is quite convincing as the wary, See DARK COMEDY, page 25

PHOTO COURTESY OF KATE MCKENNA

By Dan Collins A Bible verse asks, “What does it profit a man to gain the world, but lose his soul?” And that’s the question at the heart of Susan Middaugh’s play, Black Widows, part of the 29th Baltimore Playwrights Festival, now at the Theatrical Mining Company stage on the campus of Baltimore’s College of Notre Dame. In this case, the soul-less ones are two elderly women — Vera (Ann Mainolfi), a Russian immigrant who survived the Nazis, and her partner in crime, Gwen (Babs Dentz), who barely have one soul between them. Together, these two con artists, who enjoy ripping off hotels and the odd “Ms. Rich Bitch” for petty cash, decide to graduate to insurance fraud and murder. The story is based on real life events reported in the Baltimore Sun in 2005.

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Babs Dentz (left) and Ann Mainolfi star as Gwen and Vera, whose con games escalate to murder and insurance fraud, in Black Widows by local playwright Susan Middaugh. The play, at the Theatrical Mining Company, is one of six being performed as part of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival.

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Arts & Style

BALTIMORE BEACON — AUGUST 2010

Contrasting exhibits displayed at the BMA New life for textiles The museum’s other current exhibition, “Textiles Recycled/Reimagined,” takes the viewer from the contemporary works of today’s up and coming artists to the textile arts, which have traditionally provided those forced by necessity or inspired by frugality a means of fashioning something new from something old. This intimate exhibition presents more than a dozen unique objects made either wholly or in part from reused and/or repurposed materials. Among the items on display are an “African American Strippy Quilt,” made of scraps of ordinary commercial fabrics sewn in the 1950s, and colorful rugs, such as “Polar Bear on Ice Floe,” fashioned from worn-out stockings and undergarments. See EXHIBITS, page 25

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By Carol Sorgen From the contemporary world of digital photography and Twitter to the centuriesold art and craft of textile design, two exhibitions now at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) provide an interesting look at sharply contrasting visions of art. For the fifth year, the BMA’s featured exhibition, “Sondheim Artscape Prize: 2010 Finalists,” presents the varied works of seven finalists competing for the $25,000 prize named after the late Baltimore civic leader Walter Sondheim and his late wife, Janet. The prize recognizes the achievements of visual artists living or working in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia and southeastern Pennsylvania. The works range from intriguing to puzzling. Maryland Institute College of Art faculty member Nate Larson, for example, combines the social medium of Twitter with photography, traveling to locations identifiable in “tweets” posted online. Photographing the site and pairing it with the poster’s tweet offers another dimension to the short messages their writer has composed (“tweets” are limited to 140 characters or less), lending — in many instances — a sense of poignancy missing from the tweet alone. In “Come from Nothing,” for example, a photograph of a jumbled rack of mismatched, and seemingly used, items of clothing is paired with the tweet, “When u come from nothing, anything is something.” Larson’s intention of “creating everyday poetry through the new mode of instant communication” is fully realized, creating a sense of immediacy with the viewer.

This photo (paired with a Twitter “tweet”) is a finalist for the Sondheim Artscape prize, now on exhibit with other finalists at the Baltimore Museum of Art. It’s by Maryland College of Art faculty member Nate Larson. The tweet his photo illustrates reads, “When u come from nothing, anything is something.”

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Abstract approaches On the other hand, the works of Baltimore sculptor and multimedia artist Christopher LaVoie may provoke discussion (“Is this art?” asked my 14-year-old niece) but didn’t spark any emotional response. “Lumber Crying,” for example, a vertical length of wood resting on a sandbag, may have been visually interesting in its simplicity but left me underwhelmed. Likewise, LaVoie’s aptly named “Sediment Hatchet” — a hatchet created from the sediment collected from the bottom of a shop sink — or “Computer Dumbell,” fashioned from pureed computer disks, were similarly uncomplicated from a visual standpoint but also similarly uninspiring. The title of one of Baltimore multimedia artist Matthew Janson’s work, “Childfully Serious,” sums up his playful approach to his sculptural pieces, whether three-dimensional wall hangings or abstract floor installations of cracked mirror. Other works in the exhibition range from Leah Cooper’s essentially blank canvas of a white room with faint pencil lines marking the walls, to Matt Porterfield’s filmed streetscapes and domestic settings of Baltimore neighborhoods.

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Dark comedy From page 22 world-weary vet who must be coaxed from his home “beneath the freeway” to move into an apartment provided by Vera. The scene where Vitale faces off with Mainolfi over whether a fellow Marine vet, Lloyd (Saul Braverman) can move in with him, is quite disturbing, particularly as Vera drops her “sweet benefactor” façade to reveal her true identity. One senses the shock McCardle feels when, roaring at Vera for her callous behavior toward Lloyd, Vera roars right back, as dangerous as any enemy McCardle likely faced in the jungles of Southeast Asia.

Exhibits From page 23 Also featured is a contemporary American quilted wall hanging made from vintage handkerchiefs, and a silk fabric made with feathers from restaurant-harvested fowls. The pieces in this exhibition range from the functional to the decorative, sometimes combining both aspects in one. A breathtaking Buddhist priest’s robe, from Japan’s Edo period (1615-1868), invites a close examination of the sumptuous fabrics used, as does the intricate beadwork of Jennifer E. Brown, who takes vintage pieces and reworks them into wearable art. While these two exhibitions are widely

The remainder of the cast do a workman-like job in their small roles: Mike Ware as Detective Moe Goodman; Crystal Sewell as Shelley, the insurance agent; Grant Chism, the auctioneer; and Abby Sharbach, who plays multiple small roles.

Justice in the end Like a well-executed con game, Black Widows draws you in, and one is glad to see justice done by play’s end, though the attempt to make Gwen a figure of redemption seems a bit forced. She is as guilty of murder and fraud as Vera, and gains her release only by ratting out the woman she once called a friend. Black Widows is well-acted and moves divergent, they provide not only a fascinating look at the BMA’s breadth of holdings and programming point of view, but also a compare-and-contrast examination of what can be considered art, where it has come from, and where it is going. “Sondheim Artscape Prize: 2010 Finalists” is on view through Aug. 1. “Textiles Recycled/Reimagined” can be seen through Sept. 5. Admission to the exhibitions, and to the museum, is free. The Museum is located on Art Museum Drive at 31st Street and is open Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call (443) 5731700 or visit www.artbma.org.

Arts & Style

BALTIMORE BEACON — AUGUST 2010

along at a swift pace for a two-hour production, but one cannot help but wonder, why write this play? Why should we care about Vera and Gwen, two narcissistic women so involved in their own issues they are capable of multiple murders? Is this a black comedy, a detective story, a study of a society that views the homeless as disposable people, or all of the above? Still, Black Widows makes you think, and does so in an engaging way. And for that, it is a respectable evening’s entertainment. Directed by Barry Feinstein, Black Widows continues its run through July 25 at the

Theatrical Mining Company, LeClerc Hall, College of Notre Dame, 4701 N. Charles St. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 Friday through Sunday, and pay what you can on Thursdays. For more information and reservations, call (410) 710-8166 or visit http://tmc.originalplays.com. The Baltimore Playwrights Festival offers other performances by local writers in area theatres through August 29. For more information, visit www.baltimoreplaywrightsfestival.org. Dan Collins is a Baltimore freelance writer.

Letter to the editor Dear Editor: Today’s celebrities and entertainers, doctors and educators, and for a while sports players, did nothing to fix themselves up until managers got tired of them looking so bad on television. Nobody wants to look good and dress good [any more]. Today women go to church without a hat, or sometimes they wear jeans to church. I don’t believe you should come

to church as you are. When you go to church, you should fix yourself up to look as nice as you can because you are going into the house of the Lord. I am a proud lady and want to look good all of the time. I do not wear tennis shoes or jeans anywhere. I am 84 years old and just thought I had to say this to both seniors and young people. Sally A. Marrow Baltimore

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Return this form with your check, made payable to The Beacon, to: The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915-2227 *Maryland residents: add 6% for sales tax.

AUGUST 2010 — BALTIMORE BEACON

Crossword

Puzzle Page

Measuring Up 1

by Stephen Sherr 4

18 21

Jagoe’s Brain Joggers by Armiger Jagoe

1. Who was the actor who was born Raymond Wallace Bulcao and played the part of the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz? 2. In 1964, who was the Republican presidential candidate who was defeated by Lyndon Johnson? 3.Who was the Swedish-born Canadian who, in 1913, invented the modern zipper? 4. In 1955, what was the name of the first restaurant in Des Plains, IL, started by Ray A. Kroc? 5. Who was the popular musician and orchestra leader whose second wife (in 1942) was Betty Grable and who went on to have two others?

Jagoe’s Brain Joggers answers

43 47

54 57

46 49

45 48

32 35

Magic Maze answers on p. 25.

55 58

70 73

Across

Down

1. Cable network launched August 1, 1981 4. Use quotes 8. Monastery leader 13. One who signs a mortgage 15. Schlep 16. Bombshell Monroe’s first first name 17. Acting frugally 20. Require 21. Bill Clinton’s instrument 22. Tactical advantage 23. By way of 25. Family portrait participant, for short 27. Carbon dioxide, for example 28. Flirted, secretly 34. Word in a dry cleaner’s promise 35. July 4 comment 36. Impatient 39. Computer symbol 40. Majestic 43. Strike out 44. Take care of 46. Piglet’s pal 47. The main ingredient of steel 48. Badminton and croquet 52. “Eureka!” 54. Chinese restaurant freebie 55. Demographic datum 56. Increasingly common type of service 58. Soprano Sumac 60. The hardest substance in the human body 65. Poses 68. Recipient 69. DC athlete 70. ___ even keel 71. Villain’s specialty 72. Mimic 73. The only industrialized nation that uses the units hidden in 17, 28, 48, and 65 Across

1. Be down in the dumps 2. Romulus (or Remus) 3. Discharge 4. Heartburn source 5. Scottish John 6. Pulls with full force 7. City along the Rio Grande 8. ___ Arbor (MI college town) 9. Domino tile 10. Trick or trump 11. Zee’s foreign friend 12. Electrically subdues 14. Developer of the 45 rpm record format 18. Bee flat 19. Hall of mirrors goal 24. ___ effort (reward for trying) 26. Agency that manages 20% of the 2010 Fed. budget 28. 11 Down preceders 29. Add impurities 30. Blobbish 31. Busybody 32. Tara family 33. Nation featured in 2008 Best Picture 37. Gin flavoring 38. Cravings 41. “… ___ lender be” 42. Viper, for example 45. Mo. to say “trick or treat” 49. Typewriter parts 50. Moped maker 51. Emmy Award winning actress Rowlands 52. Some profs. 53. Stud 57. Fly the coop 59. At the summit 61. Latin lover’s word 62. Lunchroom list 63. Eon parts 64. Smallville girl 66. Botch a grounder 67. Pirate’s assent

Answers on page 25.

1. Ray Bolger 2. Barry Goldwater 3. Gideon Sundback 4. McDonalds 5. Harry James

BALTIMORE BEACON — AUGUST 2010

CLASSIFIEDS The Beacon prints classified advertising under the following headings: Business & Employment Opportunities; Caregivers; Computer Services; Entertainment; For Sale; For Sale/Rent: Real Estate; Free; Health; Home/ Handyman Services; Miscellaneous; Personals; Personal Services; Vacation Opportunities; and Wanted. For submission guidelines and deadlines, see the box on the bottom of this page. CAVEAT EMPTOR! The Beacon does not knowingly accept obscene, offensive, harmful, or fraudulent advertising. However, we do not investigate any advertisers or their products and cannot accept responsibility for the integrity of either. Respondents to classified advertising should always use caution and their best judgment. EMPLOYMENT & REAL ESTATE ADS: We will not knowingly or intentionally accept advertising in violation of federal, state, and local laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, familial status or handicap in connection with employment or the sale or rental of real estate.

Business & Employment Opportunities OFFER A NEEDED SERVICE VERY FEW KNOW ABOUT! Earn large commissions selling the unwanted life insurance policies of seniors in the emerging industry of Life/Viatical Settlements. Need network of seniors and/or professionals that work with seniors. Call Ray at 877-282-4360. www.AtAge60.com. $$$ 47 PEOPLE WANTED $$$ EARN Up To $4,794 Weekly Working From Home Assembling Information Packets. No Experience Necessary! Start Immediately! FREE Information. CALL 24hrs. 1-866-899-2756. $50/HR POTENTIAL. Get Paid to Shop and Eat. Retail Research Associate Needed. No Experience. Training Provided. Call 1-800-742-6941. ACTORS/MOVIE EXTRAS Needed Immediately for upcoming roles $150-$300 per day depending on job requirements. No experience, All looks needed. 1-800-561-1762 A-104 for casting times/locations. AIRLINES ARE HIRING – Train for high paying Aviation Maintenance Career. FAA approved program. Financial aid if qualified – Housing available. CALL Aviation Institute of Maintenance (888) 686-1704. BARTENDERS IN DEMAND. No Experience Necessary. Meet New People, Take Home Cash Tips. Up to $200 per shift. Training, Placement and Certification Provided. Call (877) 435-8840. SELL YOUR UNWANTED LIFE INSURANCE! Nationally licensed and insured. Call 877-282-4360 for a FREE evaluation. www.AtAge60.com.

Caregivers PRIVATE DUTY SERVICE providing professional & high quality care by a licensed and insured, certified nursing assistant. Because you’re worth it! Great references! Contact Laura 443-630-8453 or ljeancok@aol.com.

Financial Services CASH NOW! Get cash for your structured settlement or annuity payments. High payouts. Call J.G. Wentworth. 1-866-SETTLEMENT (1-866-7388536). Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau. $$$ACCESS LAWSUIT CASH NOW!!! As seen on TV, Injury Lawsuit Dragging? Need $500-$500,000++ within 24/hrs after Approval? Compare our lower rates. CALL NOW 1-866386-3692 www.lawcapital.com.

For Rent/Sale Real Estate F O R S A L E B Y O W N E R : Active 55+ Community located in Pikesville, MD Villages at Woodholme. Over 3,000 Square Feet. Beautiful well maintained home. 410-653-8272. http://www.fsbo55andover.com.

For Rent/Sale Real Estate

Miscellaneous

Personal Services

1BR UNFURNISHED APARTMENT in Greektown in Baltimore near I-95, Hopkins Bayview. 2nd floor, private entrance, remodeled kitchen, bathroom, hardwood floors, W/D, AC. Best suited for 1 adult, no pets, smoking. $800 includes utilities. Security deposit & references required. Call 410-665-8918.

**ALL Satellite Systems are not the same. Monthly programming starts under $20 per month and FREE HD and DVR systems for new callers. CALL NOW 1-800-799-4935.

TARNISH? Your complete resource for all things sterling. Fine gifts and rare antiques. Expert polishing, plating, repairs, engraving. BUYING AND SELLING sliver and gold at the best prices. Intercon Industries, 629 Reisterstown Road, Pikesville, MD 21208. 410-358-3377.

FURNISHED 1BR FOR RENT and use of kitchen and utilities. Home located in Catonsville area near #20-busline. Rent is $110/week. Male preferred. Call 410-455-0461 and ask for Wayne. 20 ACRE RANCHES Near Growing EL Paso Texas. Only $12,900 $0Down, $99 per/mo. Owner Financing, No Credit Checks Money Back Guarantee. Free Map/Pictures. 1-800-7558953 www.sunsetranches.com. GEORGIA LAND & HOMESITES- Washington County near Augusta. 1acre-20acres starting @ $3750/acre. County approved, incredible investment, Beautiful weather. Low taxes. Owner financing from $199/mo. Hablo Espanol, 706-364-4200. LAND SALE – BANK LIQUIDATION PRICES Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, New Mexico. Acreage starting at $485/acre for 35ac FINANCING AVAILABLE OAC Buildable land, brokers welcome www.RmtLand.com Rmtkenzie@yahoo.com 1-800-682-8088. RENT TO OWN HOMES! Damaged Credit – OK $850 Special! You Work, You Own – Guaranteed! $3,000 Minimum Combined Income CoApplicants Welcome! 1-888-605-5181 or 636533-4070 www.RealAgentsHomes.com.

For Sale INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY “Revolutionary Super Bowl Rulette Game” © on Census allocation of seats for forth-coming Presidential elections. Game for Licensing or sale. Prototype available. TV programming for all ages. Potential – Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Millionaire, Academic etc. Electoral Academy MC’s Trivia quizzes, debates, pre-election primaries. Patriotic, entertaining. Timely inducement to voter registration and education. Video Game. Small business opportunity and for Maryland’s voice in the Democratic Process. Contact Carl Millett at rulette@verizon.net. Phone – 410-532-8101. BARN FOR SALE, Call 1-402-833-5600. BUILDING SALE! “ROCK BOTTOM PRICES!” Quick Delivery. 25X30 $4577. 30X40 $7140. 32X60 $11,950. 35X60 $13,990. 40X70 $14,650. 46X140 $37,600. OTHERS. Ends optional. Pioneer DIRECT 1-800-668-5422. DIRECTV 50% OFF for one year! FREE HD/DVR Upgrades, Standard Install, 3mo STARZ + SHOWTIME. Get started for $0! New cust only, qual pkgs. DirectStarTV 1-800-279-5698. GIGANTIC GYM MIRRORS, $99 48”X100” (11 available) @ $115/each. 72”x100” (9 available) @ $165/each. 60”x84” beveled (3 available) @ $135/each. Will Deliver free. Installation Available. 1-800-473-0619. MEMORY FOAM THERAPEUTIC NASA VISCO MATTRESSES WHOLESALE! T-$299 F-$349 Q-$399 K-$499 ADJUSTABLES - $799 FREE DELIVERY 25 YEAR WARRANTY 90 NIGHT TRIAL 1-800-ATSLEEP 1-800-2875337 WWW.MATTRESSDR.COM. SILLY SHAPED BRACELET BANDS WHOLESALE Smart store owners buy from us. Huge variety. Hottest novelty item of the decade. BUY WHOLESALE HERE. 888-5634411 www.wholesalesillybandz.com.

Health VIAGRA, Cialis, Testosterone & MORE! FREE Samples! Low Prices! FDA Approved Medical Vacuum Pumps. FREE BROCHURES! Dr. Joel Kaplan 619-294-7777 Ext. #25 www.DrJoelKaplan.com (Discounts Available).

Miscellaneous DONATE YOUR CAR!!! Kids Fund Inc. 443901-2649 or 1-877-532-9330. Help to provide scholarships to attend college for kids. Cars, Boats, SUV, Buses, etc. Free towing. IRS Tax Deductions. All vehicles considered. REACH OVER 30 MILLION HOMES WITH ONE BUY. Advertise in NANI for only $2,795 per week! For information, call Roger at 410-248-9101.

DONATE A CAR - HELP CHILDREN FIGHTING DIABETES. Fast, Free Towing. Call 7 days/week. Non-runners OK. Tax Deductible. Call Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. 1-800-578-0408. ACCREDITED HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA. English/Spanish. Earn your diploma fast! No GED. CALL NOW! 1-888-355-5650. DONATE A CAR TODAY TO HELP CHILDREN And Their Families Suffering From Cancer. Free Towing. Tax Deductible. Children’s Cancer Fund of America, Inc. www.ccfoa.org 1800-469-8593. ATTEND COLLEGE ONLINE from Home. *Medical, *Business, *Paralegal, *Accounting, *Criminal Justice. Job placement assistance. Computer available. Financial Aid if qualified. Call 800-510-0784 www.CenturaOnline.com. DIRECTV Save $29/mo for a YEAR! NO Equipment/Start-Up Costs! Free HD/DVR Upgrade! Other Packages Start $29.99/mo! Ends 7/14/10. New cust. only, qual pkgs. DirectStarTV 1-800-620-0058. DONATE A CAR… To The Cancer Fund of America. Help Those Suffering With Cancer Today. Free Towing and Tax deductible. 1-800835-9372 www.cfoa.org. FREE HD FOR LIFE! Only on DISH Network! Lowest Price in America! $24.99/mo for over 120 Channels! $500 Bonus! 877-227-2995. HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA! Graduate in 4 Weeks! PACE Program. FREE Brochure. CALL NOW! 1-866-562-3650 Ext. 30 www.southeasternhs.com. GET YOUR DEGREE ONLINE *Medical, *Business, *Paralegal, *Accounting, *Criminal Justice. Job placement assistance. Computer available. Financial Aid if qualified. Call 800510-0784 www.CenturaOnline.com. DONATE YOUR CAR! Breast Cancer Research foundation! Most highly rated breast cancer charity in America! Tax Deductible/Fast Free Pick Up. 800771-9551 www.cardonationsforbreastcancer.org. HANDS ON CAREER – Train for a high paying Aviation Maintenance Career. FAA approved program. Financial aid if qualified – Job placement assistance. Call AIM today (866)854-6156. HD IS FREE FOR LIFE w/ DISH Network! FREE HD-DVR Upgrade, and $75 Cash-Back! NO Installation, or Equipment Costs! From $24.99/mo. CALL-NOW: 866-236-8706. HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA! Graduate in just 4 Weeks! PACE Program. FREE Brochure. CALL NOW! 1-800-532-6546 Ext. 412 www.continentalacademy.com.

REPUTABLE BUYER of STERLING SILVER AND GOLD with 30 years experience. Best prices paid. Local home visits available. Call Jory 410358-3377 or 410-318-8388. IMMEDIATE CASH.

Vacation Opportunities SELL/RENT YOUR TIMESHARE FOR CASH!! Our Guaranteed Services will Sell/Rent Your Unused Timeshare for CASH! Over $78 Million Dollars in offers in 2009! www.sellatimeshare.com 877-624-6890. SUNNY SUMMER SPECIALS At Florida’s Best Beach-New Smyrna Beach Stay a week or longer Plan a beach wedding or family reunion. www.NSBFLA.com or 1-800-541-9621.

Wanted ANTIQUE AND QUALITY OLDER FURNITURE and accessories wanted. One piece or entire estate, including Potthast, Biggs, Kittinger, and significant modern furniture and art, Tiffany lamps, toys, dolls, paintings, silver, oriental rugs, prints, pottery, china and glassware. Music boxes, clocks, country store items, paper memorabilia, historical and military items, old fishing equipment, antique firearms and all other items of value. I am a Washington native with over 35 years of experience in this business. I am well educated, courteous and have more experience and pay higher prices than virtually any other dealer in the area. I make prompt decisions, have unlimited funds, pay immediately and remove items expeditiously. No messy consignments or phony promises. References gladly furnished. Please call Jake Lenihan, (301) 279-8834. Thank you. HIGHEST CASH PAID FOR ANTIQUES AND ESTATES. Serving entire metro area. I will purchase one piece or your entire estate. Including Furniture, Artwork, Glassware, Jewelry, Rugs, Costume, Gold and Silver, Watches, Sterling Items, Flatware, Lladro & Hummel Figurines, All Military Items, Guns, Swords, Helmets, Bayonets, Medals, Scout Items, Clocks, Music Boxes, Toys, Baseball Memorabilia, trains, All String Instruments, Including Guitars, Banjos, Mandolins, Fishing Rods and Reels, Lures, Historical Items, American tools, Posters. I am a very reputable dealer with two locations in Silver Spring and Bowie, MD. Please call Christopher Keller 301-408-4751 or 301-262-1299. Thank you.

Personals

ABSOLUTELY PAYING TOP CASH for Antiques, Collectibles, Jewelry, Trains, Old Toys, WW2 Memorabilia, Pottery, Glassware, Colts & Orioles items. Call Todd 443-421-6113.

TRYING TO LOCATE PATTY DODD from Inverness. She had friends named Gloria and Brenda. Call 410-238-4167, Important.

OLDER RECORDS WANTED from the 20s through 70s. Jazz, Rock-n-Roll, Soul, Rhythm & Blues, Country, and Movie and TV Soundtracks. 33 1/3 LPs, 45s or 78s. Please call John, 301-596-6201.

Personal Services

WANTED – CORDED ORGAN. Please call 410-391-1750.

LEARN ENGLISH – SPANISH – ITALIAN – FRENCH – PORTUGUESE Conversational. Grammatical. Private lessons. Reasonable Rates. Tutoring students. 443-352-8200.

OLD GUITARS WANTED! Fender, Gibson, Martin, Gretsch, Prairie State, Euphonon, Larson, D’Angelico, Stromberg, Rickenbacker, and Mosrite. Gibson Mandolins/Banjos. 1930’s thru 1970’s TOP CASH PAID! 1-800-401-0440.

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING RATES

Deadlines and Payments: Ad text and payment is due by the 5th of each month. Note: Only ads received and prepaid by the deadline will be included in the next month’s issue. Please type or print your ad carefully. Include a number where you can be reached in the event of a question. Payment is due with ad. We do not accept ads by phone or fax, nor do we accept credit cards. Private Party Text Ads: For individuals seeking to buy or sell particular items, offer a personal service, or place a personal ad. Each ad is $10 for 25 words, 25 cents for each additional word. Commercial Party Text Ads: For parties engaged in an ongoing commercial business enterprise. Each ad is $25 for 25 words, 50 cents for each additional word. Note: Each real estate listing counts as one commercial ad. Send your classified ad with check or money order, payable to the Beacon, to:

The Beacon, Classified Dept. P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915-2227

AUGUST 2010 — BALTIMORE BEACON

I have diabetes, but I also have Bravo Achieve. And that’s what matters. Learn how Bravo Health can help you better manage your diabetes today. Bravo Health offers a variety of Medicare Advantage plans that help members take charge of their health care, manage their conditions, and get on with living life.

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Z Predictable costs and low copays

For more than a decade, Bravo Health has been serving the needs of Medicare beneficiaries like you. Call today to find out if you are eligible to join Bravo Achieve.

Call 1-800-831-6271 to speak to a Sales Representative. (TTY 1-800-964-2561 for the hearing impaired.) Schedule a one-on-one in-home appointment today and learn more about Bravo Achieve.

w w w. m y b r a v o h e a l t h . c o m

Bravo Health plans are offered by subsidiaries of Bravo Health, Inc., Medicare Advantage Organizations with Medicare contracts. The benefit information provided herein is a brief summary, but not a comprehensive description of available benefits. Additional information about benefits is available to assist you in making a decision about your coverage. Special eligibility requirements may apply. To enroll, you must be diagnosed with diabetes. Enrollment is open year round. This is an advertisement; for more information contact the plan. Y0015_10_0016