Carnival of Maryland 27

And so we begin year two of this biweekly potpourri of contributions from many of Maryland’s finest bloggers here from my humble abode on the Eastern Shore. I’m happy to play host for the third time.

I got an interesting assortment of submissions this time that mostly seemed to focus on two general areas: the natural world and the political arena. And it just so happens I can work the two together because I got a nice bridge from one of my contributors as you’ll see. It’s sort of like a rainbow.

Yes, that’s called a lead-in because first up is a brief post by Annapolis Capital Punishment writer Paul Foer regarding a double rainbow he spied over his hometown recently. It was the culmination of a period of unusual weather that also aroused the curiosity of a frequent C of M contributor and host, “The Ridger”. February is her pictorial look at the birds and weather that she featured a few days back on her site The Greenbelt.

While “MamaBird” actually lives just outside Maryland, she provides the green in the rainbow from natural to political with a post outlining mankind’s effect on the natural world. In Whither Our Water? Addressing Hormones in Our Waterways she takes the time to ask questions of an expert in the field because of her concern about the health of the Potomac River. (Of course, anyone with a knowledge of geography knows that the river provides much of Maryland’s southern border – thus the tie-in.) Simpler, cleaner living on the homefront is the concern of this author whose blog is called Surely You Nest, and it goes without saying water quality is a political topic moreso here in Maryland than many other places.

It’s this transition to the political aspect which leads me to discuss that category of posts I received. Attila at Pillage Idiot talks about a political Mission Impossible: running as a Republican in Maryland’s Eighth District against entrenched Democrat Chris Van Hollen, a man so confident of winning re-election he now directs the nationwide drive to put more Democrats in Congress.

A lack of choice is the lament of “The Patriot Sharpshooter”, whose website is known as Common Sense. In asking What did we do to deserve this selection?, he compares those still standing in the Presidential field and posits the big winner this November will be – apathy. In another submission, he thinks that the alliances Presidential candidates make are important as well, in this case it’s Democrat hopeful Barack Obama.

Turning to state politics, “Blogger1947” talks about a House bill that would affect the selection process of school board members in Baltimore County. His criticism of the bill is aptly titled, Will we NEVER learn about politicians? It’s a good question to ask.

I’m also chipping in as I usually do with two posts of an Annapolis nature, but two that are related. Frequent readers here know I pay pretty close attention to the goings-on in our General Assembly and last weekend I wrote a pair of posts I call the Legislative Checkup. Part one dealt mainly with bills sponsored by Democrats and part two those backed by the GOP. I use what bills my local legislators here on the Lower Shore sponsored as a point of reference but these measures will affect us all here in the Free State.

Since my two contributions talk about blue and red politics, that combination which makes violet brings to an end the natural to political rainbow aspect of this Carnival. But I still have a couple other items that came in so I suppose we can think of these as the pot of gold.

We’ll start with an item from Creating a Jubilee County, where Joyce talks about obtrusive website advertising getting in the way of the reading she wants to do. Personally I notice that on a lot of sites too, but after all isn’t that the idea of advertising? I do agree that sometimes enough is too much.

Finally, I found out something I didn’t know and a lot of people might be surprised to learn – that The Great Gatsby author F. Scott Fitzgerald is buried here in Maryland despite never living in the state during his lifetime. It’s just another interesting sidelight J.C. has found as he travels On The Red Line.

With that, we’ve lifted the lid on year number two of this biweekly look at the scope of Maryland blogging we call the Carnival of Maryland. As always, I’d like to thank the contributors who submitted the results of their hard work and passion but most of all I’d like to thank all of those who take the time to read through all that has been posted. Hopefully you enjoyed reading all of the posts half as much as I enjoyed putting this together this week.

While I don’t yet know who will be the host, stay tuned for Carnival of Maryland 28 on Sunday, March 9. Now I do, it’ll be Bruce at Crablaw’s Maryland Weekly.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.

2 thoughts on “Carnival of Maryland 27”

  1. Dear Friend,

    F. Scott Fitzgerald did in fact live in Maryland for a time. He lived on Park Avenue, Bolton Hill, in Baltimore for a period whilst his wife was in the nut house (I believe). My recollection is he was here a year or two, maybe more. I know, used to live down the street from the Fitzgerald House. You may also want to read the Menkin diaries, which have reference to FSF in Baltimore.

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