Creativity

I love the idea of putting a baseball stadium right up against a newspaper office building that's 80 percent windows. What could happen? And while we're at it, let's put the new police department shooting range right next to the ward for people recovering from nervous breakdowns. I've never understood this town, which is why I stay here. At this juncture, I feel compelled to point out that we have one group of people in City Hall fretting over how we're going to find a use for a big, wide-open void in the middle of the city, one that was left empty by the demolition of the former hospital.

Another Washington County school is represented in the MSO's celebration this holiday season. Emma K. Doub Elementary School fourth-grader Bijal Kikani said art is her favorite subject. It shows. The petite 9-year-old took the grand prize with her work for the MSO's Holiday Poster contest. Bijal drew a Christmas tree decorated with musical staffs and instruments. A banner over a globe proclaims "Joy to the World," and a boy is smiling as he opens a present of a French horn.

Don't be scared? Do the scaring ... or at least the impressing. The Herald-Mail wants to find the most original, creative Halloween costume in the Tri-State area. If you think you've got a costume that stands way out, you could win $50 and have your costume featured in the newspaper. Wanna give it a shot? There is no age restriction for entrants, costumes may be created by the tiniest tot up to the hippest grandma. Costumes must be created in 2006 and must be available to be modeled on Wednesday, Oct. 25. Store-bought costumes are not allowed, and judges will base their decision on creativity and originality.

Name of business: Joyful Arts Studio - Susan Shaffer Art Owner: Susan Shaffer Address: 55 W. Baltimore St., Greencastle, Pa. Opening date: March 9, 2012 Products and services: We offer a variety of art classes for anyone wishing to explore their creativity, something for every level of experience. Target market: I am targeting individuals with a desire to create. It does not matter if they have artistic ability; we can teach them how to create.

America is in the midst of a drought of epic proportions. Across the country, well-springs are drying up. The harvest that every American contributes to - one initially of growth and stability - is simply dying out. And yet, you cannot see this drought. It is within each and every student of a public school, impacted by President Bush's reckless budget cuts. Their very creative essence is falling into disrepair beneath the weight of a $419.3 billion defense budget. So, with creativity dwindling in America's high schools, one would think that President Bush would be putting forth more programs to inspire the next generation of artists, musicians and writers, as well as well-rounded individuals.

Commentary Oh, beating heart be still, Washington County is looking to name something. That always goes well, given our long-standing passion for creativity. Many wild and crazy chances have been taken when we assign names to our public places. Like "Public" Square, for example. Or "City" Park. Pretty edgy, that one. But how in the name of Jonathan Hager did they ever come up with the name of "Dual" Highway? I don't see a connection. Personally, I think they should call it Don Munson Highway since, if I remember right, he was a driving force behind getting all those nice trees planted in the median.

By GUY FLETCHER Staff Writer Creativity - that's what Odyssey of the Mind is all about. Students' ingenuity was on display Saturday, as teams from Washington County and beyond made robots, performed funny skits and built balsa wood structures strong enough to hold more than 100 pounds. "We are basically trying to teach kids there is more than one answer to a problem. ...And OM does it in kind of a fun way," said Georgiana Keller, director of the Western Maryland Regional Odyssey of the Mind Tournament.

Sitting beneath a canopy of aging oak trees, Christo Johnson shared his poetry about fathers, freedom and the challenges of youth. Johnson, an adjunct professor at Delaware State University, was among the participants Saturday at Art in the Park. The two-day event at the amphitheater at Doub's Woods Park is sponsored by the Contemporary School of the Arts and Gallery in Hagerstown. It will continue today from noon to 6 p.m. Johnson said he has read his poetry at many venues, but never outdoors.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. -- It doesn't seem to fit. Debbie Pletz comes across as an easygoing, lovely, sweet woman. She lives in an aging, white stucco Victorian on East Washington Street and, like many people, she likes to display her "creativity" on her front lawn. But Pletz's creativity careens to the macabre when Halloween rolls around. Her yard becomes home to zombies, witches, warlocks, severed heads and body parts strewn about with bloody stumps and innards exposed. Plus, there are skeletons and monsters galore.

Standing on one's head and spitting nickels used to figuratively represent a toilsome undertaking. But it might have been taken literally and breezed through as child's play for the industrious students gathered Saturday at South Hagerstown High School for the Western Maryland Regional DestiNation Imagination Tournament. Students at Northern Middle School, for example, passionately took on the “Twist-O-Rama” challenge of building a structure that could bear weight and withstand off-center torque- and twist-inducing impacts.

Monika Wertman has always known she wanted to work in a creative field. In high school, she concentrated on art and wanted to be an architect, until a guidance counselor talked her out of it. “There was no doubt in my mind. I've always done something artistic one way or the other,” Wertman said from her Valleybrook Drive home in Hagerstown. It's been a long journey, though. Wertman got married and raised three children, who now range in age from 16 to 25. Her husband of 27 years, Carl Wertman, was in the U.S. Army, so the family moved often.

Smithsburg Library will host free creative writing classes from 10:30 a.m. to noon Saturdays, Nov. 3, 10 and 17, at the library, 66 W. Water St., Smithsburg. Write something special for loved ones in time for the holidays in this interactive workshop with Chris Copley. To reserve a seat, call 301-824-7722. 

I love the idea of putting a baseball stadium right up against a newspaper office building that's 80 percent windows. What could happen? And while we're at it, let's put the new police department shooting range right next to the ward for people recovering from nervous breakdowns. I've never understood this town, which is why I stay here. At this juncture, I feel compelled to point out that we have one group of people in City Hall fretting over how we're going to find a use for a big, wide-open void in the middle of the city, one that was left empty by the demolition of the former hospital.

Name of business: The Little Pottery House Owner: Paula Bailey Address: 203 S. Princess St., Shepherdstown, W.Va. Opening date: May 2012 Products and services: Paint-your-own pottery studio Target market: All ages How did you get into your business, and what motivated you to start it? In 2009, I graduated from Marshall University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in ceramics. My dream has been to open a little paint-your-own pottery shop since my first pottery class.

Hannah Horst's first official day as 2012 Franklin County Fair Queen started off unceremoniously Tuesday. She woke up at 4:30 a.m. after sleeping in her car because it was too cold in the barn. Hannah, 17, then started washing 10 calves with friends from her 4-H club in preparation for the 4-H Dairy Roundup later Tuesday morning. “I was pretty dirty,” Hannah said with a laugh. By 9 a.m., Hannah was handing out ribbons to winners of the dairy roundup. Midway through, she swapped her crown and gown for a rope and boots to show her winter calf, Klause, during the event.

Springfield Middle School student Nick Andreaccio showed off his piece of artwork Sunday - a piece of thin metal with his image carved in it. The creation, one of about 1,500 that are being exhibited at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts as part of an annual public schools art display, showed a boy with blue hair, a green face and a purple shirt. Andreaccio said he made the image by pressing a pencil into the soft metal. Then, he made the different colors in the piece by melting different colored crayons and pouring the waxy material in the mold.

Name of business: Joyful Arts Studio - Susan Shaffer Art Owner: Susan Shaffer Address: 55 W. Baltimore St., Greencastle, Pa. Opening date: March 9, 2012 Products and services: We offer a variety of art classes for anyone wishing to explore their creativity, something for every level of experience. Target market: I am targeting individuals with a desire to create. It does not matter if they have artistic ability; we can teach them how to create.

Editor's note: This is part of an occasional series of profiles of local restaurant chefs. Chris Carp has been executive chef of Capital Camps & Retreat Center, a conference center and summer camp, for three years. Founded as a rustic retreat center for Jewish communities in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Capital Retreat Center caters to Jewish and non-Jewish groups from 10 to 500 or more. One unique aspect of the facility is that the kitchen is strictly kosher, with a religious-based separation of meat and dairy items.

Doreen Riss has a great job: She guides preschool children through the process of making art. But she's not so much a teacher as a expedition leader. "We have a hands-on, process-oriented art group," she said. "We get kids involved in discovery, as opposed to a cookie-cutter approach to art. " Riss is part of the teaching team at Creative Learning Center, arts-based day care and preschool, an outgrowth of Hagerstown Children's Theater, 806 Frederick St. in Hagerstown.