Poems

Teen pageant scheduled The Miss Teen Western Maryland competition will take place Saturday, Feb. 17, at Hagerstown Community College's Kepler Theater. Miss Teen Western Maryland will advance to compete in the Miss Maryland Outstanding Teen pageant in June. An orientation will be held Saturday, Jan. 6, at Plaza Hotel. Parents are welcome to attend the orientation. In order to be a contestant in the pagfeant, girls must be 13 to 17 years old and not yet be a high school senior.

By BRYN MICKLE / Staff Writer, Martinsburg photo: YVETTE MAY / staff photographer SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - In an age when images of war are most often conveyed on movie and television screens, it might seem ironic that two men with close ties to Hollywood chose the written word to commemorate Memorial Day. Filmmaker Ronald F. Maxwell and actor Brian Mallon entertained about 40 people Sunday night inside Shepherd...

This weekend the Maryland Symphony Orchestra will present a program of three orchestral works inspired by pastoral scenes of nature and stories of Arcadia. The pastoral tradition in music can be traced back to the time of the ancient Greeks. Though scholars have not found notated music from that time, it is widely thought that the ancient Greeks wrote pastoral music to accompany their poems and dramas. Literary works such as "Idylls" were recited in public, with each verse accompanied by instruments that had pastoral associations, such as the early Greek flute, or syrinx.

There was regret and resolve, faith and bafflement, derision and sanction. Ten area poets presented a gamut of themes and styles Saturday at a poetry reading at Contemporary School of the Arts and Gallery in Hagerstown. Several poets addressed humanitarian issues. Christo Johnson, 31, of Bowie, Md., earnestly spoke of mentoring and healing. "My motivation is to inspire," he said. Miranda Brown of Hagerstown read a similarly themed poem, "Flight," which was injected with grounded and playful humor.

Etiquette classes Blossom School of Etiquette is forming new classes. A registration drive will be from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. the week of Monday, Feb. 16, at Memorial Recreation Center, 109 W. North Ave., Hagerstown. Etiquette classes begin Monday, Feb. 23. Creative expression and cooking classes will start on a date to be announced. For information, call Ladetra Robinson at 301-790-0203 or e-mail sisbcwc@yahoo.com . Teen Idol auditions Auditions for Washington County Free Library's Teen Idol will be 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, at Valley Mall's food court.

The Rev. Anne Weatherholt, a local minister and Hancock correspondent for The Herald-Mail, is featured in a new book from Forward Movement Publications in Cincinnati, Ohio. Titled "Wisdom Found: Stories of Women Transfigured by Faith," the 128-page hardcover book is a collection of prose and poems from women — lay and ordained.  Forty women tell of everyday challenges, life's most profound joys and its deepest sorrows.    Copies may be ordered at a special Mother's Day price of $14.95 from www.forwardmovement.org . Refer to ISBN 978-0-88028-326-7.

pepperb@herald-mail.com Arizona summers pointed a young Michael Collier to the cool comfort of his hometown library, giving him a bookish upbringing that brought the now state poet laureate to Washington County Free Library on Tuesday in hopes of luring area residents back to the lyrical language. Collier, who was named poet laureate of Maryland by former Gov. Parris Glendening in 2001, spun in poetry stories of his childhood memories and adulthood epiphanies for more than 30 listeners Tuesday night in the lower level of the county library.

HAGERSTOWN -- There was regret and resolve; faith and bafflement; derision and sanction. Ten area poets presented a gamut of themes and styles Saturday at a poetry reading at Contemporary School of the Arts and Gallery in Hagerstown. Several poets addressed humanitarian issues. Christo Johnson, 31, of Bowie, Md., earnestly spoke of mentoring and healing. "My motivation is to inspire," he said. Miranda Brown of Hagerstown read a similarly themed poem "Flight," which was injected with a grounded and playful humor.

For a moment, award-winning writer William Heath thought he was going to be the next Bob Cousy, the Boston Celtic's "Houdini of the Hardwood. " Two novels and more than one hundred poems later, Heath, 65, has just finished his third novel. His life experiences - basketball included - now provide ample material for his work. "My ambition has been to be a man of letters," said Heath, from his home in Frederick, Md. "I like the idea of being able to write in various forms. " An essayist, novelist and poet, Heath will join two other writers Sunday during a poetry and music program at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, the last set of readings in "A Change of Pace: Poetry & Music," a series that began in October 2007.