French

Having served 16 years on the Howard County Board of Education, Sandra French said the one constant during her time there has been a "collegial kind of competition" and a sense of respect for one's fellow members. That is why, the incumbent says, that as she runs for another term, she's concerned that this year's campaign has been full of negative commentary. "We have candidates who have already decided which candidates would be good or bad, and they even have on the Web sites negative comments," said French, one of nearly a dozen candidates seeking to fill four vacancies for the coming term.

Dallas-based chain of bakery/cafes La Madeleine Country French Café is eyeing the Baltimore area, with plans to open up to eight new franchised locations. A Baltimore-area restaurant is expected to open in the next year, with several more opening shortly after, a company spokesman said Monday. The restaurants in the Washington, D.C., market "are doing extremely well, and the company's momentum in the mid-Atlantic region is fueling its growth toward Baltimore," said Jason Gilbreth, the spokesman.

On July 19, 2003, WILLARD B. FRENCH "Will" of Arnold, beloved husband of the late Virginia Dorothea French, devoted father of Margaret French Williams and Steven A. French, dear brother of Elizabeth Novak, loving grandfather of Amy, Donald and ChristopherFriends may call at the Barranco & Sons, P.A., Severna Park Funeral Home, Ritchie Highway at Robinson Road on Wednesday 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 P.M. Services Thursday 10 A.M. Interment Maryland Veterans Cemetery,...

When Meyerhoff Symphony Hall was built back in the early 1980s, there was space for a proper pipe organ to be installed, which would have made the facility even more valuable. Too bad there wasn't any money. Since then, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has had to bring in an electronic substitute whenever programming music that calls for organ. The result invariably falls short of what the real sonic deal would be like. Unless some amazing benefactor drops a whole lot of money on the hall for a pipe organ, this situation will continue.

THE FRENCH are fed up. The world has been changing fast, and not in a way that thrills everyone living in it. To take just one example, the forces that shut down the GM plant on Broening Highway are battering - or will be battering - at the gates of the Renault factory in Le Mans. Everybody knows that, and though most people know that change is bound to occur, the uneasiness in France (and in Europe and in the rest of the developed world) is deeply rooted in the feeling that ordinary people (call them voters)

THERE'S REALLY nothing like the power of a big wave, all that water rising, cresting, crashing down and churning across dangerous shallows, like a building collapsing. The sound alone can be riveting, terrifying and unforgettable. And among big-wave aficionados, certain beaches - particularly in Hawaii and California - are renowned for reliably producing these giant walls of water, swells 60 feet tall or more. As such, they are just about holy places, luring world-class surfers on high-risk quests that they tend to describe in spiritual terms.

FOR THE NEXT two weeks, France, and the world, will witness the spectacle of an extreme nationalist right-winger as one of two candidates for president. Jean-Marie Le Pen, whose National Front party is built on poisonous resentments, shocked the nation by coming in second in Sunday's first round of balloting, edging out the Socialist prime minister, Lionel Jospin. Mr. Le Pen stands virtually no chance of winning in his face-off with Jacques Chirac, the incumbent, on May 5. But simply by getting to the second round, and muscling the left out of the race entirely, he has set off alarm bells throughout European politics.

"Kirikou and the Sorceress" (1998) Michel Ocelot's splendid animated feature tells a sensual, guilt-free fairy tale — a West African fable about the power of original innocence. A tiny baby boy named Kirikou pushes himself out of his mother at birth and rarely stops moving until he defeats the sorceress Karaba, who has laid waste to his village. Most of Kirikou's powers are simple, not super: the bravery of someone who doesn't know his limits, the forceful logic of untainted intelligence, a knack for healing rather than for revenge.

On September 12, 2003, STEVEN THOMAS FRENCH, 45, of Stevensville, MD; beloved husband of Michele French, of Stevensville, MD; step-father of Damon Costa and Lauren Costa, both of Stevensville, MD; son of Stanley French and Helen Mankins, of Wisconsin; brother of Sonny French, of PA, Mike French, of TX, Donald French, of PA and Joseph Mankin, of WV; step-brother of Ronald Hankel, of Brookville, MD and Carol Lueandowski, of Chicago, IL. A Memorial Service...

  Annapolitans are loyal, and the city has an impressive list of long-running restaurants. Once a place clicks, it tends to stay. That's not too surprising for a political town. Call it the incumbency effect. In 1986, Jean-Louis Evennou opened the original Cafe Normandie on Main Street in Annapolis. Five years later, he and his wife, Suzanne, moved the restaurant five doors down, where it's been ever since, serving a reasonably priced menu of French cafe classics like escargots, bouef bourguignonne, bouillabaisse and roast duck.

After falling in love with French macarons in Paris, Wanda Hall decided to open her own maison du macarons in Havre de Grace. Les Petits Bisous, which translates as “little kisses,” opened in August 2012. “I thought, 'Why not do something totally different?' ” says Hall, 45, whose former career involved international human rights. “I thought about what I loved and missed while living abroad in Paris.” And so Hall decided to bake and sell her favorite Parisian treat -- macarons, which consist of two crispy cookies with flavored filling in the middle.

If you go Getting there While many airlines fly to Paris from Baltimore's BWI-Marshall Airport, none are direct flights. It is quicker, and often cheaper, to fly nonstop from Dulles Airport right into Charles de Gaulle Airport. Round-trip flights start around $900. Note: When dialing any of the numbers below, add 011-33. Lodging Hotel Brighton, 218 Rue de Rivoli, Paris, 01-47-03-61-61; paris-hotel-brighton.com/en. Carla Hayden prefers the elegant, early 19th-century Hotel Brighton.

Few people can recognize the yearning to escape better than Carla Hayden, chief executive officer of the Enoch Pratt Library. As a librarian, she has spent many years helping her curious clientele explore new realms and journey to wondrous places through books. So when Hayden decides that it's time to turn the page or open a new chapter in her life, it is no wonder she favors a destination famed like no other for its joie de vivre - Paris. We caught up with her to chat about her Parisian adventures and her favorite hidden treasures.

Navy linebacker Brye French had never met Brendan Looney, only hearing stories about the former academy lacrosse star and his two brothers from longtime coach Richie Meade. Then one day during French's sophomore year, Meade told his team that the eldest Looney brother had died in Iraq. French, who had come to Navy to play both lacrosse and football, began to understand the reasons he was in Annapolis when he heard about Looney's death in a helicopter crash. It was further clarified for French when the lacrosse team attended the funeral of Navy SEAL from Silver Spring.

Check out this Travel & Leisure round-up of the best french fries in the U.S. There's Thrasher's! "It's hard to beat a bucket of hand-cut spuds that have been fried in peanut oil with skins on," the blurb says, "especially when served with nothing more than a little salt and vinegar. "

When it's not quite 9 a.m. on a Sunday and there's a crowd gathering on the sidewalk, there's a good chance something special is happening. When that crowd is gathering outside the funky facade of Blue Moon Cafe in Fells Point, breakfast is that something special. Here's how breakfast at Blue Moon works: Upon arrival, head inside to track down a waiter and add your name to the ever-growing list. During our visit, at a quarter to 9, the wait was 30 minutes; an hour later when we left, it had swelled to a full hour and a half.

Three men in a home for aging veterans yearn for a taste of life beyond the institution's grounds. They want to soar right out of there, like the geese in a V-formation they can see overhead. Those World War I veterans are the sole characters in "Heroes," the Tom Stoppard-translated comedy by Gerald Sibleyras that opens Friday at Everyman Theatre . The production can't help but take on extra significance. It's the company's last scheduled staging at the Charles Street location where Everyman has been based since 1994.