Illustration

The U.S. Postal Service issued an illustration of a bank swallow by Maryland artist Matt Frey Friday as a stamped envelope, the second in a four-part series of swallows by Frey commissioned by the organization. The bird is the smallest swallow in North America, and adorns the seventh stamped envelope issued by the Post Office this year. A Baltimore native, Frey graduated from Syracuse University's College of Visual and Performing Arts with a degree in illustration in 1996. He has done illustrations for Discover Magazine, National Geographic Magazine and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, among others.

The U.S. Postal Service issued an illustration of a bank swallow by Maryland artist Matt Frey Friday as a stamped envelope, the second in a four-part series of swallows by Frey commissioned by the organization. The bird is the smallest swallow in North America, and adorns the seventh stamped envelope issued by the Post Office this year. A Baltimore native, Frey graduated from Syracuse University's College of Visual and Performing Arts with a degree in illustration in 1996. He has done illustrations for Discover Magazine, National Geographic Magazine and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, among others.

Leon Schlossberg is Baltimore's great cartographer of the human body, mapmaker of the inner woman and the anatomical man.He's painted body parts even Madonna has left unexposed. He's charted the island of Langerhans, mapped the ligament of Treitz, explored the space of Retzius, illuminated the crypts of Lieberkuhn, drawn the valve of Houston.He accompanied Dr. Alfred Blalock on his pioneer journeys into the heart with his "blue-baby" operations, tracked Dr. Patrick Walsh through the intricacies of the neural jungle around the prostate, recorded Dr. Robert Jeffs' pediatric reconstructions, sketched Dr. Bruce Reitz's removal of kidney tumors, followed Dr. Vincent D. Gott's route along the bypasses of the heart.

Annapolis runner Hale Bullen earned a spot in the "Faces in the Crowd" section of the Feb. 18 issue of Sports Illustrated. The magazine talks about how the Navy-bound senior set a record while winning the 3,200 meters at the Anne Arundel County championships last month. His time of 9:18.01 easily beat former Broadneck standout Matt Centrowitz's previous mark of 9:40.8. Bullen also won the Class 3A Central Region meet on Feb. 8, and he will compete in the Class 4A-3A state championship next week.

The artists' credits for the illustration accompanying our preview of First Night Annapolis were omitted from Friday's paper. The illustration was by Rob Snyder and John Schoene.

GR: PHOTO 12700 Riva RoadAnnapolis, 21401.Phone: 266-5240.Principal: Laura WebbCAC: Karen MuirPTSO: Nancy JonesProjected enrollment: 1,643.ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO 2CAPTION: Kenneth CatlinARUNDEL1001 Annapolis RoadGambrills, 21054Phone: 674-6500Principal: Kenneth CatlinCAC: N/APTSA: Larry KochProjected enrollment: 1,537.ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO 3CAPTION: Lawrence KnightBROADNECK1265 Green Holly DriveAnnapolis, 21401Phone: 757-1300Principal: Lawrence KnightCAC: Sally HuffinesPTSO:Jackie SchmidtProjected enrollment: 975.ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO 4CAPTION: Harry CalenderCHESAPEAKE4798 Mountain Road at Mount Carmel CourtPasadena, 21122Phone: 255-9600Principal: Harry CalenderCAC: N/APTSA(O)

Sen. Bernie FowlerD-Prince FrederickDelegate Michael BuschD-AnnapolisAge: 44Member of the House of Delegatessince 1987. Assigned to theEconomic Matters Committee.841-3211.ILLUSTRATION: PHOTOCAPTION: Delegate Michael BuschDISTRICT 31Sen. Philip C. JimenoD-Brooklyn ParkAge: 44Member of the Senate since 1985. Assigned to the Judicial Proceedings Committee, the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review. Chairman of the Anne Arundel Senate delegation.841-3658.ILLUSTRATION: PHOTOCAPTION: Sen. Philip C. JimenoDelegate Joan CaddenD-Brooklyn ParkAge: 49Member of the House of Delegates since 1991.

State police released a composite sketch of the man who robbed a High's dairy store in the 400 block of East Main Street Feb. 8.The suspect is described as a 5-foot 10-inch Hispanic man weighing about 190 pounds, with cropped dark hair and a mustache. Police say he entered the convenience store and made a purchase at about 4:30 p.m.As the purchase was rung up on the cash register, the man, dressed in blue sweat pants and a blue or gray ski jacket, showed the clerka black bag and told the clerk to empty the cash register, police said.

The chairman of AT&T met with NAACP officials in Baltimore yesterday to discuss increasing blacks' role in the company, which was embarrassed last month by a "racist" illustration in its employee magazine.In a joint statement issued late yesterday, the participants said further talks would be held on "such issues as recruiting minorities, providing scholarships for African-American students, procurement and promotion goals, utilization of black financial institutions, senior executive positions and management diversity training programs."

When is a picture worth a thousand words, and when is it just a lie? That was one of the questions raised last week by a controversial Time magazine cover depicting celebrity suspect O.J. Simpson. The illustration, created from a police mug shot taken after Mr. Simpson's arrest, was produced by electronically darkening the subject's skin slightly to heighten an effect of menace. Newsweek magazine ran the same cover photo in unaltered form.Was the Time cover a deliberate distortion of a factual document?

For what seems like the 17th or 18th week in a row, the Ravens will be on the cover of Sports Illustrated when it hits newsstands and mailboxes later this week. But this time, the Ravens don't have to worry about any jinxes. This week's cover commemorates the Ravens as Super Bowl XLVII champions after they beat the San Francisco 49ers, 34-31, on Sunday night. The image is Ravens wide receiver Jacoby Jones returning the opening kickoff of the second half 108 yards for a touchdown.

In a story that includes the phrase "he asks between squirts of deer antler," Sports Illustrated brings the fascinating story of two men aggressively marketing a line of health care supplements -- hologram stickers, the aforementioned deer antler spray, powders, underwear drenched in liquid (seriously) -- to college and pro athletes. The company's name explains the concept: S.W.A.T.S., which stands for Sports with Alternatives to Steroids. At the center of the story is none other than Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, who is in New Orleans preparing to play the final game of his NFL career on Sunday.

There is something precarious about the college athletics funding model, in which large universities often  rely on a small number of revenue-producing teams to support “minor” sports such as track and field, swimming and tennis. When the “big” sports falter, the other sports are often casualties. That's part of what happened at Maryland, where seven teams were eliminated as of last July. Revenue declines by Maryland's traditional money makers - football and men's basketball - began in the 2006 fiscal year before the current president and athletic director arrived.

In his first season after tearing his right Achilles tendon in 1993, Dan Marino threw for 4,453 yards and 30 touchdowns en route to his eighth Pro Bowl invitation and the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award. But even the Hall of Fame former Miami Dolphins quarterback was stunned when he saw Terrell Suggs play Sunday against the Houston Texans - just five months after the Ravens outside linebacker underwent surgery on his right Achilles tendon. "Yeah, I am [surprised] considering that he practiced - for what - three days?"

If anyone still needs confirmation that baseball in Baltimore is back and that this wild and wonderful season is for real, know this: the Orioles are on a regional cover of the Oct. 1 edition of Sports Illustrated. Pictured under a headline that reads “Washington/Baltimore: The Unlikely Sports Capital” are outfielders Endy Chavez, Adam Jones and Nick Markakis doing a joyous post-game victory leap-and-bump. Yes, it's not a new photo. Markakis' broken thumb is in a cast now and his playing -- and leaping -- days are over for the moment.

  Orioles top prospect Dylan Bundy will be featured in a segment on the premiere episode of Sports Illustrated's new television series, which debuts Tuesday night on NBC Sports Network. The 19-year-old right-hander is also the subject of a story by SI's Tom Verducci in the upcoming issue of the magazine. The television series -- which seems a bit like ESPN's E:60 -- airs at 9 p.m. According to an email from an SI spokesman, "The show will take Sports Illustrated's renowned editorial pieces and play them out through feature segments with original reporting from SI journalists.

Whether it's epic poem, Shakespearean drama, grand opera or folk song, it'll win more friends if it's got a good story. They liked their stories in the Middle Ages, too, as demonstrated by "Tales in the Telling: Secular Narrative Illustration in the Medieval Book" at the Walters Art Gallery (through July 7).This latest manuscript gallery exhibit departs from the more usual show of religious books, and it also includes a wider range of illustration types than one normally expects of these shows.

Americanisms: The Illustrated Book of Words Made in the USA, by Gary Luke and Susan Quinn. Sasquatch Books, $14.95. From "a-bomb" to "zillion" a charming, frothy little softcover volume. There is a pair of pages for most entries, with a straightforward definition, an attempt at tracing each neologism's origin, a pertinent, illustrative quotation and a photographic illustration -- which is often the most amusing part of the exercise. Babysitter, bingo, dropout, hippie, holdup, motel, RV and sex kitten begin to give you the idea.

Baltimore health officials have been staring at a daunting statistic for years: life expectancy in the richest neighborhoods is 20 years longer than in the poorest ones. But a plan unveiled recently aims to battle the intractable health problems causing the gap, including high rates of HIV infection, heart disease and violence.   An interactive map  created by The Baltimore Sun using city data illustrates many of the stark differences between city neighborhoods:   The median income for Roland Park is 90,000 while in Upton it is 13,000.