Interaction

Addressing keen taxpayer interest in how federal stimulus dollars will be spent, Gov. Martin O'Malley launched a Web site yesterday that uses high-tech mapping systems to show where the money will go in Maryland. The state expects $3.7 billion from the stimulus package signed last week by President Barack Obama, including $1.6 billion for health and human services, $1.1 billion for education and $610 million for transportation projects. The Web site, www.recovery.maryland.gov, uses geographic information system technology and allows users to enter a home address to see how their communities benefit.

In a move hailed by conservation leaders, Gov. Martin O'Malley announced plans yesterday to buy five large tracts of forest, farmland and waterfront for more than $71 million to preserve them from development and enhance public access to the Chesapeake Bay. The governor disclosed the deals to acquire more than 9,200 acres in Cecil, Charles, St. Mary's and Worcester counties as he unveiled a new computerized map of Maryland's environmentally valuable lands,...

As Loren Roberts took his victory walk down the 18th fairway at Baltimore Country Club during the final round of the inaugural Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship last year, he was greeted with polite applause. Tom Watson and Fred Funk drew significantly louder cheers. It didn't surprise Roberts, who was about to win by six strokes. "You have one guy who's a legend and the other guy who's very popular and is from Maryland," Roberts said recently. "I was just happy to be winning the golf tournament."

Galaxies colliding! Sounds like a job for the crew of the Starship Enterprise. Astronomers believe galaxies have been running into each other for billions of years. There's even evidence our own Milky Way galaxy has swallowed a smaller companion, with more to come, both big and small. These titanic "interactions" often trigger pyrotechnic eruptions of star formation, and sometimes they eject streams of stars into the loneliness of intergalactic space. Yet astronomers say creatures living in those galaxies would hardly notice a thing.

The first time the Howard County Muslim Council held its food drive, the response was limited. But last year, "I put up fliers in my neighborhood and people bring the food to my doorstep," said Anwer Hasan, a Clarksville resident and president of the Maryland Muslim Council. And as they handed out information at a local supermarket, people told them, "We'll be waiting for you on Sunday." "We want that kind of connectivity and relationship," Hasan said, "so that the people feel comfortable with each other and not necessarily fearful of each other."

Monica Evans smiled as she practiced her favorite part of golf, the full swing, on the driving range at Timbers at Troy Golf Course in Elkridge. A few feet away, Jim Bradley worked on his form as he whacked balls on a hot summer evening. Evans, 19, who has Down syndrome, and Bradley, 65, were taking part in a program that encourages people with and without disabilities to interact while they learn the game. The golf course in Howard County is one of two locations in the nation offering Project GAIN -- which stands for Golf: Accessible and Inclusive Networks.

Because she is a woman, Madeleine Keesing's meticulously executed paintings composed of thousands of individual drops of paint sometimes have been described as "feminist" works. Because she adheres to a rigorously simple technique, her art has been analyzed in terms of "minimalist" practice. Neither of these ways of talking about Keesing's work really gets to the heart of the matter, however. Her newest paintings, on view at Goya Contemporary, fairly shout their main reason for being. It is color, color, color!

The biggest - and least talked about - loser in the immigration "grand bargain" announced last week is the planet. The deal amounts to an environmental double-whammy: If enacted, it would cause damage through those provisions meant to increase the number of immigrants in this country and through those designed to keep immigrants out. The legislation requires the construction of 370 miles of border fencing before any liberalizing of immigration is...

Amanda Walker rolled a strike and three spares at bowling. Shawna Tragesar rolled two strikes. Andrew Sweeney made a backward throw into a floor basketball net. The three youths were participating in the first Inclusion Field Day, hosted by Westminster High School for special education students from the county's high schools. The 40-plus teenagers, with a range of disabilities, participated in 10 physical education activities that had been set up around Westminster's main gym. Teachers and student-helpers assisted the youths with volleyball, a hockey shoot, a target throw, scooter handball, golf, a parachute wave, keep it up, and scoop and shoot.

What does it mean to belong to a group? The Maryland Ensemble Theatre's latest original piece, Something Brilliant Will Come to Us, explores the social dynamics that drive people to passionate and sometimes fanatical involvement. Something Brilliant shows the improvisational roots of the Frederick-based theater, which began in 1993 as an improv comedy troupe. Associate artistic director Gene Fouche called the play an interactive theater experience. She said the point is not to make the audience laugh but to cross audience-performer boundaries and turn the audience into participants.