Middlesex

Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 544 pages, $27. When you are a writer and your name is Eugenides, you can be forgiven for showcasing the mention of your name in T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land: "Mr. Eugenides, the Smyrna merchant, unshaven, with a pocketful of currants, asked me in demotic French to luncheon at the Cannon Street Hotel." But to build a novel around the passage's mostly obscured meaning, as our Mr. Eugenides seems to have done, is ill-advised, and too ambitious.

On May 20, 2005, HARRY H. "Bud" BOWEN, SR., age 78, died Friday, May 20, 2005 at his residence in Deltaville, VA. He was owner and operator of Delta Boat Sales and a U.S. Navy veteran. Bud was a member of the the Middlesex Volunteer Rescue Squad and also Donovan Lodge #75 AF & AM. Survived by his wife Doris Carneal Bowen; three children, Joyce Blake and her husband David of Topping, VA, Buddy Bowen, Jr. and his wife Susan of Virginia Beach, VA and Todd Bowen of Deltaville, VA; a brother, Albert R. Bowen, Jr. and his wife Emma of Parkton, MD; eight grandchildren, Trey Blake, Traci Wright, Jennifer Blake, Denise Bowen, Todd Bowen, Jr., Shawn Bowen, Justin Bowen, Daniel Bowen; six great-grandchildren; Chelsi Blake, Cheyenne Pullman, Sarah Blake, William West, Samantha Wright and Allison Blake.

A powerful bomb ripped apart a van near an Essex shopping center yesterday evening, killing five people and shaking homes "like an earthquake."Three children, a man and a woman were killed in the explosion behind the Middlesex Shopping Center, their body parts scattered with bits of the vehicle as far as 300 yards away.The victims' identities were not immediately divulged. Late last night, federal and county investigators were looking into the possibility that the blast was linked to a domestic dispute.

Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 544 pages, $27. When you are a writer and your name is Eugenides, you can be forgiven for showcasing the mention of your name in T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land: "Mr. Eugenides, the Smyrna merchant, unshaven, with a pocketful of currants, asked me in demotic French to luncheon at the Cannon Street Hotel." But to build a novel around the passage's mostly obscured meaning, as our Mr. Eugenides seems to have done, is ill-advised, and too ambitious.

Edward Cozzolino pulls no punches: "Money can buy quality education," says the principal of Baltimore County's Middlesex Elementary School.Well-spent money, that is, coupled with what he calls "the world's best teaching staff."That formula is making Middlesex work -- and making it stand out among the 94 Baltimore County schools that raised their scores this year on state achievement tests. Middlesex, in the county's eastern section, nearly tripled its score, jumping from a composite average of 18.9 to 55.8.

Four times a week, retirees Barbara and Homer Woods travel from Oliver Beach to Essex on Baltimore County's gritty east side to roll duckpins at a bowling alley that has become a community fixture during its nearly four decades.At the same alley, Jennifer Cirri, an 18-year-old with spina bifida, maneuvers her wheelchair to position herself for a strike -- fingers crossed for good luck.But dwindling business at Middlesex AMF on Eastern Boulevard means that the alley -- a recreational haven for families, the elderly, and the physically and mentally challenged -- will close this summer, after being in operation since 1959.

On May 20, 2005, HARRY H. "Bud" BOWEN, SR., age 78, died Friday, May 20, 2005 at his residence in Deltaville, VA. He was owner and operator of Delta Boat Sales and a U.S. Navy veteran. Bud was a member of the the Middlesex Volunteer Rescue Squad and also Donovan Lodge #75 AF & AM. Survived by his wife Doris Carneal Bowen; three children, Joyce Blake and her husband David of Topping, VA, Buddy Bowen, Jr. and his wife Susan of Virginia Beach, VA and Todd Bowen of Deltaville, VA; a brother, Albert R. Bowen, Jr. and his wife Emma of Parkton, MD; eight grandchildren, Trey Blake, Traci Wright, Jennifer Blake, Denise Bowen, Todd Bowen, Jr., Shawn Bowen, Justin Bowen, Daniel Bowen; six great-grandchildren; Chelsi Blake, Cheyenne Pullman, Sarah Blake, William West, Samantha Wright and Allison Blake.

Baltimore Medical System, which operates five health clinics in East Baltimore, has extended its operation into Baltimore County by purchasing Middlesex Health Center from Johns Hopkins Bayview Physicians. Terms were not disclosed.BMS, which began managing the center this week, said it expected to maintain current services in Middlesex -- internal medicine, pediatrics, radiology and lab services. It also plans to add services available at its other centers, such as social work and home health care.

John Homer Richards has a bad habit of making his way through doors with ordinary locks. And because of that he found himself in the Essex police station yesterday unable to explain his whereabouts.Police said they had no trouble picking him up.It was 6 a.m. and he was found wandering down a suburban street in Middlesex clad only in a diaper.John Richards, who will be 3 years old July 12, got up around dawn, bypassed his sleeping baby sitter, unlocked the front door and walked out of his house in the 800 block of Middlesex Road.

WASHINGTON -- The intelligent and brash choreography of New York-based Stephen Petronio is not for the faint of heart. You either love it or hate it, but you can't ignore it.At the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater last weekend, Mr. Petronio gave a sampling of his choreography and his strong dancers in "The King is Dead," "MiddleSex Gorge," "Full Half Wrong" and a new solo performed by Mr. Petronio, "No. 3.""MiddleSex Gorge," danced to the punk rock music of Wire, separated the fans from the idly curious.

When Edward Cozzolino became principal of Middlesex Elementary in 1993, the school's test scores were among the worst in Baltimore County. When he left in 1997, Middlesex was a National Blue Ribbon School. When Cozzolino arrived to take over nearby Shady Spring Elementary in Rosedale in 1999, the school was struggling academically and with behavior problems. Troublemakers often were lined up outside the office, and pupils routinely banged their fists against the partitions that serve as classroom walls.

ESSEX -- Middlesex Elementary School is one of three schools in the state and 110 in the country named National Distinguished Title I Schools by the U.S Department of Education for making sustained progress in student achievement over three years.Middlesex was honored for its improving scores on the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program tests and for after-school remedial and enrichment programs. Title I schools get extra federal funds because of the high number of students from low-income families.

Baltimore Medical System, which operates five health clinics in East Baltimore, has extended its operation into Baltimore County by purchasing Middlesex Health Center from Johns Hopkins Bayview Physicians. Terms were not disclosed.BMS, which began managing the center this week, said it expected to maintain current services in Middlesex -- internal medicine, pediatrics, radiology and lab services. It also plans to add services available at its other centers, such as social work and home health care.

Four times a week, retirees Barbara and Homer Woods travel from Oliver Beach to Essex on Baltimore County's gritty east side to roll duckpins at a bowling alley that has become a community fixture during its nearly four decades.At the same alley, Jennifer Cirri, an 18-year-old with spina bifida, maneuvers her wheelchair to position herself for a strike -- fingers crossed for good luck.But dwindling business at Middlesex AMF on Eastern Boulevard means that the alley -- a recreational haven for families, the elderly, and the physically and mentally challenged -- will close this summer, after being in operation since 1959.

Sandra Lemmon wasn't principal two years ago when Middlesex Elementary was named a Maryland Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, but that didn't keep her from beaming yesterday as she escorted U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes through the Middle River school."

The Rev. Rick Bauer thinks the vows might go something like this: "To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part or the food coupons run out."Bauer will officiate at a 14-couple wedding on a red carpeted stage in front of Metro Food Market Nov. 5 at 8: 45 a.m. as part of the Middlesex store's grand opening -- an unusual promotional gimmick that lured the couples down the aisles with $1,000 in groceries and a free honeymoon.

You can't avoid thinking about it on this day: Children grow up, life changes, people you love get new jobs, and it hurts."It's like they're dying. Or you're dying. I mean, our childhood is here," sobbed Amanda Marshall, 11, amid hugging and wailing fifth-graders at Middlesex Elementary School in Essex.Yesterday, they said goodbye to their beloved teacher for the past two years, their principal, their friends and the award-winning school that provided stability at times when families could not."

At the Middlesex Shopping Center, on Eastern Avenue in Essex, eastern Baltimore County, she stood there in the first little breeze of an early autumn morning and decided to put away all of the shyness of her life."

You can't avoid thinking about it on this day: Children grow up, life changes, people you love get new jobs, and it hurts."It's like they're dying. Or you're dying. I mean, our childhood is here," sobbed Amanda Marshall, 11, amid hugging and wailing fifth-graders at Middlesex Elementary School in Essex.Yesterday, they said goodbye to their beloved teacher for the past two years, their principal, their friends and the award-winning school that provided stability at times when families could not."

The Kennedy Krieger Lower School is one of three elementaries in the Baltimore area selected as a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by the U.S. Department of Education."