SATURDAY 12/8: Christmas with Elvis & Friends at Palace Theatre
December 8 at 8 p.m. — A Rockin’ Christmas with Elvis and Friends! [Read more…]
Parents Press School Board on Elementary Standards
Stephanie Zodun, mother of three, is concerned about the lack of a teacher for Northampton County Schools’ gifted and talented program at the K-3 level. (Wave photo)
By SARAH BARBAN
Cape Charles Wave
November 21, 2012
Northampton School Board chambers were unusually full for the November 13 meeting. Augmenting the ranks of board members and administrators were concerned parents and community members who came to air their grievances.
The audience waited through routine reports from principals, board members, and department heads. Then came the time for public comments — and parents assumed control of the floor.
The first issue was test scores at Kiptopeke Elementary. The school was conditionally accredited last year, and recently received conditional accreditation for this year as well. According to Northampton School Superintendent Walter Clemons, one percent of Kiptopeke students are dragging down test scores.
Cathy Burn is the mother of four boys, three of whom attend Kiptopeke. For her, test score data means more than just numbers on a page — it’s about real kids.
“I have great concerns — we’re not having discussions about real data,” she told the School Board meeting. “Fifty percent of our third-grade boys failed the reading test last year. Third-grade reading is a direct predictor of graduation. We are losing more than a handful of kids — it’s buckets of kids.” [Read more…]
LETTER: Take Piece of Eden on the Road!
November 20, 2012
Dear Carolyn Copeland, Paul Kist, Virginia Savage, and Cape Charles Wave
I met each of you at the play, Piece of Eden, Sunday afternoon. My friend and I were thrilled with the performance.
We have become interested in the history of this area that merits more regional and national attention. We are now aware of two plays that are an avenue for sharing this important history.
Piece of Eden remarkably shows our move toward and achievement of independence. It begins with the Eastern Shore’s Native Americans’ amazing culture, spirituality, and peaceful acceptance of the European settlers.
This beginning and subsequent events throughout the play show us the path to development of the values that are basic to our nation’s founding of a democratic and representative form of government.
The play concludes that these values are an ongoing requirement for our present and future, if we are to survive as a democratic nation.
I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to see this remarkable play. It was educational, entertaining, and with the added attraction of original music!
The Play in August is a play about the Bare and the Cubbe, enhancing awareness of the significance of one of the segments in Piece of Eden. [Read more…]
Town Council: Public Comment Is a Privilege, Not a Right
1943 poster featuring one of Norman Rockwell’s famous “Four Freedoms”
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
November 20, 2012
If the gavel bangs once — watch out.
If the gavel bangs twice, you’re out of there, courtesy of a police escort.
That’s the new suggested protocol for Town of Cape Charles public meetings.
Town Council held a work session November 15 to discuss how to control behavior during public meetings.
Town attorney Michael Sterling drafted three pages of “Guidelines for Citizen Participation.” Council members Thursday expressed approval for the guidelines, and added a few more themselves, including the gavel rules.
The draft rules will be reviewed in December before coming to a vote in January.
The guidelines are meant to control not only public speakers but also Town Council members — or any members of any other official town board or commission.
Town Council members agreed that speaking at a meeting of a public body is a privilege, not a right, and that Council has the right to restrict that privilege as it sees fit.
Those restrictions could include prohibiting members of Council from participating in public comment time. [Read more…]
SHORE THING: Tom Savage Was a ‘Come-Here’
Somewhere on the Eastern Shore. (Wave photo)
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
November 19, 2012
Yesterday I became a Native of the Eastern Shore. And I feel incredibly good about it.
All my life I’ve been a “come-here,” feeling somewhat less than a full citizen.
That was certainly the case during the 10 years I lived in various foreign countries in the diplomatic service. But it also applied to my seven years’ residence in Charleston, South Carolina, where I learned the ground rule early on: To be fully accepted in Charleston society you have to either be born there, or have lived there for 75 years.
After Charleston, relocating to Cape Charles was deja-vu. It’s where I first heard the term “come-here.” And I realized that, once again, I was an outsider.
After we started the Cape Charles Wave, a prominent denizen whose family goes back over 300 years in these parts suggested to my wife and me that we certainly had some chutzpah to move into town and start up a newspaper.
To which I had two reactions: first – we wouldn’t have done it if someone else had done it first. But nobody had, and the town was in crying need of a news outlet.
And second — we never would have attempted this by ourselves. It was our co-founder’s idea – as a longtime local reporter she saw the need, she chose the Wave name, and she, by the way, is married to a man whose Eastern Shore family also goes back 300 years. [Read more…]
SATURDAY 12/1: Make Your Own Rain Barrel at Barrier Islands Center
Rain Barrel Workshop: Come make your very own rain barrel. [Read more…]
PHOTO GALLERY: Piece of Eden
At home of Thomas Savage: David Head, Forrest Flynn, Wayne Creed, Mike Strub
Click “Read more” to see more photos of Piece of Eden, playing through Sunday at the Palace Theatre. All photos are by Ted Warner. [Read more…]
REVIEW
Piece of Eden Reminds That (Almost) All Are Newcomers
Watching PIECE OF EDEN, it feels like the entire Eastern Shore is working out its culture and history and doing it with enthusiasm and integrity. The play runs through Sunday at Cape Charles’ Historic Palace Theatre. (Wave photo by Ted Warner)
By TED WARNER
Cape Charles Wave
November 16, 2012
Piece of Eden is a rare accomplishment. Theater can be entertaining, and it can be an escape. It can challenge us and move us. But rarely are we reminded that theater can be an artistic expression from the imagination of an entire community — or, in our case, an entire peninsula.
Watching Piece of Eden, it feels like the entire Eastern Shore is working out its culture and history and doing it with enthusiasm and integrity. One suspects that few communities could muster such relevant and enjoyable theater.
The play is a history of the Eastern Shore, beginning moments before the arrival of Europeans and ending at the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Jean Collins, the play’s author, avoids revisionism (the Native Americans are neither noble savages nor savages). Likewise, neither does the play depict the Europeans as greedy, genocidal conquerors, as was fashionable until recently. It is a balanced history. [Read more…]
