-
Reflections on 2131 after ESPN Aired the Game Last Night
* Last night as I was grading papers and preparing a lecture for online delivery, my husband called me into the family room. “ESPN is airing the full 2131 game,” he said. He was referring to Cal Ripken’s historic night at Camden Yards with the Baltimore Orioles when he surpassed Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games streak record, a record we will most likely never see broken again. The quality of the video wasn’t good, and my husband and I watched Mike Mussina on the mound. A wave of nostalgia came over me. I was on the field that night, as an employee of the ballclub, executing my duties. That was a…
-
Love and The Orioles
* My husband and I met while working in the front office for the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards back in the 90s. Many of you know this story, or may have heard it once or twice before here on Steph’s Scribe. But now the story has come full circle. My husband left the club in 1994, and I stayed until late 1998; he went on to have a long career in media and sales—spending time at the Wizards and Capitals, Redskins Radio, CBS Radio, RadioOne, MASN, and Comcast. Last month, he returned to the Orioles, the place where he began his career and is serving as the VP of…
-
And Here’s to You, Mr. Robinson
Yesterday, we learned that Orioles great and Hall of Famer Frank Robinson had passed away. He was 83. I was lucky enough to get to know Frank during my time at the Orioles. His humor, willingness to be helpful, and energy was a positive force within the Orioles organization. When you learn someone has passed away, you take a moment to be pensive. To truly understand how quickly life goes by, and that a little appreciation for people, places, and things is important in life. If you’ve read my blog at any point in the past, you know that I write quite sentimentally about my time working in baseball. I…
-
Writing About Baseball: The Slump from The Postcard & Other Short Stories
I’ll always have a little bit of baseball in my soul, even all these years later after having worked for the Orioles. The truth is, I grew up in baseball. I did. From the age of 19 through my early 30s, I learned so much from working for the Baltimore Orioles organization. That experience molded me and helped me in the careers I have chosen now. It also gave me some pretty remarkable friendships (and I also got a husband and two great kids out of the deal). One of those careers I have today is that of a writer of novels and short stories. Today, I decided to share…
-
My Books Are All Influenced by Maryland: #ReadLocalDC Blog Hop
*** Magical Maryland. That’s what I like to call it. Our state has a lot to offer people who like variety—the mountains to our west, the beaches to our east, the Chesapeake Bay, nearby Baltimore and Washington, D.C., theme parks and casinos, pretty state parks and delicious Maryland crabs, the picturesque and historic capital city of Annapolis, and numerous quaint, tucked away towns and cities with charms all their own. I’ve lived in Maryland since I was five. I grew up in Bowie and Annapolis. I went to college in Towson at Towson University. Along with my husband and children, we’ve lived in Baltimore City, Ellicott City, and Severna Park.…
-
Why You Should Always Follow Your Dreams
The Story Yesterday afternoon, I sat with my parents on their porch overlooking their spotless, inviting pool and their gardens that are in full bloom. It was just the three of us, and we got on the topic of graduation and what kids are studying in college, especially as my own son is off to college as a freshman in the fall. I admitted that I had no idea what I wanted to study when I went to college. I just knew that I was supposed to go to the university and make something of myself. What that exactly was, I had no idea. “Did you have any idea at…
-
The Real People Who Have Inspired Some of My Characters
I was reading a fellow writer’s blog today, and he wrote a post about people who have inspired him along the way: both those who have encouraged him to write and those who have inspired the characters he has written. It was enlightening to read his thoughts, so I decided to share what has inspired some of my own characters in my novels. We’ll start with three today, one from each book. VIVI IN BENEATH THE MIMOSA TREE Some of you may know that the character of Vivi in Beneath the Mimosa Tree was inspired by my own grandmother, Eleanor, who passed away when I was in my twenties. I…
-
Writing A Novel – The Speech I Gave Today
Today, I had the honor and privilege of being one of several faculty speakers sharing their passions at our Fall 2017 Faculty/Staff meeting at Stevenson University. Below you will find the speech I gave, which was about writing, being an author, and self-publishing. After all, it is one of my passions… *** Writing A Novel *** I consider myself pretty lucky that I get the opportunity to do two things I love on a daily basis: teach and write. I’m a proud professor here at Stevenson University and also an independent author. I’m an independent author and write novels for two main reasons: (1) because I believe it’s my duty…
-
The Case for Teaching: Inspiring Students AND Inspired by Students
It’s Sunday morning, and I’m sitting on my porch writing this post and looking at this glorious day sipping my cup of coffee from my Yeti (which keeps it INCREDIBLY hot, let me just say). In a little while, my daughter and I will head to my parents’ house and sit by their pool and spend time with my brother and his family who are visiting. My son and husband will go play golf–a ritual they’ve tried to do on one day of the weekend. I love that they do this, as my son has one year left of high school before he enters college. I love my summers; they…
-
What I Didn’t Have in College
It’s time for the first Cup of Candor, so grab your coffee or tea, and let’s chat. When I decided to embark on this new format for Steph’s Scribe and change the theme of the blog to A Cup of Candor, it came with an open invitation to my readers to offer suggestions of things they would like to see. One of my former students, a blogger herself at The Faithful Elephant, suggested I do a piece on “notes to my younger self.” I could open a can of worms with that one, believe me, as I’ve experienced some very hard and emotionally draining and heartbreaking life lessons along the…
-
Thoughts on Missing Working in Baseball
It’s a question I get asked a lot. “Do you miss working in baseball?” Students ask me this often; then they ask what it was like to work in baseball, in sports, for a Major League baseball team. I have often blogged about how working in baseball changed my life in so many ways. I became a serious student when I got my job with the Orioles as a sophomore in college. I learned how to budget my time and work long hours. I loved every minute of it. I even roped my best friend and college roommate into working there during my second year when I supervised a small…
-
Back at Camden Yards, Pangs of Nostalgia and Thankfulness
* This morning I took a ride to Camden Yards. It was surreal—like going back in time to the commute I did for many years from 1992 through 1998 when I was a full-time employee of the ballclub. (Prior to that, beginning in 1985, I commuted to old Memorial Stadium). I had to pick up something from our friend Mark at the Orioles offices for my son’s birthday. On my drive in, as I am often capable of doing, I became nostalgic remembering old times. I also got to thinking about how that job of working for the Orioles completely transformed my life. And I don’t write that lightly. It…
