More than 125,000 readers throughout Greater BaltimoreVOL.12, NO.2

I N F O C U S F O R P E O P L E O V E R 5 0FEBRUARY 2015

I N S I D E …

F R E E

By Carol SorgenValentine’s Day is the traditional celebra-

tion of sweethearts. But it might also beworth your while to lift a glass of bubbly inrecognition of the friends in your life as well.

“What would life be without friends?”asked Randy Jacobs. “Oh God!”

“I’d be at a loss without my family andfriends,” continued the 61-year-old Jacobs,who has known her best friend, PamSchneider, virtually since birth. The twoare just six months apart in age, grew upas next door neighbors, and now livearound the corner from each other inNorthwest Baltimore County. Not only areJacobs and Schneider best friends, so tooare their daughters.

Though Jacobs is long divorced andSchneider long married, that makes no dif-ference in their relationship. “I’m one ofthe family,” said Jacobs. The two familieseven take an annual beach trip togetherevery summer.

“She is my go-to person,” said Jacobs,director of clinical operations at the Uni-versity of Maryland School of Dentistry.“She knows everything — and more —about me, and vice versa. She’s my rock.”

The two “besties,” as the young folks say,do have other friends as well. Jacobs hastwo friends whom she first met in fourthgrade, and though she doesn’t see them asoften as she sees Schneider, when she does,“time melts away.”

“And there’s never been a family event thatwe haven’t shared together,” Jacobs added.“We’ll always be Ellen/Laurie/Randy…allone word,” referring to her grade schoolfriends.

Jacobs has also always made it a priorityto make new friends, especially since hermarried friends are not always available tojoin her on, say, a trip to Alaska.

But it’s her longtime friends who shareher history — ”they knew me when” — arepart of her present, and hopefully will bethere in the future to share in both the goodtimes, such as a child’s wedding, and thesad times, such as the deaths of parents.

“Friends mean support,” said Jacobs.

How friends keep you healthyGood friends may already know how

helpful they can be to one another, but

now scientists are finding out that friend-ships also offer the benefit of good health.So says developmental psychologist SusanPinker, author of The Village Effect: HowFace-to-Face Contact Can Make us Healthi-er, Happier and Smarter.

Unfortunately, said Pinker, the middle-aged are the loneliest group of all in theUnited States. A third of those between theages of 45 to 49 say they have no one toconfide in. For those people, Pinker’s ad-vice is succinct: Find a friend — andpreferably more than one!

“Those with a tightly connected circle offriends who regularly gather — even if it’sjust to eat and share gossip — are likely tolive an average of 15 years longer than aloner,” said Pinker.

She also observed that people with activesocial lives have greater physiological re-silience and recover faster after an illnessthan those who are solitary. She cites a re-cent study of women with breast cancer thatfound that those with a large network offriends were four times as likely to surviveas women with sparser social connections

What researchers are beginning to find,Pinker explained, is that social contactswitches on and off the genes that regulateour immune responses to cancer and therate of tumor growth.

Some other intriguing and perhaps star-tling statistics: The lowest rate of dementiaappears in people with extensive social

Pam Schneider (left) and Randy Jacobs, who grew up next door to each other, havebeen best friends their whole lives and now live around the corner from one other.Having friends generates benefits in one’s mental as well as physical health — fromimproved cancer survival to a lower risk of developing dementia.

See FRIENDS, page 32

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Good friends bring good health

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In last month’s column, I started to layout some generally well-known facts inhopes they can facilitate animportant discussion that Ifeel Americans need to behaving with each other.

To summarize very briefly:Thanks to modern medicineand healthier lifestyles, weare living longer. While that’sa good thing for the mostpart, more and more olderAmericans are outliving theirsavings.

This problem is likely togrow, as many in the babyboomer and later generationshave put aside far too few resources to sup-port themselves in their later years.

Furthermore, our growing longevitywill add trillions of dollars to the cost of So-cial Security and Medicare — programsthat, as presently structured, are alreadyforecast to fail to meet long-term needs,even based on current life spans.

Now for some additional facts:For those who basically run out of sav-

ings and assets, Medicaid steps in to coveressential medical and long-term care costs.This program is jointly funded by the feder-

al and state governments, in most cases ona 50/50 split, though there are variations.

Medicaid is an entitlement,meaning a state cannot capparticipation at a certain num-ber. Everyone must be ac-cepted who qualifies undertheir state’s particular eligibil-ity rules. (These generally re-quire poverty-level incomeand assets or somethingclose).

With our longer lives,more expensive medical care,and steady growth in cases ofAlzheimer’s and other de-mentias (which can complete-

ly incapacitate and last a decade or more),Medicaid expenditures are forecast to risesubstantially into the foreseeable future.

How will we pay for the unstoppable, un-cappable costs of our social and healthsafety nets in an era of rapidly rising needsand, at least at the moment, declining rev-enues?

In Maryland, for example, shortly be-fore Governor O’Malley left office in Janu-ary, he announced that this fiscal year’sbudget would produce a $400 milliondeficit that needed to be plugged. Further-

more, the budget being prepared for thecoming year indicates an additional deficitexpected to be $1.2 billion.

At the same time, Maryland’s new gov-ernor, Larry Hogan, campaigned on apromise to roll back many of the new taxesthat Gov. O’Malley instituted in an effort toeradicate what he called Maryland’s“structural deficit” when he first came intooffice in 2007.

According to figures from the U.S. Cen-sus Bureau, between 2007 and 2012 stateand local governments in Maryland alonespent over $6 billion more than theyraised in revenue. Throughout the coun-try as a whole, state expenses exceededrevenues over that period by more than$118 billion.

Growing population. Longer lives. Bur-geoning rates of disability and dementia.Additional destitute retirees. Mushroom-ing state and federal liabilities. InadequateSocial Security and Medicare funds.

This is where we’re heading.What can we do about it? Fortunately, we needn’t feel paralyzed.

There are many options to choose among— some good, some fair, some poor, someterrifying.

Here are a few examples of those op-tions. We should be having a national con-versation about them NOW. Some options for individuals and

families: Work longer, save more, investbetter, adopt healthier lifestyles, expectless, stick together and help each other out,encourage adult children to support olderparents, reduce end-of-life medical care,sign do-not-resuscitate orders/living wills.Some options for state and federal

governments: Take steps to boost theeconomy, improve tax collection, crack

down on waste and fraud in governmentprograms, incentivize healthier lifestyles,raise payroll taxes (for Social Security andMedicare), raise local taxes (which coverabout half of Medicaid costs), raise estatetaxes, reduce entitlement paymentsand/or their cost-of-living increases (forbetter-off recipients), limit usage of themost expensive healthcare treatments, capend-of-life care expenses, restrict or fur-ther tax transfers of wealth to youngergenerations (especially when done to qual-ify for Medicaid).

Clearly, some of these are more palat-able than others. I invite you to join theconversation and express your opinion, aswell as your willingness to support some ofthese options politically. These financial re-alities will affect you, your children, yourgrandchildren and many generations tocome.

Older adults, particularly those who arewell-off and well-prepared for retirement,may want to recognize their relative advan-tages and support proposals that cut backon their entitlements (yes, even theirearned benefits), in the interests of assist-ing those less fortunate (yes, includingthose who could have saved more thanthey did).

Our future is one of longer and betterlives, but comes with financial costs wemay not be able to bear equitably if wedon’t take at least some of these steps. Thesooner we act — and the wider a variety ofapproaches we use to ameliorate the con-sequences — the better it will be for all ofus and our progeny.

Facing facts, part II2 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 — B A L T IMORE B E A CON

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I N F O C U S F O R P E O P L E O V E R 5 0

The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915(410) 248-9101 • Email: info@thebeaconnewspapers.comSubmissions: The Beacon welcomes reader contributions. Deadline for editorial is the 1st of themonth preceding the month of publication. Deadline for ads is the 1st of the month preceding the monthof publication. See page 35 for classified advertising details. Please mail or email all submissions.

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• Publisher/Editor ....................Stuart P. Rosenthal

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FROM THEPUBLISHERBy Stuart P. Rosenthal

Letters to the editorReaders are encouraged to share their opinion on any matter addressed in the Beacon as well as on political and social issues of the day. Mail your Letter to the Editor to The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD

20915, or e-mail to barbara@thebeaconnewspapers.com. Please include your name, address and telephone number for verification.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES AT LADEWLadew Gardens is a nonprofit organization known worldwide for itstopiary and flower gardens. A self-taught gardener, Harvey Ladew

created 15 thematic garden rooms on 22 acres of his 250-acre property. Volun-teer opportunities include helping with children’s nature programs, conductinghouse and garden tours, gardening, clerical work and special events. To learnmore, call (410) 557-9750 or visit www.ladewgardens.com.

ON THE FUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET Since 2008 veteran performers Christine Lavin and Don Whitehave brought their unique brand of clean and hilarious musicalcomedy to audiences across the U.S., proving that comedy can be

smart, friendly and funny without being vulgar or pejorative. Lavin and White willappear together in concert Saturday, Feb. 28, at Temple Emanuel, 909 BerrymansLane, in Reisterstown. Tickets are $25. Show time is 8 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m.For tickets and information, call (410) 922-5210 or visit

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Feb. 28

BA L T IMORE B E A CON — F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com 3

4 F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 — B A L T IMORE B E A CON

By Mae AndersonThink you’re in control? Think again. OKCupid, an online dating site, recently

became the latest company to admit that ithas manipulated customer data to see howusers of its service would react to one anoth-er. The New York-based Internet company’srevelation followed news last July that Face-book let researchers change news feeds tosee how it would affect users’ moods.

The fact is, big companies use customersas unwitting guinea pigs all the time — on-line and in the real world.

OKCupid’s claim, that its research wasaimed at improving its services, is common.But some find that manipulating situations inorder to study consumer behavior withoutconsent raises troubling privacy concerns.

“Every company is trying to influenceconsumers to purchase their product orfeel a particular way about their company,”said Kit Yarrow, consumer psychologist atGolden Gate University in San Francisco.“The question is, when is it manipulation,when consumers are in some waystricked, and when is it just influence?”

In a blog post, OKCupid founder ChristianRudder detailed the experimentation: Thecompany removed text or photos from pro-files and in some cases told people they werea 90 percent match with another date-seekerinstead of a 30 percent match. Rudder wasunapologetic, and said the results are beingused to improve the sites’ algorithms.

“If you use the Internet, you’re the sub-ject of hundreds of experiments at anygiven time, on every site,” Rudder wrote.“That’s how websites work.”

Facebook’s disclosure last year set off afirestorm on social media services and inthe press. During one week in January2012, the company let researchers manipu-late 689,000 users’ news feeds to be eithermore positive or negative in order to studyhow the changes affected their moods.

But Internet companies aren’t the onlyones studying unsuspecting customers.

Retailers research as wellRetailers have been at it for decades.

Brick-and-mortar stores and restaurantshave long used data drawn from customer

loyalty programs, satisfaction surveys andexit interviews, to figure out how to besttarget consumers.

For example, Darden, which operates theOlive Garden, analyzes customers’ checks tosee what types of dishes people tend to com-bine. The restaurant chain also analyses howlong customers wait for a table. Darden saidthe research, along with customer surveys,helps the company improve the customerexperience.

“We collect all sorts of informationabout any interaction we have with gueststo understand who our customers are, andwho is visiting the restaurant,” said ChrisChang, senior vice president of technologystrategy at Darden.

While Darden’s methods are consid-ered traditional, retailers are beginning touse more high tech ways to study con-sumer behavior, too.

Alex and Ani, a New York-based jewelryand accessories maker that runs its ownstores and also sells goods at departmentstores nationwide, works with technologycompany Prism Skylabs to use data taken

from video footage to create so-called“heat maps.”

Using video they can track how cus-tomers flow through the store, and re-arrange displays and move them to placeswhere customers linger.

That’s just one piece of data the jewelrycompany uses, said Ryan Bonifacino, vicepresident of digital strategy. Once the com-pany has the traffic patterns, they alsoevaluate timestamps on receipts and otherpoint-of-sale information in an effort to cre-ate a profile of what types of people areshopping in the store so they can cus-tomize products to them.

“It’s not about one individual coming into astore. It’s about understanding the journey”of customers as a group, Bonifacino said.

Tracking cell phone movementAnother example is Forest City, a Cleve-

land-based real estate developer, which op-erates malls around the country. The com-pany works with U.K. firm Path Intelli-

InnovationsTechnology &

Companies stealthily study customers

By Anne FlahertyYou’ve probably decided who gets the

house or that family heirloom up in theattic when you die. But what about youremail account and all those photos storedonline?

Grieving relatives might want access forsentimental reasons, or to settle financial is-sues. But do you want someone readingyour exchanges on an online dating profile,or a spouse going through every email?

The Uniform Law Commission, whosemembers are appointed by state govern-ments to help standardize state laws, re-cently endorsed a plan that would giveloved ones access to — but not control of— the deceased’s digital accounts, unlessspecified otherwise in a will.

To become law in a state, the legislationwould have to be adopted by the legislature.If it did, a person’s online life could becomeas much a part of estate planning as decid-ing what to do with physical possessions.

“This is something most people don’tthink of until they are faced with it. They

have no idea what is about to be lost,” saidKaren Williams of Beaverton, Oregon,who sued Facebook for access to her 22-year-old son Loren’s account after he diedin a 2005 motorcycle accident.

Valuable assetsThe question of what to do with one’s

“digital assets” is as big as America’s elec-tronic footprint. A person’s online mus-ings, photos and videos — such as a popu-lar cooking blog or a gaming avatar thathas acquired a certain status online — canbe worth considerable value to an estate.

Imagine the trove of digital files forsomeone of historical or popular note —say former President Bill Clinton or musi-cian Bob Dylan — and what those filesmight fetch on an auction block.

“Our email accounts are our filing cabi-nets these days,” said Suzanne BrownWalsh, an attorney who chaired the draft-ing committee on the proposed legislation.But “if you need access to an email ac-count, in most states you wouldn’t get it.”

But privacy activists are skeptical of theproposal. Ginger McCall, associate directorof the Electronic Privacy Information Cen-ter in Washington, said a judge’s approvalshould be needed for access, to protect theprivacy of both the owners of accounts andthe people who communicate with them.

“The digital world is a different world”from offline, McCall said. “No one wouldkeep 10 years of every communicationthey ever had with dozens or even hun-dreds of other people under their bed.”

Passwords aren’t enoughMany people assume they can decide

what happens by sharing certain passwordswith a trusted family member, or even mak-ing those passwords part of their will.

But in addition to potentially exposingpasswords when a will becomes publicrecord, anti-hacking laws and most compa-nies’ “terms of service” agreements pro-hibit anyone from accessing an accountthat isn’t theirs. That means loved onestechnically are prohibited from logging

onto a dead person’s account.Several tech providers have come up

with their own solutions. Facebook, for ex-ample, will “memorialize” accounts by al-lowing already confirmed friends to con-tinue to view photos and old posts.

Google, which runs Gmail, YouTubeand Picasa Web Albums, offers its own ver-sion: If people don’t log on after a while,their accounts can be deleted or sharedwith a designated person. Yahoo usersagree when signing up that their accountsexpire when they do.

But the courts aren’t convinced that acompany supplying the technology shouldget to decide what happens to a person’sdigital assets.

In 2005, a Michigan probate judge or-dered Yahoo to hand over the emails of aMarine killed in Iraq after his parents ar-gued that their son would have wanted toshare them. Likewise, a court eventuallygranted Williams, the Oregon mother, ac-

What happens to online files after you go?

See CUSTOMER DATA, page 6

See ONLINE FILES, page 6

All about grandparenting

The website of the American Grandpar-enting Association is chock full of tips andinformation for grandparents. Brush up onthe hottest toys and parenting advice.Watch videos of celebrities, including TimDaly and Bruce Willis, talking about beinggrandparents. Join a forum with suchreader-posted topics as “My daughter-in-law is having an affair” and “Empty nest nolonger,” about adult children and grand-children moving back home.

www.grandparents.com

Windows on the world

Wonder what Times Square looks like atthis very moment? How about Jackson Hole,Wyo, or the neon-colored jelly fish swaying

at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium in Califor-nia? EarthCam links to hundreds of live web-cams throughout the world to give you anup-to-the-minute view of what’s going on.

www.earthcam.com

Too cuteFrom a white baby bunny curled inside

a teacup, to a girl reading a book to aminiature pony at a library, Attack of theCute is, well, very, very cute. If you’relooking for a benign diversion or fodderfor Facebook, this is the site to find it.

http://attackofthecute.com

Meetup maniaDo you ever wish you had a group of

people to share an esoteric hobby with, ormaybe ones who enjoy the same foreignmovies as you do? Meetup may be the an-swer. Just go to www.meetup.com andplug in your city and interests to findgroups planning activities near you. Somegroups are age restricted, and there aremany specifically for those in their 50s andolder, or labeled “baby boomers.”

www.meetup.com

BA L T IMORE B E A CON — F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Technology & Innovations 5

Beacon LinksBy Barbara Ruben

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cess to her son’s Facebook account, al-though she says the communications ap-peared to be redacted.

How new law would workEnter the Uniform Law Commission.

According to the proposal, the personalrepresentative of the deceased, such asthe executor of a will, would get access to— but not control of — a person’s digitalfiles so long as the deceased didn’t prohib-it it in the will. The law would trump ac-cess rules outlined by a company’s termsof service agreement, although the repre-sentative would still have to abide by other

rules, including copyright laws. That means, for example, a widow could

read her deceased husband’s emails, butcouldn’t send emails from that account.And a person could access music or videodownloads, but not copy the files if doingso violated licensing agreements.

Williams said she supports letting peo-ple decide in their wills whether accountsshould be kept from family members.

“I could understand where some peopledon’t want to share everything,” she said

in a phone interview. “But to us, losing him(our son) unexpectedly, anything hetouched became so valuable to us.” And “ifwe were still in the era of keeping a shoe-box full of letters, that would have beenpart of the estate, and we wouldn’t havethought anything of it.”

To access Google’s inactive accountmanager: http://bit.ly/XuvgqD. Face-book’s page on deleting or memorializingaccounts is at http://on.fb.me/1cyCi5e.

— AP

Online filesFrom page 4

6 Technology & Innovations | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 — B A L T IMORE B E A CON

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gence to identify shopper patternsthrough mobile phone movements.

The system uses cellular data, wi-fi andBluetooth. Forest City emphasizes that itdoes not collect personal data or any datathat could be used to identify an individualshopper.

The company has used the data to deter-

mine whether it should move an escalatorin one mall to make the flow of traffic moreefficient. Another time they were able totell a retailer whether they should changelocations or not.

“In the past, we would have used a gutfeeling or anecdotal evidence, more low-tech ways to determine whether or not weshould move the escalator,” said StephanieShriver-Engdahl, vice president digitalstrategy.

The use of “big data” and other ways tostudy consumers are likely to get morepervasive. The key to conducting studieswithout sparking outrage — both onlineand offline — is transparency, said market-ing expert Allen Adamson, managing di-rector of branding firm Landor Associates.

“Big data is everywhere, and peopleknow that and are willing to deal with it,”he said. “If you tell consumers this is whatyou’re doing to make sure you’re meeting

their needs and be able to offer the rightmerchandise, they’re usually acceptingand understand.”

That’s true for Lucas Miller, 24, ofPhoenix, who wasn’t fazed when OKCupiddisclosed its experiments.

“In terms of tracking behavior, I’m farless worried about for-profit companiesdoing it than I am about the government,”he said.

— AP

Customer dataFrom page 4

COMPUTER TROUBLESHOOTING AND TECHNIQUES Volunteer Allen Miller will be at the Parkville Senior Center tolend a helping hand with your computer issues, from troubleshoot-

ing hardware and software problems to helping you install and master techniquesof new software. He will be in the staff office at the center, 8601 Harford Rd., at10 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 28. For more information, call (410) 887-5338.

BEACON BITS

Jan. 28

By Eleanor LaiseDoctors and hospitals traditionally have

been the gatekeepers of patients’ medicalrecords. That’s changing as a growingnumber of digital tools place these recordsat consumers’ fingertips.

Patients can now view their medicalrecords, download them to a computer ormobile device, and organize key informa-tion such as allergies and drug side ef-fects. They also can use these tools totransmit the data to doctors or caregivers.

One such tool already allows Medicarebeneficiaries, veterans and other groups toelectronically access their medical records. InSeptember, the federal government launcheda national campaign to raise consumer aware-ness of this “Blue Button” tool, developed inpartnership with the healthcare industry (Seesidebar).

Tech companies, meanwhile, are racingto develop apps and online storage sys-tems. Apple, for example, announced lastJune that a new Health app would be partof its next operating system. The app’s fea-

tures include an emergency medical cardlisting medical conditions, allergies andother key information.

Risks and benefitsBut as patients take charge of their

records — and become responsible for safe-guarding them — the “risks are very real,”said Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologistat the Center for Democracy and Technolo-gy, which promotes online privacy. If a thiefobtains your insurance information andseeks drugs or treatments under your name,for example, he could wreak havoc with yourown medical care and credit report.

Still, health policy experts see the bene-fits outweighing the risks.

“When people have access to their ownpersonal health information, they’re in-clined to be more engaged in their care,”said Joyce Dubow, principal for health poli-cy and strategy at AARP.

Indeed, patients who manage their med-ical records electronically can help spotpotentially dangerous errors. For exam-

ple, if one of your drugs is inadvertentlymissing from your record, you run the riskof a doctor prescribing a drug that couldinteract adversely with it.

Much medical harm “can be preventedif the patient or family caregiver has a lookat that information,” said Dr. Bettina Ex-perton, chief executive officer ofHumetrix, developer of an app that workswith Blue Button.

An electronic “vault”Microsoft HealthVault (www.health-

vault.com) also helps organize and shareyour medical records while connectingwith health and fitness apps and devicessuch as blood pressure monitors. The freeservice stores records on secure servers,

so users can access the information fromany device that has an Internet connection.

Both iBlueButton and HealthVault arehighly secure tools for managing electron-ic medical records, Hall said. But he warnsthat the push toward electronic medicalrecords may spawn startup companies of-fering apps that are less secure.

Read the privacy policy before down-loading any app, paying particular atten-tion to whether the company might shareyour data with third parties or use it togenerate targeted advertisements — awarning sign that your information “can bevery promiscuously shared,” Hall said.

— Kiplinger’s Retirement Report© 2014, Kiplinger. All Rights Reserved.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

BA L T IMORE B E A CON — F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Technology & Innovations 7

How to manage your health records online

Accessing recordswith Blue Button

Patients can start to access recordselectronically by looking for the BlueButton logo. Visit http://bluebutton-connector.healthit.gov to search forhospitals, labs, pharmacies and insur-ers that offer access to records throughBlue Button.

Medicare beneficiaries can create anaccount at www.mymedicare.gov to re-view records and select Blue Button todownload information.

Humetrix’s iBlueButton app (www.ibluebutton.com) helps users manage andshare medical records directly from a

smart phone. The app organizes your in-formation into sections for medications,conditions, allergies and immunizations.

When visiting a doctor who uses acompanion Humetrix app designed formedical professionals, patients cantransmit records to the doctor’s iPad.Likewise, doctors can use the app totransmit visit summaries, wound-careinstructions, or other information to pa-tients. The consumer app, which costs$9.99, is available for iPhone, iPad andAndroid devices.

— Eleanor Laise

Send a letter to the editor. See page 2.

8 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5 — B A L T I M O R E B E A C O N

By Matthew PerroneSome low-cost generic drugs that have

helped restrain healthcare costs fordecades are seeing unexpected pricespikes of up to 8,000 percent, prompting abacklash from patients, pharmacists andnow Washington lawmakers.

A Senate panel met in November toscrutinize the recent, unexpected trendamong generic medicines, which usuallycost 30 to 80 percent less than their brand-ed counterparts.

Experts said there are multiple, oftenunrelated, forces behind the price hikes,including drug ingredient shortages, in-dustry consolidation and production slow-downs due to manufacturing problems.

But the lawmakers convening the hear-ing said the federal government needs toplay a bigger role in restraining prices.

“If generic drug prices continue to rise,then we are going to have people all overthis country who are sick and need medi-cine and who simply will not be able to buythe medicine they need,” said VermontSen. Bernie Sanders, who chairs the Sen-ate Subcommittee on Primary Health andAging. Sanders is a political independentwho usually votes with the liberal wing ofthe Democratic party.

Bill for drug rebates Sanders introduced a bill that would re-

quire generic drug makers to pay rebates

to the federal Medicare and Medicaid pro-grams when prices of their medicationsoutpace inflation. Those payments are al-ready mandatory for branded drugs, buthave never applied to generics.

Sanders and House Rep. Rep. Elijah Cum-mings, D-Maryland, sent letters to the mak-ers of 10 generic drugs that have seen priceincreases of over 300 percent or more in re-cent months. The price for one of those, theantibiotic doxycycline hyclate, rose morethan 8,280 percent during a six-month peri-od from an average of $20 per bottle to$1,849 per bottle. (See “There are manyways to cut your drug costs” on page 9.)

The increases cited by the Senate sub-committee were calculated by the Health-

care Supply Chain Association using theaverage prices of the drugs and otherprice data.

The Generic Pharmaceutical Associa-tion said in a statement that the 10 drugscited by lawmakers do not reflect thebroader U.S. market, which includes12,000 generic medications that have re-duced drug costs by billions.

But pharmaceutical experts testifyingsaid the price spikes reflect broader priceincreases for generics, which have tradi-tionally fallen over time.

An analysis of 280 common genericdrugs by Professor Stephen Schondelmey-

HealthFitness &MORE STATIN BENEFITSTaking statins for five years in middleage can lower risks later in life

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Soaring generic drug prices draw scrutiny

See GENERIC DRUGS, page 11

By Dr. Howard LeWineQ: Recently, my doctor prescribed a

10-day course of doxycycline. I alwaysask for a generic since I need to payfull price.

I was shocked when the pharmacistsaid it would be almost $65. I tookthis medication three years ago and Ithink it cost me less than $8 then.How could that be?

A: The prices of certain generic drugshave skyrocketed. Doxycycline is one ofthem.

Reasons for the price hikes vary fromdrug to drug. The sharp increase for doxy-cycline was linked with shortages of rawmaterials needed to make the drug.

Only two or three generic drug makerswere able to continue to manufacture doxy-cycline. With less competition, those compa-nies hiked their prices. The higher priceswere passed on to the retail pharmacies andconsumers. In some cases, the prices wentfrom as low 7 cents per pill to over $3 per pill.

The good news is that only a handful ofgeneric drugs have become extremely ex-pensive. You can almost always save bybuying a generic drug rather than a brandname. So, ask your doctor whether ageneric version of the same drug will workas well as the brand-name drug.

Here are some other ways to help savemoney on drugs. As your doctor starts towrite a prescription, ask:

Are there lifestyle changes I can maketo either avoid taking this drug or at leaststart at a lower dose?

If no generic is available, is there anoth-er option that costs less and works as wellas what you’re prescribing?

Can I split this pill in half? For many drugs,the higher dose doesn’t cost much more thanthe lower dose. By splitting a higher-doseversion in half, you can save a lot of money.

After you have a prescription, you cansave in other ways, too.

Shop around, especially if you don’thave a drug plan and need to pay retailprices. I called a couple of nationally-known pharmacies to ask about retail costfor 30 doxycycline pills. One quoted a costthree times higher than the other.

Consider buying a three-month supplyof drugs that you know you will take for along time. Examples include drugs forhigh blood pressure, diabetes and highcholesterol. You may save on insurance co-pays if you do this and order by mail.

Talk with your pharmacist about waysto save money. Given the thousands ofdrugs on the market today, your doctormay not know about all the options.Howard LeWine, M.D., is a practicing in-

ternist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital,Boston, and chief medical editor of internetpublishing at Harvard Health Publications,Harvard Medical School.)© 2015 President and Fellows of Har-

vard College. All Rights Reserved. Distrib-uted by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

There are many ways to cut your drug costs

B A L T I M O R E B E A C O N — F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health 9

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triumphs. Under leadership of trained professionals, weekly support groups give

members an opportunity to exchange ideas, feelings, information and encourage-

ment. Medical professionals often participate. The group also maintains a

resource library that includes brochures, pamphlets, books, audio and video cas-

settes. For a calendar of events, visit www.baltimorecancersupportgroup.org.

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Ongoing

Early statin useoffers long-term

benefitsTaking a cholesterol-lowering drug for

five years in middle age can lower heartand death risks for decades afterward, andthe benefits seem to grow over time, a land-mark study of men in Scotland has found.

Doctors say it’s the first evidence thatearly use of a statin can have a legacy effect,perhaps changing someone’s odds of dis-ease for good. “It might be a lifetime effect,”said one study leader, Dr. Chris Packard ofthe University of Glasgow in Scotland.

Not only did original benefits of statinscontinue into late life, but researcherswere surprised to see new ones becomeevident over time, he said.

The results are from the West of Scot-land Coronary Prevention Trial, the firststudy ever to show that statins could pre-vent heart problems in people who had notyet developed clogged arteries but hadhigh LDL, the bad type of cholesterol.

The watershed trial led to these drugs— sold as Lipitor, Crestor, Zocor and nowin generic form — becoming a mainstay oftreatment and one of the most prescribedmedicines around the world.

The long-term results were discussed atan American Heart Association confer-ence in Chicago late last year.

The study, which started in 1989, involvedabout 6,600 Scottish men, ages 45 to 64, with

high LDL — around 190, on average. Halfwere given the statin Pravachol and the rest,dummy pills. Five years later, there were 35percent fewer heart-related deaths and alsofewer heart attacks in the statin group.

Once the study ended, the men wentback to their regular doctors, and aboutone-third of both groups kept or startedtaking a statin. This means any differencesseen years later probably is due towhether they took statins during the five-year study, Packard explained.

Twenty years after the study began, therisk of heart-related deaths was 27 percentlower among the men who took Pravacholfor those first five years rather thandummy pills.

The chance of dying from any cause was13 percent lower in the statin group at the20-year mark, a benefit not seen earlier on.

“The big surprise” was a 31 percentlower risk of heart failure in the group ini-tially assigned to take the statin, Packardsaid. Heart failure occurs when a heartdamaged from a heart attack or othercause gradually weakens over time andcan’t pump blood effectively. —AP

Younger patientsmore likely to getbest kidneys

New rules are bringing changes to thenation’s kidney transplant system that will

give younger patients a better shot at alonger-lasting organ, and move others upthe waiting list.

The goal is to get the maximum benefitout of a scarce resource: kidneys from de-ceased donors.

“Not everyone’s going to get the samebenefit out of a kidney transplant,” said Dr.Matthew J. Ellis of Duke University Med-ical Center, who is optimistic the new policywill help. “We’re trying to apply common-sense principles to address those issues.”

The long-awaited changes from the Unit-ed Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS,come as the gap between who needs a newkidney and who gets one widens. Nearly102,000 people are on the national waitinglist for a kidney, while fewer than 17,000transplants are performed each year.

Roughly 11,000 transplants are thanksto kidneys donated from someone whojust died rather than living donors. Howlong you’ve been waiting is the main factorin deciding who gets the next available ca-daver kidney.

But since November, the fittest of thosekidneys — based on donor age and med-ical history — are being offered first to pa-tients who are expected to survive a trans-plant the longest.

Called longevity matching, the hope isthat these typically younger adults won’toutlive their new organ and need another

Health Shorts

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that could have gone to someone else. Nearly 15 percent of transplant candi-

dates are awaiting a repeat operation, and“the potential here is that we will reducereturn to the waiting list,” said Dr. RichardN. Formica of Yale University, who chairs

UNOS’ kidney transplant committee. Another big change: People who started

dialysis before getting in line for a trans-plant will be credited for that dialysis time,moving them up on the waiting list.

The less time spent on dialysis, the betterthe prognosis after a transplant. Yet howquickly people are put on the transplant listvaries around the country, and minorities

and people who live in rural and poorerareas tend to spend more time on dialysis.

Recalculating waiting lists and estimat-ing patients’ life expectancy has been a bigjob for transplant centers.

“We’re scrambling to get this done,” saidDr. John Roberts, transplant chief at theUniversity of California, San Francisco, oneof the nation’s largest kidney programs.

But he called the changes necessary tobegin dealing with rapid growth in trans-plant demand, mostly by people over age 50,which in turn has lengthened wait times.

In parts of the country, the wait can av-erage five years. Last year, 4,485 peopledied waiting. Children already get priorityfor transplants.

— AP

er found that roughly a third recordedprices increases in 2013. The University ofMinnesota researcher said those numbersshow that generic price increases are notlimited to a few isolated cases.

“The markets are broken, and we needto do something to fix it,” he told the panel.“I think the government needs to step inand develop and monitor solutions.”

Dr. Aaron Kesselheim of Harvard Med-ical School recommended several newgovernment policies, including allowingthe Food and Drug Administration to ac-celerate the clearance of generic drugs forwhich there are few manufacturers.

He also said that federal officials shouldbe notified of all drug price increasesgreater than 100 percent. In previouscases where drug shortages have led toprice spikes, FDA has approved emer-gency imports of extra supplies from for-eign sources.

The lower prices of generic drugs makethem the first choice for both patients andinsurers. Generic drugs account for rough-ly 85 percent of all medicines dispensed inthe U.S., according to IMS Health.

Typically, generic drug prices fall asmore companies begin offering competingversions of the same drug. But recent ex-amples suggest the market forces thathave kept generic prices low are not work-ing properly.

The average price of albuterol sulfate, acommon asthma treatment, shot from anaverage of $11 per bottle in October 2013to $434 per bottle in April 2014, an increaseof over 4,000 percent, according to theHealthcare Supply Chain Association’s cal-culations.

The hearing followed requests for con-gressional action by the National Communi-ty Pharmacists Association, which said in-dependent pharmacies are being squeezedby the price hikes. In some cases, pharma-cists are losing money on drugs that arepurchased at new sky-high prices but are

still reimbursed at the older, lower rates bypharmacy benefit managers.

“Community pharmacies are put in theuntenable position of having to absorb thedifference between the large sums of

money that they spent to acquire thedrugs and the lower amounts that they arepaid,” said Rob Frankil, who testified onbehalf of the pharmacist group.

— AP

Generic drugsFrom page 8

B A L T I M O R E B E A C O N — F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health 11

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By Lauran NeergaardAdjusting medications before someone

gets sick enough to visit the doctor. Updat-ing outside specialists so one doctor’s pre-scription doesn’t interfere with another’s.

Starting in January, Medicare pays pri-mary care doctors a monthly fee to better co-ordinate care for the most vulnerable seniors— those with multiple chronic illnesses —even if they don’t have a face-to-face exam.

The goal is to help patients stay healthi-er between doctor visits, and avoid pricey

hospitals and nursing homes. “We all need care coordination. Medicare

patients need it more than ever, “ said SeanCavanaugh, deputy administrator at the Cen-ters for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

About two-thirds of Medicare benefici-aries have two or more chronic conditions,such as diabetes, heart disease or kidneydisease. Their care is infamously frag-mented. They tend to visit numerous doc-tors for different illnesses.

Too often, no one oversees their overall

health — making sure multiple treat-ments don’t mix badly, that X-rays andother tests aren’t repeated just becauseone doctor didn’t know another alreadyhad ordered them, and that nothing fallsbetween the cracks.

A new strategyMedicare’s new fee, which is about $40

a month per qualified patient, marks a bigpolicy shift. Usually, the program pays forservices in the doctor’s office.

“We’re hoping to spur change, gettingphysicians to be much more willing tospend time working on the needs of thesepatients without necessitating the patientto come into the office, “ Cavanaugh toldthe Associated Press.

To earn the new fee, doctors must comeup with a care plan for qualified patients, andspend time each month on such activities ascoordinating their care with other healthproviders and monitoring their medications.Also, patients must have a way to reachsomeone with the care team who can accesstheir health records 24 hours a day, for prop-er evaluation of an after-hours complaint.

Many primary care physicians alreadydo some of that.

“Quite honestly, I just didn’t get paid forit, “ said Dr. Robert Wergin, president of theAmerican Academy of Family Physicians.

Wergin estimates he spends about twohours a day doing such things as callingelderly patients who have a hard time visit-ing his office in rural Milford, Neb.

Say someone with heart failure reportsa little weight gain, a possible sign of fluidbuildup but not enough to make the pa-

tient call for an appointment. Wergin mightadjust the medication dose over the phone,and urge an in-person exam in a few days ifthat doesn’t solve the problem.

The new fee could enable physicians tohire extra nurses or care managers to domore of that preventive work, Wergin said.Patients must agree to care coordination; thefee is subject to Medicare’s standard de-ductible and coinsurance. Wergin plans to ex-plain it as, “This is how we’re going to hope-fully manage your illnesses better at home. “

Time-consuming workBut for some patients, care coordination

can require a lot more work. It’s like being a quarterback, Dr. Matthew

Press wrote in the New England Journal ofMedicine last summer in describing the 80days between diagnosing a man’s liver can-cer and his surgery. The internist, while atWeill Cornell Medical College, sent 32emails and had eight phone calls with thepatient’s 11 other physicians. That’s some-thing CMS’ Cavanaugh said a doctor in pri-vate practice would find hard to squeeze in.

The chronic care management fee isone of multiple projects Medicare has un-derway in hopes of strengthening primarycare, and in turn save money. For example,about 500 practices in a demonstrationproject involving Medicare and private in-surers are receiving monthly payments,averaging $20 a patient, to improve caremanagement and coordination for every-one, not just those at high risk.

Stay tuned: Medicare is tracking data onquality and costs to see if the experiment isworking. — AP

12 Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5 — B A L T I M O R E B E A C O N

Medicare pays to coordinate chronic care

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By Clare Tone, R.D.Food preparation techniques such as

peeling, chopping and cooking make animpact on the nutritional value of fruitsand vegetables.

Follow these tips to preserve more nu-trients in your produce:1. Fresh is best, frozen is next.

Fresh, ripe produce in-season — withvirtually no cooking required — will usual-ly be highest in nutrients. But what aboutproduce in the middle of winter? U.S. De-partment of Agriculture data indicates thatfreezing produce immediately after har-vesting retains 95 to 100 percent of mostvitamins and minerals, with the exceptionof vitamin C, which diminishes by up to 30percent in frozen produce.2. Be water wise.

According to the USDA, up to 50 percentof vitamin C, thiamin, vitamin B6 and folatecontent in food can be lost to the water it’scooked in. In order to retain water-solublenutrients, try to use cooking methods suchas steaming or stir-frying that use less water.Also reduce water used in steaming and boil-ing, and reuse cooking water in soups orsauces to capture escaped nutrients.3. Cut cooking times.

As a rule of thumb, the longer foods areexposed to heat, the more nutrients arelost. To reduce cooking times, cover the

pot to retain heat and avoid evaporation;place vegetables in already boiling water,and learn to enjoy vegetables with acrunchier texture.4. Make friends with your microwave.

Since it cuts cooking time and water use,the microwave is a nutrient-friendly kitchenappliance. A 2009 study published in theJournal of Food Science found microwavingpreserved higher antioxidant activity in amajority of 20 vegetables studied comparedto any other cooking method.5. Chop less.

Chopping foods into smaller pieces in-creases the surface area exposed to light,heat and water — three factors that de-grade nutrients.

One exception is garlic and other foodsin the allium family (onions, leeks, shal-lots). Chopping these foods and allowingthem to sit for 10 minutes before cookingincreases their active components.6. Preserve the peel.

Keeping peels on foods like potatoes,yams and carrots preserves more nutri-ents, which tend to concentrate just nearthe surface. In place of peeling, opt for agood vegetable brush and scrub vegeta-bles thoroughly.7. Use it all.

The next time you’re getting ready tothrow away those beet or carrot tops,

think again. Many vegetables are entirelyedible and rich in nutrients, so using theentire plant, from root to stem, is a sureway to add nutrients to your day.8. Keep it cool.

Nutrient loss in many fruits and vegeta-bles can be decreased with cooler temper-atures, high humidity and less air contact.Store produce in airtight containers in thefridge.9. Cooking helps, sometimes.

Not all vegetables need to be eaten raw.In fact, cooking methods such as baking, mi-crowaving and stir-frying can increase theantioxidant activity of many vegetables,such as celery, carrots and green beans, ac-cording to a 2009 Journal of Food Sciencestudy.

10. Eat more produce.No matter how we slice them, chop

them, cook them — or not — simply eat-ing more produce may be the best way tooptimize nutrient intake.

Nutrient synergy — how the total sumof nutrients in a food interact with eachother and respond to cooking methods —helps explain why using a variety of cook-ing techniques and ingredients might bethe best policy for optimizing the nutrientquality of your produce.Reprinted with permission from Environ-

mental Nutrition, a monthly publication ofBelvoir Media Group, LLC. 800-829-5384.www.EnvironmentalNutrition.com.© 2014 Belvoir Media Group. Distrib-

uted by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

How to preserve the nutrients in produceB A L T I M O R E B E A C O N — F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health 13

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By Carol SorgenHip fractures are fairly common among

older adults. In the United States alonethis year, approximately 350,000 people 65and older will break a hip. Despite im-provements in therapy, a hip fracture canstill result in decreases in the strength ofbone and muscle, making it difficult towalk and perform daily activities.

Physicians and physical therapists be-lieve that regular activity and exercise arebeneficial in reducing disability in older in-dividuals, yet the majority of older adultsdo not regularly exercise.

This is true even for older adults whohave suffered a hip fracture and completedthe prescribed rehabilitation program. Asa result of their lack of ongoing activity,significant disability often remains in older

persons after a hip fracture. Currently, the goal of post-fracture thera-

py is for patients to be able to function inde-pendently in a safe household two to threemonths after surgery. One year after hipfracture, however, 20 percent of patientsneed help putting on pants, 50 percent needassistance to walk, and 90 percent need as-sistance to climb stairs. This means thatmany patients are functioning at a lowerlevel than they were before rehabilitation.

Seeking post-fracture volunteersThe University of Maryland, Baltimore,

is sponsoring a study to compare two 16-week supervised multi-part physical thera-py programs beginning up to five monthsafter hip fracture.

This randomized controlled multi-site

trial will include 300 people age 60 andolder. Participants will join the study afterstandard rehabilitation is completed, ap-proximately 20 weeks after admission tothe hospital for hip fracture.

The goal of the study is to enable olderadults who have experienced a hip fractureto recover sufficiently to function at homeand in the community.

The primary outcome the study willmeasure will be the ability to walk 300 me-ters or more in six minutes 16 weeks afterbeing accepted into the study. This reflectsthe minimum distance a person needs tobe able to walk to carry out usual activities.

Additional outcomes the researchershope to measure include endurance, bal-ance, quadriceps muscle strength, lowerextremity function, fast-walking speed,ability to perform activities of daily living,quality of life, balance confidence, depres-sion symptoms, cognition, and nutritionalstatus.

Help comes to you at homeParticipants will be randomly assigned

to one of two arms of the study, identifiedas PULSE and PUSH.

PULSE participants will receive flexibili-ty exercises, active range of motion(AROM) for the upper and lower extremi-ties, breathing exercises, and transcuta-neous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS).Over a 16-week period, participants will re-ceive 40 visits from a study physical thera-pist (three visits per week for the first eightweeks and two visits a week during the sec-ond eight weeks). Visits will take place inthe participant’s home.

During the AROM exercises, partici-pants will work to increase flexibility andrange of motion. Exercises include theneck, shoulders, arms, trunk, hips, kneesand ankles. During all AROM exercises,the participant focuses on deep breathingtechniques. The second part of the sessionuses TENS on lower extremity musclegroups to decrease pain, in order to allowgreater ease of mobility.

The PUSH program seeks to improvespecific requirements needed to walk andperform activities of daily living at home. Itaddresses endurance (with continuous up-right exercise for 20 minutes); function(by improving fast walking), standing froma chair and stair negotiation; muscle per-formance (by exercising to enhance lowerextremity strength); and balance (by per-forming unilateral activities and activitieswith decreased base of support).

As with the PULSE group, over a 16-week period, PUSH participants will re-ceive 40 visits from a study physical thera-pist at their home (three visits per weekfor the first eight weeks and two visits aweek during the second eight weeks).

All participants in both the PULSE andPUSH arms of the study will receive 2000 IUvitamin D3, 600 mg. calcium, and a multivita-min daily for the duration of the 40-weekstudy. Nutritional counseling is also provided.Weight will be monitored every four weeks.

For more information, or to find out ifyou are eligible for the study, contactDenise Orwig, PhD, at (410) 706-2406 or dorwig@epi.umaryland.edu, or Lynn M Lewis, MA, at (410) 706-5144 orllewis@epi.umaryland.edu.

Health Studies PageTHE PLACE TO LOOK FOR INFORMATION ON AREA CLINICAL TRIALS

Restoring independence after hip fracture

CAREGIVER SUPPORT GROUPA caregiver support group meets the first Thursday of each monthfrom 7 to 8 p.m. in the Spiritual Care Department Conference

Room at St. Joseph’s Medical Center, 7601 Osler Dr., in Towson. For more infor-mation, call Spiritual Care at (410) 337-1109.

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If interested call: 410-605-7179 & Mention code: LIFTat Baltimore VA/University of Maryland Gerontology Recruitment Line

*You must be at least 65 years old and in good health*Participants will be seen at the Baltimore VA Medical Center and

University of Maryland School of Medicine*You will attend approximately 41 visits for 1 to 4 hours each per visit

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Want to Prevent Falls in the Elderly?Seeking Men and Women to participate in a research study

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• Compensation for your time

By Lauran NeergaardDoctors and patients may soon find it

easier to learn if clinical trials of treat-ments worked or not, as the governmenthas proposed new rules expanding whatresearchers are required to publicly re-port.

Thousands of Americans participate inclinical trials every year, to test new treat-ments or diagnostics, compare whicholder therapies work best, or help uncovergeneral knowledge about health.

Many of the studies are reported in sci-entific journals or trumpeted in the news.

Disappointing results not revealedBut researchers don’t always publicly

reveal their results, especially when thefindings show a treatment doesn’t work asinitially hoped, said Dr. Francis Collins, di-rector of the National Institutes of Health.

Collins cited one recent analysis thatfound less than half of studies had beenpublished in a peer-reviewed scientificjournal within 30 months of completion.

“This is simply not acceptable,” Collinssaid. “This dissemination of trial results isthe way in which medical progress occurs.”

The proposals aim to change that by in-creasing information available on a publicdatabase — www.clinicaltrials.gov — thatalready is a major source for patients anddoctors seeking to find the latest studiesthat need volunteers.

That site lists basic registration informa-tion — what’s being studied, in whom —about more than 178,000 clinical trialshere and abroad. Some are enrolling par-ticipants; some already are completed.

By NIH’s count, just 15,000 of the listingsinclude a summary of the findings, indicat-ing whether the work succeeded or failed.

New rules proposed by NIH Under the new proposals, all clinical tri-

als that receive funding from the NIHwould have to start listing a summary ofthe study results within a year of comple-tion. So would certain other studies, underan expansion of Food and Drug Adminis-tration rules that could require complianceeven if they involve products not approvedfor sale.

Some clinical trials would still be ex-empt from revealing results, and compa-nies could request extra time to reportabout unapproved treatments.

But NIH estimated the proposals, if fi-nalized, would mean the public could startseeing results of about 650 additional

agency-funded studies a year. “These proposed changes should be

good for patients, for scientists and for thetaxpayer,” Collins said, noting that evenfailed studies are important to learn from— and so scientists don’t waste money re-peating them.

The proposals are open for public com-ment through Feb. 19. Written commentson the proposed NIH policy should be sub-mitted electronically to the Office of Clini-cal Research and Bioethics Policy, Officeof Science Policy, NIH, via email at clinical-trials.disseminationpolicy@mail.nih.gov,via mail at 6705 Rockledge Drive, Suite750, Bethesda, MD 20892, or by fax at(301) 496-9839. — AP

Few clinical trials publicize their resultsB A L T I M O R E B E A C O N — F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health 15

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BEACON BITS

Ongoing

Q: How important is it to warm upand stretch before exercise?

A: Warming up before exercise is veryimportant for people of all ages to reduce thechance of soreness or injury, and to prepareyour cardiovascular system for exercise.Older adults and those who have been inac-tive should be especially sure to make timefor this vital element of physical activity.

You can do a slow and easy version ofwhatever type of exercise you’ll be doingas your warm-up, whether that meanswalking, swimming, dancing, tennis orworking with weights.

Pay special attention to warming upwhen exercising outdoors in cold weather.Even if your body as a whole feels warm,make sure the muscles in your arms and

legs, which may be exposed to the windand cold, have moved enough to feel warm.

According to the American College ofSports Medicine, muscles are more elasticand ready to be stretched when they arewarm, so warm up first and then stretch.

As one option to stretch the musclesyou’ll be using, simply move them throughthe full range of motion you’ll be using dur-ing your exercise.

Another option is called a static stretch;you gently stretch each muscle you’ll beusing to the point of feeling slight tight-ness, and then hold that position for 10 to30 seconds without bouncing.

In addition to the pre-exercise warm-upand stretch, the cool-down and after-exer-cise stretch are important. Take five to 10

minutes of low-intensity movement to helpyour body settle back down to its normalstate.

Then, while your musclesare loose, general stretchingwith focus on the muscles youjust used will decrease chancesof muscle soreness, and helpimprove and maintain the flexi-bility that makes all life activi-ties easier.

Try these flexibility exercisefrom the NIH SeniorHealth web-site (http://bit.ly/flexibility_ex-ercises) that show 12 major mus-cle areas that all benefit fromstretching regularly, from neckand shoulders, through back,arms and each area of the legs.

Q: How do pumpkin, winter squashand sweet potatoes compare nutrition-ally? What are healthy ways to preparethem?

A: Pumpkin and winter squash (includ-ing acorn, butternut and hubbard) are inthe same plant family and their nutrientcontent is similar. As with sweet potatoes,the deep orange color of pumpkin and win-ter squash signals that they are very highin compounds called carotenoids.

In laboratory studies, carotenoids func-tion as antioxidants and aid in controlling cellgrowth, which could mean they help reducecancer risk. Human studies link higher con-sumption of foods containing carotenoidswith lower risk of some cancers.

All three vegetables are also packedwith potassium, which seems to promotegood blood pressure control. All are goodsources of vitamin C, too, with sweet pota-toes containing the highest amounts.

Sweet potatoes are richer in natural sug-

ars and starches than most vegetables, mak-ing them higher in calories. One-half cup ofsweet potatoes has about 90 calories com-

pared to 30 to 40 calories inone-half cup of pumpkin orwinter squash.

Many recipes with thesevegetables include so muchbutter, margarine, sugar orsyrup, that they becomequite high in calories. Howev-er, those additions are notnecessary to enjoy the veg-etables’ wonderful flavor.

For a quick-and-easy way toboost nutrients and color toyour meal, add puréed frozenor canned winter squash orpumpkin to soup, stew or

even smoothies. (Just be sure the cannedpumpkin is pure, unsalted pumpkin andnot sweetened pumpkin pie mix.)

Cubes of fresh squash, pumpkin orsweet potatoes are delicious in stir-friesand stews, and mix well with many differ-ent flavor combinations.

All three choices are also terrific roastedin the oven, either alone or with other veg-etables, drizzled with just a bit of olive oil.You can cook them by steaming as well.The American Institute for Cancer Re-

search offers a Nutrition Hotline, 1-800-843-8114, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday throughFriday. This free service allows you to askquestions about diet, nutrition and cancer. Aregistered dietitian will return your call, usu-ally within three business daysCourtesy of the American Institute for

Cancer Research. Questions for this columnmay be sent to “Nutrition Wise,” 1759 R St.,NW, Washington, DC 20009. Collins cannotrespond to questions personally.

Why warm up and stretch before exercise

NUTRITIONWISEBy Karen Collins, MS, RD, CDM

16 Fitness & Health | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5 — B A L T I M O R E B E A C O N

EAT WELL FOR LESSVolunteer Linda James will show you how to prepare a nutritiousmeal on a shoestring budget at the Rosedale Senior Center on

Friday, Jan. 30 at 11 a.m. The cost is $2. Sign up and pay at the center’s frontdesk by Friday, Jan. 23. The center is located at 1208 Neighbors Ave., Rosedale.Call (410) 887-0233 for more information.

BEACON BITS

Jan. 30

Dear Solutions: I don’t know whether my problem is

with my daughter or with my grandson.My daughter and my 4-year-old grandson have to livewith us for a while, and shehas him enrolled in everyactivity possible. He hassports class dates, tutoringdates, swimming dates, playdates and more.

Now he’s refusing to goto the swimming class, butmy daughter insists heshould go. When he getsthere, he won’t go in thewater. She thinks if hedoesn’t go, he’ll never getover his fear. I think she should leavehim alone. What do you think?

— Her DadDear [Grand]Dad:

It just goes to show –— you can lead achild to water, but you can’t make himswim! I think your grandson is over-whelmed and may be too young for this in-tensive dating game. He could probablybenefit from a “do nothing” date.

Children’s imagination and creativity havea chance to develop when they have sometime to just invent their own play activitywithout adults telling them how. I would ad-vise your daughter to back off for a while. Hecan get in the swim later when he’s ready.Dear Solutions:

My wife died recently, and my nextdoor neighbor has been very kind. I’mretired and home all day and so isshe, but her husband is still working.

Because she’s been so kind to melistening to my need to talk and every-thing, I’ve gotten her a few small gifts.I’m beginning to get a bad feeling fromher husband, though.

He doesn’t say anything, but I cansort of feel his annoyance, and he’sacting very cold to me.

I’ve been giving his wife gifts becauseshe has such a warm heart. Do you thinkI should explain to him that I’m not afterhis wife? What am I doing wrong?

— Tom

Dear Tom: His cold shoulder must take precedence

over her warm heart! Cool it. It feels flatter-ing to you that she pays atten-tion, and it feels flattering toher that you give her gifts. Butit obviously feels threateningto him.

What are you “doing wrong?”You’re around all day, and he’snot. That’s enough.

Start looking elsewhere forsingle women friends. I as-sure you there are many whoalso have warm hearts and arewilling, even eager, to share.Dear Solutions:

My sister has five chil-dren. Four of them are doing very well— doctors, successful business peo-ple, good marriages, etc. One, themiddle daughter, is struggling along.As my sister says, “nothing ever worksout right for her,” and that’s all my sis-ter concentrates on now.

She keeps talking about it and is de-pressed and gloomy all the time. Shedoesn’t know what to do about it, andI don’t know what to do about her.

I keep telling her to feel good abouthow well her other children are doing,but she doesn’t seem to get any joy outof that. I’m afraid she’ll make herselfsick. What do you think?

— EllieDear Ellie:

I think that a mother is only as happy asher unhappiest child. The first thing youcan do is express your understanding ofthat, because that’s where she’s at.

She doesn’t worry about her other chil-dren because she doesn’t think she has todo anything for them. But she thinks shedoes need to fix things for this one, andthat’s the problem.

She’s feeling powerless. Unless there’ssome practical way she can change thingsfor this daughter, she needs help to acceptthat she can’t fix things. She can only besupportive.

Perhaps she can help her daughter getprofessional help. She should also get

some counseling for herself. That wouldlet both her and you off the hook.© Helen Oxenberg, 2015. Questions to be

considered for this column may be sent to:

The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring,MD 20915. You may also email the authorat helox72@comcast.net. To inquire aboutreprint rights, call (609) 655-3684.

SOLUTIONSBy Helen Oxenberg,MSW, ACSW

Does granddad or mommy know best?B A L T I M O R E B E A C O N — F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Fitness & Health 17

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WHICH FUNDS DO BEST?Much higher expenses reduce the returns of actively managed funds, helping index funds come out on top. See story on page 21.

MoneyMoneyLaw &

By Jonathan FaheyThe price of oil has fallen by nearly half

in just six months, a surprising and steepplunge that has consumers cheering, pro-ducers howling, and economists wringingtheir hands over whether this is a good orbad thing.

The price of a barrel of oil is just under$55, down from a summer high of $107,and lower than at any time since the U.S.was still in recession in the spring of 2009.

So what’s going on? A global imbalanceof supply and demand that is ripplingacross the world economy, for better andworse.

Supplies go boomYears of high oil prices, interrupted

briefly by the recession, inspired drillersaround the world to scour the earth’s crustfor more oil.

They found it. Since 2008, oil companies in the U.S., for

example, have increased production by 70percent, or 3.5 million barrels of oil perday. To put that in perspective, that in-crease alone is more than the productionof any OPEC member other than SaudiArabia.

As U.S. production was ramping up, tur-moil in the Middle East and North Africareduced supplies from Libya, Iran and

elsewhere. A balance was struck: Increas-ing supplies from outside of OPEC andfrom Iraq’s recovering oil industry helpedmeet rising demand around the world asother OPEC supplies waivered.

But now those OPEC supplies lookmore certain despite continuing turmoil,and those non-OPEC supplies haveswamped the market.

OPEC estimated last month that theworld would need 28.9 million barrels ofits oil per day this year — the lowest inmore than a decade. At the same time,OPEC countries plan to produce 30 millionbarrels of oil per day next year. That sup-ply surplus is sending global prices lower.

Demand goes bustGlobal demand is still expected to grow

this year, but by far less than manythought last year. The economies of China,Japan and Western Europe — the top oilconsumers after the United States — allappear to be weakening. Oil demand fallswhen economic growth stalls.

The U.S. is still the world’s largest con-sumer, but more fuel-efficient cars andchanging demographics mean demand foroil and gasoline is not increasing. The Ener-gy Department predicts a slight decrease ingasoline demand this year even though theprice is expected to be sharply lower and

the economy is expected to grow.

Consumers are happyFor drivers, shippers, airlines and other

consumers of fuel, there’s nothing not tolike about the drop in oil prices.

The national average gasoline price hasfallen for 97 straight days to $2.30 a gallon,its lowest level since October of 2009, ac-cording to AAA. It’s $1.40 a gallon lessthan at its high last year, saving U.S.households more than $100 a month.

Diesel and jet fuel prices have alsoplunged, helping boost the profits andshare prices of airlines and shippers.

Heating oil is the cheapest it has been infour years, reducing home heating pricesjust in time for winter for many in the chillyNortheast.

Economists, producers worriedFalling fuel prices act like a tax cut and

help boost consumer spending, which inturn accounts for 70 percent of the U.S.economy.

But economists are growing concernedthat there are other, more troublesomeforces at play.

The depth of oil’s plunge could be a sig-nal that the global economy is strugglingeven more than economists think. A weakglobal economy could hurt the U.S. econo-

my by reducing exports, employment andspending, which together could outweighthe economic benefits of cheaper fuel.

For oil companies, oil-producing states,and oil-exporting countries, the oil pricecollapse is painful.

Oil companies generally keep produc-ing oil from wells they’ve already drilled,but lower prices sharply reduce revenueand force them to cut back spending onnew exploration projects. BP announcedlast month it would try to trim $1 billion inspending in 2015 in a move that analystssay could result in thousands of job cuts.

States that rely on taxes from energyproduction, such as Alaska, North Dakota,Oklahoma and Texas, will see lower rev-enues. Some have already had to trimbudgets.

Major oil exporters such as Iran, Iraq,Russia and Venezuela rely heavily on rev-enues from state-owned oil companies torun their governments and are strugglingunder major budget shortfalls.

For example, Bank of America esti-mates that every $1 drop in the globalprice of oil costs Venezuela $770 million inannual revenue. Current prices are now$47 below 2013’s average, putting thecountry on pace for a $36 billion reductionin revenue.

—AP

Why oil is so cheap; what it means for us

By Stan ChoeDon’t expect much from your bond mu-

tual fund this year. The bond market will likely produce

modest returns, if they’re positive at all, ac-cording to many bond-fund managers. It’sa matter of math: Bonds are offering verylow interest rates following a decades-longdrop in yields. That means they’re produc-ing less income.

It also means bonds have less protectionfrom rising interest rates. When ratesclimb, the price for existing bonds falls be-cause their yields suddenly look less at-tractive than those of newly issued bonds.

If bonds were yielding 8 or 10 percent,they could more easily make up for a de-cline in price with their interest payments.But a 10-year Treasury note offers a yield

of just 2.25 percent. Less income comingin means it takes a smaller price decline tosaddle bond investors with losses.

“We’re getting to the point where it’s re-ally dangerous,” said Bill Eigen, managerof the JPMorgan Strategic Income Oppor-tunities fund. He says he’s the most nerv-ous about the prospect of rising rates thathe’s been in his career.

Investors got a taste of what bond lossesfeel like in 2013, when the average interme-diate-term bond fund fell 1.4 percent due toa rise in rates. It was the biggest loss forthe bond market in nearly two decades.

Managers say that, at the very least, it’sbest to prepare for big swings in bond re-turns this year.

To be sure, many managers predictedbond losses a year ago, and they were

wrong. Interest rates unexpectedly fell,and last year the average intermediate-term bond fund returned nearly 5 percent.

But even the more optimistic bond fundmanagers say returns will likely be lowerin 2015. Virtually all economists expect theFederal Reserve to raise short-term inter-est rates this year, which would be the firstincrease since 2006. The central bank al-ready ended its bond-buying stimulus pro-gram, shuttering it in October.

“Given where bonds are, you should notbe thinking about a return like last year,”said Matt Freund, chief investment officerof USAA mutual funds. “It could happen,but I wouldn’t want to base my financialplan on it.”

Here are some questions set to shapethe bond market in 2015:

— Rates are rising, right?Nearly everyone is planning for the Fed

to raise rates this year because the econo-my may have finally caught enough mo-mentum. The unemployment rate hasn’tbeen this low since 2008, and the economyjust delivered its strongest back-to-backquarterly growth since 2003.

Many fund managers forecast the Fedwill begin raising rates in mid- to late-2015.It has kept the federal funds rate at a rangeof zero to 0.25 percent since 2008. — But maybe not too much?Even though the economy is improving,

it’s still fragile. That could lead the Fed tomove more slowly in raising interest ratesthan many investors expect, said USAA’s

What does 2015 hold in store for bonds?

See BONDS, page 20

By Stan Choe2014 felt like a hangover for owners of

small-cap stock funds. On several occa-sions, small-cap stocks dipped by morethan 7 percent in just a matter of weeks.

All told, they were close to flat for theyear, a letdown from 2013 when theysurged 37 percent. And the performancelooks even worse when compared withlarge-cap stocks, which were up 11 percentin 2014. The last time small-caps had thisbad a year relative to large-caps was whenGoogle was still operating out of a garagein 1998.

The stall for small-cap stocks isn’t a bigsurprise. Many fund managers early lastyear called them overpriced followingtheir heady performance in 2013 andmuch of the decade before. Small-capsalso often lag the rest of the market whenthe economy moves out of the early stagesof recovery and begins to gain momen-tum.

But the underperformance has alsoraised optimism for some mutual-fundmanagers because it has made small-capsrelatively less expensive.

To be sure, no one argues that small-caps as a group are cheap, whether they’revalued based on their earnings or othermeasures. But managers point to severalfactors that could help small-caps in 2015.

Since hitting a bottom in mid-October,the Russell 2000 index of small-cap stockshas risen faster than the broader market.

Consider Drew Weitz, one of the man-agers of the Weitz Hickory fund, which fo-cuses on smaller companies with a marketvalue of less than $10 billion.

Weitz considers himself a value investor,and if he can’t find any attractively pricedstocks, he’s comfortable not buying any-thing. Bargains were so tough to find at

the end of 2013 that the Hickory fund hadmore than 30 percent of its assets in cash,versus its norm of 10 to 20 percent.

Prices have since dropped enough tograb his attention. By the end of Septem-ber the fund was down to about 20 percentin cash. In the first two weeks of October,small-caps had another jagged drop, quick-ly losing nearly 5 percent. Weitz pouncedand bought more, including stock in Alli-son Transmission. He had been watchingthe maker of transmissions for trucks andother vehicles since last January, waitingfor it to get cheap enough to buy.

Allison Transmission now trades at 27.5times its earnings per share over the last12 months. In February its price-earningsratio was above 42.

Here are some other factors managerssay could help small-cap stocks: — Buy American Companies that do most of their busi-

ness at home appear to have the advantageheading into next year. That would favorsmall-cap stocks, which depend less onforeign sales than their bigger rivals.

The U.S. economy finally seems to havereached a higher gear. Employers haveadded more jobs than in any year since 1999,and economic growth just had its best back-to-back quarterly performance since 2003.

Other countries around the world,meanwhile, aren’t doing as well. Japan’seconomy is back in recession. Europe’s isgrowing, but only barely. China is trying tonavigate a slowdown in its growth.

Small-cap companies generally get about15 to 20 percent of their revenue fromabroad, said Christopher Beck, chief invest-ment officer of the small-cap value team atDelaware Investments. Large-cap compa-nies, meanwhile, get closer to 50 percent oftheir revenue from outside the U.S.

— Stick with the dollarSmall-cap stocks offer greater protec-

tion from not only weaker economiesabroad but also their weaker currencies.

Procter & Gamble, for example, sells itsrazors and detergent around the world. Itgets about 65 percent of its revenue fromoutside the United States.

Last quarter, it would have reported a 9

percent rise in its core earnings per shareif currency values around the world hadstayed flat. But the dollar is close to itshighest level in years against the Japaneseyen and other currencies. That made eachyen of sales worth less in dollars than ayear earlier. Procter & Gamble reported

B A L T IMORE B E A CON — F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Law & Money 19

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What’s the outlook for small-cap stocks?

See SMALL-CAP STOCKS, page 20

growth of only 2 percent last quarter. — Ride the rise in buyoutsCEOs are growing more confident, and

they’re more willing to make deals toboost growth. The total value of mergersand acquisitions this year is on track to bethe strongest since at least 2007.

Buyouts can offer a quick way to jump-start revenue growth, something that’sbeen tough to deliver since the recession.Companies certainly have the financial

strength to make the purchases. They’re sit-ting on a near-record amount of cash, andlow interest rates make it cheap to borrow.

A boost in buyouts should help small-cap stocks, which can make for attractivetargets, said Delaware Investments’ Beck.Last month, two of the companies in hisDelaware Small Cap Value fund an-nounced they were getting bought. Andsuch deals generally mean a quick surgein price: Susquehanna Bancshares jumped32.5 percent the day it said it was being ac-quired by BB&T.

—AP

Freund. Inflation also remains low, with the price

of oil close to a four-year low and the dollarat its strongest level in years. That givesthe Fed more leeway to take its time inraising rates.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury could

be around 2.5 percent at the end of 2015, ac-cording to Joe Davis, Vanguard’s globalchief economist. That’s only a little higherthan its current yield, and Davis expects thetaxable bond market to return 2 to 3.5 per-cent annually over the next several years. — Aren’t short-term bonds safe?Long-term bonds lock investors into

yields for a longer time period, so rate in-creases can hurt them more than short-

term bonds. That’s pushed many investorsto pile into short-term funds, hoping to re-duce their risk.

The $22 billion that they put into short-term bond funds over the last year is 10times what they put into intermediate- andlong-term bond funds combined, accord-ing to Morningstar.

But short-term bond investors aren’tgetting a free lunch, said Karl Dasher, co-head of fixed income at Schroders assetmanagement company. Yields are so lowthat they’re in danger of losses when theFed begins raising short-term rates.

Longer-term bonds may actually be in abetter position, Dasher believes. Long-term rates may not rise as much for sever-al reasons. Pension funds and other big in-stitutional investors will continue to buy

long-term bonds to cover their liabilities,for example, and that demand should helpto support prices for longer-term bonds. — What about credit risk?Interest rates have been so low that in-

vestors searching for yield have reachedinto areas they may have avoided before.

Junk bonds, for example, are issued bycompanies with poor credit ratings. Theypay higher yields to attract investors, butthey’re riskier. Default rates have been lowrecently and are expected to remain so.

But prices for junk bonds can swingmore widely than others, and volatilitylooks set to rise with interest rates. The fearis that many of the newbies in the junk-bond market will rush to sell at once, whichcould cause even sharper price declines.

—AP

20 Law & Money | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 — B A L T IMORE B E A CON

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BondsFrom page 18

Small-cap stocksFrom page 19

Tell them you saw it in the Beacon!

Not all experts agree whether activelymanaged funds can outperform index funds.Some do in the short term, but it is certainlynot easy to select actively man-aged funds that will outperformindex funds in the long term.

An index fund managerbuys all of the securities of aspecific index, such as the S&P500, or at least a representativesample. The objective is totrack the index’ performanceas closely as possible.

Index funds are commonlydescribed as “passively man-aged.” An actively managedfund, by contrast, is one inwhich the manager selects in-dividual securities in an effort to outper-form specific indexes.

One of the most important factors toconsider is the annual cost associated withan actively managed fund you are consid-ering in comparison to the annual cost ofthe indexed mutual fund or exchange-trad-ed fund (ETF) you are comparing it to.

Morningstar has done extensive re-search in this field and has pointed out thatthe annual cost of the fund is one of thebest predictors of long-term performance.

A tale of two fundsWhat follows is a comparison between

the Vanguard Total Stock Market IndexFund (VTSAX) and the Dodge & CoxStock Fund (DODGX).

The Dodge & Cox fund is in the top per-formance echelon for long-term valuefunds. Morningstar gives it a four-star rat-ing; in terms of trailing total returns, it’sranked No. 1 in three-year and 15-year re-turns. It has fairly consistently outper-formed the S&P 500. If you chose this as

your single managed stock fund, you cancongratulate yourself for being an astutefund picker.

The Vanguard Total StockFund is also an excellent fund.It’s a standard index fund of alarge, well-known company. Ifyou buy it, you won’t exactlyimpress your friends for youroriginality (it has assets morethan six times larger than theDodge & Cox fund). Howev-er, you will be just as pleasedby its performance.

Let’s compare.Dodge & Cox Stock Fund

(DODGX)Expense Ratio: 0.52

Trailing total returns (according toMorningstar)

1-year: 13.47 percent3-year: 24.93 percent5-year: 15.31 percent10-year: 7.48 percentVanguard Total Stock Market Index

Fund (VTSAX)Expense Ratio: 0.05Trailing total returns (according to

Morningstar)1-year: 14.61 percent3-year: 21.32 percent5-year: 15.66 percent10-year: 8.32 percentAn investment of $10,000 made 10 years

ago would be worth $20,576.80 if youchose Dodge & Cox. It would be worth$22,233.13 if you chose the Vanguard fund.(Those figures are from Morningstar.)

Expenses make a differenceThere is no question that the Dodge &

Cox fund is an excellent fund and is well man-aged. However, no actively managed fund

can compete with index funds on a cost basis. Note the difference in expense ratios:

0.52 for the Dodge & Cox fund vs. 0.05 forthe Vanguard fund. On a long-term basis, itbecomes very difficult for any well-man-aged active fund to outperform an indexfund in the same category.

Index funds also have one additional ad-vantage over actively managed funds —savings on income taxes. There will bemore “turnover” in actively managed fundsthan there would be with index funds. Forany investments other than retirement ac-counts, you will have more of a tax liabilitywith actively managed funds because you

will incur more capital gains taxes.In my opinion, most investors will be

better off in the long-run by investing themajority of their common stock invest-ments in index funds. You can still diversi-fy within index funds, investing in small-cap, mid-cap, large-cap, value and othertypes of index funds. You can do this withboth mutual funds and ETFs, but youshould limit your investments to thosefunds with the lowest expense ratios.

Elliot Raphaelson welcomes your questionsand comments at elliotraph@gmail.com.

© 2014 Elliot Raphaelson. Distributed byTribune Content Agency, LLC.

Do you need an actively managed fund?

THE SAVINGSGAMEBy Elliot Raphaelson

BA L T IMORE B E A CON — F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Law & Money 21

Send a letter to the editor. See page 2.

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BA L T IMORE B E A CON — F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon 23

TravelLeisure &TravelLeisure &

By Victor BlockA gleaming white sand beach that rims

the azure sea is set off by an explosion ofscarlet, purple and other vivid colors oflush tropical foliage. Nearby, stretches ofrocks and pebbly soil interspersed withcactus comprise a very different terrain —bleak and desert-like. The dramatic variety of landscapes that

greets visitors to Aruba is echoed by theequal diversity of its attractions. Together,they make the island an inviting winterdestination for vacationers with a broadrange of interests.

Those seeking nothing more than a re-laxing sun-and-sand getaway have a choiceof magnificent white sand beaches that areamong the most beautiful in the Caribbean.Others interested in something with a Euro-pean flair will discover touches of it aroundthe island. The continental influence dates back to

times when both Spain and, for a brief peri-od, Great Britain held sway over Aruba.The Dutch took the island over in 1636,and today it is an autonomous member ofthe Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Dutch touches Evidence of Aruba’s Dutch heritage can

be seen around every corner. Oranjestad, the capital and largest city

(the word translates to “orange town” inDutch), is named for King William vanOranje-Nassau, the first heir to the royalfamily House of Orange. Many buildings sport pastel colored fa-

cades and whimsical architectural touchesthat have been described as SpanishMediterranean, with overtones of Dutch in-fluence. Streets with names like Nieuwewegand Arendstraat would not be out of place inAmsterdam. Adding to the cross-cultural blend is a

distinctive landmark familiar to anyonewho has visited the island. Looking out ofplace in a landscape of palm trees and cac-tus is an authentic windmill that oncedrained water from low-lying areas of Hol-land. Built in 1804, the structure was dis-mantled, shipped to Aruba, and reassem-bled in its unlikely Caribbean setting,where it has housed several restaurantsand night clubs over the years.Despite these inviting hints of the “old

country,” most people who visit Arubacome to enjoy its soft sand beaches over-looking crystal clear water. A magnificentseven-mile stretch of beaches backs up tothe high-rise hotels that rim the shelteredsouthwestern and western coastlines. The windswept northern and eastern

coasts, which are battered by the sea, havebeen left largely undeveloped. Each

stretch of shoreline, along with the arid is-land interior, has its own appeal. Rugged limestone cliffs that run along

much of the northeastern coast mark oneboundary of Arikok National Park, an eco-logical preserve that sprawls over nearly20 percent of Aruba. Hiking trails criss-cross the park, and those that leadthrough its more isolated areas offer op-portunities to spot native parakeet, bur-rowing owls and other wildlife that makesit their home. Intriguing chapters of Aruba’s history

come alive in this setting. Shallow cave for-mations recall a time when a branch ofArawak Indians inhabited the island.Brownish-red drawings that ornamentwalls and ceilings attest to their presence. Reminders of Aruba’s agricultural past

in the park include a long-deserted adobefarm house, while abandoned mines recalla mini-gold rush that got underway in1825 and lasted for nearly a century.

Casinos and museums Speaking of gold, the 12 casinos on the

island have earned it the nickname “LasVegas of the Caribbean.” While most casi-nos are located in major resort hotels,

there are two in Oranjestad. The capital city also has other attrac-

tions. The Dutch colonial architecture andpastel hues of many buildings, some dat-ing back to the late 18th century, impart aDisneyworld atmosphere. The busy port teems with the coming

and going of boats, and sidewalks withcrowds of sightseers and shoppers. Jewel-ry, designer fashions and perfumes arepopular buys, along with blue Delft ceram-ics and Dutch cheeses.When not spending money on shopping

or gambling, visitors have a choice of sev-eral small but interesting museums. TheArchaeological Museum is housed in acluster of colorfully painted homes thatwere occupied by a local family for nearly130 years, beginning in 1870. The exhibits inside showcase the histo-

ry of Indians on Aruba. They range froman ancient long house and native hut, to ar-tifacts dating back as far as 2500 BCE.The Historical Museum of Aruba is

tucked away in Fort Zoutman. That fortifi-cation was built in 1796-1798 to protect theisland from pirates, and the town soon

Aruba’s capital and largest city, Oranjestad, features casinos, museums and Dutchcolonial architecture.

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Aruba’s varied island culture and terrain

Aruba’s arid, desert-like terrain, where cacti abound, contrasts with its tropical beach-es, palm trees and turquoise water.

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See ARUBA, page 24

Ryanair and EasyJet are Europe’slargest low-cost carriers. See story onpage 25.

began to grow around it. The museum has exhibits describing

farming, fishing and other aspects of is-land life, including interesting tidbitsabout villages that I explored. For exam-ple, I strolled through the small town ofNoord, which began as an Indian commu-nity, and the hamlet of Rancho, that was es-tablished around 1855 as a fishing village. Visits to other communities also provid-

ed introductions to what locals call “thereal Aruba.” San Nicolas is the secondlargest town after Oranjestad, but isworlds away in atmosphere. While it oncejumped to the beat of workers from thenow-abandoned oil refinery nearby, it’susually on the quiet side these days.A mini-promenade along the main street

is lined by several shops and restaurants,but the biggest draw in town is Charlie’sBar. Beginning in the early 1940s, scuba

divers who dropped by that establishmentattached their underwater finds to thewalls and ceiling, creating what eventuallyevolved into a bric-a-brac heaven. Today, virtually every inch of available

space is adorned by automobile licenseplates, paper money and business cardsfrom around the world, and other memora-bilia too varied and numerous to list.

Ancient rock formationsVery different is the main claim to fame

of Paradera village, which is its locationclose to two natural sites that were sacredplaces to the Indians.The Ayo and Casibari rock formations

consist of huge boulders that rise up fromthe sandy desert terrain. Over time, prevail-ing winds have carved the rocks into unusu-al shapes which, with a little imagination onthe part of the viewer, resemble birds, drag-ons and other identifiable figures.Steps have been carved into the rock at

the Casibari site, and those who climb to

the top are rewarded with a panoramic viewover the island. Some of the stones at Ayostill bear petroglyphs scratched and paintedonto the surface by Indian artists. Those boulders rising from a flat, stark

landscape provide a setting very differentfrom the white sand beaches of Aruba.The small, silent caves in Arikok NationalPark present an environment that con-trasts sharply with the clamor and commo-tion of the island’s casinos. Yet these scenes and many more are

among the something-for-everyone varietythat makes Aruba an inviting destinationto explore and enjoy.

If you goRestaurant meals can be a bit more ex-

pensive here than on some other Caribbeanislands, but the over-sized portions servedby a number of eateries are large enough toshare. There also are early bird specialsand other meal deals that can stretch yourdining dollar.

At Fusion, a sophisticated piano bar adja-cent to Alhambra Casino, some of the hotand cold tapas ($6-$12) are ample enoughto be an entrée. Main courses include ribeye steak with French fries, and paella, thetypical Spanish seafood soup (each $19.50).For more information, call (297) 280-9994or email marritf@megaresorts.com.A very different décor and cuisine are

offered at the Pelican Nest, a casual out-door café perched at the end of the pier infront of the Holiday Inn. One chef’s specialis the excellent ceviche ($7.75), which islarge enough to make a meal from. Amerger of shrimp and chicken salad ongreens is a land-sea entrée combination($16), and grilled fresh-caught fish isserved with French fries ($8.25). For moreinformation, call (297) 586-2259 or log ontowww.pelican-aruba.com. The challenge when seeking a place to

stay is narrowing down the numerouschoices. The studio apartment at theAruba Beach Club Resort validated the be-lief of my wife Fyllis and me that checkinginto a timeshare property can providegood value. It was surprisingly roomy, andthe kitchenette offered the option of eatingsome meals in. The low-rise property lacks the hustle

and bustle of much larger hotels, and sitson one of the finest beaches on the island.Basic rates begin at a reasonable $200 anight for a suite that can accommodatefour people, although taxes and othercharges add to the total. For more infor-mation, call (297) 524-3000 or log ontowww.arubabeachclub.net.If you check into the Hyatt Regency Re-

sort, Spa & Casino you may never want toleave (that is, until your money runs out).As the name indicates, it combines HyattRegency excellence with a top-flight spa,in-house casino and other amenities oneexpects from that hotel brand. The landscaping alone is worth stop-

ping by to see even if you’re staying else-where. Fields of flowers surround a mas-sive three-level swimming pool with a slideand waterfalls, all leading to the beautifulbeach. High-season rates start at $565 anight. (Low season starts April 20.) Formore information, call (888) 591-1234 orlog onto www.aruba.hyatt.com.The lowest roundtrip fare in late Febru-

ary is $411 on United Airlines from BWI.For more information about Aruba, call

(800) 862-7822 or log onto www.aruba.com.

24 Leisure & Travel | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 — B A L T IMORE B E A CON

ArubaFrom page 23

LUNCH BUNCH IN

TIMONIUM

Lansdowne Senior Center invites you

to join its Lunch Bunch trip on Friday,

Feb. 6, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

at Famous Dave’s BBQ. You pay the

cost of your meal and $2.50 each

way for CountyRide. Call Lansdowne

Senior Center at (410) 887-1443 to

reserve a seat.

BEACON BITS

Feb. 6

If you’re heading to Europe next year,and if you plan to move around a bit, youmay consider some intra-Eu-ropean flights. You will quick-ly find that Europe hostsmore than 100 low-cost air-lines, some huge, some tiny. On my recent trip to Eng-

land and Italy, I tested Eu-rope’s two largest low-farelines, and came away withsome impressions that maybe helpful to you.EasyJet and Ryanair, the

largest and second-largestEuropean airlines in terms of annual intra-European passengers, operate from basesspread around the continent. You stand agood chance of flying one or the other justabout anywhere you want to go. Fares are capacity controlled, and if you

buy well enough in advance, they start outvery low.Service is probably closer to Spirit and

Allegiant than any other U.S. airlines. Thatis to say, seating is extremely tight, almosteverything is priced a la carte, and you payextra for buying with a credit card (Easy-Jet does not take American Express).

RyanairI flew Ryanair from London to Bari,

Italy, and EasyJet back to London a weeklater, about three hours each way:My flight to Bari cost $107, including a

checked bag and an assigned seat. AllRyanair flights are on 737s, meaning verynarrow seats; legroom, at 30-inch pitch, isa bit tighter than on large U.S. lines.

Ryanair’s main London base is at Stanst-ed Airport, which has no flights from the

United States, but lots of Euro-pean flights. You get to Stanst-ed by an express rail service,which leaves every 15 minutesfrom Liverpool Street station ata cost of about $36. Ryanair also has a few flights

from Luton, and a very fewfrom Gatwick to Ireland. Itsmain bases in France are Beau-vais (which it calls Paris/Beau-vais) and Marseille. The mainbase in Germany is Hahn

(Frankfurt/Hahn). In several cities, it uses nearby city air-

ports rather than the main fields, such asBergamo for Milan, and access to/fromthe nominal primary city may be difficult.

EasyJetMy flight cost $183, including a checked

bag and an assigned seat. All EasyJet flightsare on A320s and 319s, with seats wider thanRyanair’s but, at 29-inch pitch, punishinglylimited front-to-rear space. EasyJet runs large London operations

from Gatwick and Luton, and limited oper-ations from Stansted and Southend. Flights from Gatwick give EasyJet an

immediate $20 price advantage overRyanair because of cheaper ($16) rail tick-ets to/from central London. Main bases onthe continent include Amsterdam, Berlin,Geneva, Milan/Malpensa, Paris/Orly andRome/Fumicino.Although the flight crews always urge you

to “enjoy your flight,” the only enjoyment on

these lines is getting where you want to go,expeditiously, with your baggage, and at agood price. There’s no way you can actually“enjoy” a few hours on these cattle cars. For a humorous take on Ryanair, check

the “cheap flights” skit on YouTube athttp://bit.ly/youtube_cheapflights.On Norwegian, Europe’s third-largest

low-fare line, I’ve flown only its long-haulservice. Local services are based mainly inScandinavia. It has been rated “best Euro-pean low fare line” in several surveys. Unable to compete with the low-fare

lines, Air France and Lufthansa are estab-lishing their own low-fare subsidiaries.

Finding flights, trainsIf you’re considering an intra-European

flight, you have a good chance of findingwhat you need on either EasyJet or Ryanair.

Metasearch engines such as TripAdvisorand Kayak show both lines. But if you don’t find the flights you want

there, log onto www.attitudetravel.com orwww.skyscanner.net for extensive “whoflies where” information and airline links.For trips under 300 miles or so, also con-

sider high-speed trains. These days, railprices, like airfares, are capacity con-trolled, and lowest ticket prices oftenmatch lowest air prices. But rail travel is much more comfortable

than flying, terminals are in city centers,you have no security hassles, and you avoidthe cost of airport access. Where scheduleswork out for you, taking a train is almost al-ways a better choice than flying.

S e n d e - m a i l t o E d P e r k i n s a teperkins@mind.net.

© 2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

TRAVEL TIPSBy Ed Perkins

Flying around Europe on low-cost airlinesBA L T IMORE B E A CON — F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Leisure & Travel 25

THE GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT Become a citizen scientist for a day at Cromwell Valley Park asyou collect data, look for birds, and discover ways to help our

feathered friends. The day’s activities begin at 9 a.m. with a free adult bird walk,followed by build a blue bird box at 10 a.m. ($15), a free children’s bird walk atnoon, and make-a-treat-for-a-bird at 1 p.m. No reservation required. The eventtakes place at the Willow Grove Nature Education Center, 2002 Cromwell BridgeRd. Phone (410) 887-2503, email info@cromwellvalleypark.org, or visitwww.cromwellvalleypark.org.

BEACON BITS

Feb. 14

FRIENDLY SENIORS AT CCBC ESSEXCCBC’s Friendly Seniors program is celebrating 40 years of learn-

ing and service. Friendly seniors offers lifelong learning opportuni-

ties to adults 60+ in art, literature, religion, music, history, current events, the-

ater, government and the environment. Over the years, many members have also

been involved in other activities such as volunteering for Cockpit in Court, the

Health Fair, CCBC Foundation and the Ethnic Heritage Festival. The group meets

each Wednesday. For more information, call (443) 840-5842.

BEACON BITS

Ongoing

By Karen SchwartzWalking from the towns of Buonconven-

to to Montalcino as part of a weeklong trekthrough Tuscany, I was faced with a toughdecision. How many bottles of wine could I rea-

sonably carry in my daypack? The road that led to this quandary had

passed right by the Caparzo winery — sonaturally, we stopped in for a sample. Now I weighed the taste of the award-

winning Brunello against the realities ofbeing only midway through our 9-milewalk on a warm day: A grueling ascent upa steep grade to Montalcino still lay ahead. I opted to carry only one bottle. Once it

was packed away, we topped up our waterand continued on, past rolling vineyards

and along a short stretch of the Via Franci-gena, an ancient pilgrim route runningfrom France to Rome. It was another typical day on our self-

guided trip walking from town to town inTuscany’s Val d’Orcia. If we could avoidencountering vipers and wild boar, we hadnary a care in the world.

Tour company handles logistics My husband and I had booked the tour

through Girosole, which specializes incustomized Italian walking tours and con-veniently has a U.S. office. Because thetrips are private, we got to pick the depar-ture date and duration.We opted for seven nights in five towns.

On the other two days, we were shuttled in

one direction and walked in the other. They handled all the logistics: hotel

reservations, shuttles to and from thetrain, baggage transfers, detailed walkingdirections and even a cellphone for emer-gencies. Our responsibilities were few. We only

needed to have our bags packed by 9 a.m.each day, bring enough water, and try notto lose the directions. (After droppingthem once on the roadside, I took a picture

of them each day with my phone’s cameraas a backup.) Otherwise, we were free to walk and

sightsee at our own pace. The directions,while not infallible, were very specific, ref-erencing distances, landmarks, topogra-phy, and the occasional marker from theItalian alpine club. They also included useful tidbits like the

A walking tour thru picturesque Tuscany26 Leisure & Travel | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 — B A L T IMORE B E A CON

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See TUSCANY, page 27

A hiking tour through Tuscany’s scenic Val d’Orcia region allows visitors to get an up-close view of the landscape. Val d’Orcia is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

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amount of shade, the availability of water,the locations of bathrooms, and whetherneighborhood dogs were friendly. The landscape — with large farmhouses

and borders of cypress trees — oftenseemed familiar, immortalized in count-less paintings during the Renaissance byartists from the Sienese School. Ten years ago, the Val d’Orcia, about 25

miles south of Siena, was named a UNESCOWorld Heritage site, chosen for its artistic in-fluence, and its association with the utopianideals of sustainable rural development.

Off the beaten pathOften we walked on dirt roads around

vineyards or while watching a lone tractortraverse a wheat field. Some days wepassed through the forest where unseenwild boar left hoof prints on muddy paths. We visited two monasteries and skirted

one truffle reserve. Other travelers were few. Most days we covered about eight miles,

with an average elevation gain of 1,200 feet.We’d generally pass through the gates ofthe next walled town in the afternoon, justas the buses with the hordes of day-trip-pers from Siena and Florence were leaving. That was ideal. Although the hill towns

thrive on tourism, it was nice to move be-yond the cheese, wine and souvenir shops,and explore their historic fortifications (in-cluding spectacular views from the ram-parts in Montalcino), small museums (likethe mansion of the Piccolomini clan inPienza) and beautiful churches. We were fortunate to catch the start of the

annual Festival of Barbarossa in San Quiricod’Orcia, held each June, in which the town’sfour quarters re-enact a 12th century compe-tition with flag and archery contests. Adding to the ambiance in San Quirico

was the discovery that our room at thehotel Palazzo del Capitano had a turretthat afforded great sweeping views. When booking the tour, we had a choice

of three levels of hotels and opted for themiddle, somewhere between standard andluxury. All of the hotels we stayed in werewelcoming, clean and comfortable. Our bags were always waiting in our

room, giving us plenty of time to clean upand explore the town before choosing

where to have that night’s sumptuous din-ner. Being Tuscany, the food was fabulous,

often featuring dishes made from local truf-fles, pecorino or cinghiale — wild boar. For wine, there was no place like Mon-

tepulciano, where restaurants like La Bot-tega del Nobile boasted as many as 60local offerings by the glass. The famouscity is often associated with the Val d’Or-cia, and was a stop on our trip, eventhough it sits in a neighboring territory. And that bottle of Brunello? It was ex-

quisite. But I was glad I had decided tocarry only one, because it turned out thatthe winery shipped. So, many monthslater, with a case in my basement, I’m stillenjoying the fruits of my trip.

If you goGirosole: www.girosole.com. Tour com-

pany organizes small group walking toursof Italy. Val D’Orcia: http://whc.unesco.org/en

/list/1026. UNESCO World Heritage sitein Siena, in the Tuscany region of Italy.Walking itineraries: www.parcodellavaldor-cia .com/en/itinerari.asp

Palazzo Del Capitano: www.palazzodel-capitano.com/en/index.html. Hotel locat-ed in San Quirico d’Orcia. Rates vary byroom and date. — AP

BA L T IMORE B E A CON — F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Leisure & Travel 27

APARTMENT HOMES FOR THOSE 62 AND BETTER

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY

Furnace Branch 410-761-4150

Severna Park 410-544-3411

BALTIMORE CITY

Ashland Terrace 410-276-6440

Coldspring 410-542-4400

BALTIMORE COUNTY

Catonsville 410-719-9464

Dundalk 410-288-5483

Fullerton 410-663-0665

Miramar Landing 410-391-8375

Randallstown 410-655-5673

Rosedale 410-866-1886

Taylor 410-663-0363

Towson 410-828-7185

Woodlawn 410-281-1120

EASTERN SHORE

Easton 410-770-3070

HARFORD COUNTY

Bel Air 410-893-0064

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HOWARD COUNTY

Colonial Landing 410-796-4399

Columbia 410-381-1118

Ellicott City 410-203-9501

Ellicott City II 410-203-2096

Emerson 301-483-3322

Snowden River 410-290-0384

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY

Bladensburg 301-699-9785

Laurel 301-490-1526

Laurel II 301-490-9730

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TuscanyFrom page 26

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAYAmerican Legion

Post #130 Auxiliary, located at 8666Silver Lake Dr. in Perry Hall, will hosta Valentine’s Day celebration onSaturday, Feb. 14, from 7 to 11 p.m.Tickets are $25. Dinner includesstuffed shells, meatballs, Italiansausage, salad and dessert, alongwith beer, wine and soda.Entertainment. Call (410) 870-0625for tickets.

BEACON BITS

Feb. 14

By Dan CollinsChances are, if you’re a fan of stage and

screen, you’re acquainted with Ira Levin’swork. Levin, who died of a heart attack in2007, penned Deathtrap, the longest run-ning comedy thriller on Broadway, andcult-classic novels-turned-films, The Step-ford Wives and Rosemary’s Baby.

Chances are, however, that you have notheard of his foray into the dark corners ofhuman frailty, Interlock, now playing at Bal-timore’s Vagabond Players’ Theaterthrough Feb. 8. And that’s a shame.

Interlock was Levin’s first play and, asthe dramaturg’s notes relate, it “came andwent without much notice.” It debuted in1958 and perhaps was just a bit ahead of itstime.

Pianist seeks a patronThe plot of this three-act, two-intermis-

sion play, which comes in at about two anda half hours, is simple. A young woman,engaged to an aspiring pianist, serves ascompanion to a wealthy, wheelchair-boundlady. In hopes the lady will become her fi-ancé’s patron, she introduces him. Andthen things start to get interesting.

The entire play takes place in the musicroom of Mrs. Price, the aforementionedlady of wealth, in Gramercy Park, New YorkCity. The play is set just after World War II.

Hilde, the young female companion, isplayed by Karina Ferry, who portraysHilde as good-hearted, if slightly naïve,with a strong desire to see the best in allthose around her. It’s a character that un-doubtedly resonates with Ferry, who alsoplayed set-upon heroine Bella in the psy-chological drama, Gaslight, at Baltimore’sSpotlighters Theater in 2010.

Rick Lyon-Vaiden is the pianist Paul, arecent immigrant from Stuttgart, Ger-many and survivor of the Nazi concentra-tion camps. Lyon-Vaiden’s body languagemight be called the stereotypical German-ic male, that is, upright, head back andproud. But inside he is as malleable as thebread dough at the bakery where he toils.

In Paul, playwright Levin has crafted anintriguing character who, like Hilde, under-goes a metamorphosis in the presence ofmaster manipulator Mrs. Price, played pitch-perfect by veteran actress Laura Gifford.

While Paul at first has no interest inMrs. Price’s “charity,” he falls prey to her

sophistry, as it becomes quickly apparentthat Mrs. Price has designs on the youngmusician. Lyon-Vaiden makes Paul a char-acter simultaneously likeable and dislike-

able as he vacillates between wants and de-sires, between what is right and what is ex-

28 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 — B A L T IMORE B E A CON

Arts &Style Daniel Klein traveled to Greece towrite a book on growing older mindful-ly. See story on facing page.

In the Vagabond Players’ production of Interlock, Laura Gifford, front, plays thewealthy, manipulative Mrs. Price, who becomes a patron to pianist Paul, played byRick Lyon-Vaiden. Hilde, played by Karina Ferry, may be sorry she brought the two ofthem together.

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Play digs deep into human psychology

See INTERLOCK, page 31

D inner & Sho wTobysDinnerTheatre.com

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TOBY’S DINNER THEATRE OF COLUMBIA5900 Symphony Woods Road • CALL 410-730-8311

Based on availability. Due to the nature of theatre bookings, all shows, dates and times are subject to change.

We’re Creepy and we're Kooky atToby’s this February!

Last chance to buy a 2015 Season Subscription Booklet!

OpeningFebruary 6 - April 19

Taking the world’s musical theatre scene by storm with some of the

most beloved characters of all time. Wednesday Addams, the princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young

man from a ‘normal’ family. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they hosta dinner for Wednesday’s ‘normal’

boyfriend and his parents.

Radio Flea Market

Cars, boats, furniture, antiques, tools, appliancesEverything and anything is sold on

Heard every Sunday, 7-8:00 a.m. on 680 WCBM

By Carol SorgenAuthor Daniel Klein had a wake-up call

when his dentist suggested he get im-plants as opposed to dentures. They wouldbe more convenient, more attractive andmore youthful. And who wouldn’t want toappear more youthful?

After giving it some thought, though, it ap-peared that Klein didn’t actually care aboutputting his best smile forward. Too muchtime and too much money, he concluded.

Not to mention, he was unsettled with thethought of not coming to grips with who hewas at this stage of life — a man in his early70s, who had earned the right to enjoy thatage before he arrived at “old” old age, whenmany decisions might not be left to him at all.

To contemplate his new old age, Klein, asuccessful TV writer and bestselling au-thor, packed a suitcase of philosophy books— many he hadn’t read since his days as aphilosophy major at Harvard — and re-turned to the Greek island of Hydra, wherehe had spent time a half-century before.

The result of his sojourn there is the en-tertaining and thought-provoking book,Travels with Epicurus: A Journey to a GreekIsland in Search of a Fulfilled Life.

While on the island, Klein spent much ofhis time reading, especially the works ofEpicurus, born in 341 BCE on the Aegeanisland of Samos. Epicurus concerned him-self with the question of how to live thebest possible life,” especially consideringthat we only have one of them” (the Greekphilosopher didn’t believe in an afterlife).

Klein also spent his time visiting theother old men of the island, comparingtheir acceptance of growing older (or justplain old) with that of the youth culture inthe U.S., where Viagra, breast implantsand numerous other procedures, medica-tions, potions and lotions are available to

help us stave off, if not the years, the ap-pearance of those years.

A philosophical journeyThough Klein subscribes to the theory

of Thomas Merton, who wrote, “take moretime, cover less ground,” he acknowledgesthat the question of “what is the best wayto be an old man” is open-ended.

Whereas Epicurus’s prescription forhappiness in old age is to free oneself from“the prison of everyday affairs and poli-tics,” Klein acknowledges that many oldmen and women in this country genuinelywant to remain involved in the affairs ofthe day, and even continue to work.

“To be true to oneself, a person needs tomake his own decisions about what bringshim happiness,” Klein writes, observingthat he himself, in writing this book, clear-ly thought he still had work to do beforereaching the next stage of old age.

Klein concludes by musing on the Bud-dhist principle of mindfulness, suggestingthat no matter what we choose to do inorder to live a good old age, we try to re-main mindful that we are indeed old...”thatthis is the last stage of life in which we canbe fully conscious, that our time in thisstage is limited and constantly diminish-ing, and that we have extraordinary oppor-tunities in this stage that we never had be-fore and will never have again.”

The art of slowing downThough not designed as a companion

piece to Klein’s book, Pico Iyer’s The Art ofStillness: Adventures in Going Nowheremakes for an interesting and worthwhileaddition to the literature of letting go, evenif only for minutes a day.

A travel journalist, Iyer has crisscrossedthe globe too many times to count, and now

makes his home in both California andJapan. At 58, he is more than 15 yearsyounger than Klein, but still is realizingthat the world continues to speed up just ashe might be ready to start slowing down.

For Iyer, that doesn’t mean not travelingor writing anymore, but it does mean mak-ing time for a time-out...whether by going ona retreat, meditating, or simply sitting still.

“It’s only by taking myself away fromclutter and distraction that I can begin tohear something out of earshot and recallthat listening is much more invigoratingthan giving voice to all the thoughts andprejudices that…keep me company twen-ty-four hours a day,” he writes.

“By going nowhere — by sitting still orletting my mind relax — I find that the

thoughts that come to me unbidden are farfresher and more imaginative than theones I consciously seek out.”

For many of us, Iyer notes, it takescourage to step away when there is so muchto do in our daily lives, much of it urgent andnecessary. But one doesn’t have to go some-where to accomplish this, he observed.

“Nowhere has to become somewherewe visit in the corners of our lives by tak-ing a daily run or going fishing or just sit-ting quietly for 30 minutes every morn-ing,” he writes. “The point of gatheringstillness is not to enrich the sanctuary ormountaintop, but to bring that calm intothe motion, the commotion of the world.”

Whatever age you’re at now, these twobooks can show you a path worth exploring.

New books look at growing old mindfullyBA L T IMORE B E A CON — F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Arts & Style 29

Lifelong Learning at Roland Park Country School

Spring programs for everyone who enjoys learning!

Expand your horizons! For information, please call 410.323.5500, ext. 3091

or visit us on-line at www.rpcs.org facebook.com/KaleidoscopeRPCS

Fitness ClassesCultural Arts

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Language Adventures

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ROLAND PARK COUNTRY SCHOOL 5204 ROLAND AVENUE BALTIMORE, MD 21210

30 Arts & Style | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 — B A L T IMORE B E A CON

UNITED SENIORS OF MARYLAND FORUMUnited Seniors of Maryland will hold its annual forum on

Wednesday, Jan. 28, at the President’s Conference Center, Main Floor West Wing,

Miller Senate Office Building, 11 Bladen St., in Annapolis. Meet and greet with

legislators at registration from 8 to 9 a.m. A leadership program runs from 9 to

11:15 a.m., followed by a caucus on senior issues from 11:15 a.m. to 12:30

p.m., and a box lunch from 12:30 to 1 p.m. Volunteers are needed for the event.

Call Elizabeth at (410) 608-7966 or email ew@elizabethcoonbeyagency.com to

volunteer. The fee for attendees who are not volunteers is $15. Mail payment in

full to USM, P.O. Box 1094, Sparks, MD 21152.

FREE TUITION FOR SENIORS AT CCBCExplore expanding job opportunities in the fields of education,

social services and allied health — particularly strong areas of

interest to mature students — by taking advantage of CCBC’s free tuition pro-

gram for students age 60 and older. For more information, visit www.ccbcmd.edu

or call (443) 840-4700.

HOSPICE VOLUNTEERS NEEDED For more than 30 years, Stella Maris has provided hospice care to

individuals facing a life-limiting illness. Stella Maris Hospice vol-

unteers are required to complete a mandatory hospice volunteer training pro-

gram. This program helps develop the necessary skills for working with the dying.

Additional educational opportunities are also available throughout the year.

Hospice volunteers are expected to make at least a one-year commitment to the

Stella Maris Hospice program. If you are interested in this program, call (410)

252-4500, ext. 7315 or email myannare@stellamaris.com.

BEACON BITS

Jan. 28

Ongoing

Ongoing

pedient — not an easy feat. Born into a wealthy family himself, Paul

is drawn to Mrs. Price, a mirror image ofhis mother (dubbed “the Ice Queen” byPaul’s father), and their relationship isnearly Oedipal in nature. In the final act of the play, there’s a

scene where one can see a piece of sheetmusic among Paul’s belongings. The pieceis entitled, “The Student Prince,” and thatis exactly what Paul is — an eternal stu-dent, both of music and of life, and awould-be prince who must decide betweenlife in the ivory tower or his soul.

Multifaceted performanceGifford is stellar in her portrayal of a

wolf in invalid’s clothing, playing the sym-pathy card for all its worth as she pulls inPaul while pushing out Hilde. She manages to evoke laughs, sympa-

thy and anger from the audience in herperformance of a woman who today wouldlikely be diagnosed with borderline per-sonality disorder.Rounding out the ensemble are Lisa

Walker as Lucille and Grant Chism asEverett, Mrs. Price’s long-time servantswho make the most of rather small sup-port roles. Lucille is Walker’s acting debut; she

plays well the part of a favored servantwho now feels displaced by Hilde’s pres-ence. While Lucille is willing to excuse heremployer’s “meanness,” one senses inChism’s tone and body language that he isnot as forgiving and bears more sympathyfor Hilde, herself a one-time servant inPaul’s family home.The Google online dictionary defines

“interlock” as the process by which “twoor more things engage with each other byoverlapping or by the fitting together ofprojections and recesses.” Levin’s play issuitably titled, as the “pieces” — Paul,Hilde, Mrs. Price, Lucille and Everett — allfit together and overlap, with bonds offriendship and love, service and loyalty, de-ceit and death.

A twisted Cinderella?Taken another way, Interlock is kind of

a twisted take on Cinderella: Mrs. Price asa combination fairy godmother and evilstepmother, Paul a less than charming

prince, and Hilde in the title role, but amore modern, feminist take on the fairytale character, who learns to save herself. Kudos to director Roy Hammond for in-

stilling a quick pace and seamless chore-ography as actors weave in and out of atwo-level stage. Charlie Danforth’s lighting builds upon

mood while Sarah Kendrick’s costume de-signs are on target, appropriate to the era,and also revealing of character. In the first act, for example, Paul is a

proud but poor man. His jacket is clean,but with a visible tear. As the play pro-gresses, Mrs. Price’s influence can be

seen in his changing attire: a rich suit andsharp red tie.Interlock runs through Feb. 8 with

show times at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Satur-days and 2 p.m. on Sundays. There will bea special $10 performance on Thursday,February 5 at 8 p.m. Tickets range from$10 to $20, depending on day of the week,with a $3 senior discount off the Saturdayand Sunday $20 ticket price.The Vagabond Players theater is located

at 806 S. Broadway in Fells Point. Formore information or to purchase tickets,visit www.vagabondplayers.org or call(410) 563-9135.

B A L T IMORE B E A CON — F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Arts & Style 31

InterlockFrom page 28

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networks; 50-year-old men with active friend-ships are less likely to have heart attacksthan more solitary men; people who havehad a stroke are better protected from gravecomplications by a tight, supportive socialnetwork than they are by medication.

Face-to-face is best“Social connections are as protective as

regular exercise,” said Pinker. “Those withthe most face-to-face connections have a two-and-a-half year survival advantage overthose with the same disease who are isolat-ed.”

“A hug, a squeeze on the arm, or a pat onthe back lowers one’s physiological stressresponses, which in turn, helps the bodyfight infection and inflammation,” she con-tinued. “Being there in person is key.”

Which means, said Pinker, that whileFacebook may help you reconnect with

people from your past or even meet newfriends, carrying on a friendship solely on-line will not provide you with the samephysiological and emotional benefits that anight out with your BFF will.

“The people most likely to survive to oldage are those with solid face-to-face rela-tionships,” she said. “They are married,they get together with friends and familyfrequently, they belong to a religiousgroup, or have another regular social com-mitment, such as choir practice, a hikinggroup or a bridge club.

“Each of these factors individually predictsmortality independently of how healthy, well-to-do, overweight or physically fit you are.”

Men should especially take note, saidPinker. While men are likely to flip throughtheir contact list with its hundreds ofnames, their actual close relationships tendto be fewer and less intense than women’s.

“When it comes to friendships, it’s qual-ity vs. quantity when you’re talking aboutthe difference between men and women,”Pinker observed.

32 Arts & Style | More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 — B A L T IMORE B E A CON

FriendsFrom page 1

A SWEET TREAT

FROM NATURE

On Saturday, Feb. 21 and Sunday,

Feb. 22, Ladew Gardens will present

the 10th Annual Maple Magic, where

guests can experience the process

of making real maple syrup.

Participate in an indoor presentation,

followed by a nature hike to identify

maple trees, learn to tap maple

trees, collect some sap and boil it

down into delicious, amber syrup.

End the day with tasty treats of

Ladew syrup, maple candy, and a

pancake snack. Two programs will

be held each day: noon or 2 p.m. Call

(410) 557-9570 to register for your

preferred date and time. Admission:

adults $10; seniors (62+) and stu-

dents $8; children $5 (ages 3 - 12).

Ladew is located on Jarrettsville Pike

(MD 146), 14 miles north of the

Baltimore Beltway (I-695), exit 27B

(Dulaney Valley Road North).

VOLUNTEER AT THE

WALTERS

The Walters Art

Museum brings art and people togeth-

er for enjoyment, discover and learn-

ing. To learn about volunteer opportu-

nities at the Walters, call (410) 547-

9000 or visit www.thewalters.org.

BEACON BITS

Feb. 21+

Finding new friendsSo what do you do if you’re fresh out

of friends you can meet up with? Per-haps you’re newly single, or havemoved to a new city where you don’thave any connections.

While it’s important to have thatface-to-face contact, don’t overlook theInternet in helping ease your way. Siteslike Meetup (www.meetup.com), forexample, can help you find people withthe same interests (hiking, book clubs,theater…you name it!) in your geo-graphic area and you can take it fromthere. (Meetup is not a dating site, andhas both male and female members.)

Or if you’re a woman and looking formore girlfriends in your life, try Girl-FriendCircles (www.girlfriendcircles

.com). This site works along the samelines as Meetup, but is geared just towomen, helping them find otherswhere they live who are also lookingfor new friends, and providing ways tomeet up in the real world.

There are four ways they make thathappen: Connecting Circles, in whichyou’re matched in a small group; Classi-fied Circles, in which you specify thefriends you want to meet; Choose MyCircle, where you search for membersto connect as friends; and Calendar Cir-cles, where you sign up to attend a localevent or activity. Membership rangesfrom free to $5 to $7 per month, depend-ing on the features you want to access.

— Carol Sorgen

See FRIENDS, page 33

Ongoing

Childhood friends are specialMarilyn Wenglin Smith, who grew up in

Baltimore and now lives in Chevy Chase, isstill part of a group she lovingly refers to as“the growing up girlfriends.” All between theages of 65 and 67, their lives have taken de-cidedly different turns since they were allyoungsters together in the Baltimore Cityneighborhood near Reisterstown Road Plaza.

“We went to the same elementary school,the same junior high, and some of us to thesame high school,” recalled Smith. But afterthat, some went to college and to illustriouscareers — Smith herself earned a doctorateand is a writer and writing instructor —while one member of the group became ahippie, another won the lottery, anotherworked in a cafeteria, etc.

“But it doesn’t matter,” said Smith.“We’re in almost daily contact via Face-book and email, and we meet for lunchevery two to three months to catch up.”

Back in the day, said Smith, having sucha close group of friends meant there wasalways somebody to play with. “I never re-member being alone,” she said.

Besides the group of eight girls, therewere “hundreds” of young people in thatcity neighborhood, and you could find 50to 60 of them every summer night hangingout together. “Nobody back then had acar!” said Smith.

All these years later, the friends sharethe same roots. “We know each other’sfamilies, and we’re there for each othernow as we’re starting to go through moreserious things,” said Smith.

About the only topic that can cause anytension among the friends is politics. Noteveryone shares the same world view, so“it doesn’t make sense to get into that con-versation,” Smith said.

Whatever their political viewpoints may

be, these women provide each other a sig-nificant source of continuity and stability,warmth and comfort. “We may have takendifferent professional and educationalpaths,” said Smith, “but we have a sharedhistory. We know each other.”

New friends are important, tooAs we get older and our friends move

away, become ill or die, it’s even more im-portant to keep adding to your roster offriends. “If you have no one to talk to, theeffects can be pretty alarming,” saidPinker.

Marcia Loebman Goldman has long-time friends, including her three sisters,high school and college friends — “mytouchstone friends”— and her “true bestfriend” since 7th grade, who just happensto be a man and happily married.

But Goldman, who is 55 and lives inFells Point, is always open to making newfriends, especially since her divorce threeyears ago and her move back to Baltimore.

“Fortunately, I never disconnected withmy Baltimore friends,” said Goldman,adding that through Facebook she was alsoable to connect with other old friends, all ofwhom have been “lifesavers” during thetraumatic days of her divorce.

But new friends, many of them singlewomen like herself, are also helping her toget out more and do things she didn’t usedto do, like going to a club to listen to musicor taking a bike ride.

“Having a lot of friends — not just inBaltimore, but all over the world — hasmany benefits,” said Goldman.

Emotionally, it was her friends (and hersisters and mother) who pulled her throughthe dark days of her divorce. Physically, shenow has friends to hike and bike with. So-cially, there are friends to play mah jongg ortravel with.

My friends enlighten and broaden myworld,” said Goldman.

B A L T IMORE B E A CON — F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon | Arts & Style 33

A T O M A L P D D A YD Y N E L O O T A R E A NO S L O M O O R N A I L SB O Y W H O F R I E D W O L FE N S U S A S K I S

T H E T H R E E F A I R SC H A O S A C R Y N E EH A T E M A T T S P S S TE V E S O S O B R I T SF E D R I D I N G H O O D

E D E N E A R E A UT H R E E L I T T L E F I G SH A I F A N O S E A N N EE N T E R E G O S I F E RG E R M A N T L O W S

ANSWERS TO SCRABBLE

ANSWERS TO CROSSWORDFROM PAGE 34

FriendsFrom page 32 DON’T GET ROBBED

Residential burglary is one of the most frequently reported crimes.Learn how to prevent burglary in your home at a presentation at the

Catonsville Senior Center with Baltimore County Police Officer Bryan Dietsch. Thepresentation takes place on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 12:45 p.m. The center is locatedat 501 N. Rolling Rd., Catonsville. For more information, call (410) 887-0900.

TAX APPOINTMENT SCHEDULING VOLUNTEERS NEEDEDJoin the United Way’s team of appointment scheduling volunteersduring the busy tax season now through April. Volunteers workalongside professional call specialists to assist local residents by

scheduling free tax appointments. No tax knowledge is needed, and training isprovided. Excellent customer service skills a must, with good computer skills anda willingness to learn. Volunteers serve a flexible two-hour schedule at the InnerHarbor location, 100 S. Charles St., weekdays anytime between 9 a.m. and 5p.m. For more information, visit www.uwcm.org.

BEACON BITS

Jan. 28

Ongoing

34 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 — B A L T IMORE B E A CON

Puzzle Page Crossword PuzzleDaily crosswords can be found on our website:

www.TheBeaconNewspapers.comClick on Puzzles Plus

Answers on page 33.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19

20 21 22

23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31

32 33 34 35

36 37 38 39

40 41 42

43 44 45 46

47 48 49 50 51

52 53 54 55 56

57 58 59

60 61 62

63 64 65

Down1. Brick made of mud2. ESPN ranked him the hardest hitter in heavyweight history

3. Not written down anywhere4. Feline tagline5. Just about6. Body scrubber7. Impoverished8. Dress-up all fancy9. ___ blank10. Its not complete without U11. “You guys”, down South14. Divide into thirds16. Bank stamp21. Shades22. Those who just barely get by27. Garden tool28. Turn state’s evidence29. Good dirt30. Use a Barcalounger31. Distributes silverware32. Food Network show host33. One of the elites37. Tiny airplane38. Moronic39. Sunday football player41. Colt .45, for example42. Force to yawn44. ___ Madness (1930’s propaganda

film)45. Boards a train46. Least sickly50. Veep before Ford51. Readers of a guide52. Most common English word53. Punish, permanently54. Baptism or bris55. Roman-themed party attire56. Botch a fairy tale (in this puzzle)

Across1. Molecule part5. Place for a Swiss stake8. 6/6/4412. 1/100,000th of a newton13. Ransack15. “Sanity and happiness ___

impossible combination” (MarkTwain)17. Scandinavian capital18. Drop anchor19. Manicurist’s canvas20. Callow canine cook23. Nixon’s start and end24. Olympic chant25. Competes in the Winter Olympics26. C, C+, and C-32. Pandemonium34. ___ for help35. Amal Clooney, ___ Alamuddin36. “___ leads to suffering” (Yoda)37. Quarterbacks Ryan, Schaub, andLeinart39. (hey, you)40. She was naked, but not ashamed41. Garden-variety42. Most actors in Harry Potter movies43. She ate the food, instead ofdelivering it47. Garden ideal48. Van Gogh’s gift49. It’s bottled in Cannes52. Ingredients in a fruit cupcake57. The largest city in northern Israel58. Bloodhound’s pride59. Interstellar actress, Hathaway60. Obey a door sign61. Fragile traits62. End of Jenn or Luc63. Foe of Howard Hughes64. Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ character in

A Bug’s Life65. Down times

BB2/15

Scrabble answers on p. 33.

Fairy Fails by Stephen Sherr

FREE RANDALLSTOWN BIBLE STUDES–What the Bible really teaches about the Trini-ty? Where’s hell? God’s name is important tolife everlasting. John 17:3, Psalms 83:18. Ben,410-286-1357.

TAXES – ACCOUNTING, BOOKKEEPING,conscientious CPA, 37 years experience, reason-able rates, accepting additional business, per-sonal and eldercare clients and preparation ofbusiness plans. Call 410-653-3363.

BOOKS, THOUSANDS, for the collector andreader, all ages and subjects. Antique Depot,historic Ellicott City, Booth 119, 3rd floor.

PARKWOOD CEMETERY – Taylor Avenue –Poplar Lot 831 – Site 2. Also includes one burialvault and one opening and closing of grave site– value $6,685. Sell for $3,300 or best offer, 410-529-1191.

2 SALVADOR DALI woodblock prints fromDante’s Divine Comedy. Signed and framed.Asking $900 for the pair. Can email pictures ifdesired. Call Steve, 410-913-1653.

HANDYMAN AND HONEY-DO SERVICE –Small jobs are my specialty. Prices by the hour,day or job. MHIC # 95672, Fully Insured. Dave,443-514-8583.

BALTIMORE’S BEST JUNK REMOVAL –Clean Outs: Whole House, Emergency,Attics/Basements. Furniture and Junk Re-moval, Yard Waste Removal, General Hauling,Construction Debris Removal. Free estimates.10% Senior Discount. Licensed, Bonded and In-sured. Call Jesse, 443-379-HAUL (4285).

PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT ON CLUT-TER – Looking for participants. Do you strug-gle with clutter? I am a photographer lookingfor people who are willing to have their clut-tered or messy living spaces anonymously pho-tographed. Compensation provided. Call 571-331-9316 or visit everittclarkphotography.comfor more information.

LEARN ENGLISH – SPANISH – ITALIAN –FRENCH – PORTUGUESE Conversational.Grammatical. Private lessons. ReasonableRates. Tutoring students. 443-352-8200.

MILITARY ITEMS Collector seeks: helmets,weapons, knives, swords, bayonets, webgear,uniforms, inert ordnance, ETC. From 1875 to1960, US, German, Britain, Japan, France,Russian. Please call Fred 301-910-0783, Thankyou. Also Lionel Trains.

WE BUY OLD AND NEW JEWELRY, Coins,Silver and Gold, Paper Money Too. Watches,Clocks and Parts, Military Badges and PatchesOld and New. Call Greg, 717-658-7954.

OLD AND NEW WE BUY Sterling Silver Flat-ware, Tea Sets, Single Pieces of Silver, Largepieces of Silver Plates, Fountain Pens, Lighters,Tools, Cameras, Art Work. Toys From Trains toHotwheels to Star Wars. Call Greg, 717-658-7954.

CASH BUYER FOR OLD COSTUME JEW-ELRY – pocket and wrist watches (any condi-tion). Also buying watchmaker tools and parts,train sets and accessories, old toys, old glass-ware & coins. 410-655-0412.

VINYL RECORDS WANTED from 1950through 1985. Jazz, Rock-n-Roll, Soul, Rhythm& Blues, Reggae and Disco. 33 1/3 LPs, 45s or78s, Larger collections of at least 100 itemswanted. Please call John, 301-596-6201.

FINE ANTIQUES, PAINTINGS AND QUAL-ITY VINTAGE FURNISHINGS wanted by aserious capable buyer. I am very well educated[law degree] knowledgeable [over 40 years inthe antique business] and have the finances andwherewithal to handle virtually any situation. Ifyou have a special item, collection or importantestate I would like to hear from you. I pay greatprices for great things in all categories from ori-ental rugs to Tiffany objects, from rare clocks tofirearms, from silver and gold to classic cars. If itis wonderful, I am interested. No phony promis-es or messy consignments. References gladlyfurnished. Please call Jake Lenihan, 301-279-8834. Thank you.

BA L T IMORE B E A CON — F E B RUA R Y 2 0 1 5 Say you saw it in the Beacon 35

CLASSIFIEDSThe Beacon prints classified advertising

under the fol low ing headings: Business &Employment Opportunities; Caregivers;Computer Services; Entertainment; For Sale;For Sale/Rent: Real Estate; Free; Health;Home/ Handy man Services; Miscellaneous;Personals; Per son al Services; Va ca tion Oppor-tunities; and Want ed. For sub mis sion guide -lines and dead lines, see the box on the right.

CAVEAT EMPTOR!The Beacon does not know ing ly ac cept ob -

scene, of fen sive, harmful, or fraudulent ad-vertising. How ev er, we do not in ves ti gate anyad ver tis ers or their prod ucts and can not ac -cept re spon si bil i ty for the in teg ri ty of either.Re spon dents to clas si fied ad ver tis ing shouldal ways use cau tion and their best judg ment.

EMPLOYMENT & REAL ESTATE ADS: We will not knowingly or intentionally ac-

cept ad ver tis ing in violation of federal, state,and local laws pro hib it ing dis crim i na tionbased on race, color, national origin, sex, fa mil -ial sta tus or handicap in connection with em-ployment or the sale or rental of real estate.

TO PLACE A CLASSIFIEDDeadlines and Payments: Ad text and payment is due by the 5th of each month.Note: Only ads received and prepaid by the deadline will be included in the next month’sissue. Please type or print your ad carefully. Include a number where you can be reachedin the event of a question. Payment is due with ad. We do not accept ads by phone orfax, nor do we accept credit cards.Private Party Text Ads: For individuals seeking to buy or sell particular items, or place apersonal ad. Each ad is $10 for 25 words, 25 cents for each additional word. Business Text Ads: For parties engaged in an ongoing business enterprise. Each ad is $25 for 25 words, 50 cents for each additional word. Note: Each real estate listing counts as one business text ad. Send your classified ad with check or money order, payable to the Beacon, to:

The Beacon, Baltimore Classified Dept. P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915-2227

Miscellaneous

Personal Services

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For Sale

Events

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Wanted Wanted

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the Beacon!

Clinical ResearchStudies

Dementia Study . . . . . . . . . . . .16Diabetes Research Study . . . . .17Elderly Falls Study . . . . . . . . .14Gall Bladder/Kidney Stone

Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15HYPNOS Diabetic Sleep Study .14NeurExpand Memory Study . .15Parkinson’s Disease Study . . .14

Financial Services Bennett Senior Services . . . . .19Debt Counsel for

Seniors and the Disabled . . .21Golden Real Estate . . . . . . . . .26JSR Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . .19Ridgebrook Insurance . . . . . . .19Salvation Army . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Funeral ServicesHolly Hill Memorial Gardens . .24Sterling Ashton Schwab

Witzke Funeral Home . . . . .33

Hearing ServicesClarity & Comfort

Hearing Center . . . . . . . . . . .17Hearing & Speech Agency . . . .9

Maryland Relay . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Home Health CareOptions for Senior America . .12

HousingBenet House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7Blake & Sons Waterproofing . .7Brightview Senior Living . . . . .3Charlestown . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13Green House Residences . . . . .12Liberty Village . . . . . . . . . . . . .7Meadows of Reisterstown . . . .30Memorial Apartments . . . . . . .25New Shiloh Village . . . . . . . . . .7Oak Crest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13Park Heights Place . . . . . . . . .30Park View Apartments . . . . . .27Shangri-La Assisted Living . . .31St. Mary’s Roland

View Towers . . . . . . . . . . . . .31Wayland Village . . . . . . . . . . . .7Westminster House Apts . . . . .27Williamsburg Homes . . . . . . .26Woodholme Gardens . . . . . . . .26

Housing ReferralService

Senior Placement Service/Care Patrol . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

Legal ServicesFrank, Frank

& Scherr Law Firm . . . . . . .19

Lifelong LearningRoland Park Country School . .29

Medical/HealthCleanse Institute . . . . . . . . . . .15Dr. Richard Rosenblatt, DPM . .10Dr. Stuart Goldman, DPM . . . .11Health Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Ideal Health Chiropractic . . . .12Low Vision Specialists of

Maryland & Virginia . . . . . .11Mishpacha Dental . . . . . . . . . .10Progressive Rehab Services . .16Smart Pain Management . . . . . .8

MoversEasy Movers . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

PharmaciesCVS Pharmacy . . . . . . . . . . . .32Rite Aid Pharmacy . . . . . . . . .22Walgreen’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

RetailShelf Genie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Skilled Nursing &Rehabilitation

Communicare Health . . . . . . .13Holly Hill Nursing

& Rehabilitation . . . . . . . . . .10Manor Care Health Services . .17

Theatres/Entertainment

Alz Pals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33Bruce Thomas Music . . . . . . .29Hollywood Casino . . . . . . . . .36Radio Flea Market . . . . . . . . . .28Toby’s Dinner Theatre . . . . . .28

Tour & TravelEyre Bus, Tour & Travel . . . . .25

Utility ServicesBGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20Fuel Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

VolunteersBaltimore City RSVP . . . . . . .20

ADVERTISERS IN THIS ISSUE

36 More at TheBeaconNewspapers.com F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5 — B A L T I M O R E B E A C O N

FEBRUARY 287PM–9PM

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