maurice martin : : freelance journalist & playwright

At first glance, the house looks like an abandoned wreck. Its windows and doors have been nailed over with plywood, and someone has spray-painted “MR S,E,” where the front door should be. The ornamental iron gate opening onto the sidewalk hangs askew, and the surrounding fence has disappeared. Gray dust covers the yard.

However, closer inspection reveals that the wraparound porch is in good shape, as are the turned posts along its outer edge. The yellow shingles covering the main floor still fit together snugly. Tracey, my girlfriend, inspects the brickwork of the foundation and declares it sound.

“How much for this one?” she asks.

I consult my stack of papers: “$1,542.94.”

How I got priced out of the only housing market I had left.

Is the Metropolitan Police Department finally ready to hire more school crossing guards?

Comic artists Matt and Carol Dembicki have some serious fun with the snapping-turtle monarch of a local pond.

The rise and fall of the Beltsville Small White.

With their Internet fan series, Jack Marshall and crew bring Star Trek back to basics.

Maryland lets local snakehead owners off the hook.

What you don't know about the area's most notorious monsters...and the people who love them.

DC Artist Noche Crist creates an installation "for being bad in."