In the 2001 Fiction and Poetry Contest, CP's fiction judges liked Susan Lantz' "Little Eggs, Little Bacon" (first place), Keith A. Berry's "Night Caller" (second place), and Seth Hurwitz' "Blue #25" (third place); and the poetry judges liked Rebecca Motil's "Shards of Love" (first place), Michael Levinton's "Midnight Poem(s), or The ABCs of Writer's Block" (second place), and Soo Young Lee's "Hae Jung" (third place). In Mobtown Beat, Molly Rath finds controversy in an anti-gay-rights petition drive, and Tom Scocca reports a union win for laundry workers. The Nose is horrified over tree slayings in Mount Vernon. In Media Circus, Tom Chalkley weighs in on press coverage of the Timothy McVeigh execution. Charles Cohen's Charmed Life translates Baltimore album quilts. The columns are: Joe MacLeod's Mr. Wrong, on great moments in teevee idiocy; Mink Stole's Think Mink, on out-of-whack gay-dars and handshake dates; Wiley Hall III's Urban Rhythms, on Cal Ripken fever; Joab Jackson's Cyberpunk, on the last Cyberpunk; and Tom Scocca's 8 Upper, on Cal Ripken's impending retirement. Scocca & MacLeod's proto-blog, Funny Paper, reads the comics so you don't have to. In Books, Eileen Murphy jumps into poet Elizabeth Spires' children's books: I Am Arachne: Fifteen Greek and Roman Myths and The Mouse of Amherst. Art is Mike Giuliano, checking out new exhibits at Maryland Art Place and C. Grimaldis Gallery. In Stage: Giuliano celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival; Brennen Jensen freaks out about Maryland Arts Festival's production of Bill Russell's Side Show; Anna Ditkoff is mostly pleased about Baltimore Shakespeare Festival's production of Much Ado About Nothing; and Jack Purdy likes the Brit wit of Theatre on the Hill's production of Alan Ayckbourn's Joking Apart. Film is: Lee Gardner, in the grip of Sexy Beast; Joe MacLeod, relishing the creepiness of Destroy All Monsters; and Rachel Deahl, finding The Road Home simply beautiful. In Belly Up, Susan Fradkin checks out two neighborhood joints: Canton Station and Porter's Pub. (Editor's note: these reviews are exactly a decade old, so take them with a shaker of salt.)
