Author: Elizabeth Heubeck

Making Work Work for Moms

Originally published in the Baltimore Sun on October 28, 2015  _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ When you become a mother, you have your choice of umpteen how-to books to guide you on everything from when to change a diaper to how to say goodbye outside your firstborn’s college dorm. But try to find...

A Mother’s Warning: “Moderation!”

Originally published in the Baltimore Sun on March 20, 2016   Moderation!” This was my mother’s parting word to me as I’d breeze out the front door on a Friday or Saturday night, ready to conquer the world, or, rather, our small, suburban town. As a teenager, I never...

Welcome

Welcome to my website; I’m glad you landed here. On it, I have posted some of the articles I’ve published over the past 15 years as a freelance writer. Please feel free to click through the site to get acquainted with my writing. From opinion pieces to parenting columns,...

Meet Julian Baron, weather forecasting wonder-boy

Wondering if you’ll need to rent a tent at an outdoor event you’re having next weekend? Worried that your upcoming travel plans will be interrupted by storms? Just ask 14-year-old Pikesville resident Julian Baron. Plenty of other people do, from his classmates at Gilman School who want to know...

Meet the locals: josé-luis novo

Annapolis is proud to be home to the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra (ASO). Now in its 53rd season, it continues to flourish as a dynamic artistic force within the region. Music director and conductor Maestro José-Luis Novo, now in his tenth season with the ASO, deserves much credit for the...

Meet dr. leana wen, baltimore city’s new health commissioner

Last January, Dr. Leana S. Wen took the reins from Dr. Oxiris Barbot as Baltimore City Health Commissioner. Being responsible for the health of the entire city seems like a gargantuan charge, especially for someone barely 30. But given Wen’s accomplishments to date—she entered college at 13, studied...

If these walls could talk: artist brings flair to home design

Susan Perrotta’s current job may not be as glamorous as her former role as art director for CBS Inc., where she enjoyed a panoramic view of New York City from her three-window corner office. But she’s happy with her career move, even when she is painting walls for hours...

Meet the local: gavin buckley

On a recent hot August afternoon, I sat down at a table in the shade outside Metropolitan Kitchen & Lounge (169 West St, Annapolis) with the restaurant’s co-owner Gavin Buckley. Almost everyone who walked by stopped to chat with Gavin, making me feel like I was in the presence...

model united nations conference celebrates 15th anniversary

Clad in business suits and high heels, flocks of young men and women hurry down Baltimore’s Pratt Street toward the Renaissance Hotel on a breezy February evening. Soon, all 1,650 or so individuals gather in the hotel’s ballroom for opening ceremonies of the much-anticipated four-day event for which they’ve...

baltimore-area college seniors entering unstable job market

Zach Parkinson feels fortunate. Even in a stammering economy, the Johns Hopkins University senior knows his entrance into the job market is better timed than the class of 2010. The international relations major astutely sums up the sentiment of countless Maryland graduating seniors as they search want ads and email...

Partnering to build a better baltimore

On a blindingly sunny day in June, at precisely 8:15 am, a couple of packed school buses pull up to the curb of St. Paul’s Middle School in Brooklandville and deposit around 110 elementary- and middle school-aged children onto the sprawling bucolic private school campus. As they file out,...

Bedroom Wars: are they worth waging?

It’s a universal, timeless battle borne between parents and their teenaged children. No, it’s not an argument over drugs, alcohol, sex, or loud music. And while it may not be as dangerous or controversial as any of these hot-button topics, it’s nonetheless the target of many heated discussions and...

My daughter needs the h1n1 vaccine: why can’t she get it?

I'm beginning to think I'd have better luck finding a needle in a haystack. But I'm not looking for just any old needle. I want one loaded with the vaccine that I'm told will guard my asthmatic daughter from developing the swine flu, or H1N1. According to scary media...

The Bullying Goes On: From Hi-tech tactics to simple, animal-like behavior

Cyberbullying is the latest buzzword in the war against bullying. School-based lectures and wide-scale campaigns denouncing cyberbullying have beaten the message into adolescents that posting mean stuff online about someone you know can be extremely painful to the victim, resulting in despair, isolation and, in extreme cases, suicide. But...

Wake Up, Parents: Teens need their sleep

Waiting for a youth baseball game to begin, I whiled away the time talking with a guy whose kid seemed to have a lot in common with my son: Same age, shared interests, similar school curriculums. Before long, the conversation turned to homework. “He’s working his butt off,” the...

Age raises infertility risk in men

On playgrounds across the country, it's getting harder to tell who's watching the children -- Dad or Granddad. Experts predict the trend of older fathers will continue creeping upwards. Why the rise and, more importantly, at what cost?...

Are you a mosquito magnet?

You're trying your best to enjoy an evening cookout, but a constant swarm of mosquitoes follows you from grill to poolside. The threat? A pierce to your skin, leaving behind an itchy red welt and possibly even a serious illness. As you swat madly at the pests, you notice...

Workplace workouts: New ways to stay active

Brett Martin walks about seven miles during the average workday, which isn't bad for a guy who rarely leaves his office. From behind his custom-designed vertical desk, which fits snugly atop his treadmill, the 39-year-old president of a background-checking company performs the usual office tasks: checking e-mails, typing on his...