Editor’s Note: The Bay Net begins a new regular column today. Called Ellynne en Pointe, it is written by Ellynne Brice Davis, a well-known local author. The column is presented in response to readers who have asked why we don’t do a conservative, Republican column to balance our regular column by Nick Garrett called Nick on Politics. Ellynne Brice Davis is a member of the St. Mary’s County Republican Central Committee, although the column represented her own views.
The title Ellynne en Pointe denotes that she is presenting a point of view that is on point. Actually, Webster’s 9th New Collegiate Dictionary defines “pointe” this way: (Fr.) a ballet position in which the body is balanced on the extreme tip of the toe. Politics is indeed an extreme balancing act.
Ellynne’s recipe “Tomato Stack Salad” was declared winner of the Washington Post’s Third Annual Top Tomato Recipe Contest. That has been parlayed into a recently published cookbook “Ellynne’s Top Tomato Cookbook” which is the result of a collaboration with three long-time friends and colleagues St. Mary’s County Public Schools art teacher Joyce Judd, St. Mary’s County Public Schools Writing Specialist Myra Raspa, and Grace Fuller (who, along with her husband, Richard, is a co-owner of the Southern Maryland Wine Growers Cooperative and is a Port of Leonardtown Winery volunteer).
Ellynne is a retired teacher from St. Mary’s County Public Schools, having taught elementary school music and English-as-a- Second Language. She has over 20 years’ experience in writing feature articles for local publications, including the long-time column in the Enterprise called Park to Point.. Ellynne holds a Bachelor’s degree in Voice from the Peabody Conservatory of Music of Johns Hopkins University, plus Masters degrees in both Voice and in Speech Communication from West Virginia University. She was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Grant as a West Virginia Performing Artist-in-Residence. She also received a Fulbright-Hayes Grant to Japan, awarded through the University of Maryland.
As a singer and an actress, she has performed roles with the Light Opera Company of Southern Maryland, the Newtowne Players at Three Notch Theatre, the College of Southern Maryland’s Theatritext, and CSM’s Southern Maryland Originals, and has made numerous professional appearances in opera, theatre, and on the concert stage. She lives with her husband Jim (who is an engineer and pilot) and their cats on Breton Bay.
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