Crisfield, a crabbing hub on the southwestern tip of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and Smith Island are separated by just a dozen miles of choppy water known as Tangier Sound.

But Smith Island has a distinct identity. An archipelago of fiercely independent villages, it is so isolated that many residents still converse in an Elizabethan-era dialect descended from the British who settled there in the 1600s.

Jenny, a lover of World War II books who has her eye on a law career, walked off the stage at graduation Thursday with an armful of medals, certificates and scholarships. She was accepted by her first-choice schools – the Naval Academy Preparatory School and Salisbury University.

So the lawsuit, she says, is about something more closely resembling hometown pride. She lost the chance to become the first Crisfield High valedictorian from Smith Island. —Suit exposes cultural clash (Baltimore Sun)

Geography and class combine to make this year’s valedictorian lawsuit more culturally interesting than last year’s. Thanks for the suggestion, Rosemary.