Village Green/Town²

  File this under things you probably knew. I didn’t.  Photos by @goofeballe.bsky.social  “Some of the locks on the bridge over the Patapsco river in Ellicott City, MD.” I knew about the phenomenon of attaching locks to bridges - - France, maybe? I didn’t know it happened here.  Well, yes. It does. And it’s not all that new. This video, made by Jamie On A Quest, was shared on Instagram in July of 2024. Padlock Bridge, Ellicott City Maryland  The act of attaching padlocks to bridges is part of a phenomenon that has come to be known as Lovelocks. Wikipedia traces its origins to stories in Serbia during WWI. The placing of the locks on a bridge is connected to an intention of long lasting love.  This reminds me a bit of the old-school habit of proclaiming one’s love by carving it into a tree , such as the one I discovered in Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods a few years back. Oh, we are full of love and also deeply flawed, we humans. Taking a knife to a tre...

  The cupboards are bare at Columbia Community Care. Food prices have gone up, up, up and donations have been waning. Everyone is feeling the pinch. Image from Columbia Community Care social media  We are also painfully aware that ever-increasing food costs and inflation in general are affecting everyone's household budgets. If you are able to, please consider picking up some extra pasta, cereal, peanut butter and jelly, tuna, canned veggies, etc. Every jar, package, can, container will help. Thank you so much, as always, for your caring and compassionate hearts.* Did you know that you can bring donations of non perishable food items with you to early voting? Food Donations Collected At Early Voting Centers Through Oct. 29, Kristin Danley-Griner, Columbia Patch The Howard County Board of Elections has partnered with the Community Action Council of Howard County to host the Harvest of Hope Food Drive benefiting the Howard County Food Bank. Most Needed Items: Big announcement f...

  “Maker.” You may think you know the word. In recent years it has added another definition. Here’s an example from Merriam Webster: e. a person who experiments with creating, constructing, modifying, or repairing objects especially as a hobby With 3D printers and sewing machines, laser cutters and hand tools, makers are innovating and revolutionizing the creative process of turning ideas into tangible objects. —Record Observer (Centreville, Maryland) Maker culture is about … learning by doing, taking an idea from paper to reality. —Peg Mawby The concept of “maker” has its origins in a magazine created in 2005 by Dale Dougherty.   Make: magazine, a quarterly publication, was intended to be:  … a guide for a new generation of hands-on enthusiasts he would come to call “makers”. As the editorial team profiled fascinating individuals, from rocket hobbyists to kinetic sculptors and DIY mavericks they realized that their vibrant, eclectic energy they were capturing in print c...

  Dear Columbia/HoCo, You would not believe how much is going on around town today and somehow I don’t want to do any of it. Maybe I just need more coffee. Check out Visit Howard County for the bountiful offerings.  There are a number of craft fairs/vendor fairs happening today, including one at Historic Oakland and a Craft Show/Yard Sale at Wilde Lake High School. It’s called Wilde Cat Market .  The Columbia Association is hosting a Trunk or Treat and Clark’s Elioak Farm is holding Costume Parades all weekend. And there’s a Halloween Costume Giveaway at The Market at Caplan’s Columbia Pro Cantare is kicking off their season with a concert in Ellicott City this evening. If you want to support the performing arts at Oakland Mills High School they’re holding a Mattress Sale Fundraiser  tomorrow, Sunday 10/25.  Make your home safer (and clear out those cupboards!) by bagging up no longer needed medications and dropping them off today: National Prescription Dru...

  I think I’m going to create a new holiday, a new cause, a new movement. Let’s start today.  Women Getting to be Normal Humans in Group Photographs Day. October 23rd. Why not? A group of men in a photo is a group of men. Period. A group of women is coached into the most ridiculous and juvenile kinds of poses. Someone somewhere must think it’s cute and adorable. It’s not. In addition, women are bombarded with advice on how to stand or present their bodies in such photographs in order to appear slimmer, more appealing. There’s a rather hilarious moment in the BBC panel show QI where Victoria Coren Mitchell decries a certain kind of pose featured on Page Three which somehow manages to “get the bum and the tits in the same shot.” Sandi says it is difficult to know what to do with your hands if you are being photographed. Victoria once read that if you put one foot forward when having your photo taken you look thinner. Victoria says she was amazed about how Page 3 girls seemed to ...

  On September 10th I shared with you that Sarah Sundae likes cupcakes  to help spread the word that she was raising money to buy a wheelchair-accessible van for her son. Guess what? Purely because of community support, this Ellicott City mom has reached her fundraising goal.  Her son suffered brain damage due to the flu. The Howard County community rallied to help. Ellicott City mother uses social media to raise money for a wheelchair van, Kiersten Hacker, Baltimore Sun This is such wonderful news. It’s also true that having to go on social media to get neccesary care for her disabled son says something deeply unsettling about how our society handles healthcare and disability. What happens in a similar situation when the surrounding community is not affluent and/or does not have access to the internet? Food for thought. ***** In July I made yet another impassioned plea for why arts education gives students A Reason For Living . My reason for writing is still on the table...