Blogger's Choice?

Village Green/Town Squared

Posted on October 13, 2011 at 12:20pm Print

"Congratulations on your award," a friend of mine from the PTA mentioned in passing. "I have to admit, I didn't know you had a blog."

Well...(wincing internally, here.)

Yes, I did have a blog, at Columbia Patch. I wrote eight blogs posts in May and June of this year. The support from friends in the #hoco was encouraging. And then something happened that burst my blogging balloon, so to speak.

I witnessed a decision which I felt was so stupid and wrong-headed that my righteous indignation went into high gear and I poured it into my ninth and most passionate blog post. And then I had to swallow the fact that it was better not to publish it.

Until then my greatest fear about blogging was the specter of nasty comments. But it turns out that the deadliest poison was saying nothing. To choose to say nothing. It's true--sometimes saying nothing is the right thing to do. (In fact, more people should do it.) In a culture that says, "Tell it all!" or, "Don't hold back," we don't get a lot of practice in letting things go without comment. It's a discipline.

But I let the disappointment of that experience keep me silent for the last three months. And then, at Monday's HoCoBlogs party, an unusual thing happened. Jessie Newburn of Hocoblogs bestowed up me one of the evening's Blogger's Choice Awards.

In the early years of the Blogtail parties I would get dressed up, head to the events, then turn around and go home because I lacked the self-confidence to walk in the door. Since then much has changed. I credit my time on the Oakland Mills Village Board for giving me the ability to go places and participate without fear. I credit the relationships I have built with local bloggers and community members for giving me people to talk to once I get there.

The name of this blog is Village Green/Town Squared. On a warm October evening, on the patio of the Stanford Grill, I finally understood what Town Squared really means. It means a mix of County and Columbia, men and women, assorted generations, differing viewpoints--celebrating their connections.

I am so there. And that's this Blogger's Choice.

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