Village Green/Town²

I have an article that I have bookmarked to consult on days like these. " Blog Ideas Are Everywhere" (Oh, yeah? Then why can't I think of any?) But I re-read the article, calm myself down, stop fighting my own fears at having nothing to say. It's almost like a meditation, or a prayer. When you strive to write every day, you need that. Ask anyone who is attempting to keep the daily discipline of writing. You want to do it. You enjoy doing it. You love the flow of it when it flows. You hate doing it. It hangs over your head. You want to rebel against it. So I keep that article in my back pocket. Re-reading it is rather like renewing one's marriage vows, or recalling why one got married in the first place. Sometimes it jolts my brain into making a connection that produces new ideas. Sometimes it relaxes me enough to to be able to "step away from the computer." After all, the author states, "Your best ideas usually come when you aren’t trying to think ...

Social media was abuzz yesterday with word of a newly-released ranking that Ellicott City and Columbia ranked 3 and 8, respectively, as best suburbs for education in America. As a local blogger I received an email from the creators of the ranking, Movoto, along with a link to their article. My first response was: How did they choose? And, who are they? It seems that the reponse of most other people was: Woo hoo! look at us! We rate! Is it possible that we are getting a bit sucked into top ten rankings and click your town to supremacy contests these days? I wonder. So, to answer my questions: How did they choose? Student-teacher ratio Money spent per year per student (bolding mine) High school graduation rate GreatSchools.org rating (based on test scores for the area) Who are they? This is Movoto . They are a real estate company. The ranking appears to be a function of their blog . I don't really know anything else about them. I am not here to cast aspersions. But I wou...

A new buzzword in the education field is engagement. You can read more about this in an article about a Gallup report on teacher engagement. Apparently teacher engagement is crucial to student engagement, and the numbers are down. (Really?) Yesterday I passed a brand-new bulletin board display in a teachers lounge. It read: I feel engaged when... And it was blank. I laughed to myself.   Now, it was blank because it's the beginning of the year, and it is obviously an all-school exercise meant to fill up over time. But I found it to be a bit disconcerting because there are so many answers that teachers would probably like to put on that bulletin board that they don't dare to.   I feel engaged when:   My knowledge and expertise is solicited and considered when curriculum and programming changes are being considered. I am permitted to speak openly with parents who ask me questions about my subject area. I am treated with respect by the Board and Superintendent during...

Today I begin my twelfth year teaching music and movement to special needs preschoolers in the Howard County schools. I am extremely lucky to have a job which uses my specific interests and talents. I travel to sixteen different schools in the county.   Over the last eleven years I have experienced joy, frustration, sadness, triumph, and even hilarity in my work. I am privileged to work with wonderful students, teachers, and support staff. When a lesson goes well I am walking on air. When it doesn't I go around under a cloud until I figure out a way to improve it.   In the grand scheme of the program of Regional Early Childhood Centers, what I do is just a tiny piece. I try to remind myself of that when I get bent out of shape about something. But, to me, each class is my whole world. It is a chance to get that airplane off the ground and take flight.   I have spent a good deal of time on this blog championing music education in our schools. I see every day what music ca...

I have climbed up on the blog twice this morning, and twice it has thrown me off. As an act of sheer desperation I give you the following homework assignment: Do you see Columbia's Villages as being self-contained? Why, or why not? First, a definition: self-con·tained adjective (of a thing) complete, or having all that is needed, in itself. synonyms: complete, independent, separate, free-standing, enclosed "each train was a self-contained unit" From Wikipedia: Columbia is a planned community comprising ten self-contained villages, located in Howard County, Maryland—the second wealthiest county in the United States, according to 2013 U.S. Census Bureau figures. So, what do you think? And, does it matter? Posted with Blogsy

I meant to heed the invitation of the Community Action Council of Howard County ( CAC ) and attend the grand opening of ShopHouse SouthEast Asian Kitchen at the Mall in Columbia yesterday. Join them on Monday, August 25th for their Grand Opening! 100% of purchases benefit the Howard County Food Bank when you mention the word "fundraiser." Yes, I picked up my lovely companion HoCoHouseHon and we headed to the Mall to do just that. It was a beautiful sunny day, a little warm for my taste, as we strolled along the new "Lifestyle Plaza" toward our destination. ("Really? It's called a Lifestyle Plaza? That's silly.") We noticed the various gated areas outside the newer restaurants, creating space for outdoor eating. HowChow would be amused to see that we now have places to eat outdoors in Howard County that don't involve a view of the parking lot. Instead, we will be looking at other diners at other restaurants, eating outside, looking at us. How...

It was a big room, and the room was full. In Howard County, in Columbia, Maryland, where some feel that issues of race are no issue at all, almost every seat was filled and plenty more were standing. I can't tell you numbers. I can't give you a breakdown by race or ethnicity, gender, or age. I can tell you that people were there because they cared. They were angry, scared, worried, frustrated, determined. Possibly hopeful. If you want to get a sense of the conversation, go to Twitter and enter #embracegracism. You will see many sides of the one issue: young people, education, law enforcement, use of force, due process, diversity training, racial profiling, overcoming notions of privilege, creating relationships. Building bridges. Two things stood out for me. One was Dr. David Anderson's description of the built-up fear and expectation that something bad will happen in interactions with law enforcement. He wondered aloud if police bring that same kind of fear to those same e...

In August, 2013, the Columbia Association instituted a six-week citizens academy called Excite Columbia . I first wrote about this last August . I had questions then, and I still do. More than anything else, my biggest question is, how do we present something like Excite Columbia so that it reaches new residents and young people? And that question shows, of course, my long-standing point of view that in order for Columbia to survive, new residents and younger people must be engaged and given a place at the table. I see Excite Columbia as a wonderful way to say: 1) this is how Columbia works, and 2) how do you want to be a part of how Columbia works? I went looking for the name of the prominent red sculpture at the lakefront which I mentioned in yesterday's blog post. I found it in a PDF of a Columbia Walking Tour brochure . (We have a walking tour? Who knew?) It is called "Sail" by James Arthur Benson. It is made of steel, and it is wind-activated. Wow. I had no idea ...

When we ate dinner at Whole Foods Thursday night, the most meaningful part of the experience for me was the view. Not the only meaningful thing, mind you, just the one that moved me the most. I had never seen the Lakefront from that angle. Sitting in the cafe area, one looks out at the fountain, the large red sculpture, and Clyde's from the right-hand side. I don't think anyone in Columbia has ever routinely had that view except for those who have worked in the Rouse Building. It's pretty amazing to live in a community fifteen years and to suddenly be presented with a whole new view. It is a beautiful vista. Once that view belonged to only a select few. Now it is open to many. Following the news from Ferguson, Missouri in the news and on Twitter has been giving many of us a view we never wanted to have. Some in our community have known it all along, some have had an uneasy suspicion that it was so, some have looked right at it and not seen it. Well-known illustrator Mary E...

There was a great conversation taking place on Facebook yesterday about Columbia Tot Lots, prompted by this letter. It wasn't that long ago that CA was putting the focus in downsizing Tot Lots, getting rid of some outright and transforming some others for different purposes. It made me remember when Ian Kennedy and others went to CA and asked for the creation of a Family Advisory Committee. What ever happened with that? Apparently a new local podcast premiered yesterday-- HoCoLife . Has anyone listened yet? What do you think? I took my daughter to Whole Foods yesterday morning just to look around. The last time she was in that building was for our first Souper Sundae event. As I recall, it was an unseasonably warm day and we walked out on the deck and enjoyed the view. I gave her a little talk about adaptive reuse before we went inside. When we were done I asked her, "Well, what do you thnk?" She said, "It's awesome!" Then, "Do you think we could...

One of my favorite back to school quotes is from Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton. "October is a fine and dangerous season in America. It is dry and cool and the land is wild with red and gold and crimson, and all the lassitudes of August have seeped out of your blood, and you are full of ambition. It is a wonderful time to begin anything at all. You go to college and every course in the catalogue looks wonderful. The names of the subjects seem to lay open the way to a new world. Your arms are full of new, clean notebooks, waiting to be filled. You pass through the doors of the library and the smell of thousands of well-kept books makes your head swim with a clean and subtle pleasure. You have a new hat, a new sweater, perhaps, or a whole new suit. Even the nickels and the quarters in your pocket feel new, and the buildings shine in the glorious sun." Alas, we go back to school in August with plenty of "lassitudes in our blood." Maryland weather will not ...

Yet again I have learned something from Twitter just by following an interesting thread.   @iankennedy7: In the vein of "Columbians gonna Columbia" (i.e. complain), no bike racks @columbiawfm is unfortunate. #WFMColumbia   @howardjp: @iankennedy7 @ColumbiaWFM Which is especially bad since the bridge over 29 pulls right up to the back of the building. @chrisbachmann: @howardjp @iankennedy7 @ColumbiaWFM Bike racks at lake k in general would be nice. And ones that are not hidden from view. @iankennedy7: @chrisbachmann could you imagine what would happen if we hid parking lots like we hide bike racks? actually, maybe more people would ride... @ColumbiaWFM: @chrisbachmann @howardjp @iankennedy7 Thanks for the feedback, guys! I'm going to pass this along and see what we can do! @iankennedy7: @ColumbiaWFM @chrisbachmann @howardjp Thanks! Tweet was not a slight towards you specifically; symptom of a broader problem here/in suburbia @ColumbiaWFM: @iankennedy7 @chrisbachmann @howa...

This is what it looked like when it was only a twinkle in someone's eye. And this is what it looked like last night. The nice people at Whole Foods opened their doors to members of the community last night and HoCoHouseHon and I were happy to be included. Luckily they invited plenty of folks with better photography skills than I have. Facebook and Twitter were full of gorgeous views of the new store and of friends celebrating at the outdoor tasting event. I never got lunch yesterday, so I may have been more excited than most as I sampled the various foods on offer. Raw oysters, tomato-melon salad, grilled sausage, filled brioche, cheese, ice cream, sushi...I was really hungry and it was really, really good food. We had a wonderful tour of the new store from Meg, a Whole Foods employee from DC. It did my heart good to see how they have incorporated the stunning views of the lake into the shopping experience. I know this will sound hokey, but the store feels like more than a sto...

I have fond memories of school field trips to the Shaker Lakes area near my home in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. We observed the changes of the seasons, listened for birds. I got my boot stuck in the mud--quite an adventure. We collected leaves and learned the names of trees, gathered seed pods and acorns, smelled pine needles, watched the ducks. All those memories came flooding back when I saw a link to these upcoming programs at the Howard County Conservancy . Stephanie Holzman will be leading Babes in the Woods, for parents with carry-able infants, and Stories Under the Sycamore, for "new walking toddlers and little ones in rugged strollers." What a wonderful way to introduce children to the natural world from their earliest years, not to mention a great way for frazzled parents to reconnect and re-energize. That made me think about a group I heard about on Facebook, Columbia Families in Nature . So I looked them up, too. Their website contains a link to a video on YouTube...

To wrap up the discussion of the past few days, I have decided to share the response from the PTACHC Board to Superintendent Foose and the Board of Education. As both letters were shared openly with PTACHC Delegates, it makes sense to me that I should be willing to share both to give you a better picture of this issue. August 8, 2014 Board of Education of Howard County Superintendent Renee Foose Howard County Public School System Dear Chairman Giles, Members of the Board of Education of Howard County, and Superintendent Foose: The PTA Council of Howard County (PTACHC) values the longstanding relationship we have with the Board of Education of Howard County (BOE) and the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS). This relationship has enabled all of us to work together to help each and every child in Howard County achieve their personal best. The overall purpose of PTA is to make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate ...

This question came up yesterday on Facebook after a friend read my blog post. I thought it would be good to share in with a wider audience. Question: Well, did Ms. Delmont-Small do these things, these things that were purportedly illegal, and not distribute info that should have been distributed so that meeting would have been better attended? Is there any weight to Ms. DeLacey's claims? If so, then where should she take her complaints? Educate me, please, so that I see what you see.... Answer: No, she did nothing illegal. Allowing a teacher to speak at a meeting of delegates of a Parent Teacher Association is not illegal. Nothing was said that hadn't already been published in the newspaper. Equal time was given to representatives from the Bo ard and Central Office. Ms. Delmont-Small and the Board of PTACHC are there to help parents make the best choices for their children, so their goal is to ask questions, entertain more than one point of view, encourage lively discussion and...

This Spring I visited a meeting of the PTA Council of Howard County to share concerns I had about cuts to instructional time for Art and Music as a part of the Model Schools Initiative. It was an extremely positive experience. The group was warm and supportive to all present. The president, Christina Delmont-Small, ran the meeting in a professional and extremely effective manner. By the end of the evening I had decided to apply for the delegate position from Oakland Mills Middle School that I knew would be opening up at the end of the school year. (And you know I hate meetings, so that says a lot.) The PTA Council of Howard County (PTACHC) states as its mission: The PTA Council of Howard County (PTACHC) serves the 73 PTAs and its 25,000+ members in Howard County, MD who through advocacy support the mission of PTA, which is to be-- A powerful voice for all children, A relevant resource for families and communities A strong advocate for the education and well-being of every child. The m...

I attended the Oakland Mills Village Board meeting on Tuesday evening because I had a question. Here is what I said: I love living in Oakland Mills, and I am familiar with the all of the good work of those who worked on the Oakland Mills Revitalization. But recently I keep hearing the word "reinvent." I wanted to make sure I knew what that meant, so I looked it up in the dictionary. Reinvent: To make over completely, or to change (something) so much that it appears to be entirely new. That's a really big deal. In light of this: 1. Where can I find the working definition that the board formulated for what exactly constitutes "reinventing Oakland Mills?" 2. Also, where can I find the body of evidence you are using to justify "reinventing Oakand Mills"? Co-chair Bill McCormack was extremely courteous to me, but he didn't seem to understand my question. He referred me to the Village website to read the minutes of the meetings that had been held so ...

Today I'm going to talk about Henry. Henry has been on my mind a lot lately. What? You don't remember Henry? Really? That's okay. Some days Henry doesn't remember Henry, either. This is Henry. His story is just one part of a documentary entitled "Alive Inside" created by Dan Cohen and his nonprofit organization Music and Memory. The film also features Oliver Sacks, author of Musicophilia , and Professor of Neurology at NYU. "Alive Inside" follows the Music and Memory project, which worked with Alzheimer's patients and found music to be "a powerful tool for connecting elders to the people around them and restoring a sense of self."* In the video clip, Oliver Sacks says, "The philosopher Kant once called music the quickening art, and Henry is being quickened--brought to life." Science Friday featured the Music and Memory project and the documentary "Alive Inside" on their August 1st program. They interviewed...

Here are some things that made me smile recently in Columbia/Howard County: A visit to Snowden Boston Market where customer service was excellent all around and they served the food on real dishes. Last night's meeting of Howard County Parents for School Music--a new year of arts advocacy is in the works. The newly renovated Savage Library where we had our meeting. It's gorgeous. I can't wait to go back and explore. Two Miles for Two Hearts continues this Saturday, bringing some good out of grief for the Ellicott City Community. Courtney Watson, candidate for County Executive, will be at the Oakland Mills Village Board Meeting tonight for a listening session. And one more thing, a bit outside of the local scene. My friend Justin, he of the successful heart transplant, posted this last night on Facebook: It's official - I've been cleared for driving a car and swimming (but not at the same time)! Some days a smile is all you really have to get you through....

Yesterday was about opportunity. Today is about challenge. While choosing to live in Columbia presents a opportunity to get involved, trends in the Howard County Schools are reducing meaningful involvement. So the same people who reach out to engage may find themselves rebuffed. As a response to the nationwide preoccupation with standardized test scores, hcpss has focused numerous efforts on "underperforming" schools. What does this mean? Well, while schools with consistently high test scores have a great deal of autonomy, schools with low scores receive much more specific direction from Central Office. They lose what I like to call "Home Rule". The culmination of this is, of course, the Model Schools Initiative which is scheduled to begin this Fall in five Title One schools. Now, this piece is not a critique of the initiative itself--it contains both good and bad components--but rather an attempt to show how little control these schools have over their own dest...

In discussing the issue of how Columbia needs to appeal to families, a friend said this: The thing that I rarely hear, but needs to be put out there, is that Columbia presents an opportunity to be involved. If you seek a high performing school district because you just want to get your kids out the door and don't want to engage the school system very much, a high performing school district is probably what you need. However, if you want your child to learn more than academics, and want them to lean about other people, Columbia is the place to be. There exists every opportunity for a child to learn and succeed at Columbia schools, but only if you are willing to be engaged help make that happen. Being educated in a Columbia school brings a lot more questions, and I think if kids are asking those questions, the kids, and the families grow from that dialogue. I see a lot of that in the parents of Columbia students. This was so beautifully said that I didn't want to change a...

Yesterday a simple conversation on Facebook promoted me to ask these questions: Why do we define schools by test scores alone? What happens when neighborhoods lose families with children? Do we really choose diversity? Where do we go from here? Why do we define schools by test scores alone? I realize now that a better question would be, "what happens when we define schools by test scores alone?" When I ask "why?" perhaps I am having a head-banging-the-desk moment, in other words, "Why do we allow numbers to define our schools--why, why why?" But, I digress. A friend suggested that Zillow is pushing this way of thinking with their national ad campaign in which a white soldier is seen videoconferencing with his white wife about a prospective new home in what is assumed to be a geographically distant community. "Did you get my email?." "Yeah, it's got a great kitchen, but did you see the school rating?" **cut to wife frown...

Real estate. When I see those two words I think of Lucy in the Charlie Brown Christmas special. Her voice is forever stuck in my head. While others wished for toys or a new bike or candy or new clothes, Lucy was looking for a bigger investment. I thought of Lucy when I saw this post on Facebook: 10655 GREEN MOUNTAIN Cir, COLUMBIA, MD 21044 - 4 beds/3 baths(MRIS) Sale Pending: 4 bed, 3 bath, 1452 sq. ft. house... This is a sampling from the thread that followed: Home prices in Columbia are clearly governed by some mad god. I have no understanding of it. It is fascinating to watch pricing trends. How they vary street to street, part of town, etc. Ellicott City goes a LOT higher because they don't have the "bad schools" that a planned community has with including the poor in districting. My neighborhood school is actually a Title 1 school as there are so few families in our neighborhood with kids (a lot of original owners and older owners). So, most of the kids are fr...

The story goes that a little boy looked around his elementary school and said it needed "more teachers made out of men."   Yesterday as I posted a sampling of local blogs I found myself horrified that only one out of the five posts I shared was by a woman. This was followed by some soul-searching. Do I just skip over blogs written by women and not give them fair consideration? In other words, am I myself a part of the problem? I find that I do look first at community-focused blogs, as that is my own area of particular interest. Women seem to be less represented in that category.   There are plenty of women writing blogs in Howard County, as evidenced by the aggregator page run by Jessie Newburn and Robin Abello. Their chosen topics range from personal life musings to food to faith and beyond. But in the area of community and politics, women are under-represented. And I wish this were not the case.   There are excellent male bloggers in Howard County and I wouldn't want to...

I'm looking forward to hanging out with some local bloggers this evening at Jailbreak Brewing Company. So, with that in mind, here are a few recent local posts I think you ought to read: Tom Coale of HoCoRising writes about what it takes to kill a lake and what that means to us right here in Maryland. " Lake Erie --Closer Than You Think." Eric Freed writes in two poignant posts about living with depression on Away from the Things of Man . " Depression is the Pits" and " Shaking Off the Melancholy". Wendy Scherer of Finding Blanche offers a beautiful piece on love and loss. "The Collateral Damage of Divorce". Marshmallow Man offers his take on accessibility (or the lack therof) to quality local news over at The 53. I found out last night that my friend who received a heart transplant is well enough to come home from the hospital. And another friend is in the hospital following a serious car accident. Life is precious. And puzzlin...