Village Green/Town²

Tomorrow evening, at seven pm, at the Owen Brown Interfaith Center: We are a group of Howard County residents who are interested in how the implementation of the HCPSS dress code policy in our schools impacts students – particularly girls – in their learning and development. On June 1st, we are hosting a community "conversation that matters" around these issues. The meeting will be held at the Owen Brown Interfaith Center in Sanctuary A. The first meeting will be open only to HCPSS students, parents, and allies to listen to personal stories related to the implementation of HCPSS dress code policy without debate of the issues or defense of the existing policy. Please let us know if you can make it! PS - There will be snacks :) This is not a protest or a rally. This is a conversation. Dress codes and how they are enforced affect both boys and girls. Let's take some time to examine how it's happening here in Howard County.                  

My sister Pam graduated from Cleveland Heights High School in 1968. Her graduating class had over a thousand people, I believe. The event was held downtown in the Cleveland Public Auditorium which is immense . My parents had seats closer to the graduates. My grandmother sat with my sister Barb and I, much higher up. She brought opera glasses so we could occasionally glimpse a view of what was going on. I was about nine years old and I couldn't understand what the big deal was. I had been to the Public Audtorium once as a very young child to see the circus. That was a whole lot more interesting. Now I had to get all dressed up, sit for hours far away from the action, and couldn't really see what was going on. When it was over I asked my mother, "Why did they make such a big deal of this? They're not done with school. They still have to go to college." And then I learned the shocking truth. Some people didn't go to college. For some people, this was truly ...

I'm sharing this statement from BoE member Bess Altwerger this morning. As an elected member of the HC Board of Education, Ms. Altwerger voted NOT to approve the HCPSS Operating Budget. Here's the statement she read at the meeting: Before I vote on this budget, I want to express my appreciation to the Superintendent, my fellow board members, and especially the staff who put countless hours into preparing and revising this budget. My votes on the budget areas in no way reflect my lack of appreciation for all the many considerations and constraints that shaped the process of developing this budget. Beverly Davis went to extraordinary lengths in her effort to produce a budget that reflected the directions she was given. Thank you Bev and to the rest of the staff. I also want to thank the members of the Citizen’s OBRC who worked on their own to provide the Board very careful analyses of every area of the budget with recommendations for reallocation and revisions of the budget so...

I received a Tweet from a new local blogger last week. @hocorudkus: I’m just a blog. Yes, I’m only a blog. New political blog for HoCo. If you want to check it out, the most recent post is here . I welcome new blogs in Howard County but I have serious misgivings about writing anonymously. I have long wished that I could have the ability to include only the reader comments which were submitted under the writers' actual names. My personal experiences lead me to believe that we have a good deal more to learn from people who are willing to stand by their words with their genuine identities. Last week's unpleasantness at the hands of an anonymous letter- writer served only to reinforce that. Some well-known local bloggers passed through a phase of writing anonymously but eventually thought better of it, or through word of mouth their identities gradually became more of an open secret. There are reasons for wanting to write anonymously but the drawbacks far outweigh them--in my opini...

Howard County, purveyors as we are of a world class education, offers abstinence based sex education units as a part of its Health Curriculum. We must be extremely committed to that point of view, since the Board of Education thinks that even a passing reference to condoms in a dinner conversation where high school students are present constitutes sexual harassment. Forget about abstinence-based, their actions make us look as though we're abstinence only, abstinence all the way, wash out your mouth with soap, by golly! There's just one problem. Abstinence based programs don't work. Data on this is readily available. As the United States began to rely more heavily on abstinence based programs, the results have been linked to a crisis in teen pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted infections. In countries like Amsterdam where the focus is on open discussion of the realities of sexual feelings and experiences, plus emphasis on birth control, especially condom use...

This post ran last year on Memorial Day. I'm sharing it again because it remains the best way I have to honor the day and remember the fallen. ***** The Meaning of Days How do you write about something and not make it about yourself? How do I blog about Memorial Day and not make it about me? Because it isn't. It really, really isn't about me, my feelings or my views. I could tell you about how I was raised as a Unitarian during the '60s and how my sisters' friends were conscientious objectors. I could tell you that my Grandfather fought in Italy in WW1 and my father served in Japan in the Army of the Occupation in WW2. Oh, and have I ever told you that my family fought on both sides of the American Revolution and the Civil War? I was raised to believe that war was wrong, killing was wrong, but that sometimes you still had to do it, and you had to choose very wisely, because life is precious. But Memorial Day isn't about me. It is about choice, risk and commitmen...

Remember Fan Clubs? You could send away a dollar, maybe a bit more, along with your registration form clipped from Tiger Beat or 16 Magazine and become an Official Member. You would receive a membership card and other special memberships items in the mail. Perhaps even an autographed picture. Today it is not about joining a fan club. Today it is about Fandom, pursuing your fandom, and curating multiple fandoms. Fandom is a multi-modal explosion of entertainment, merchandising, technology, and social media. In an earlier age one might have had one big teen idol or crush, collected some popular item like ceramic ponies or troll dolls, and pursued a hobby such as roller skating, horseback riding or listening to records. Today's concept of fandom can reach into every aspect of leisure time. You watch a television show/ movie/ musical performer. You can watch again and again on Netflix or YouTube. You can join social media communities to discuss it, create Pinterest Boards to collec...

Pools are open for the season! Pictured above is "The Bubbler", a newish water feature at the Talbott Springs Pool in Oakland Mills. I dubbed it "The Little Squirt" last year, which seems to suit it, I think. It's adorable. So here's my question to readers of this blog. Do you live in Columbia? Do you belong to CA Health Club Facilities and Pools? I'm just curious enough to try something new and create a survey. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8G38CQF Wherever you live and whatever you do this weekend, I hope it's wonderful.    

Greetings from 3:53 am. I am charged with waking up my daughter at 4:15 for the big field trip to Music in the Parks, and of course I have been tossing and turning all night with very little sleep at all. Later I will crash. Now I will blog. ***** Weighing heavily on my mind is a comment made to me in passing that word from the higher-ups in the Howard County Public Schools was the possibility that all play is going to be eliminated from PreK, "so they can really learn". Now this is not a documented fact. I do not have evidence to back this up. So, why am I sharing it? Well, if the current trend in the school system continues, if this were in the works, none of us would know until it was too late. There would be an announcement, a press release, or perhaps the elimination of play wouldn't be revealed at all, but hidden under a description of increasing educational opportunities. Parent input would be criticized and teacher input would be strongly discouraged, if not...

Last night I was able to attend my first Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, which is apparently a big deal event put on annually by the Howard County Democrats. Until very recently, my idea of supporting the Democratic Party consisted of voting. Thanks to friends like Abby Hendrix, Marcia White, Dylan Goldberg, among others, I now know there's much, much more. To be clear, the best part of the event for me was getting to hear my husband play along with his friends from the "Stolen Moments" guitar duo. I guess it's no surprise that if you see me at a big event, I'm probably with the band. I may not know all the movers and shakers in local politics, but I know all the good tunes. It was rather restful that I didn't know all that many folks last night. I chatted with people I knew, then I sat a while and just enjoyed the music. Last night was a reminder of who I am as a Democrat, and I enjoyed that. Thanks to the Howard County Democratic Central Committee for a chance t...

The issue of healthy snacks and drinks is in the news again. I feel certain I have written about this before. I'm convinced we are fighting about the wrong thing. Why are we fighting at all? Howard County should not be in the vending machine business. Why on earth should we be standing on our heads second-guessing appropriate items for county residents when they are perfectly capable of choosing their own? If you want snacks and drinks, and you have the money to purchase them, bring your own. The world does not owe us vending machine everywhere we go. County office buildings should be safe, comfortably heated, cooled, ventilated, with excellent air quality. There should be adequate working bathroom facilities, and plenty of access to clean drinking water: water fountains. Those are reasonable expectations, in my opinion. The vending machine people want you to believe that "there's a product for every moment" of your day. Do we really want to make the statement t...

Yesterday I received, through the mail, an anonymous letter with no return address. It was a full page, typed.   Someone who reads this blog decided to commit an entire page to criticizing, not my writing, but my decisions as a parent.   This person found my home address. This person made references to my family which could not have been gleaned from my blog alone.   This is not okay. It is cowardly, creepy, stalkerish behavior, and after much discussion my husband and I have decided to go to the police to document it and ask for advice.   What would you do?   Someone out there knows where I live, knows personal details about my family, and thinks I need their advice about how to raise my child. I have news for you, anonymous writer: reading my blog does not give you the right to do that.   The opinions I express on this blog are fair game if you wish to comment under your own name. My family and personal life are off limits.   I shouldn't even have to...

They keep coming back every year. You would think by now I'd be ready for them. I'm taking about ants, of course, those tiny indoor ants that show up when the weather gets warmer. I typically go through several stages of denial, then totally lose my mind and put out ant baits everywhere. After a while that usually works. Then I'm stuck cleaning up the oozing gunk from the bait trays. Time passes. I forget all about it. Then it happens all over again. Perhaps there are people, somewhere, who have a date marked on their calendars for putting out the ant baits before a single ant is spotted. That would be smart. The ants have their own internal clocks that set them to run their appointed rounds. I guess you have to get up earlier in the morning to outwit them. Now, in Columbia--you knew that was coming, right?--despite the overwhelming approval for things like Merriweather Park in Symphony Woods amongst ordinary residents, there are diligent detractors who keep getting up ever...

When I showed up yesterday to served my shift at the Inner Arbor booth at Wine in the Woods , two things were obvious. It was punishingly hot, and we were in a sunny, crowded area. I quickly backed up into our little tent for a quick bottle of water, and put on a cool "Peace, Love, Merriweather Park" bracelet. It turned out that the reason our little corner of the world was so busy was that we were next to the Horseshoe Casino booth, and they were running some sort of a prize promotion with one of those big wheels. Lots of people wanted a turn, and so their line ran right in front of our table. And they were waiting, and it was hot...   "Would you like some water?"   This was the start of many great conversations yesterday. It became easy to say, "Look! This is where you are standing, this is what the new park will look like. This is the Chrysalis. It's the first structure we are going to build. It should be ready for Wine in the Woods next year..."   ...

I read this article this morning about a meeting held to consider plans for improving Clarksville Pike. Two things struck me. 1. There are no disgruntled people saying how horrible it is. 2. Whatever happened to plans for that land next to Kendall Hardware? I'm setting aside a discussion of #1 for now. Do you remember the saga of that piece of land? Here are a couple of pieces by the late Dennis Lane on the topic: A Green Hotel for Clarksville Ken vs. Clarksville Someone owns that land. Someone wanted to develop that land. It all broke down in the details. Perhaps not the Ulman administration's finest moment. And as you know, overall, I was a fan. But there were a few moments here and there where I got the feeling that their prevailing attitude was, "We have these really great ideas and you folks just don't appreciate us!" This was definitely one of them. So, now what? Anybody know? Feel free to fill me in. Just remember to post under your own name. I...

Yesterday I noticed this sign in the lobby of one of the schools where I teach. It is the first time I had seen one in an elementary school. I think these signs should be prominently displayed in all of our schools. Perhaps with the new partnership with PFLAG, they will be. Although if you read the entire thing, it's clearly not just about LGBT issues. It is about welcoming. Welcoming all. My guess is that this sign is prominently displayed because the principal of this school is comfortable with this message and makes it a priority in his school community. We may have general rules and goals that apply to the entire school system, but individual principals can have huge influence, for good or ill, over each individual school. In this case it's very, very good. Students and their families should know that they are welcomed in all their diversity. Their differences are known, accepted, and celebrated. Everyone in the community should know that this is the standard of acceptance:...

I had coffee with a friend yesterday. In fact, though our friendship started over a cup of coffee, we haven't repeated the occasion since then. A long time. Years, actually. Snippets of cocktail party conversation, texts and emails and Facebook posts are more of what fast-paced life is like these days. Although I can pull off great cocktail party banter, I am at heart a deeply shy person, truly an introvert. I recently joked that my slogan should be, "everywhere on social media, nowhere in real life." To get my schedule and someone else's in alignment to sit down together? In person? Now, that's a challenge. What struck me was how much both of us have changed in the years since that first cup of coffee. Jobs, projects, and volunteer commitments are different. Our families have grown or grown up. Our experience in things we care about has deepened. Our career courses have changed or are on the verge of changing. In spite of all that the conversation was deeply grat...

Howard gears up for Bike to Work Day Kittleman signs Howard gun ban Point-in-time survey counts 166 homeless in Howard Howard activists serve Baltimore with food and books What do these four Baltimore Sun/HoCo Times articles have in common? They're all by the same author, Amanda Yeager. If you want news in Howard County these days, she's pretty much it. I'm imagining her in the corner of a dusty newsroom, with a dozen phones on her desk...ringing...ringing... Our local journalism coverage is shrinking and her job just keeps getting bigger. Young, able journalists are jumping ship to get better jobs outside of traditional journalism: Remember Education Reporter Sara Toth? She's working for the Chattauqua Institution in New York State. David Greisman? He's still in town, working for the Columbia Association. Luke Lavoie? Working for Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School. Blair Ames? Headed out to Vegas to work for the World Series of Poker. What the heck? Now...

Last week, in response to a post by the Columbia Association about Teacher Appreciation Week, my friend Nina Basu wrote: Now I am going to be a curmudgeon about Teacher Appreciation Week. I love my kids' teachers, but I only grudgingly do the usual appreciation stuff. A muffin tray is nice, but how about better pay, more respect, and treating them like the professionals they truly are? I am a teacher. I'm married to a teacher. And I am a PTA volunteer who participates in Teacher Appreciation activities. What Nina says may be unpopular, but it strikes at the heart of what is wrong with education today. As I travel from school to school, I have the opportunity to observe how different school communities celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week. And just like children's birthday parties, there are a variety of commercially available themes that one can purchase. One that I saw disturbed me: the Superhero theme. "Our teachers are Superheroes!" the posters proclaim....

A perfect day for a wedding. The sky was clear, the weather was warm, with a hint of a breeze. We arrived in our garden party finery; the wedding was to be outdoors, at home. Children greeted us, passing out small bells as wedding favors. In the yard a large tent was set up and decorated for the ceremony. Next to it a smaller tent, where my husband and a friend were preparing to make music. And right there, beside it all, was an old wooden swing set. Perfect. As grown ups gathered, chatted, and found a seat, children were running, and swinging, and climbing. Every so often someone would try out a bell, just to see what it sounded like. They weren't all the same. It was fun to hear the different pitches jingling as children ran by. We said hello to friends as they arrived, then found seats. The musicians began to play. Children were gathered in. Our attention turned to the house as the couple emerged. A Celtic harp processional began and they began to walk towards us. I turned m...

"Mourning is the constant reawakening that things are now different." -- Stephanie Ericsson Two years ago we lost our friend Dennis. His goodness, humor, and wisdom live on in many. Grief at his loss is ongoing, too. There are so many things I could talk about today: Mother's Day, the wedding yesterday of a dear friend and colleague, another Teachers Appreciation Week coming to a close. They can wait. We all lose people we love. If we have never experienced grief we are either extremely young or emotionally disconnected from the love that rebels against loss. None of us expect a life without grief. But there are times we would ask fate to make important exceptions. How can this horrible thing have happened? How can a beloved friend be taken away so suddenly? Today I dedicate this space to Dennis and all the people who loved him and now mourn him. Life goes on, people keep living, but there are a million tiny things that bring to mind the essence of this amazing man. Ever...

Let's have a little fun this morning. How about a little game with Columbia real estate? Here is the current Columbia Association Headquarters . It's known locally as the Teachers Building. It is centrally located near the People Tree, the Lakefront, and across from the Mall. At the moment it's an interesting hybrid of offices facing one way and Clyde's facing the other. Here's the future Columbia Association Headquarters. It is in Owen Brown, I think, near the emissions testing center. Let's add another piece to the game board: the Columbia Flier/Patuxent Publishing Building, designed by local architect Bob Moon. Dennis Lane wrote about it here in the piece "Flier Building Going Dark." The Flier Building languished without a buyer since that time, until the County announced plans to buy it as the future home of the Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship. To those of us who wanted to see this iconic piece of Columbia history and architecture preserved...

Last Friday I was at the grocery, like many good people in Howard County, buying food and personal care products to send into Baltimore to help people whose neighborhoods had been damaged by looting and store closures. I've heard that the response to Dylan Goldberg's and Courtney Watson's call for food and assistance was pretty amazing. My older daughter and I chipped in and shopped together. It felt good to be able to do something to help. Last night my younger daughter and I were getting dinner at Subway and my debit card was declined. I was dumbfounded. That hasn't happened to me for many, many years. I was sure it was a mistake. It wasn't. My direct deposit was going to go in at midnight but at seven pm in Hickory Ridge I was broke. I normally keep a very close eye on how much I have in my account at all times, a habit ingrained from the days I was a single parent, working two jobs, and barely making it. I guess I was so sure I had enough to make it that I let t...

What happened to Inspire Columbia? You know, the website set up to gather information and ideas from Columbia residents on what they wanted from the Columbia Association. I first wrote about it in 2013. You do remember, right? Maybe not. Inspire Columbia appears to be gone. I'm not sure it ever reached its goal of involving a substantially larger number of residents in the conversation about Columbia. One of the things I found appealing about it was the possibility that this format might encourage participation from more than just one age group. What a thrill it would be to hear from more than the same 7 1/2 people who vote in Village elections. Inspire Columbia was a product of CA President Phil Nelson's tenure. During this time we saw CA jump into the world of social media with a rather big splash. There were a number of interest-specific social media accounts. For the first time I got the feeling the CA actually cared about what I thought. It was an exciting time. Since th...

Are you as puzzled as I am by the news that County Executive Kittleman is replacing Josh Tzuker on the Planning Board? This post by Bill Woodcock of The 53 started me thinking. Why intervene in the workings of the Planning Board to replace someone who still has a year left in his term? Well, because he can, I guess. Mr. Kittleman has put forward Susan Garber for this position. She's a long time community activist in Savage, having served as President of the Savage Community Association. Ms. Garber has also served the special needs community through her business AT-LAST , providing adaptive technology to those who need it. So, why Ms. Garber? Let's take a look. In December of 2013, Kittleman paid a visit to the Savage Community Association as a part of a listening tour. During his visit the following was discussed: Open Discussion with Senator Kittleman Senator Kittleman listened and commented on the community’s concerns. Topics of discussion are as follows: Dens...

"Mom! You'll never guess what happened in school today!" As the parent of a teen, I don't hear this very often. So I was immediately intrigued. "They called out a boy for wearing a tank top!" Hmm... "It wasn't even in violation of the dress code, mom, but they called him out in the hallway anyway. And he had to wear his sweatshirt the rest of the day, and it was hot!" By the end of the day I had heard corroboration of this story several times, plus a similar one from OMHS -- poor guy, who knew side boob was a thing for men? But my personal favorite was the boy from the middle school who was accosted by the Dress Code Police for wearing a shirt with a weapon on it. It was a light saber. May the Fourth be with you, too, hcpss. My daughter is in the eighth grade and yesterday was the first time she had ever seen a boy called out for a dress code violation. And it actually wasn't even a violation. I wonder what this all could possibly m...