Fragments

I made the mistake of having an extra iced coffee on the way home from work yesterday, thinking it would keep me going through a busy evening. It did. It also kept me wide awake until well past one am and this morning I am bleary-eyed and disoriented. All of the intellectual threads I am following are frayed, knotted, or loose ends.

A few things:

I had the opportunity to attend the first annual "Queens and Cocktails" event to raise money for Howard County PFLAG last night. It was an amazing event, and it was gratifying to see how well-supported it was. If you want to learn more about the work of PFLAG in Howard County, look here. Two highlights of the evening for me were: 1) hearing Liz Bobo take the microphone to inform the crowd that her husband, Lloyd Knowles, a former Howard County Council member, sponsored one of the first bills in the nation to include lesbians and gays in Howard County’s Human Rights Law, and 2) seeing Collette Roberts, co-founder of Howard County PFLAG and an inductee into the Howard County Women's Commission Hall of Fame, win the raffle prize of the evening, a $250 gift card to Iron Bridge Wine Company.

Yesterday a Mount Hebron student posted a photo on Twitter that showed that we still have a long way to go when it comes to addressing racism in our schools. I want to get some more information before I write about this, especially since students who call out racism sometimes seem to be scrutinized as heavily by hcpss as actual offenders. While the school board may have proposed having a Diversity Coordinator as an easy move to pacify the public, and found it just as easy to cut that position, it's clear to me that we are in need of genuine leadership on this.

Lastly: get up, get out, and go to the Abiding Savior Flea Market. 8 am to 12 noon. Bargains galore, snacks and drinks, friendly people. All proceeds go to charity. Help our tiny church make a big impact again this year!

And now, I may very well take a catnap and give this day a do-over.