Skip to main content

Hard Copy, Hard Issues

I look forward every week to reading my digital copy of the Columbia Flier. The staff does an admirable job of rounding up what's happening locally. When you consider how few people we actually have working on local news--as journalism suffers cut-back after cut-back--it's kind of amazing how good a product we are getting. For free. (At least for now.)

There's a lot in this week's issue. If you don't get the digital edition, go out and find a paper copy. A sampling of topics:

  • Downtown Development
  • Local Dems on Republican presidential nominee
  • Suspension gap in Howard County Schools
  • Arts at Avoca
  • Local interest in the Pokemon Go craze
  • New business on old Ellicott City

This is not cheap stuff. This is no PennySaver operation. Putting this out takes hard work and professionalism.

But as I reviewed this week's paper, an untold story leapt out at me. Almost everything in this week's edition could be categorized as The Stories of White People. The article about school suspensions is clearly the exception. But really, I urge you to get a copy yourself and leaf through it. Is this who we are as a community?

Is our story just The Story of White People?

I don't want to lay this at the feet of the Howard County Times. I think they are reporting on the current events that are out there. If there is an underlying bias that the white stories are more newsworthy it is an underlying bias which is pervasive throughout our culture and not a particular fault of the newspaper. The local reporters I have known have shown an equal amount of dedication to all kinds of local stories. My beef is not with them.

Rather, I look at our community and wonder if it presents itself like this. White is the norm. White stories are the news. White concerns in the letters to the editor, white people at the pool. For those of you out there shaking your head and saying, "Well, duh!" I ask you to forgive me. It never leapt out at me this way before.

Last year I was struck by the Howard County Times photographs of people at the Fourth of July fireworks. They captured the beauty of what I believe to be our multi-racial, multi-cultural community. That's the image I like to carry around in my head. Sometimes it isn't the image right in front of my face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more

Columbia Chance Connection

  Last night, as my husband and I were about to sit down to dinner, our front door swung open and a cheery voice announced, “I’m ba—ack!”  We weren’t expecting anyone. Clearly the only people who’d walk right in to our house would be one of our offspring. I had my reading glasses on so I wasn’t seeing too clearly. It seemed too tall for our youngest, but we knew our eldest was at work. I took off my glasses to see a friendly but confused face scanning our living room. When her gaze landed on us we all had a sudden realization. We didn’t know eachother. “Oh I’m so sorry! I’m in the wrong house! My daughter just moved in and she needed hooks for the kitchen so I ran out to get them.” She waved the package. “All these houses look the same and I don’t know the neighborhood yet. I thought this was my daughter’s house.” We were all getting a bit giggly. “That’s okay. For a quick second we thought you were our daughter,” said my husband. I told her our names and said she should defin...
Post a Comment
Read more