Village Green/Town²

"Why is she so angry?" the man said. "I guess you think she should smile more, eh?" I said. "That will work," the man said. "A negative emotion makes the message look negative, no matter how noble the intentions." The world is full of men telling women to smile more. This particular woman is a highly experienced and able candidate. She deserves more than that description. Other women said: Women are told how to behave. Rules for men and women candidates are different. Yes, "just smile and stop yelling." The another man spoke. "I thought she came off fine. Intense, passionate, polished, and serious. She's ready for the job." "Why is she so angry?" "She's ready for the job." It seems like we've been hearing a lot of this lately. This has been a rough political season. The national election has brought out the sexists on a large scale. Except this conversation wasn't about the Presidential elec...

Sheriff Fitzgerald still has a badge and a gun. He holds a position of authority and is still drawing a paycheck. What he does not have is the respect of the community, their trust, or their confidence. Why? Because recent events have revealed that he does not respect and embody the values of our community. His words and actions have been filled with racism and derision. Rumor has it he'd like to stay. I sincerely hope this is a faulty rumor. It is completely impossible for someone with so little regard for the citizens of Howard County to continue to hold this position. This is not who we are. This is not Howard County, I hear people say. This is not Columbia. In the midst of many online conversations about this issue I bumped into this by Alice Marks (HoCoHouseHon). I feel like it's incredibly naive to think that this kind of racism is rare in Howard County or anywhere in America. We tend to notice racism which is spoken or racism proved violently at the point of a gun, bu...

It's Wednesday. There's a flash flood watch. I've been up since five o'clock and no local topics are leaping out at me. Let's try this gratitude thing again, shall we? Parents like Atticus' mom who advocate for children in the school system. Continuing progress on the Chrysalis in Merriweather Park/Symphony Woods. New Weis Food Market in Oakland Mills. Howard County Library's Choose Civility Year of Kindness initiative . Columbia's first-place ranking by Money Magazine. As always, I encourage you to add in your reasons to be grateful in the comments. The more, the merrier.  

Let Atticus learn. He wants to learn. He's twelve years old and he has within him the motivation to do great things. But when he comes to school each day the doors to learning are closed to him. I have been following Atticus's story through his mother's page on Facebook: Let Them See Clearly Campaign . Atticus has Binocular Vision Disorder and the Howard County Schools have so far been unwilling and/or unable to provide him with the accommodations he is entitled to under the IDEA. Atticus himself testified during the Public Forum at last week's BOE meeting. You can read more about Atticus in Lisa Philip's story here . It is the story of a parent and child whose only goal is to open the doors of learning. Imagine yourself in this child's shoes: compelled every day to go to a place where adults encourage you to do things that you cannot do, and that will make you sick. Imagine yourself as his mother, one person against an unhelpful and unsympathetic system. Howard...

I ventured out of my neck of the woods to pick up an item I found on Craigslist yesterday. I found myself in a neighborhood of relatively new construction which appeared to be built surrounding a cornfield and a grain storage facility. I'm guessing that the entire area was once agricultural. Does anyone know more about this? I think I saw a sign that said "Hearth and Grain." Does this count as Agricultural Preservation?   From there I decided to zip on over to the Lisbon Dollar store. Holy Mackerel, there's an enormous Trump sign in front of the entire Lisbon Shopping Center. I'm trying to imagine an enormous political sign in front of Long Gate or Columbia Crossing. I just can't picture it. Whose permission would one have to get to post a sign like that? The owner of the shopping center? (The Oakland Mills Village Center has so many individual property owners they'd never be able to agree on a candidate.)   I've noticed Trump signs going up along my r...

Some frustrated head banging going on over here today. Why? This . " Report against Howard County sheriff unveils 'common knowledge' of a 'living hell' unchecked for years, sources say," by Fatimah Waseem of the Howard County Times. I voted for this man. I voted for him because he was a Democrat and I'm a Democrat and I just trusted that was the right decision. To be honest, I didn't really even understand what the position of Sheriff entailed. I just knew that Howard County had one. I pride myself on getting to know the issues and the actors in local politics but in this case I was merely a low-information voter. I am just kicking myself. I continue to have questions about why we need to have a partisan race for sheriff. I do understand better now what the Sheriff and the Sheriff's office actually does. But why do we make a partisan choice for this position? This still makes no sense to me. And yet up until last week I was perfectly content to no...

In November of the year 2000 my second daughter was born. Some time around February 2001 I was diagnosed with post-partum depression. I had returned to full-time work as a Kindergarten teacher at an independent school and the bottom fell out. It is an experience I would not wish on my worst enemy. My primary care provider prescribed two very helpful medications and sent me to therapy. It was an incredibly rocky time. I remember counting the hours until I could take my anti-anxiety medication. The journey back from hell was slow going and it wouldn't have happened without therapy, medication, and family support. During that time I taught Kindergarten, and beyond that I worked in after school care for the Columbia Association and then for twelve years I taught music and movement to preschoolers with special needs in the Howard County School System. I am now employed as a preschool teacher at Sandy Spring Friends School in Montgomery County. I am an adult who has sought and received m...

I've made no secret of enjoying online shopping, especially when it comes to Christmas. I love our local shopping mall but I make it a point to stay away from Thanksgiving until about January. I'm not saying I recommend this behavior. I'm just saying that I believe that the Winter holidays should be about love and goodwill to one's fellow creatures and the Mall at Christmas does not exactly reinforce that feeling in me. Also, as a generally shy person, I find online shopping delightfully devoid of challenging social interactions. I adore finding quirky new online stores, exciting bargains, free shipping offers. I love watching the boxes arrive and pile up as Christmas approaches. I had a nightmare last night that Christmas was only a few days away and I hadn't done any shopping. I awoke with a sense of impending dread. And then a thought. A "what if?" What if my family made this Christmas an Ellicott City Christmas? What if we all agreed to do all ou...

It was not overdone. Tasteful, not lavish. A table was set out with refreshments--some fruit and cheese, perhaps some sweets. There was wine along with other non-alcoholic drinks. The setting was a large floor in a downtown office building which was divided up into smaller work areas. A large conference table dominated the section where we were located. As I recall the ceilings were unfinished and an interesting light fixture hung down over our table. I had been invited to a small group gathering of the Howard Hughes Corporation to discuss their vision of the upcoming legislation on downtown development. I gather that their goal was to spread the Howard Hughes message through hospitality and polite discussion. They invited people who have a voice in the community, in the hopes that those voices would be shared and amplified. It was a pleasant enough event. Greg Fitchitt touched on improvements to the downtown area and then moved on to the two areas of importance: affordable housing, an...

No Gratitude Wednesday. No gratitude, No justice. No peace.   Black Americans continue to be gunned down by police. It's not happening in Howard County but you can bet it affects people who live here. How could it not?   You could be reading a book or dealing with a broken down car and you can be considered to be a threat and summarily executed. This is not okay.   We have laws in our country. There's a reason we have them. And putting someone to death on the spot for perceived threat is not what we, as Americans, should stand for.   This absolutely has to stop, and I have no earthly idea how to make it stop.   I'm not grateful today. I'm sick, and sad, and angry.        

Woo hoo! We finally beat Eden Prairie! Yesterday local news was filled with exclamations of joy over Columbia's 1st place finish in the Time/Money Magazine's Best Places to Live in America ranking. Here's a celebratory photo by Scott Kramer taken down at the Lakefront, featuring County Exective Allan Kittleman. Photo by Scott Kramer But who are those other people behind the flower bed? Enquiring minds want to know. Right off the bat I recognize Jane Dembner, Columbia Association's Director of Planning and Community Affairs, and Barbara Kellner, Director of the Columbia Archives. And there are a few people I'm almost certain I recognize but I'm afraid of goofing. Can someone give me an accurate run-down, left-to-right? I'm very curious about how this photograph came to be. I guess the story behind the story is often more fascinating to me. And I'm also guessing that those people have something to do with what makes Columbia such a great place to live. St...

I heard a strange sound this morning. At first I thought it was something leaking in the kitchen. Then I realized it was coming from outside. Rain. The prospect of a day of rain when contemplating life with three year olds is a bit daunting. Young children need to move. I guess today we'll see what happens if we put on our rain coats and rain boots and go exploring. It could be fun. It could be messy. It could be a whole new world. Or it could be a disaster. I guess we'll find out. I don't think I will ever feel the same about rain after what happened in Ellicott City. If the rain seems even remotely heavy I find myself worrying about what that will mean for Main Street recovery. Rain just isn't rain anymore. It's an adversary. Most of the time we live our lives as though changes in the weather do not affect us. We have climate control, strong houses and offices, cars that can get around under most meterological conditions. We forget what it was like when hu...

We all know that person who wants to go back to "the time when things were better." Heck, most of us have moments when we wish we could return to a kinder, gentler world. I'm happy to announce that Abiding Savior Lutheran Church is offering a one-night time-traveling experience which will take your mind off politics, world events, and day-to-day woes. And it's free. On Monday, September 26th, (that's one week from tomorrow) Abiding Savior will present Stary Olsa in concert at 7 pm. Admission is free, just click the link to let them know if you're coming so they will know how many people to expect. An evening in the Middle Ages could be just the thing to clear your head of twenty-first century stress. From the event page: Belarusian band Stary Olsa occupies a unique position at the intersections where past meets present, tradition mingles with innovation, and contemporary creative expression has demanded the cultivation of skills that date back to the Middle A...

Last night I stopped by the Oakland Mills Food Lion to pick up a few things. And to say thank you. As of today the OM Food Lion is no more. It will reopen in a week as a Weis Market. Big grocery store corporations eat other grocery store corporations and then smaller pieces are spit out, re-sorted and assimilated. Things will change but the big news is that we will still have a grocery store. We are an older Columbia Village Center and we have a grocery store. I wonder how the gloom and doom people on the Village Board can explain that? Sure, we are an older Village Center coping with life in a post-Rouse age with significantly different financial realities. But we are not dead. On a Friday night the Village Center was busy and so was the Food Lion, filled with people doing their Friday night shopping. Maybe some had read the signs out front and were dashing in to get some basic before the one week closure. The Food Lion has not always been perfect. I have complained about it, off and...

I arrived at work at 7:30 am yesterday and left at around 8:30 pm. (Back to School night.) I don't regret one moment but every bone in my body aches. This morning is going to feature a direct trip to Dunkin Donuts for a large iced coffee. There are plenty of things going on around town but today I'm going to take a break and refer you to a speech given by the Head of School at SSFS, Tom Gibian. It was his opening message to students at an All-School Assembly this week. Yes, the whole school: three year olds through high school seniors. There were a variety of student performances, both vocal and instrumental, dancers, and a slide show of the opening day of school. Those were the things which fascinated my students. But I've been keeping Tom's speech in my heart. It shows that there's more than one way to view the education of our children. He begins: Every morning when I wake up, one of the first things I think about is how we can make Sandy Spring Friends School an...

My daughter came home from school talking about a poster on the wall in her health class that bothered her. There was just something about it that gave her a bad feeling. I asked her if she could snap a picture of it.   You may not remember ... "Did you see her last weekend?" "I can't believe she did that!" "I bet she doesn't even remember what happened." "She was so drunk." ...but they will. First of all, let me state that I am in complete agreement with a goal of addressing underage drinking in health classes with adolescents. I think it's an extremely important issue. But this particular poster is way off base. It doesn't address health issues. It's a clear example of shaming. And it's really girl-specific. Teenaged girls are already plagued enough by the fear of other people talking about them. They've been socialized to care far too much about that. Now we're going to add another fear--if you drink, people wi...

Once to every man and nation, Comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth with falsehood, For the good or evil side; Some great cause, some great decision, Offering each the bloom or blight, And the choice goes by forever, ’Twixt that darkness and that light. Then to side with truth is noble, When we share her wretched crust, Ere her cause bring fame and profit, And ’tis prosperous to be just; Then it is the brave man chooses While the coward stands aside, Till the multitude make virtue Of the faith they had denied . -- James Russell Lowell   These are the first two stanzas of a hymn written by James Russell Lowell on the occasion of the United States war with Mexico, which he opposed. It has been removed from current Episcopal hymnals not, as some would tell you, because it contains the word "man" and has been declared sexist. No, it has been put aside for a deeper reason. The crux of the hymn is that we get "one chance" to make the choice for good or evil. ...

I ran this one by my almost sixteen year old high school student. I just wanted to be sure. "Let's pretend that the Howard County Government had just issued a new guideline about a particular unit you needed to complete in school, and you got an official packet in your English class detailing the assignment. The packet states the assignment, why it needs to be completed, and what you need to do to fulfill the requirement. When you read through it you notice there's no due date. What do you do?" My daughter stared at me. She had thought this was going to be a whole lot tougher. "Ask the due date." "Do you think you could say you you didn't have to do the assignment because the due date wasn't in the packet?" Eye roll. "No, I'd have to find out the due date. It would be my responsibility." Just as I thought. And this child is the product of the Howard County School system, ladies and gentlemen. Imagine my surprise when the very ...

My husband's parents are often on the move. Between the two of them they are actors, directors, writers, artists, teachers. They are using their retirement to do more of what they love, and they go where the best work is. So each year finds them packing and unpacking suitcases in Ireland, Hong Kong, the U.S., and sometimes other countries as well. Often when they arrive home they come bearing gifts: chocolate and a Belfast newspaper for my husband, a stylish piece of clothing for their granddaughter, something uniquely Irish for me. This time they brought a special gift to me from Belle ek.   They had taken a few days at the end of their summer of performances to enjoy a bit of traditional vacation, and they visited the home of Belleek china in County Fermanagh. What I love most about these two pieces is that they come with a story. Hearing Sam and Joan talk about their tour of the Belleek factory and describing how the china is made and painted gives this gift a special value to ...

I had something else planned for today but then I looked at the date. Instead I'm sharing this post by HoCoHouseHon. Written by Alice Marks on this day in 2013, it is as fresh as if it were written today. And that's sad. When will we learn?    

Maybe the reason I am having a hard time writing this morning is that I have a migraine bearing down behind my right eye. Or perhaps it's because the only topics that come to mind are school system related and I am just bound and determined not to give them more "air time" today. Come on, folks, try to keep yourselves out of the news, already! Some food for thought this morning--this article which touches on the need for transit as the Downtown Development Plan continues. We must invest in better transit in Howard County. And we need to look at it as something more than what the people who have no choice are forced to use. If we want all of this other massive investment to succeed, we need public transit which is appealing, convenient, and easy to use. It needs to run when and where people need it to run. It needs to be useful to more than one segment of our population. At the state level we keep seeing decisions which favor more individual automobiles over effective and...

A photo from this week's Howard County Democratic Party's Labor Day picnic made me stop and think.   I simply can't wrap my brain around the presence of campaign signs for Janet Siddiqui at this event.   The standard answer to this practice is that all Democrats in good standing are invited to post their signs at Democratic Party events during the election season. My question is, what makes someone a "Democrat in good standing"?   Consider this:   In this letter to Glenwood Middle School parents, dated July 31st, 2015, Dr. Siddiqui states, "At no point has this mold issue been a public health issue for students and staff."   That's just not true. If you'd like to review the documents, including the workers compensation judgement in favor of staff members exposed to poor air quality and faulty ventilation, take a look here . Click on the "Mold in Schools" section.   Dr. Siddiqui, a pediatrician who has used her position on the Board of ...

Gratitude Wednesday got displaced this week due to the big story about the HCPSS budget audit. I'm going to give it a shot today. (Please note: there's plenty more to write on the HCPSS front, I'm deliberately doing something different today because there's such a thing as crisis overkill. We all need a break, at least for today.) This week I'm grateful for: The Columbia Flier/Howard County Times and the news that reporter Lisa Philip is back from a month on leave. Daily photographs of construction of the Chrysalis in Merriweather Park in Symphony Woods. Coffee and occasional chocolate in the staff kitchen at work. The Oakland Mills Farmers' Market. Did you know we are the only Columbia Village Center with its own Farmers Market? (Thanks, Sandy Cederbaum!) Mimi's Kabob in Clarksville. It's conveniently located halfway between where I work and my house. Instant dinner rescue. Responsive public servants. Gotta love 'em. If there are hocolocal things t...

Yesterday's big news was the post from Fatimah Waseem of the Howard County Times that the Chair of the County Council, Calvin Ball, was filing legislation authorizing the Howard County Office of Law to take legal action against HCPSS for lack of cooperation with the County Auditor. This move was approved unanimously by the council and now CB 64-2016 will move forward to a public hearing on September 19th. Wow. The County Council was really serious about that audit, but it appears that the school system didn't take that too seriously. This reminds me of the quote from Maryland State representative Terri Hill: "It seems to me that they treat the public with absolute disdain, and then they go back to try to figure out how to manipulate within the system to treat them with disdain again," she said. "It's just really infuriating that the response we get from the school board as a whole is that there is no problem, and that the citizens and the rest of us must be ...

I recently had an extremely odd experience when attending an Oakland Mills Board Meeting. I arrived a few minutes late to find all the community members who had come to attend the Board Meeting standing around in the lobby. Apparently the meeting had begun in the usual way, then after ten minutes the board went into closed session and asked everyone to leave. We waited in the lobby for over an hour while the board discussed a personnel matter. Over an hour. Did you know that Columbia's Village Boards were in change of hiring and firing and job evaluation? One of their responsibilities is the annual employment evaluation of the Village Manager. The Board also votes each year on his/her continued employment and salary. Employee supervision and evaluation is serious business. While I was standing around in the lobby I began to wonder whether it was such a good idea to put it in the hands of volunteer boards who are elected by only a small fraction of residents of the village. What if ...

Looking for a job with flexible hours? Summers off? You could be a Howard County school bus driver. Yes, the school year has already begun but they are still looking to fill some openings. Click here for more information. Seeing this made me think of how being a teacher in HCPSS and being a bus driver are similar, and not so similar. One thing that is probably similar, bus drivers and teachers often have to work multiple jobs to make ends meet, plus at least one other job in the summer. One thing that's different: bus drivers don't work directly for the school system. They are employed by a number of approved contractors who have been selected to work for the school system. Hmm...I wonder what would happen if bus drivers worked directly under the supervision of HCPSS...(Cue fantasy music here...) Each year bus drivers would be given more riders and a longer route, but the same amount of time to complete it, and the same amount of fuel. Bus drivers would find it necessary to p...

Report from the front lines of the ongoing dress code wars: The AD yelled at our field hockey coach that we weren't allowed to wear just sports bras, despite the intense heat. However a ton of guys, and a few girls, were running shirtless on the cross country team. This is not okay.. I would agree: this is not okay. (I'm assuming the girls running shirtless had on sports bras, by the way.) Dress codes should support clothing choices which are appropriate to the environment. Young men and women participating in athletics (including dance classes) should be encouraged to wear clothing which works for physical movement and the weather/environment. Sports bras are acceptable workout gear for women at the gym. Running shirtless is acceptable for men. This should not be an issue. Period. Over and over again I see costumes for high school dancers, poms, and cheerleaders which clearly violate the regular "enforcement" of the HCPSS dress code, but no one says a word. These ou...

I've been seeing a lot of responses to Governor Hogan's Executive Order moving the start date of school that base all their reasoning on "how this affects me." And it is only natural to think of ourselves first. But there's more to this decision than one person or one family. And the consequences will reach far beyond one geographic area or one demographic group. I saw this post this morning on Twitter from @summerlearning, which is the Twitter account for the National Summer Learning Assocation . Let summer be summer when all kids have access to beach vacations, books etc. bit.ly/2cfnlfS #LaborDay #Maryland #summerlearning The link in the tweet takes you to a statement on Governor Hogan's decision. Take a moment to read it. This paragraph stands out to me: No matter how a state or community chooses to structure their school calendar, it’s critical for youth in low-income neighborhoods to have access to supports and servic...

Executive Orders are very handy things. However, they are no good when it comes to time travel or the erasure of reality. I refer, of course, to Governor Hogan's Executive order to begin school after Labor Day and end it by June 15th. While I don't believe that the Governor or the Comptroller Peter Franchot are inherently bad people, I do believe that this is a bad decision based on faulty reasoning. I, too, have reached a time in my life where nostalgia for the world of my youth is sweet, and sad, and full of longing. Unlike Mssrs Hogan and Franchot, I don't believe I can bring it back. A nostalgic push for a later start to the school year can not and will not bring back the summers of Mr. Franchot's youth. I saw this post yesterday on Facebook, expressing some frustration with the "Let summer be summer" nostalgia line of thinking: Yes, when I went to school we started after Labor Day got out by Memorial Day, walked 2 miles in the snow uphill both ways. We d...