Village Green/Town²

Last summer I came across a recipe for a vaguely Moroccan radish and orange salad. I thought, "that sounds good." And then I thought, "no one else at my house will eat this." And that, my friends, was the end of that. But then this summer I came face-to-face with a bunch of radishes at the Oakland Mills Farmer's Market and I felt a glimmer of rebelliousness. And I bought them. Of course I couldn't find the recipe. I found half a dozen other similar ones. All required that the radishes be thinly sliced. Oh, joy. So I went to the seldom-opened cupboard and hefted out the old Cuisinart. Indeed it is old. I bought it in 1983 by putting together all the cash gifts from our wedding. It was a hundred dollars, the most expensive thing I had ever purchased. It seemed an outlandish purchase for a newlywed whose husband was still in college and who lived on the second floor of a converted machine shop with a kitchen that didn't even have any counters. ...

One source to rule them all, one source to find them, one source to reach them all... Wait, that's not quite where I meant to go. Let's try that again. Where do you get your news? Local news, I mean. Newspaper? Television? Radio? Social Media? Web sites? In the past 24 hours I have seen questions from people about local goings-on of which they had been completely unaware. And it felt to them as though these things had sprung out of nothingness. When did this happen? Was it done in secrecy? Where would I have gone to know about this? These were all things which, if you were "in the know", well, then, you knew. What was the process for choosing the AAC for school redistricting? How did the plan for a new courthouse get approved? Where can I find a current list of events at the Chyrsyalis? Those of us who use social media for local news have to work to make sure we are seeing important information on Facebook, as their algorithm doesn't always mak...

We've had a nice little stretch of lovely weather and I've been soaking it up out on our little patio. That's when this happened: I just sneezed out on the patio and my next door neighbor sad "bless you" and so did the kids playing in their front yard across the way!  Perhaps the point of this is that my sneezes are alarmingly loud. But that's not what struck me at the time. Sure, I was a bit embarrassed by the stereo response, but it was a sign of something important: neighborhood. Neighbors. I live in a community of quadroplexes, which means that houses are connected in groups of four throughout the neighborhood with lots of shared green space. As a child I lived in an assortment of center-hall-Colonials with ample yards, front and back. It's taken me many years to come to terms with my current living arrangement: a big parking lot out front, tiny yards, shared walls with other residents. But over time I have come to love our little house and t...

Meanwhile, back at the portapotties... A longtime reader passed along this Columbia Urban Legend which was just too much fun to keep to myself. I heard this from someone who used to work at the Rouse company, his father was an executive there, and he designed many of the older complexes. So the story as I heard it about the portapots: they were not there originally. The bars are just a way to keep them there without being too unattractive. Originally, everyone used the bathrooms at Clyde’s if they were down at the lake. This included the teenagers. As the elders are wont to do to GenX’ers, they tried to push them out without being blatant about it. Clyde’s stopped allowing the teenagers to come in and use the bathroom. So, the teens did a protest. They lined up along the front windows and peed on the glass. Thus it was known as the Great Columbia Piss-In.  The portapots showed up within a few days. Has anyone else out there heard this? Or do you perhaps know someone who par...

The thread begins like this: So today white nationalists disrupted a racial justice training that I was facilitating. The writer is Sister Outsider @FeministGriote . The thread begins  here: The words that struck me: What angers me the most is that the door said private event & that the space wasn't open to the public. But because white folks don't see white folks as a threat he was let in to use the restroom. "...because white folks don't see white folks as a threat..." Boom. The immutable protection of being white. We're just going to give you the benefit of the doubt. Why did this strike me so deeply yesterday? Because of this: From NBC4 Washington: A Washington, D.C., council member is asking for the U.S. Park Police to clarify why teenagers were handcuffed on Thursday for selling bottled water on the National Mall. According to Sgt. Anna Rose of the U.S. Park Police, shortly after 5 p.m., officers detained the three teens at...

It was an occasion I just could not miss. The actual 50th Birthday of Columbia, the People Tree, and celebrating the  return of the Lakefront Carillon. Yes, they cut the cake during Lakefest, but Wednesday was The Actual Day. As my teen daughter and I walked from our car down to the Lakefront, she asked me what it was going to be like. Just for fun, we brainstormed what sort of Bingo card would be applicable. Here's what we came up with, and, to be clear, most of these were hers. (Rather Columbia-savvy, don't you think?) "A Mayor" "Columbia doesn't have a Mayor. How about the head of CA?" "Okay." Howard County Exec or someone from his office "That company." "Howard Hughes?" "Yeah." "Someone who's running for office and they want you to know who they are." "Vision" "Dream" "Rouse" "Diversity" "Pioneers" "Garden for people" Mo...

Spotted on my walk around the Lake: "Bathrooms Behind Bars" Sounds rather ominous. What's the story with the Lakefront portapotties? I have a vague memory that one of the commenters to this blog mentioned them recently. How did they get there? What's the history? Why are they behind bars? I am guessing that having the bars there defines the space, but a solid wall would be seen as an invitation to nefarious behavior? I'm a firm believer in having easy access to bathrooms everywhere (and for everyone ). Sure, they're not aesthetically pleasing, but if you have a young child at a Lakefront event who needs a bathroom, you've got to be grateful for a nearby solution. Do you think that we will reach a point where activity at the Lakefront has grown beyond the two-potty system? Do you even use portable toilets? Some people refuse to. (I'm not choosy.) A lot of talk around downtown development focuses on traffic and parking. Well, what abo...

Take (approximately) two minutes to accompany me on my first walk around Lake Kittamaqundi. A bit of sunshine for your rainy day.

There are times that I lament that I have nothing to write about. Right now is not one of those times. Today I could be writing about: Last night's Pops Concert by the Columbia Orchestra at the Chrysalis Yesterday's ceremony honoring the fiftieth anniversary of the People Tree and the return of the Carillon Bells The County Executive's Veto of CB30 My first walk around Lake Kittamaqundi An update on recent episodes of the Elevate Maryland Podcast And that's not all. There's so much to write about that my brain is on overload. Which to write about first? Overload. That reminds me. School redistricting. The school system released some preliminary information on Monday and there has been much discussion on Facebook about what it means. I have been extremely hesitant to join in because 1) our daughter will most likely not be affected, and 2) redistricting is not my field of expertise. I am loath to hold forth on something that many people feel passionately...

Tonight, from seven to nine, there will be music in the woods--Symphony Woods. The Columbia Orchestra will be presenting a free Pops concert at the Chrysalis  . This event is a part of the Columbia 50th Birthday celebration. If you've been hearing a lot about the Chrysalis, but haven't seen it yet--well, now's the time. Bring your blankets and camp chairs and experience live music in the park. Here is some helpful info on park ing. There's a great article in The Business Monthly on Inner Arbor Trust CEO Nina Basu. Take a look here . There's a wealth of information about what's up next for the Chrysalis and how the plan for the entire park is moving forward. There's another event going on downtown tonight, perhaps less publicized. At 5:30 pm, Columbia Association is marking the 50th Birthday of the People Tree, while also celebrating the return of the Lakefront bells. Have you seen/heard them yet? I took a walk around the lake yesterday and finally got t...

I started my day today by reading an article about the Mall by Andrew Michaels. If you've been wondering what's going on in Columbia's own cathedral of retail, I highly recommend it. It's thorough. I have to admit, this article probably told me more about the Mall than I needed to know. "Too old?" You may wonder if I chose today's title because I think the Mall is too old, or that the concept of malls is too old. No, actually, I am wondering if I am just too old to appreciate the Mall. I just don't feel it calling me. When the concept of in an indoor shopping mall was new and innovative, my hometown mall was Severance Center, in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. I was a small child and the mall was a new and gleaming cornucopia of experiences. It seemed like a retail embodiment of the Hot Shoppes cafeteria where my grandparents let me choose whatever I wanted for lunch, from row upon row of appealing choices. As a teen I lived in an small Connecticut tow...

( Photo from County Executive's Facebook page) Were you there on Saturday night for the 50th Birthday cake-cutting? I had planned on going but got spooked by the heat. If only summer didn't have to be so dang hot. I noticed in photographs what a vast array of local elected officials were assembled for the event. In fact, many of the photos I saw are so crowded that you can barely see see Milton Matthews, President of the Columbia Association. I would've thought this was his gig, possibly flanked by each Village CA rep? As is typical, I wasn't there so I don't know how it all went down. I was happy to find this photo on the County Executive's page. (Used with permission.) But I do wonder if there has always been so much HoCo representation at the Columbia Birthday event. I started this blog largely as attempt to examine Columbia vs HoCo tensions. It's interesting to see how intertwined the interests of both have become in recent years. I'm sure ...

Let's not talk about my father today. Let's talk about somebody else's father. Philando Castile should be alive today and celebrating Father's Day with his family. Instead, his family lives    with the horrific memories of his death at the hands of police. And with the knowledge that our justice system saw fit to hold no one responsible. How do you remember your dad? Everyone has good memories and bad ones. Philando Castile's daughter was four years old when she watched her father shot and killed. No matter what good memories she has of his life, they will most likely by marred forever by this night of trauma. I read an article this morning about what happened when teachers wore Black Lives Matter t-shirts in a largely white school district in Seattle. A five year old boy of color was worried about how the day was going to go. But there was also a mom heartbroken by how the day had played out for her son. “I was feeling scared to drop them off at school...

A few weeks ago I expressed some skepticism about the County Executive's choice to fill the empty seat on the Board of Education. That skepticism was fueled by the reactions of parents in the community who felt they were not being heard, and that the choice was purely a political one. This week I read another take on this story from former BOE candidate and in-coming PTACHC President Vicky Cutroneo. I thought it was important to share it here. A Second Look Yesterday, I met with Ananta Hejeebu, CE Kittleman's appointee for the vacant Board of Education seat.  As you may recall, I decided not to apply for the position believing that this was an opportunity to appoint a person with a skill set and perspective that would complement our Board of Education... isn't it nice to have Mavis Ellis' expertise on discipline and equity?  Christina Delmont-Small's budget expertise?  I admit when I hear people say we need board members "who think like us", I cring...

LakeFest is back. At the lake. With craft vendors, fun for kids, musical performers, a Lake Walk , and what looks like an amazing experience called Architects of Air . There's so much going on right now what with the Columbia 50th celebration, the usual Columbia Festival of the Arts ticketed performances, and the flurry of local candidate announcements. One thing I have noticed is less focus on promoting "LakeFest" itself. Right now there are only six current mentions on Twitter and none of them are from the Columbia Festival of the Arts or the Columbia Association. The last time CFA tweeted about LakeFest was in April. I've seen a lot of publicity over the last week on Facebook, in particular for the Architects of Air installation. Perhaps the new management at CFA is not so interested in Twitter. Or perhaps the "LakeFest" name is not as important as it used to be? And No, I don't remember the City Fair, and Yes, I have heard that it was far bet...

I just read this letter in the Columbia Flier and I think you should, too. I don't know the author but I am taking the liberty of reprinting her letter in its entirety. Celebrating diversity, a positive for our county I have been troubled by some recent conversations with fellow parents expressing concerns about the high school that our children will be attending because it is more “diverse” than other county high schools. I don’t presume to know exactly what they mean by this, but  dictionary.com  defines diversity as “the inclusion of individuals representing more than one national origin, color, religion, socioeconomic stratum, sexual orientation, etc.” If a family moves to Columbia and chooses to raise their children here, I would hope that this kind of diversity is one of the reasons why. When people express concern about a specific neighborhood or school and use “diversity” as a reason, I can’t imagine that they are concerned about the definition. I...

While I was attending Undesign the Redline, County Executive Kittleman was kicking off his re-election campaign.  No big surprise here. I don't think anyone expected that he wouldn't. Local blogger Scott E was there , as was Andrew Michaels, reporting for the Howard County Times.  Scott's tolerance for attending political events is a good deal higher than mine, I might add. I'm not a political blogger. I weigh in, from time to time, on particular decisions that mean something to me, so I'm not going to present an analysis of this event ,or his decision to run again, from a political perspective. Instead, here's something we can all agree on. This quote from Councilman Greg Fox is just a hot mess. "The morality of the [announcement] is night-and-day compared to how it was during the last administration as far as how we find things out," Fox said. "We've got a great place, in general, because of the people who live here and they ...

Last night in the city that Rouse built County Executive Allan Kittleman was kicking off his campaign for re-election at the Lakefront. Across the street and down the road a bit, another crowd was gathered to view the Undesign the Red Line exhibit at Enterprise Community Partners. These two events were in no way related. Their occurrence at the same time is purely coincidental. As you may suspect, I was at the second event. There was so much information presented that I am still processing. It was, as our tour guide suggested, like trying to "drink from a fire hose." As I walked around the room I couldn't help but compare what I was seeing to my childhood in Cleveland  Heights, Ohio, which at the time was almost exclusively white. What my parents had called Downtown was now more often called the "Inner City" and I don't think we knew anyone who lived there. Last night I learned how that happened. I also learned how truly radical James Rouse's missi...

My daughter and I stopped by Books in Bloom yesterday. I got a little thrill seeing people in the woods for a reason other than Wine in the Woods. That's the way it ought to be: a people's park for our community. I had a chance to catch up with Christie Lassen from the Howard County Library System. I really want to make an effort to read more this summer, so I asked her if the Summer Reading program had opportunities for adults. It does. Adults, teens, and children. And, if you want, you can do it all from your phone. Learn more about this year's summer reading program here . Rest assured, there's still a print version if you prefer that route. Take a look--it's more than your typical read-a-book program. Participants work to earn badges in a variety of categories: Build a Better Community Build a Better Planet Build a Better Friendships Build a Better You Build your own Badge Choose Civility Badge (Adults 18+) And Reading, of course. I stopped by...

I know you've heard about  Books in Bloom  , today's inaugural book festival at the Chrysalis. You know it's a joint venture between the Downtown Partnership and The Howard County Library System to celebrate Columbia's 50th Birthday. You've seen the posters. You know you love books and it's going to be a gorgeous day and you want to get outside and enjoy it. But there's just one problem. Deep down inside you have this nagging question: if I go to the Chrysalis, where do I park? Voila! Here's a handy-dandy photo showing exactly where you can park. On top of all the exciting activities for children and adults, here's an added item of interest from the local podcast folks at Elevate Maryland : A twist! Thanks to our producer, we will record our show tomorrow from #BooksInBloom. Check out this lineup ! We're on at 2pm. Come say heeyyy! So now you know. Be there!

The concert at Merriweather went over the 11 o'clock limit by a few minutes last night. I don't think there will be any official complaints as the artist in question was Paul Simon and the song was an acoustic version of The Sound of Silence. It's also possible that some of our community's chief complainers were in the audience. I could be wrong, but it's possible. For those of you who go to Merriweather all the time nothing I will say will be surprising. But here goes anyway. It was a beautiful evening in Columbia, Maryland to share the music of one of my favorite artists. It was the perfect venue for hearing a crowd sing along to song after song--even jumping in to carry the melody when Simon's voice gave out and he needed a drink of water. The sense of a community of people who knew and loved Paul Simon's work was palpable. I'm not a particular fan of being in large crowds. I find them overwhelming. But last night's event felt manageable, ...

I have been remiss in failing to note the recent announcement of plans to redevelop the Long Reach Village Center. Since I live in Oakland Mills, I am keenly aware of the importance of keeping our aging village centers relevant as our community changes and evolves.  The Long Reach project seems to have languished for quite some time. I am excited to see it finally getting off the ground. It would be silly for me to attempt to write a comprehensive post about this because local blogger and Long Reach resident James Howard has already done so. The Long Reach Redevelopment and Master Plan What I haven't seen is the sort of discontented pushback that we normally observe in Columbia when anything from Rouse's original plans is targeted for review. Where are the angry self-appointed committees? Where are the one-sided articles in the newspaper heralding gloom and doom? Where are the letters to the editor saying, "nobody asked me?" Is it possible that Long Reach just...

I've got plans. Yes, I've definitely got plans for this summer which involve crafting, reading, cooking, seeing friends and hanging out with my family. I want to walk around Columbia more, go to as many Columbia 50th events as I can handle. I'm going to splash around at the pool, shop the Farmers Market, get as many books as I want at the Library, and noodle around on Ellicott City's Main Street. In short, it won't be long now before I have the whole summer off and I have just enough money set aside to be comfortable for a few months. Not extravagant, mind you, but enough to get by. For me, that's a big deal. But first I will have to say goodbye to the seven little friends who have been my day-in, day-out companions. Today is our last day together. I will be leading them in song for the last time. We have been on an amazing journey together. It has been new for all of us. And now we are packing up and saying our goodbyes. Yesterday, as we were gathering ...

The other evening I saw an online post in which a joint venture by a man and women was labeled as purely an initiative of the man. Really? It brought to mind this post from 2014. For the record, I haven't seen much improvement on this since it was written. The War Between Men and Women       (first published in June, 2014) This image is taken from a series of cartoons by James Thurber, entitled "The War Between Men and Women." It came to mind this morning in light of the recent controversy surrounding the #YesAllWomen hashtag, and the defensive counter-hashtag #NotAllMen. Around Howard County we don't have much of an all-out war, but there are days when it feels as though women in public service, political races, and even blogging have to work twice as hard to be thought half as good. We have a bit of a Boys Club at work here: not ruthless, not mean-spirited, but careless and unseeing. What do I mean? Take a look at this: Women Tag or rec...

The PTA Council of Howard County held their elections last night. It looks like they have chosen a new direction in leadership. Vicky Cutroneo ran from the floor and won 56-24. After the meeting she posted on the HCPSS Community Shares page: Grateful to have been elected PTACHC President this evening.   The strength of the organization lies not with the lone voice of the president but within the collective talent and dedication of our delegates.   Thank you to all who voted for me. I won't let you down. --Vicky Cutroneo The meeting began with a visit from Acting Superintendent Michael Martirano. A photograph of the event shows him speaking while standing right in the midst of the group. This, too, is a sign of a significant change in leadership for our schools. I'd go so far as to say that the choice of Dr, Martiarano is a statement that: The strength of the Howard County Schools lies not with the lone voice of the Superintendent but  within the collective talent ...

You may recall a recent post in which I expressed dismay at two local events whose invitations lacked even a hint of diversity. Meanwhile, the promotion campaign for one of these events continued along in the same vein. Some samples: It just bugged me. So I sent the organization a copy of my blog post along with this note: Perhaps next year you might consider a different sort of fundraising event.  It wasn't long before I received this response: Thank you for your input. You might have wanted to do some research on  Howard County Historical Society before you made that blog post.  If you had you would have discovered our wide variety of diverse programs and events that aim to tell the history of all the citizens of our county -- and that guests of all ethnicity enjoy coming to...... Oct. 6: “Black Churches in Howard County” Panel Discussion led by Pat Greenwald African-American churches have long been an important part of the cultural fabric of Howa...