Village Green/Town²

Let it be known that, in the 50th anniversary season of its opening, I finally fell in love with Merriweather. I don't exactly know why it took so long, but, there it is. I suspect I stayed away because I'm not keen on crowds or summer heat. And for a long time our family budget didn't allow for extra expenditures during the summer. The weather gods have blessed me this year, smiling on both the Paul Simon concert and last night's performance by Belle and Sebastian. For this I am grateful. There's no question that milder temps and lower humidity have contributed to my growing appreciation of the venue. As much as I love music, I hate Maryland summers more, so it's a difficult balance. Last night my husband and I were surprised by a friend with two passes to the new VIP lounge/area (not sure what it's called). It's a really lovely respite from all the hustle and bustle plus the bathroom lines are way shorter. Everywhere we went last night when it wa...

Of the bed, that is. For some reason today has begun as the kind of day when I would like more sleep and more coffee and a complete do-over. There's no particular reason. The sky is clear and beautiful. I can hear birds singing outside. I had what one might think is a reasonable night's sleep. But my thoughts are all a-jumble. There's nothing emerging in my brain as the topic of today's post. Of course there ar lots of dribs and drabs floating around competing with one another. A sampling: The Howard County Food Bank needs your donations of food and/or $ . The Horizon Foundation has kicked off the Changemaker Challenge . You can support How Girls Code tomorrow evening by dining in or out at Tino's. Sign up to attend the next HoCo Blogs Party, August 21st at Bare Bones Grill and Brewery. And, on a non-local note, a recommended read : On Paralysis and Perfection, by Jennie Barrett. See you tomorrow when I will (most likely) get out of the right side o...

It rained most of the day yesterday, and into the night. Local concerns were not so much about canceled plans or muddy feet tracking a wet mess into the house. Is Ellicott City okay? Does anybody know? How are things on Main Street? One year ago: the deluge . Terrifying destruction and loss of life. A life-changing struggle to bring a city back. This morning the skies are clear over Old Ellicott City and people are gathered to remember. (Photo by Tom Coale) The recovery in Old Ellicott City is remarkable. But it isn't over. One of the best ways you can help this weekend is to stop by and visit. Come out to one of the events marking the anniversary of the flood. Or just come on over to shop, have a meal, say thanks to local merchants for hanging in there.  The weather forecast for Ellicott City today is for relatively mild temperatures, cloudy with a chance of light rain. Don't let a few raindrops keep you away.

Have  you been to the newest of the Howard County Farmers Markets? It's on Thursday afternoons at Clarksville Commons. As loyal as I am to the Oakland Mills Market, I just had to make the trek to Clarksville yesterday when I that they were adding live music to the mix. My family and I really went for the music, truth be told, but what can you expect in a family of musicians? We're fans of the band, Dog Park All-Stars, a local duo consisting of Mickey Gomez and  Aaron Barnett. (I hear there was a little audience participation after we left.) If you want to hear them and visit the new market, you're in luck. They'll be back August 17th. Actually, we may need to go back, too, because we were so focused on the music that we didn't do the local vendors justice. My daughter and I enjoyed our first ice cream from Scoop and Paddle. I had Chocolate Covered Strawberry. The flavor and texture (mouth-feel?) were wonderful, but overall it was a bit too sweet for my taste. Ma...

I'm back from my family's annual trip to the beach. For the past three years we have stayed at a deliciously retro-feeling place in Lewes called the Beacon Motel. It's not fancy, but it's clean and comfortable and affordable. There's no work-out room or free breakfast and the internet is periodically rather thin. But the service is excellent and all the staff are warm and friendly. We'll probably be back next year. There seem to be two schools on acknowledging vacations on social media. Some folks are right out there in the open, posting as they go. Some, like us, are a bit wary of advertising that they are away from home. By and large I save my photos and travel anecdotes for when I get back. There's no right or wrong way, I guess. It's just what we prefer. And we can all choose what to make public or keep private. While we were enjoying a day of noodling around Rehoboth Avenue, I realized I was going to need to find a bathroom. And, if you have bee...

I'm running this post for the third time, on the anniversary of its original appearance, for a reason. In many ways it tells the story of the last several years and what went wrong in our school system. In particular, this paragraph: Once you lose the moral high ground in your community, you lose the authority to make significant decisions that require compliance. You lose the authority to command large sums of money from the County without oversight in your operations. You lose your status as the place parents want to send their children. We now know that the story of mold in our schools isn't just about Glenwood. Other schools have significant mold issues and teachers, staff, and students have been affected. The only thing that thrived by keeping this story in the dark was the mold. Quite a bit has changed since the last time I ran this piece. The school board has changed, the superintendent has changed, and with that has come a reorganization of Central Office st...

Things we rely on: clean water, electricity, shelter, enough to eat, reliable internet...They may seem like "the norm" to many of us but none are guaranteed. In fact they are blessings that many in this world do not have. This morning I was dealing with wonky internet that wouldn't allow me to get a post through and it made me think about how I take using the internet for granted. The tornado touching down in Kent Island has rocked that community and shows us how fast all these "normal things" can be stripped away. Articles about last year's flooding in Ellicott City bring back memories of residents and businesses that lost everything. Punishing heat, nothing but destruction to return to. Long after the events of those days there are people whose lives will never be the same. We are living in a time when the very foundation of our nation is being ripped away, not by catastrophic meteorological events, but by those who care most about themselves while c...

Jenny's Market posted a large photo of Lima beans on Facebook this weekend and it reminded me of a song I once heard on WTMD in Towson. I wish I could find it for you. It went like this: Whenever I find money in my jeans, I always buy some Lima bean. And I laughed when I heard it and thought, "Ugh. Really?" Lima beans and Brussels sprouts were the two vegetables I hated the most as a child. You know, the sort of food you would sit at the dinner table until eight o'clock and still refuse to eat. (Yes, my mother tried that. No, it doesn't work.) Both are foods to which I was reintroduced years later, fresh from the farm, and it made a world of difference. Limas beans as a side dish at a back yard cookout in Southern Maryland. Picked, cooked, eaten.within hours. A bit of butter. Surprisingly edible. The Brussels sprouts from a farm stand outside of Princeton, New Jersey. They were young and tender and we cooked them lightly and marinated them in a homemade v...

No, they didn't. But they may have come from out of town. Last night was the debut of the Chrysalis as a commercial venue, with a concert by Leftover Salmon and Greensky Bluegrass. No, I wasn't there. These are all fan photos gleaned from Twitter. In order for the Chrysalis to thrive as a venue, it must strike just the right balance between free local events such as the Columbia Orchestra Pops Concert and events like this one, with paying customers. The positive comments I read from fans last night told a story of excitement about how cool this structure is, and the thrill of being present at the beginning of things. I think it's important to remember that Merriweather Park in Symphony Woods, while first and foremost a community gathering place for Columbia/Howard County, is also meant to be a regional player in drawing people from other places. If you've ever driven out of your way to see a concert, a play, or attend a festival, you know what I mean. Playing...

Today I'm going to give you three little words that will change your life: Renata's Tasty Bites. This bakery is located at 9350 Snowden River Parkway. It's in the same shopping center as House of India. I first heard of Renata's Tasty Bites when she was coming to the various local farmer's markets. I must admit that, from the name, I thought she must specialize in tiny pastries that one could consume in one bite. Boy, was I wrong. I had been meaning to get over there for some time, but it actually was my husband who insisted we pay a visit when he read that it was more like a European patisserie. He was hoping for something savory like a meat pie or a sausage roll. His hopes were rewarded. Renata's does make Steak and Mushroom pies, and also Pigs in Blankets, which is about as close as you get to sausage rolls in this country. The first time we went I picked out a chocolate cupcake which was labeled as Croatian. It was topped  with just the right am...

Remember when I wrote about how effective ice cream is at getting folks to come out to an event in the summer?  Last night I discovered another fabulous draw for those hot summer evenings: water. My school is one of the sponsors of the Family Concert events at the Fair Hills Shops in Olney this summer. Fair Hills describes itself as an "Upscale Experience, Hometown Convenience." Each Summer they host weekly events with music but the star attraction is really their mini splash pad. Kids come in their bathing suits, or just run in and out fully clothed. There are plenty of places to sit, plus tables with umbrellas for shade. Folks pick up dinner from the adjacent Subway or Panera and make a night of it. There's even a full service restaurant with outdoor seating overlooking the plaza where all this activity is taking place. Every so often someone would appear with ice cream from the nearby Baskin Robbins, causing a flurry of ice cream requests from those who saw...

Yesterday I was wishing for a big picture approach to redistricting that looked at these changes through a lens of compassion. I am grateful to be able to share my friend Bonnie Bricker's thoughts on this topic today. *****  I try not to enter every discussion here, but I'd like to weigh in with a few thoughts about the redistricting process we are entering. My own kids were redistricted (twice) years ago, and it was wrenching to anticipate the change--and much better than we could have imagined. In the first case, they were attending a school ranked at #1 by test scores and were being sent to one at the bottom of the list. The former school was a sweet community place with few behavior problems, social or economic issues to be addressed, and also little diversity.  The latter school was the opposite. The community did not want to be moved. It was tumultuous. But we were wrong.  The receiving school did everything necessary to ensure a smooth transition. A c...

The cacophony surrounding school redistricting is becoming almost overwhelming. We are challenged by the first major redistricting in some time, plus a look at APFO which brings up unresolved issues of how we can best handle development in our county. We have interested and curious voices, concerned and angry voices, fearful voices. We have a multitude of Facebook groups, each targeting a particular piece of the overall puzzle. Whatever this is, it is not OneHoward. It is lots of little splinter groups whose own individual causes have grown so huge that a bigger picture is no longer visible. "MyHoward!" "No, MyHoward!" This is not to say that their concerns are not legitimate. Community members have every right to be involved in the process and their voices and experiences should be taken into account. But yesterday I read an exchange between parents on Facebook that rocked me. The thread centered on the assertion  that now was the wrong time to major redistri...

Have I ever talked to you about Pleasantville? I saw the movie shortly after coming to Columbia and it seemed at the time to be a description of our suburban existence. In particular, for a long time I thought that Little Patuxent Parkway was like this: Geography lessons at the local high school are limited to subjects like "Main Street" and "Elm Street" because the world literally ends at the city limits. Space twists back upon itself in Pleasantville, and "the end of Main Street is just the beginning again." (Roger Ebert) As a newcomer to Columbia it seemed that LPP evaporated into Route 175 and then went towards an extremely unfamiliar place called Jessup that was very unColumbia-like. At the time I hadn't been there,  And at the other end it reached the hospital, and then, as far as I knew, just turned back on itself like Pleasantville. It was all a mystery to me. (I may have told you already that my husband got me my first cell phone because I...

Food for thought on a Monday morning: AMERICAN SUBURBIA FREAKS ME THE F*** OUT. nothing is more dystopically homogeneous & willfully desolate than an American suburb. NOTHING! I was just talking w family abt this. #ColumbiaMD only loves diversity & inclusion above a certain pay grade. Hmm... We've been doing a lot of celebrating about how wonderful Columbia is as we celebrate its 50th Birthday. There's been an awful lot of self-congratulatory prose circulating. Not that we we shouldn't celebrate, mind you, but are we always honest with ourselves? Some years ago I wrote: Once upon a time we were pioneers in integration and multiculturalism.  We had just the right kind of diversity, you know: nice upwardly mobile middle class integration and nice university professor sort of multiculturalism.  ("A Reading from the Book of Rouse", March 4, 2013) There it is: Columbia only loves diversity and inclusion above a certain pay grade. I have heard p...

The Downtown Arts and Culture Commission threw a birthday party for Merriweather Post Pavillion yesterday afternoon. As you can see, I got another opportunity to view the amazing chairs from the Inner Arbor Trust "Celebrating the Arts in the Park" contest. I love how different they all are, yet still embody that one theme. Make sure to stop by this summer where they will be on display throughout the park. We were definitely still celebrating the arts in the park by getting together at the Chrysalis to celebrate fifty years of Merriweather. As the party kicked off you could hear sound checks going on next door. It was clear how important the relationship between the DAC and the Inner Arbor Trust will be in fostering the success of a vibrant Downtown. If it works well, the end result will definitely be bigger than the sum of its parts. I must admit I dreaded leaving the house yesterday and spending two hours in the summer heat. When I arrived I was stunned to feel the di...

We've all seen the admonition: if you see something, say something. In a post-9/11 world it brings to mind threats of terrorism by non-citizens. Our fear of violence stemming from "strange-looking foreign people" continues unabated, years after that event. If anything, recent changes in the political climate have made it worse. People of color in this country have long been on the receiving end of white folks contacting authorities. Suspicious behavior is nothing more than "walking while black" in a predominantly white neighborhood, "driving while black" or even laughing too loudly in a public place. All too often these  reports end in police violence, in many cases toward completely innocent people. "If you see something, say something." I've often wondered if I would report something if I found it suspicious or alarming. How would I know it was a legitimate concern? What if I were wrong? What if I were right but afraid to contact ...

In this stretch of hot weather we've been having, it's good to see that the Columbia Democratic Club had an ice cream social. Did you know that the first ice cream social in the United States was held in Maryland? For me the term "Ice Cream Social" brings to mind Meredith Willson's "Music Man" and a small town in Iowa in the early years of the twentieth century. No television, no internet. (Even the thought of a pool hall for recreation was threatening.) You had to make your own fun. That might mean putting on a show in honor of a national holiday, county fairs, recitations of famous historical speeches, or forming a community band. Columbia, Maryland is a small town in comparison to the great cities of the world. I've seen it described as a suburban backwater. But we're hardly River City, Iowa. These days we post on Facebook, Tweet, belong to numerous online groups and circulate petitions and requests for donations completely electronically....

My digital copy of the Columbia Flier won't load, which must be the 21st century equivalent if the paperboy missing my house or oversleeping. Ugh. Ah, well. I spotted a photograph this week in this Retro Gallery on the Mall in Columbia. The caption reads: December 1977 Teens in Columbia claim they have little to do for recreation . It shows a group of teens sitting around one of the fountains at the Mall. First off, I graduated from high school in 1977, so those teens look awfully familiar to me, generationally. Also, why the use of the word "claim"? It almost appears to be challenging the veracity of the statement. "Those teenagers today. They don't know how easy they have it. They have a brand new community, CA recreational facilities, all those cool pathways to explore, the Lakefront, and even a Mall..." Maybe I'm overthinking that one word a little bit. But I can imagine that generational divide between teens and adults because I was ...

Things I didn't know about before I moved to Columbia: the People Tree, communal mail boxes, Village Centers, quadroplexes. Wait, that last one. Quadroplex. I still meet a lot of people who don't know what that means. I live in a community of homes which are four homes stuck together. These groups, of four units each, are set into the landscape in a rather artistic way so that some folks get decent yard space, some an odd triangular bit, some just a flower bed out front. But there's plenty of shared green space which gives an overall feel of a suburban natural setting. I used to find it rather odd. It's not how I grew up: old suburb, center-hall Colonial, front yard and back yard. Garage in the back. But at some point when the economy tanked and I realized that we were living in a home that we could afford to live in, I came to terms with my quirky little neighborhood with the stuck-together houses. Back when I was learning to find my way around Columbia I emplo...

Just in case you've been wondering about the place where the cool kids of Elevate Maryland get their podcast on, I took a little field trip over to Joe's Place Deli yesterday. Okay, I really just wanted lunch, but let's pretend I went there in service of the blog and community information. The thing about Joe's Place is that you really have to know to know. It is so far off the beaten path that they've resorted to planting a series of signs that guide you all the way from the main road, through a quasi-intersection, around a corner and down a hill. I'm wondering if they should team up with the sign makers for Jenny's Market . If you want to take a trip to Joe's Place to see them record the Elevate Maryland podcast, or if you just really want an amazingly fresh sandwich or delicious soup, this is what you need to do. Get on Snowden heading towards Broken Land. Keep an eye out for Minstrel Way: the turnoff to the shopping plaza marked by Taco Bell an...

The old clock is in a museum. There will be a new one in its place. Stores on Main Street continue to re-open almost one year after the horrific flood that devastated Old Ellicott City. Some new stores are opening. Some old ones will not be back. I visited the Ellicott City Old Town Market Saturday. It's in the parking lot of the Wine Bin. I had never been before but I was going to be getting my hair cut nearby when a social media post from a friend reminded me I needed more Neat Nick preserves. (No, I am not an official sponsor, I'm just a devoted fan.) As I headed down Ellicott Mills Drive to Main Street I wondered at all the on-street parking spaces that didn't seem to have any connection to residences or businesses. What was the purpose of painting all of those? As I got closer to my destination those spaces were almost filled. I parked in Lot E and walked over to the Market. There were lots of folks out and about, and more continuing to arrive by car. It turns o...

A quick Sunday round-up from a tired mom who had to stay up late to pick up her teen from the theatre. In Olney. Thanks to everyone who has donated to the G.R.A.C.E.  McComas Memorial Scholarship Fund , and to those who have shared her story, especially local bloggers HowChow, Dr. Chao Wu, Harry Schwarz, Jessie Newburn, and Scott Ewart.  Oh, yeah: HowChow is back. I know I'm not the only one who's missed his voice on local food scene topics. Case in point: his comments section stayed alive as a community unto itself while he was on hiatus. Blogger Annie Rie says she's going to try to post more often, which is great because I've really been missing her voice, too. Also photographs of vegetables I have never seen before plus how to cook them.  I'm hearing rumours of a HoCo bloggers party later in the summer. I'll keep you posted. Today is Free Second Sunday Swim at all CA Outdoor Pools. You need a Columbia Card to get in, but, if you are like us and pay as...

Tomorrow from 2-4 pm: You'll get to see the winners of the much-touted chair contest, and there's free Kona Ice! I'm really looking forward to seeing what community members have done with those chairs. I see photo ops in the future. Who could resist getting their picture taken in one of those cool, one-of-a-kind creations? Also, bring your kids because it's an Imagination Playground play session. If you've been to either of the two recent Chrysalis concerts, you've seen the big, blue foam building pieces put out for kids to play with and enjoy. And they really have! I took all kinds of photos of kids playing with them but then I realized, "hey, these are kids and I don't have permission to post their pictures." Duh. Scrap that. So, if you don't know what I am talking about, go here to see photos and learn more about Imagination Playground. Investing in this play equipment was a genius move on the part of Nina Basu, President of t...

In the Spring of 2012 the Glenelg High School community was rocked by the suicide of a sophomore named Grace McComas. She took her life in response to a drug-assisted rape by a fellow student and the subsequent cyber-bullying from members of that same community in the aftermath of this traumatic event. In a school of approximately 1200 students, how many do you suppose knew what was going on? How many knew because they were participating in the bullying? How many knew and tried to help? How many knew and did nothing? How many knew nothing at all? In the time since her daughter's death Christine McComas has fought to raise awareness of sexual assault, cyber-bullying, and has worked unceasingly to get her daughters complete school records from the year that she died. The response to her efforts has often been disappointing. How have we responded? How many participated in a concerted effort to withhold information? How many sought to learn more and to help?...

And so it has come to pass. The rumored closure of the Tomato Palace is now a fact. When I wrote about this in March of 2016  the post elicited mixed feelings from readers. Most were excited about the prospect of a music venue at the Lakefront. Still, they lamented the possibility of losing affordable, family-friendly food in that location.                                       (These faithful patrons were unavailable for comment.) Most of the responses I saw yesterday as the news broke were about the same. Excitement at what a live music venue would bring to Downtown Columbia, sadness at losing a sentimental hometown favorite. As is the case in so many Columbia iconic institutions, I wonder if we just thought it would always be there, rather than actually ensuring its future by regular patronage. If The Tomato Palace had been, and continued to be, wildly successful I'm not sure ...

Have you seen photos of the River Hill Fourth of July parade? It seems this group was a big hit:                                                      Photo by Charles Neason Jackson I don't know the backstory on this, but I do know that it caught the fancy of many a local resident yesterday, not only in person at the parade, but online afterwards as people shared parade photos. Why? Is it because there's just something fun about challenging the political status quo? Or perhaps we all secretly would like to march in parades with banners and matching t-shirts with our names on them? (And without all the work of actually running for office!) Public service is a noble calling. Politics is not. We think of public service as listening to and helping constituents, making fair laws, gathering citizens together to work on community problems. Politics ...