Skip to main content

Out from the Shadows



There was a time when it was the fashion for bloggers and tweeters to have a “handle” or monicker and leave it at that. That was quite a while ago. Most folks put their real names out there this days, and I think that’s a better idea. When you trade in opinion, people should know you are willing to stand by your work.

In a similar way, there was a time when people writing about the goings-on at the school system felt it necessary to protect their identities. Former leadership was known to be punitive and retaliatory. Deviation from the tightly controlled “message” was not to be tolerated. Communicating a differing point of view during those times felt dangerous. To my knowledge, that is not the case anymore.

All of  this is merely a prelude to my making the following request:

Come out, come on out. Put your name on your work.

I think our community would benefit from knowing who you are. Here’s a list of accounts I’d like to see step out of their anonymity. Some may be known to a small inner circle of readers, but, in my opinion, that’s not enough. Are there any others I am forgetting?

HoCo APFO
HCPSS Community Shares
*A Better Howard
mjm_not_super

If you want to influence the conversation, fine. But be willing to show your face.



*A correction from reader Ilana Bittner:

A Better Howard isn’t in the dark. Their initial post had the 4 authors names, and many of their posts (at least the ones I’ve seen) are signed specifically with the author’s name(s). 

Mark Breaux
Dave Myers
Phil Nichols
Julia Sanger

Comments

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...

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...

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...