Skip to main content

Time Travel Friday



This just in from the Double T Diner in Ellicott City:


#WJZ That moment when you are surprised to see a working pay phone.  Almost wanted to call someone! #raresight

Yes, that’s right. The esteemed Vic Carter of WJZ reports this unlikely story and he even includes a photo:

                                                             Photo credit: Vic Carter

In the spirit of the children’s book Yard Sale! By Mitra Modarressi, let’s imagine that this is a telephone for calling the past. And since it’s in Howard County, let’s say it’s for calling Howard County’s past.

Who would you call?  Why?

I’d want to call Jim Rouse, of course. I have a few questions. And I’d love to talk to County Executive Ed Cochran during his years in office (74-78). I’d call Columbia circa its early years and talk to anyone who answered the phone. I’d call the librarian in the very first library and ask what people liked to read. And of course I’d call Dennis Lane.

It’s Friday. Do me the favor of playing my little game. If the pay phone above were really a portal to Howard County’s past, who, where, or what time period would you call? Why? What questions do
you have?

In the meantime, I probably should mention that I love the Double T Diner but I never have room for dessert.

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...

F ³: We Are Not Entitled

  A college student went missing. His family and friends were distraught. The community was encouraged to be on the lookout and spread the word.  Days passed.  They must have been agonizing days for those who cared about the missing student. Thoughts that foul play had been involved cannot have been far from their thoughts.  Then, at last, the student was found. Alive. The news was shared with the public.  So. Much. Relief. A family had been reunited with their child. Even though we know that life is complicated, I think it is okay to accept this as a happy ending and leave it at that.  But the world of social media says no. For every expression of joy at the news came questions and even judgement. It became clear to me that some folks felt entitled to an explanation. They wanted the backstory. It’s as though they felt that, by enlisting the help of the public on social media, the authorities now owed them all the details. Television dramas often weave curr...

Separate and Unequal

  Remember “Separate but equal”? Remember how that really meant that Black schools languished in  broken-down buildings without adequate heat or toilet facilities, with cast-off, ragged learning materials, underfunded and largely ignored? The Supreme Court struck that down in 1954. The evidence was clear that separate was not equal. Plessy v Ferguson had led to - - no, endorsed - - deeply unequal schooling and opportunities. We tend to think of Brown v Board as being purely about racial integration. It was not.  It was about the logical consequences of segregation. And they were not, not, not equal. The ruling in 1954 didn’t transform public education for non-whites into a land of milk and honey by any means. But it articulated some essential truths in a way that made including everyone a legal precedent which could be relied upon and built upon. It was better than what came before it but it rested upon unsteady ground. It did not necessarily change the hearts or minds ...