Village Green/Town²

One of the truly head-smacking responses to recent local conversations about concentrated poverty in our schools has been the posts by several people on social media that they thought they’d just sign up for Free and Reduced Meals assistance. Their reasoning? It was clearly so easy to get. So it was really a scam and lots of people were lying to game the system. Is there any way these individuals could know whether or not what they claim is true? No. But it makes them feel big and knowing to say it, and it makes people who are not like them look small. Another line of thinking put forward is that the poster has been through a lot and been an upstanding citizen and never asked for help, so now the county schools “owe them”. Now it’s time for them to “get something.” All of this comes down to a toxic thought process around who “deserves” help. People make assumptions about others based solely on their own life experiences. They can’t imagine what it is like to truly have no foo...

Here’s a little game for you. How far could you get from where you live if you could walk only on sidewalks? If I turned right, only a few blocks until I hit Route 175.  If I turned left, all the way to Broken Land Parkway.  I occasionally see people walking along Broken Land on the grass and they never fail to look out of place and vaguely sketchy. “Who would walk on Broken Land?” The Horizon Foundation has been working on something called the Complete Streets initiative. From their informational page: Complete streets make transportation healthy, affordable, and sustainable and contribute to vibrant neighborhoods and a strong local economy. The Howard County Council approved Complete Streets policy on October 7, 2019. How to most successfully implement it and how to fund that implementation seems to be what comes next. In the meantime, the Horizon Foundation continues to advocate for the importance of adequate sidewalks, crosswalks, bike lanes, and bus stops. ...

They say that practicing gratitude can rewire your brain. I can’t vouch for this personally because I haven’t been practicing enough of it. The world we live in is more conducive to a cycle of reactive horror. The alternative, trying to put your head down and “just get by” is doable but exhausting. I suspect that most of us are simply doing the best we can. The true history of Thanksgiving is not what we were taught in school. I can’t celebrate that old lie anymore. I can try to use the day to stop, refocus, and think on the many reasons I have to be grateful. Any advice my readers have for turning this into an actual daily practice is welcome. In the meantime: Village Green/Town² Seven reasons to be thankful, 2019 1. Our amazing library system . They truly never stop looking for ways to connect, serve, and inspire. And a shout out to friend of the blog Mickey Gomez for her election to Board Chair of the Friends of the Library. Will Mickey’s love of music, dogs, and craft bee...

Columbia/HoCo podcaster Tom Coale of Elevate Maryland is looking for a a place that does a good “Gobbler-like sandwich”. I’m assuming this means turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce on bread. (Correct me if I am wrong.) Can anyone out there point him in the right direction? I can think of several restaurants that served them, but they don’t exist anymore. Speaking of food, I’m sorry to inform you that you have missed the cutoff to order Momma’s Classic banana pudding for Thanksgiving. But it’s not too late to order cookies for holiday giving. Momma, aka Monica Rogers Williams, makes so many flavors it can be hard to choose. If you have a sweet and salty craving and/or are looking some impressive party favors take a look at these pretzel rods. They may possibly have magic powers. HoCoNomNom Blog is taking a break this week, but you can read the most recent post here . Ms./Mr. Nom also brought to my attention that we now have a Korean corn dog place at the Mall. It was ...

Just when you thought Howard County couldn’t get any crazier, now the eggplants have started talking. Of course I am referring to the whimsical art piece that resides in front of the Howard County Welcome Center on Main Street in Old Ellicott City. It turns out the Ellicott City Eggplant is a very chatty fellow -- so we've decided to give him a hashtag.  #ellicottcityeggplant.  We may regret it!   Here's his first tweet: "Hey guys -- the holidays are coming.  Come keep me company? I get lonely sometimes...." The post and photo come from the Twitter account of Art in Ellicott City - - @ArtEllicottCity - - which describes itself as “a private fund for public art”. They’ve been tweeting since May, 2018, but not very frequently. I recall with fondness a time when Gingerbread girl took to social media to promote Howard County. I wonder what the #ellicottcityeggplant will have to say for himself? Once he gets going, I doubt a hashtag will be e...

A thought for your Monday, from a piece on last week’s Morning Edition: NEARY: In addition to the nominated authors, there are two lifetime achievement awards. This year, Oren Teicher, retiring CEO of the American Booksellers Association, was honored for his service to the American literary community. And Edmund White, known for his writing about gay life in America, took home the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) EDMUND WHITE: When I started submitting novels in the pre-Stonewall 1960s, my gay subject matter was offensive, especially since I didn't write about hustlers or criminals or drag queens, but rather about the middle-class guy sharing an office with you. The familiar is more threatening than the exotic. The familiar is more threatening than the exotic. There it is. We may be intellectually open and consider our selves broad-minded about things happening far away but when it comes to our neighborhood, o...

We in Columbia/HoCo are good at many things but there is one glaring example where we fall short. Folks, we need to learn how to ride the bus. I’m talking public transportation and I mean everyone should know how to use it and consciously choose to do so. And I mean me, too, as I have never ridden the bus since I have lived here. There’s a general sentiment that our area was developed in such a way to be public transit averse. There’s certainly some truth in that. I know I haven’t ridden the bus because I’m not at all sure if it even goes where I need to go. And many people recoil from public transit as somehow dirty, uncomfortable, and inconvenient. “Public transit. It’s not for me, it’s for those who have no other choice.” Not exactly a winning slogan. The other evening when my family was celebrating my daughter’s birthday at Seasons 52 at the Mall,  the parking situation was crazy and we were close to being late. My husband texted me: just do the valet parking. I’m not...

I’m headed towards the two week mark of this relentless chest cold and it’s taking its toll on everything, including my writing. It isn’t the sickest I have ever been, but it just won’t quit. I keep taking over the counter medicine, drinking lots of fluids, and going to work. I cover when I cough and wash my hands a lot, something that doesn’t always happen at work, because: The people I work with are preschoolers. They don’t always cover when they cough or sneeze, use tissues in a hygienic manner, or wash their hands effectively. They are little. They are just learning. And like me, they often come to work sick because they have no other choice. And that really means because their parents have no other choice. So they come to school sick, and then classmates get sick, and teachers get sick, and very rarely do any of us get to stay home and recuperate adequately. That’s just the way it is. If you are a parent or a teacher you are already painfully aware of this. About once a ye...

On Sunday afternoon, in Catonsville  Maryland, a small group gathered to dedicate a bench that will be placed along the nature trail at Charlestown Retirement Community. It will be located near the stream and in view of a covered bridge. A group of residents raised the funds for the bench to honor my late father-in-law, Sam McCready, in gratitude for the numerous performances he had given at Charlestown.   Sam’s love of nature was well known to them. They included this quote from Shakespeare in the inscription: One touch of nature makes the whole world kin. We were told that this is the first memorial dedication ever made for someone who wasn’t a member of the Charlestown Community. These residents felt such a connection with Sam and his gifts of acting and music and his desire to share them at Charlestown that, in a sense, they adopted him as one of their own. It is so hard to lose someone that you love. On Sunday Sam’s family gathered with some ver...

Now-County Council member David Yungmann once said to me at a HoCoBlogs party that everything in a place like Howard County came down to either education or land use. At the time I was focused primarily on education and didn’t give much thought to the land use part of his comment. I’m not sure what brought this to mind this morning, but it does seem like most of what I read about is either one or the other. Or both. I’ve done a lot of learning in recent years about systemic racism and it certainly has its deadly grip on both education and land use. I’m hard pressed to think of anything in Howard County that isn’t related. Maybe I’m just not awake yet. What do you think? Is that all we are? Am I forgetting something? Does it matter that we hold certain over arching values that color our decisions on land use and education? Tell me what you think. By the way, Mr. Yungmann also said that he and I probably had more in common than I thought. I’d respectfully suggest he may hav...

I started to write somethjng in the aftermath of last night’s board meeting but I just can’t. And nothing I say can change the toxicity of our community right now. We are not who we thought we were. The challenge that lies ahead is where to find the funds to remediate the concentrated poverty that the board and the community were unwilling to address. I look forward to specific and realistic proposals on that topic, and soon. I suspect that many folks will be more than happy to go back to their pre-controversy lives when they were ignorant of just how much need exists somewhere else. The flurry of charitable donations to the poorer schools will, most likely, diminish. We will look back on them as the acts of desperate parents hoping to purchase indulgences to ward off the eternal damnation of redistricting. Perhaps someone, somewhere, will have been changed for the better by this process and will come away dedicated to making our schools more equitable. If you are reading thi...

Today’s post is a local story. The author reached out to me privately, looking for feedback. While I am not a big fan of anonymity I am sharing this because 1) the writer has good reason to fear being known and 2) this is someone I know and can vouch for. I hope that sharing the story can lead to a worthwhile discussion on a difficult topic.  How Living next door to a Drug Dealer has Challenged my Social Justice Beliefs In the middle of May I came home from work to find a police officer talking to two of my neighbors. I made eye contact with one of the neighbors as I exited my car and was brought into the conversation. The police had been called due to a verbal altercation between my teenage neighbor and an acquaintance of his, however the teenager was nowhere to be seen, having already gone back into his house. I live on what a novelist might describe as a “quiet, tree-lined street in wealthy suburbia.” We are a majority democratic county, and I, ...

When County Executive Calvin Ball presented an initiative to increase affordable housing in Howard County, the typical pushback began: those aren’t the kind of people we want to attract. Over in Montgomery County, it’s the County Executive, Marc Elrich, throwing cold water on the development of affordable housing for the very same reason: that’s not the kind of growth we want here. What this line of thinking ignores is that the people who need affordable housing are already here. (Or, in the case of MoCo, there.) It’s not about bringing people in. It’s about responding to a demonstrated local need. Isn’t that what good government does? We already know we have a shortage of 5,500 affordable units in Howard County. Imagine 5,500 human beings. Or more, since some are couples and families. If it helps, imagine them all assembled holding signs or wearing matching t-shirts and overflowing public meetings. circling the mall perhaps. Of course you’re not going to see this in real life ...

Quidditch is coming to Howard County and I am...nonplussed. In case you do not know, Quidditch is a purely fictional competitive sport created by author J.R. Rowling in the Harry Potter book series. Descriptions of Quidditch play provide some exhilarating reading in the books. I can certainly see why Harry Potter enthusiasts would want to recreate the thrill of that experience. There’s just one problem. Quidditch requires magic. It requires being able to fly on broomsticks and the existence of a moving object called a Snitch which has a magical mind of its own. Many superficial details of the game can be recreated but these cannot. Am I a purist or a curmudgeon? Hard to say. I simply can’t understand calling anything without both flight and magic Quidditch. Perhaps for a Harry Potter-themed game at a children’s party. But for full- scale competitive play? I am perplexed. And yet, there it is. And it does not need my permission to exist. I do not condemn it. You may be exci...

A reminder that, while the big story in town seems to be happening on Route 108 these days, the real story is happening in classrooms all over the county. Teachers, support staff, and administrators get up every day and move forward on the journey with our children. There aren’t enough hours in the day and we are now painfully that there isn’t enough money in the budget. They do it anyway. No matter how school catchment areas are drawn, the aspirations of teachers will remain the same. They will bring the same desire to connect, draw out, lift up to every child that walks in the door. Despite what a former era in our school system might have wanted us to believe, teachers are not in the classroom solely to perform as an efficient delivery system of content. Teaching is a far more nuanced and multifaceted calling. Schools are also committed to working with families of all kinds. Teachers work hard to find ways to connect with different kinds of parents. I wonder what they are ...

If the convulsions of school redistricting did not provide enough of a moment of self-revelation in Howard County, the responses to a post by the Howard County Police Department give us an even more thorough view. It’s not pretty. Yesterday afternoon the Police Department posted  about an arrest in a sexual assault case at Reservoir High School. And then the comments started. Victim-blaming reared its ugly head. Christine McComas, creator of Grace’s Law, was moved to respond: I surely hope that EVERYONE  living in this county and especially within that particular community, with children or not, back away from gossiping/hating/judging/shaming on social media and warn others not to as well, particularly friends of the boy. Read these comments and know that some of what they express is absolutely being aimed directly at this girl in much more damaging or threatening terms  from her peers as they take sides    ("you're a slut/whore trying to ruin his ...

Twenty years. Twenty years ago I walked down the aisle at Grace and Saint Peter’s Church in Baltimore while the choir sang a piece composed by the groom who awaited me at the front. The joy of that moment had been a long time in coming. My daughter from my first marriage was my bridesmaid. My future in-laws had prepared a beautiful reception in the parish house. Like most weddings the day went by in a blur. As evening fell we sat by firelight at the Inn at Mitchell House, exhilarated by it all. We had bought our tickets for a journey whose adventures we could not possibly anticipate. I don’t want to condense twenty years into a sentimental essay. I simply want to say two things: I am so far from being a perfect person. I wince at my shortcomings and would probably be overwhelmed by them were it not for the fact that I married someone who makes me want to be better and do better all the time. And I am so incredibly blessed to have found a love that was returned fully, wi...

UPDATE: tonight’s show has been canceled. Phooey. - - jam Friday evening I had the chance to experience Elevate Maryland in their new space and, tonight, you can too. They’ve set up shop in their new digs, 10960 Grantchester Way in Downtown Columbia. It’s in the building directly across from Cured. The space belongs to Howard Hughes and I expect we will be seeing it used for a variety of public events in the future. The show ended up being different than I expected due to a last minute emergency on the part of guest Dr. Richard Warren. Howard Hughes’ own Greg Fitchitt stepped in at the last minute and answered questions on Downtown development, affordable housing, equity in our schools, and more. I found his presentation to be relaxed and engaging. (As compared to the last time I saw him speak.) I suspect it’s because  he knew he was among friends and also that the stakes of the event were far lower.  He acquitted himself well. It was a lively and entertaining ...

It was a very long time ago that I saw a promo for the television show The Simpson’s which repelled me. The family was gathered around a Thanksgiving table laden with food. Bart, I think, perhaps, Homer, was saying the grace. “Dear God, everything that's on this table we put here ourselves, so: thanks for nothing.” My objection to this was not on religious grounds but rather the complete lack of gratitude for life’s blessings. I was reminded of this quote as I drove home last night and was listening to a public radio show called Live Wire. The guest was Dina Nayeri, speaking on her experience as an Iranian refugee. She was asked how America has changed since she came here thirty years ago. Ms. Nayeri spoke to the growing anti-refugee climate as follows (and I’m paraphrasing): The difference is that people have come to believe the blessings and advantages they were born with are something that they innately deserve.  This week I read an online conversation about how pr...

Merriweather is running a contest right now and the deadline is soon. No, let me correct that. It looks like Howard Hughes is running the contest, which has a Merriweather theme. From the contest page: We’re calling all concert goers to share your favorite memories from the Merriweather Post Pavilion. For over 50 years, the world’s finest musicians have performed at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Downtown Columbia. What was the song that changed your life, or the show where you saw your favorite artist live for the first time? What is the moment that you will never forget? Share your favorite song lyric and memory of the best show at Merriweather Post Pavilion for a chance to win tickets to the 2020 season! 50 winners will be selected and will receive 2 tickets to a concert of their choice during the 2020 season. Each winner will also have their lyrics engraved on bricks located in the plaza as part of an art installation within the Merriweather District.  I am tempted ...

Trying to think straight at five am is just madness. At least it certainly seems so of late. Almost every idea that pops into my head is followed by the thought that I should put it off until the weekend when I have had more time. And more sleep. A few tidbits for your Friday: The Howard County Schools will begin before Labor Day next year, which is what happens when you let local jurisdictions make their own choices. Home rule—I’m in favor of it. There’s a going to be a f ree magic show at Christ Church Episcopal on Monday November 14th at 7 pm. It is free and open to the public. I’ll bet there was a time when churches and magic shows were deemed incompatible, but times change. UPDATE: a helpful reader points out that the date should read November 11th. There’s a new reporter on the Howard County government beat: Ana Faguy. So that means the clock is ticking until the workload and low pay take their toll and she moves on. Of course I welcome her presence on the local scene...