Weekend Update

News and notes in HoCo-land:

Quidditch returns

Howard County, Md. (Feb. 16, 2022) —  Major League Quidditch (MLQ) has announced that the 2022 MLQ Championship will be hosted in Howard County, Md. on Aug. 20-22 in partnership with Visit Howard County.

This explanation helped me visualize what a non-flying Quidditch might look like:

Quidditch is a mixed-gender, full-contact sport played by over 600 teams in 40 countries. The rules, originally adapted from the Harry Potter book series in 2005, incorporate elements of basketball, rugby and dodgeball.

Cricket Expands in Columbia/HoCo

And, elsewhere in the world of sport, the Department of Recreation and Parks broke ground on the county’s sixth cricket pitch at the end of January. This will be the first such playing facility dedicated to youth play. It will be located at Lake Elkhorn Middle School. They expect it to be ready by the end of May this year. 

At some point recently I viewed a video montage of this event and was struck by its soundtrack, I can’t seem to put my hands on it at the moment. Did you catch it? I’d be interested in your impressions.

CB 10 Pros and Cons

Some good news: the County Council passed CB 10, which protects hospitality workers right to return to work. The bad news: some council members carved such deep exceptions into the bill that it seems that they were more concerned with accommodating employers than assuring justice for workers. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that.

HCPSS budget reminder

The folks at CARY report that the BOE will be addressing the superintendent’s budget proposal this week. The preliminary vote with be on Tuesday, 2/23 at 1 pm followed by adoption on the Fiscal Year ‘23 operating budget on Thursday, 2/24, at 3 pm.

If you have been meaning to write the Board in support of the LGBTQ+ Specialist position, please do that now if you are so inclined. Info here.

Newly-Discovered Ellicott City Black History

Last week the members of The Howard County Lynching Truth and Reconciliation group held an event at Busboys and Poets to present The Unveiling of Newly Discovered Ellicott City Black History. The event, entitled “ A Community Meets.: Early Ellicott City Black history, a Historic African American Church, a Log Cabin, and Lynching,” drew fifty-six in-person attendees, accompanied by another seventy-seven who participated virtually. Impressive for a Thursday night. I’ll be writing more about this soon.

Take a look here to examine some of their findings:

Ellicott City Black History Roundtable 

Monday event supports housing

You can support the programs of Bridges to Housing Stability tomorrow by visiting Tino’s on Centre Park Drive. Whether you eat in or carry out, ten per cent of food and alcoholic beverage sales will benefit Bridges.

In news of a more personal nature, a good friend provided me with home delivery of Taharka Brothers Ice Cream and most of my day will be spent mapping out the perfect order in which to sample all those delectable flavors.

Have a wonderful Sundae. Um, sorry. Sunday.