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Time for a Change


 

August 3rd is a day I think of fondly as “Accordion Day.”


Photo by Sara Hogue

Police respond to a report of a suspicious package on Cradlerock Way in Columbia discovered it was only a musical instrument inside a suitcase.*

Only a musical instrument inside a suitcase? It was an accordion! Have you ever listened to someone practicing the accordion? You wouldn’t dismiss them quite so lightly if you had. I suppose that’s what makes this story all the more humorous to me - - the thought that brave first responders are ridding the community of one more troublesome accordion.

If you play the accordion, or are fond of them, please accept my apologies. They are too loud for my head. Also, no accordions were harmed on this day back in 2012. I don’t think they took it to a remote site and detonated it. I wonder if it was ever reunited with its owner?

How lovely it was when we had local news coverage, if only for an accordion in a suitcase. Or, perhaps, especially for an accordion in a suitcase. 

I decided this week to cancel my subscription to the Baltimore Sun/Howard County Times/Columbia Flier. At almost $350 dollars annually, it has become too weighty an expense to justify, especially since the local coverage has become scant and often downright inaccurate. Still, I’m grateful that the Howard County Library System offers free access to its patrons. 

In the meantime I’m looking at the new Baltimore Banner and/or Baltimore Beat.

I’ve been a huge advocate for supporting local journalism. But during the primary the Howard County coverage was so abysmal that something broke inside me. It felt like that awful realization that your boyfriend is never, ever going to love you back. I’m tired, and disheartened.

My sincere hope is that some miracle occurs and that Columbia/HoCo news coverage comes roaring back with a passion not seen since a certain iconic local building reigned supreme on Little Patuxent Parkway. 

Make it so.



*Suspicious package in Columbia turns out to be an accordion, Jessica Andersen and Andrea F. Siegel, Baltimore Sun

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