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What’s the Buzz?



I’d like to thank all the folks who read yesterday’s blog and especially those who turned out to protest the M4L meeting at the library last night. The Baltimore Banner has a write up here. 

Also in the Banner, an article about the ongoing search for a new CA President in which they correctly identify the exterior of the CA headquarters. Alert the media! (Wait, never mind.) Here’s the article:

After tumult, Columbia Association ‘on track’ to hire new CEO, Jess Nocera, Baltimore Banner

Here’s the photo:



The Columbia Association moved to this building in 2015.  The Baltimore Sun continues to post photos of the old location. Yikes.

That reminds me. I haven’t written my annual exhortation to run for your Villge Board or as your Village Rep for the CA Board. Something about last years’s CA Board “tumult” (did they mean turmoil?)  has taken away much of my enthusiasm for Columbia citizen engagement. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t care. I am just admitting temporary exhaustion on this topic. 

I was happy to learn how Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center benefited from this year’s Giving Machine at the Mall. From their Facebook page:

During the holiday season, Grassroots was fortunate to have been selected as one of the nonprofits that was featured in the Giving Machine MidAtlantic. Visitors were able to select items to donate to us from this unique vending machine, similar to how they would buy a candy bar. Recently, we were happy to find out that over $6,500 worth of items were donated to Grassroots. This includes:

14 donations of household cleaners

79 donations of personal hygiene items

34 donations of underwear

68 donations of groceries

77 donations of household medications

We are so thankful to the Giving Machine team and the generous residents of Howard County and beyond for supporting Grassroots and those who come to us for support!

Lastly, a piece of Howard Community College news in the form of a video on Instagram caught my eye yesterday.

Cooking host contest

The gentleman making the pitch is Professor Tim Banks. If his name rings a bell that’s probably because I’ve written about him before. Mr. Banks is an Assistant Professor in the Hospitality/Culinary department and the Chair of the Center for Hospitality and Culinary Studies at HCC. What’s the pitch? Watch the video to find out, but here’s the gist of it:

Gordon Ramsay or Carla Hall: are you the next celebrity chef? Calling all student foodies with dynamic personalities to be part of #HowardCC's new cooking web series for #DragonCountry!

  • Record a three-minute cooking demonstration video.
  • Send the video link to DragonDigitalMedia@HowardCC.edu by Friday, March 1.
  • The winning entry will have an opportunity to host our series.

Now that everyone seems to think they’re a gourmet chef on TikTok, the idea of a college culinary department jumping on the bandwagon feels inspired to me. Plus, you know they won’t recommend anything hazardous or sketchy. I look forward to checking out their end product. 

Before I leave you, I had a thought last night in light of the school budget crisis. Just for fun, one year they should let the teachers draw up the school system budget. They seem to have tried everything else. What a novel idea - - letting the people closest to the students set the priorities. In the meantime, if you’d like to see the Board of Education adjust their budget request to the County in order to fully fund school programs, you should take a look at this. Sending some letters wouldn’t hurt, either.



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