Skip to main content

Help Wanted


 

Hey there! There are two blog posts I’d like to run but they’re not entirely in my wheelhouse. I’d love for you - - yes, you - - to step up and write one. 

First of all, I’d love to be able to share a post along the lines of “Why I love the Howard County Fair.” I know it’s a significant event in the life of the county. Me? I wilt in the heat and I’m allergic to everything, so my visits to the Fair have been rare over the years. Every year when it rolls around I know there are local stories there that I’m just plain missing out on.

Maybe this is your time to shine. Reach out to me and let me know. 

Second, with the recent forward movement on an Inspector General in Howard County, I am looking for someone who can explain the entire process to people who have no background knowledge. You know, as in the request, “Explain it to me like I’m in kindergarten.” I don’t mean to suggest that my readers are dummies. Far from it. But I think that people who are intensely “in the know” sometimes forget that not everyone is. 

I’d love to be able to share a write up that doesn’t assume a whole lot of prior knowledge and that would make this whole process engaging and accessible to more people. Do I think there’s someone out there who can do this? Yes. Will they be willing to do it in a community blog with no hope of monetary reward?

Gosh, I hope so. 

***


One more thing before you go. Donations to Columbia Community Care drop off significantly in the summertime and they could really use a boost right now. Here’s how you can help:

Donate money

Order from their Amazon Wishlist 

Buy needed items and drop off at the Pantry or one of their drop-off locations


Have a great Monday! 


Village Green/Town² Comments

Comments

Post a Comment

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...
1 comment
Read more

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...
2 comments
Read more

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 ...
1 comment
Read more