Java Jive

I have a confession to make. As a child I came to the conclusion that drinking coffee and drinking beer were sure signs that a person had given up and become a Grown Up in the worst way. To my mind, both coffee and beer smelled terrible, and must taste terrible, too. So drinking them was a sign of this insidious change that happened to grownups where they did things they didn’t really want to do but insisted that was just a part of life and someday you would, too. See also: going to school when you didn’t want to and eating vegetables.

Not me, I insisted. I was never going to cop out and drink those vile-smelling liquids and pretend I liked them.

You probably know the end to this story. 

I did eventually drink coffee (and beer) and inexplicably like both. I did learn how to make myself go to work when I didn’t want to and - - horrors! - - eat far more vegetables than I ever expected. 

It happens.

All of this is but a momentary detour on the way to the heart of today’s post: it’s Coffee Day. Well, some places report that National Coffee Day is October 1st yet many celebrations appear to be today (or begin today.) 

I’ve found four coffee-related events in Howard County over the next week. First up is today from 10 am - 3 pm at indie bookstore Queen Takes Book.

Join us this Sunday for National Coffee Day! There will be puzzles, prizes, coffee table books and, of course, FREE coffee all day - courtesy of cafe columbia. 

I admit to being tempted by this one. One question: do you own a coffee table? I think we ditched ours when the second child began to walk and crash into corners of things. 

Okay, the following events don’t technically connect to National Coffee Day but I’m sneaking them in because I think they’re interesting. And there will be coffee. 

On Tuesday October 8th you can have Coffee with Kathy and George at the East Columbia 50+ Center.

We're excited to announce AARP Maryland is partnering with the East Columbia Senior Center to host our monthly Howard County Volunteer meetings with Volunteer George Wilson and Associate State Director of Outreach Kathy Lewis. 

From 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. on the second Tuesday of each month in Classroom #2 on the lower level of the center. 

These sessions are open to Howard County residents and are designed to connect new and existing volunteers with AARP's volunteer opportunities. 

The event is open to everyone so feel free to bring friends! 

Next, how about some networking? The Central Maryland Chamber of Commmerce is hosting a 

Coffee Catch-Up event from 9-11 am on Thursday, October 19th at Tocar Spa.

Join us and catch up over a cup of coffee! Make valuable connections while promoting your business!

Note: this is a ticketed event ($) so check event page for details.

Lastly, on Saturday, October 12th, from 10 am - 2 pm: 

Coffee Tasting featuring $2 lattes at Rehoboth Ethiopian Cafe and Market. 

Photo credit A. Hoffman, Howard County Eats Facebook page

Speciality coffee tasting from around the world featuring our Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, Rwandan, Sumatran & Colombian beans.

The event is hosted by e-commerce business Laheey Coffee Roasters.

Where’s your favorite local place to get coffee? I have two: for sitting down and catching up with a friend it’s absolutely Roggenart off Dobbin in Columbia. And, while I’m out and about, give me my large iced coffee with two creams, no sugar from Dunkin. 

Village Green/Town² Comments 

Honors, Galas, and Treasures

 This is today and I completely forgot to give you advance warning. My apologies.

CAMOM Consignment Sale , 6700 Cradlerock Way, 8:00 am - 11:30 am. (See image for more details.) I wrote about this group in April of 2023 if you’d like more background information about who they are and what they do. 

The Big Come-Back! Village Green/Town² April, 2023

*****

Congratulations are in order for Columbia Community Care director Erika Strauss Chavarria on the publication of her book, Practicing Restorative Justice by Myers Education Press. Chavarria was also a recent honoree as a Community Star by local nonprofit Just Living Advocacy.

*****

The folks of Community Ecology Institute are celebrating the arrival of a new fridge and freezer for Freetown Farm. The purchase was made possible a BGE Green Grant. The new appliance will be used to store produce before community distribution and to freeze some of the farm’s harvests as well.

Speaking of harvests, I believe that tickets are still available for CEI’s Harvest Gala on October 17th at the Meeting House on Robert Oliver Place.

Proceeds support CEI’s work in the community, which is considerable.

Join the Community Ecology Institute for a farm-fancy evening of fall festivities during our second Harvest Gala, which supports our mission to cultivate communities where people and nature thrive together!  We look forward to celebrating everything we have created together and planting seeds for future growth. Tickets are limited, so don't wait!

*****

Finally, if you need a quick pick-me-up, I highly recommend this story in the Baltimore Banner.

How a father’s love transformed Columbia into a pirate adventure, Jess Nocera

It’s the story of Columbia resident Chris Fuchs and how HoCo Pirate Adventures came into being. It almost makes me want to be a kid again.

Also, it looks like the Baltimore Sun has hired a new reporter to cover the Howard County beat. If you’re still a subscriber, be on the lookout for stories by Kiersten Hacker.

Been keeping a secret… last week I accepted a job with @baltimoresun community papers to cover Howard County @HoCoTimes! I’m so excited to start digging up important stories and I can’t wait to keep exploring the state where I’ve built a new home. - - Kiersten Hacker

Part of me wonders if all the enthusiastic HoCo coverage by the Banner has nudged the Sun to up their game, but honestly I have no idea how these things work. 

Have a great Saturday. Part of me is contemplating staying inside until we get some decent Fall weather. It doesn’t look good on that front, though. Sigh…

Village Green/Town² Comments

F ³ A Secret Third Thing

 

I notice that in discussions of women's childbearing or childlessness, the choice not to have a child is always framed as a pursuit of professional success—often characterized in sneering, judgmental terms as "girlboss"-style ambition. But there are other things women might want.

What if there were vast swaths of human interest and endeavor beyond reproduction and capital accumulation. What if I were neither mommy nor girlboss but a secret third thing. - - Moira Donegan, Opinion columnist covering gender and politics @guardianUS.

The conversation around the meaning of women’s existence has become increasingly more narrow as the war on reproductive freedom marches forward. One is either reproducing or selfish, reproducing or owing free labor to those who are. This is, of course, the point. A world that accepts and supports reproductive justice allows choice. 

Those who worked to destroy Roe want a world in which choice is limited - - largely to white, affluent Christian nationalist men. All the things they want to see are dependent upon making others do things for them. And it is a world so simplistic that it cannot recognize nuance or contradiction of any kind.

The quote from Moira Donnegan just about broke me because it points out so vividly how small our conversations have become. The last sentence has an almost poignant quality.

What if I were neither mommy nor girlboss but a secret third thing. 

We shouldn’t need to struggle merely to make room for a third thing. Our world should be big enough to contain choices far beyond three. It reminds me of this poem by the founder of Reggio Emilia. 

The child is made of one hundred.

The child has

a hundred languages

a hundred hands

a hundred thoughts

a hundred ways of thinking

of playing, of speaking.

A hundred.

Always a hundred

ways of listening

of marveling, of loving

a hundred joys

for singing and understanding

a hundred worlds

to discover

a hundred worlds

to invent

a hundred worlds

to dream.

The child has

a hundred languages

(and a hundred hundred hundred more)

but they steal ninety-nine.

The school and the culture

separate the head from the body.

They tell the child:

to think without hands

to do without head

to listen and not to speak

to understand without joy

to love and to marvel

only at Easter and at Christmas.

They tell the child:

to discover the world already there

and of the hundred

they steal ninety-nine.

They tell the child:

that work and play

reality and fantasy

science and imagination

sky and earth

reason and dream

are things

that do not belong together.

And thus they tell the child

that the hundred is not there.

The child says:

No way. The hundred is there. - - Loris Malaguzzi, Founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach

*****

Human beings come into the world with “a hundred languages, a hundred hands, a hundred thoughts, a hundred ways of thinking, of playing, of speaking.” But if you have a uterus and/or were assigned female at birth, all those choices will be pruned away. They were not meant for you.

I renounce that. You do not need to be a mommy or a girl boss. You most certainly may look for meaning beyond those ridiculous limitations. Find your third thing, if you will, or explore hundreds. It should not need to be a secret. 

It should be joyfully, gloriously who you are.

Village Green/Town² Comments

Follow That Grandad!

Maybe I’m just too old,  or maybe my search techniques are lacking, but I rarely find anything on TikTok that I can use for the blog. However, this one is right in my wheelhouse.

Follow my grandad’s YouTube Channel!!! Recognize any of these places? Leave a comment on the YouTube Video!

Awww…the young folks stepping in to support their elders’ hi-tech ventures. I love it. So I went to YouTube. Here’s grandad.

Doc the First Responder

Description:

My name is Don Howell. I started my journey with the fire service when I was 18 and have continued to do so to this day. I started as a volunteer for the Ellicot City Volunteer Fire Department at 18. Since then I have been a Fire Fighter, First-Aider, EVO, Medic Unit, Station Officer, District Officer and Chief of the Medical Division. Starting in 1974 to date, I have been an EMT Psychomotor Evaluator for the State of Maryland. Over the years I have collected 65,000+ photos, documents, etc. of Howard County and would like to share my photos along with my experiences. I hope you enjoy following along and would love any questions and/or requests at DoctheFirstResponder@gmail.com

Mr. Howell is a fun person to Google. And I suspect many of my readers may know of him already. A retired Battalion Chief of HCDFRS, Chief Howell was awarded the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS) Leon W. Hayes for Lifetime Excellence in EMS in 2019. And here he is at the groundbreaking for the new Lisbon Fire Station in 2018. 

Image: Howard County Fire and EMS

He started the YouTube account in January of 2024 and so far there are 36 episodes. You can start with Episode number 1 here. He describes himself as an unofficial historian of the Howard County Fire Department and EMS.

The TikTok account that started my search, @doc_the_first_responder, seems to have been created to point people to the YouTube account. It replicates a lot of the same material. I’d love to know who the delightful grandkid is who is trying to boost Grandad’s signal. There’s got to be a great story there.

You’d be surprised at how much of that sort of thing goes on out there on the internet.

Screenshot of Google search: Follow my grandad’s YouTube Channel!!! 

Anyway, here’s your chance to get in the act: Episode 36. 

Episode 36: How Good is Your Ability to Identify and Recognize Locations in Howard County?

I suspect I won’t recognize any of them as I have only been here for 25 years, but I’ll give it a shot. And, as all the good YouTubers say, “Don’t forget to Like and Subscribe.”

Someday your grandkid may be hyping your retirement hobby. Start paying it forward now.

Village Green/Town² Comments

A Powerful Gift

Congratulations to Oakland Mills High School student Mai-Anh Nguyen who was named Howard County’s first-ever Youth Poet Laureate yesterday at an event held at Busboys and Poets. This appointment will provide Nguyen with the opportunity to act “as an ambassador for literacy, arts and youth expression in Howard County” and comes with a modest stipend.

Nguyen is a student at Oakland Mills High School, active in the Youth Climate Institute, National Art Honors Society, National Spanish Honor Society, tennis and theater. Nguyen won the Jack Chalker Young Writer’s Contest and was a finalist for both the Nancy Thorp Poetry Contest and Bennington Young Writers Awards. She received unanimous support from the Review Panel to become the first Youth Poet Laureate. - - www.howardcountymd.gov/News092424

In its first year, the Youth Poet Laureate program is a joint venture established through the collaboration of the County, the Howard County Arts Council, and local literary nonprofit HoCoPoLitSo. 

Poetry gives a significant outlet for self expression and I think it’s important to note that the Youth Poet Laureate program supports youth mental health every bit as much as fostering literary and artistic expression. I distinctly recall how much poetry meant to me during my adolescent years - - both in writing it and reading the work of others. Giving young people opportunities to express their most important thoughts and then really listening to their voices is a powerful gift. It’s bigger than a prize or a stipend. It is an investment, a planting of seeds. 

Poetry alone will not save the world, but it is a valuable part of “a balanced diet” of human endeavors that allow us to process big feelings, think through deep thoughts, and build our sense of self-worth. For young people that can mean participation in sports, the arts, community engagement, STEM/Maker activities, or entrepreneurial or philanthropic ventures. 

In comparison to those other pursuits, poetry has often had a small voice. It is after all, largely contemplative in nature. That doesn’t make it any less powerful. 

I look forward to reading Ms. Nguyen’s work and seeing how she uses her time as Youth Poet Laureate over the next year. Cheers to everyone involved.

Village Green/Town² Comments

At the Water’s Edge

 

Five days ago:

This morning, crews extinguished a small fire on a dock on the Lake Kittamaqundi Trail at the Columbia Lakefront. The Office of the Fire Marshal is investigating the cause of the fire. The affected area has been roped off, but the trail remains open. - - Howard Country Fire & EMS

Image: Howard Country Fire & EMS

Two days ago:

Police are investigating a suspicious circumstance at Rocky Gorge Reservoir in the area of Scott's Cove Recreation Area. If you recognize these clothing items contact police at 410-313-2200.

An extensive search was conducted in an attempt to locate a person that may have been wearing the clothing, but no one was found. Preliminary, there appears to be no signs of foul play.

UPDATE: The pictured clothing was found near the water.  - - Howard County Police Department

Image: Howard County Police Department

I’m not familiar with Scott’s Cove so I looked it up.

Image: Jamie Turner Photography 

What these events have in common:

They happened within the last week.

They happened near water in recreational areas.

They happened in Howard County.

The ways that they differ: we really have no idea. 

The facts that I have as an ordinary member of the public aren’t comprehensive enough to assess that. There could be plenty of details which make these two occurrences wildly different. We don’t know if we are looking at a prank, a crime, or evidence of someone in distress.

If this were a mystery or crime show these two events would likely be connected and crucial to the figuring out of some larger story. On the other hand, if I were writing about it I would want the (fictional) story to end up revealing something that showed people coming together to help someone, set things right, make things better. 

Human brains like to see patterns and connections. If we are not careful we take those perceptions and turn them into something else: proof of a trend, perhaps, or a definitive indicator or omen. If you hang around social media long enough you’ll see this in action. 

We may never know the stories behind these events. It really depends on how much the general public truly needs to know. But it was a good opportunity for me to remind myself that not everything that looks connected actually is. 

Village Green/Town² Comments 

Books Are Not For Banning

 

Did you know that this is Banned Books Week? It runs from September 22nd - 28th this year.

From the American Library Association:

In a time of deep political divides, library staff across the country are facing an overwhelming number of book ban attempts. In 2023 alone, the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 1,247 efforts to censor books and other resources in libraries—an increase of 65% from the year before. In total, 4,240 unique book titles were targeted, many of them representing LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC voices and experiences.

As we gear up for Banned Books Week 2024 (September 22-28), with the theme "Freed Between the Lines," we’re reminded how much is at stake. The freedom to explore new ideas and different perspectives is under threat, and book bans don’t just restrict access to stories—they undermine our rights. Now is the time to come together, celebrate the right to read, and find freedom in the pages of a book. Let’s be "Freed Between the Lines."

Banned Books Week was founded in 1982 by Judith Krug, who began her career as a librarian and later became a research analyst for the American Library Association. You can learn more about the origins of the event in her obituary in the Evanston Roundtable. It’s fascinating.

America in the early 1980s suffered a wave of book bans similar to the modern version. The difference was that back then there was not the internet to help book banners coordinate their efforts. Today, Banned Books Week is organized by The Banned Books Week Coalition, “an international alliance of diverse organizations joined by a commitment to increase awareness about censorship attempts and to encourage the defense of the freedom to read.” Sponsors include Amnesty International, the National Book Foundation and the National Council of Teachers of English. 

Here in Howard County you can participate in Banned Books Week at the Howard County Library and new indie bookstore Queen Takes Book. If you know of any other local outlets celebrating, let me know and I’ll add them here. Update: I’ve learned that Backwater Books in Old Ellicott City maintains a Banned Books table year round.

The last day of Banned Books Week is designated as Let Freedom Read Day.

On September 28, 2024, we’re asking everyone to get ready to vote for the freedom to read or to take at least one action to help defend books from censorship and to stand up for the library staff, educators, writers, publishers, and booksellers who make them available!

In other words, don’t just read banned books, advocate for them at the ballot box.

Some of the most egregious attacks on libraries and intellectual freedom have come from state legislatures and local boards of education. Make sure you research the candidates in our HCPSS board of education race to see who supports our school librarians and places a high priority on allowing students the choice to pick from a diverse and professionally curated collection of learning materials. 

Censorship and book bans are about taking away choice: the choice to explore new ideas, think new thoughts, investigate things you’ve never been exposed to before. No one is going to make you read something you don’t want to read. Librarians are not in the business of indoctrination. It’s about choice, learning, and responding to people’s needs.

That’s something worth fighting for.

Village Green/Town² Comments 

A Sunday Treat

There are those whose fantasy Sundays involve lying in bed with good coffee, fresh bagels, and the New York Times. But you can have it better than that. Today’s Sunday came in with a splash with the newest edition of The Merriweather Post blog:

TMP September 2024 Development News Roundup, Jeremy Dommu, the Merriweather Post 

Depending on your views on Downtown Columbia development, there’s lots here to enjoy, be concerned by, exclaim over, or just consume like popcorn (which is what I did.) I’ve just done a quick preliminary read through so I’m not attempting any serious analysis. But it’s definitely worth the read. 

It’s a whole heck of a lot of Columbia information in one place.

I will say that it sent me googling one particular Dutch word which rang a bell but isn’t part of my everyday vocabulary.

There is one topic I will wade into this morning and that’s Dommu’s description of The Jerk Wars.* With all due respect, no serious discussion of Jerk cuisine in Columbia/HoCo is complete without acknowledging Althea’s Almost Famous. I’ve been enjoying Althea’s delicious offerings since 2022 when I popped down to the Oakland Mills Village Center to visit her food truck. 

Try It, You’ll Like It! , Village Green/Town² 

A quick search shows that I have written about or at least mentioned Althea’s more than a dozen times on the blog and I am crushed that I clearly haven’t made a dent on Mr. Dommu. 

All kidding aside, I hope that he (and my readers) will avail themselves of the opportunity to try food from Althea’s Almost Famous in the near future. Going to the Hops and Harvest Festival at Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods on October 12th? She’ll be there!

A tip of the hat to Dommu for staying on top of and organizing this local information and sharing it with the rest of us. If you’d still rather have bagels and the New York Times, well, that’s okay too. 

Thoughts?

Village Green/Town² Comments

*Perhaps inspired by The Baltimore Banner’s Italian Sub Wars? 

It’s Unavoidable, We’re Eventful

I know I said I was going to lay off the Saturday event thing but today is rather exceptional. As per usual, this is only sampling. Weather predictions look perfectly acceptable, which is to say: not too hot and rain unlikely.

Howard County Out of the Darkness Walk, Merriweather District 

2024 Autumn Eve Mini Endurance Skate, Blandair Park

Festival of the Arts of Africa, African Art Museum of Maryland 

Harpers Choice Community Yard Sale, Joseph Square

Jamaican Day, More Than Java Café (Savage Mill)

Korean Festival, Wilde Lake High School

Main Street Music Festival, Old Ellicott City

Bike Around Downtown Columbia Block Party, Merriweather District 

And, again - - Market Season is not over: you’ve got your choice of Clarksville Commons, Freetown Farm, and Maple Lawn.

I probably wouldn’t have written this post at all were it not for the eye-catching photo attached to the Mini Endurance Skate Event. Recognize the location?

Image from Washington Area Roadskaters

Have a great day whatever you decide to do!

Village Green/Town² Comments

F ³: Heroes and Illusions

No one is perfect. More than that, everyone will eventually let you down if you insist on holding them to impossible standards. Yet we all have moments of hero worship, I suspect. Whether it’s someone we know in real life or a public figure or celebrity, we sometimes feel a sense of connection and admiration that makes us feel good: about them, about ourselves, even about the world at large.

For the purposes of today’s post, though, I’m really talking about people we know from afar. Personal relationships are entirely different kettle of fish. 

Here’s the thing : it hurts to discover that the trust you placed in someone was ill-founded. Even if they’re just “someone on the internet.” 

And yet it feels like it’s bound to happen. We live in a world where the 24 hour social media machine continually reveals things about people that we didn’t necessarily want to know. Sometimes those revelations are true, sometimes they are baseless. It’s a letdown when someone you admired turns out to be not so admirable.

All this is to say that there are certain people whose presence in the world makes me feel good and I would like to draw a big circle around them to protect them from this fate. In other words, I am begging the universe that we never find out some horrible scandal about these folks. Is it too much to ask that to have a few wholesome people to believe in and enjoy?

I hereby declare that I never want to learn truly horrible things about the following people:

Mr. Rogers

Jimmy Carter

The guy from We Rate Dogs

The fellow who runs the Muppet History account

And that’s just for starters. I’m sure I’ll think of more later. It does concern me that I don’t have any women on this list. I wonder if that means anything?

Hmm.

Now, sometimes there are people out there we truly don’t like whose foibles and character flaws come to light. And it might be natural to feel justified as the truth comes out. But, honestly, after the last 24 hours, I’m exhausted.

I might just retreat into the world of cats, dogs, otters, and Muppets for a while.

How about you? Are there some people whose existence just makes you feel better, like an oasis in a troubled world? Would you like to feel one hundred per cent confident that you’ll never learn something truly horrible about them? Or is it just me?

Let me know. 

Village Green/Town² Comments

A Delightful Dumpling Diversion

 

Why yes, I am going to piggyback on an article from the Baltimore Banner this morning. I’ve been awake since four am and, alas, it has not made me more brilliant nor improved my work ethic.

We set out to find dumplings in Howard County. We found a new obsession. Abby Zimmardi and Jess Nocera, Baltimore Banner. Photography by Eric Thompson 

This piece reminded me of that brief era when we thought that Patch was really going to be a dynamic, ongoing part of the local scene. Remember when David Greisman and Lisa Rossi did a series dedicated to the best local chocolate chip cookie? Those were the days. 

We're David Greisman and Lisa Rossi, Patch editors who work "in the field" each day all around Columbia, eating cookies along the way to fuel our efforts at journalistic muckraking.

At this point, after covering everything in our part of Howard County from crime and catastrophe to cute and cuddly—fueled by coffee and, well, you know—we think we know what we're talking about.

Now that the nostalgia is kicking in, perhaps you remember when the Patuxent Publishing used to send their young journalists to the Howard County Fair? That was a while ago. There’s just something delightful about the camaraderie in such pieces.

They let us out of the office and we made the best of it. Let general silliness and hijinks ensue. 

As we ate, we marveled at the colorful Chinese lanterns and waterfall beads hanging from the ceiling. We spent our time at Asian Court — a restaurant with Cantonese food and Hong Kong-style dim sum — having fun spinning the lazy Susan in the middle of the table and talking about silly childhood memories, like Clara getting injured in weird ways as a child.

True confession: I was completely won over by their description of the dining room at Tea Horse Sichuan Bistro as “swanky”, a word my mother used to use and which I assumed had fallen out of common usage.

Want to know more about the actual dumplings? You’ll need to read the article. The restaurants featured are Pepper House, Asian Court, and Tea Horse Sichuan Bistro. Also, it’s not every restaurant piece that features more than one piano.

Are you a dumpling connoisseur? What local establishments would you recommend?

Village Green/Town² Comments 

How I Got Lost on the Way to Hispanic Heritage Month

Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15th and runs until October 15th. I’ve been planning on devoting some space to it here and have begun the process of collecting information. And then a funny thing happened. I got sidetracked.

My husband was treated to a special lunch yesterday by a coworker who explained that his family was celebrating what he described as Korean Thanksgiving. “Oh!” I thought. I wonder if that’s related to the announcement I saw for an event at Wilde Lake High School this Sunday.

Korean Society of Maryland 

Chuseok (or hangawi) is one of the biggest holidays in South Korea. It’s a time when families gather together to give thanks to their ancestors for an abundant autumn harvest.

Sometimes called Korean Thanksgiving, Chuseok is celebrated with good food, wine, and family  gatherings. It typically takes place in September or October, according to the lunar calendar. - -Everything You Need to Know about Korean Thanksgiving , 90 Day Korean web

Well, let me find out more about Chuseok in Howard County, then.

And that is how I discovered … the Mid Autumn Festival, quite by accident. (Not to be confused with Chuseok)

It’s time to hang a lantern, share a mooncake and peel a pomelo – Mid-Autumn Festival is here.

Falling on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, it’s celebrated primarily in East and Southeast Asia and is a time for families to gather to sample autumn harvests, light lanterns and admire what’s believed to be the fullest moon of the year.

In 2024, the Mid-Autumn Festival, or the Moon Festival, falls on September 17. - - Mid-Autumn Festival: Mooncakes, lanterns and so much more, CNN Travel

The Howard County Libraries hosted a celebration on September 14th at the Central Branch entitled “Dances of the Mid-Autumn Moon: Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival”. And on September 28 The Howard County Chinese Cultural Center will be presenting a gala at the Jim Rouse Theatre.

Howard County Chinese Cultural Center 

At this point you probably won’t be surprised that, while doing further research, I happened to learn about:

Indian Cultural Association of Howard County, Maryland

Yes, this weekend at the Howard County Fairgrounds, the Indian Cultural Association of Howard County, Maryland presents a Festival of India.

The Indian Cultural Association is proud to present the FESTIVAL OF INDIA – DIWALI MELA to celebrate our Culture, History, and Heritage. On September 21st and 22nd, 2024, all roads lead to Howard County Fairgrounds for a taste of all things Indian! 

Wait a minute. “Diwali Mela.” Diwali is a holiday, isn’t it? I wonder…

And that, my friends, is how I started with Hispanic Heritage Month and ended up researching Diwali Mela. And did you know that More Than Java Café in Savage Mill is celebrating all things Jamaican this Saturday?

More Than Java Café

In the meantime, mark your calendar for this event in early October.

And don’t forget this season’s final Lakefront Live this Saturday. It’s a Latin Dance Night. 

If you have more local info about this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month, send it my way.

Village Green/Town² Comments

 

 

On the Road Again

 

In honor of yet another morning of the ol’ Car Switcheroo at my house, let’s take this show on the road. I received a message yesterday with the words: 

There’s got to be a blog post in this!

Clarksville Cow Cuddling! And they’re on Instagram. Their website indicates that they’re an independent business that operates out of Mary’s Land Farm (technically Ellicott City?)

Meet Snap, Crackle, Captain, Crunch, Pebbles, and Little Rock for cuddles, brushing, and feeding. Great for toxic stress relief and animal assisted therapy activities.

It’s not just about the cows, though. You may book sessions with cows, calves, bunnies, and…unicorns?

It was my understanding that cuddling with a unicorn was possible only if one possessed certain personal attributes. 

Anyway, this looks like another one of those activities which could be fun if you are not allergic to everything. Stick this in the file along with Goat Yoga. Or Cat Cafés.

Next up, these on the road photos were taken (by a passenger) in Oakland Mills last night and I was shocked, just shocked.

Yes, that’s the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile traveling on Stevens Forest Road towards the Ice Rink at the Oakland Mills Village Center. Why was I shocked? Well, it isn't exactly a usual sight. More than that, I realized that I had a preconceived notion that the Weinermobile was a daytime phenomenon. A nine to five gig, if you will.

Was I thinking that it “rested” at night? Um…maybe?

Even more shocking, it turns out there isn’t just one amazing Weinermobile. There are six of them. Really? Now you’re going to tell me that there’s more than one Santa.

Anyway, it’s in the area for these upcoming stops: 

You can catch it at the Laurel Walmart on Thursday. 

As for me, I haven’t seen anything unusual on the road lately but there was that time I encountered this monstrosity on 95 South…

…a car pulling some kind of wooden boat on wheels. In the boat was an enormous octopus sculpture with black tentacles hanging out over the edges and a huge blue head. The car pulling the boat had a hammerhead shark on top and possibly mounted weapons (like spear guns?) facing forwards on the hood. 

I’m still recovering.

Seen anything noteworthy on the road lately?

Village Green/Town² Comments 

In Troubled Times: Dan and Claudia Zanes Step Up

 

I’ve meaning to tell you about this. The weekend’s events jogged my memory.

Dan and Claudia Zanes performing at the Chrysalis, June 18, 2022, IAT

Musicians Dan and Claudia Zanes, seen above performing at the Chrysalis in Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods, have released a new album. It’s called Pieces of Home.

Image from Dan & Claudia Zanes social media

The duo, who moved from Brooklyn to Baltimore in 2019, describe themselves as:

Haitian-American music therapist / jazz vocalist Claudia Zanes and Grammy award winning performer Dan Zanes. We play electric folk music for all-ages.

One of the deciding factors in moving to Charm City was an invitation to become a part of a Baltimore nonprofit called “Our Joyful Noise.”

Our Joyful Noise Offers Happiness and Healing Through Music, Max Weiss, Baltimore Magazine

Our Joyful Noise is a network of area musicians who bring their talents to traditionally underserved audiences, such as women facing incarceration, autistic children and their families, cancer patients, veterans experiencing homelessness, seniors with disabilities, patients with Alzheimer’s and other memory issues, and youth and adults in the Franklin Square neighborhood in West Baltimore. Their goals is to “perform in spaces where they can do the most good.”

As (Dan) Zanes explained on their Instagram page, 

OJN has made it easy for us and for many other musicians to connect with different communities around the city who don't always get the good stuff. The OJN model is simple, soulful, and strong - coming from the heart with an understanding that active participation in the well being of our neighbors is essential to our own well being. These days we're all asking ourselves "what's my purpose, how can I be of service in these troubled times?"

That’s an excellent question. How can I be of service in these troubled times?

Dan and Claudia stepped up over the weekend with a heartfelt post on social media. 

Damn, not again!

This current wave of negativity towards Haitian people here in the U.S. is totally out of control.

Here's something we can do to push back: Let's crank up the support for our local Haitian restaurants (and other businesses) and dig into the music.

Like the people, the cuisine and sounds are beautiful.

Our post today is for the folks who want to learn more but may need some encouragement.

What follows is a primer on Haitian food and music, including a playlist. Go to their Instagram to read the whole thing. 

Pieces of Home, on the Smithsonian Folkways label, is available in a variety of formats . If you need a little something to get you going this morning, you just might want to Fly Like a Raven. 

Village Green/Town² Comments

Back at the Basketball Court…

I want to tie up some loose ends from yesterday’s post because I seem to have unwittingly given some folks the impression that the County took away the basketball court permanently. Not so. It was moved to a different location nearby.

In this image you can see where the old one was (in orange) and where it was moved (blue).

Image from hocogov 

You see below that the basketball court was moved away from the residences on Early Spring Way and rather closer to the apartment complex. (Though not right on top of it.)

Images taken from a Google search

This has apparently been a solution that everyone is happy with and when you add in the new bicycle park it looks like the county has done everything in its power to meet the needs of the community. That’s great.

It still doesn’t change the fact that there’s a very real trend to remove basketball courts and not just in Howard County. While the usual reason given is that they are “too noisy,” the underlying attitudes often lean more towards the old “attracts a bad element” tropes. 

In short: we make a big deal out of standing up against racism and championing diversity here but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any racism to stand up against. It can be quiet. Subtle. It can wear reasonable clothing and fit in where you’d least expect it. 

While talking with a friend yesterday we realized that the ongoing reframing of basketball courts as undesirable is yet another blow against places where teenagers can hang out without spending a lot of money.

“Unruly” at the Mall, “too noisy” on the basketball courts. What’s a teenager to do?

A shout out to Safa Hira, Director of Communications for Howard County Government, who answered my questions about the Huntington Park project and provided the image above which shows the before and after of the basketball court. 

A tip of the hat to reader and (well-known blogger in his own right) Jeremy Dommu who added this information to the bigger picture:

The other really nice thing that the County has done recently is add an ADA path up from Vollmerhausen to Huntington Park.  There used to be a "desire path" up this small hill (another recent subject of yours!) but now the County has formalized it with a nice curving gradual incline paved pathway.

In looking at a plan for improvements to the park I’m guessing that he is talking to what we see proposed toward the bottom of this photo slightly to the left of center. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Huntington Park Renovation Plan, 2017

Did you know there’s a place you can go to find out what events are happening in Howard County Parks? Here you go. (Take note: some are run by HoCoRec & Parks, some are rentals by private individuals/groups.)

The weather predictions look fairly reasonable for today. Perhaps a trip to one of our HoCoLocal parks is in order. Which one is your favorite? 

Village Green/Town² Comments