This Is Your Invitation

 

Once upon a time it was an International Festival. After that I believe it was a Cultural Arts Festival. Now it is a Fall Festival. One thing remains the same: It’s an annual tradition in Oakland Mills and it’s my favorite Columbia Village event.

Oakland Mills Community Association Fall Festival

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4 11:00 AM TO 3:00 PM

Oakland Mills Village Center 5851 Robert Oliver Place Columbia, MD

Free! Rain or Shine!

• Craft & Community Vendors
• Yards Alive Native Plant Giveaway
• Bike HoCo Bike Corral
• OMHS Band & Poms
• Live Entertainment
• SFES Hot Dog Stand
• Food Trucks
• Children's Area

I love this bit:

If you have a bike to donate, bring it to the Bike HoCo bike corral, and they will give it to Free Bikes 4 Kidz. The OMHS Food Pantry will also be taking non-perishable food and monetary donations at the festival.

This festival even has its own website where you will find that everything you need to know has been  organized and laid out beautifully. 

My favorite part of my village’s yearly festival is the kickoff at 11 am led by the Oakland Mills High School Marching Band.

Fair warning: if you talk while the band is playing you will probably feel my eyes burning a whole in your body. 

Festivals like this are purely community-building ventures. They take months of preparation and require coordination between OMCA professional staff and village volunteers. Every community celebration you attend that feels easy and fun and almost effortless is the result of an amazing amount of invisible work. 

It’s not a fundraiser. Not selling a product. Not promoting a political candidate. 

The Oakland Mills Fall Festival is a celebration of community. We value connections. (Really. It’s embedded in the website.)

There’s a ton of stuff going on around town this Saturday. You will have plenty to choose from. I hope you’ll consider stopping by my village for a bit of the old-school Columbia vibe. 

Bonus content: If you’d like to see a truly dopey photo of me and proof that my enthusiasm for this festival has deep roots, just click this link.

Village Green/Town² Comments

Fragments

I’ve just finished five days of steroids for an asthma flare and I suspect I have more in my future. This was probably brought on by the fact that my insurance has stopped paying for one of my maintenance inhalers and I made the foolhardy decision to see if I could get along without it. 

I didn’t have to do that. 

My doctor will find me a reasonable equivalent and I should have been on top of that.  I am so fortunate to have health care coverage. I’m not complaining. But sometimes following up on and tracking down all that stuff is exhausting. I don’t know how people can work full time and still jump through all the health insurance hoops. I don’t know how people cope when they don’t even have access to the hoops.

In light of my prednisone brain I bring you today’s edition of Fragments.

My husband and I were invited to a school event the other evening which involved a visit from the Mike’s Gelato truck. We noticed the sky getting darker as we headed down the road and made the usual seasonal remarks. And yet it was still warm enough to be eating gelato outside at the end of September. As I stepped up to the window to place my order, the truck radio started playing “Summer Breeze” by Seals and Crofts and for just one moment the world felt like a good and trustworthy place.

I had mint chocolate chip. It was delicious.

*****

I had a visit recently from two very nice fellows who came to get my chairs. 

They’re part of an old kitchen table set. Very good condition! No one wanted them on Buy Nothing. I followed a suggestion I’d seen on Facebook and reached out to a group called Home of Our Own. They wanted them!

For reasons unknown to me, they sent two gentlemen with two different trucks on the pickup run. They looked as amused as I did when they realized I only had two chairs. 

I’m not sure, but it might have been the men pictured below. It looks like they are recruiting!

HOOO Transportation volunteers Pat and Steve need your help! They - and their other team members pick up donated items and deliver a houseful of furniture & household goods - and smiles - to our clients. 

Duties include moving furniture - from dressers to sofas to tables, placing items as directed by the clients and assembling pieces as needed.  It’s a good workout, and truly a worthy effort! 

Get more information and sign up at tinyurl.com/HOOOHelpWanted

*****

A quick trip to the East Columbia Branch library yielded an excellent book on children’s art and a discovery.

Join the fun at our social engagement stations! Find Booker!

I found Booker. Apparently Booker likes bunnies.

Though less hyped on social media, this is also an engagement station. If you know how to use it.

Are you vote ready?

*****

Speaking of social engagement, I found myself headed to Touché Touchet yesterday because of one photograph on Facebook. Apple cinnamon rolls.

It can’t have been much after eleven am. They were already sold out. They did have one apple turnover so I wasn’t completely bereft. I also had a lovely discussion with the clerk about gingerbread, which I love. They don’t carry it and this nice young man had never even tasted it. Horrors!

What can I say? Steroids make you hungry.

*****

New sign up at the Medical Arts Building next to the hospital.

Masking in this facility remains mandatory for anyore with fever or upper respiratory symptoms, or who thinks they might have COVID. For most others, masking is strongly recommended.

They only post these when they have good reason. Just saying. 

Have any good local fragments? Let me know.

Village Green/Town² Comments

The Elusive Local Landmark

 

What was happening on this day in 2022, you ask? Well, as in most days, I was curious.

Or, rather, I wish there were a Columbia Curiosity Bureau. It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

It’s very likely that the Columbia Archives really is our Columbia Curiosity Bureau. I tend to think of it as the very respectable repository of significant documentation of the Great Columbia Experiment. And yet the archives probably contain a fair amount of the unusual, humorous, and surprising.  - - In Defense of Curiousity, Village Green/Town², 9/30/22

I recently reached out to the good folks at the Columbia Archives because I had a question that was burning a whole in my brain. I wanted to know who designed something. The Gateway. 

No, not the entire location.This. THE Gateway.*

Sculpture and signage for Columbia Gateway: a corporate community

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about this area on account of the ongoing plans to transform Gateway. This image/icon/landmark? has that old-school Columbia feel to me, a bit like those perky flags at the entrance to the Lark Brown restaurant park. Obviously it’s not the same design aesthetic but their purpose is the same: as a more or less permanent placemaking device. 

There must be a more appropriate word for this. It probably has to do with branding.

I reached out to the Archives and got a prompt and helpful reponse from Archives Assistant Aimee Kirby. She sent me a ton of fascinating background information about Gateway, along with the results of her own search on my behalf. 

According to newsletters found in records of The Rouse Company, the Columbia Gateway's grand opening was held in the Summer of 1987 around when the sign may have been built. Although I haven't found any specific mention of who designed the sign in question, a similar graphic design appears on marketing materials created in 1986 by The Rouse Company to promote Columbia Gateway. It seems likely the design could have been an in-house marketing design that was then used to develop the entrance sign/structure.

So, I don’t have a name. But I do know more than I used to and that’s a plus. 

Have you ever read the picture book by Eric Carle entitled The Very Hungry Caterpillar? After each day of increasingly larger feasts, the narrator tells us something important about the green protagonist:

He was still hungry.

Well, I wrote a letter to the Archives and I learned some things I had not known before. But:

I am still curious.

Who designed THE Columbia Gateway? Do you know? Do you think you might know someone who knows? We’re talking mid-1980’s here. And that’s before my time, Columbia-wise.

True confession: when I first moved here there was a Gateway Computer store in the (now-rebuilt) shopping center on Stanford Boulevard. For years I thought the computer company was named after Columbia Gateway. I may have even imagined that the company was headquartered there. 

Live and learn.

What are you curious about?

Village Green/Town² Comments

* Not my photos. If these are yours I am happy to add photo credit or remove at your request.

Does HoCo Do the Dive?

Things I rarely think about before breakfast: dive bars. In truth? Probably hardly ever. But a question on the Columbia Reddit got me thinking.

Best dives

What’s the best places to meet friends, meet up with pals and get some beverages that don’t break the bank?

An assortment of suggestions followed. One of them was for Pub Dog. 

Pub Dog has inexpensive beer and pizza, and if you sit outside on a nice day you might meet dogs. They host trivia too I think.

Someone responded that Pub Dog was not A Dive. They explained:

Dives are a distinct entity. They’re like places that have a certain vibe as well as maybe no food. I can’t think of any place like that in Columbia. 

This was where it became more interesting to me. There were two concepts at work here. 

1. OP is looking for a place to meet up with friends that is not expensive.

2. OP is looking for A Dive, which is a specific genre of bar/pub/watering hole.

I’m beginning to think this may be a generational thing. My view of a dive is that it isn’t terribly clean, service is sketchy, and you probably wouldn’t go to one as a woman alone. It wouldn’t be too hard to imagine that your table will be sticky and that fights might break out not too infrequently.

“Why would anyone want to go there?” I wonder. But maybe that’s an old and cartoonish stereotype and I’m not getting the point.

If you’re wondering about the origins of the term - - of course I was - - here’s a hint from Rick Paulas of Pacific Standard:

In fact, even the word “dive” is outdated. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the first official use of “dive bar”—meaning a disreputable drinking establishment—comes from America in 1871. (A post on Chowhound claims that it first appeared in a 1871 edition of the New York Herald.) The “dive” part most likely points to the fact that these kinds of establishments were relegated to basements, so patrons had to duck to get in. Clearly, that’s no longer the case.

- - The Elusive Definition of a Dive Bar

I’d agree that we don’t have a ton of places locally that fit the bill. 

There’s actually a place at Savage Mill called Dive Bar & Grill. One look at their website tells me it doesn’t meet the authentic Dive requirements. (I suspect that, if you call yourself a Dive Bar, you probably aren’t.) Not that I think there’s a problem with this. I’ve heard nothing but good things about this establishment.

There appeared to be a rather set ‘vibe” operating in this conversation about the definition of A Dive. I’m wondering if that holds true wherever you go. Would a dive bar in Columbia feel like a dive bar if one was visiting from Boston? Or Baltimore?

Now, here’s a thought:

Effort.*

You see, your true dive bar is not really making one. Or much of one. Or, perhaps a bit more generously, is not making much of an effort beyond the minimum required to service its guests with drinks. And that is it. That is the single, all-purpose litmus test definition for whether or not a bar is a dive.

Holy cow. It’s hard enough to keep any hospitality business afloat in HoCo when you are making an effort. Aside from operating costs, there’s always the attitude of HoCo Locals to consider. Many folks here get downright picky about how much effort you are putting in for them. 

Don’t we deserve it? I’m from Howard County. Show me the kind of treatment I’m entitled to. 

I’m not seeing how that meshes with The Vibe.

What do you think?

Village Green/Town² Comments

*What We Talk About When We Talk About Dive Bars, Knoefel Longest, Boston Eater

The End of the Story?

This morning, under the heading of Early Childhood Education:

Howard County kids lose access to Dolly Parton’s free books program, Maya Lora, Baltimore Banner

The loss of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library program will mean less books for Howard County kids. Photo credit: Ulysses Muñoz/The Banner

I learned a lot about how Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library works by reading this article. I should have known that there was more to it than free books magically appearing because Ms. Parton is able to use her professional income and visibility to make it happen. The Imagination Library, which has brought 287 million books into the hands of children for over thirty years, is the result of many collaborative partnerships across the country.

Here in Howard County, the Bright Minds Foundation has been the local partner which has administered the program. 

The numbers are smaller, but just as meaningful, in Howard County, where Bright Minds has given over 97,000 books to nearly 4,300 kids since 2019.

I’m not surprised that recent cuts in government funding have led the Foundation to decide that this book program is no longer sustainable. Isn’t that the sort of news we are reading all the time now? 

I am horrified and deeply upset. 

I have loved books my whole life. I was privileged to grow up in a family where books were given to me as gifts. 

Books are our friends. Scientific studies and anecdotal observations show that poor children have very little exposure to books in the home, if at all.  It is one of the significant strikes against them when they begin school.  The seeds of school success, fostered through many a bedtime read-aloud, are unknown to them.

Our schools have media centers, and our county has wonderful libraries. But I can tell you from personal experience that nothing can replace the feeling of having a beautiful book of your very own: your book, to read, and read again; to bring for Show and Tell; to sleep with, to dream about, and wake up with. To have and to hold. - - To Have and to Hold, Village Green/Town², August, 2012

The arrival of a brand new book every month is an opportunity to explore new worlds. It’s not just about the kind of school readiness skills that many of us normally think about  - - learning the alphabet, beginning to recognize simple words, or linking illustrations to text. It’s also about the relationship which develops over time between the caregiver and the child as they bend their heads - - together - - over each new story.

One book is a gift. One book every month is an experience to look forward to. A shared ritual where the human interaction is every bit as important as the book.

My friend and former teaching colleague Bonnie Bricker created a local program called Talk With Me Howard County to help teach parents, caregivers, and providers the importance of those verbal interactions. 

Talk With Me • Howard County aims to help every parent recognize the importance of interactions with babies and toddlers from the earliest moments while demonstrating the simple ways these back and forth exchanges can occur through the routines of the day. By increasing this knowledge within our community we hope to advance the cause of talking with our babies and toddlers. Please help us SPREAD THE WORD to give every child a great start in life.

What we are talking about here is brain development and social emotional development. Participants in the Imagination Library spend their earliest years knowing that someone believes they are worth caring about and wants them to have the gift of reading and imagining and communicating and dreaming and…thriving. 

This absolutely changes lives for families who are working desperately hard to provide for their children in a place where everything is too expensive, wages are often inadequate and benefits low or nonexistent. And changing lives changes the present and the future. 

That is, if we find a way to persist in changing lives for the good. 

It looks like the Bright Minds Foundation has been looking for a long term funding source to support this program. That means Small Change* won’t do it. We need Major Funding.

Ideas? Let me know.

Village Green/Town² Comments

* It reminds me of a story told by the development director at a former school who was out walking in the city and was approached with this request:

Got any small change?

When she said no, and kept on walking, he called after her:

How about some major funding?

F ³: Tell Me Something I Didn’t Know

 

Meanwhile, here’s another episode of Eavesdropping On Bluesky.*

@sketchesbyboze: Learning in school is not enough. You must continue to teach yourself throughout your life. Study history, read myths, memorize poems, get acquainted with the greatest philosophers & writers. In an age when tech is cooking many brains, we need an army of autodidacts.

@shvetathakrar: I would add, make sure you draw on a global set of all these things, to help break you out of a limited worldview.

@sketchesbyboze: This is so important. 

Remember that Baltimore Beat piece on urban beekeeping I recommended yesterday? Nikkia Rowe, founding CEO of the John Newman Honeybee Company, reveals a similar mindset in describing what motivates her.

“I feel like with bees, I can spend the entirety of the rest of my life with them and still not know everything about them. Every day I learn something new,” she says.

Rowe founded the South Baltimore venture after an almost thirty year career in education. She is still learning. She wants to learn. 

Her words and her work speak eloquently to what it means to recognize interest and curiosity within oneself and to pursue them. I admit I am less moved by the words below even though I largely agree with them.

In an age when tech is cooking many brains, we need an army of autodidacts.

Must it be an “army of autodidacts”? Yes, we need many, many people who want to keep learning and really follow it up by continuing to learn. We need to encourage curiosity and make it possible for people to recognize their own natural abilities to learn something new. 

A cadre of curiousity? A network of inquiry? A legion of learners?

It’s all in the word choice, I suppose. All I know is that if someone suggested I join an army of autodidacts I would probably back away slowly.

Several weeks ago I heard television host, writer, and activist Sandi Toksvig describe a dinner table game she used to play when her children were growing up. She now plays it with her grandchildren.

Tell me something I didn’t know.**

So my grandchildren are seven, four, 15 months and 10 days, right?

And we play a thing at the table called Tell Me Something I Didn't Know. Now it can be anything. I don't mind if you tell me that Rosalind's got chicken pox and I don't even know who Rosalind is.

I don't really mind what the thing is. It's sort of of interest to me. And then we'll talk about what do you know about chicken pox and what do you think about this and that thing.

But start it with the kids now because they will come up with things that you just hadn't thought about. So my seven-year-old grandson, he's very interested in the world and his auntie, so my other daughter has just had this baby. And he said, you need a good role model.

You could use my mother. And it was so sweet that he had thought about it. He thought about good role models for babies.

And so listen to them. And even now, start it now. Tell me something I didn't already know.

It's a great question.

It is a great way to foster conversation and interaction. It also shows a great way to model curiosity. Toksvig is comfortablly acknowledging that there are plenty of things she doesn’t know. 

Nothing is scarier these days than people who don’t know and don’t care. 

One last thing. Gavin Andrews tells a story in the introduction to 500 Kids Art Ideas: Inspiring Projects for Fostering Creativity and Self-Expression

About a year ago my oldest child was at home drawing and I asked him what he was making. He replied, “Something I have never seen before.” I was blown away by this statement and and not just because he's my son! Did my three-year old really just say that? His reply illustrates how open and fearless young children are to creative experiences and new ideas. Anyone so willing to explore their creativity and imagination is truly an artist. The wonderful thing is, most kids are artists at heart!

Anyone so willing to explore their creativity and imagination is truly an artist. 

True, but they are also a learner. They are engaged in teaching themselves. 

• Making something I have never seen before. 
• Learning something I have never known before.
• Doing something I have never done before.

Breaking out of a limited worldview begins and continues just like this. 

What do you think?

Village Green/Town² Comments 

*The popular spinoff of Other People’s Tweets.

**From We Can Be Weirdos: #70 Quite Inexplicable: Sandi Toksvig and the Durham Apparition, Oct 31, 2024

Eat It? Beat It!

 

We continue to be obsessed with the impending arrival of new restaurants in this town. We don’t sit around watching the grass grow in Howard County. No, indeed. We sit around anxiously discussing when the next restaurant is going to open. It’s rather like all those “when’s the baby due?” conversations, only moreso.

During a recent such conversation in the Howard County Eats group on Facebook I suddenly envisioned an (as yet imaginary) tracking device. Consider this: one of those old school newsroom set ups with multiple clocks running, but for all of the in-progress restaurants. 

Photo from basic Google search. 

At the moment those in-progress restaurants would be: Boro Kabob on Frederick Road, Taco Bell on Route 40, Mezeh at Long Gate, and a Korean barbecue place in Dorsey’s Search. The entire conversation was kicked off with the news that Dumont Cafe & Creamery would coming soon to the Weis Plaza shopping center in Waverly Woods.

As a well-known local foodie remarked, “Soon is a relative term in Howard County.“

May I respectfully suggest that you do not need to languish unfed as the sands fall through the hourglass of 

Wow. That’s a terrible sentence. Let’s try that again.

Are you looking for new places to eat? You can go out of town, you know. A great variety of choices await you in nearby locations. Baltimore, for instance.  Non-profit newspaper and media outlet Baltimore Beat has just published its first ever Food Issue. The link takes you to their website. (If you want a paper copy you’ll need to go into Baltimore and find a Beat Box. Either way, it’s free.)

Curious? Take a look at this preview on their Instagram page. 

Baltimore Eats

You’re going to be learning things about the Baltimore food scene that you really can’t find anywhere else.  On a budget? Check out Ana Bak’s article on Baltimore’s Best cheap eats. But wait - - there’s more. The Beat also takes a look at urban farming and even beekeeping. 

Editor Lisa Snowden begins each issue with a letter. This one was especially welcome. 

Something really special is happening in Baltimore. After spending decades in the shadow of the DMV, this city now has a vibrancy that I haven’t seen for some time. Foodies and influencers are making the trek here to sample treats from Rooted Rotisserie, Café Dear Leon, Ekiben, and more. Small businesses, many owned and operated by women and people of color, are sprouting up. Despite many of the hard realities we face, there’s a lot to feel hopeful about right now.

Ms. Snowden - - whose persistence in telling truthful Baltimore stories makes some folks uncomfortable - - is not known for feel-good puff pieces that will ingratiate her publication with local politicians and power brokers. So if she says, 

Despite many of the hard realities we face, there’s a lot to feel hopeful about right now.

She means it. 

If you need something to feel hopeful about right now, and/or you’re tired of waiting for new HoCo restaurants to open, the Baltimore Beat Food Issue is for you. 

The Rapture

Maybe it was the rapture.

Maybe Jesus came and took the ones who were His own: the disappeared, the falsely imprisoned, the abused, and those with no place to lay their heads. 

Just think - - wouldn’t He take those whose bodies are struggling, suffering, weakened by poverty and ill-treatment? And wouldn’t He gather into His arms those whose brains are enchained by agony and distress?

If it was The Rapture would it be so surprising that Jesus took all of those that we have deemed invisible?

We would never notice. 

I think maybe we walk around with salvation right there in our pockets 

like a lottery ticket we bought and never checked. 

It can only be the winning ticket if we take it out and look at it. 

(No guarantee, of course.)

But we don’t want to risk it.

Who are we if we do not at least take it out 

and see the truth of what has been unseen?

There is no rapture for us if we do not really see. 

If there is eternal damnation in hellfire I would rather not. 

I wouldn’t wish it on anyone else, either. 

But if there is a rapture that is filled with comfort, acceptance, and love…

Give it to the invisible.

They will know more than any of us what it means.

Maybe it was the rapture. 

Maybe we just can’t see.

Not a Fan

 

“Football is for everyone!”

These words begin an announcement from County Executive Calvin Ball yesterday about a new girls’ Flag Football initiative in the Howard County Schools. The program will receive financial support from the Baltimore Ravens and Under Armour. An investment in girls’ sports is worth celebrating, especially right now.

Image from County Executive Ball’s social media

In case people wonder if I ever disagree with our esteemed County Executive, well…

No, I don’t think football is for everyone. American tackle football is dangerous and violent and continues to chew up and spit out athletes whose futures are marred by permanent injuries both to body and brain. The world of professional football is steeped in systemic racism where the abilities and dedication of Black players are exploited to create financial benefit for the entire network of white people who hold power. 

High school football is certainly not for marching bands who are often told they may not practice their routines on the field because they might somehow spoil it for the football players. Or other high school programs that languish while big money pours in to support football. 

But we keep saying this thing anyway, that football is for everyone. Why? 

Professor emeritus of sociology and gender studies at USC , Michael Messner, sums it up nicely. In an Op Ed for the LA Times, he writes:

High school football, and its accompanying spirit rituals, remains a key nexus of group pleasure and collective identity.*

I love the very academic tone here, the way his assessment is rooted in sociological observation and study. Oh, those primitive peoples, performing their spirit rituals to affirm collective identity.

I think we have now safely established that I take a dim view of “football is for everyone.” 

My opinion is not going to cause anyone any lasting harm and you are not obliged to agree with me. If you’ve been here a while you know I’ve written about this before, in particular, high school tackle football.

Maybe It’s Time to Talk, August, 2017

The Good Old Days, February, 2018

But you don’t have to take my word for it.

Key Characteristics: Football has the highest injury and concussion rates among all sports, regardless of gender, according to the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study. Injuries to the head/face, ankle, knee and hand/wrist are the most common. Though still low relatively speaking, football’s catastrophic rate is more than twice as high as the next-closest boys sport (lacrosse).

- - The Healthy Sports Index, Hospital for Special Surgery (learn more here)

Now it appears that the risk of brain trauma may also affect much younger athletes. According to a new study in JAMA Network Open, high-school football players can show alterations in brain tissue too. While it’s impossible to determine the presence of CTE without conducting an autopsy of the brain, the work provided disturbing evidence that playing the game early in life may lead to serious problems later on.

- - Football Can Damage the Brains of High-School Players, Jeffrey Kluger, Time

And, coming back to Messner in the LA Times:

Sometimes, when we think about gender equity we ask the wrong questions, based on the assumption that equity means girls and women striving to do what boys and men have been doing for decades. In this case, instead of asking why girls don’t play tackle football, more people are starting to ask why boys do, while suggesting that it may be time to start moving boys — starting with youth sports and extending into middle school and high school — into flag football.

 - - If tackle football isn’t safe for girls, why do we let boys play? , Michael A. Messner, LA Times Voices

That’s a very good question. If tackle football isn’t safe for girls, why do we let boys play? Why, indeed? I think I know why. Far too many people are emotionally invested in this almost sanctified world of high school football. They must reenact those all-important spirit rituals and bask in the nexus of group pleasure and collective identity.

If we continue to sacrifice young men on this cultural altar we are a very primitive people, in my opinion. 

Village Green/Town² Comments

*In the same way, we might also say that professional football, “…and its accompanying spirit rituals, remains a key nexus of group pleasure and collective identity.”

An Arm and a Leg in Howard County

 

I’ve been hanging on to the following words (in screenshot form) since 2019. This post is from a group on Facebook called The Best Businesses of Howard County.  It’s still relevant, so - - here goes:

I'd like to make a suggestion. When asking for recommendations, instead of saying "doesn't cost an arm and leg,"

"doesn't cost a fortune," or even

"reasonably priced," state your budget or max price.

People have different expectations of reasonable. For example, you might ask for venue suggestions. I want to suggest an amazing place that is $300 but your budget is $100. Then I could cater my suggestions to your budget or save you the trouble of calling a place that doesn't work with your budget.*

What is reasonably priced? Do we know? We know how much money we have and how much we are willing to spend. Maybe you feel uncomfortable sharing that kind of information publicly. But everyone wants to get a good deal, right? 

Well…everyone with the exception of people who feel validated by spending the most possible amount on something so they can brag about it.

I’m guessing that’s not you. 

Let’s take an individual purchase that you make regularly. You become quite familiar with how much it is likely to cost. Maybe it’s milk, for example. I may not be knowledgeable in all things but I do know how much Lactaid Whole Milk costs, what the store brand costs, and which stores charge substantially more than I am willing to pay for the privilege of having milk without lactose.

The problem comes in larger expenditures in areas unfamiliar to us, Your child doesn’t get married every day, for instance. Home repair and renovation. Finding high quality childcare when you are a new parent. These things can be very expensive and you know it. And the less you know about them, the more fearful you are about the decision. 

Often we don’t know what these things cost in our area. What may feel expensive to us may be how much it really costs to provide that service in Howard County. So, if you are insisting on a substantially lower cost, you may not find anything or what you get may be far below what you had hoped for as far as quality is concerned.

The inquiries that really get my goat are ones where folks are truly trying to get people to work for less than what they are worth. This might be wedding photographers or musicians. It could be childcare providers. You have probably seen this. There must some angle that will open the door for them to get what they want for cheap. And someone must have raised them to believe that this is how the world works: those people are just trying to rip you off. You just have to be tougher. I sometimes wonder if these are the same people who leave abysmal tips after excellent service. Or no tip at all, because they “just can’t afford it.”

Don’t do this. Don’t expect that a student photographer wants to do your photo shoot for exposure. Don’t think a wedding organist or a band should be happy with a bottle of wine or dinner. And for heaven’s sake, don’t denigrate the work of childcare by leaning on their already inadequate pay.

These are actions that people in power use to exploit those who are dependent upon their favor. 

It is fair to say, “This is how much I have to spend - - is that a reasonable amount to get what I am looking for?” when you are asking around for recommendations. It’s not fair to make our local small businesses and/or entrepreneurs feel like they don’t have a right to fair compensation. 

You would not want to be treated that way. Your personal budget is dependent upon your employer paying you fairly and consistently. What about the person you hope to do business with? Their needs are not so different than yours. They are your neighbors, after all. 

An educated consumer is one thing. An exploitative consumer is quite another.

Village Green/Town² Comments

*If by some crazy coincidence you are reading this and you are the author of these words, let me know if you wish to be credited. - - jam

Looking for Inspiration

 

I’m having a rather “bah, humbug!” morning over here today. I’ll try not to take it out on you. 

It all started when I went looking for some information on a new store which has come to the Mall in Columbia. It’s called The Inspiration Company. (Or maybe it’s “The Inspiration Co”.)

 

 

Images from The Mall in Columbia social media  

Now open! @theinspiration_co has arrived at The Mall in Columbia, bringing uplifting jewelry and positive vibes to your shopping experience.  Come explore their inspiring collection today!

My first thoughts: well, we can all use some inspiration right about now, but - -  I’m dubious that it can be purchased at a suburban shopping mall. 

Places I have found inspiration: at the library, in nature, in human connection, in music and art, and sometimes in church.

Places I have never found inspiration: temples of commerce and purveyors of mass-produced goods.

Still, I wanted to find some shred of the positive in this story so I went to their website to learn more about them. I was not inspired. 

I could enumerate my thoughts for you but it’s just not that important. It’s a store at the Mall. 

Let’s move on. 

There’s a Chrysalis Kids concert this morning at 11 am at Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods. Tickets are free but you must register.

Image from IAT social media

For a description of the concert and what to expect: 

Chrysalis Kids: Sunnyland Band

For more about Slim Harrison visit his website - - it’s fascinating!

One last local tidbit. As I was searching for something completely unrelated, I learned about this:

Screenshot of New York Times article, 1968

It looks like Columbia had a college before Antioch, and it was in the same location - - the building we now call Historic Oakland. From what I can tell it never truly got off the ground. One thing that both colleges had in common: a commitment to a nontraditional curriculum and ways of learning. 

Do you know anything about this academic venture? Let me know. 

Village Green/Town² Comments

Events and How to Find Them

 

Facebook Events has changed how they present information and it looks like it will give you more choices. However, the difference in layout has temporarily broken my brain. 

This got me thinking about the different local event calendars around town and their varying ease of use. I tend to lean most heavily on the Facebook one and the supplement with the calendar on Visit Howard County. 

My only quibble with VHC is that they list a whole slew of things that happen on multiple dates first before events happening only today. Yes, they allow you to search for a specific date but you will still be wading through events that happen every day in September, or every Saturday from August to November, for example. 

You may want to see those. I realize that’s a silly quibble on my part. VHC also lists events that aren’t actually in Howard County but are nearby. That’s gracious of them. Since I limit myself to things within HoCo I’m always puzzled to see those on a HoCo Tourism site. I’m sure there’s a reason.

If anyone decides to create an event to save the eggplant and peach sculptures on Main Street, will we see it in the listing at Visit Howard County? Does anyone know if the Preservation Board has formally objected to the TARDIS? Perhaps it looks historically timey-wimey enough for them.

I took a look at The Columbia Mom this morning for an events listing and it is too visually busy for me to make sense of. That’s a me problem. Don’t misunderstand me: it’s beautiful to look at. Clearly a lot of work goes into this.  The growth of The Columbia Mom into a recognizable brand even outside of HoCo is kind of amazing. Take a look and let me know what you think.

In my Goldilocks search for the perfect calendar let me offer the one from Columbia Inspired Magazine. The layout is not too busy, the information is beautifully arranged, and there’s a enough white space to balance the content. I actually sighed with relief when I came to this one. Events are mentioned in two categories: Featured Events, and Other Great Events. 

This events listing does not claim to be the be-all and end-all of everything happening around town. It’s a curated selection and I think they do it well. It’s a good choice if you don’t want to be mowed down with excess information.

So, you know the drill. It’s going to range from clear to partly-cloudy with pollen in the low to mid range. Highs look to be near 80 and the humidity at the moment is 63 percent. How will that influence your choice of Saturday activities? I have been scouting daily for a not too hot, not too humid, low-pollen day for doing yard work. 

Friends, it may never happen. 

Don’t forget the markets! 

Clarksville Commons

Old Ellicott City

Village Green/Town² Comments 

F ³: And Now, a Word from our Sponsor

 

Do you listen to any podcasts? Here are some that I’ve been listening to lately:

• Circle Round
• Kelly Corrigan Wonders
• Higher Ground IMO
• Arts Educators Save the World
• Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me
• Smologies
• TILF

I’ve found that, the more I am distressed by current events, the more important it is for me to find other ways to offset the ongoing crisis mode in my brain. Podcasts have been a godsend in that regard.

There’s just one thing: the adverts. I have gotten really hung up on the commercials in these things.

When you watch commercial television there may be ads you don’t like. And thank goodness there’s at least a mute button for aggressively loud sales pitches or annoying jingles. But I’ve never had a sense that the people in the show I was watching were responsible for what ads I was seeing or the relative quality of the products being pitched. 

Yes, I know that the revenue from commercials makes the creation of the shows possible. But in my mind they were separate from eachother. Truthfully, they have become more and more intertwined to the point where a brand like Disney* is a streaming service, a television channel, programming you watch, and products you buy all at the same time. 

Not so with podcasts. They are by far more intimate operations. Often the host of the show does the ad pitches as well. I’m left wondering whether the artist chooses the brand and supports the product. I don’t like this one bit. 

In the early days of television late night show hosts like Jack Paar were obliged to do on-air advertising spots. That was before my time, although I remember quite clearly the voice of Marlin Perkins making the weird transitions to the commercial breaks in Wild Kingdom.

Just as the mother penguin feeds her young, so you can protect your family with Mutual of Omaha.

I do find it weird to hear Michelle Obama and her brother Craig Robinson segue from interviews with notables like Spike Lee to testimonials about how back-to-school shopping can be transformed by getting it all from Amazon. 

I’m not a huge fan of Amazon. So, I wonder: how do the cohosts feel about Amazon? Does it matter?

Kelly Corrigan Wonders is sponsored by a combination of products for affluent women that I could never afford such as sheets, blankets, clothing, and jewelry that will “refresh your look,” and natural-sounding health and beauty products whose claims concern me. If I were Kelly Corrigan I would not want to be in the position of enthusiastically shilling for a oral health product that encourages parents to go all-natural and avoid the dangers of fluoride for their children. 

I never thought we would be in this place, but: here we are.  These days where you stand on fluoride is a political statement. It matters. If you are going to read the ads yourself, and you are the reason people are listening in the first place, doesn’t it matter what you are promoting? If you assure listeners that purchasers of a product will have access to support from naturopathic practitioners…what are you telling them?

The podcast Smologies, an offshoot of Ologies for kids, donates a portion of ad revenue from each show to a charity chosen by their guest. That makes the whole ad thing more palatable to me, somehow. I haven’t been listening long enough to know how they handle the advertising piece overall. I won’t comment on that yet.

I know that there have been occasions when television viewers, offended by program content, wrote to sponsors as a way of applying pressure on the show. Do members of the public ever write to the program itself with concern about the nature of their sponsors? 

Still - - If I value and want to benefit from the content, someone will have to pay for it. One way or another. 

What do you think? Does advertising on podcasts feel weird to you, too? 

Let me know. 

Village Green/Town² Comments

*They may think this makes them all the more easy (or unavoidable) to love. In fact, it makes them oh so easy to boycott. Just saying. 

The Mystery List

I keep a running list of things that might make a good blog post. Unfortunately, once I put something on the list, I tend to lose all interest in writing about it. 

This is an ongoing mystery to me. Anyway, here is the current list:

• Cycling without Age
• People on the Go Maryland
• The Gathering, a new monthly salon at the library
• Patapsco Literary Festival
• Former Ellicott City preschool reopens in Sykesville 
• China Day October 4
• CEI Harvest Gala October 16
• SEEDS
• Cradlerock partners with Queen Takes Book

Other mysteries include the appearance of multiple fire trucks and more than one ambulance at Elite Spice in Jessup yesterday morning. This would not be such a big deal were it not for a pending lawsuit against the company and reports of EPA violations. Of course, this could be completely unrelated. I am not an investigative reporter. This is beyond my level of expertise.

A mystery which seems likely to be benign: the sighting in Owen Brown of - - a large rolling…horse? sporting an American flag decoration.  These are the kinds of things one learns on Reddit. Yes, there’s a photo. I’m not sharing it because it isn’t my photo. Cool points to the local wit who responded, “Citizens of Troy, be not alarmed.”

In “The Jokes on Me” category, reports of a Big Bird appearance in Columbia were not what I  was visualizing.

Hope springs eternal. I love that big yellow guy.

A complete mystery to me: folks who show up eager to argue the meaning of the United States Constitution with the County Executive.

The best mystery: readership of the blog has increased significantly in the last several weeks and I have no idea why. It doesn’t appear to be tied to any one particular type of story, either. I don’t know if the algorithm on FB has shifted to make the blog more visible or whether it’s some sort of organic/serendipitous development. 

Whoever you are, it’s nice to have you along for the ride. 

Village Green/Town² Comments

Today Only! All Roads Lead to Rain

Rainy day.

Nice Weather for ducks.

If you’re a teacher the words “indoor recess” may make you shudder with thoughts of anticipated chaos. 

I have tried in past blogs to get people excited about thinking of the best places to go in Howard County when it rains. This effort was not successful. Either all of you hate rain or you can’t think of even one good local place to go when it’s wet outside. 

I will not attempt this again. Besides, today is Wednesday: you’re very likely going to work, and most kids are at school. There’s no time in the schedule for fun rainy day activities, anyway.

Whether you hate rainy days or love them, the fact is that we’re behind on rain this year. And, gosh darn it, we need rain. I went looking for a list of reasons why rain is important to us and it didn’t go exactly as planned. I searched “why rain benefits communities” and the vast majority were “the benefits of rain gardens in the community.”

One outlined the benefits of storing rainwater. It was from a rain barrel merchant.

Well, if you’re interested in either, Howard County has opportunities for you.

Here’s a desperate plea for engagement - - an informal reader poll! (Humor me.) Today’s comments section devoted to the following:

• I love rain, and this is why.
• I hate rain, and this is why.
• Meh. (Include explanation, if any.)

A personal recommendation for the day - - your local library has all your rainy day preferences covered. Love rain? They’ve got all kinds of rain-themed materials to enhance your wet weather joy. Hate rain? Explore a multitude of other worlds and activities where not one drop falls to spoil your mood. Meh? Our library system has so many different kinds of materials and offerings to spark your imagination and lift your case of the blahs.

You can listen to the sounds of the pitter patter at the East Columbia branch. 

Or you can see how the plants enjoy the rain in the Enchanted Garden at the Miller Branch.

Don’t forget to bring your library card so you are ready for your #librarycardadventure. I know mine is around here somewhere.

Village Green/Town² Comments 

HoCo Stuff. And Nonsense

Once upon a time I saw a cartoon that showed a kid at someone’s door promoting the school fundraiser. The gist of it was, no one wanted to buy the product du jour. But when the kid offered to take away stuff the homeowner was trying to get rid of - - for a fee, of course - - it suddenly became the best fundraiser ever. I wish I had saved that cartoon. It was meant to be humorous but I still think it’s a brilliant concept.

I hate throwing things away knowing they’ll just go in a landfill. I find great satisfaction matchmaking my no longer needed items in my Buy Nothing Group. But there’s a sort of let down or sense of failure when nobody wants Your Thing. Case in point: two well-loved plastic cutting boards. 

I can’t convince anyone to give them a new life with some kind of creative reuse and if I throw them away they will sit in a landfill forever. So they are sitting in my house instead. My house: the secondary landfill. 

Bah, humbug.

The topic is on my mind this morning because of something I saw on Facebook about an ecologically friendly way to pass along unwanted stuff. Somehow I got the impression that it was a County initiative. So this morning I looked in all the places one might find announcements of County initiatives.

Zip.

I finally located a screenshot - - in my collection of eight million screenshots - -  and it’s not County related whatsoever. What I saw was an advert. Here it is:

GreenDrop® is a for-profit company and registered professional fundraiser where required. We accept donations on behalf of and pay our nonprofit and charity partners for your stuff, helping them to fund programs in your community.

Why did I come away with the impression that this is a County initiative? Probably because I saw that the drop off was located at the Library and because the text is full of green, eco-friendly language. To be honest, it’s also because I was skimming and didn’t take the time to truly process what I was seeing.

If I had blithely shared something I had only a vague impression of…Well, that would be a lot like what happens on the Internet every day. Oof. 

So, here’s the deal. The GreenDrop drop-off location is in Ellicott City. It looks like this:

GreenDrop is operated by Savers Value Village. That’s a link to the Wikipedia entry, which is…interesting. I’d be interested in your thoughts. 

The charity that will benefit from the Howard County drop-offs is the American Red Cross. 

GreenDrop certainly isn’t the only company soliciting drop-offs of your cast-offs in Howard County. It’s just the newest kid on the block. They want things that are potentially re-sale able (is that a word?) in their Value Village stores. Think new or lightly-used. They are not in any way a recycling operation.

I didn’t get any clear idea of what happens to the donated items that can’t be sold. What do you think?

If there’s a lesson here, it’s this:  I was so invested in wanting to believe I was seeing some sort of Cinderella experience for unwanted stuff that I read into it positive attributes that weren’t even there. That bothers me. I think of myself as a savvy consumer. I let myself down here.

I still want to believe there’s a magic wand on that end when the magic is probably needed more on the other end: don’t bring more stuff into your house in the first place. 

If you want those two cutting boards or have ideas for their creative reuse, let me know.

Village Green/Town² Comments 

Unfiltered

My morning schedule is off due to what might be labeled “moderate oversleeping.” I’m usually up between four and five and, believe it or not, it takes all of that preparation time for my brain to be ready to form words I’m comfortable putting out into the world.

I don’t usually do this, but I’m just going to rant a bit. You have been warned.

“One Size Fits All!”

Have you ever seen this claim for a product? Has it ever, ever been true?

I am frustrated this morning with the practice of blaming everything on one particular cause or claiming that your one solution will solve all problems. The proponents of this approach are zealous. 

My opinion: this does not help. 

We cannot have one balanced discussion about classroom overcrowding (or many other local topics) without someone uttering the word “developer” and derailing it. It’s no longer a discussion. It’s the equivalent of what happens when someone yells “Fire!” in a crowded theater.

Then we have those who are sure that the only solution to problems on their side of town is to snatch away opportunity on the other side of town.  The only solution.

I don’t believe it. I don’t believe that there’s just one cause for blame or just one solution for what you want.

One size does not fit all. 

After awhile these claims begin to feel like the ubiquitous ads on YouTube for that “viral, miracle pink salt treatment that works just like Ozempic!” Loud, relentless, and almost impossible to believe.

I’m not suggesting that there’s anything disingenuous about this. I think that these folks are sincere in their beliefs. I, too, am sincere. And I would like to respectfully disagree with them. 

It’s never just one thing. I wonder if we could learn more and do more good if we took a step back and tried to learn how all the pieces fit together.

Village Green/Town² Comments