Village Green/Town²

  Tonight the County Council will be hearing testimony on moving forward with the Downtown Library. What can I say that I haven’t already said? I have been struggling mightily with this for weeks.  In a last-ditch effort, I went to Bluesky looking for inspiration. I searched the words “Downtown Library.” Here is a small portion of what I found. Other Downtown Library posts referenced community food pantries, workshops encouraging civic involvement, classes for children, presentations on legal issues, craft fairs, dinosaur displays, local history, access to computers, public restrooms, biking, public transit, workplace topics, human connection. Then I tried a little experiment. I searched the words “Downtown Library Regret.”  Nothing. Well, just about nothing. As I recall someone was deeply regretful about that second order of fries they ate before going to the Downtown Library. I tried it on Google, too. Very little Downtown Library regret.* There are two very important r...

  “In your opinion, what do you think (food wise) Howard County needs more of?” It’s the sort of fun, speculative question that elicits all sorts of wishful responses.  And it’s just the kind of discussion suitable for a social media page created to support HoCo local restaurants. The question was asked three days ago and so far there are 393 responses. I just added one this morning. My husband would like a truly authentic Brit-style chip shop. I love questions like this. Don’t forget I spent many hours imagining fantasy re-uses for the former Columbia Flier building. My family knows me as the person who will discuss such things as, “if you could cast your family/friend group as the characters in the Muppets, who would they be?” I spend afternoons contemplating my future career as a philanthropist once I win the lottery. There’s no delight quite like envisioning who I could give that money to. We all have our dreams. Back to the question of the day: In your opinion,...

  It’s big local news. Everyone has already written about it. For example: Grammy and Oscar-winning singer Billie Eilish donates to Maryland climate leadership program , Adam Thompson, CBS News Musician Billie Eilish donates $11,000 to Howard County Conservancy climate program , Jess Nocera, Baltimore Banner The money will be used to support the Conservancy’s Youth Climate Institute. From their Facebook page: Building the next generation of climate leaders. The Youth Climate Institute educates and certifies the next generation of leaders on climate science, environmental justice and real world solutions. A program of The Howard County Conservancy It is Monday, November 17th and this story broke weeks ago. Why am I late on this? Because I wanted to focus on something that no one else was looking at. So, here goes. Do you remember this? In October of 2023 the Howard County Conservancy hosted a Climate Justice Concert.  Join us for the YCI Alumni Network Climate Justice Concert ...

I’m getting a late start today. If I take the time to fully flesh out any of the ideas I have, I will miss the golden hour when people tend to read. And that means you won’t see it.  It’s a quandary.  On my mind this morning:  Disability Rights Activitst and Author Alice Wong Dies at 51 , Chloe Veltman, NPR My knowledge of Ms.Wong is solely from Twitter. I somehow got disconnected in my move to Bluesky. She’s not someone I would have met in real life nor come in contact with on Facebook unless I had known to look for her.  And that’s a loss. Her life was all about creating and supporting visibility for the disabled. She won a MacArthur grant in October of 2024 in recognition of her work, especially for  The Disability Visibility Project.  Increasing the political and cultural visibility of people with disabilities and catalyzing broader understandings of disability. Please take a moment to read the NPR piece if you can. Yesterday County Executive Calvin Bal...

Once upon a time a wizard came to Columbia and caused a bit of a stir. I have lived here just long enough to have witnessed this and also to have forgotten the entire episode. A recent post on Bluesky jogged my memory. Screenshot from Bluesky Oh! I remember that. How could I forget? It was in Oakland Mills. It all began in 2014 when Oakland Mills residents Debbie and Roger Matherly came up with the idea to transform a dead tree in their front yard through the artistic talents of chainsaw artist Evelyn Mogren. Think of it as creative reuse.  Really, it was creative reuse and it also ran afoul of the architectural guidelines of the Oakland Mills Community Association. It was both at the same time. The homeowners appealed to the community for support. The Wizard even got his own Facebook account. Truly a hyperlocal tempest in a teapot. It was resolved with a lot of grace by the Oakland Mills Village Board. And now, more than ten years on, folks like Kimberly Ann Keyes can visit it. ...

It depends on how you look at it.  The annual onslaught of social media content about stocking stuffers has begun and they’re all too expensive to be stocking stuffers, as usual. Sigh. Or: The annual onslaught from The Olds that “holiday celebrations are not what they used to be” - - and are therefore wrong - - has begun.  Take your pick.  Yes, I’ve written about this before. I’m wedded to the notion that stocking stuffers should be small both in cost and in size. All while being fun and appealing. I guess that, to me, stocking stuffer gifts are the Children’s Chat of Christmas morning. I also wish that commercial entities wouldn’t start pushing Christmas consumerism at us until Thanksgiving. BUT… I’m not in charge of either one and, in my heart of hearts, I don’t want to tell other people how to celebrate. There ain’t no war on Christmas, Virginia, and no war on Christmas Stockings, neither. No one will stop me from doing it the way I like. And yet… Those perky example...

Okay, we’ve had a few days to let this settle. Let’s do the numbers. Oh, and about the numbers…   Commedian Don McMillan, Nerdy Statistics  In the case of Oakland Mills High School being displaced from the schedule of most urgent repairs, I want to talk about three things today.  1. I am completely unimpressed by folks filling up the comments section here or anywhere else on social media with graphs and charts and lists. Sure, you’ve got twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one. That’s impressive, I guess. But: How was your information gathered?  What did you prioritize?  What did you omit?  How are you framing it? Remember that old saying about “lies, damned lies, and statistics”? When someone comes along and says, “This is a really complicated subject so I have gathered all the information for you so you don’t have to go to the trouble” it makes sense for you to use your critical t...

We all love to say we support small independent businesses. Have you ever seen anyone go on the record as disliking Mom and Pop establishments? During the COVID lockdowns there was a concerted effort to find ways to support local restaurants whose incomes had plummeted. (That’s how the Facebook Group Howard County Eats originated.) Into one of these conversations came a HoCo resident making the case for a place called California Tortilla.  “But that’s a chain,” came many quick replies. Their response made me think. Essentially, the argument was that places like California Tortilla may be franchise operations and the owners may very well be Howard County locals. They are our neighbors, too, they argued.  Yes, they are our neighbors. But I’m not sure the economic playing field is identical. Association with a national brand may have advantages as far as advertising and even the cost of food and other restaurant supplies. All of those things are likely more expensive for homegro...

  No matter how unlikely this looks to you - - I promise you that the following conversation really happened. Please note: religion is not the point of this post. Bear with me. - - jam On Sunday after church my husband I were taking about Children’s Chats. (Some churches call them Children’s Sermons.) They are meant to personalize the church experience for younger children by presenting relevant topics in a way they can connect with and understand.  Both of us have been known to step up and do these things from time to time. As someone who spent my professional life interacting with young children, I have opinions .  At any rate, my husband acknowledged that his message on Sunday might have run a little long. It was a great message, no argument there. But I’ve given some thought to this and I responded as follows: I’ve decided that a Children’s Chat must be fascinating, and delicious…but it also must be small enough to fit in your pocket.  ***** This conversation ca...

  A friend posted: Facebook stole my memories.  I didn’t need to ask what he meant. I already knew. I check my Memories section every morning as a part of my waking-up process. Reading them reminds me where I was and what I was doing in years past. Sometimes they point up a local issue that still bears research or discussion. And sometimes they reveal that I used to feel one way about something and now my view has completely changed.  For me that would be things like cellphones in the classroom and school policing. But, I digress. I’ll admit that sometimes it’s hard to read my memories when they bring back sad times and disappointment. But even the worst of them haven’t been as bad as reading the daily news since last November. For several days my Memories section consisted solely of a few photos imported from Instagram, a service for which I had never asked. Yesterday evening the real memories were back. No idea why, but: I’m grateful. So I’m going to celebrate by congra...

  You are invited to attend today’s Veterans Day Parade and Celebration beginning at nine thirty am.  From the Howard County Veterans Foundation: The Howard County Veterans Day Parade & Celebration plays an important role in building respect and recognition for the more than 20,0000 local Veterans and their families. Thanks to the incredible support of our community, we have hosted over ten successful parades and ceremonies to honor these heroes. The Grand Marshal of this year’s parade is Elza K. Redman. We are pleased to announce Elza K. Redman Jr. has been nominated grand marshal of the 2025 Howard County Veterans Day Parade. The Howard County Veterans Foundation bestows the grand marshal title on individuals who represent the values and morals of the Howard County community of Veterans and military families. This year, we honor “Veterans forming future leaders” who show a passion for education, mentorship and coaching. You can learn more about Redman here at the Vetera...

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...

  True confession: the name Ross Douthat didn’t mean anything in particular to me until quite recently. In only a few days I have learned that he is a laughably awful opinion writer for the New York Times. No one had to tell me this. His work speaks for itself.  Yesterday’s column: Did Women Ruin the Workplace? - - Ross Douthat, New York Times, 11/6/2925 Oh my, yes. That’s definitely the column we need in this moment, in this country, teetering as we are on the edge of male-induced facism. I present to you the antidote: beautifully curated by Bluesky user Paul Fairie. (It looks like he is interested in history and political science, by the way.) A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women , Paul Fairie You absolutely must click through and read every single one. It won’t take you long. I want this thread to get every single hit it deserves and it won’t if I copy and paste it all here.  The list contains eleven examples of newspaper articles that outright blame wom...

  Have you ever just wanted to complain about something? I sure have. Does it give you a sense of validation and solidarity to join with fellow complainers and just vent?  Why do people do this thing? It just drives me nuts! Yeah, I get it. And I’ve surely done it. But I wandered into one such complaint-fest in a local Reddit community recently and something about it made me stop and think.  The premise: some people take grocery carts away from the store and don’t return them. Worse than that, they ditch them any old place.  I think everyone in the thread agreed that it would be better if people didn’t take the grocery carts away from the store and that it was maddening to find them in places they didn’t belong.  But the automatic next step was, basically, “What is wrong with those people???” That bugged me.  So I asked: What would be a good way to support customers without cars to be able to get multiple bags of heavy groceries home? Ideas? The response I...

  Last night Zohran Mamdani was elected Mayor of New York City. I have four words about that: I’m still not afraid. I’m not here today to talk about what I’m afraid of. I here to talk about what I am *not* afraid of. I am not afraid of Zohran Mamdani. - - This Is What Changed Me, Village Green/Town², 6/28/2025 A lot of money was spent in this race to make people afraid of him. I can’t tell you with any certainty that it was the most political money ever spent specifically on fear but I do think it was the stupidest. It’s my blog. I can say that. I wrote about this in June . It’s important enough to bring it back today because this wholesale fear and loathing tactic in New York didn’t just come from one political party. This is deeply disturbing to me. And whether I like it or not, we see this happen in Howard County as well.  I would like to be confident that Democrats reject this destructive mindset and want nothing to do with racism, prejudice, ethic slurs, Islamophobia and...