Who Tells Our Story? A Garden Can.

The report of the Public Garden Focus Group is now available. I tip my hat to them. Creating reports like this takes a lot of effort and their work has definitely been a public service. So, check it out!

You can view the county’s press release here, and the full report is available at this link:

A Public Garden for Howard County Maryland

Here’s a write-up from the Baltimore Banner:

Howard County’s public garden will honor its troubled past, Jess Nocera

While I’m not keen on the title of the article, I’m also aware that Nocera probably didn’t have any input in writing it, so I won’t hold it against her. If you read the article and/or the report itself it’s clear that the plans for the public garden are meant to honor the history of the site itself: a former plantation which held and exploited enslaved people. The title of the article makes it look as though the focus is a troubled Howard County in general.

What can I say? Things like this bug me.

When I wrote about this in July I had high hopes for the outcome of this report as the focus group examined possibilities for a uniquely Howard County public garden.

The Longwood site has the potential to provide public spaces for aesthetic enjoyment as well as environmental education. Embedded within all those possibilities is the heavy burden of the history of the land itself as a “plantation” or forced labor camp for enslaved Africans. My highest priority for this site is that the resulting gardens place as high a value on the history as they do on the planting and maintaining of the natural environment.

Ironically, the release of the report coincides with the virulent wave of history denialism from the new administration in Washington. Do we have the commitment and courage in Howard County to stand up for our convictions and create a public garden that both inspires and educates?

I certainly hope so.

Village Green/Town² Comments

Comments

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents. When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...

Getting Fresh

One of my favorite days in the Spring comes when this year’s list of Farmer’s Markets is released. That happened this week. New this year are markets in Old Ellicott City and the “Merriweather Market” which, according to the address, will be located here . I mistakenly thought at first glance that it was in the new-construction part of the Merriweather District. I find the name confusing considering its actual location. I’m going to guess that this market is an initiative of the Howard Hughes Corporation because the name seems chosen more for branding purposes than anything else. Alas, the market in Maple Lawn is gone. The thread on the markets on the County Executive’s FB page will provide you with quite the education in who actually runs the Farmers Markets vs what people often think is going on. Short answer: they are not chosen nor run by the county. Each market is an independent entity, sometimes started by community volunteers, other times supported by local businesses...

They Can Wait

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...

Village Green/Town²

Search This Blog