Four Thousand, Two Hundred and Ninety One

On May 5, 2011, I decided to jump into this thing called blogging. Every year on this day I think about what that means.

I’ll try to be brief.

I re-read my original post this morning. It’s pretty clear that my focus at that time was largely Columbia-centric. Over the years that has broadened. I feel as though it makes no sense to try to understand Columbia without the context of the county as a whole. Still, I have a lot to learn.

If I was looking (metaphorically) for our Village Greens to coalesce into a Town Square - - where the community could gather and share ideas - - it hasn’t exactly turned out that way. Social media has encouraged us to make smaller and smaller Village Greens and our existence is not unified but more fragmented. We have become, often, fierce defenders of smaller and smaller kingdoms.

Here’s the good news:

1. You all have made great companions along the way.

2. The sticky buns at the Clarksville Farmers Market almost made me cry with joy.

3. Apparently you can put a microphone on a Zamboni.

4. This year’s Howard County Teachers of the Year are both…gasp!… Music Teachers.

5. These words on a chalkboard that remind me why I’m here.

Be able to say:

“I love…”

and

“I am afraid....”

Stay curious!

Stay Vulnerable!

Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Village Green/Town² Comments

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Teacher Gifts

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They Can Wait

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Separate and Unequal

Remember “Separate but equal”? Remember how that really meant that Black schools languished in broken-down buildings without adequate heat or toilet facilities, with cast-off, ragged learning materials, underfunded and largely ignored? The Supreme Court struck that down in 1954. The evidence was clear that separate was not equal. Plessy v Ferguson had led to - - no, endorsed - - deeply unequal schooling and opportunities. We tend to think of Brown v Board as being purely about racial integration. It was not. It was about the logical consequences of segregation. And they were not, not, not equal. The ruling in 1954 didn’t transform public education for non-whites into a land of milk and honey by any means. But it articulated some essential truths in a way that made including everyone a legal precedent which could be relied upon and built upon. It was better than what came before it but it rested upon unsteady ground. It did not necessarily change the hearts or minds ...

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