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October 21st. It occurs to me that, if I did not have a blog and an easy way to search it, I don’t think I’d remember all that much about my life and times. Let’s roll the footage, shall we? 

One year ago: One Hundred Years and Other Good News Warren’s Barbershop, solar panels at the library and other good stuff around town. 

Five years ago:  Pondering the typo-plagued campaign of Kim Klacik for Congress.  The Little Things 

Ten years ago: Keep Columbia Weird , inspired by an article entitled How to Keep [Your City] Weird by Kriston Capps 

Still relevant: 

Capps makes the case that preserving a community for the benefit of those who got there first is not only exclusionary, but also ultimately destructive to the health of the community overall. It makes housing more expensive. It keeps out the kind of "immigration" that brings diversity and life. Some notable quotes:

  • Picking character over people winds up hurting both.
  • Affordability is critical for a city that is both weird and chill.
  • Change sucks, but it’s better to live somewhere uncool than unfair.
  • To protect a city's character, residents need to welcome change.

And from 2011, the first year of the blog’s existence: All Politics is Local, the story of the time that then-County Executive Ken Ulman visited our neighborhood school. 

When I look back on October 21, 2025 - - what will I remember?

Well, two things are on my mind this morning.

  1. As soon as the County Executive Calvin Ball posted about National Bullying Prevention Month, the neighborhood troll made an appearance displaying textbook bullying behavior. (Insert eye roll here.)
  2. Group dynamics. I’m seeing a pattern in online groups that are populated predominantly by women. It goes something like this: One day an ambitious man turns up, sets up his (metaphorical) desk/ opens an office, and decides he’ll start running the thing. Its almost as though they find a well-functioning environment that appeals to them and think, “Horrors! What this place needs is a man!”
Au contraire. In many cases male participants are welcome. But: that online group you have your eye on is not looking for A Man in Charge. If the established dynamics are collaborative - - read the room, for heaven’s sake. If you are all about asserting dominance than you can’t possibly be about whatever the mission of the group is. But you will probably do some damage while you are there.

Sigh. I wonder what I will think about this in 2026.



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