Old Friends, New Ventures

Howard County Times released their Best Of 2016 yesterday, and for the first time ever, this blog made an appearance. Thanks to all of you who made that happen.  The winner in the Best Blog category was Tom Coale for HoCo Rising.

Best Blog
HoCo Rising

Honorable mentions:
The Unmanly Chef
Pilates, Pearls, and Peanut Butter
Village Green/Town Squared

Tom doesn't write much these days, a fact which I lament with some regularity, but his posts around the time of the Elliott City flood this summer are worth the win all by themselves. HoCo Rising held steady like a lighthouse in stormy seas. Of course, the blog posts pale in comparison to the work Tom was doing in the community to support those affected by the flood. 

He's not just a writer, he's a doer. Possibly why he has so much less time to write these days. Rumor has it that he will be back on the scene doing a podcast with fellow-blogger and constituent services expert Candace Dodson-Reed. I'm looking forward to it.

Speaking of podcasts, Bill Woodcock of The 53 is teaming up with James Howard for something called "Do It Live," which begins this Sunday.

If you are into podcasts, the Howard County Library now has one called HiJinx. Give it a listen.

It looks like Blogger Bill Santos is back with Columbia Post Compass, or possibly a contest for a new name.

Old friends, new ventures. Community. 

Heal Thyself

Oh, how I love Thursdays. My weekly digital issue of the Columbia Flier is delivered to my inbox and I revel in the experience of having a local newspaper. Yes, I'm a little bit crazy when it comes to local news coverage.

This week's editorial puzzles me a bit. Entitled "Countering hate and bias, rekindling county’s civility theme", it feels like as assemblage of platitudes and truisms. I can imagine someone saying, "We ought to say something about this."  There's nothing innately wrong with it. There's just no "there" there. 

But then came the sentence that almost made me laugh out loud.

The anonymity afforded on some websites has made it easier for bigots to cloak their identities while spewing bile.

I refer you to this post by Scott Ewart. A good place to see the spewing of bile would be in the comments section of the Howard County Times, where a certain toxic troll, widely believed to be (oh, never mind, I won't go there)  has been making false and hurtful pronouncements about fellow Howard County residents. Up until today I didn't feel the need to write about this person in the blog, but today's editorial made the opportunity irresistible.

These particular comments are not in the vein of racist rants, but they are hateful, damaging, and many have violated the Howard County Times' own guidelines. My personal opinion is that commenters should be required to post under their own names. If you want to say hateful, nasty things then everyone should know who you are: your family, your neighbors, your employer. 

I recently expressed my concerns on this issue to my County Council representative Calvin Ball. He reached out to the Howard County Times and let me know that they have something in the works to address this. It would have been great if they could have rolled that out along with this editorial and acknowledged that they have been a part of the problem. 

Just a thought.

Ad-mon-ish

Three new board of education members have been sworn in out on Route 108. Three qualified, experienced, motivated members. Three highly-informed, well-prepared members.

Three women.

I noticed something interesting happen as the evening's events unfolded. No sooner than Kirsten Coombs, Christina Delmont-Small, and Mavis Ellis were sworn in, a community member stepped up to the microphone during Public Forum to admonish them about what they must not do. They hadn't even done anything yet--other than win the election, that is--but a concerned citizen earnestly put forth suggestions about what they shouldn't do.

Well, these three ran with the intent to listen to constituents. And listen they did. In fact, there was even a second Public Forum at the end of the meeting. And the current President of PTACHC  held forth on how the new board should comport itself.

Welcome to public service.

At midday yesterday I noticed an open letter to the new Board Members from a former  BOE member, urging them to set certain priorities as they proceed.

In less than twenty four hours three separate individual had come forward to admonish our new Board of Education members.

Three men.

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that these are bad men or men with ill intent. I am saying that there does seem to be "a thing" in our society where perfectly capable women are not permitted to step into positions of power without having some nice fellows 'tell it to them straight'. I am weary of this. 

For this and many other reasons I am grateful to sit in the audience and not on the dais.

I was refreshed by the postings of two other men whose statements about last night were delightfully free of admonishment. Bill Woodcock's blog post on The 53, and this, from former candidate Robert Miller:

Last night’s board meeting made me even more encouraged about our new Board of Education. New members Kirsten Coombs, Christina Delmont-Small, and Mavis Ellis demonstrated competence, insight, and passion, and Chair Cindy Vaillancourt and Vice-Chair Bess Altwerger exhibited their experience, acumen, 
and knowledge. Watching this new era dawn was like a load being lifted off of our collective shoulders, and sparked a new excitement for what could be accomplished in HCPSS. Personally, I continue to be very impressed with all of these people, and I look forward to their accomplishments on the new board. Please count me among the many willing to assist when possible and appropriate. Some people feel that “all change is good”, but I disagree; I feel that “good change is good”, and I am very optimistic that we are witnessing “good change”. Congratulations to the members of the new board, to our residents who helped to bring about “good change”, and to the stakeholders who will be positively affected.

Reading that went a long way towards assuaging my admonishment fatigue. 

As I said on Tuesday, the community's work is not done here, and the Board wants and needs our input. But to every thing there is a season. Maybe, just maybe, we can allow three articulate, successful women to assume roles of leadership with the community's support and goodwill. 

Let's start from there.

Ups and Downs

There's a party tonight at the Green Turtle. It's for bloggers and their readers, and it's sponsored by HoCoBlogs and Totally HoCo. This event, and a related one tomorrow, are in support of Toys for Tots. Read more here, and let them know you'll be coming.

I don't think I will be there, although I'd like to, because I've finally succumbed to the cold that's been working it's way through my classroom and all I want to do is go back to bed.

I went to the Board of Education meeting last night. I'd like to order the commemorative DVD of the event. Or perhaps an expertly curated sampling of the evening's events. They could call it "Highlights for Sharing."

In a blog post over a year ago, I suggested:

If parents and teachers truly united to seek improvement and change on shared goals, they would be unstoppable.

I look forward to reading other bloggers' takes on last night's meeting. There's quite a bit to process. I'm going to have more to say on this but at the moment I have a date with decongestants and ibuprofen and tissues.

Thanks to all of you who got together and got me a new Board of Ed. You're off the hook for Christmas gifts this year. As to who gave me the cold, you are probably three and I wish you would cover your face more when you sneeze. But I'm letting you off the hook, too.

Now We Begin

There's  a countdown ticker running over at the Better Board of Ed website. Right now it reads eleven hours, forty six minutes. When the countdown runs its course a new Board of Education will be sworn in and a new era in the Howard County Schools will begin.

It has been a long, long slog to get to this day. Those engaged in the work of bringing change to the school system might be forgiven for thinking that today is the long-awaited end to the process. Finally, finally, the majority has changed. The 5-2 voting machine has been broken, and the status has shifted.

Finally. It will be time to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

But when the counter runs down and the long wait is over we will be not at the end, but at the beginning. At the risk of sounding like Captain Obvious: we haven't yet begun the journey we have set our sights upon. We didn't elect a better Board of Education so we could go back to ignoring what goes on and let someone else take care of it.

No matter how good they are, they will need our help. They need our voices, and our participation. Things like transparency, accountability, and responsiveness are a two-way street. They thrive when there are constituents who are consistently engaged in the process. It's true that we don't have to worry that they'll be so outrageously awful that we need to watch them every minute. But that does not give us a free pass to check out.

Part of electing a better Board of Education was doing the work of making things better. Nice job, Howard County. Now keep doing it.

11:14...tick tock...

Let Me Call You Sweetheart

I got a message from a friend yesterday. "They're showing that video at the One Howard event," she wrote.

I was incredulous. After what I had heard from members of the community, I thought that was an extremely poor choice. I wondered if it would cause discomfort for people in the room who had come to the meeting in good faith.

It did. From a women at the event:


I watched the video last week and felt horrified, not entirely just by the video, but also by the reactions- felt like they wanted someone to smooth it all over for them, and he complied.  It felt like all the pain of the victim community got shoved back down so the majority could not feel uncomfortable.  And, that's honestly how we who are minorities have been "trained":  don't ruffle feathers too much...  make it feel okay, even when it's not.  I'm sort of done with that.

I'm not going to link to the video because, frankly, I don't want to give it any more publicity. I wrote about why I feel it is problematic in Friday's post. Dr. David Anderson, pastor of Bridgeway Community Church, and creator of the Gracism brand, made this video and has made much of how many views it has garnered.

I'm not sure he understands how much damage it has done.

One very brave woman in attendance, Renee Grant,  attempted in a quiet and polite way to get the organizers to stop showing the video, but she was rebuffed. 

I stepped up because no one else would. I asked two people to stop the video before I went to the front and did it.

If you are running an event which is meant to promote community healing and you discover that you are doing something which is hurting instead of healing, I think that should be a wake-up call. But a quiet request was not enough. So a small group of women stood up to publicly push back against the message of the video. 

African American business owner Renee Grant stepped in because the situation warranted it. 

And Dr. Anderson called her "sweetheart."

Imagine if the tables had been turned, and Dr. Anderson was pleading to be heard, and she called him "buddy." Or "boy".

Communty member Deeba Jafri:

I just could not take it any more when that video went up. I just started crying. I just felt that the event was just going to turn into a feel-good event for white people without the realization of how much damage these acts are causing in households across our county. So I spoke...

Ms. Grant yielded the microphone to Ms. Jafri. She spoke eloquently, and from the heart. 

Friends, this is not okay. Dr. Anderson and Bridgeway Community Church have a history of being positively engaged in our community but I think we need to stop and take a hard look at where we are right now. Who exactly does Dr. Anderson represent right now?

The County Executive, like HCPSS before him, wants to outsource "race relations" to Bridgeway instead of getting in there and getting messy themselves. As one woman at the event commented, this was a:

...great example of lack of multiple perspectives reinforces bad choices.

That's it in a nutshell. Men in charge don't respect women who dissent. No African American students chosen to be on the panel.* One prominent pastor gets a voice, but where was another perspective, say, that of Janelle Bruce? She would have put students front and center. And she would have afflicted the comfortable, which, in my opinion, needs to happen before we can more forward.

Lack of multiple perspectives reinforces bad choices. And calling someone who is every bit your equal "sweetheart" reinforces patriarchal stereotypes of who is to be dominant, who is to be submissive. 

One Howard? At this moment I'm of two minds about that.





*I hear that the young people who were there acquitted themselves admirably. It's too bad they weren't afforded a greater voice.

The Show Must Go On

"I think the ultimate way that art can be political is that it engenders empathy."
- - Lin-Manuel Miranda


Today is the day for OMHS annual WBAL Radio Concert for Kids. It has been a hard week over at the high school. The school community has been rocked by a student's very public racist and violent threats. Fellow-students who tried to call out his behavior found themselves subjected to lengthy interrogation by school administration. Students feel fearful at school. Parents have worried.

Rehearsals continued. Preparations moved forward. The over-arching goal of helping others thriugh a celebration of the arts continues. The show must go on.

I'm taking the liberty of running last year's post again (with updated information) because I feel very strongly in this cause and these people. Take a few hours of your day to enjoy this concert. Or donate.

*****

Who Gives? We Do


My #tbt offering today (for Throwback Thursday) is reaching way back to Giving Tuesday. I've got an amazing, local, holiday-flavored, budget-friendly way for you to give: the WBAL Concert for Kids. We went last year and were blown away by the student performances. Yes, there are professional guest artists and they are great, but it's the kids that will wow you. 

First, the giving. All monies raised from this concert go to the WBAL Radio Kids Campaign. Their mission:

The WBAL Radio Kids Campaign seeks to promote, foster, encourage, support and sponsor various activities for the general educational, vocational, recreational, civic and social improvement and betterment of young, economically deprived boys and girls in the WBAL Radio listening area, without regard to race, creed, color, or national origin.

I wrote about this concert last year. 

It is hard to put into words how awe-inspiring this event was. It was absolutely the best in student performance that Howard County has to offer: singing, instrumental playing, and dance. And it was the picture of Rouse's dream for Columbia: racially, ethnically, and economically diverse--all coming together, using their talents, to help others.

If you are looking for something to do with the family this year to fill in for the Symphony of Lights, this is it. I assure you, you will come away with holiday spirits raised and a spring in your step. This year Music Director Philip Hale and his performers have added a special Family Matinée performance at 1:00 pm to the original evening performance at 7:30 pm. If you have younger children, the 1:00 pm show has been tailored to your needs: it's shorter, more compact, and there's even a free do-it-yourself craft for kids! 
Between the Family Matinee and the evening performance you can visit the Holiday Shop. Bring your wallet!

To enhance your experience, our Holiday Shop will be open from 2:00pm until approximately 10:00pm. Hand crafted home decorations, ornaments and gifts will be available throughout the afternoon. Performances by the Oakland Mills Middle School Jazz Band, Oakland Mills High School Orchestra and Choir students will help to "make your 
spirit bright". Pictures with Santa and a do-it-yourself holiday craft will be available for the children. 

Just the facts:

Where--Oakland Mills High School, 9410 Kilimanjaro Rd. 21045
When--Saturday, December 3, at 1:00 and 7:30
Why--To support WBAL Radio Kids Campaign 
Cost--Family Matinée, $10.00, Evening, $15.00.

Want to help the cause but can't attend? For the first time, you can purchase a ticket to "pay it forward" and give the gift of the concert to a member of our community who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford it. You can add some happy faces to that Family Matinée  and help the Kids Campaign. What's not to like? Buy your tickets here.

Keep in mind that everything--time, talents, crafts, are donated. One hundred per cent of the proceeds are donated. Since its inception, the Concert for Kids has donated over $50,000 to the Campaign for Kids. And all of this energy and giving and excellence in performance is coming from the Village of Oakland Mills. 

We have a lot of heart here in Oakland Mills. Won't you join the effort by joining Philip Hale and his students this weekend? Ten or fifteen dollars is a small price to pay for a song in your heart and joy for kids who really, really need it. 

I hope I'll see you there.