Village Green/Town²

I admit that this is dated June 28th or thereabouts but it’s still bugging me. Do you see anything wrong here? Councilwoman Jen Terrasa wins her primary race and she can’t even get her photo heading the newspaper article. Really? It isn’t as though HoCo Times/Balt Sun doesn't have any photos of Ms. Terrasa on file. They most certainly do, from her years on the Council. So why couldn’t she be the focus here? The headline suggested by the photo above is more likely: Outgoing State Delegate Frank Turner reflects on a career of public service. Or, perhaps: Retiring State Delegate surveys changes to dynamics in Annapolis In a less serious vein, one might caption this photo: Retiring Delegate to political newcomers: Get off my lawn! Or: “Look! My suit matches the wall color perfectly!” With all due respect to Delegate Turner, his photo should not appear here at all. Let’s try this, from Ms. Terrasa’s web site. The ongoing bias which results in the...

I don’t know exactly when it started, but there’s a war going on in my Twitter feed. It’s not a war of words but a war of advertising dominance. When I go to Twitter I either see this: Or this: Notice what is in the second spot of each. An advert. Or promoted content, if you will. For some reason the Popsicle brand and Allan Kittleman are going at it daily in my Twitter feed. It’s kind of funny. This is a political matchup that Howard County was not expecting. In this heat, Mr. Kittleman is bound to take a drubbing against such a cool, refreshing opponent. I do not know how social media advertising works and I do not know why someone, somewhere thinks I am a prime target for Popsicle and Kittleman ads. I am assuming that they are tailored to some category I am presumed to fit into, and that not all of you are seeing this unlikely matchup. You may have noticed equally amusing trends on your own Twitter feed. So far neither ad has influenced my behavior. I feel a ...

Coffee in, blog out. That’s how it works most days. Not today. I’ve been up for over an hour and I keep falling asleep sitting up. What I would like to be bringing  you today is a small, hometown story that you couldn’t find anywhere else. What keeps running through my head is this, from NPR reporter Steve Inskeep: Preserving this miracle of a country is the work of armies abroad and the rule of law at home. It is also the work of free citizens, supported by the free press. I’m grateful to those who made this country and will do all I can to pass it on. Happy Independence Day.  I’d like to give a HoCo Holler to the free citizens who bring the Food for Tomorrow initiative to the Longfellow Fourth of July parade here in Howard County. Here’s an article from a while back to give you some background on its beginnings.  Food for Tomorrow Although others are involved, for me the face of Food for Tomorrow is Dylan Goldberg. If you come to the Longfellow Parade ...

Columbia does parades on the Fourth of July. Take your pick. There’s the Longfellow Parade, the Allview Parade, the River Hill Parade, and, for the first time this year, the Oakland Mills Parade. Standard appearances include people running for office and their supporters, people in patriotic garb, people throwing candy, and so forth. I can’t remember where I heard this recently, but it really would be nice to have one big parade through the center of town, down Little Patuxent Parkway in Downtown Columbia. But then we’d have to give up our love of our smaller ‘regional’ parades, and I’m  not sure we’d be able to do that. We’re both fiercely territorial and loyal. While Fourth of July parades are ostensibly about celebrating Independence Day and are meant to have a national, patriotic feel, our local parades seem very much a celebration of our small and beloved communities. Are we really celebrating the ideals our country was founded upon? Do we really think about it? Or do ...

I had an experience this Spring that I tucked away, waiting for the right moment to take it out again and examine it. I had coffee with BOE Candidate Sabina Taj at a little place on Route 40 called Caffe Bene. I arrived before she did, ordered and went to find a seat. It was relatively crowded, so I had to scan the room several times to find a spot. Slowly I realized that the place was filled largely with students, with laptops, studying. Whether in groups or alone, they were there to study. They were mostly young women, but not entirely. And, except for me, everyone was Asian. I had an uncomfortable little tingly feeling. Do I belong here? Is this a space for me? And I thought about how my experiences as a white person have prepared me to assume that I will always be in environments where people who look like me are in the majority. No one ever came out and said this overtly; it just was. Most of us say we want to live in a diverse, integrated world where everyone is equal. ...

It’s been a while since I’ve found anything on Patch worth linking to. This piece caught my eye this morning. The Mall in Columbia Introduces Pop-Up Selfie Cube Experience, Kate Bowers (Patch Poster) I want to draw your attention to the fact that this piece was not written by a paid journalist but rather “contributed by a community member”. Kate Bowers appears to be a public relations professional who has generated plenty of free content for Patch. This does not necessarily compromise this piece. I just wanted to highlight the difference. It’s a big difference. From the article: "Our primary focus is to offer our guests new, innovative experiences that they can't get anywhere else in the market," stated Barbara Nicklas, Senior General Manager of The Mall in Columbia. "Selfie Cubes certainly offer an experience unlike any other and we can't wait to watch our guests have fun and get creative with them." So, what do you think? Would yo...

So, as Pride month comes to and, I have a few things to say about representation. You may remember that I once wrote about astronaut Sally Ride’s famous quote, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” As I walked around and talked to folks at the recent HoCo Pride Kick-Off event, I began to think about what a loss it is for the community that the enthusiasm for the new HoCo Forward slate swept away the only openly gay candidate, Bob Ford. Bob ran a positive campaign and turned up in my social media feed often. He took the responsibilities of the Democratic Central Committee seriously. He even went after and received notable endorsements. I enjoyed speaking with him at the (few) political events I’ve attended. He already had a proven record of service locally. I felt sure he would be elected. He wasn’t. Was it merely the enthusiasm for the new HoCo Forward Slate? Was there possibly any rejection of his willingness to be an openly gay candidate? I don’t know. But as I wandered arou...