Village Green/Town²

Facebook is one kind of neighborhood, and Twitter is another. This is not a new discovery of mine. But never has it been more driven home to me than this weekend. Over on Facebook we had the usual family stories and photos, taking down the holiday decorations, excitement about the upcoming Ravens game, and various statements of frustration about the ongoing Government shutdown. On Twitter, it was three whole nights (and days)  on Survivng R.Kelly.   It was horror and heartbreak and rage. I couldn’t make myself watch the show itself. Did you? Did you know about the years and years of manipulation, false imprisonment, and sexual abuse of minors? And how the music industry knew and looked away? Insomuch as media is an extension of a predominantly white worldview, the largest spotlight has focused much more on white victims. Just as black boys are often perceived to be older and more physically dangerous than they actually are, black girls are often perceived to be sexu...

It’s almost as though the Mall knew I was talking about it. My apologies to those of you well-informed people out there in HoCoLand who already knew this. I just learned this morning that General Growth Properties is no more, having been acquired by Brookfield Property Partners. You can read more in this article in the Business Monthly. Speaking of well-known businesses changing hands, the Business Monthly also took on new owner and publisher Daniel Medinger this year. Both of these things make me think about the late HoCo blogger and man about town (citizen laureate?) Dennis Lane. Not only would Dennis have known about the possibility of this acquisition long before it happened, he very likely would have been writing a column about it in the Business Monthly. Oh, how I miss the depth of his background knowledge and the wit and wisdom of his commentary on commercial real estate.  Giving credit where it is due, I note that the possibility of this transaction was discusse...

Interesting local story?  Maybe. I have only this screen shot to go on. I haven’t seen any corroboration on social media from local first responders, no local news response. So, right now, it’s a screen shot, nothing more. But it made me think about several issues. One is the recent national discussions  about who gets to use the bathrooms at Starbucks. Do you remember that? Starbucks had quite a public moment of reckoning when two African American men were arrested at a Starbucks in Philadelphia because Starbuck employees called the police on them. Their crime? They were waiting for a friend, hadn’t bought anything yet, and wanted to use the bathroom. The underlying attitudes that led to this event are signs of an implicit bias that “just knows” who the right kind of people are and which ones are sketchy and undesirable. The fact that Starbucks had not addressed issues of bias before this event shows that they hadn’t been faced with the true ugliness of allowin...

I just deleted my first draft because I’m not sure anyone really wants to hear what I think about football right now. I had lunch with a friend at Chutney yesterday and it was delightful. Their lunch buffet is varied and delicious, the service was excellent. If only I didn’t have a regular job which generally keeps me away from lunch buffets... I’m working on a post about the statement by Superindent Martirano about discipline policies. If you have opinions about that, feel free to send me your thoughts. I saw some responses last night on Instagram that troubled me. It looks like we have two local social media players revving up to be your first source for local news in the New Year. HoCoMoJo and ScottE Blog are running neck and neck on current events. Could it be an outright rivalry? We’ll see. And Elevate Maryland continues to establish itself in the arena of thoughtful commentary of the audio variety.  If you haven’t read Candace Dodson Reed’s end of year ...

This photograph leapt off the page and spoke to me on New Year’s Day: Used with permission. Photo credit Jon Merryman First piece of litter picked up for 2019. What’s yours? The page was the Patapsco Facebook Group. The poster was Admin. Jon Merryman. I do not know Mr. Merryman in real life. A quick Google search finds a newspaper article identifying him as a “stream watcher”.  Another announces a workshop he’s  giving (in 2013) to show people how to use a smartphone app to report places along the Patapsco where cleanups are needed. All in all, I think it’s safe to say that Mr. Merryman is a devoted environmentalist.  I’d have to say that the term “stream watcher” is a pretty passive description for someone who is actively out and about cleaning up trash along the Patapsco. And I’m not just talking about a plastic bottle here and there. Mr. Merryman posts photos of mattresses, old couches, construction waste, and tires. Lots of tires. Sheesh....

My family goes back to school today. I have a few more days of vacation. I’m trying to get back in my normal, post-vacation sleep cycle, and it’s not pretty. Yesterday I took my daughter to see “Mary Poppins Returns” at the Regal Cinema on Snowden. Actually, she went with me because I really wanted to go. We very nearly didn’t make it at all because my car did that automatic pilot thing and I found myself looking for a parking space near the AMC at the Mall. That’s not a sign of old age creeping up on me, is it? Thanks to the length of trailers before the actual feature, we made it in plenty of time.  This is not a review of the film, although I certainly have opinions. At some point yesterday I realized that I had seen the original Mary Poppins film on New Year’s Day, 1965. It was one of the first movies I saw, or that I remember seeing, anyway. I vividly remember getting ready with my family to go to the movie theatre. It was a big deal. A special event. I feel like we ...

Let’s pretend that today is just another day and I am not obliged to produce a retrospective of the last year’s posts nor philosophize about the year ahead. Let’s pretend it is just another dark winter day and you and I have met for coffee at your favorite place. Somewhere cozy. Tell me your story. No, I don’t mean “tell me the story of you”. Tell me one of the sweet or funny or comforting stories you carry about in your heart to keep the dark away. Snow or no, it is winter and we must huddle together and share whatever we’ve got. I’ll start. I’m feeling sadness descend over me like a thick mist so let me reach into my drawstring bag of healing tales. I’ll bet I haven’t told you this one. Once upon a time, in a first floor apartment in Bolton Hill with a deck and a bit of a yard, I found a turtle. It was quite unexpected. I had recently moved in following my divorce and I was clearing away weeds and brush in order to put in a sandbox for my daughter. I went at it with much ...