Village Green/Town²

  I was startled to discover I had overslept this morning. Sleep hasn’t been much in my regular repertoire lately.  The story of Crystal Hardy-Flowers has been on my mind this week, for a number of reasons. You may have run across her Baltimore Sun obituary already. If not, here it is: Crystal Hardy-Flowers, social worker and child care provider in Sandtown-Winchester, dies of COVID-19 complications  , Jacques Kelly and Hallie Miller, Baltimore Sun Her passing also inspired this piece: COVID takes an unsung hero from Baltimore , Commentary, Andrea K. McDaniels of the Baltimore Sun Editorial Board  Ms. Hardy-Flowers is being remembered as a hero, and she was. We can read her story and say, “wasn’t she wonderful?” And, “Is’t that sad?” But then we go on living our lives as before. There’s so much in her story that should reach out and grab us.  I immediately thought of the recent Horizon Foundation initiative that clearly outlines how healthcare outcomes for Bla...

   Yesterday was a very rough day. The final indignity came right here at home in Howard County where the Board of Education Building was damaged by vandals.  (This photo shared on social media by Board of Education member Jolene Mosley) That’s what yesterday was all about, wasn’t it? Some people break things. Other people will have to clean them up.  Or perhaps it was about those who insist on justifying their own violence, born of the anger that someone of their importance did not get their way, by equating it with the outcry of those who have been oppressed in this country for over four hundred years. It’s not at all the same. Yesterday was brute force and threat, terror and mockery. What will today be about? Today they will order new glass at Central Office. They will try to reassure staff who now feel less safe. They will be assisting the police in identifying a suspect. And they will continue to do the work they have been doing everyday, keeping the schools fun...

  It’s time. It’s past time. If you are white I want you to stop and look in the mirror and say the words. Take your time, make eye contact, think about the words as you say them.  It starts like this: My brother, Jacob... The police shot my brother Jacob seven times, his sons were watching. He’s paralyzed now.  My son, Jacob...was trying to break up a fight and the police shot him in the back. The police shot your Uncle Jacob. He didn’t commit any crime but they shot him. And no one will be arrested or tried for disabling him for the rest of his life. It was my best friend, Jacob, his sons had to watch him get shot. He held onto his shirt and shot him. How could he do that to him? It was Jacob from next door. He was just trying to help. They won’t arrest the man who shot him.  Look in the mirror. Pretend there is someone very real hanging on your every word. And every word is the story of someone you know. My brother, My son, My husband,  My cousin,  My un...

Truth in advertising: this is not a HoCo local story. Yet. Southwest, BWI On ‘Beary Important’ Mission To Find Owner Of Lost Teddy Bear  , CBS Baltimore Staff LINTHICUM, Md. (WJZ) — Officials at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport are turning to social media to help return a lost stuffed animal to its owner. Southwest Airlines tweeted a light brown stuffed bear was left at a gate at BWI on December 16. Since then, the bear has gone on a few adventures, the airline said, but they’re hoping to get it back to its rightful home. It would, of course, be a local story if it’s your teddy bear. Take a look at the photos. Tell your friends. Let’s bring this little guy home. If it is your bear, let me know. I’d be delighted to interview you and the bear about your experiences, socially distanced of course. Moving right along , and indulging myself in a bit of whimsy...   In keeping with a recent national interest in finding 11,780 things, I thought I’d compile ...

  Sometimes you don’t see it. This is not an excuse. It is simply the truth that can either be the beginning of a journey or the end of one. Sometimes we say or do things that are hurtful because we just don’t get it. If we are lucky, someone takes the time to clue us in. Yesterday someone reached out to me privately about my post, A Little Beverly Hills  . They were troubled by what they described as “a post basically ridiculing the pretty clear cultural influence on home decor.” They continued by allowing: I get that that house is "over the top" and "loud"... which is how my eyes see a lot of the decor and behavior that is widely acknowledged to be based on cultural differences.   I’ll admit I was unprepared for this response. But it was this next bit that made my heart sink. They pointed out that what I had written amounted to:  ...publicly ridiculing the home of a local family who might well see these comments and no doubt be hurt by them. I realized I had made ...

    The local story we all need this morning comes from Maryland Patch: $2.1M Mediterranean Estate In Columbia Has Dance Floor, Sauna  , Kristin Danley-Greiner COLUMBIA, MD — The most expensive home on the market in Columbia happens to be this $1.8 million beauty at 11536 Manorstone Lane. Oh my word how I hate this house. There is not one good thing I can say about it. Well, one of the bedrooms is a restful shade of blue. That’s it. This house is so gaudy, so over the top that it just about makes you laugh out loud. Each room is worse than the next. The Patch piece claims this house is in Columbia, but one look at this house and you doubt it. This kind of structure must  be located in the Land of Outparcel. Apparently it’s in a subdivision called Forest Glen. You may be able to put the word Columbia in the mailing address but, really, Jim Rouse would have laughed this thing right out of town. Or would he? Take a look at this article about Forest Glen written in 1997 ...

  On New Year’s Eve as we ate dinner I asked my family, “What do you think has been the biggest local story in 2020?” I allowed as how outside forces (COVID, national politics) have had a major influence but that I was specifically looking for a Columbia/HoCo story. In what is not always the case (see many examples of “Uh, I don’t know” or silent eye roll) we had an excellent conversation which I would like to share with you here. Except there’s only three of us which means there’s no way I can relay it without compromising someone’s privacy. That counts even with your family. Well, the way local social media has become, it matters even more with your family. So let’s do this another way. We ended up talking about photographs.  And the consensus was that the biggest Columbia/HoCo story was the juxtaposition of the images here  and here . (I’m sending you elsewhere because they are not my photographs.) The first shows an enormous gathering in Downtown Columbia organized by...