The Most Good

Early on in my stay at home quarantine existence I realized how lucky I was compared to others in our community. I didn’t have to work, I had a little money in the bank, and I had a safe place to live and a secure family unit to “hunker down” with. At that point I decided that I would give a little bit of money each day to causes focused on helping others through this crisis.

One of those causes is Columbia Community Care. Founded by Wilde Lake High School teacher Erika Strauss Chavarria, the group sprang up almost immediately with a goal to support vulnerable families by providing food and other essential supplies in conjunction with the Howard County Schools Grab & Go meal sites.

What started with Ms. Chavarria’s ideas and determination has grown into an ever-growing team of volunteers who do everything from donating groceries, ordering from the group's Amazon Wish List, working the tables at school sites to assist families, doing porch pick ups of other people's donations, even shopping and delivering individual families’ lists.

Along the way members have assisted with translating skills when needed, and encouraged families to fill out the HCPSS technology survey so their children could take part in distance learning. Their watchword appears to be: if we can help, we will.

For a group that did not even exist before this crisis, Columbia Community Care has already earned a well-deserved place in the local safety net supporting local families. And they do it with profound respect for the community members they serve. There is a strong commitment to honor the trust that vulnerable families are giving when they connect with Ms. Chavarria and her team.

That’s why a respected philanthropic organization like the Women's Giving Circle has raised and matched funds to support their operation. And that’s why I’ve decided to focus my donations on them for the duration of this crisis. I don’t have a lot of money to throw around but I do know that this is where it will do the most good.

This is where you come in. I know many of my readers are already assisting this group. On the whole, my readers are the helping sort. But just in case you didn’t know, or you didn’t think you had anything to offer, let me suggest some opportunities for you.

First, you can ask to join the Columbia Community Care group on Facebook to learn more about what they are doing and how you can help. If you click on “Files” there’s quite a bit of information already organized for you by member Megan Feroli.

Have money? Donate here:

Venmo @SrChav
CashApp $SraChav
PayPal morenita1623@yahoo.com

Or use their Amazon Wish List to make purchases.

But there are so many other ways to help beyond cash donations. Perhaps you can do (contactless) porch pick up of grocery donations. Perhaps you can assist at a donation site, or shop and deliver for a family. Maybe you can spread the word amongst your friends and widen the circle of giving.

There is something you can do. I guarantee it. Don’t think that what you offer is not enough: from all our small gifts a greater goal is being sustained. Think starfish, but with a lot more helpers on the beach.

There are a variety of charitable requests out there right now. It is painfully difficult to choose among them when need is so great and funds are finite. I understand that. But, for me, the mission of Columbia Community Care is where my “little bit” can be magnified and make the biggest difference.

An interesting bit of information: as a Howard County teacher, Erika Strauss Chavarria is back at work this week as she begins distance learning with her Spanish classes at Wilde Lake High School. The reality is that she never stopped working.

Divergent

My thanks to the faithful reader who responded at length to yesterday’s post about why we elect judges. If the rest of you are still working on your answers, that’s fine; I won’t take off any points for lateness.

I happened upon an online discussion yesterday about voting by mail, in particular, the Special Election in District 7 to fill the seat held by the late Elijah Cummings. As I watched the familiar arguments unfold, I had an unusual epiphany.

It seems to me that the two dominant political parties start at the same place when it comes to voting but where each goes from there is indicative of their respective world views.

The statement might begin: Voting is so important that....

And one party finishes it like this: we must put in place careful restrictions in order to make sure that none of the unqualified and no bad actors can sully this important process.

The other party:... we must do whatever we can to remove barriers so that all citizens may participate in this important process.

Beneath it all, members of one party seems to believe that “if I am good at heart, my neighbor is likely to be the same.” The other party leans more towards, “I know I would do the right thing but I just can’t trust that other fella.” Is this one distinction the heart of all the differences between the two?

I wonder.

Warning: this is where the post wanders into unusual territory.

These differences put me in mind of how Holy Communion is viewed in different Christian denominations. For non-Christians: Communion is a re-enactment of the last supper that Jesus of Nazareth shared with his disciples.

The jumping off point here is: Receiving Communion is such a holy experience that...

In the Roman Catholic Church: ...you must be baptized and a member of our community of faith in order to receive it, so that you don’t receive without full and necessary faith and understanding.

In other Protestant denominations:...we welcome all to come to the table and receive its blessings with us.

Now, lest you think I have completely lost my mind, I am not suggesting that one political party is aligned with one particular religious denomination. But I am wondering if there is a deep difference at play here, one that causes some to look at the challenges of the world and say “yes, and” or “yes, but”.

I am not inviting any responses which bash specific political parties, or, for that matter, religious denominations. I welcome thoughtful responses to this seeming dichotomy. Can it ever be bridged? Do you think I’m on the wrong track altogether? Do you think there exists a possible world in which these two ways of thinking could be “better together”?

At the moment I am not feeling hopeful on that last front.

Here Comes the Judge

Good morning, Columbia/HoCo! I slept in this morning on account of the rainy weather. Perhaps I need to start setting my alarm again.

I’ll make this brief. I have a question today: why do we elect judges? I find it odd. Then again, I still don’t really comprehend why we elect the Howard County Sheriff, either.

I’m not looking for testimonials from candidates here. I’m hoping that some of my politically savvy readers will come out of the woodwork and explain this. Perhaps you are a student of judicial history. Fill me in.

Is electing judges, rather than appointing them, the best way to go? What should citizens look for in a judicial candidate? What makes for an informed voter?

Since I have all this extra time on my hands, I might as well use it to educate myself.

Essential Bunny

Children across the state of Maryland must have been thrilled on Friday at the news the Governor Hogan had declared the Easter Bunny an essential worker, just in time for the ‘legendary’ hare’s hoppy weekend activities.

I had a similar thrill on Friday when I learned to true identity of the Easter Bunny. It turns out she goes to my church.

Of course, I had long suspected this was the case but couldn’t be sure. Every year this mild-mannered parishioner creates an extraordinary Easter Egg Hunt for all the children of our church. When the bigger kids ran roughshod over the little ones, she created two separate Easter Egg Hunts to level the playing field. If she saw anyone was disappointed in their haul, she took note to make things even better the next year.

Of course the Easter Bunny doesn’t put her feet up all the other days of the year. You always suspected there was more to the story, right? How could anyone with such a giving spirit work only one or two days out of the 365?

Once the responsibilities of egg delivery are laid to rest for the year, next up for our industrious friend is the church flea market. This effort takes a lot of work (and a lot of other bunnies)  to pull off, and the end result is a substantial donation to charity. You’re not surprised that the Easter Bunny would be working to pay down school children's lunch debt, now, are you? I thought not.

As summer hits its peak our Easter Bunny is going through flyers from all the local stores, going on a hunt of her own for the best deals on school supplies. You may think you are good at finding Easter eggs but your skills don’t come close to hers as she scores ten pocket folders for a penny or bonus pencils with a ten dollar purchase. All those back to school items? Donated to be given to area students in need.

Despite preparing for her Big Holiday the Easter Bunny has jumped right in to providing items to the Columbia Community Care group, making regular donations to support families in need during the Covid-19 crisis. That Easter Bunny:  the grass doesn’t grow under her feet.

What was the piece of information that revealed to me the identity of the Easter Bunny? A brief exchange on Facebook.

I have filled plastic Easter eggs.  If I put them in your bin tomorrow morning, will they be taken to Swansfield? Terrific!  I will have them there around 9.  I usually fill them for the church's Easter egg hunt...

I felt something in my heart. When I read those words I just knew. Even in the face of stay-at-home church celebrations and extended families separated from one another, the Easter Bunny was finding a way to bring joy.

I’m not going to reveal the Easter Bunny’s true identity because she doesn’t like to be made much of. And, besides, that would take the fun out of it. You don’t have to take my word for it, either. It’s not so much important to know “who” it is. What’s important to me is that the Easter Bunny does a whole lot more than you ever imagined and that it’s no stretch of the imagination to say that’s she’s an essential worker.

One more thing. The Easter Bunny would never claim credit for herself alone. I suspect she has quite a few helpers in Columbia/HoCo, throughout Maryland, and around the world. Maybe you’re one of them.

Rant Redux

I’ve already posted this on my personal social media accounts but it bears repeating:

You’re not a teacher. You’re not an administrator. You have no idea how a school system of almost 59,000 students operates. But somehow you are an expert at knowing what a transition to distance learning looks like for students from k-12, some in poverty, some who don’t speak English, and special needs students. All this during an ongoing international pandemic!!! You think you are an expert because you have this deep-seated feeling that people like you are not getting good service. That you’re not getting your money’s worth. 

You are breaking my heart, Howard County.

Some folks out there are having a hard time understanding what their responsibilities are during a time of crisis. And I’m not talking about mask-wearing and social distancing. I’m talking about what it means to be a parent when your community is weighed down by the effects of a quickly spreading and lethal virus.

I can’t for the life of me understand how anyone’s reaction to this could be “they owe me”. What part of unprecedented national emergency do they not understand? Imagine we are New Orleans after Katrina. Or Puerto Rico after Maria. Imagine this is London during the Blitz. This is the crisis of our lifetimes and they want to know why they aren’t getting better service?

Their children feel the anger and bitterness. They will absorb the disrespect for the school system. These parents are teaching that, in a time of great suffering, it’s all about demanding to speak to a manager. The lesson is: poor children don’t matter, special needs children don’t matter. The teachers and administrators and their families don’t matter. Only we matter.

Teachers and administrators who travel in the same social media circles read their diatribes and are demoralized. With every rant they weaken the bonds that connect dedicated professionals to the community they serve. As schools scramble to create the best learning experience they can, the specter of angry parents looms large.

We all drink from the same social media water, friends. What happens when you poison the well?

You are truly breaking my heart, Howard County.

What Essential Means

Who sustains my existence right now?

The people who work to keep the grocery and drug store running.
The people who make sure food and medicine get to the stores.
The people working a skeleton crew at restaurants to provide carry-out options.
The people who make home deliveries of all sorts.
The people who pull the orders at the stores or in warehouses.
The people who deliver mail for the US Postal Service.
The people who collect trash, recycling, and yard waste.
The people who process those materials once they are collected.

The people, the people, the people.

The people whose jobs in many cases do not pay a living wage.

The people who struggle to make ends meet in Howard County because housing costs are exhorbitant and residents fight the kind of housing density that would make it more affordable.

During the pandemic the work of these people has been identified as essential. It’s too bad we have not recognized that before now.

My social media feeds are full of the complaints of the privileged. I wonder if many of them are also the type to say, “if you can’t afford to live here, go somewhere else.” Or, “renters don’t add to a community, only home-owners do.” “Those low-paying jobs aren’t really skilled.”  Perhaps they also believe that Howard County is full, or dangerously over-crowded. I can’t know for sure.

I do know that the people I am most grateful for, who sustain my existence and that of so many others, are the ones I’d rather be sharing Columbia/HoCo with. Those of us whose primary condition right now is to benefit from the labor of others who are not paid enough, are not sufficiently protected  from the coronavirus, and whose housing choices are woefully inadequate  need to do some hard thinking about who really belongs in Howard County.

My social media feeds also contains stories of those who are using their time, talents, and resources to support local needs wherever they arise. Their work restores my faith in our community as much as the rants of the well-to-do deplete it.

Who should our community be for? Who “deserves” to live and thrive here? Would it be cynical to say, “If you’re not providing an essential service, you should just live somewhere else”?

Yes, of course it would be cynical. And cruel. And it’s certainly not my job to decide who belongs. Maybe this crisis will move the conversation on who deserves to be here, once and for all.

What a relief that would be.

Wings

In Monday’s post I took a look at the timeline of local LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations. Today I’ll focus on CARY and their BOE Candidate Survey.  Since CARY was founded specifically to address the needs of LGBTQ+ students, it makes sense that they would place a high value on finding out the knowledge and commitment of potential board members on issues that directly impact those students.

I invite you to read all of the responses, or, at the very least, the ones that apply to the candidates you will be choosing from.

I’ll be blunt here. Issues that impact LGBTQ+ students are life and death issues. Bullying, the experience of minority stress in school situations, and elevated risk for homelessness due to parental rejection all contribute to an increased risk for suicide. Incidents of suicide and attempted suicide for Transgender students are linked with whether or not young people are supported by the use of their correct name and pronouns. Numerous scientific studies bear all of this out.

The twenty-nine members of CARY who read and assessed each candidate’s answers decided on a letter grade for each.  An explanation accompanies their evaluation. I noticed that one of the words used multiple times in CARY’s description of how they assessed candidates’ answers is “non-affirming”.  That led me to ponder just what the term “affirming” means in this context.

I found a thorough and explicit description in a public document from the New York City Foster Care System about Identifying LGBTQ Affirming Homes. As I read though the many ways in which foster parents can affirm their LGBTQ+ foster children, it became clear to me that affirming means “life-affirming”.  In a sense, the NYC Foster Care System is saying: these are the expectations we set forth for ourselves because we value the lives of these children and are committed to taking the actions necessary for them to stay alive.

Shouldn’t that be the expectation we have for every member of the Board of Education?  If one is not life-affirming, what then? Life-negating? Life-neutral?

If your child’s life hung in the balance, would life-neutral be enough? If any child’s life hangs in the balance, is anything less than life-affirming acceptable?

For those whose lives are not connected to LGBTQ + family members and/or friends, views on this particular set of issues may seem like ’just a matter of opinion.’ They may assess those opinions on some kind of an internal sliding scale, perhaps comparing them to their own or those held by members of the dominant culture. To those people, CARY’s assessments may seem harsh, because to them it’s just a personal viewpoint and not a matter of life and death.

Take the time to read the candidates’ responses and take note of those who chose not to participate at all. Your own internal grading system may not be the same as that of the members of CARY. Keep in mind, however, that the core mission of this group is to support LGBTQ+ young people in schools. The questions they ask are aligned with best practices in keeping these students alive, helping them grow, and eventually, take flight into the world beyond our school system.

As a youth advocacy organization new to the Howard County scene, CARY has chosen shine a light on issues in our schools that have often been ignored or avoided. For candidates to hedge, equivocate, or demur shows an inability to face head-on the responsibility to lift up all students.  And if they can’t - or won’t - lift up all students, they shouldn’t expect our vote.