Calling All Kids!

Just in, from the Shameless Commerce Division of Village Green/Town Squared: 

"This Saturday, 9/29, from 12 pm to 2 pm, The Second Chance Saloon in Oakland Mills brings you "A Little Lunch Music."  Come enjoy lunch while Early Childhood Music Specialist Julia McCready plays DJ with your favorite Kids Tunes. Room to move and groove, and hands-on materials to explore! All children attending will receive a prize with their meals." Yes, they have a Kid's Menu!


If you are the parent of a young child, you know what a challenge eating out with your kids can be.  This event is for you.  We have the entire dining room, plus we often spill over into the pool room as well.  Everyone is friendly to everyone else; the wait staff is genuinely happy that you brought your children. The music is chosen with the young ones in mind.  And best of all, they can get up, wander up to the stage and dance, sing, and play rhythm instruments.

Now, this particular Saturday is jam-packed with things to do in our area:  the Fall Festival in Ellicott City, Brian Donoughe's Help-A-Child Fundraiser Happy Hour,  and Ian Kennedy's band Pineflood will be appearing at Sonoma's in the evening. Let me suggest that you start the day off right with a laid-back lunch and an experience designed purely for your children's enjoyment.

Oh, and if you like to plan ahead--my family and I will be giving free wagon rides at the Oakland Mills Cultural Arts Festival from 11 am to 1 pm on Saturday, October 6th. 

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Celebrity Sightings

Brian Donoughe is my kind of celebrity.  Not the red-carpet kind, not the reality show kind, nor the careening-out-of-control kind.  No, Brian is the best sort of celebrity--he does what he does quietly, extremely well, and doesn't go around looking for publicity.

How do I know Brian? Well, not from his frequent appearances at Merriweather, though I'm told it has been a regular gig. I met him on the Oakland Mills Village Board. He's a no-nonsense guy who hates dilly-dallying and time wasting. He wants facts, evidence, and a reasonable amount of discussion.  To my knowledge, he is probably one of the youngest Columbians to serve as chair of an Architectural Committee. He has even worked with the RAC in Oakland Mills to revise and update the rules to make them easier to read and understand. If you've ever engaged in the RAC process, you know how amazing that is.

Why should you know Brian?  What has earned him celebrity status in my eyes?

Well it has to do with his day job.  Brian is a Middle School Math teacher in the Howard County Schools.And he brought some information to the OM Board about a cause of particular concern to him.   His cause:  the Help-a-Child Fund.  I asked Brian to share some information about this charity with my readers.

"The Help-a-Child Fund is a joint charitable project of the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) and the Howard County Education Association (HCEA). Since 1992, the fund has been the last resort safety net providing retail vouchers for new clothing, coats, shoes, eyeglasses, and more, for hundreds of our students. The fund had 447 requests last school year. So far this school year we have had 112 requests.

100% of the donations go to the students. Donations are tax deductible. There is no administrative cost to the Fund. All labor and materials are donated. Really, it is the ideal charity – close to home, immediately helpful without a lot of red tape, and for children whose specific needs are identified by our own colleagues who know the child’s circumstances."


Wow. Those folks who say that the teachers don't care, that the union doesn't care about the students--do they know about this? I am guessing that they don't, because the business of this group is not to seek publicity, but to help kids.

This Saturday, September 29th, from 5:30-8:00 pm The Second Chance Saloon will be hosting a fundraiser for the Help-A-Child Fund. Don't miss your chance to support this needed (and financially efficient!) charity. Ten per cent of bar sales will be donated.

Your Celebrity Bartender for the event will be Brian Donoughe. If you're lucky you might get an autograph, or maybe he'll let you take his picture while he's mixing drinks.  But, I doubt it.

He's just not "that" kind of celebrity.  He's the Real Thing.

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Are we the New American City?

I saw this note from Friends of Bridge Columbia on Facebook:

Howard Hughes Corp. (the developers of downtown Columbia) are holding a meeting about their plans for the pedestrian/bike path connecting the hospital to Blandair this Tuesday, Sept. 4 at 6PM at Slayton House in Wilde Lake. The HHC plan differs from the Bridge Columbia plan and does not include public transit. Please plan to attend to see their plans and advocate for the Bridge Columbia concept.

As I am taking a sabbatical from going to meetings, I have to make a pitch to you folks to go and/or keep yourself informed about this project. I believe it is an important one. I don't think Columbia was called The New American City for nothing.  Innovative, appealing public transit, of which this project would be a part, is essential to our future.  And not just for Columbia, but for the entire county.

As I flipped around the channels last night, I passed a program that described some sort of casino card game which has been transformed into the process of clicking card images on a computer screen.  To be perfectly honest, I do sometimes think I'd rather participate in community meetings like this.  Meetings are over-rated. However, real-live participation remains one of the major ways we do things around here.

So, if you can, go to this meeting. Learn more, think more.  And share your thoughts here.

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Crazymakers in the Community

Look out, Howard County! There are Crazymakers on the loose in your community!

Do I have your attention?

You may not have heard the term Crazymaker before, but you probably know one.  In her book, The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron describes a Crazymaker like this:

"If they can swing it, they are the star. Everyone around them functions as supporting cast, picking up their cues, their entrances and exits, from the Crazymaker’s whims."

Does this ring a bell? Have you served on a committee with this person?  Attended a public meeting that featured the antics of one? Perhaps you have read about the consequences of  a Crazymaker's actions in the local news?


Take a look at this post from Escaping Mediocrity. Blogger Sarah Robinson lays it out clearly:

Crazymakers cannot abide or respect a schedule – least of all yours. 
Crazymakers expect special treatment.  
Crazymakers discount your reality.
Crazymakers make others feel small. 
Crazymakers are expert saboteurs.

There has been a bit of a stir this week about online bullying as it pertains to adults: possibly even bloggers and the commentators who participate in the blogging realm. This started me wondering about Crazymaking and its effects on our community, because Crazymaking takes bullying to a whole new level.

You see, Crazymakers "are also VERY charismatic, often charming and incredibly interesting. Which is how we get sucked in."

Some years ago I served on the HOA Board for my community.  Directly before the spring CA elections, a guest speaker came to talk to us about the issues in the upcoming election.  The predictions were dire. Our visitor believed in the true vision of Columbia, but at the same time, heartless developers were going around, handpicking candidates who would do their bidding to run against the true Columbians.  It was pretty convincing. This person was, by all appearances, calm, rational, and pleasant.

 I found out later that what was said was completely untrue.

Guess what?  I'm not going to name names.  I want you to do that for yourself.  Where do you see manipulation, grandstanding, temper tantrums?  Where do you see charm that serves as a precursor to poison?

When we have Crazymakers in our personal lives, we have to make hard choices about what to do.  Do we set clearer boundaries? Stand up for ourselves more assertively?  Or must we separate ourselves completely from the toxic behavior which is harming us, and possibly, our families, co-workers, or friends?

But what do we do with Crazymakers that want to dominate the public arena?  And, how do we respond to Crazymaking behavior adopted by groups in order to forward their agendas?

I realize that I am running a risk by presuming that none of us are Crazymakers.  A little self-examination at this juncture wouldn't hurt, I guess.

Bullying in any form is serious and needs to be faced.  Bullying that comes dressed with a charming face is insidious and just as harmful.  If you see something--say something.

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Is No News "Good"?

Once upon a time, there were places that everybody knew and loved.  You know what I mean, right? Places like The Last Chance Saloon, Michael's, Rocky Run, Produce Galore, Bun Penny.  Everybody went there. At least, that's what I've heard. You can probably name some others, equally treasured.

But times changed. People changed. The economy changed. And then, one day, they weren't there.  Not all at once of course--little by little. Well-known pieces of the community broke away and crumbled.  Some people were angry, some were grieving.  Some asked, "why?"

"Why didn't we know?" 
"If we had known they were in trouble, we would have made a point of supporting them."
 "It's not our fault this happened."
 If someone had just told us, we would never have let this happen."

I don't know the origin of the adage, "No news is good news."  It seems an awful lot like, "If you don't hear anything, it must be okay."  Hindsight tell us the falsity in that. No news? What if we just weren't listening?

Last week, HocoBloggers Tom Coale and HowChow took a look at a tragic news story in Ellicott City, but they heard something more than the headlines.  Underlying all the basic pieces of the story was another story: of a community of merchants who are our neighbors. Hit by one crisis after another in recent years, they were facing an extended closure of Main Street while clean-up from the train accident took place.

Something really marvelous happened because they were listening. And they asked a different question, "What if?"

"What if we can do something to help?"
"What if we can use social media to make it a 'happening'?"
"What if our small, individual acts can create a bigger wave of support?"

Among the long list of things that I am not is: an economist. However, I do know that businesses struggle and fail for a variety of reasons, and that it isn't as simple as well-meaning folks charging in on white steeds to save the day. And under no circumstances am I saying that any of these businesses are in danger of failing. I don't have any knowledge of that, and it is not the point of this post.

The point is about friendship. Do you know who makes the best friends?  People who listen.  Really listen, and pay attention.  If they haven't heard from you, they don't assume that "No News Is Good News". Perhaps you are depressed, or swamped at work.  Maybe you have fallen and you can't get up.

Good friends make good community members. And good community members make, well--they make  a bustling Main Street on a weekend in August, for one thing.

What else could they--we--do?

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To Have and to Hold

I love books.  I have loved books all my life.  I remember the Little Golden Books of my childhood--Mister Dog, Hansel and Gretel, The Poky Little Puppy.  I remember my mother reading to me at bedtime from a book of children's poems. Oh, how I wished that I had seen the battle between the Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat, or that there really was a Sugarplum Tree in the Garden of Shuteye Town!

When I was quite young, my grandfather gave me a book that changed my life. It was The Bennett Cerf Book of Pop Up Riddles. It was one of the first books that was ever given to me, to have for my very own.  I was the youngest of three and had plenty of books in the hand-me-down sort of way.  But this was a book that had been meant for me to have from the very start.

It was some book, alright.  The pages were shiny cardboard, with brightly-colored illustrations that could open up, pop up, slide over and spring out.  No one in my family had ever seen anything like it. My mother warned me to be quite careful with it.  I had terrible fine motor skills as a child and I'm sure she thought I would destroy it through frustration or lack of finesse.

Not this book.  I won't tell you how many years have passed, but this book has made it through me and my two daughters, and it is still completely functional. (Not perfect. A little "loved.") My daughters knew that they had to ask special permission to read it, and have heard me repeat Mother's admonishment to me countless times, "You have to be careful with it.  Books are our friends."

Books are our friends. Scientific studies and anecdotal observations show that poor children have very little exposure to books in the home, if at all.  It is one of the significant strikes against them when they begin school.  The seeds of school success, fostered through many a bedtime read-aloud, are unknown to them.

Our schools have media centers, and our county has wonderful libraries. But I can tell you from personal experience that nothing can replace the feeling of having a beautiful book of your very own: your book, to read, and read again; to bring for Show and Tell; to sleep with, to dream about, and wake up with. To have and to hold.

The Community of Monarch Mills is holding a Book Drive to benefit the children of their neighboring school, Guilford Elementary.  This is a great cause, and a fabulous way for the Monarch Mills folks to make friends in our area.  Please click this link to find out how you can help.  They ask for gently used books, and many of us have a few we can share.  But I'm probably going to go over to Daedalus, too,where my limited funds will go a long way.

 Well, I'm a sucker for new books.  And I want to spread the love around. 

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Sometimes A Bunny Is Just A Bunny

     It began, quite innocently, on Facebook:

I am so glad that we finally got the front bed weeded, cleared and mulched, so that  Mama Bunny could dig a nice little hole and have her kits there-- three, born today, I think.

We put out some carrots and grapes for Mama-- looks like she tried a carrot.

         Pictures??? We saw baby bunnies at the fair yesterday. SO cute!

        

When the mama saw us she ran away, and babies disappeared into a deeper part of the nest. So, no pics yet. When we came back the nest was beautifully covered up and one of the baby carrots was in small pieces.

         Awwwwww. Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail.

         Maybe Peter will be more daring...

Blackberries! That's what I need!

So it's raining out. Just positioned an open umbrella over nest site. Sheesh! Could the babies drown in there? #bunnymom

             Does the name "Darwin" come to mind?

 For a baby bunny? Are you saying it's the survival of the fittest? Am I interfering with The Prime Directive?

                 I'm just saying, the mommy bunny who builds her nest where the rain can fill the nest might not become a grandma bunny.

                                                                            *****

Then I began to wonder.  Am I looking at a collision of world views here?  Is my impulse, to help the mama and baby bunnies living in my front flower bed, a typical "liberal" intervention?  Does my friend's reference to Darwin show a Libertarian or Conservative frame of reference?  At this point I was mentally flapping my arms in panic trying to figure out if the desire to help the helpless meant a long term destruction of what I hoped to support, or whether the opposing point of view was...

                                                                           *****  

   

                I once put a beach umbrella over a bunny nest that was out in the open sun - their little lives are already so precarious!

                                                                          ******

Another friend had chimed in. Her response broke my overactive mental machinations, and I smiled. Sometimes a bunny in your front flower bed is just a bunny.It doesn't require you to be perfect, or solve the problems of the world.

I've done a lot of reading on rabbits since then. I've learned quite a bit about how mothers care for their newborns.  But I haven't seen the babies again.  We've seen the mother, (at least I think so) nibbling on grass as darkness falls.  So she may be nursing them when we're asleep. She may have moved them once we discovered the nest. Or they may not have survived.

As the campaign season heats up the news and social media this Fall, I am going to try to remember that not everything you see and hear is a springboard to politics.

In other words, sometimes a bunny is just a bunny.

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