Village Green/Town²

  Postcards. When you go on vacation, do you send them? Do you enjoy receiving them? Has their meaning changed over the years? Now that anyone can go online and enjoy vistas from far away places, does the shiny image of the Statue of Liberty or the Eiffel towel have the same impact? I’m inclined to believe that the relationship you have with the person who sent you the card has become far more important. Last week this postcard image popped up on BlueSky. I did not know there were Columbia postcards. Image from BlueSky account postcardbot, this card sent by Ann from Southern, Maryland, U.S.A. on December 20, 1994. Text on the reverse:  Columbia, Maryland Completed in 1967, Columbia was one of the the first of the modern planned cities. Designed by the Rouse Co., the city was termed a "garden for the growing of people." In the foreground is Lake Kittamaqundi; the background, office buildings and Columbia Mall. Does any word there leap out at you? Read the blurb again. “Compl...

  Today is one of the coolest events of the year and it’s free. Downtown Columbia Maker Faire  , Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods, 12  - 4 pm. I’m not recovered enough yet from surgery so I can’t be there but I hope you will go. If you are as intrigued as I am by this quirky and wondrous celebration of creativity, tinkering, and just plain fun - - don’t miss it!  It’s more than just looking at things. It’s a very open-ended, hands-on experience. So, if you have kids, or you happen to be someone like me…Maker Faire is for you. And there are plenty of well-cared for trees in The Park so you will have shade if you need it.  Tickets are free but you must pre-register so they know how many people to expect and how to manage the parking logistics. Downtown Columbia Maker Faire Registration  From the event page: Maker Faire is a gathering of fascinating, curious people who enjoy learning, creating, and love sharing what they can do. From engineers to artists to...

  Fear. Everyone has it. Here are my top three fears from my early childhood: Being forced to participate in gymnastics activities in PE class. Going for car rides after dark with my family. Old, wrinkled, dusty balloons. My top three today look different: Having my Social Security cut off. What the future holds for my children. Unremediated pain or asthma But I’m not here today to talk about what I’m afraid of. I here to talk about what I am not afraid of.  I am not afraid of Zohran Mamdani.  There are a lot of folks out there telling me I should be, but: I’m not. I spent some time on Thursday investigating my feelings about this and I realized I have been blessed by something that a lot of people haven’t: I have a Muslim friend.  I’m not saying: I can’t be Islamophobic because I have a Muslim friend. That’s not a claim I could fairly make because I was raised swimming in white culture and I make mistakes all the time. I am saying that I look at this candidate for...

  Good morning, beautiful people. It has been oh, so therapeutic to talk to you about my life for the past few days. But now I think I should try to get back to work.  **** Elections. We haz ‘em. If you haven’t noticed, the magic alarm clock that indicates the next election cycle has sounded. People are “declaring.” There’s some preliminary info on that over at The Merriweather Post Blog, along with commentary if you are interested.  So far I’m noticing candidates for County Executive, County Council, and State Delegate. Have I missed anything? Here’s my question. How do you feel about these upcoming local elections? What are you looking for? What issues are the most important to you?  Are there qualities of the public servants we have now that you truly value and you’d like to see more of? Are there things you really wanted out of the last election and they didn’t materialize?  I will make an embarrassing confession here: one of the things I dearly wanted out o...

First things first: thank you. Thanks to everyone who reached out yesterday , who helped yesterday, who offered words of advice and encouragement. You truly helped carry me/us through. A special thank you to Howard County Constituent Services, most especially Paul Thompson, who managed to listen with empathy and make me feel as though I was the Queen of England at the same time. There are other folks who went above and beyond but I don’t know if I have permission to name them, so: if you are reading this: thank you. I sincerely hope you know who you are.  A special shout-out to the friend who taught me the magic words: I would like to escalate this to a manager.  A quick update: I am eating breakfast at the Doubletree which, if you know where I live, is almost like walking down the street to stay with Grandma. We finally got authorization for emergency housing late yesterday afternoon. It turns out the delay in getting help from our insurance company was that someone at Libert...

    On a painfully hot Monday afternoon Mr. Howard County Teacher lay down to take a nap after a morning of music curriculum writing. As he drifted off he thought he noticed a crack on the ceiling. When he awoke it looked as though the crack was getting bigger. That’s when he heard the crackling noises. Alarmed, he grabbed his phone and sprang from the bed as the seam connecting the sheets of drywall opened up and pieces began to fall. He ran downstairs. His wife, Mrs. Retired Teacher, sat in the recliner recovering from recent abdominal surgery. She could tell from the look on his face that something was not good. As he recounted the series of events they heard a heavy thump. A big chunk of their bedroom ceiling was now on their bed.  Telephone calls were made. A report to insurance was filed. The insurance company requested more photos which is how Mr. Howard County Teacher happened to be in the bedroom when the rest of the ceiling collapsed. He escaped, as they say, wi...

  The original date on this post is June 22, 2018. I’m sure that not everything I have written has aged well. This, on the other hand, has become even more true. - - jam ***** Proactive   Leadership looks forward. It is proactive, not reactive. After the hateful rhetoric of the 2016 presidential election there were some very wise people who read the signs and saw what was coming. All those hate filled rallies on the campaign trail had everything to do with demonizing brown people at the border. Any border, any brown people. Locally in Howard County there were many who didn’t take the proposal of CB9 seriously. They accused its proponents of nothing more than petty politics. There was no danger. We were doing just fine the way we were. I wonder if any of them knew what was coming? ICE agents searching Greyhound buses demanding papers? Children separated from parents without plans for return? Travelers refused entry because of their religion? Maybe some did, and that’s exactly w...