Village Green/Town²

  In recent years we’ve subscribed to a food delivery service called Hungryroot. Like many companies these  days, they have what is called an online community on Facebook. Normally this is a place where people share recipe ideas, their favorite menu items, and/or ask questions. The other day we had what felt like an anonymous troll visit. Like it or don’t, just FYI…all Thomas Farms meats are Halal.  There were a variety of responses. Most were of the, “Why did you think this post was necessary?” variety. I decided to go the innocently cheery route. Good to know! Now I can feel comfortable recommending Hungry Root to my Muslim friends. I was much disturbed by the person who responded with the 🤮 emoji.  I wondered what that commenter was thinking. I wondered if they even knew what halal meant. Our old friend Google told me what people are asking when it comes to “halal.” Here’s the top ten for two searches. Two thoughts: 1) good for people who made the effort to try t...

  The continuing saga of invisible villages… You probably know that Columbia has ten villages.   Nine of them have central shopping/activity areas called Village Centers. Town Center does not - - I’m guessing that is because they have the Mall. As a newbie back in the early oughts, I was so proud of myself for familiarizing myself with information and lore about my new home in Columbia.This is why I was especially puzzled by ads claiming to represent Columbia’s Village Centers - - that didn’t include all of them.  That irked me. Here’s a recent one. The answer I got was that these particular Village Centers are owned and managed by one company: Kimco. The others aren’t. It wasn’t going to be as straightforward as I wanted it to be.  I still think you shouldn’t bill yourself as “Columbia’s Village Centers” if you don’t include all of them. It’s misleading if not downright factually incorrect. Oh, well. I delved into a recent article about Columbia’s Village Cent...

  A while back I posted this image from Marketa because it looked homemade to me.  I reached out to Marketa on Facebook and they told me it was legit. This week I saw this image promoting a local yoga session: Do you see it? The eerie similarities? Now I’m not sure either one was made by a human and I hate living like this. What do you think? ***** August brings one of my favorite anniversaries. You know the one. Apparently August is the month for this sort of thing. It looks like DC has joined the club. I still think an accordion is better. Also, there’s a difference between “electric” and “electronic” and I suspect this writer doesn’t know the difference.  *****  True confession: I can’t make myself read this article. “We’re All Over the Flood”: A Decade Later, Ellicott City Thrives Again , Julekha Dash, Baltimore Magazine It’s not because I think there’s anything wrong with the piece. It’s the title. “We’re All Over the Flood.” I don’t think of myself as superstit...

  I was gratified to see that yesterday’s topic resonated with so many readers. The responses confirm the degree to which the housing shortage has squeezed all kinds of people in our community. At the risk of repeating myself, the point of writing about this for me is not to put the focus on “now our kids can’t get apartments!”  The most appalling housing insecurity and injustice is and has been experienced by Black and Hispanic residents. And, for far too long, their needs weren’t considered reason enough to push for a reasonable quantity of rental housing.  The end result is that there isn’t enough rental housing for anyone who needs it and - - surprise! - - our choices as a community eventually impact us, too.  Towards the end of the day I discovered that I wasn’t the only person to write about the coalition of community groups working with the Horizon Foundation on Housing Justice. I refer you to the post on the HoCo APFO Facebook* page. (It’s not long. You have ...

  We want our kids to have the best. The best neighborhoods, the best schools, the best educational experiences, the best hobbies and activities, the best everything.  We hope all of that prepares them for the best colleges and/or career opportunities. We hope they will have happy lives. But we don’t want them to have homes. At least, not anywhere in Columbia/HoCo.  Before you protest, take a look at this listing on Redfin . I bumped into this listing on Bluesky along with commentary from Barbara Samuels, a knowledgeable Fair Housing and Affordable Housing attorney in Baltimore: 10,000 sq ft, 6BRs, 7BA, 4 car garage, guest house & pool. Must be small apt building & ADU right? No, not allowed! It is what passes for single family outside the HoCo PFA in western Ellicott City. How does it make sense to allow this use [for] 5 valuable acres but not apartments? I’ll be honest with you. Big, fancy houses houses like this used to spark my imagination. Now they just make ...

  There have been some interesting comments in response to the County’s proposal to institute additional school safety zones.  Howard County wants to add 18 new school zones for increased traffic enforcement, Jess Nocera, Baltimore Banner No one, as far as I know, is in favor of speeding and/or other unsafe driving around children and young people. On the other hand, very few want to see more speed cameras, either. Some suggest that the move is purely to generate more revenue for the county rather than to protect safety around schools. Here’s a response on the Banner website itself: Yep, just more revenue for the People's Republic of Howard County. Can you believe my tax bill went DOWN when I moved ... and not to Florida but to New Jersey. HoCo's gold-plated services don't come free. I have questions. What constitutes a gold-plated service? Why do you think that gold-plated service should be free when it comes to government? Where in your life are you able to get gold-plat...

  Substack . Do you know what it is? Lots of cool people have them. You can generate income for your writing by charging a subscription fee if you so desire. Blogs are passé. Some ‘content creators’ have moved to podcasts, TikTok, even Instagram or Threads to get their content out into the world. And some, more serious writers perhaps, announce the creation of a Substack and invite you to subscribe. Here’s why I don’t have one.: Revealed: How Substack makes money by hosting Nazi newsletter s, Geraldine McKelvie, The Guardian (2/7/2026) It’s not a short piece but it’s worth the read. The Guardian leads off with this: Site [Substack] takes a cut of subscriptions to content that promotes far-right ideology, white supremacy and antisemitism. A more recent article from the CBC elaborates: But over the last few years, users and journalists have noted that a number of Substack newsletters promote white supremacy, Holocaust denial and neo-Nazism. An investigation by the  Guardian in...