Village Green/Town²

  The last day of the year. A day that prompts me to make sense of the last twelve months and to look at what I wrote a year ago.  There is no, absolutely, no making sense of the last twelve months. So here are a few things I wrote a year ago: Community disappointments? I think the long slow fizzle of the Lakefront Library is such a missed opportunity but there’s no denying it didn’t set everyone aglow with spark of possibility the way it did for me.  We still desperately need more housing.  Resource-hoarding and racism still hide behind pleasant and respectable faces.  - - Joys and Sorrows, 12/31/2024 I have some small hope for the Downtown Library. Despite recent developments I can’t assume it’s a sure thing. We will be electing a new County Executive and their commitment to seeing this project through will be critical.  Speaking of the race for County Executive, I take a dim view of folks who think it doesn’t matter what political party you belong to, es...

I managed to get back to sleep after my usual date with three thirty am. If anyone had told my young self that one day I’d view six am as “sleeping in” I would not have believed them.  Here’s some fun stuff for your day. The Trader Joe’s has honored creative knitter Sam Barsky with a mural in their Pikesville store and the Today show covered it.  I wrote about Barsky back in 2022 after I came across a photo of his Old Ellicott City sweater.  It turns out that the bag fee (that some folks thought would be the end of civilization as we know it) is doing exactly what it was meant to do. Shocker. Instagram post from Live Green Howard  Unrelated to the fee, 2025 was the year I finally got the hang of remembering reusable bags and actually using them,  If you were thinking about going to the Ellicott City Volunteer Fire Holiday Train Garden this year…it’s not too late! The train garden holds a special place in my heart because it was the first local thing I decided...

  “Where did you find light this year?” In a gathering to mark the Solstice, friends and neighbors stood in a circle in the cold night air. Folks chimed in as the spirit moved them. I found the light in… nature neighbors  children protest friends loved ones community walking I can’t remember all that was said. Candles were lit. The light was passed around the circle - - candle to candle, person to person.  There’s a poem by Emily Dickinson which begins, “I sing to use the Waiting…” We sang a choral setting of this by American composer Alice Parker when I was a student at Mount Holyoke. The ending of the poem has stayed with me through hard times. We journey to the Day And tell each other how We sang To Keep the Dark away. What a dark year it has been. It has been harder than ever to find light. If I hadn’t been standing in this group of friends in a quiet backyard gathering in Columbia, Maryland I’m not sure I would have made myself really think about it. I’m still thinki...

  This article about the Baltimore food scene made me shake my head this morning.    The foods Baltimore put on repeat in 202 5, Chris Franzoni for The Baltimore Banner There’s not a thing wrong with the article. It outlines the foods that Baltimoreans loved this year and where they found them. Every single place mentioned is an indie, a mom and pop, if you will. The menu items described are varied in flavors and cost.  It was a reminder to me of how different it is in Howard County. For the past few years we’ve been experiencing the frenzied proliferation of The Hot Chicken Place. Even if your favorite food is hot chicken, you probably don’t require a world in which the majority* of restaurants that open specialize in hot chicken. There’s something vaguely weird and inorganic about this local surge and I think I’m beginning to understand it.  To my mind it’s very much like what happens when you express an interest in a particular topic on Facebook and suddenly ...

  Today in Howard County: 2025 Kwanzaa Celebration Saturday,  December 27, 12:30 - 4:30 pm  Harriet Tubman Cultural Center Presented through the collaboration of: Calvin Ball and the Office of the County Executive The Howard County Office of Human Rights & Equity Harriet Tubman Cultural Center Howard County Department of Recreation & Parks From the event page: Join us for Howard County's annual Kwanzaa Celebration and immerse yourself in the rich cultural heritage and values that this unique holiday embodies! Together, we will explore the seven core principles, or "Nguzo Saba," which are the foundation of Kwanzaa: Unity (Umoja), Self-Determination (Kujichagulia), Collective Work and Responsibility (Ujima), Cooperative Economics (Ujamaa), Purpose (Nia), Creativity (Kuumba), and Faith (Imani). Whether you're new to Kwanzaa or have celebrated it for years, there's something for everyone to learn and enjoy. Don't miss this opportunity to connect, reflect, ...

  They’re not on any calendars. You won’t find a rite for them in any religious prayer book. They don’t come with a day off work or media coverage.  They are holidays nonetheless. The day a premature infant finally comes home from the hospital. The day you signed to purchase your first home. The date when an adoption was finalized, a dissertation was successfully defended, a loved one came home, safe, from military duty. If you remember it, if you celebrate it - - it’s a holiday. Sometimes it is a day you honor but cannot celebrate, such as the loss of someone you love. The last time you gathered together in a special place. The end of a relationship that really needed to end. Those days weigh heavily but they mean something you cannot shake. Maybe you wouldn’t want to.  Sometimes these are times of light-hearted bonding among friends or family. At my house that would be Tiger Birthday. (June 1st.) Of course the word holiday comes from a strictly religious context in whi...