Yes, I remember the celebrations for the Bicentennial. I was in high school. Yes, it felt so much better than what we are experiencing today. I’ve seen a lot of such sentiment online recently. But what I don’t remember from 1976 were all the things that I didn’t see. I was a white teenager in an upper-middle class community. I attended an integrated high school that had been integrated through busing and, in four years, there were only two Black students in my “academic” classes. We were in the same building but were still in many ways completely separated. I knew about the Civil Rights Movement and believed in equal rights for everyone but had precious little opportunity to interact with people who didn’t look like me or live like me. I knew that some people were probably racists but had no understanding of continuing racist systems - - how racism was deeply embedded into the law, and financial systems, and even in schools. I was raised by nice white liberals to b...
Columbia has pools, parks, and pathways. We have concerts at the lakefront. We have a mall instead of a Main Street, community mailboxes, villages and village centers, interfaith centers, creative street signs and cul de sacs. But… We do not have these. Roundabout dogs. A roundabout dog (Swedish: rondellhund) is a form of street installation and public phenomenon that began in Sweden in autumn of 2006, when anonymous people began placing homemade dog sculptures in the center of roundabouts. I am not kidding. It is definitely a thing. Don't believe me? Take a look for yourself. Here are just a few I found during a search on Google images. This is not a contest or some sort of community sponsored activity. Roundabout dogs occurred spontaneously and appear at the whim of the public. No rules, requirements, or specifications. I’m not sure Columbia could handle anything as Free Form as that. Baltimore has its Salt Boxes. We’re not even allowed to decorate fire hydrants. St...