Village Green/Town²

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F ³: A Reason for Living

The Maryland State Department of Education proposes increasing instructional time for mathematics at the Middle School level. This will necessitate decreasing instructional time for other subjects. Want to comment? Time is running out. Revised Mathematics Policy Implementation Timeline & Secondary Mathematics Program , Comment form Every time I see those “other” subjects reduced or eliminated in schools I want to throw things. I am not a violent person. Students are not geese to be force-fed with the aim of producing foie gras somewhere down the line. They are human. We are preparing them to have full human lives. We have to give them a reason to live. The more we narrow educational experiences, the less kids have to connect with and care about. What kind of a life is that? It’s also an ineffective methodology for education. We can’t simply pour content onto children and young people. They need to have the ability to absorb it. Reducing time spent in areas ...

When Farm to Fork is @#$%&-ed

It’s Farmer’s Market Season. It’s CSA season. It’s bury your face in buttery, sweet corn on the cob season. Fresh, juicy raspberries. Salads with every variety of greens. It’s the very best of summer brought to you by our local farmers. And now it’s cyclosporiasasis season, too. Information shared by the Howard County Health Department Without nationwide diligence in monitoring food safety issues, our food supply is compromised. What we once anticipated as special summer treats are now something to be feared. And it’s not simply a “special treat” issue. Access to fresh fruits and vegetables is an adequate nutrition issue. It’s an addressing food insecurity and hunger issue. It’s also a terrible blow to our HoCoLocal farms. Farm map from HoCoGov While there is information available* about safe ways to consume fresh produce, many folks are likely to deal with this current crisis in food safety by avoiding it altogether. What happens, then, to our farmers? And to local r...

Newsworthy

Where do you get your local news? Do you like to read it? Hear it? Watch it? I’ve written a lot over the years about print media when it comes to local journalism. Lately I’ve been starting to look at how area television stations cover Columbia/HoCo. I got into a bit of trouble over on Reddit for speaking bluntly about WBFF Fox 45 reporting. Go away, Fox News! If you look at the general output of Fox locally the vast majority of stories skew "crime", "danger", "fear" while other significant news is ignored. By trouble I mean that it was my first experience with being downvoted. Obviously I’ll live, but - - I was surprised. So let’s look at what comes up in a basic Google search for Howard County for each of our Baltimore area tv stations. WJZ CBS News: WMAR 2 News: WBAL-TV: Now look at WBFF Fox 45: Do you see it? The first three stations are covering a variety of topics. WBFF, the Sinclair station, shows 100 per cent crime stories in the top six hits on...

Ten Years Tell a Story

From July, 2026: Maryland schools rank 10th worst for racial segregation , Liz Bowie, Baltimore Banner Halley Potter, director of PK-12 education at the Century Foundation, said racial and economic integration matters for the long-term success of students of all races and economic status. “We have decades of research that show that integration promotes better academic outcomes, better critical thinking skills, better college attainment rates,” she said. From May, 2016: Eliminating racial divide in Howard school suspensions requires community effort, county leaders say, Lisa Philip, Baltimore Sun I blogged about this article in July of 2016 - - ten years ago. Lisa Philip’s article, about the racial divide in Howard County Schools, focuses on the continuing disparity in the suspension rate between white students and students of color. Even with indication of recent improvement, the rate for black students is still almost seven times that of whites, and well above ...

Never? Well, Hardly Ever

I’ve heard of Never on Sunday, but I’d never heard of Never at Centennial. I was curious. Was this going to be a true confession about canoodling in cars, or a warning about local skinny dipping spots? The post on Reddit started with the words “Never at Centennial Lake.” Earlier this summer, I saw several beavers swimming in Lake Elkhorn in Owen Brown. On Friday, I saw a large beaver swimming in Centennial Lake. Interesting since there doesn’t seem to be much Beaver damage to trees around Centennial Lake, which is normally one of the telltale signs of a resident Beaver population. It wasn’t what I was expecting. It was a delightful conversation about HoCoLocal beavers. And muskrats*. What’s the difference, you ask? Beaver, from Wikipedia Muskrat, also from Wikipedia If you are a nature lover and/or curious about local creatures in our community, this one’s for you. Have you had any interesting run ins with local wildlife recently? Let me know. ...

Inns and Outs

I’m thinking this morning about my hotel adventures last summer while our bedroom was being rebuilt. Do I hold a grudge? Possibly. We started out at the Doubletree (Twin Knolls) because it was quite near our house. We reasoned that the location would make it easier to meet with contractors, deal with mail and packages, etc. It started out well enough. The room was comfortable and they had cookies. Soon we realized we were getting something we didn’t want and it was a serious problem. The Doubletree pumps chemical air fresheners throughout the hotel. In the lobby. In the dining spaces. In all the hallways and public spaces. Possibly in the elevators. I was allergic. It triggered my asthma every time I left our room. I reached out online to Doubletree Corporate to ascertain whether our hotel was required to pump chemical fragrances. They said the usual corporate things and told me to contact the front desk. The man at the front desk said they couldn't possibly turn them...