Village Green/Town²

  Today’s word is “disenfranchised.” A lot of people are throwing it around lately. A lot of people don’t appear to know what it means.  The Columbia Association has not disenfranchised any villages or the people who live in them. This is what has occurred: The CA Board of Directors voted to remove three members for violating their own ethics policy. The CA Board created an enforceable ethics policy. After a thorough investigation, they enforced it. Which part of that do you disagree with? Ethics? Investigation? Enforcement? Friends, we need to talk. Something about the CA rep/Board Members that many people may not understand is that, unless they are personally motivated to be responsive to their own communities, they aren’t really required to do so. Honestly, you can’t make them. I’ve tried. When I served on the Oakland Mills Village Board our CA Rep would attend meetings, participate in discussions with the board about community issues, receive complete feedback about our c...

  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...

  Meanwhile, back in the Adult Zone… Cured/18th & 21st is marketing a new Adult Happy Meal special. What makes it “Adult”? A Vodka Martini.  I myself do not need a Vodka Martini in order to be an adult but perhaps a Happy Meal does. I wonder if the folks with the Golden Arches have any proprietary trademark over that term? For another take on being an adult here’s this promo from Sobar Maryland outlining their Sobar Secure program. Sobar Secure® helps restaurants, bars, and venues incorporate or add adult nonalcoholic beverages to their menus while attracting a rapidly growing customer base seeking alcohol-free options. Through training, sourcing guidance, and national visibility, Sobar Secure® partners learn how to confidently serve non-alcoholic beer, wine, and cocktails while increasing guest satisfaction and beverage sales. Having watched friends try to find a decent NA beer or get a restaurant to finagle an appealing mocktail, I know that there’s a need for this. Bei...

  Recently a friend posed this question on Facebook: Question for you all: What does it mean to be a true American patriot? It made me uncomfortable. I countered: What would you say is the opposite of a true American patriot? I have such a hard time worth the word patriot because of how it has been poisoned by the Right. I have become so conflicted that I can’t even put it into words. So then I wondered what the opposite of patriot is.   I suppose I was asking what qualities would indicate that someone was not patriotic.  To be fair, that wasn’t the question they were asking.  So, what is patriotism? Merriam Webster defines it as: love for or devotion to one's country. That’s it. Pretty simple, isn’t it? So, what is “American” patriotism?  It depends on what you love and what aspects of this country you are devoted to, I guess. I came up with this answer: The simplest definition for me would be that an American patriot is someone who believes that life, ...

  Here we go. From WBAL TV Weather:  Suggestions from the good folks from the Capital Weather Gang: Staying safe in the heat wave , Dan Stillman, Capital Weather  Extreme heat kills more people in the United States than any other weather hazard, according to National Weather Service data. Somewhat closer to home, this notice at the top of the Howard County Libraries web site: During extreme heat, our library branches are cooling centers. Click this link for a list of additional cooling centers: https://www.howardcountymd.gov/community-sustainability/warming-and-cooling-center-information The link takes you to this map on HoCoGov. While you’re over at the library website you might as well check out what they’ve got going on this summer. Right now the May/June program guide is up but that will be changing over soon. Howard County Library System Program Guide: May/June Did you know that HCLS is interested in your library stories? This link will tell you what you need to kno...