Village Green/Town²

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Smokin’ in the Boys Room ?

Welcome to the world of the beyond weird. Wait, what? Those are not book bags and school supplies. Those look like cigars. 2nd Annual Back to School BookBag & School Supplies Drive Public Event by Beck and Becky LLC Savage-Guilford Wednesday, August 5, 5 - 9 PM When you want to show people you’re community-minded but really want to promote your cigar business… Yikes. CIGAR LOVE, big and little, it's a Lifestyle brand... #unisexsmoke #couplesmoke #singlesmoke #sexystick. We are a lifestyle brand that intensely focuses on providing a premium cigar and accessory experience to each client. This started out being a weird photo that made me laugh. Now it’s giving me The Ick. Big surprise, the flier they’ve posted for this event on their own Facebook page is unadulterated AI slop. But, wait. There’s more! We will be supporting students in gorgeous Prince George’s County, and Washington, DC!! We will also have limited Back to School care packages for teachers, more to com...

Vacations and Nostalgia

I love photographic images. I’m not so good at taking them myself. For example, the things I catch while on vacation aren’t exactly picturesque: The view out of our hotel room window. Breakfast at the Robin Hood in Rehoboth. Reading by the pool. Absolutely required dinner at Go Brit: Room service? One sight that draws me in, time after time, is this: It’s a wall of retro candy in a little toy store along Penny Lane in Rehoboth. I return to it like a pilgrim to a shrine. It’s not because I eat any of these sweets. It’s because they speak to me of my childhood. People and places change or even disappear. Looking at those familiar wrappers brings it all back for a moment. Look what I found from ten years ago: Something Sweet, August 23, 2016 I can't visit Rehoboth without stopping in to Fun For All! Toys on Penny Lane. Something about paying homage to the candy and toys of my childhood gives me a sense of reassurance. My childhood is still there. It hasn't been forgott...

Lock Out, Lock Up, and Push Away

You go in a store and see that the product that you want to buy is locked up. What do you do? I won’t buy it at that store. I’ll buy it in a store where they don’t treat customers like criminals. Maybe I will buy a different brand that isn’t locked up if that will work for me. Some folks will leave the store and purchase the desired item online. Locking up merchandise is meant to reduce theft but it also reduces sales. It introduces an atmosphere of ill will with customers. It says we don’t mind inconveniencing you and making you feel like you are worthy of being under suspicion in our store. One of the most effective ways to reduce theft is to hire, train, and pay enough human employeees both to help customers and to reduce environments that make it easy to steal. But paying workers costs money. Reducing labor costs is one of the first things that big companies do these days. Putting barriers between what you are offering and the people who actually want it is counte...

Weekends, Moments, and Reading Comprehension

Yesterday I learned that poor reading comprehension is a serious problem in a community that prides itself on being well educated. I am not talking about folks who barely made it out of highschool, either. Banning books means banning books. Suggesting that a public institution that claims to be safe for everyone shouldn’t throw parties that elevate the work of someone who does actual harm both to young people and adults is not book banning. I am just gobsmacked at how many people tried to argue this point. I don’t expect that everything I write will meet with complete agreement. But I do object strongly when the response is to fully misrepresent what I am saying. ***** It’s Saturday. Support your local markets. Howard County Restaurant and Craft Beverage Weeks are underway . Make sure to try something delightfully “mid” if the spirit moves you. The Visit Howard County website has updated their events calendar. Check it out and see what you think....

F ³: Who Belongs at the Library?

One of these things is not like the others One of these things doesn't belong Can you tell which thing is not like the other By the time we finish our song?* Did you guess which thing is not like the others? Did you guess which thing doesn't belong? If you guessed this thing is not like the others Then you're absolutely right. Our library promotes equity. Our library promotes literacy for adults who have come here from many places. Our library promotes accessibility to materials and opportunities. Our library is hosting multiple Harry Potter themed events? Tell me this isn’t so. J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter book series, has and continues to use the profits from those books to advocate for laws that diminish the rights of trans people. She has and continues to use her fame to influence public opinion to view and treat trans people negatively. In short, Ms. Rowling is using the Harry Potter book series to make transgender people around the world less safe....

Two Words: Make Art

“Make art. Make art.” These words concluded the acceptance speech given by musician and composer Glen Hansard at the 2008 Oscars ceremony. Hansard and collaborator Markéta Irglová won in the category of Best Song for “Falling Slowly” from the movie Once. As the news of Hansard’s accidental and untimely death spread yesterday, so did those words. Make art. Mark art. It was both an exhortation and a plea. In 2026 it challenges the falsehoods of tech bros who tell us that AI will democratize the creative process. It does nothing of the sort. The AI model is based on the theft of the creative work of others. Those who fall victim to the lies will find they have lost the opportunity to experience true creativity: their own, inborn gifts. AI does not give. It steals. Last night I sat outside and read a wonderful illustrated treatise/comic by Alexandra Gallant-Lee. In many ways it is a love letter to the creative process and to our basic, essential humanity. It is ...