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Say Cheese? I’m Just About Ready

It is not Howard County Government’s fault. It is not the Columbia Association’s fault. It is not the Wilde Lake Village Association’s fault. The Grocery Outlet parent company has made the decision to close 36 stores. One of them is the one in Wilde Lake.  Companies like this do not make it their business to know the history of this individual site. They do not know how long Wilde Lake was without a grocery after the Giant closed. They probably don’t know about the work that went into the building to create the perfect home for an expanded David’s Natural Market. Big companies know spreadsheets and profits, earnings, losses, demographics, projections…But Jay and Rizwana Mirza, who have operated the Wilde Lake store, probably understand far better how much the people of Wilde Lake wanted their own grocery. They tried to give it to them. I went googling for a photo of the old Wilde Lake Giant and found this article in Columbia Patch instead. Image from Columbia Maryland Archives, us...
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Do No Harm, 2026

  Three things. 1. Wellness checks should be performed by people who can not kill you. Police fatally shoot resident of Columbia complex that supports adults with disabilities  2. Routine traffic enforcement should be done in a way that will not kill you. Attempted traffic stop turns into deadly crash in Howard County 3. AI chatbots should be regulated in such a way that they have much less power to kill you and can be held liable if they harm you.  New York considers bill that would ban chatbots from giving medical, legal advice That’s it.  If you have any other ideas for “doing no harm” today, I’d love to hear them. Since I’m still at my home away from home, I’ll be engaging in a well-known (but new to me) activity which involves cleaning the house to get ready for the cleaning ladies. I sincerely hope to do no harm. Village Green/Town² Comments
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The Way In: Art and the Immigrant Experience

  This is the Peter and Elizabeth Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center. This is a map of the building that shows the Rouse Company Foundation Gallery. (Find the word “performing”. Go straight down. See the blue shape that looks like a lake? That’s it.) This is the exhibition on display in the Rouse Company Foundation Gallery until March 15th. goog_608975793 This is the artist, Lusmerlin Lantigua. Artist Lusmerlin Lantigua talks about the elements she incorporated into “The Big Rip,” a monumental work on display at Howard Community College. (Rick Hutzell/The Banner) This is the article in the Banner by Rick Hutzell that you should read whether or not you are able to attend the art show.  Hutzell: In ‘The Big Rip,’ an artist shares today’s immigrant experience , Rick Hutzell, Baltimore Banner About the art, Lusmerlin explains: “It is about this moment,” artist Lusmerlin Lantigua says. “It serves as a way for me to cope also, and it has, I think, that general sensation I h...
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F ³: The Doodle and the Duck

  I knew him from what we call The Other Place. You know, the social media platform that was X-ed out by the big, bad billionaire man. He was intelligent, witty, politically savvy, and - - best of all - - musical. Here he is: Musicology Duck. I was thrilled to reunite with this account after I moved to Bluesky. But something began to nag at me. Was this sparkling, observant narrator of DC life actually…a woman? She was. I mean, she is. But all that time I assumed: someone confident, knowledgeable, and unapologetic about who they were must be A Man. Oof. Well, I am over sixty and I was raised with sugar and spice (and the ABCs of being a girl.) But for heaven’s sake I was ten years old at the outset of Women’s Lib and my whole life has been infused with the awareness of women’s issues.  But… I was trained to be polite and entertaining, to make pleasant cocktail party conversation and to smooth over conflict to make other people comfortable. Taking up space? Extremely hard for ...
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Breakfast at the Homesick Café

  I’m mostly not sleeping in my own bed these days. There’s something vaguely weird about striving to write a HoCo Local blog, day after day, when I’m not even in HoCo. I’m grateful for glimpses of my “home place” as I visit the outside world via social media. Here are some that have been like gentle tethers to the places and people I love. Shark Rangers (Jon Merryman) Sharkey keeps telling Jon we should open a creepy toy museum. From the #ExorcistBabyDoll collection, found this week. #SharkeyShenanigans #SharkeyMalarkey #CreepyDollsOfPatapsco  Historic Ellicott City by Air (AAIC Drones) Image property of AAIC Drones Here’s an oldie but a goodie from 2019 when I was playing with textures over the photo.  https://www.aaicdrones.com/ Use of our photos and/or video for commercial purposes or printing without permission is prohibited. Copyright © AAIC Visual Perceptions 2026 - All rights reserved #ellicottcity #aaicdrones #historicellicottcity #dronephotography  #maryla...
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Think of Cake

  As I checked in on my mother-in-law at five am this morning, I told her, “I need to write about something that isn’t so heavy this morning. Something like: the music society is having a cake sale.’” Life is really heavy right now. Conveniently enough…Can I interest you in some cake? The Columbia Cake Exchange will be held on March 29th at Stonehouse in Long Reach.  What’s a cake exchange? Think Cookie Swap but with cake slices. If you love baking, this is the event for you! A cake exchange is a fun, community-driven way to share your love of baking. Everyone brings a cake they’re proud of, then fills a take-home box with slices from other bakers. It’s a fun way to discover new flavors, swap ideas, and enjoy far more cake than you could ever bake yourself. We're hoping to see a bunch of unique, beautiful cakes for our inaugural Columbia Cake Exchange but no need for perfection, just have fun!  Funds raised will be donated to the 501(c)(3) non-profit Movement in Music Ens...
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Tragedy and Humanity

  The title of the article upset me so much that it took me a while to read it. And, when I did, the story it told was every bit as awful as I had feared. Police fatally shoot resident of Columbia complex that supports adults with disabilities , Matti Gellman, Baltimore Banner  A man who was fatally shot by Howard County Police early Sunday was a resident of an apartment complex dedicated to supporting adults with disabilities, according to the group that manages the complex. In a statement, Mission First Housing Group said it learned Sunday morning that one of its residents at Patuxent Commons in Columbia was shot and killed outside the property after a wellness check by police. Some wellness check. And then I read the comments. I was not prepared for what I learned.  The vast majority of them were compassionate and wise. I don’t know any of these people personally (at least as far as I know) but they are a cut above the folks who post on the HCPD Facebook page. Each bul...
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