Village Green/Town²

  We girls hold up this world with a strength that's all our own. - - Jada Pinkett Smith This lovely photographic picture book is a gentle and insightful treatise on the value of women and girls around the world. It was published in 2004 and I bought it for my youngest - - as an antidote to my own childhood indoctrination, I think. The other day I saw a post from the Columbia Association which began: Women lift us all. Screenshot of video post by the Columbia Association  I offer my sincere apologies to Columbia Gym Front Desk Supervisor Casey Lee. I didn’t click on the video. I couldn’t. I saw those words and they hit me in an entirely unexpected way. Women lift us all. Yes. And we are so, so tired of lifting. Lifting without help, without appreciation, without appropriate compensation.  Lifting while mocked and disrespected. While our value and freedoms are under attack. Lift your own damn world.  I worked the whole time my kids were growing up. There were definite...

Let’s take it from the top: the Glenelg High School boosters organization is proud of their Girls Ice Hockey team. First and only. Taking a moment to share something very unique to Glenelg. We are the first and only public school in Maryland with a Girls Ice Hockey team. This team works really hard and has a lot of fun. It is customary to see them all smiling as they play and when they line change. Way to go Glads on a great season! That’s pretty cool. But if they’re the first and only public high school with a girls hockey team, who do they play? Truth in advertising: I didn’t ask. But it stands to reason that they are playing students from independent schools. You might call them private schools. Why don’t all public schools have girls hockey teams?  I’m guessing there are a variety of reasons. Here’s one that comes to mind right away: cost. Infographic from Playground Equipment Website  * A cursory online search shows ice hockey at the top in terms of cost per participant. ...

  Highly recommended reading this morning: It’s time for Maryland to treat kids as kids , Erika Strauss Chavarria, Guest Commentary, Baltimore Sun Don’t have a subscription to the Sun? I don’t either. Do you have a library card? Follow the directions here to gain access  via HCLS. Chavarria, known locally as the founder and executive director of Columbia Community Care, makes the case for the Youth Charging Reform Act under consideration in Annapolis. It would eliminate automatic adult charging for children ages 14 and 15 and would also narrow the list of offenses triggering automatic adult charges for youth ages 16 and 17. Ms. Chavarria’s experience and professional expertise as an educator informs her analysis. Maryland ranks near the top nationally for its number of children incarcerated in adult facilities, an embarrassment for a so-called progressive state. Black children make up over 80% of the children held. This reflects a historical and fundamental societal disre...

  First things first. For all the folks who read yesterday’s blog thinking I was legitimately going to reveal shocking truths - - my apologies. I say this because it got a healthy amount of clicks but absolutely zero comments, which usually means that readers have walked away thinking, “meh” or “aw, heck.” For real and possibly shocking weather, it sounds like today might be the real thing. And I sincerely hope not because I yet again find myself in a house without a basement. ***** Have you seen this map lately? Yes, it’s a WalletHub map. I have just about made my peace with their periodic announcements about where we live and my lack of confidence in what they are doing (and why.) But, as far as I can tell, they aren’t doing any significant harm. I don’t think any community has dropped off the map as a result of their endless surveys.  We’ve probably all seen the online trolls who hate local leadership and respond to any positive rankings as proof positive that WalletHub is...

    When I asked about tornadoes the other day it was not an invitation. Sheesh. But here I am again thinking about them. I am not an expert on tornadoes. In fact, one hundred percent of my childhood knowledge was dependent upon Ajax brand cleaner. National Geographic Kids gives a great introductory description for beginners (like me.) it turns about the United States leads the world in the incidence of tornadoes. Go us, I guess. All of this brings me back to good old HoCo. Are we experiencing tornadoes more frequently than in years past? If so, do we know the reason why? It turns out that you can search history of tornadoes in Howard County, Maryland. One of the top hits will be a website called  “Tornado Path.” They have an app, too. They have easy-to-read information, colorful charts, and a really cool logo. You know what they don’t have? My wholehearted endorsement. And this is why: When you click on “About” on the website, they don’t exactly tell you who they are...

  Yesterday I wrote a great piece about Target - - the history of the company itself and the boycott. I was one hundred per cent satisfied with it. My iPad ate it. Blogger ate it. I don’t know who ate it but I know it was tasty. You’ll just have to take my word for it. Today I’m harkening back to an old post because, if the blog-munching demons are still hungry, I know I’ve got this one saved. ***** Music in My Head , Village Green/Town² March 20, 2020 March is Music in our Schools month. Yesterday I came across a post by local blogger HoCoHouseHon that is a celebration of music from start to finish. Worth the read: Soundtrack of the Self The writer touches on a theme that means a lot to me: Music is emotion, music is a lodestone. It doesn't matter if you can name chords or identify instruments in a symphony - it doesn't matter if you had piano lessons or played in your elementary school band - music is where our souls rest. Where we rejoice - where we are truly alive. Maybe th...