Village Green/Town²

Frequent readers of this blog will recall that I have a new neighbor:  Blandair Regional Park.  Allow me to give you a brief tour.  Here is a picture from within the park itself: Here is a picture of the Blandair Park Pedestrian entrance on Timesweep: Yikes!  It certainly seems to reinforce this disparity--Blandair Park is in Howard County; the Pedestrian Entrance is in Columbia. ("Invisible Columbia") And yet, as deliciously provoking as this contrast is, it is far from the whole picture.  The truth is, while I have looked forward to this park since I moved here in 1999, many of my neighbors did not.  Residents in Cinnamon Tree at Talbott Springs and Emerson Hill complained and dragged their feet throughout the process.  It is hard to believe that a regional park could produce so much NIMBY-ism, but it did. In fact, word on the street is that an Oakland Mills election was turned by (erroneous) rumors that one candidate favored an officia...

Every year Abiding Savior Lutheran Church has a Flea Market.  Every year, they choose a charitable cause and donate one hundred per cent of the proceeds.  Every year, the Flea Market makes much more money than you would think possible.  All of that is amazing enough, but not as amazing as this:  every year, people have more -- much more -- stuff to donate.  Where does it all come from?  The miracle of the loaves and fishes could not have been more impressive than this. Flea Market Week has its own succession of rituals.  My favorite is called "The Great Unpacking." Early in the week, volunteers gather to participate in a liturgy of unloading, unpacking, and categorizing mounds of donations.  Our Fearless Leader lures in her helpers with promises of free pizza, which is probably how adults motivate their offspring to come along to assist in the proceedings. Our communion is pizza and soda eaten standing up, without plates, in between forages int...