Skip to main content

Stop Everything/Start Everything

Stop everything! This is the invitation of the Century!

In Columbia, anyway.

I often wonder what it was like to be here at the beginning of Columbia. It must have been an amazing time. You can visit Barbara Kellner at the Columbia Archives to get a taste, or travel in a specially designed vehicle if you get the chance, but otherwise, let's face it. We missed out.
 
Until now. This Saturday the Inner Arbor Trust is holding the groundbreaking event for the Chrysalis, the first piece of Merriweather Park in Symphony Woods. The Chrysalis will be an amphitheater that can be used for all sorts of community events. Think music at Wine in the Woods and more. Think all sorts of events we've never had in Symphony Woods before. Think people enjoying downtown Columbia.
 
It's the beginning of something amazing: a park that will define Columbia for the new century. This will be the heart of a welcoming, vibrant community that celebrates nature and the arts.
 
You want to be there. And you want to be able to tell people, "I was there, you know." So click on the link to reserve your free tickets. It's going to be fun, there are going to be snacks from Seasons 52, and the bragging rights on this one are going to go on for-ev-er.
 
In one of my favorite movies, "A Thousand Clowns", Jason Robard's character Murray likes to go down to the docks to see off cruise ships. He explains, "It’s a great thing to do when you are about to start something new; it gives you the genuine feeling of the beginning of things."

The experience of being there at the beginning of things. I've been waiting a long time for a taste of this.

I bet you have, too. Join me, won't you?
 

 

 

 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...

F ³: We Are Not Entitled

  A college student went missing. His family and friends were distraught. The community was encouraged to be on the lookout and spread the word.  Days passed.  They must have been agonizing days for those who cared about the missing student. Thoughts that foul play had been involved cannot have been far from their thoughts.  Then, at last, the student was found. Alive. The news was shared with the public.  So. Much. Relief. A family had been reunited with their child. Even though we know that life is complicated, I think it is okay to accept this as a happy ending and leave it at that.  But the world of social media says no. For every expression of joy at the news came questions and even judgement. It became clear to me that some folks felt entitled to an explanation. They wanted the backstory. It’s as though they felt that, by enlisting the help of the public on social media, the authorities now owed them all the details. Television dramas often weave curr...

Separate and Unequal

  Remember “Separate but equal”? Remember how that really meant that Black schools languished in  broken-down buildings without adequate heat or toilet facilities, with cast-off, ragged learning materials, underfunded and largely ignored? The Supreme Court struck that down in 1954. The evidence was clear that separate was not equal. Plessy v Ferguson had led to - - no, endorsed - - deeply unequal schooling and opportunities. We tend to think of Brown v Board as being purely about racial integration. It was not.  It was about the logical consequences of segregation. And they were not, not, not equal. The ruling in 1954 didn’t transform public education for non-whites into a land of milk and honey by any means. But it articulated some essential truths in a way that made including everyone a legal precedent which could be relied upon and built upon. It was better than what came before it but it rested upon unsteady ground. It did not necessarily change the hearts or minds ...