Skip to main content

A Change of Heart

I'd like to recommend this post to you:

"A Healthy Harvest AND a Healthy Dose of Inspiration" by Susan Garber.

Yes, that Susan Garber. After her moment in the HoCo political spotlight was over, she started a blog, How Come? I haven't said anything about it here up until today because I have found it to be more of the same anger and negativity for which its author is locally famous.

But this post is different. Read it and you will see why. The piece is ostensibly about Howard County start-up Hungry Harvest, which recently won investment funds on Shark Tank. As you you read you'll see that it begins with one of Ms. Garber's notable actions, a letter to the editor. But then it takes a turn.

She sends an email to Hungry Harvest and they call her right back.

I don't want to spoil it for you. You must read it for yourself.

This piece is honest, informative, and most of all, humble. Ms. Garber concludes:

"Moral of the story: Reaching Out rather than Mouthing Off is a more effective strategy for bringing about needed change. Sounds like an especially good moral for writers and bloggers…….."

While I haven't often agreed with Ms. Garber in the past, she has earned my respect by being willing to take a clear-eyed look at herself and admit she was wrong about something. It takes a big person to be able to do that.

*****

Now I am going to take a bit of a leap. If you believe in the proposed legislation aimed at improving the Howard County Schools, now is the time to do more than "Mouthing Off" about it. It's time for "Reaching Out". Write and call your representatives and tell them why you support these two measures.

warren.miller@house.state.md.us

trent.kittleman@house.state.md.us

robert.flanagan@house.state.md.us

eric.ebersole@house.state.md.us

terri.hill@house.state.md.us

clarence.lam@house.state.md.us

vanessa.atterbeary@house.state.md.us

shane.pendergrass@house.state.md.us

frank.turner@house.state.md.us

gail.bates@senate.state.md.us

edward.kasemeyer@senate.state.md.us

guy.guzzone@senate.state.md.us

hoc1@mlis.state.md.us


 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

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...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more

Columbia Chance Connection

  Last night, as my husband and I were about to sit down to dinner, our front door swung open and a cheery voice announced, “I’m ba—ack!”  We weren’t expecting anyone. Clearly the only people who’d walk right in to our house would be one of our offspring. I had my reading glasses on so I wasn’t seeing too clearly. It seemed too tall for our youngest, but we knew our eldest was at work. I took off my glasses to see a friendly but confused face scanning our living room. When her gaze landed on us we all had a sudden realization. We didn’t know eachother. “Oh I’m so sorry! I’m in the wrong house! My daughter just moved in and she needed hooks for the kitchen so I ran out to get them.” She waved the package. “All these houses look the same and I don’t know the neighborhood yet. I thought this was my daughter’s house.” We were all getting a bit giggly. “That’s okay. For a quick second we thought you were our daughter,” said my husband. I told her our names and said she should defin...
Post a Comment
Read more