Skip to main content

Cranky

This morning in hyperlocal news:
  • There's snow on our lawn chairs but not on the patio.
  • We are out of bananas.
  • The amount of snow which causes a two-hour delay is different in March than it is in December.
  • I think my hair is thinning.
In short, the only way out of bed this morning appears to have been the wrong side.

Yesterday one of the candidates for the Board of Education did something which spoke volumes about what kind of a board member they would be. I'm not going to get into detail here but I will say that I hope that all the candidates truly understand that this election should not be an exercise in political "business as usual." If people get the feeling that the new candidates are no different than the old, what reason will they have to turn out and vote at all?

There are some excellent people running. Take the time to check them out. Mark your calendars for the League of Women Voters event:

The League of Women Voters of Howard County invites you to join us on March 19, 2016, from 1-5 p.m., for our Candidates’ Forum with Howard County’s candidates for the Board of Education and the U.S. House of Representatives. The forum will be held in the Banneker Room in the George Howard Building at 3430 Court House Drive, Ellicott City, 21043. The event will be available via live streaming at http://cc.howardcountymd.gov/online-tools/watch-us. The forum will also be rebroadcast on Howard County Government Television (GTV) channel 44 on Verizon and channel 99 on Comcast.


A special shout-out to the League for their commitment to engaging citizens in the political process, educating voters, and continuing to provide their well-run community forums year after year.
*****
A postscript on today's post:
People make mistakes. People learn from their mistakes. We'll see what happens from here on out. I urge you to get educated and make up your own mind.

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...

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...

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...