To See and Be Seen

So, as Pride month comes to and, I have a few things to say about representation. You may remember that I once wrote about astronaut Sally Ride’s famous quote, “You can’t be what you can’t see.”

As I walked around and talked to folks at the recent HoCo Pride Kick-Off event, I began to think about what a loss it is for the community that the enthusiasm for the new HoCo Forward slate swept away the only openly gay candidate, Bob Ford.

Bob ran a positive campaign and turned up in my social media feed often. He took the responsibilities of the Democratic Central Committee seriously. He even went after and received notable endorsements. I enjoyed speaking with him at the (few) political events I’ve attended. He already had a proven record of service locally. I felt sure he would be elected.

He wasn’t. Was it merely the enthusiasm for the new HoCo Forward Slate? Was there possibly any rejection of his willingness to be an openly gay candidate? I don’t know.

But as I wandered around the joyful Pride event on Thursday night, I thought how sad it is that the Democratic Party couldn’t elect an openly gay man to Central Committee. All around me I saw LGBTQIA teens, young adults, same-sex parents with their children...

“You can’t be what you can’t see.”

As happy as I am for some of my friends who were elected to Central Committee, I can’t  help but feel that something has been lost. Representation is important. And it’s especially crucial for Democrats if we want people to believe that we are inclusive, welcoming, affirming and all that good stuff.

I observed some of our newly-elected candidates/nominees clustered together in a tight little circle at the Pride event. I had hoped to say hello but couldn’t find a way to break in to the group. It was (happily) a crowded event and perhaps that’s the only way they could hear each other in all the hubbub. But it felt exclusive in a cliquey kind of way. They may have been at the event but they weren’t of it.

I chatted with Bob and his husband Steve on Thursday night. I asked if I could write about this. It seemed to me that Bob almost winced.

“Yeah, you can...” his voice trailed off. “But how can it make any difference?”

These word stayed with me as I left the event that evening. Bob Ford, hard-working, committed, not showy or highly competitive, put himself out there in complete honesty about who he is. He just wanted to make a difference. And, despite the outcome of the election, he is still committed to working to support the local Democratic community.

LGBTQIA representation is important. You can’t be what you can’t see.

Hard Copy

My father loved newspapers. If he could have lived his life over again he would have been a “newspaperman” as he called them. He read the local paper every day, plus the Wall Street Journal. When we went on vacation the first thing he would do was to go out and buy a local newspaper. He carefully clipped interesting articles to share and discuss.

My father’s first job during his married years got him into the field of printing and publishing. He later sold computer systems for IBM to printing and publishing operations such as the (now-defunct) Cleveland Press. He ended his career helping to create computer systems for newspapers and magazines for IBM.

He just loved newspapers. He taught me about the importance of white space. He collected those old wooden type trays before it was cool. He cared about fonts and type size and how they looked on a page. Even as he worked on one of the first dot matrix printers, he and his colleagues lamented the inevitable demise of “hard copy” that their own technology would surely replace.

He came home and regaled the family at dinner the day he got to visit the room where the actual presses were and meet the men who operated them. It was like an excited child visiting the fire station and getting to sit in the big fire truck.

More than anything my father loved quirky, small-town, purely local papers. He taught me to love them, too. I hadn’t  thought much recently about his love of all things newspaper until the reports started coming in yesterday about the shooting at the offices of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis. I was raised to believe that newspaper people were my people, that what they were doing was a vital part of every community, and of our democracy.

This may be why I exhort you so often to subscribe to the Columbia Flier/HoCo Times. I truly believe that our futures are intertwined with the hard-working and brave people who are dedicated to shedding light on our community. They are not separate from us. They are us. A free press represents us in its own way every bit as much as our elected representatives. As someone said yesterday,

Enemies of the American people my ass. They’re heroes. #PressFreedom #FreedomOfThePress (Susan)

Also,

“The media” is sometimes viewed as a monolithic entity, but we’re regular human beings with families and emotions just like everybody else. (Tyler Buchanan)

You can subscribe to the Capital Gazette here. 

We mourn with the newspaper community today. We know they are hurting. But let’s remember to support them tomorrow. Life goes on.

I can tell you this: We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow. (Chase Cook, Capital Gazette)

When School Isn’t Safe: Guest Post

I am sharing the following message this morning, with permission, to boost the signal for an important issue in our community.

It is a mistake to think that we can assure “school safety” by adding a police presence and other policies and procedures aimed at preventing outsiders from coming in to the school to do harm. Here we see, yet again, how the harm comes from within.

What will we do in Howard County to address the rising incidence of intolerance and harassment based on race, religion, ethnic origin, and sexual orientation? Young people mirror what they see at home and what they see in our present-day culture. How do we build strong school communities so that our students feel secure in the expectation that all are worthy of acceptance?

A message from the Jewish Federation of Howard County:

This is the first in what will be a series of periodic updates from me, as the Jewish Federation of Howard County’s newly-appointed Executive Director as of July 1. I am very happy that our Board of Directors has asked me to remain in a permanent capacity and look forward to working alongside our dedicated Board members, donors, clergy, and volunteers to build and strengthen Jewish life in the county.

Recently, the Federation has conducted a series of meetings and interventions with the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS), in close partnership with the Howard County Board of Rabbis (BOR) and the Federation’s newly-established Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC). We met in response to several troubling anti-Semitic incidents in a county middle school, where a 13-year-old Jewish student was repeatedly taunted for being a Jew. Several classmates drew swastikas on her property and school property, and the student received physical and verbal threats – one stating that “Jews should be killed.”

While two of the student perpetrators were disciplined for their verbal abuses and hateful social media posts, those who drew swastikas were never clearly identified nor punished. The Jewish student became fearful of going to school, and though her parents forcefully advocated for her with senior HCPSS administrators and faculty, they decided to remove their child from the HCPSS as she could not tolerate the continuing harassment.

This is a shocking and disturbing outcome. The HCPSS ultimately failed the family – and most importantly, the child – in failing to create a safe learning environment for their daughter. The administrators and faculty failed to adequately follow established procedures with respect to bullying, and they simply mishandled the situation – even while previous cases of bullying and intimidation in the same middle school had resulted in harsh responses by the principal, as well as messages to the entire student body and parents of those children. None of that occurred with respect to this Jewish student.

When the family first informed me and several local rabbis about the situation, in coordination with the JCRC in Washington, DC, we arranged for an eloquent Howard County Holocaust survivor to speak to the 7th and 8th graders at the middle school, which made a powerful impact on the students.

Then, in coordination with the Howard County BOR and JCRC, and immediately following the Glenelg High School graffiti incident, we met the senior HCPSS administrator responsible for diversity and inclusion issues who oversees the school system’s response to incidents like this. We urged the HCPSS to adopt the ADL’s anti-bias curriculum for K – 12 and to consult with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which has developed outstanding curricula about hatred, intolerance, and anti-Semitism. We also asked that representatives of Howard County’s Jewish institutions be appointed to HCPSS’s curriculum review committee.

We urged the administrator to revive a moribund equity committee to recommend a consistent policy that protects all minorities from undue pressure and stigmatization. We also urged him to take steps so that teachers show greater respect for diversity in their music, arts, and other departments. (This was in response to another recent incident at a HoCo high school where a Jewish student was compelled to sing Christian- and Jesus-centric songs at an end-of-year choir concert, which made her very uncomfortable.)

Further, we urged the administrator to form a committee to review acts of intolerance, make recommendations to protect victims of bigotry and intolerance, and address how best to deal with and re-educate perpetrators of hateful acts. Finally, we urged the HCPSS to seek additional input from different ethnic, racial, and religious minority groups.

Then, earlier this week, we and the parents who withdrew their child from the system met with the senior HCPSS administrator, the Area Superintendent overseeing the middle school in question, and the HCPSS’s director of community, parent, and school outreach. We wanted to extract a commitment from them to ensure that no child – Jewish, Christian, Muslim, white, black, Asian, gay, or straight – would ever endure what this student had endured this year.

We achieved our objectives. The administrators committed themselves to review current policies and procedures. They also agreed to train administrators and teachers about proper responses to bullying and anti-Semitic incidents and provide all possible support to a student who is victimized. They acknowledged that there can be no let-up in disciplining perpetrators of these hate incidents.

I can assure you: we will hold the HCPSS’s feet to the fire as we move forward.

I want to publicly acknowledge and thank Rabbi Susan Grossman of Congregation Beth Shalom, Rabbi Amy Scheinerman representing the BOR, and Betsy Singer, who chairs our JCRC, who worked in close partnership with me as we addressed these issues.

- -  Interim Executive Director Ralph Grunewald

The Human Factor

A few words about yesterday’s election:

Money isn’t everything.

Aside from that, I will leave the analysis to the pros and the armchair pros.

Today’s story comes from my brief time working the polls yesterday. I came to support Vicky Cutroneo in the BOE race. My polling place, Talbott Springs Elementary, was pretty much deserted save for one nice woman with Apple Ballots and campaign materials for BOE Candidate Bob Glascock. So we set up shop together under the shade of an old tree.

I don’t know whether we influenced any voters. But I learned so much from talking to my partner at the polls. She had grown up with Mr. Glascock, or “Bobby”as she called him. They went to childhood birthday parties together. Her admiration for him was sincere. She’s now technically retired but works as a school recess monitor. Her son is a school janitor.

A lot of us who get all excited about local elections are pretty much from the same world. We have college degrees. have professional jobs, read a lot. We debate the finer points of candidates’ qualitifications and platforms. But, let me tell you, a personal testimony from a school recess monitor is one of the best experiences I had during the entire election season.

If you are running for BOE and still manage to maintain friendships with folks who are recess monitors and janitors (who know a lot of the inside dirt of what’s been going on at Central Office) well, that’s pretty impressive to me. I had already decided to vote for Mr. Glascock but the experience I had yesterday humanized him for me.

She pointed to the sign I was holding and said, ”now, I don’t know your lady,” and then it was my turn to make my case. Once I said the word “mold” she was nodding her assent. She knew all about that. School janitors knew all about that. And that was a whole new conversation.

So maybe working at the polls isn’t always about influencing voters. Maybe it’s about the people you meet. People you don’t normally have contact with in daily life. People who are different than you are. They are Howard County, too. They are a part of the workings of democracy, too.

I heard a few horror stories from friends who worked the polls yesterday. One who was told off for being an immigrant who “didn’t belong” at the polls. Another who lamented overhearing a group of poll workers/electioneers calmly disparaging folks of a different race. It’s not all sweetness and light out there. Some folks go to the polls and come home again and nothing about their worldview has changed.

My time yesterday with Theresa at Talbott Springs reminded me how important it is to be open to change, to learning something unexpected. It’s an experience I recommend for everyone.

Election Day Musings

There was a bit of pink in the sky this morning. I’m sure I’m not the only one who saw it. Around Howard County there must be plenty of candidates and campaign workers up early to get ready for the day. They’re getting ready for you.

Yes, you. If you haven’t voted in early voting then today is your day. No matter what your party affiliation you have a reason to show up and make your choices today. Independents can vote for Board of Education candidates. So, don’t sit this one out.

Speaking of BOE, I did settle on my four in time for early voting,

Vicky Cutroneo
Bob Glascock
Jen Mallo
Sabina Taj

I hope that all of these folks make it through the primary process and move forward to the General election in November.

Some people truly look forward to this day and the election watching parties that follow. Right now I am weary of the entire primary season and can’t wait for it to be over. This year’s campaign season has brought:

• Perplexing endorsements by well-known figures for two questionable, but big-money candidates
• A huge amount of illegally placed signs 
• Ongoing sign-stealing
• Weird campaign finance reports
• Smears and mud-slinging in the District 5 Council Race
• A bizarre campaign mailer in the 9B State Legislature race 
• The announcement that, statewide, around 80,000 voters will have to cast provisional ballots due to a screw-up with the DMV

The icing on the cake was the person from another jurisdiction who sent me information she believed to be damaging to to a Howard County candidate in the hopes that I would write about it. Really, folks? Can this primary just be over?

But let’s end it in style, shall we? Vote. Remind your family members to vote. Encourage friends, neighbors, and coworkers to vote. The world is going crazy around us but we have the power to make our voices heard at the polls and that is no small thing. Don’t let that power slip away.

Best wishes to all candidates today who are in for a marathon day. Thank you for putting yourself out there. Thanks for committing to the process.

It’s a tough one.

Back in the Trenches

This morning brings another status report from the War Beween Men and Women:

Study: male D.C. reporters retweet male colleagues three times more than their female colleagues- - Laura McGann, Vox

In a tweet promoting this article, journalist Kainaz Amaria says:

Twitter is a fun place for men; a hellscape for women - via @lkmcgann & @christinamta

A new study reveals why female journalists are so much less influential on Twitter than men.

“A hellscape for women?” you wonder. Surely that’s a bit of an exaggeration. Considering the amount of negative feedback, sexual harassment, and threats of violence that women are subjected  to on Twitter (and other forms of social media) I’d say hellscape is pretty darned accurate. Add to that the heightened pressure that comes when being on Twitter and functioning successfully is a part of your job and people who should be your peers ignore you, talk around you, and give others credit for your work and ideas. 

This has been happening in the workplace for a long, long time. Social media simply magnifies it. I wrote about this phenomenon as it applies to the local social media scene in 2014 and lamented on the lack of progress in 2017:

Women

Tag or recount all present at an event

RT, Share, comment, and praise work by both men and women

Engage in online dialogue with both men and women

Respond to comments from both men and women

Support both male and female candidates

Men

More likely to tag or recount men present

More likely to RT, share, comment, and praise work by men

More likely to engage in online dialogue with men

Respond more frequently to comments from men

Support and/or take more seriously male candidates

Locally, I continue to see men piling on to support men while being quick to cast doubt when women are challenging the status quo, or negating women’s contributions in online conversations by flat out ignoring them. “Bro culture” is a thing on social media, even right here in Columbia/Howard County. It may not look like the hair-raising incidents of sexual harassment and threats of violence we read about when women dare to speak with confidence/authority on Twitter, but it is there just the same. 

When it comes to politics, I have become hyper-aware of who responds respectfully to constituents. Who engages with women as meaningfully as they do with men? Who includes women, supports women, is willing to allow women to take leadership roles? I’m not going to give any candidate a free pass on this. I’ll say it again:

Equality is empowerment: taking people seriously, allowing them to participate in the conversation, allowing them to be visible. 

Men, especially white men, have privilege. Brought to the world of social media that privilege replicates itself exponentially. Every single interaction we have online is an opportunity to either ignore, maintain, or disrupt that state of affairs. Keep an eye out. If you’re not already painfully aware, you might learn something.

Money, Mouth, and Merriweather

This has surely been the campaign season of unusual endorsements. It has also been a time when we shake our heads and marvel at how many endorsement-giving organizations there are in Howard County. For example, there’s The People’s Voice, the Sierra Club, HCEA, the NAACP, Merriweather Post Pavillion...

Wait, what?

I must admit I was startled to learn yesterday that MPP was an endorsing institution this year. I’m wondering how they selected their candidates. Did they interview them? Have them fill out lengthy questionnaires? Perhaps they held a straw poll? I don’t know. But they clearly have choices.

If you haven’t received word of the Merriweather Post Pavillion endorsements, don’t feel bad, you’re not out of the loop. You’re just not an employee of MPP. You see, their recommendations weren’t meant for the general public, but for a select audience: the people whose paychecks they write.

Here’s the email they sent:

As talked about at the Safety Summit, we are reaching out to the entire MPP and JLH staffs to remind them to vote in the Primary, Tuesday June 26 for those who have not already cast their vote.

Specifically, if you are in DISTRICT 12*, please vote for MARY KAY SIGATY (State Senate) and JESSICA FELDMARK (State Delegate) if they are on your ballot. They have been long-time supporters of Merriweather and would be two solid voices to have in Annapolis for many reasons.

Merriweather supporters who have a Primary race:

Howard County Council – Jon Weinstein District 1; Christiana Rigby District 3; Deb Jung District 4; David Yungmann District 5

State Senate – Mary Kay Sigaty District 12

State Delegate – Jessica Feldmark District 12, Eric Ebersole District 12

Thank you, and remember, your vote does matter!

Jean, Brad, Brian, Jeff, Taylor, Justin & Sam

Hmm...

Now what they are doing here is not illegal. But it’s a far cry from a public endorsement process meant to enlighten the community. It certainly makes me curious. Does Merriweather as an entity put their money where their mouth is when it comes to candidates? It turns out that they do.

 

This is a list of political contributions from MPP and related entities. They certainly seem heavily invested in the campaign of Mary Kay Sigaty for State Senate. This information makes an interesting piece of a larger puzzle which includes enough information for two entire blog posts from Jason Booms of Spartan Considerations (start here) and an article by Kate Magill in the Howard County Times.

Outrageous? I don’t know. But when employers are heavily invested in candidates and candidates are throwing a lot of money around, I’d say that bears scrutiny. Much closer scrutiny. 

But Primary Day is Tuesday. Not much time left to get to the bottom of this mystery. So, here’s the thing. I’m not an endorsing institution, I’ve done no interviews, sent out no questionnaires, held no straw polls. But when I look at the excellent record of candidate Clarence Lam on the one hand, and all these shenanigans on the other, my (completely metaphorical) money is on Lam.

All of us in the community want Merriweather to succeed. Many of us have memories of summers spent enjoying concerts on the lawn. Merriweather is a Big Deal in our community. But that doesn’t mean they need to tell us how to vote. 

Picture Postcard

This is the perfect day for me
The perfect moment
A few books, a new magazine,
Paper and pens and markers to color my
Thoughts and dreams.
More than enough paper in my sketch book to
Let my ideas stretch out, venture forth, perhaps
Take flight.

The sun peeks out from behind the clouds
And shows me the outline of my beach umbrella.
I move myself further into the shade.

Everything is right.
The sound of the water and children playing
The warmth of the day
And the fluttering coolness of the breeze
My toes wiggling into the cool sand.

There.
A seasgull.
I had forgotten seagulls.

*****

I’m back from a few days at the beach. Hello, HoCo. Thanks for holding the fort while we were gone. - - jam

Proactive

Leadership looks forward. It is proactive, not reactive.

After the hateful rhetoric of the 2016 presidential election there were some very wise people who read the signs and saw what was coming. All those hate filled rallies on the campaign trail had everything to do with demonizing brown people at the border. Any border, any brown people.

Locally in Howard County there were many who didn’t take the proposal of CB9 seriously. They accused its proponents of nothing more than petty politics. There was no danger. We were doing just fine the way we were.

I wonder if any of them knew what was coming? ICE agents searching Greyhound buses demanding papers? Children separated from parents without plans for return? Travelers refused entry because of their religion? Maybe some did, and that’s exactly what they wanted.

But I’m guessing that some just didn’t think that could happen. They didn’t connect the dots from the campaign speeches to policy after policy designed to demean, discriminate, and deny basic human rights. They shrugged if off as an over exaggeration, fear-mongering.

It wasn’t.

Around the County there are still plenty of folks who think it would be wise to tar and feather (metaphorically speaking, of course) any public servant who supported CB9. They want to use it as a way to frighten the base. And perhaps they think that there is shame merely in its failure to pass.

Over the last week I hope that at least some people have gotten the point that acknowledging the universality of basic human rights is every bit as much a local issue as a national or international one.

There is no shame in looking forward, in being proactive. The shame comes from ignoring what is right in front of you and refusing to take action. Then the only course left to you is reaction.

That’s not leadership. And that makes none of us safer. We who live in Howard County must still grapple with our responsibility in responding to over-reaching policies from the current administration that threaten the very foundation of our cherished democracy.


Think it’s just politics? Think again.

Wrung Out

I am absolutely wrung out from the national crisis that has been dominating our shared consciousness. I feel as though I have nothing left.

Sending you over to HoCoHouseHon today for her refelections on this topic. She challenges us to “Imagine You Are Small.”

Don’t think for one moment that it’s over.  Don’t think it’s not really your business. It’s everyones business.

Oh, and today’s the last day of Early Voting. Please vote.

Interconnected

Since a number of people have reached out to me with this question after the PFLAG BOE Candidate Forum, I thought I should address it publicly here.

Question: Any further discussion of the bathroom issue from Mavourene Robinson?  That's the part I was most interested in/concerned about.

Answer: Yes. It was the first question. All candidates said that trans kids should be able to use the restrooms/locker rooms of their identified gender. But then several qualified their answers. Her qualifications were the most problematic to me.

Ms. Robinson essentially said that we are responsible to all children, so we have to make accommodations for children who are made uncomfortable by this, almost as though their views should influence policy equally with trans kids. I don’t agree.

Imagine if that were a school board argument against integration? What if white kids feel "uncomfortable" sharing a bathroom with black classmates, should we accommodate that?  Or eating lunch with them? Or sitting at a desk a black person used?

This is not a religious issue or a personal issue. It’s not even a sexual issue. It’s a civil rights issue. There will always be someone/a group of someones who are different. And they still have equal rights at school. And all of us should be defending those rights. 

There’s no honorable argument for policies that identify and treat some students as “other”. It doesn’t matter how carefully you say it, or how smoothly you couch your language. 

There’s a right answer and a wrong answer here: we can't put protection of civil rights to a majority vote. We must not demand special protections and accommodations for those who reject the rights of others or feel that the expression of those rights makes them uncomfortable. 

It’s important to note that two responses from other candidates were especially positive. They were “yes, and” answers. (This is not to criticise anyone who simply gave an unequivocal “yes”.)

Glascock: Yes. And we need to address this as we design and build future schools to come up with solutions that support this.  

Cutroneo: Yes. And we need to go into school communities and work with students to ensure that there will be a supportive environment for trans kids to make choices that are right for them.

I read a statement on Twitter this morning. You may feel it is too extreme to apply here. I don’t.

We can buy into the myth that our struggles are not interconnected but it will kill us. It is killing us. - - Ashley Yates @brownblaze

We absolutely must chose Board of Education members who “talk the talk” and “walk the walk” on civil rights. It’s not just about trans kids, or LGBTQIA kids. It’s Jewish kids. Muslim kids. It’s students of color, non-English speaking kids, kids with special needs/disabilities. Anyone who feels that a dominant group deserves special protections from accepting a minority group doesn’t belong on the board of a public school system, because that is not what public schools are all about.

Our struggles are interconnected.

Failure at the Forum

Yesterday I failed. Yes, I failed the PFLAG BOE Candidate Forum because I could not make it to the end. After an hour and forty five minutes of sitting I had the overwhelming urge to make my departure quietly so that I didn’t completely lose it and run from the room screaming.

I don’t sit well. I hadn’t thought much about it until recently, but almost every single job I have had in my professional life has involved moving around or provided frequent breaks with varying activities. As I have become more conscious about this in myself, I have started applying various strategies to get through long stretches of sitting. Therapy putty. Crocheting. Colored pens for doodling. The carefully chosen moment for a bathroom break.

I’m an adult and I get to choose a lot about how my life goes. Imagine students whose days are proscribed for them by a routine that depends on “the delivery of content” in a physically passive setting. All. Day. Long. I realize now that I daydreamed and doodled a lot in school as a way of ”making it through.” My favorite activities were ones that were multi-sensory: music where we marched or played rhythm instruments, the student teacher who taught us to make butter, the fifth grade assignment to write our own skits based on mythology.

I have no criticism of the forum. The students who ran it were wonderful. The questions were brilliant and to the point. The candidates were doing their candidate thing, like you do, at your eight millionth forum, only now during early voting. It just made me think about all the different ways we could present candidate forums, if we looked at presenting information to adults the way the best teachers create lessons for kids.

Surely I can’t be the only voter in Howard County who needs differentiated instruction.

Sour Grapes

I do not know if this has always been the case, but I am seeing a trend in candidates who, if not receiving a particular endorsement, turn around and kick the endorsing organization. It’s not a good look. If they were so awful, why were you seeking their endorsement in the first place?

It’s also not a very good long-term strategy. First of all, in insulting the organization, you are pretty much insulting the members of the organization, who are probably the voters you are trying to reach. Secondly, what if you ever decided to run again? Do you really want to burn those bridges now?

I agree that some local endorsements by groups have just been weird this time around. (I’m not even going to touch individual endorsements.) But is it better to say, “I am disappointed not to to receive the ABCDQ endorsement,”or to say, “They’re all jerks and that’s why they didn’t endorse me”? This seems to me to be a relatively simple choice.

Now, by all means, if you can prove bias or malfeasance in the endorsement process, you might want to comment. Did the evaluators ask how many bags of Skittles you can provide for their organization each year?  Did they ask questions that would be illegal in a job interview? Or, if in a group endorsement meeting, were some candidates permitted to bus in voters from out of district? This would be worth addressing.

I’m not aware of any of the above actually happening, by the way. Merely offering them as examples.

If an organization makes poor endorsement choices, it will eventually reflect on them. If a candidate  goes out of their way to lash out after losing out on endorsements, it will reflect on the candidate.

As the fellow on the radio says, “Just a thought. Not a sermon.”

Out on the Dance Floor

Party with preschoolers in the morning, recover with ibuprofen in the afternoon. A day well spent.

Something I have noticed since beginning these dance parties at the Chrysalis is the composition of those in attendance. Moms with kids are probably the majority, and there have been a smattering of grandmas, but I have been surprised at the number of dads. The service dog was the icing on the cake.

Why shouldn’t dads be there, you ask. Why, indeed? And yet, when I was little, they wouldn’t have been. Attending and participating in an event targeted for young children wouldn’t have been within their scope of involvement. Things like this probably would have been held during the week for (stay at home) moms and so dads would have been at work.

My own dad admitted years later that he never really knew what to do with his three daughters during their younger years. I got to know him best when I was in college and he was in the last years of his life due to COPD/emphysema. I don’t have any firm memories of him from my “preschool” years.

That is why it brings me such joy to see all these dads singing and dancing with their kids. They laugh, they improvise new games with the hands on materials, they proudly take photos and video as their children are enjoying themselves.

These dads don’t necessary deserve a prize for doing what mothers have been doing forever. But they’re getting a prize nonetheless. They’re getting the joy of being a part of a crucial time in their children’s lives. They’re getting the reward of being a part of the social/emotional growth that will be the foundation of everything their child becomes. They are feeling the joy of being truly present.

Now, there are still a few dads standing at the edges of the stage, drinking coffee and chatting with other dads while the moms are “doing the mom thing.” They don’t quite know what to do with themselves. They haven’t quite figured out how they fit in. I’m still glad they came and I hope that next time they’ll step out of their comfort zones and shake a leg with the rest of us.

Happy Father’s Day.

Debts and Debtors

When you see certain big name endorsements in political races, it makes you wonder if politics is all about owing people. Years of campaign contributions finally pay off. Political favors returned.

Yes, I’m casting a critical eye here, largely because I don’t like these particular endorsements and I think they are tone deaf when it comes to the needs and mood of the community. But what if I had liked the endorsements? Then would I see it differently?

Perhaps I’d be saying, “They’ve been friends for years,” or, “they always had a good working relationship.” Is it all merely in the eye of the beholder?

I asked my friends this question last night on Facebook, “is politics really just all about owing people?” I got a wide variety of answers. I’m happy to report that not everyone is as jaded as I am right now, although, to be honest, some are moreso. One person made a distinction between politicians and public servants.

In order to get elected, must everyone play the politician card? Does anyone ever play the public servant card and win?

I don’t know. I do know that there are two people out there who I used to admire and respect whose actions have just floored me.

 If politics is all about who you owe, or who you have to thank (H/T Bill Woodcock) then what is owed to constituents? To the voters? When candidates win and go to Annapolis or serve on the County Council, we sometimes see inexplicable, head-scratching votes. Does it all come down to favors called in?

And what happens if well-liked community leaders use their political capital to make bad and/or unpopular endorsements?

I guess we will find out.

Social Studies

I took a walk on the wild side and accepted an invitation to attend a press event for the new restaurants in town, Cured and 18th & 21st. Every once in a while I’m invited to press events, but they're often during the day when I’m working. So, when I received an invitation to sample the food and drink at this hot new establishment, I couldn’t resist.

This post is not a review. I’ll be getting that together over the weekend. There’s a lot to process and I want to do it justice. There’s another element of the evening worth considering. I accepted an invitation to an event where I wasn’t sure I would know anyone at all. And then I actually went.

I am, at my core, an intensely shy person. Some people don't believe that, but it's true. My early attempts at going to blog parties were just that. I'd get ready, drive to the event, drive around the location, and drive home. (From “25”, July 18, 2014)

I was pleasantly surprised to bump into blogger Frank Hecker (Civility and Truth) as soon as I arrived. A little while later Candace Dodson Reed of Elevate Maryland showed up with daughter Milan, and rounded out the table. Later on former blogger and BOE member Kirsten Coombs stopped by to chat. She and her husband Luke are investors in Cured/18th & 21st.

Along with some outstanding food and drink, there was some amazing conversation going on at our table. It was exhilarating, and I couldn’t have felt more “in my element”. I’m lucky to know such thoughtful and fascinating people. I’m glad I was brave enough to go.

A few things:

• Frank Hecker and I miss the HoCo blogs parties. We’re considering getting one off the ground after the November election.
• This new place is close enough to Merriweather that you can run your kid over to a concert and make it back to your table without missing a beat.
• I miss regular blog posts from AnnieRie. I hope she’s okay.
• Frank and I were relying on our early training from Jessie Newburn on using one’s social capital. Frank was wondering whether there was a hashtag for the event and I was pondering whether Jessie would think the new place had “a sweet vibe” So, cheers to Jessie.

I look forward to sharing a more comprehensive write-up of the event this weekend. For now, I’m just so grateful for the invitation and so proud of myself that I actually went.

Part 3, the Aftermath

A few thoughts on yesterday’s post, then I’ll move on.

In reference to my assessment of Danny Mackey:

I am not saying that a person of a particular age is “too young” to hold public office. I am saying that my assessment at present is that Mr. Mackey doesn’t yet have what is needed to be the right person for the BOE at this particular time. That is not at all the same thing.

To the suggestion that my assessment of Robert Glascock is “ageism”:

There’s absolutely no ageism involved here. I was struck by how much he referred to the past in all his answers. Many of the challenges we face are new or enormously heightened since 2008. I’d like to hear him apply his knowledge in a way that acknowledges and addresses that.

In the case of Glascock, Mackey, Miller, and Pena, I’m not saying, “sit down and go home.” I’m saying, “convince me.” I do want a fourth candidate to vote for.

Oh, and I’m firm on my assessment of  Ms. Robinson, thanks.

To the person that complained my post is full of opinion: yes, yes it is. It’s a blog, not a newspaper article. I base my opinions on my research. You results may vary. All I ask is that you educate yourself and you vote.

Early voting starts today!

A Recipe for Recovery: BOE Part 2

Onward to some analysis!

Our school system has survived a time of crisis. Now we are moving into a time of recovery. As we prepare to vote for new Board members in the June primary, I’ve concocted a recipe for recovery. Here are the ingredients:

Knowledge of the School System
Empathy
Respect for others
Flexibility in working with others, and intellectual flexibility/creativity
Understanding of what the job itself entails

Optional, but recommended: a sense of humor

There are also certain issues that matter a lot to me:

Equity
Special education
Arts Education
Fair treatment of teachers and support staff
Responsiveness to parents

With all that in mind, these candidates have many/most of these ingredients:

Vicky Cutroneo
Sabina Taj
Jen Mallo

These have some:

Bob Glascock
Danny Mackey
Robert Miller
Carleen Pena


Not the right mix/amount of ingredients:

Anita Pandey
Saif Rehman
Chao Wu

Cutroneo combines experience as a parent and advocate with her PTACHC service and career as a pediatric nurse. She has experience collaborating with legislators in Annapolis.  She has a huge amount of institutional knowledge which will be valuable as Altwerger and Vaillancourt go off the Board. She has heart.

Taj has a strong arts education background. She also has a wide range of knowledge of our non-English speaking students and families, as well as our at-risk students. She has valuable experience with educational grants. She’s a listener and a creative thinker. I’m guessing there’s a sense of humor here, too.

Mallo has served in a variety of functions supporting our schools. She has an excellent grasp of what’s going on and a measured and deliberate approach to problem-solving. I appreciate her    advocacy on Policy 1020 Sexual Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, and Sexual Misconduct. Ms.  Mallo has a rather reserved demeanor but it’s clear that she knows her stuff.

Glascock has a boatload of experience but I have two reservations. One is that he is heavily reliant on how things used to be during his tenure at HCPSS. He left in 2008. (The first iPhone was released   in 2007, to give you a reference point.)  The school system and our community have changed a lot since then. I’d love to hear him speak to how he’ll face newer challenges. My other reservation is that, when he opens his mouth to speak, I hear “Central Office.” We don’t need any more people
representing Central Office. They are doing a great job representing themselves. If Mr. Glascock makes it through the Primary I hope to see him do a better job establishing himself as a community advocate in a way that distinguishes him from his former employer.

Mackey is highly motivated, has great focus, and works hard. My gut tells me he just isn’t ready yet. I do think he has a valuable perspective and that the school system should be listening, I’m not sure he has had the variety and depth of life experiences that would make him the kind of board member we need right now.

Miller has given his entire career to working with kids in our school system. He cares a lot, and he is a good man. My concern is that he is consistently inflexible. Mr. Miller is going to give you not just a piece of his mind, but an entire boxed set of his reflections. Our new board is going to need to collaborate well and do some creative and nimble thinking. I’m not sure how well his method of interaction will fare when decisions need to be made in a timely manner.

Pena’s professional background is relevant and valuable. I think her heart is in the right place and her instincts are good. I thought she did well in the forum I attended. She came across as honest, down-to-earth, and well-informed. However, I don’t think she is going to make it through the primary. The name-recognition issue is against her. If she doesn’t make it through, I hope she will run again. I  
think she has a lot to offer.

 Pandey comes across as pleasant and well-meaning but she is prone to saying things that reveal she doesn’t truly understand the job. For instance, in the discussion about school safety she suggested that community members could donate free mental health services to students. This and other similar suggestions paint an impression of someone who is brainstorming solutions without understanding  how the school system actually works.

Rehman lost me when he warned of the danger of experienced Board members stepping down, leaving only inexperienced members who would clearly need his financial and management expertise. 1)If elected, wouldn’t he be even more inexperienced as a Board member than they are?    2) Is he familiar with the professional expertise of Kirsten Coombs and Christina Delmont-Small? Mr. Rehman’s overall theme seemed to hover rather close to suggesting that HCPSS needs saving, and  that he is the one to do it. That didn’t feel very collaborative to me.

Wu arrived late to the forum but I have certainly been following his campaign through social media.  His involvement in the Columbia Association Board of Directors has shown his sincere desire to contribute to the community. I don’t get a strong sense that his strengths are a good match for this position. I admire his dedication but I’m not convinced by his candidacy.


You may have noticed that I haven’t include Robinson anywhere on this list. That is because she has disqualified herself from consideration on three separate counts:

1) She has done nothing to assure concerned community members that she would advocate equally for LGBTQ students rights (with the same concern and attention as straight, cisgender students.)

2) She has stated more than once that anything in the budget is fair game for cutting because “we don’t  know if anything we are doing is working.”  This is simply not the case. While we have  evaluated some programs better than others, it’s completely disingenuous to put everything on the chopping block by suggesting that nothing can be trusted. It’s like waving your arms over everything we do and calling it Fake News. This is a dangerous and unhelpful over-generalization .

3) In discussing redistricting Ms.Robinson accused members of the Feasibility Committee of              “operating for personal gain.” That’s an incredibly destructive and divisive thing for a potential Board member to say. Who on earth will ever volunteer to do that kind of (truly thankless) work again if they think that a Board member might throw them under the bus?


These are my thoughts. I offer them with respect and thanks to anyone who takes the risk to run for public office. You do not have to agree with me. (Goodness knows none of the endorsing bodies in Howard County have.)  I’ve tried  to concoct a good recipe for recovery. I don’t particulatly think of myself as an endorser of candidates, but I definitely have a top three:

Vicky Cutroneo, Jen Mallo, Sabina Taj.

Please take the time to evaluate these candidates and please vote. Our schools deserve the best leadership our community can offer.

BOE Forum: Just the Facts

At long last, here are my thoughts on the Howard County League of Women Voters Candidate Forum for the Board of Education. This event took place on June 2nd at Howard Community College. 

First thoughts: It’s a good thing that the primary is coming soon, because all these candidates barely fit at the table! They seemed pretty good-natured about it. Dr. Chao Wu came late due to a family emergency and they somehow fit him in at the end.

Second thought: the mood in this election is very different from that of the last. There is a good deal less anger and, although there are issues of great urgency, the sense of where we are and where we are going felt more like a shared mission than a power struggle. Part of this is because we are all now much more aware of what our challenges are. They are out in the open and up for discussion.

Please do not forget what a huge change that is. And we owe that new transparency to the members elected in the last election, joining with Bess Altwerger and Cindy Vaillancourt to form a board that is more responsive to community needs. Votes and elections make a difference.

The format was as follows:

Brief introduction by each candidate, then questions on:

  1.Equity

  2.Safety

  3.Capacity

Concluding Statements from each candidate

Warning. Everyone running for the Board this year must be an auto mechanic, because I have never in my life heard the word “alignment”so many times. Actions must align with data, expenditures must align with needs. Everything must align with something and, if not, out it must go. Also, everyone will either be ready on Day One or ready to hit the ground running and I think one person may have been both. 

(I am not a fan of cliches or education buzz words so I do tend to wince when they come along.)

Here we go. I’m going to be brief, highlighting what stood out to me from each candidate. 

Vicky Cutroneo: parent, advocate,

                             outgoing PTACHC President

• Equity— hcpss has “hidden behind the averages”, overall achievement has been artificially boosted by advanced/GT/affluent students and we haven’t addressed the inequities in our system. Meet students where they are and lift them up.

• School Safety— referenced PTACHC initiative to present “ Know the Signs” , recommended partnering with County for wraparound services to address student needs. We must work to make schools “safe from within” rather than implementing a model based on the assumption that danger comes from the outside. 

• Capacity— advocated for looking at neighborhood feeds when making changes, and she was  adamant in her rejection of “portables” as any kind of long-term solution. It’s a travesty we didn’t redistrict.

Jen Mallo: Former chair of HCPSS's Community Advisory Council.  

• Equity—complex, must be reflected in policy, budget, and advocacy.

• School safety—begin teaching social skills in elementary school, then digital citizenship. Redistricting is a school safety issue.

• Capacity—Redistricting: the devil is in the details. Shouldn’t be a political process. 

Anita Pandey: teaches at Morgan State

• Equity—You shouldn’t be able to tell the difference from school to school. Cultural inclusion.

• School Safety—We can use community neighborhood advisors, have student committees. Community members can volunteer mental health services.

• Capacity—Referenced 7 solutions for sensible redistricting. Mentioned online classes and vo-tech, going to school in shifts. 

Carleen Pena: background in early childhood education and mental health

• Equity—must be more than a buzzword. Must adequately and appropriately identify needs then find the resources to meet those needs. Outlined  need for more more grant writers in Central Office.

• School Safety—Mentioned mental health background. Tap into community resources. Smaller class sizes. Family supports.

• Capacity—We haven’t done the best job at redistricting through the years. We can do better. Look at moving incoming students.

Robert Miller—Retired Music Teacher, HCPSS

                          Former parent

• Equity—Equal opportunities for all students not dependent of family income, but “there are some limits.” 

• School Safety—Interpret data wisely. Avoid knee-jerk reactions. We shouldn’t have prison-like schools.

• Capacity—Likes Jumpstart model rather than magnet schools. Look at demographics vs. neighborhood considerations in redistricting. Atriums would give more space for classrooms.

Danny Mackey—2012 graduate HCPSS 

                             UMD grad, Civil Engineering

• Equity—Every student matters. Vocational opportunities. Speaks of his own classroom compared to others, disparity. 

• School Safety—referenced his website. Mentioned restorative practices. Better process for reporting bullying—early intervention.

• Capacity—Redistricting should have student-centered focus. Rising juniors and seniors  exempted. Refers to State and need for school construction. 

 Sabina Taj—Adjunct Professor, HCC, Arts Integration 

                       Advisor, Braitmayer Foundation 

• Equity—look at needs of every child and how they need them to be met. PreK  programs, Implicit bias training.

• School Safety—Adding more police in schools is wrong. Make it harder to acquire guns. Relationship-based model/restorative practices.

• Capacity— Redistricting responsibly. Build new schools. Address fear in transitions. Specialized academies.

 Saif Rehman—IT consulting, entrepreneur 

• Equity—Equal in making decisions, small classes. More minority staff. 

• School Safety—used opioid crisis as example.Created by not giving schools resources needed. Mental health supports.

• Capacity—Ridiculous that redistricting proposed moving 20 per cent of students enrolled. Too many!

 Mavourene Robinson — Community Advisory Council Vice Chair, 

                                           Operating Budget Review Committee 

• Equity— Are the programs we have meeting the needs of students? We must be fiscally responsible. Using tax dollars wisely while keeping an equity focus.

• School Safety— need community input. Need data. We have students who feel unsafe in school due to bullying.

• Capacity—Redistricting must be done but Feasibility Study done by AAC with members  acting “ for personal gain.” 

 Robert Glascock —former teacher and admin, HCPSS

• Equity— we must first define equity. Speaks to Fairness, inclusiveness, access.

• School Safety— Safe and nurturing schools. Meeting physical, social, and emotional needs. School climate, student voice. References his years in school system. 

• Capacity—Give people more time to get ready for changes. Communication and input. Has a plan.

Chao Wu—Columbia Association Board Rep for River Hill,

                   Operating Budget Review Committee

•  Equity—arrived late. Missed question.

• School Safety—Addressed physical and emotional safety.

• Capacity—Use redistricting policy correctly. Apply evenly. Follow the process faithfully. 

If you have made it this far, congratulations! You’re ready to jump into tomorrow's post  where I will do some analysis and make some recommendations.