Congratulations, Kudos, and Thanks

First order of business: congratulations to our friends whose long-anticipated baby arrived safe and sound yesterday. Truly a bright spot in a dark time for all of us who know them. Welcome to the world! You have a great big village welcoming you.

Kudos to actor and hometown-raised Edward Norton for his recent pointed and perfectly crafted statement on Twitter about post-election Trump machinations. There’s quite a few Columbians on Twitter proud to rep Norton’s Columbia connections.

Thanks to everyone who stepped up last night to provide information for an upcoming blog post on job benefits. Between responses on Facebook and Twitter, I’ve gotten a wealth of information. My immediate take: I’m thrilled for the people who have had awesome and creative benefits and I’m sad for the few who checked in to say they have never received any. Interestingly enough, I’m not angry that some folks have more than I ever have. I wonder why that is?

A post-script: over the summer we expanded our bubble of three to include our older daughter and her husband, who live near us in Oakland Mills. Due to to spike in cases, we have closed back down to our in-house unit. Since it’s only three of us now for Thanksgiving, I asked my younger daughter if she wanted to order takeaway. She said, “Where are the Black-owned restaurants in Howard County?”

When I was 20 this is not a question I would have had and I am glad she asked it. We have started looking around and I shared her question on Twitter. Local writer (and former blogger) Candace Montague offered:

Anegada’s Caribbean Delight, Rise, Tigis Ethiopian, Sidamo Coffee, and 18th & 21st has Black investors. Not sure what they offer for Thanksgiving but check them out.

Someone else suggested I check out @eatokratheapp. I will, but I must admit I had an extremely bad experience with okra once...

Don’t forget that today and tomorrow are the last two days to place bids in the Community Ecology Institute’s Silent Auction for the Maker Space at Freetown Farm. I found two things to bid on; now I wait. Here’s the link.

Comments

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...

Village Green/Town²

Search This Blog