Skip to main content

Loose Ends



Recent blog posts have produced some interesting feedback. Here’s a sampling:

A Teachable Moment: Apparently asking people to come back to a playground later if all the parking spaces are full is highly offensive. So far it has mostly been men who are offended. And - - oh my! - - they are quite an authoritative bunch. I’d like to remind readers that the post was intended as food for thought, not a demand, and that my blog very likely has no influence over Howard County policy. 

Small Town Feelings My comparison of Columbia, Maryand to Wetumpka, Alabama, inspired by a show on HGTV, ended up being more of a learning experience for me than for readers. Not only is Columbia’s population far more than ten times the size of Wetumpka, it looks like many if not all of Columbia’s villages have larger populations. Thanks to Jeremy Dommu of The Merriweather Post for pointing me towards this report from the Columbia Association. I expect to return to this topic in a future post, once I digest the full report.

Finding My Way Judging from the response I got to this post, many people have gotten lost in Columbia. Reading reader responses to this was some of the most fun I have had in a long time. Some advice from locals:

  • Everything is in a circle.
  • The Mall is at the Center.
  • You can get anywhere in Columbia in ten minutes. Or twenty. (Varying opinions on this)
Midtown Mystery Many thanks to readers who offered information on the puzzling broken yellow line on the sidewalk. From one: It’s part of an expanded bikeway/pedestrian route, and I think connects to the similar stuff on LPP near Merriweather and the library. Another suggested: Those are the awesome wide paths/sidewalks that were part of the Complete Streets Project. I did see a post on Facebook about improvements to the multi-use pathway on Twin Rivers Road in Wilde Lake, which is where I was driving that day, so there does appear to be some connection.

A friend in Oakland Mills discovered what looked like a new pathway off the Walgreen’s side of Thunder Hill Road. Now I’m curious about that. I think that’s the spot where I recently noticed a sign from CA about pathway improvements. I should have stopped to read it, I guess.

A recommendation for your Sunday: listen to the June 9th episode of Elevate Maryland: Belonging Before Belief: Prisms of the People with Hahrie Han.  It’s a manageable length and filled with insights that you will want to jot down and think about later. One of my favorites:

Often in Democracy the work that is most important is the work that is the most invisible: it’s that invisible work where people develop the kind of habits and skills that it takes to work with each other to solve problems that we often can’t see.

I have a feeling that I’ll be coming back to this interview in another post in the near future.

By the way, sorry about yesterday. I apparently had a date with some extra sleep.




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