Village Green/Town²

  Let’s talk about being a parent.  When my daughter had just learned how to read I suddenly realized that the headlines of the tabloids were now accessible to her as we waited in line at the grocery store. I had a little talk with her about how those kinds of publications were different than newspapers like the Baltimore Sun, and that they sometimes twisted or stretched the truth, or downright made things up. So, I said, full of the wisdom of a young parent determined to raise a child with discerning critical thinking skills, “If you see anything on those papers that you don’t understand, I want you to feel comfortable asking me about it.” The very next time we were in the grocery store, on a day that was rather quiet in the checkout line, my daughter’s sweet young voice piped up with confidence. “Mom? What’s ‘kinky sex’?” Be careful what you wish for. My definition, an on-the-spot, off-the-top-of-my-head explanation for a six year old, went something like this: “You know how...

Autumn can be a glorious time in Columbia/HoCo, with an abundance of days that are not too hot and not too cold. It’s traditionally a time for harvest festivals and all sorts of outdoor events. This year’s autumn events come with the added reassurance that being outside is a safer place to be in the world of COVID. Part of me wants to go to all of them for just that reason. Tonight in the Park (Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods) is this year’s last outdoor happy hour of the season. It’s free but you must register so they’ll know how many people to expect. Oh yes, there’s also yoga on the Chrysalis stage if that’s your thing. I keep forgetting to mention that.  Last Thursday Happy Hour featuring Moonstone, 9/30 from 5-7 pm Saturday is an explosion of choices. My day will begin at the Oakland Mills Fall Festival. This is one of the events I really missed last year when public events were canceled due to the pandemic. It begins at 11 am but the OMHS band will be kicking it off a bit...

  The alarm woke me in the middle of a dream that involved an animated Snoopy (from Charles Schulz’ Peanuts comic strip) dancing on one page of a book and playing ice hockey on the next. This may explain why I woke up with a taste for fluff this morning. So, fluff it is. Not exactly a human interest story but rather an animal one: the five zebras on the loose from a farm in Upper Marlboro have captured the public’s imagination. It appears that area journalists have been unable so far to resist using the phrase “zebras have been spotted.”  Sigh. This article from DCist asks a question I hadn't even thought of yet: Could the escaped zebras survive roaming around Prince George’s County forever?   , Rachel Kurzius Yes, it includes the “zebras have been spotted” line but I’ll give it a free pass because it also includes a reference to one of my favorites songs from the old Captain Kangaroo show of my childhood. “People that are curious may say, ‘Oh, they’re horses with s...

  Yesterday afternoon found me on the second floor of the Central Branch of the Howard County Library for possibly the second or third time over the past twenty-ish years. I was there for the opening of the new Equity Resource Center, which will also be home to the Undesign the Red Line exhibit until February 22nd. Here is HCLS President and CEO Tonya Aikens making a few last minute notes before the the event: (Yes, you’ll be glad to know that professional photographers were on hand and I will add a link here as soon as I have one.  I’m no photographer, despite my good intentions.) Update : photographs by Geoffrey Baker, courtesy of Howard County Library System. Most important to me about yesterday’s event was learning that the impetus for an equity resource center came from the community. Ms. Aikens described the process that led to the creation of this new space and the library’s subsequent investment in a collection of over nine thousand items. She outlined the many partne...

  Does it seem exceptionally dark to you this morning? Some good reading to go with your darkness: Howard County Progress Report, “ Let’s Keep Our Eye on the Bal l” . Jenny Solpietro adds more context to the marching band harassment story with a great follow-up. FrankHecker.com, “ Final thoughts on my Howard County redistricting proposal ”. Hecker concludes his 7-post series on this topic with some thoughts on why he cares about the redisctricting issue. HoCoNomNom, “ Summer Close-out Super Mega Update ”. Wow, do we have restaurants opening! Performing group to watch: Maryland Winds . Their concert at the Chrysalis yesterday with the musical equivalent of <chef’s kiss>. Here’s a snippet of how they sounded. Their rich sound complemented by the Chrysalis acoustics made for a perfect Columbia evening. Can you tell that I’m having a mild case of the Mondays? When some light starts streaming through the front window I should begin to reanimate . I hope. 

It has been a rough week in the old Columbia/HoCo. I looked back to see what was happening a year ago and came across this: Bursting the Bubble This paragraph made me think: I’ve said that I’m not going to write about the Board of Education race this year, and so far I’ve held to that. But I’d like to leave you with one thought: no one should be serving students and families in Howard County and still feel content to operate almost completely in a world of whiteness. That is not what the job entails. We cannot keep electing people who can insulate themselves from the harm being done to others.  Does our current BOE understand the lived experiences of all of our students, or just some? Do their words and actions show true comprehension and empathy? For our students, their introduction to community “life and how we live it” begins in school. Are the experiences they are having equitable and just? Are we preparing them for a lifetime of learning and growth or are we acculturating them...

  Notice anything different about this week’s Columbia Flier/ Howard County Times? I did. And I tweeted about it. Great! The Columbia Flier is now running syndicated content from Miss Manners.  I would write a hyper-local Manners column for them for free!  No, I wouldn’t. I’d probably want to paid for my work. And that’s what’s wrong with real people who live in your community. They want to be paid and treated like real human beings. #localjournalismmatters And I brought it up on Facebook, which prompted this exchange: Friend: They couldn't take the money they pay for Miss Manners and use it to hire a part-time reporter? Is Miss Manners that cheap? (well, you know what I mean ...) Me:  Think of how many papers TribPub has. They probably get a package deal.  I have nothing again Miss Manners. I do find it distressing to see our only local newspaper being padded more and more with syndicated content. Every piece like Miss Manners is occupying space that could (and...

  Weather report from the Capital Weather Gang: Today’s daily digit (A somewhat subjective rating of the day’s weather, on a scale of 0 to 10.) 10/10: Not. A. Complaint. Not a single one. An incredible, “perfect” weather day is upon us. Read more about it while outside IN IT (with midday sunscreen, please)! Express forecast Today: Sunny. Slight breeze. Highs: Low to mid-70s. Tonight: Clear. Calming breeze. Lows: Upper 40s to mid-50s. Tomorrow: Mostly sunny. Highs: 72-78. Sunday: Mostly sunny. Highs: Low to mid-70s? Whether report from Village Green/Town² : Whether you live in Wilde Lake or anywhere else in Columbia/HoCo, tonight’s going to be a perfect Fall night to come out and support the Wilde Lake High School Marching Band. (Oh, and the football team. I confess to having a musician’s perspective.) Friday, September 24th WLHS Marching Band will be hosting Future Marchers Night! Come out and show these future WLHS students how we support our Football Team and the rest of our Wil...

  An update on yesterday’s post: board member Antonia Watts provides an update on her Facebook page and indicates that Superintendent Martirano will speak on this issue at today’s Board Meeting. I look forward to hearing what he has to say. Recommended reading: local blogger Frank Hecker’s series on Howard County Council Redistricting. So far: A bigger Howard County needs a bigger county council   A more diverse Howard County needs a more diverse county council A Howard County concerned about equity needs a more equitable way to elect its county council Mr. Hecker is, to me, the definition of someone who does their homework when setting out to cover a subject. Take a look if you have time.  This weekend: “Maryland Winds, Music from stage and screen” at the Chrysalis. The concert is Sunday at five pm and it is free. Reserve your tickets here at Eventbrite. One more recommended read: Howard County Sports Q&A: Oakland Mills volleyball senior Zhenzhu Nelson, Jacob Calvin...

Last Friday night the match-up was between two unlikely parties: football fans from one high school and the marching band of another.  What the marching band did: assemble to play their half-time show. What the football fans did: target them with booing, throwing trash, shouting the F-word, the N-word, using the middle finger hand gesture. Before you ask: yes, there is video tape. I also happen to know multiple eye-witnesses to this event. Does it matter who these students were, where they were from? Of course it does. But today I want to focus on the actions themselves. Shouting obscenities and making obscene gestures is rude and poor sportsmanship. Throwing trash at fellow students is an act of violence, however small you may think that is. Shouting racist epithets is what reveals the greater purpose. It is what draws all these actions together. We show you profound disrespect, we curse you, we mock you, we throw trash at you, because you are Black. What did the marching band do ...

  Last week was too busy for me. An adventure into Baltimore to find Taharka Brothers Ice Cream, dinner with the family in Harbor East, happy hour in the park. My goal on Friday night was to go absolutely nowhere. I knew I’d be going to the BSO concert at the Chrysalis the next day and I just wanted to hunker down in my own home and be a couch potato. I was thwarted in my plans by the sudden cravings of my husband for “a good fish dinner.” To him that meant Union Jack’s, and, since they have ample outdoor seating, off we went. The cloudy skies from earlier in the day had cleared up and it had turned out to be a nice night to eat outside in Downtown Columbia. We were seated adjacent to an open tent where we saw a band setting up. Around us Friday evening traffic came and went. My husband surveyed the view. “At least we’re not looking at our car,” he quipped, referring to the local joke that all outdoor eating in Columbia/HoCo comes with a scenic view of one’s own vehicle. “No, those...

  If you read yesterday’s post you know how excited I was about the BSO kids concert at the Chrysalis. If you haven’t read it yet, there’s always time to go back and read it now. Today I present a different kind of performance. It’s my live-tweeting of events at the concert. You could call it another episode of Other People’s Tweets but it’s mostly mine. Think of it as an on-the-scene account. Wow @MerriweatherPP . Just wow. Just disgusted I am never buying another ticket to anything at Merriweather Post Pavilion as long as I live. What profound disrespect that @MerriweatherPP has for our community and the @BSO.  I am sitting here in a capacity crowd at the Chrysalis and the BSO concert has been stopped by a rock concert rehearsal at Merriweather. (Correction: it was a sound check.) Leadership at @MerriweatherPP knew well in advance that this concert was happening. What utter hubris. Children and families from all over our community came for this amazing opportunity to hear t...

  After an absence in the neighborhood of thirty-ish years, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra returns to Howard County to give a free concert for families and children at the Chrysalis. At the podium, Jonathan Rush, assistant conductor of the BSO. From their website:  As the 2018 winner of the Respighi Prize in Conducting at age 22, Rush made his professional orchestra debut with the Chamber Orchestra of New York in Carnegie Hall.  His Masters Degree in Orchestral Conducting is from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.  Photo credit Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun Rush grew up steeped in gospel and other roots-based genres. "What I bring is something so different," he said. "My foundation was gospel. I'm not just going to bring classical, I'm going to bring soul ... the whole music world that makes up Jonathan Rush. People my age, we have something to offer, and it’s completely different.” ( Experience: CSO.org ) Featured performer for the ...

  Sleeping through my alarm two days in a row isn’t an accident. It’s a trend. Something about the morning light must be changing as the season begins to lean towards Fall. Sigh. I must adjust. I saw this on my morning exploration of Twitter and thought, “Huh! I didn’t know that.” GET READY! Tomorrow is #HungerActionDay! We have an amazing donor, the Ellicott City – Columbia Lions Club, matching DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR for ONE DAY ONLY in support of the #HoCoFoodBank. bit.ly/3Dp4w2Q This was a tweet from yesterday. So, “tomorrow” is today, if you would like to have your donation matched by the Ellicott City-Columbia Lions Club. I did not know that September was Hunger Action Month. It looks like Hunger Action Month was established in 2008 by a group called Feeding America.    Hunger Action Month was established by Feeding America back in 2008, when it decided it was time for a nationwide push to get involved with the hunger crisis across the country.  In Columbia/HoCo the ...

  How did you observe this year’s 9/11 anniversary? Did you ever wonder how Muslim Americans observe it? This press release from CAIR stopped me in my tracks. CAIR condemns 9/11 related bullying of Maryland Muslim student, calls of Howard County Schools Superintendent, Board to investigate and take appropriate action  Briefly: The family tells CAIR the incident was prompted by a lesson on 9/11 when the fifth grade student, who was wearing a Muslim prayer cap, was instructed by his teacher to explain to the class “who was behind the attacks.” They say that after he attempted to describe the attackers as “Saudi nationals,” students in the class started mocking and ridiculing him and chanting “you’re Muslim like them.”  In response to inquiries about this story,  Board of Education President Chao Wu shared a memo sent by Superintendent Martirano written to members of the Board. Since he shared it in a private group I don’t feel comfortable passing it along without his p...

This past week I splurged on a home delivery of Taharka Brothers Ice Cream. They got me with an online advert describing two limited flavors: Watermelon Sorbet and Peach Crisp. I eagerly awaited the delivery on Sunday. But when it arrived I was sad to see that Peanut Butter Cup had been mistakenly included rather than Peach Crisp. Not a big deal except that 1) I hate peanut butter and 2) Peach Crisp was about to cease production for the season. I reached out to the folks at Taharka and worked out a deal to drive to their factory in Baltimore and pick up my pint. I didn’t think they should have to come to Columbia just for that. Sure enough, when I arrived, the gentleman I had spoken with was waiting for me and presented me with two pints of peach crisp for my trouble. It was a perfectly lovely experience all around plus I got the adventure of driving through the Hamden/Woodberry area and marveling at all the quirky restaurants and businesses there. I am now particularly curious about ...

Yesterday when I went looking for “the photographs I can’t escape” I thought I might find them on the CA website. I didn’t. But I did find something surprising: a blog. To be honest, I think I knew that the Columbia Association had a blog at some point but had long since forgotten. Why? Because they don’t promote it. I checked their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram feeds to be sure. Nope, nothing. Blogs can’t thrive without readers and, in my opinion, reader feedback, so this puzzles me. The two most recent posts intrigued me. They might be of interest to you, as well. Open Letter: Inclusion at the Lakefront A Statement on the Resignations of Members of CA’s Board of Directors Both are dated September 10, 2021. The first piece is a response to a recent letter to the editor printed in the Columbia Flier. (I mentioned it here .) The second is a business-like, matter-of-fact announcement that two of the CA Board members have resigned.* I am not here to critique or review these. If you liv...

When the alarm goes off during REM sleep I am not a happy camper. This probably accounts for why all I can think about this morning are things that bug me. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. On today’s episode of “Things That Bug Me”: The Columbia Association is running a membership advert that includes two stock photos of people in the gym. That is, I think they are stock photos. They feel very staged to me. If I had only seen them once or twice I think they wouldn’t bother me. But, the algorithm of Facebook being what it is, I keep seeing these artificially grouped people and after the 100th time they have begun to disturb me. What are those people in the photo thinking? What was the photographer thinking? What was CA thinking when they chose these particular shots? I guess that familiarity makes me think too much. And that is not a good thing. I’ve become convinced that these photos need captions. The people in them need backstories. I’d share them with you to invite just that but of cour...

  I can’t remember where I saw this but it definitely caught my eye: Roller Derby? In Howard County? Yes, and they even have their own Facebook page . Will wonders never cease. Event by Patuxent Roller Derby Alpha Ridge Community Park Public  · Anyone on or off Facebook Have you ever wanted to be a roller derby skater but didn't know how to get started? Now is your chance to dust off your skates and get rolling again! Patuxent Roller Derby is hosting a beginner boot camp on Saturdays, 09/11 to 10/30. It's only $75 for 8 weeks of training No experience required. Must be 18 & over to participate. Register here: https://forms.gle/SqdNLoD5bphhzd2u7    Although yesterday was the first day of the session, I believe they are still taking registrations if you are interested.  I grew up thinking that the roller derby was scary and violent and the domain of “tough broads” who were “largely unattractive.” (Can you hear my mother’s voice here? I sure can.) But I h...

  Dear friends and readers, there is nothing I can say today that is the right thing. I’ve been searching for the right words as this day approached and last night came upon this from Amanda Zamora, co-founder and publisher of The 19th News: As a journalist who has spent the better part of two decades planning and executing news — including anniversary coverage — I just can’t deal with the saturation of 9/11 news right now. It is e-ver-y-where. And we are already struggling to survive the overwhelm.  I just can’t. Yes. This is it.  I have so many things running through my head and they all feel sacrilegious and wrong. More than anything else I am convinced that the world does not need my take on this today. The best thing I can do is to wish peace and healing to all for whom this day lands heavily. The one piece I would readily recommend today is this by Howard County resident and Navy veteran Laura Newberger. Many thanks to Howard County Progress Report for bringing it t...

  If you’re in the mood for thrills and chills, mystery and suspense there’s an event just for you this weekend in Columbia/HoCo. The “ Creatures, Crimes, and Creativity Con ” is taking place at the Doubletree Hilton Friday - Sunday, September 10-12.  To be clear, this is a writer’s conference, not the kind where you are sure to run into costumed fans. There will be book signings, and classes with topics like “Twenty ways to jumpstart your writing”, “Writing espionage, intrigue, and police procedurals”, and “Earning Your Ending: How to Use Clues, Reveals, and Red Herrings." If your writing leans in the swashbuckling direction you’ll be interested to note that there will be a demonstration of sword fighting techniques. Registration  for the full 3-day conference is $285, which includes 5 meals, all panels and keynote speakers. You can also register for one day only for $160. If you would rather register at the door you can do that too. Bring cash, your credit card or a che...

Everybody has them. Days like this, I mean. Days when you wake up with a solid case of the I-don’t-wannas. Things that seemed highly motivating the night before stare at you, gray and uninteresting. I don’t know what causes this. As far as I know there is no cure for the I-dont-wannas, although it’s possible that research is ongoing. The five am I-don’t-wannas are particularly challenging. So. I was reminded this morning that today is the two-year anniversary of when my friend discovered a snake in her car. I am forever indebted to her for allowing me to share this story on the blog.  Panic at the Supermarket , from September, 2019 New and up-to-date is this piece by James Rouse, Jr. in the Baltimore Sun , writing about the future of Harborplace in Baltimore. A Contrary View for Baltimore’s Harborplace , September, 2021 This piece prompted all sorts of thoughts for me. I’m not sure I agree with him. I lived in Baltimore during some of the years that Harborplace was experiencing its...

  Available on line and probably in this week’s Flier/HoCo Times, two letters to the editor worth reading. The first one appears under the heading “Columbia Lakefront Concerts Lack Diversity”, the second, “Racial Inequality Has A Long History”. These letters leapt off the page for me this morning because I had a bit of a run-in with my peers on a music teachers’ Facebook page yesterday on an issue that was rooted in race. It began when some well-meaning person posted a rather well-known meme. Every time I see this I wince. So yesterday I decided to do something about it. I made my own meme. I posted it along with the question, “why don’t we ever see memes like this?” I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of positive feedback. But the negative was pretty much what I expected. “This is supposed to be about music education. You are making it about race.”  After going around in circles a bit on this I got frustrated and wrote: Can you give me any good reason that an adult choir...