Village Green/Town²

It’s Giving Tuesday. I went to bed last night dreaming of how wonderful it would be to be able to give to every local cause I believe in. What a long list that is! Of course, that’s just a lovely thought, and I must winnow my list like everyone else.  Recently the talk over at the Columbia Conversation has been about a Third Place, which they define as “…somewhere you feel you belong that's NOT your home or office (The Central Perk, the coffee shop from Friends, is a perfect example). This could be a dog park, gym, church, library - really, any public setting where you feel a sense of community.” They go on to ask: Do you feel like you’ve found your “third place” in Columbia? We’d love to hear your thoughts! I had to think about that for a while. The pandemic had pretty much wiped my brain clean of the concept of a place where it was safe to hang out with anyone. Last night I saw a photograph and everything clicked. I’ve been thinking about this a lot since it was posted. My Thir...

  He’s back.  Santa, that is. It appears that the tradition of a visit with Santa is one of those “back to normal” experiences that some folks have been craving. If you are one of those folks, your opportunities in Columbia/HoCo are looking good. The gold standard for many is a trip to see Santa in residence at The Mall in Columbia. From Columbia Patch : Visit Santa at Center Court on the lower level of The Mall in Columbia now through Dec. 24. Reservations are encouraged and can be made here .  There are also specific dates and times to bring your “special fur friends” to see Santa. Additionally, on December 5th and 12th the Mall will be hosting Santa Cares Day to provide a Sensory Friendly experience for special needs guests. You have to click through several screens to find out what COVID precautions are in place. It looks like sitting on Santa’s lap is now an acceptable thing again. Since I’m not so sure how safe we all are right now, especially when it comes to chi...

  Bully vs Bully Pulpit Bully pulpit comes from the 26th U.S. President, Theodore Roosevelt, who observed that the White House was a bully pulpit. For Roosevelt, bully was an adjective meaning "excellent" or "first-rate"—not the noun bully ("a blustering, browbeating person") that's so common today. Roosevelt understood the modern presidency's power of persuasion and recognized that it gave the incumbent the opportunity to exhort, instruct, or inspire. He took full advantage of his bully pulpit, speaking out about the danger of monopolies, the nation's growing role as a world power, and other issues important to him. Since the 1970s, bully pulpit has been used as a term for an office—especially a political office—that provides one with the opportunity to share one's views. - - Merriam Webster Social media has become the place where much local information is shared. Howard County, with no local television or radio station, and a newspaper wh...

  It’s Small Business Saturday. I’m a strong supporter of shopping local, as regular readers of the blog know. It’s particularly important to patronize our mom & pops after a year of pandemic closures and restrictions. I’m not at all excited to spend my money at businesses that turned out to oppose a living wage, but that’s another post altogether.  Today I want to talk about pizza.  Yesterday residents in Oakland Mills were bemused to learn that the Oakland Mills Village Center will soon be marking the Grand Opening of a new business:  Why “bemused”? Well, the Oakland Mills Village Center already has two establishments that serve pizza: Pizzaman, and Little Caesar’s. And NYC Pizza is replacing long time local favorite Vennari’s, which merged with their nearby location in Owen Brown. That’s a lot of pizza.  The departure of Vennari’s left many folks with the impression that perhaps one village couldn’t support three pizza places. And here comes a new one. If...

  I grew up Unitarian, before they merged with the Universalists. We rarely went to the Unitarian Society of Cleveland where my parents were founding members. I’m not sure I had any sense of religion other than to celebrate the good things and honor good people and try to make a contribution with our own lives to the greater good.  My mother had a deep distrust of organized religion, specifically Christianity. Of the Old Testament, she said: God stacked the deck against Adam and Eve. He put that snake in that garden. Of the New Testament: Don’t finish that story. It doesn’t end well. She felt uncomfortable if I made friends with children who memorized Bible verses. If we received overtly religious Christmas cards they somehow never made it onto the mantle.  We said grace before meals only at Thanksgiving and Christmas. This is probably because we shared the celebratory meals with my grandparents. Although they, too, were Unitarians, they came from a generation that was so...

  I’ve seen more people this year posting “Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate.” That must be startling to those who always thought that everyone in the US celebrates Thanksgiving, that it’s a blanket holiday for all Americans. But, as the truth about the origins of the day becomes more and more widely known, it’s not surprising that feelings and practices centered on the day are changing. As each “traditional” holiday rolls around I find myself drawn more and more to exploring the celebrations of people who are not a part of the dominant culture. It isn’t enough for me to perpetuate what I know already. In recent years I have become keenly aware of how much I don’t know. Seven years ago I wrote about how photographs on social media introduced me to different views of how people celebrate Thanksgiving. (“ The Invisible Gravy Boat ”, November 24, 2014) This year I’m thinking a lot about my Jewish friends as they undertake to celebrate Thanksgiving with Hanukkah beginning just a...

  Nightmare-provoking scenes from television shows of my childhood include the protagonist trapped in a telephone booth that is filling with water, and another where they are locked in a room where the walls are closing in, moving closer and closer.  Nightmare-provoking realities in Howard County: housing and childcare unavailable or far too expensive, wages too low, a pandemic that has left an ongoing trail of damage both to community members and businesses.All of the things that low-wage earners need to survive are moving farther and farther away and they are stretched to the breaking point.  So here’s the “Why” from yesterday’s post: Why are members of Columbia Community Care organizing a toy drive again this year? It’s simple. For our neighbors, who are living daily in crisis mode to cover just the basics of food and housing, a gift for a child is an impossibility.  I’ve written before about how housing insecurity in Howard County actually creates poverty. So do...

  This is the time of year where people who love shopping are in their element. Perhaps you love the thrill of finding the perfect gift, or maybe it’s scoring the best bargain that ignites your holiday joy. In addition there’s always the fun of exploring Columbia/HoCo to support local businesses while ticking off the people on your gift list. LiveGreen Howard reminded me this morning that there’s another way to shop. They are recommending clutter-free gifts which can be equally (or maybe even more) enjoyable. Plus, they don’t add more “stuff” to the environment. Experiences, memberships, consumables, and gifts of time make up LiveGreen Howard’s holiday wishlist. It looks like many of those could be opportunities to invest your money in local businesses, making it a win-win for the environment and your neighbors. Another way to have a clutter-free holiday is to participate in a Buy Nothing communty. We offer people a way to give and receive, share, lend, and express gratitude thro...

  I’ve been following the movement to establish a living wage in Howard County with great interest. Some of the testimony in opposition presented by local business owners is truly disheartening. This morning I came across something I wrote in a November, approaching Thanksgiving, eight years ago. It feel like a particularly relevant introduction to a discussion of what a living wage is all about. Dark Ages (November 13, 2013) There was a time when wealth, and health, and all manner of good things were considered to be signs of God's favor. By the same token, poverty, ill-health, mental illness, disability and the like were signs of God's disfavor and punishment. Unable to conceive? Crops fail? Family starving? Parent of a disabled child? A veritable sign of your sin, for all the world to see. But, that was a long time ago, right? We know better than that now. Don't we? I wonder. It has become all the rage these days to say that those who are doing well financially are doing...

  I came very close to writing a post this morning based on things I had read on social media. And then something inside me objected. It’s all too easy to get sucked into looking at the world through that narrow lens. What about some real life experiences? It isn’t like I’m trapped in the house these days. Well, alrighty then. I found myself off the beaten path in Long Reach the other day. Every time this happens I am struck by the variety of gorgeous, Columbia-vintagey houses there. I’d gladly sign up for a house tour in Long Reach alone. And yet I never hear people talk about Long Reach this way. What’s up with that? Do you live in Long Reach, or do you have friends or family who do? Everyone knows what a cheerleader I am for my own village, Oakland Mills, but, after driving around in Long Reach over the years I find myself drawn somehow to its personality. I’d love to learn more. Totally off topic: restaurants with outdoor heating. I recently had a wonderful meal at a local esta...

Howard County students stage walkout over racist video , February 3, 2016 Photo credit: WBAL TV Black Lives Activists stage peaceful protest in Columbia, August 14, 2016 (and ongoing) Photo credit: Black Lives Activists page, Facebook Thousands March peacefully in Columbia to protest police killings , June 3, 2020 Photo credit: Len Lazarick/ Maryland Reporter   Hundreds rally in rural Western Howard County in support of Black Lives Matter , June 18, 2020 Image Credit: HoCo United page, Facebook Kyle Rittenhouse shoots three, two fatally, at event protesting killing of Jacob Blake by police , August 25, 2020 Social Justice Club Rallies Support for Removal of Police in Schools , May 27, 2021 Photo credit: Jeffrey F. Bill, Baltimore Sun Media Group Kyle Rittenhouse found not guilty of all charges in Kenosha shootings , November 19, 2021 ***** Yesterday in Kenosha, Wisconsin a judge and jury turned a gun on anyone in this country who dares to exercise their 1st amendment right to prote...

  Yesterday was…something. I’d like to thank the 757 people who read yesterday’s post and now I hope all of you will do something to be a force for good in defending pubic education. Today I need a break from the intensity, to turn my attention elsewhere for a bit. So I’ve decided to take on a new controversy, one that reaches beyond the boundaries of Howard County. It’s local, it’s regional, it’s national, and probably exists anywhere in the world that Americans get together for Thanksgiving. That’s right, I’m talking about stuffing. Or dressing.  Today on Village Green/Town²: stuffing vs dressing.  In looking for a restaurant meal we could bring home for the upcoming holiday, I was startled to see how many of the menus included corn bread dressing. I’ve eaten it, and it’s good enough in its own way, but I grew up on stuffing, that is, bread stuffing with herbs, etc. In most cases, when it comes to holiday meals, we want what have we grown up with.  Not stuffing-rel...

  Those loud angry voices in town have a new out of town megaphone: a group called  Parents Defending Education . You may already be familiar with the terming astroturfing, defined by Merriam-Webster as follows: organized activity that is intended to create a false impression of a widespread, spontaneously arising, grassroots movement in support of or in opposition to something (such as a political policy) but that is in reality initiated and controlled by a concealed group or organization (such as a corporation) This is astroturfing, plain and simple. At the moment they’ve set their sights on issues concerning how human sexuality is addressed in the Howard County Public Schools. PDE popped up in my Twitter feed last night attacking both teachers and curriculum. This group calls itself a grassroots organization. I’m dubious about that. Take a look at this post on Curmudgucation, “Astroturf goes hard right.”   There’s more to learn in the attached post which defines PD...

The little things are the big things.  That’s how the evening began last night at the APL Kosiakoff Center, where County Executive Calvin Ball was presenting the State of the County address. The event began smoothly, but, shortly after Dr. Ball began to speak there was a bit of a glitch. The teleprompter was causing words at the edges to be cut off. What followed was a few moments which could have been incredibly stressful (and maybe they were for the folks up front) but you wouldn’t have known it from the audience. Dr. Ball calmly communicated with his team about what was going on, even inviting one up to the podium to get a better view. He took a brief pause while they were working on it and then made the executive decision to continue from his notes. The speech continued, enhanced by a visual presentation on the big screen, and Dr. Ball merely moved forward with the occasional glance down at the text.   I was so focused on the visual presentation that I didn’t notice until ...

  The Howard County Delegation is hearing from citizens this week on proposed legislation for the 2022 session. They will be hearing from me, in writing, in response to Delegate Atterbeary’s bill addressing SRO’s.  Members of the Howard County Delegation: I am writing to express my support for Delegate Atterbeary’s School Resource Officers Act of 2022. The current practice of policing in schools has created a hostile learning environment where Black, Brown, and special needs students are disproportionately singled out. Study after study confirms this: school policing actively diminishes student futures. If focusing on education is our top priority, then addressing the damage done by school policing and making decisive changes to fund appropriately-trained school personnel should be at the top of the list.  Police haven’t always been in schools and research shows that their presence has not made school environments safer. We have the power as a community to choose somethi...

I just misread a promo for an upcoming holiday event as “Satan is coming to your neighborhood.”  How’s your morning going? The heat in our house is churning away which means it must actually be cold outside. I checked the weather report for the day and it indeed looks chilly. Not frozen, mind you, but possibly cold enough to zip your jacket. Or wear a hat. And that brings us to… Soup weather. As you know, I’m a big fan of soup. As the season moves towards darker and colder, my longing for soup increases. That got me thinking. Where’s the best soup in Howard County? Has anyone ever created the Great Columbia/HoCo Soup Tour? We could.  I don’t think we necessarily need a war room with enlarged maps and colored pushpins, but it would be fun to plot out where all the good soup is. That way, whether you’re driving Downtown or in Ellicott City, headed to Elkridge or Woodbine, you’d know where exactly where to show up if you have a soup craving. I’ve had decent soup from Jason’s De...

Why are you here? No, I’m not asking the great existential question .  I’m asking, why are you here in Columbia or any other part of Howard County? What brought you here? Why? Perhaps you were born here. There is that. As for me: I moved to Columbia in 1999 and I’m still trying to figure it all out. In my life I have lived in quite a few places. Cleveland Heights, Ohio Columbus, Ohio Stamford, Connecticut  South Hadley, Massachusetts  Princeton, New Jersey Baltimore (City) Maryland  Baltimore County, Maryland Columbia/HoCo, Maryland This is the place where I have taken root, grown, and flourished more than any other community that I’ve called home over the years. This is the place where I’ve met interesting and engaged people who’ve connected me to local places, events, and issues. Picnics at Lake Elkhorn Cookie Swaps and Jazz concerts in Oakland Mills OM Board meetings, CA Board meetings, giving testimony at the George Howard Building  Fireworks Letters to the ...

  We were out relatively late celebrating an important family birthday last night, so I’m a bit slow getting going this morning. A shoutout to the good folks at Cured for a lovely evening.  This weekend you have some good choices for getting out and about. Pop-up market at Frank’s: They are donating the proceeds from the vendor registration fees to Columbia Community Care and will have a bin onsite for non perishable food donations as well. The Holiday Craft Fair returns to Historic Oakland. Admission is free but they are doing registration through Eventbrite. Get free tickets here . Over at Freetown Farm the Community Ecology Institute is presenting a Watershed Care Fair  on Saturday from 2 to 4 pm: Join us at Freetown Farm to learn about how we can all steward the health of our local watersheds. You will be able to walk through our brand-new swale and bioretention pond areas, made possible by grants from the Chesapeake Bay Trust, to "follow the raindrop" on how commun...

  As I was scrolling through Twitter for local current events pertaining to Veterans Day, this tweet caught my eye: @FtMeadeAlliance  We're excited to announce @wbaltv11 is airing a feature Thursday at 11pm about the anticipated Education and Resiliency Center at Kuhn Hall. Below are some behind the scenes moments! @FtMeadeMD  #resiliency #FortMeade #VeteransDay What’s an education and resiliency center? From the Fort Meade Alliance website: The new Fort Meade Education and Resiliency Center will be designed to “support soldiers at all stages of their careers, from junior enlisted to veterans” as well as families and DoD civilians, Viergutz said. Designed around the concept of an education and resiliency campus, the center will provide onsite classes, counselling and events, but also serve as a hub to connect individuals with services elsewhere on post, within the military and out through surrounding communities. The piece about the Education and Resiliency Center, which ...