Village Green/Town²

  When my alarm went off this morning I hit it with a rather “not today, Satan!” kind of energy. I don’t know why. Perhaps that bit of extra sleep was needed. Or perhaps everyone has mornings where an inner adolescent shouts, “You can’t make me!” The first thing that came to mind as a blog topic would have been hilarious, and delightful, and local. But it might have embarrassed someone. And I’m getting better at foreseeing that, I hope. The second thing would have been scathing, and pointed, and very much well-deserved. But it would have been focused on one individual in the public eye and I’m trying not to do too much of that, either. The third thing isn’t completely ready yet. Well, phooey. Did you read yesterday’s blog post yet? I’m rather proud of it. I’m going to leave you with something I learned in a conversation with my doctor recently. We were talking about how “moving on from COVID” was revealing a big divide between “regular folks” and the medically vulnerable.  “Wh...

  I’ve been listening to the most recent episode of local podcast Elevate Maryland. Their guest,  Sheryll Cashin , is the author of   White Space, Black Hood: Opportunity Hoarding and Segregation in the Age of Inequality. Cashin is engaging and dynamic. The interview covers valuable information about housing and opportunity which is relevant nationwide but also specific to Maryland, notably Baltimore. The running time is about forty minutes, so it’s not a huge time commitment and the flow is good. You never feel bogged down or lose the thread of where they are going. I had an epiphany this week about why it’s so important for me to recommend this particular episode, and why I need to read Ms. Cashin’s book, as well. It came when Maryland State Representative Jazz Lewis highlighted a moment on the floor in Annapolis in which Republican Susan McComas rose to speak on a bill about school behavior and student arrest. You can find the video here , which includes Delegate Lewi...

The Howard County Schools calendar tells me that Monday, February 28th is the start of Employee Appreciation Week. News from the Board of Education meeting last week tells me that Tuesday, March 1st, masks to help prevent the spread of COVID will become optional in our schools. Well, dang. What a way to celebrate. From a Howard County Schools Facebook post in 2019: We're celebrating Employee Appreciation Week! A big thank you to the more than 8,300 HCPSS staff members who are part of our amazing HCPSS family, for your unwavering dedication to students and schools, and for all you do each and every day. A recent survey by HCEA found that teachers strongly favored (forty-five per cent)  that “universal indoor masking should continue through the end of the school year, even if transmission rates decline,” followed by twenty nine per cent who believed that masking should be present “until the County's positivity rate has fallen below the CDC "Low Transmission" levels (bel...

  I knew a fellow whose childhood approach to not wanting to go to bed was to march up to his parents’ bedroom and give impromptu lectures. The most notable occasion was when he announced himself as follows: I am here today to talk to you about Sharp Tools and Dangerous Weapons. Well, friends, it’s Free Form Friday. I am here today to talk to you about Things That Look Like Things. This is not because I am putting off any imposed bedtime but because it is a topic truly bugs me and it was bound to come up sometime. If you’ve ever sent a child to preschool, or  have friends or relatives who have, you will be familiar with the painfully adorable assortment of crafty things that children often bring home, especially around holidays, but often in conjunction with various preschool themes.  Caterpillars from egg cartons Pine cone turkeys Toilet paper roll robots Coffee filter butterflies Paper plate pizzas You get the point. Every child gets called to the table to make one and ...

  To the Superintendent of Schools Michael Martirano and to the members of the Board of Education:  I am writing both to praise the inclusion of a full-time LGBTQIA+ initiatives specialist as part of the FY23 budget for HCPSS, and to strongly advocate for its funding as a part of the budget agreement to be voted on this week. I strongly agree with members of CARY: Our school system’s budget is more than a document of financial planning, it is also a statement of our values and priorities. One of these priorities should be addressing the pressing needs of LGBTQIA+ students and staff. For LGBTQIA+ youth, this is sometimes a matter of life and death. Parents and allies have been watching in horror as anti-LGBTQ+ initiatives have moved forward across the country. In Florida the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation threatens the well-being and safety of young people in their own schools and compromises the precious relationship of trust between teachers and students. The movement to suppres...

  These are the words: Professional massage services in Ellicott City, MD. We provide massage spa services including Deep Tissue, Swedish, Shiatsu Asian Massage. These are the images: This does not look like a professional massage operation. This looks like someone is trafficking children. At the very least, they are making it a point to sell the fantasy of young, submissive Asian women ready and waiting to meet your needs. Years ago I attended a hearing of some sort and ended up hearing testimony about human trafficking in Howard County. Until that evening, I hadn’t really known it was a problem. I learned about how certain massage parlors are known to employ workers from other countries and steal their passports, restrict their movements. Their language skills may make it difficult to get help. It was chilling. I didn’t want to believe it happened here in beautiful Howard County.  Last night this bright and shiny, just-created Twitter account couldn’t have been more obvious ...

  Back in the spotlight in this ad campaign from Reebok is musician Brent Faiyaz. Brent Faiyaz. Columbia, Maryland. Singer-songwriter. Individual. Made up of everything true. Navigates creativity imperfectly, distinguishing himself from what already exists. Life Is Not a Spectator Sport.  Faiyaz  is a graduate of Long Reach High School. He was known in those days as Christopher Brent Woods. He’s 26 years old and has been making music in Los Angeles since around 2015. He is now one of a small group of artists featured in Reebok’s Life is Not a Spectator Sport Campaign . A fun fact: Faiyaz is listed as one one four notable alumni on the Long Reach High School Wikipedia entry. The others are Ron'Dell Carter, NFL player; Ian Jones-Quartey, animator; Darryl Webb, basketball player. Since I’m such a big advocate for arts education, I’d love to know what kind of experiences Faiyaz had in our school system. Were music classes the highlight of his day? Or were his interests outsid...

  I found myself face to face with an old friend last week, digitally speaking.  Threw Mike’s Eyez is a local blog written by Woodbine resident Mike Hartley. I discovered it back in the day when HoCoBlogs had an aggregator page and one could browse through what was currently available in the local blogosphere.  I’ve pointed you in his direction several times before, most recently, in 2019: I was inspired by this from Threw Mike’s Eyez blog: *My goal for tomorrow is to fill a trashcan of old junk and get rid of it. Well, I do have a lot more goals than that, but that might be the hardest.* A quick glance at Hartley’s LinkedIn page reveals a lifetime in the newspaper industry, including some treasured years working for Patuxent Publishing   in that building I love to write about. I also learned that he’s been writing his blog since 2014.  That’s persistence. It looks like he strives to write every day. Sounds familiar, huh? Hartley brings his skills as a pr...

News and notes in HoCo-land: Quidditch returns Howard County, Md. (Feb. 16, 2022) —   Major League Quidditch (MLQ) has announced that the 2022 MLQ Championship will be hosted in Howard County, Md. on Aug. 20-22 in partnership with Visit Howard County. This explanation helped me visualize what a non-flying Quidditch might look like: Quidditch is a mixed-gender, full-contact sport played by over 600 teams in 40 countries. The rules, originally adapted from the Harry Potter book series in 2005, incorporate elements of basketball, rugby and dodgeball. Cricket Expands in Columbia/HoCo And, elsewhere in the world of sport, the Department of Recreation and Parks broke ground on the county’s sixth cricket pitch at the end of January. This will be the first such playing facility dedicated to youth play. It will be located at Lake Elkhorn Middle School. They expect it to be ready by the end of May this year.  At some point recently I viewed a video montage of this event and was struck ...

  It is February 19, 2022 and so far we have three candidates for two open seats on the Howard County Education. Have you by any chance considered: Now, I read recently that the deadline to file has been moved forward to Tuesday, March 22nd. Does that apply to the Board of Education, or just statewide races where boundaries of certain districts may have been altered due to redistricting? Three candidates for two seats is not much to choose from. I know that some people like to wait until the very last moment to file, so perhaps I shouldn’t give up hope just yet. But, deep down, I have a bad feeling about this. There’s been a lot of talk over the last several years about how the loud angry voices have chosen to focus their dissatisfaction on individual board members who don’t hold the “right” point of view. Board members have received threats of harm to themselves and their families. One member had to contend with an angry mob assembled at their home. Even the Student Member of th...

  What? Is it Free Form Friday so soon? A few silly things are on my mind this morning. This Tweet from a local business made me smile: Chivalry Collection Carpet (color Respectful) with black cove base at a local business in Columbia, MD. Yes, friends, you, too can have a Respectful carpet. From the Chivalry Collection. I wonder what other shades are in the Chivalry Collection? May I suggest: Courtly, Noble, Daring, Loyal, Virtuous, or Brave? Chaste? Color names never cease to amaze and amuse me. The color we selected for our downstairs walls is called “Interactive Tan.” We like the color, but the truth is, it hasn’t ever tried to interact with us at all. That’s probably a good thing. How does one get a job naming colors? Are colors named by committee?  I know that there are special qualifications for wine tasters and fragrance-sniffers but is there such a thing as a color-see-er? To be clear, seeing varied shades of color or concocting new ones is not at all the same thing a...

  Did you know that’s Columbia’s Town Center has a new logo? Photo Kerry G. Johnson The Town Center Community Association Board of Directors is pleased to announce the winner of the Logo Contest that ended in late December. Mr. Kerry G. Johnson's entry was voted on by residents and selected as the winner across many excellent entrants. Mr. Johnson is a resident of Howard County and is proud to have had his first home on Ring Dove Lane right in Town Center. (Town Center Facebook page) I like it. I especially like this explanatory description shared by the artist: I designed the contemporary logo to subtly showcase the metropolitan and suburban character of the Tower Center community of Columbia. The multicolored graphic tree symbolizes the broad and diverse people that live, work, shop, or visit the Tower Center. If you closely review the solid and sturdy tree "person," it's supporting a foundation that's holding up the residents and businesses of the Town Center C...

  A new college president brings new ideas. Changes in leadership can be opportunities for new initiatives or a difference in focus. Perhaps that is why I took such an interest in this Tweet from Howard Community College’s new President, Dr. Daria J. Willis. Hey, HCC! My pink sofa has arrived all the way from Washington! What do ya think? Dr. Willis’s previous position was as the President of Everett Community College in Everett, Washington. That’s quite a long trip for that couch! There must be something special about it, I mused. And indeed there is something special about it, and I didn’t have to wait long to find out. Over on Instagram: Conversations from the Couch. Join us live on February 16th at 4:00 pm for a discussion on Black History Month. In no time at all that pink sofa has gone from a piece of furniture to an icon. It’s central to this bit of social media marketing.  HCC uses multiple social media accounts to get their message out: Facebook, Twitter, and this on...

Apparently there’s a rather common misconception that Reston, Virginia was developed by Jim Rouse. Perhaps this is because Columbia and Reston are: planned communities, not all that geographically far apart, and came in to being during the 1960’s. I mention this because I came across a post from the admin of a Howard County, MD Facebook group gently correcting those who had been making this mistake.  FUN FACT: This is Robert Simon, founding father of Reston, VA. Neither Jim Rouse nor The Rouse Company were professionally involved in development of Reston. Rouse and Simon were colleagues in the same business, and collaborated and consulted as colleagues do from time to time, as did Rouse with Walt Disney and many other pioneers in the field. But to say that Rouse designed Reston is akin to saying Rouse designed Disney World, which he didn’t.  Simon poses on a park bench near Lake Anne, next to his likeness in bronze. The statue was installed in 2004 to celebrate Reston’s 40th b...

  I cannot remember if this is a true story. I think it is. I’m rather on hazy on where I saw it. It’s about an advert for Valentines which reads: “You Are My One and Only Love” beautiful Valentine cards. Set of 12, $4.95. Hmm.  In the spirit of spreading one’s love around, here are one dozen things I love about Columbia/HoCo: Hanging out at the Lakefront on a warm Spring day Going to the library. Any branch, though I do love East Columbia most of all Having a picnic by the playground at Lake Elkhorn in Owen Brown Main Street, Old Ellicott City. Noodling around. The Brighton Dam Azalea Garden when everything’s in bloom Neighborhood Christmas lights Concerts at the Chrysalis, Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods The new playground, “Laura’s Place” at Blandair Park Finding a favorite spot to watch July 4th fireworks Summer Farmer’s Markets The Oakland Mills Fall Festival The pedestrian/bicycle bridge over Route 29 linking Oakland Mills to Downtown And, a bonus: the first meal I h...

  Yes, straight from the pages of Facebook, it’s: my dinner. Friday night in Oakland Mills: my book came in at East Columbia Branch, I picked up a jerk chicken dinner with all the trimmings from Althea's Almost Famous, which goes perfectly with a BrewDog Punk AF Hoppy Ale. Life is good.  The curious responses I got to this post made me realize that not everyone knows about  Althea’s Almost Famous.  I did a quick check and I see that her business has been mentioned on the blog seven times so far, beginning in October of 2020.  Last Spring I wrote: This year a new attraction at the Oakland Mills Market will be the debut of Althea’s Almost Famous food truck/trolley/cart/mobile catering. Althea has been a presence at the Market for a while now, selling her Jamaican Jerk sauce. She also run a local catering business. Now she’s taking her show on the road and you can see what all the excitement is about on Sunday at the Oakland Mills market. Althea Hanson, owner and o...

  On Thursday I wrote about how Zach Koung, an HCPSS graduate, is using his voice to advocate for LGBTQ+ students. Today I want to share what others in Columbia/HoCo are doing to support the LGTBQ+ students in our schools.  On December 4th, community members turned out at the Lakefront to take a stand against suppression of student reading materials* in our schools. I wrote about this in “ Love Gets Loud ”. Attacks on teachers and schools staff have promoted us to stand united and drown out the noise.  We stand for LGBTQ+ students and educational professionals  Teaching accurate history to our students  Supporting equitable practices in our schools Providing students with relevant LGBTQ+ reading materials through their school libraries  Here are some of the messages shared by those in attendance. All photos are shared with permission. CARY, (Community Allies of Rainbow Youth) was one of the groups who sponsored the rally. CARY is a grass-roots, volunteer-b...

  Valentine’s Day. I wasn’t really going to say much more about it until I saw this advert from Sweethearts Candy: Sweethearts Announcement  You remember Sweethearts, don’t you? They are the best known brand of what are called “conversation hearts” for the Valentine “season.” You may recall that Necco, the company that produced those tooth-breaking confections, went out of business, leaving us heartless for awhile there. I wrote about this sad state of affairs back in 2019. Hometown Sweethearts Here’s some history on conversation hearts from Spangler Candies, the company that bought the Sweethearts brand. In the 1860s, Daniel Chase was the first to print sayings on candy hearts. Daniel was the brother of Oliver Chase, the founding father of the candy manufacturer New England Confectionary Company (NECCO). Daniel invented a machine that pressed a felt roller pad moistened with red vegetable coloring against a printing dye, which would stamp the sayings on the hearts. The printe...