Village Green/Town²

The last post of the year. Here it is.  I just re-read the last post of 2022 and it’s honestly a bit sad to see how much is still relevant and/or unimproved.  My two most-read pieces in 2023 were  What Lurks Behind the Door,   about M4L’s bait and switch tactics  Local Man in 2023 , about Phelps Luck principal Ed Cosentino’s trip to work via scooter As always, the most fun I have writing the blog comes when a post sparks lively conversation in the comments. Often those are posts like, “Did you ever go down this back road?” or, “What do you have in the back of your refrigerator?” Posts about controversial issues may get more clicks, but they aren’t necessarily the ones that get people chatting. Go figure. A great joy for me in 2023 is that the scariest people in town don’t read my blog anymore. Or, if they do, they aren’t talking about it anywhere that I can see. This may be because I have been deemed irrelevant and I guess I am okay with that. Columbia/HoC...

You know why. Those are the words that made me smile in this post from a local NextDoor group. Dear Longfellow neighbors. I just want to let you know that the foxes are having fun these days and running & chasing each other. You know why!  Please drive carefully along Eliots Oak Rd, particularly where there are fields and creeks, as they are crossing the road constantly. We have seen many this morning in our back yard and crossing the street. Happy new year! These words brought back memories of an excruciatingly dull class in Middle School called Home Living. Only the girls took Home Living, along with Sewing, and Cooking. In Home Living we learned how to bathe a baby (doll) and interior decorating (inside of a cardboard box.) Once a week we were permitted to bring in advice columns from Ask Beth (for discussion) if they contained teen issues of general interest. It was on one of those days that the issue of, shall we say, “canoodling” arose and our teacher, nearing retirement ...

I have been struggling to write for the last week or so. Part of it is probably the aimlessness of the holidays. My sleep schedule is different. My days are unscheduled. Local stories are primarily centered around holiday celebrations, food, shopping, and the like. Nothing jumps out at me. Many ideas are of the almost, but not quite variety. I have a confession to make. The biggest block to my writing is the ongoing slaughter of civilians in Gaza. I sat down on Christmas to gather my thoughts and all I could see in my mind’s eye were frightened eyes, tears, pain, rows of little bodies. Flattened buildings where once neighbors had lived and worked. Total destruction. No mercy. The terrorist acts by Hamas against Israeli citizens were vile and inexcusable. The response by the IDF has been unconscionable. Both of these things can be true. Both of these things are true. Here in the U.S. we must face the fact that funds from tax dollars are paying for weapons that the IDF is using to carry ...

  What was I thinking ten years ago? I’m glad you asked. (Yes, I’m running an old post.) The Spirit of Andy Rooney , Village Green/Town², SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2013 Since we have a minute, and the old year is winding down, let me share with you some things that really bug me, in no particular order: Political fundraising emails that say, "Just chip in 3 dollars." Then, when you click through, suggested donation levels begin at 15 dollars and they actually have the gall to suggest that people 'like you' donate 25.00 or more. This is just cheesy, folks! As God is my witness, if they actually offered the low amount as a choice I would probably give. Every. Single. Time. The trend to put huge amounts of power over education in the hands of people who aren't teachers, have never studied education, have never taught. See also: entire education reform movement. If what you are is a test-maker, everyone looks in need of testing. Follow the money. School rules that mean y...

I spent a long time this morning looking for an article I had glimpsed briefly as I scrolled through TwitterX. This is because I had remembered the title incorrectly. What I was looking for, and had been intrigued by: “Small Town Saved by Giant Nutcrackers” In fact, the title was nowhere near as exciting. “A town fell on hard times. Hundreds of giant nutcrackers revived it” Cathy Free, Washington Post  No, it’s not a local story. It’s about Steubenville, Ohio.  Steubenville Nutcracker Village Nov. 21st, 2023 - Jan. 6th, 2024 The world's largest collection of life-size nutcrackers will be on display in historic downtown Steubenville ​throughout the entire holiday season.  The exhibit is free and open to the public 24 hours a day.  Pets are welcome but must be crowd-friendly and kept on a leash at all times.   Image from Steubenville Nutcracker Village Two thoughts on this. The first is that the phrase “Giant Nutcrackers” immediately put me in mind of vintage, lo...

 It’s the local gift that keeps on giving. Two recent posts on TwitterX: I just popped on this bird app to warn y'all that some folks riding around #HoCoMD with "Choose Civility" bumper stickers have chosen violence instead today. There is no bumper sticker I hate more than that Howard County ‘Choose Civility’ one. The Choose Civility initiative began in 2006. If you moved here after that time you might not know about it. Choose Civility is a community-wide initiative, led by Howard County Library System, to position Howard County as a model of civility. The project intends to enhance respect, empathy, consideration and tolerance through an initiative with partners comprising government, nonprofits, and businesses . - - Urban Libraries Council Though the initiative itself is no longer an active part of community life, the bumper stickers remain. They were quite popular at the time.  They’ve also been a popular target of folks who didn’t think much of Choose Civility in th...

What happened to the Ellicott City Eggplant? I was a fan . The sculpture, entitled “Aubergine”, was the work of artist Jan Kirsch. It won the 2015 Art Sites competition and was on display in front of the Howard County Tourism Center on Main Street in Old Ellicott City during that year. At some point it went away. Then, in 2018 it was brought back by a group called the Fund for Art in Ellicott City.  Art in Ellicott City is THRILLED to announce the completion of its first project on Main Street, the return of the Ellicott City eggplant! As you know, Jan Kirsh's wonderful eggplant sculpture stood in front of the Welcome Center as part of the Art Sites program some years back.  It became a community favorite for photo ops and selfies, and many of us missed it when it left.  Now it's BACK!   6/10/20  In 2020 The Fund for Art in Ellicott City announced that the Eggplant had been briefly kidnapped! Hey guys, did you hear?  The Ellicott City Eggplant had a big ni...

Help me out here. I’ve seen two words this week that really ticked me off. I’m going to present them to you in context, but first, here are the words: acquire product Take a minute to think about what those words suggest to you. Ready? Orioles acquire Jonathan Heasely in trade with Royals. Maryland safety Beau Brade, a River Hill product, moves closer to NFL goal with Senior Bowl invite Wait a minute. Don’t the words “acquire” and “product” have to do with inanimate objects? Things? Humans are hired for a job. They graduate from a school. Humans are not acquired (or they shouldn’t be.) People are not products.  Why is this language acceptable in the world of sports? It comes across as demeaning to me. Do we think of athletes as manufactured goods? Or is this way of thinking rooted in horse-racing terminology? If you are a product that can be acquired, do you have any inborn rights? Or are you merely a thing whose value fluctuates with changes in the market? Words mean something....

The Columbia Association folks posted a cute little video this morning done in the style of the “Friends” television show opening. https://fb.watch/p3PXFWJA8Y/? It’s fun to watch and was surely fun to do. In light of Tuesday’s post , what to you think it tells the viewer about CA? What does it communicate?  We have reached the time of year where locals begin to reminisce about that Flash Mob at the Mall and wonder if they’re ever going to do it again. In case you’ve never heard about the legendary Flash Mob at the Mall - - or you just want to enjoy it all over again - - here it is.  December 22, 2010, Video courtesy of HoCoMoJo Details on how it all came about can be found in the Description section under the video on YouTube. I wasn’t there when it occurred and I dare say that if everyone who says that they were there had actually showed up it would have shut the entire mall down. Let’s just say that a lot of folks wish they had been there, which may be what prompts the ye...

  This post turned up last night in the Howard County Eats Facebook Group and I thought it was sweet. The owner of China Taste asked me to post this information on Facebook. China Taste is a wonderful take out restaurant in the Enchanted Forest Shopping Center. They are usually closed on Mondays but are open on Christmas day. Since Christmas falls on a Monday this year she wanted me to get the word out that they WILL BE OPEN on Christmas Monday. She told me it is one of their busiest days and is afraid people will think they are closed being that it is a Monday. So if your Xmas tradition is Chinese takeout you are in luck. Our family does Chinese takeout on Xmas Eve in order to give Santa's helpers a break before the big day. I have never been to China Taste. They don’t have a Facebook presence and their website is basic. But this post elicited plenty of praise from group members. The conversation reminded me of a post I wrote some years ago about a tradition which has come to be ...

Here’s the question :   CA is soliciting responses to an online survey. Take just 10 minutes to complete our survey, and add your voice to the creation of CA’s next 5-year Strategic Plan. But, since they posted it on social media, people are giving them a piece of their minds in the comments section. I don’t know if any of that will be used as a part of CA visioning process. But it was pretty enlightening for me. A majority of the suggestions asked for things that CA doesn’t do. For example: issues of public safety, road paving, housing development, businesses in Village Centers. This suggests to me that one of the Columbia Association’s biggest challenges continues to be the lack of community understanding. It’s going to be difficult to develop new generations of Columbia leadership, for example, if a large chunk of the populace doesn’t have a basic grasp of how the whole thing works. Do I know how to make that happen? No. CA spends a lot of time pushing out its message on social ...

  At the very end of October I wrote about the County’s purchase of the East Columbia Library Park property and their their plans for the area. I felt positive about it. Not all of my readers felt the same. What I didn’t process fully at the time I wrote the piece is that replacing grass fields with synthetic turf was a component of the plan. I was disappointed to learn that. I’m not a fan of synthetic turf. When we visited the first playground put in at Blandair I was stunned to discover how hot it was to sit on. It holds the heat and is the last place you’d want to sit while watching your kids on the playground equipment.  Now think about sporting events played on hot days. Synthetic turf is significantly hotter than the surrounding air temperature and it both holds and reflects the heat. Possible hazards include melting shoes, burning/blistering hands and feet, dehydration and heat stroke.* Local environmental group Less Plastic, Please also opposes putting synthetic turf ...

Traffic in my lane was moving slowly. I didn’t know why but I wasn’t inclined to pass. I was on I 95 South and the exit for 175 wasn’t all that far away. It wasn’t until the car directly in front of me got off at the Glen Burnie exit that the cause was revealed. It was a car pulling some kind of wooden boat on wheels. In the boat was an enormous octopus sculpture with black tentacles hanging out over the edges and a huge blue head. The car pulling the boat had a hammerhead shark on top and possibly mounted weapons (like spear guns?) facing forwards on the hood.  I just stared and gripped the wheel, wishing I could take a photograph. As I moved further right, to exit at 175, I took a farewell look at whatever this strange vehicle might be. Wow. You know those creepy movies where the kids get lost at an old amusement park? It was like that.  Being the sort of person that I am, once I got home I immediately went to social media to see if anyone else had reported this thing. Of co...

  Once upon a time, a young man was invited to a Christmas Eve service at one of Columbia’s Interfaith Centers. As he entered he could see there were multiple doors ahead. A person stationed nearby stepped forward.  “Protestant or Catholic?” he asked the visitor. If you are from Columbia you would probably guess that the person in question wants to help the visitor get to the correct service. But if you are a young man from Belfast, Northern Ireland who grew up during The Troubles, answering that question is not without risks. It came across not as welcoming but almost menacing, Making choices about which door to go through comes down to what you know and who you are. ***** In another story, a choir of women at at Roman Catholic cathedral are singing during a weekday evening rehearsal. Across the hall, a community group is holding a meeting. Every so often a woman wanders in and the choir director stops and asks if they are there to join the choir.  “No, I’m here for the ...

 Delete. All. Ads. I’m on a mission. My Facebook feed has become so inundated with the frenzy of “Buy Me! Buy Me!” That I can no longer think straight.  I just go to that X in the right hand corner and click.  Go away, “things you must buy on Amazon for under 25 dollars.” Go away, “luxury cookware you cannot live without.” And - - most of all - - Go away, “toddler learning flash cards.” Toddlers do not need or want flash cards. Age-appropriate activities that toddlers will do with flash cards are: chew on them, throw them, hide them, slide on them like skates, feed them to the dog, dump them in the bathtub to see if they float. Scribble on them. Look at the pictures (briefly). Put them in a bag or purse, dump them out. Repeat. There are so many choices for gift-giving when it comes to toddlers. Flash cards aren’t one of them. Flash cards come with an added burden: skill and drill. Life for toddlers is full of so much daily living “skill and drill” that - - honestly! - - t...

  I’d like to give a shoutout to reader Chris Bachmann who came through with all sorts of cool information - - and maps! - - in response to my call for background information about the Columbia Hills neighborhood. You can see his comments here . It’s a lot of fun for me to be able to put a question out there via the blog and receive information from the community. Keep it coming! In case you’re already making plans for the weekend, don’t forget the Holiday Market Saturday from 10 am to 2 pm at Clarksville Commons. Want more info? Look at the event page on Facebook. They’re billing it as “food, crafts, and a farmers market.” Dress warmly and don’t forget you can duck into the Common Kitchen to warm up and have a late breakfast or even lunch. The won ton soup at Anh Mazing Banh Mi is magical.  In the land of unexpected news, I was momentarily startled to see what I thought was Superintendent Martirano’s announcement that he’s going to be pursuing a career in music. Howard County...

I sat down with the new duck-about-town, Cool Duck , to get a sense of where he’s coming from and what makes him tick.   Village Green/Town²: Let’s start out with a little background knowledge. Cool Duck, will you tell us a little bit about yourself? Are you from Howard County originally? CD: No, I am not originally from Howard County, I hail from the pond of many dreams. Immediately upon my arrival, I made friends with lifelong residents, like Najee, and became fascinated with Howard County’s values and community character as a whole, looking out for one another is a virtue that outshines the rest. Also, I saw that Howard County has been ranked as the 2nd and 7th respective happiest cities in the United States over the last two years and thought I have to meet these people if I ever have the opportunity! Village Green/Town²: Is Cool Duck your real name or is it a stage name or pseudonym? CD: Cool Duck is indeed my official government name. Village Green/Town²: Who are your duck he...

I needed to pick up something from Kohl’s at Long Gate yesterday, so I decided to take the non-highway route which took me over by Route 108 and the new courthouse. Yet again I pondered the many years that went in to rebuilding the structure which now houses a Dunkin/Baskin Robbins and Lakeside Title. I’d love to know why that took so long. Does anybody have the inside scoop? At any rate, it occurred to me how silly it is to have a business called Lakeside Title when there is, in fact, no lake nearby. They probably wouldn’t want to change the name of their business since it is well-established. I get that. So I propose building them a lake. It’s the neighborly thing to do. Looking at their immediate surroundings, the choices are limited. On the one side, Columbia Academy is also a well established business and not likely to make way for a man-made lake. The Wendy's across the way has just been remodeled, so, that’s a no. But what about the Pizza Hut property? That might make a love...

Happy two hour delay to those of you who are celebrating! I saw something on Facebook last night that made me think. It wasn’t a local story but it could be. The poster described seeing people return things to Walmart the day after Christmas that had clearly been given to them through an organization like Angel Tree. They did not get a cash refund but instead received Walmart gift cards in the appropriate amount.  The poster was livid. How dare they! She then instructed people who bought items for the Angel Tree to use a black marker to deface the bar code so that the store would know it was donated. The final line of the post was, as you might expect, “Copied and Pasted.”  So this person didn’t actually witness this, they didn’t (as far as we know) do any fact checking. They read something somewhere that sparked their outrage and - - click! - - sent it along to their circle of friends. What’s the big deal? We know people do this all the time, right? We may have done it once o...

Three things: 1. I’ve heard back from Jennifer Van Kirk of the Bright Minds Foundation about donating socks to the Martirano Super Socks initiative. In terms of sock donations, we will have collection bins available for new sock donations in the lobbies of all HCLS library locations starting next Tuesday. Socks can also be dropped off at the HCPSS Department of Education building (10910 Clarksville Pike, Ellicott City) or Applications & Research Laboratory (ARL) building (10920 Clarksville Pike, Ellicott City) during business hours. 2. If you’ve been following the social media frenzy around the lease for the Howard County Farm Museum, this article in the Baltimore Banner lays out the story fairly well, I thought. If you’re looking for thunder and lightning and finger pointing, you won’t find it in this article. Frankly, I’m worn out by how some locals have spun this story to get people stirred up without telling the whole truth. Say goodbye to Howard County’s farm museum. What come...