Village Green/Town²

  I must say I am impressed. Apparently it is not particularly useful for Columbia to incorporate and have its own elected system of governance because it is impossible to dismantle the Columbia Association. Smarter people than I can explain to you why this is so - - and believe me, they will - - but I am left somewhat bemused.  It puts me in mind of the cream-filled sponge cake in the movie WALL-E. Earth is uninhabitable, there appears to be nothing left but one robot and a cockroach . And a seemingly endless supply of Twinkies. Columbia’s Pioneers have grown old in the place that they love.  The first children of the new American City are adults with children of their own. A new wave of Downtown development is bringing new people to town.  But the CA Board, set in motion by Jim Rouse (lo, these many years ago) has long been dysfunctional. And, no matter what happens, year in and year out, it’s going to keep on keeping on. I guess the scene we don’t see in WALL-E is...

  There are plenty of good local stories to write about right now. My brain appears to be unwilling to write about them this morning. My apologies.  I’m going to point you towards this piece by local blogger Frank Hecker instead. A better way to elect the Howard County Board of Education , Civility and Truth, 1/28/2023 Hecker looks at a proposal from Delegates Jen Terrasa and Dr. Chao Wu to use Ranked Choice Voting in the BOE election process. AN ACT concerning Howard County - Board of Education Elections - Ranked-Choice Voting Ho. Co. 16-23 FOR the purpose of authorizing the Howard County Council to adopt, by law, a ranked choice voting method for elections for the county board of education; and generally relating to the use of ranked-choice voting for elections for the Howard County Board of Education. The beginning of Ho.Co. 16-23, legislation proposed by Delegates Chao Wu and Jen Terrasa to authorize the use of ranked choice voting in Howard County Board of Education elect...

  Games, puzzles, and swapping - - now that sounds like a good idea for a Sunday afternoon in January. Image from Howard County Library’s Facebook account Come on down to the Howard County Library’s Central Branch this afternoon from 1:30 to 3:30 pm for the Community Board Game and Puzzle Swap. They’ll be setting up in the Maxine White Warfield Room. Swap gently used puzzles and board games with fellow puzzling and gaming enthusiasts. Share your favorite techniques and tips as you pick out puzzles or games that are new to you. Learn about the library e-resources you can use for free while puzzling.  Not interested in swapping? Donations of puzzles and games for all ages are welcome! No registration required. Participants under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. The swap is covered in the week’s Chapter Chats  if you’d like to learn more. Good advice: make sure puzzles have all their pieces! Speaking of games and puzzles, the time is long overdue to swap some ideas ...

Today this space is for Tyre Nichols. Nothing that is going on around town today is as important as a young Black man brutalized and murdered by police in Memphis.  And in this space let us also bring his mother, RowVaughn Wells. Can we stop for one moment and let her grief be our grief?  If we are white we probably can’t truly experience that grief. We do not walk around with the fear that what happened to Tyre Nichols could happen to us, or our children, or to people we love. We can be sad, and horrified, and angry - - but the visceral pain that Black Americans feel is beyond that. White people created that fear and that pain. White people created systems that perpetuate it.  White people in Howard County argue for more and more police in schools. Black children and families know what that means. It means nightmares that what happened to Tyre Nichols could happen to them. To their children. Can you imagine trying to learn while carrying that kind of fear? What kind of a...

  Hope springs eternal. Some neighbors down the road have decorated their front yard with a wintry display of little snowmen and a banner that reads, “Let It Snow!” The Howard County Fire Department must also be thinking snow. Honestly, a really big snow doesn’t seem likely this year but, of course,  it’s good to be prepared.  We need YOUR help to make Howard County safer when it snows! Fire hydrants that are difficult to access due to snow or ice can slow emergency fire response. Adopt-a-hydrant today: https://bit.ly/AdoptHydrant Several years ago I got very excited about the Adopt a Hydrant Program until I realized you weren’t allowed to add your own personal touches . Alas. I don’t know how many folks in Howard County have adopted hydrants. I suppose the greater goal is to increase awareness of clearing nearby hydrants during snow events. If the public understands how crucial that can be, it’s more likely that someone will take it upon themselves to keep their closest ...

  Nine years ago today there was a shooting at the Mall in Columbia. It rocked our community. This morning Facebook reminded me of that day with an image that was widely shared in the aftermath of the shooting where three people died. It was posted as a sign of unity by community members that were reeling from the weekend’s events. Oddly enough, we were just looking at the People Tree yesterday , but for very different reasons (that have nothing to do with unity.) Columbia/HoCo came together as one in response to the tragedy nine years ago. The support from all over our area prompted me to write this piece: Who Is My Neighbor?  January 27, 2014 Well, they say you really get to know who your friends are when times are tough. It is important to remember who we saw rushing in to help: Howard County Police and Fire Department first responders. Stepping up to the microphone to communicate and reassure: Howard County Government. They didn't come "from the outside" to help Colum...

  I put out a call for poets yesterday. Not just any poets, but ones whose names are referenced in the street names of Columbia. I was amazed at the enthusiasm of the response. The original street naming team of the New American City would be proud.  I was inspired by this invitation posted by HoCoMoJo for an online event: We invite all Columbians and Columbia faith communities (churches, temples, mosques, synagogues, and houses of worship) to join in a community of silence on Tuesday, January 24 at 6:30 pm to bring our collective energy together to pray for a peaceful and compassionate resolution to the Columbia Association’s dispute. Columbia residents have experienced months of unsettling reports regarding the relationship of the elected body known as the CA Council and the President, the person selected to lead the organization. No matter your perspective on the situation, as persons of faith, we know the tools of division and dissension do not serve to create harmony and ...

  I can’t remember exactly when my younger daughter became enamored with bubble tea. I’m guessing it was during her senior year of high school, but I’m a bit fuzzy on that. It’s continued to be a favorite all through college. While many of her peers head straight for Starbucks, she prefers a milky slushy concoction from one of the local boba emporiums. She’s even gotten everyone in the family to try it.  Perhaps that’s why a post from the Common Kitchen caught my eye last night. Have you gotten your Royaltea drink to support @rhhs_project_lotus today? It's not too late! Just mention Project Lotus at checkout and 15% of proceeds will be donated to support this River Hill High School club. I found rhhs_project_lotus on Instagram. OUR MISSION: CELEBRATE AND PROMOTE AWARENESS OF ASIAN AMERICAN CULTURE. Project Lotus had its beginnings at River Hill High School in September of 2022. Their Instagram account shows highlights of their activities this year, among them, “testifying in ...

  You probably already know that you can take  ghost tours   in Old Ellicott City. Hoping to connect with both the brave and curious. Maryland History Tours offers a variety of tours based on a variety of different themes. Not all are ‘haunted’, though the ghost ones are the most widely known. Have you ever been on one? What was it like?  If you are ready for a blast from the past, here’s a video about the ghost tours from Howard County Government’s television channel in about 2013. “Ye Haunted History of Olde Ellicott City” Ghost Tours Whether or not one believes in ghosts, these tours are a great opportunity to learn about the history of the area. Compared to Columbia, Old Ellicott City seems ancient: a treasure trove of historical information. Of course, compared to Europe, what we think of as historic is but a flash in the pan, yesterday’s news. It’s all relative. The other day I noticed that Old Ellicott City had drawn the interest of some folks from out of...

  Decisions, decisions. What will you do with your precious Saturday? There’s a Lunar New Year celebration at the Mall in Columbia beginning at 1 pm. This is Howard County’s official celebration and will be hosted by County Executive Calvin Ball. The Lunar New Year is a momentous holiday marked by community, family, and beautiful traditions. It is a celebration of shared history and culture, highlighting that diversity is our strength. After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, I’m excited to once again host our annual Lunar New Year celebration in person on January 21st, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. at the Mall in Columbia. Join us THIS Saturday for a spectacular showcase as we ring in the Year of the Rabbit, featuring special performances and guests. A very cool event that you can’t register for at this point (alas)  is the Seed Share at the Howard County Library’s Miller Branch today. They’ve reached their limit for attendants, which is a good thing for them. But if you haven’t already...

  From the “music makes everything better” files comes this story about musical trash trucks: Classical trash: how Taiwan’s musical bin lorries transformed ‘garbage island’ , The Guardian, Helen Davidson and Chi Hui Lin in Taipei I spotted this photo on December 26th and I suspect is the kind of story that journalists prepare in advance to be run during what is called “dead week”, the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day.  Army of yellow garbage trucks blasting out classical jingles brings out a Pavlovian response to take out bins. In an effort to improve resident participation in trash collection, Taiwan purchased trash trucks that came loaded with a tune: Für Elise , by Beethoven. A second piece, A Maiden’s Prayer , by Badarzewska-Baranowska, was added later. In the Taipei suburb of Guting, Ms Chen, 60, sits on the steps of a Buddhist temple with her neighbour waiting for the trucks to arrive. They and the surrounding neighbours are dressed casually, some in pyjamas and...

“Did you see it? Did you see it?” It’s exciting to see something on national television about where you live or or people you know. Yesterday folks in Columbia got a big shout-out from Oprah Winfrey when she mentioned living on Windstream Drive during the years she worked in Baltimore television. And during Edward Norton’s recent appearance on “Finding Your Roots” his childhood in Columbia was mentioned briefly in biographical information about what inspired his career in acting.  (I suspect that die-hard Columbians were hoping for more Rouse-centric content on the episode, but, that was not to  be.) More excitement: CA announced last night that Columbia will be the focus of a video piece to be shown on PBS stations nationwide.  The segment is the result of a collaboration between CA and the production team with Viewpoint with Dennis Quaid, a series aimed at educating viewers on current topics and trends impacting the world.  CA is really excited to make this announc...

Today the Governor that Marylanders elected in November will be sworn in and take office in Annapolis. After eight years of having a Republican in the Governor’s mansion, Maryland will now experience a shift in leadership style, goals, and themes. I’ve been thinking a lot about what that will be like. Governor-elect Wes Moore began the week at an event called An Evening of Faith and Community held at Kingdom Fellowship AME Church in Calverton. This photo, shared on Twitter, is very likely from that event. Image from Twitter account of Wes Moore Accompanying the photo were these words. Maryland, our promise to you is this: We will lead with love. We will lead with compassion. We will lead with partnership.  And we will lead with faith. What followed were mostly positive responses. But as I read I began to see a number of tweets like this: 3 out of 4, please remember you are governing everyone in Maryland Remember you have atheist constituents. As long as that faith is in humanity Ho...

  January 17, 2014 @LukeHoCoTimes: #BreakingNews: @ColumbiaAssn announces President Phil Nelson to leave post April 30, story to come This morning Facebook sent me this reminder of days gone by. I liked Mr. Nelson. I even put him on my refrigerator. Phil Nelson is On My Refrigerator That piece first appeared when my blog was on Patch and my editor was David Greisman. Boy, do I ever miss him on the local scene. Oh, and by the way, the author of the piece about Phil Nelson, Luke Lavoie, has left journalism. He’s now a senior manager in marketing strategy for a company called 2U. Grieisman is the Media Relations Manager of Capital Impact Partners.  Meanwhile, over at Patch they have a habit of throwing three wildly disparate stories together to catch the eye of internet scrollers. I hate it. An example: One wonders if they dump all the local news in the hopper and then hit “spin”. It’s the slot machine approach. There’s absolutely no sense of what stories would be appropriate to ...

  Jim Rouse was a racist. I think that today is a good day to confront that.  This does not mean that he was a bad person or did bad things. It doesn’t mean that his life’s work has no meaning. We laud Rouse for many things, and most especially because he was ahead of his time in his insistence that Columbia would deliberately include more than white residents. He made it clear that the practice of steering people of certain races to certain areas would not be tolerated in the New American City.  Jim Rouse was a racist in the same way that all white people in America are racist. The way that I am racist. Because the system was set up for white people and we grow and thrive in it, often without knowing how much that is true. It is in the air we breathe and the water we drink.  This is a photograph of what was called “The Work Group”. They were chosen to brainstorm and plan Columbia. I found it on the website of the Community Foundation of Howard County but the origina...