Village Green/Town²

 It’s not every day you come across a request which begins, “We need your nuts.”  The unexpected request caught my attention. So did the name on the post - - AJ Metcalf. You may recall that he used to cover HoCoLocal news during the heyday of Patch. Now he is the Communications Director at Maryland's Department of Natural Resources. And, as he states above, they want your nuts. “Volunteer Nuts Needed!” (This just gets better and better, doesn’t it?) Ankle High in Acorns? burfed in Dogwood Berries? Volunteer Nuts Needed! If you have a mature, healthy native tree in your yard dropping lots of nuts or berries this time of year, the Maryland Forest Service would gladly take them off your hands. These seeds will be grown into trees at our state nursery. Interested in volunteering to collect? We may have sites this month that require all hands on deck and would love to have some folks on call if necessary. Please Contact: Francis Smith  francis.smith@maryland.gov | 410-260-8516...

  This week I found myself wading into a conversation (on Facebook) about acceptable work attire in Washington. That’s a rather roundabout way of saying I really don’t care about what Senator John Fetterman wears in the Senate. As long as he is doing his job and his heart is in the right place, I’m satisfied that he’s doing what he was elected to do. Honestly I feel as though a lot of time has been wasted on this topic when there are far more pressing issues on the table - - a possible government shutdown comes to mind - - and I’m really tired of all the  bloviating and posturing. I realize that I’m not as committed to the concept of “appropriate attire” as most people. My opinions on school dress codes are pretty much the same as my feelings about the Senate.  Requirements that dictate how people must dress are not somehow innately good or true or handed down by the almighty. They are completely manmade, a kind of artifice that persists only because we buy into them....

Wanna play? It’s that time again. Roll the dice and make your move. It’s Columbia/HoCo’s well-known schoolhouse game: Moldopoly.  Image from Howard County Times, August, 2016 I dug up this old image from a post I wrote seven years ago. The Howard County Times doesn’t have a cartoonist anymore. But we still have mold.  Yesterday the Oakland Mills High School Media Center was closed due to the discovery of mold. The pink sign here was probably posted by staff. The white sign was made and posted by a student. Oakland Mills High School, September, 2023 Last week students from Oakland Mills High School testified before the Board of Education to advocate for necessary repairs and renovations to their school. Some reported symptoms of ill health from daily attendance in their school building. What does this mean? It means their school is making them sick. Symptoms of illness due to mold include: nausea, allergic reactions, fatigue, and headache (including migraine), asthma, and chro...

  I told you there’s a lot going on in Columbia/HoCo for Hispanic Heritage Month. I wasn’t kidding. Here’s what I could find.  Week of September 24 - 30 September 27: Howard Community College:  Conversations from the Couch  Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month Live at 12 noon on Instagram Live Clarksville Commons Latin Dance-Inspired Group Fitness , 6:30-7:30 pm September 28: Howard Community College: Nuestra Herencia Exhibit , Rouse Company Foundation Gallery Panel Discussion 5-6 Exhibit Reception 6 - 8  Week of October 1 - 7 Common Kitchen: Community Art Display for Hispanic Heritage Month, 10/1 - December 1 October 1: Clarksville Commons: Paraguayan Dancers (Rescheduled due to rain)  12 noon Event is free but registration is requested October 3: Hispanic Business Networking with Community Partners Common Kitchen, 5:30 pm October 4:  Clarksville Commons Latin Dance-Inspired Group Fitness , 6:30-7:30 pm Week of October 8 - 14 October 11: Clarksville C...

Have you seen this one?         It seems to go hand-in-hand with this one: Worried about rising grocery prices and fewer retail choices? Maryland’s attorney general wants to hear about it , Lillian Reed, Baltimore Banner The Kroger Co. announced plans this month to sell 10 Harris Teeter stores located in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., to C&S, another private wholesale grocery supply chain that operates Grand Union grocery stores and the Piggly Wiggly franchise. Attorney General Anthony G. Brown is concerned about how the results of this action will impact Maryland consumers. Mergers and consolidation often bring higher prices, no matter what the folks at the top say. I can’t think of anyone who’d like to see higher grocery prices as this point, having endured the steady climb at the register in the past several years.  It’s especially worrying if your community is served by only one grocery and you don’t have the resources to hop in a car and find ...

  We used to joke about some of my dad’s more frequently used expressions. Several had to do with car travel. You’d be out driving around and he’d make a gesture and say, “That’s where the old road used to go.” I got similar vibes from this post on the Columbia Reddit when someone asked: Why is there a traffic light on Route 29 by Rivers Edge Road lol? It’s a whole ass highway with a traffic light. Who designed this? What follows is the sort of discussion you might have around the water cooler or at the bar. Everyone has a piece of the answer, maybe not one hundred percent accurate, but revealing different aspects of the history involved. I found it fascinating, but perhaps that’s because I was raised by someone who wanted me to know where the old road used to go.  If you’ve lived here a long time, you know that 29 in Howard County used to have many more stop lights than it does today. Back in the day - there was a lot less traffic and therefore it wasn't so weird to have ligh...

  I was scrolling through Pinterest looking for things with a local connection and this image caught my eye. Art by John Atkinson, Wrong Hands It says a lot about our current bus transportation challenges that I immediately assumed this image was connected to that theme.  Of course it isn’t. It’s a sticker you can buy on Etsy. Speaking of buses, HoCoLocal blogger Jenny Solpietro offers up her take on Howard County Progress Report. Perspective , Jenny Solpietro, Howard County Progress Report  Solpietro’s description of her own school experiences reminds me that there really are people who have “walked several miles to school in blizzards, uphill both* ways.” Even reading it was exhausting. It’s a thoughtful take on what is a pretty controversial issue around town these days. I suspect that some folks who often fault Howard County Progress Report for being too scathing will find this one too nice.  If you have kids, or grandkids - - or know someone who does - -  ...

Probably the best way to avert dangerous weather systems is to cancel absolutely EVERYTHING beforehand. It’s looking pretty good right now. (Ask anyone who has ever made closing decisions for the Howard County Schools if you don’t believe me.) The Governor has even declared a State of Emergency just in case. Many of the events I might have been telling you about this morning have been cancelled. Still, as far as I know, that pickle festival i s still happening in Baltimore and the Bubble Hockey Tournament i s still on at Oversea Distillery in Columbia. In other news, I had mentioned my quest to get one of those adorable (and useful!) sunhats from  The Salvaged Stitch who comes to the Saturday Market at Clarksville Commons.  Hats by The Salvaged Stitch on display at the market I got to pick my own fabric! Less than a week later I had my hat. I love it and it fits perfectly. I don’t think I’ll be wearing it today, however.  I got some great responses to my local pet peeve...

I was looking for a sign this morning. I think this was it. Please excuse the language. "ai is making it so everyone can make art" everyone can make art dumbass it came free with your fucking humanity - - @hexcraft.bsky.social AI - - artificial intelligence. Honestly, I have not delved much into the current conversation around it. But I do believe most wholeheartedly that everyone can make art. And I do believe that it comes free with your humanity. Unfortunately, something else which appears to come free with humanity are people who love gatekeeping. Those are the folks that tell you that what you have created isn’t good enough, that it doesn’t qualify, or that it isn’t really art. People like that damage the essence/the inborn creativity of many, many people.  When you do that often enough, people lose their confidence in themselves as artists. They lose their art.  I am not just talking about visual art here. I am talking of all the arts - - including visual art but also...

  In going through old posts this morning while looking for inspiration, I found one in which I had solicited people’s opinions of their local Pet Peeves.   Pet Peeves and Pedestrians , Village Green/Town², September 3, 2013 (In case you are wondering, I have been looking at posts from ten years ago to see if there’s anything to be learned about they way we were in 2013.) In that context, I’m giving myself permission to share a pet peeve today. I miss the Big Red Thing. You know, at the Lakefront. Photo credit Village Green/Town²  Here’s a better photo from Howard County Tourism. Photo credit Karmen Osei/ Howard County Tourism Promotion It has a name of course. It’s not simply the Big Bed Thing. “Sail,” a 24-foot abstract steel sculpture by James Arthur Benson, was placed on the lawn in 1984 by The Rouse Company.  “The sculpture,” says the artist, “admits that it’s steel but has a playfulness, too. It relates to the environment because it is a wind-activated piece.” ...

  At long last, that Fall weather I’ve been dreaming of has arrived. It will go perfectly with tonight’s Latin-inspired group fitness class at Clarksville Commons, which will be held outdoors on the plaza. I must share this event description from the press release because I have never seen such scintillating prose invested in exercise. It’s impressive. Get ready to sizzle this fall as Latin dance-inspired group fitness classes set the stage for unforgettable Wednesday evenings! Join us from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on September 20 & 27, and October 4 & 11 for an electrifying experience. Wendy Robinson, a dynamic local fitness instructor, will be your guide on the plaza, ensuring that everyone, regardless of age or experience level, can groove to the beat and get moving. This vibrant collaboration between Clarksville Commons and Anytime Fitness is unstoppable and will happen rain or shine, with indoor options available as needed. I feel compelled to point out that you will not lite...

  Let’s take a moment to talk about the Opportunity Gap. Have you ever heard that term before? Here’s an explanation from the Close the Gap Foundation website : The opportunity gap is one of the widest-reaching issues in our society today. It is the way uncontrollable factors can contribute to lower rates of success in educational achievement, career prospects, and other life aspirations. Though it’s often called the “achievement gap”…we intentionally use the term “opportunity gap” instead. This is because we feel the word “achievement” implies that the reason this disparity exists is that some individuals simply don’t work as hard as others to achieve their goals. We’d like to bring awareness to the ways in which that assumption is a myth.  The reality is that we are not all born with the same opportunities and sadly, many don’t get the chance to even believe they can achieve something, let alone the resources necessary to reach for it. This has nothing to do with a person’s ...

  Moms4Liberty, not to be content with strangling intellectual freedom in Montgomery County Schools, has planted itself in Howard County with hopes of continuing its process of replication and division (and so on and so on.) They have four whole posts on their Instagram account. Image from m4lhcmd Instagram account Here you see them promoting an upcoming event to be held this Tuesday at Bare Bones Grill and Bar. Here’s the text: Howard County Republican Womens & HoCo GOP Clubs “Elections Have Consequences, A Cautionary Tale” by David Shephard Tuesday, Sept. 19 2023 7:00-8:00PM Business Meeting & Speaker Event David Shephard, Speaker Conservative Virginia blogger, David Shephard* exposes the sinister, detrimental, and hypocritical tactic of diversity politics (book may be purchased on Amazon or at meeting while supply lasts) Bare Bones Grill & Bar 9150 Baltimore National Pike Ellicott City, MD 21042 Food and Drinks for Purchase at Bare Bones www.hocogopwomen.com “Siniste...

In the latest episode of Other People’s Tweets… Kelly:  How does Columbia Maryland have a 100k population and the worst cell service I've ever seen? Sydney:  My phone fully goes on SOS mode at my parents' house and I wish I was joking.  Raimundo:  But the libraries are dope.  Topic 1 - - cell service. Does your experience match those of our tweeter? We used to have terrible cell service inside our house, which is why I have held onto our land line for so long. It was not uncommon to see neighbors sitting outside or walking around the neighborhood while talking on the phone. In recent years, though, it has improved greatly. Is cell service a concern where you are? Topic 2 - - libraries. You have to know that I got a big charge out of seeing our random tweeter endorse our libraries. At least I hope that’s what he was doing. I guess it’s possible that he’s rolling his eyes at great libraries when what he really wants is good cell service.  Nah. Our libraries a...

  This is Little Amal.   Little Amal, a 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl, is greeted by a crowd, Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) (Steven Senne / Associated Press) Little Amal,’ a 12-foot-tall puppet symbolizing human rights, will step foot in Baltimore as part of US walk,  Abigail Gruskin, Baltimore Sun On Friday, a 12-foot-tall, 10-year-old Syrian refugee will arrive in Baltimore. She’ll spend two days in Charm City, meeting with the mayor, grooving at festivals and experiencing what life here is like. “Little Amal” — “Amal” meaning “hope” in Arabic — isn’t a real girl, but a larger-than-life puppet that has become a symbol for human rights and refugees around the globe. Amal is on a journey around the world to raise awareness about refugee children. You can meet her in Baltimore today in the Patterson Park Annex and participate in the kickoff activities of Hispanic Heritage Month with the Creative Alliance.  Welcome Li...