In and Within - - Taking a Rain Check

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 is still happening in Baltimore and the Bubble Hockey Tournament is 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 peeves post. Probably my favorite was the wag who messaged me with this response:

No, my peeves are imported from out of state.

Fancy!

Last night’s sunset was a stunner. I’d be perfectly happy to run an entire post of reader’s photographs (credited, of course) identifying where in Columbia/HoCo they were taken. What do you think?

If you’re staying in today, may I recommend viewing (electronically, of course) this recent real estate listing on Gales Lane. The primary kitchen is a stunner, not to mention the bathroom tile. I’m fascinated by those little pockets that predate Columbia - - unexpected bursts of retro weirdness. This house is probably less than five minutes from where I live but it’s really in a whole other universe altogether.

What are your rainy day plans? Let me know.

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Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents. When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday. Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018. 2018 . But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest. In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...

Separate and Unequal

Remember “Separate but equal”? Remember how that really meant that Black schools languished in broken-down buildings without adequate heat or toilet facilities, with cast-off, ragged learning materials, underfunded and largely ignored? The Supreme Court struck that down in 1954. The evidence was clear that separate was not equal. Plessy v Ferguson had led to - - no, endorsed - - deeply unequal schooling and opportunities. We tend to think of Brown v Board as being purely about racial integration. It was not. It was about the logical consequences of segregation. And they were not, not, not equal. The ruling in 1954 didn’t transform public education for non-whites into a land of milk and honey by any means. But it articulated some essential truths in a way that made including everyone a legal precedent which could be relied upon and built upon. It was better than what came before it but it rested upon unsteady ground. It did not necessarily change the hearts or minds ...

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