Thar Be Dragons Here

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 - - the CAMOM Annual Consignment Sale has been bumped to today because of yesterday’s weather.

I wrote about CAMOM in the Spring when they had their “comeback” sale after holding off during the worst of the early pandemic years. You can learn more about CAMOM at their website.

An update on my library book situation: I took my list into the East Columbia branch and spoke with Instructor and Research Specialist Ian Lyness-Fernandez. I left him my email address and he got back to me by the end of the week with a great list of cozy mysteries to try.

Visit your local library, people. It’s a playground of possibilities. You also might want to sign up for their upcoming Longest Table Event coming up on September 30th.

*Not really, but, you know what I mean.

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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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