Village Green/Town²

  The last day of the year. A day that prompts me to make sense of the last twelve months and to look at what I wrote a year ago.  There is no, absolutely, no making sense of the last twelve months. So here are a few things I wrote a year ago: Community disappointments? I think the long slow fizzle of the Lakefront Library is such a missed opportunity but there’s no denying it didn’t set everyone aglow with spark of possibility the way it did for me.  We still desperately need more housing.  Resource-hoarding and racism still hide behind pleasant and respectable faces.  - - Joys and Sorrows, 12/31/2024 I have some small hope for the Downtown Library. Despite recent developments I can’t assume it’s a sure thing. We will be electing a new County Executive and their commitment to seeing this project through will be critical.  Speaking of the race for County Executive, I take a dim view of folks who think it doesn’t matter what political party you belong to, es...

I managed to get back to sleep after my usual date with three thirty am. If anyone had told my young self that one day I’d view six am as “sleeping in” I would not have believed them.  Here’s some fun stuff for your day. The Trader Joe’s has honored creative knitter Sam Barsky with a mural in their Pikesville store and the Today show covered it.  I wrote about Barsky back in 2022 after I came across a photo of his Old Ellicott City sweater.  It turns out that the bag fee (that some folks thought would be the end of civilization as we know it) is doing exactly what it was meant to do. Shocker. Instagram post from Live Green Howard  Unrelated to the fee, 2025 was the year I finally got the hang of remembering reusable bags and actually using them,  If you were thinking about going to the Ellicott City Volunteer Fire Holiday Train Garden this year…it’s not too late! The train garden holds a special place in my heart because it was the first local thing I decided...

  “Where did you find light this year?” In a gathering to mark the Solstice, friends and neighbors stood in a circle in the cold night air. Folks chimed in as the spirit moved them. I found the light in… nature neighbors  children protest friends loved ones community walking I can’t remember all that was said. Candles were lit. The light was passed around the circle - - candle to candle, person to person.  There’s a poem by Emily Dickinson which begins, “I sing to use the Waiting…” We sang a choral setting of this by American composer Alice Parker when I was a student at Mount Holyoke. The ending of the poem has stayed with me through hard times. We journey to the Day And tell each other how We sang To Keep the Dark away. What a dark year it has been. It has been harder than ever to find light. If I hadn’t been standing in this group of friends in a quiet backyard gathering in Columbia, Maryland I’m not sure I would have made myself really think about it. I’m still thinki...

  This article about the Baltimore food scene made me shake my head this morning.    The foods Baltimore put on repeat in 202 5, Chris Franzoni for The Baltimore Banner There’s not a thing wrong with the article. It outlines the foods that Baltimoreans loved this year and where they found them. Every single place mentioned is an indie, a mom and pop, if you will. The menu items described are varied in flavors and cost.  It was a reminder to me of how different it is in Howard County. For the past few years we’ve been experiencing the frenzied proliferation of The Hot Chicken Place. Even if your favorite food is hot chicken, you probably don’t require a world in which the majority* of restaurants that open specialize in hot chicken. There’s something vaguely weird and inorganic about this local surge and I think I’m beginning to understand it.  To my mind it’s very much like what happens when you express an interest in a particular topic on Facebook and suddenly ...

  Today in Howard County: 2025 Kwanzaa Celebration Saturday,  December 27, 12:30 - 4:30 pm  Harriet Tubman Cultural Center Presented through the collaboration of: Calvin Ball and the Office of the County Executive The Howard County Office of Human Rights & Equity Harriet Tubman Cultural Center Howard County Department of Recreation & Parks From the event page: Join us for Howard County's annual Kwanzaa Celebration and immerse yourself in the rich cultural heritage and values that this unique holiday embodies! Together, we will explore the seven core principles, or "Nguzo Saba," which are the foundation of Kwanzaa: Unity (Umoja), Self-Determination (Kujichagulia), Collective Work and Responsibility (Ujima), Cooperative Economics (Ujamaa), Purpose (Nia), Creativity (Kuumba), and Faith (Imani). Whether you're new to Kwanzaa or have celebrated it for years, there's something for everyone to learn and enjoy. Don't miss this opportunity to connect, reflect, ...

  They’re not on any calendars. You won’t find a rite for them in any religious prayer book. They don’t come with a day off work or media coverage.  They are holidays nonetheless. The day a premature infant finally comes home from the hospital. The day you signed to purchase your first home. The date when an adoption was finalized, a dissertation was successfully defended, a loved one came home, safe, from military duty. If you remember it, if you celebrate it - - it’s a holiday. Sometimes it is a day you honor but cannot celebrate, such as the loss of someone you love. The last time you gathered together in a special place. The end of a relationship that really needed to end. Those days weigh heavily but they mean something you cannot shake. Maybe you wouldn’t want to.  Sometimes these are times of light-hearted bonding among friends or family. At my house that would be Tiger Birthday. (June 1st.) Of course the word holiday comes from a strictly religious context in whi...

Over eight hundred people read yesterday’s blog post. There are reasons for that. I’d like to think that it’s because I connected with a subject that is of great local concern right now. But that’s not the only reason. I was able to post it in a Facebook community that has wide readership, and those readers are largely people who want to learn and think, and who care about people other than themselves. Without that springboard, yesterday’s post would have reached far fewer readers. I’m grateful to the folks who built and who are sustaining that online community. It fills an important need in Howard County. I joked with my husband last night that just once I’d like eight hundred people to read one of my quirky posts about that weird building or an unexpected business or an epiphany I had while driving around town on a beautiful spring day.  Those posts are what keep the blog going most days of the year and what make the big, gut-wrenching posts bearable. No one could live with shock...

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...

  I can’t overlook the work that went into Columbia Association’s “Twelve Days of Christmas”-themed series of videos. You shouldn’t either. It starts here. Image from CA social media It has taken me a while to realize why I find this photo slightly eerie and this morning I figured it out. This is not the Lakefront stage as we know it, but rather an image of things yet to come. With added holiday embellishments. It’s giving me Uncanny Valley vibes but you may feel differently. The rest of the videos show CA doing what they do in real life and I have been enjoying them. You can see the full set (they're not quite done yet) on their Facebook page or on Instagram . * I’m sharing this because 1) they went to a lot of work and 2) I think there continues to be a kind of ignorance or general misunderstanding or disconnect about what various local institutions do.  It used to be that people had no clue what was CA vs. what was Howard County Government. Now I’ve seen examples where pe...

Today’s blog began with one photo.  Dancer Maddie Rodrigue as photographed by Maria Morales, WMAR 2 New The story: Howard County dancer lives her dream as Radio City Rockette , Maria Morales, WMAR 2 News A Howard County woman who fell in love with the Radio City Rockettes as a 12-year-old girl is now living her dream on the famous New York stage. Rodrigue started dancing when she was 3 years old. Her first teacher was her mom, who's also a dancer. She performed in school productions at Marriotts Ridge High School, where she graduated from, and trained at Peabody Ballet in Baltimore and Maryland Youth Ballet before heading to New York at 18. I saved it but I didn’t know what I would do with. I’m always looking for interesting local stories about the arts. I don’t see all that many about dance. ***** And yet, somehow, the dance story found me. The next photo came into view not all that long after.  Terri Ann Royster, image from Banner obituary  Terri Royster, a professional...

A few dribs and drabs from the week.  Santa did manage to visit the Oakland Mills Holiday Parade and the Clarksville Commons Market.  The missing Santa from Payne’s has been having a rough season but will soon be on the mend. I forgot to mention that, when I visited Kendall Hardware store, stacks of Santa’s business cards were at the checkout. I suspect it was this fellow I discovered last year.  Last on the Santa front, this continues to be my favorite semi-local Santa photo, taken by a reader of the blog back in 2017. She described the scene as follows, “Santa was handing out candy canes at BWI. Lots of people around.” There’s so much going on in this photo. I see something new in it every year. ***** A confession. In writing about crime watching and birdwatching this week I made the following claim. Strangely enough, the more one watches birds at the feeder - - camera or no camera - - it doesn’t alter one’s world view. It just has more birds in it. I haven’t come to b...

  In Maryland news that only the current Baltimore Sun would cover… Anne Arundel’s safe-sex mess has councilman in a pickle , or “Anne Arundel posted a Christmas-themed safe-sex message. A councilman had thoughts.” Benjamin Rothstein, Baltimore Sun  In a moment that feels oddly reminiscent of the Howard County School Board’s Condom Kerfuffle , a member of the Anne Arundel County Council is offended by a pickle. From a post on Facebook promoting the article: Photos from Baltimore Sun social media. They do not credit the photographer.  And now for a closeup. Anne Arundel Department of Health: Tis the season of giving, but don't forget to wrap it! Free safe sex kits are available now. Get yours today! https://ayrs.io/u4nhXQ Councilman Nathan Volke: Really hope the next county administration appoints people in the Anne Arundel County Department of Health who have some respect for one of the holiest times of the year... smh Yes, of course I responded. Public health initiatives...

  At long last, the day had come. The office of the doctors I see most frequently was officially open at the Lakefront. The website says the building, officially named the South Lake Medical Office Building, looks like this. I suspect this is not a photograph but something more aspirational. An artist’s rendering? I came early to allow extra time to find a place to park, as directed by the office. And then I didn’t really know where to park. There’s a lot in front of the building that doesn’t really feel connected to the building. And, from that lot, it isn’t exactly easy to figure out where the entrance of the building is. Knowing that piece of information is a good thing when deciding where to park.  Still, I chose a spot and found my way up to the building. It isn’t entirely self-explanatory but I can’t say I was taking my life in my hands, either. As I neared the building I discovered a car ramp for car drop-offs, and a ramp that led to parking under the building. Ohh…well...

  I’ve just come from a rather disconcerting discussion on Reddit about an incident at the Mall in Columbia.  It begins with a photo and a question,  What happened at the Mall? One of the responses begins,  My mother, who perpetually listens to the Howard County police scanner, says… It reminded me of the folks who urge everyone in their neighborhood to install Ring cameras to “help the police.” These are the people who live in fear in suburban neighborhoods because they just know they saw someone who didn’t belong there. The comment that convinced me to write this post was this one, because I think I know where it is heading. Do you think the bus stops have helped or hindered all businesses including malls? I wonder who takes the bus stop if they are coming to be a consumer and if they are I wonder what percentage ? My response: Are you suggesting that people who can afford cars are better consumers? Or that people who use transit are innately undesirable? I could b...

Dear Senator Alsobrooks: I want my vote back. I didn’t expect to wake up to this news as I scanned Bluesky this morning, but: there it was.  Here are the 28 Dem Senators who voted to advance the first federal ban on trans athletes & a federal definition of sex that would make trans & intersex people non-existent: Angela Alsobrooks (MD), Tammy Baldwin (WI), Richard Blumenthal (CT), Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE), Chris Coons (DE)… I noticed a comment: Angela Alsobrooks, grand marshal of the 50th baltimore pride parade Really?  Really??? Yup. Image from Angela Alsobrooks social media accounts The photo above was accompanied by these words: I was so honored to lead Baltimore's 50th Pride Parade as Grand Marshal and celebrate with our community in love and appreciation for our LGBTQ neighbors. We must never lose sight that everyone deserves the freedom to be who they are and love who they love. I am livid.  When did Ms. Alsobrooks “lose sight that everyone deserves th...

I woke up to the news about Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer. On any day of the year this would be tragic news. After the past few days it feels catastrophic. I've been rereading old blog posts looking for direction.  Two sentences are running through my head. What evil lurks in the hearts of men? It’s the guns. I’m sharing an old post from 2018 today because I’m horrified by how relevant it still feels and I’m almost embarrassed by my naïveté. There’s no mention here about the massive concentration of money which was always a key player in this process. When so much of what might be an agent for good is purchased and neutralized, my exhortation to vote feels…hollow.  The Dealers of Darkness , October 28, 2018 In order to take the country in a direction that any reasonable person would recognize to be wrong, it is necessary to take away their ability to see the truth. Our vision relies heavily on an access to light. And so light is what is systematically being taken awa...