Village Green/Town²

  A high quality N95 mask can discourage the spread of airborne illnesses and filter particulates such as dust and environmental mold. Of course, universal vaccination against COVID, for instance, and eradication of mold from structures - - such as homes, schools, and workplaces - - are better.  A high quality N95 mask cannot protect you from breathing in CO2. It doesn’t work that way. You can’t even reduce the risk in any way. I think it goes without saying that there’s no vaccination to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning, either. You pretty much have two choices: eradicate the carbon monoxide or avoid the place where it is. Period. I was alarmed and upset when I learned that employees at the Savage library branch had been sickened seriously enough at work that they had to go to the emergency room for treatment. Carbon monoxide poisoning is no joke. People should not have to fear coming to their place of employment. And we want to think of libraries as safe spaces, right?...

  After several hours of struggling with mental tasks yesterday I made myself leave the house purely to recapture some sanity. I needed to pick up some cash from the bank machine and then I thought I’d buy a few lottery tickets.  I succumb to visions of big lottery wins about three or four times a year, largely when I have an intense desire to give to important causes. I don’t spend much. I don’t win. And, after a couple of weeks, the impulse abates.  This is the result of enormous privilege. My first lottery ticket purchases came when I was divorced with a young child, working two jobs, and over my head in credit card debt. My dreams were the desperate dreams of struggle. My fantasies were simply of releasing the fear of going under.  Today, though not wealthy, I have enough. Sure, we can all think of fun things to do with extra money. But  the fact that my biggest lottery dream these days is to become a philanthropist reflects a big change in my life circumsta...

Tidings  We want them to be good. Especially at this time of year. They aren’t always. Bad news never feels good but at this time of year it feels to me like an extra injustice.  Comfort  A place to stay when it’s cold. Food when you are hungry. Faithful carers when you are sick. Someone to listen if you are troubled.  Joy Experiences that lift your spirits. People who know and understand you. Beauty that fills you with a sense of wonder. An unexpected or lifechanging gift. Today’s blog brought to you by a simple announcement* from the United States Postal Service: 250 years of delivering joy It made me think about people and organizations in our community who deliver joy. How do I deliver joy? How could I do more of that? Maybe that’s why we’re all here, after all: to give, receive, and share comfort and joy.  What do we do when the tidings aren’t good? How do we - - bear with me - - turn the tide? Village Green/Town² Comments *It’s a free service called Info...

I just realized that I often use the term “HoCoLocal” but I don’t think I’ve ever credited it to the source. I’m pretty sure it came into common usage through the efforts of HoCoBlogs cofounder Jessie Newburn. Truth be told, “common usage” would be generous - - I don’t see it around much but I wish I did. I like it. ***** Today, gleaned from this morning’s search for all things HoCoLocal, are three small stories. 1. Crocheting to benefit those in need in Howard County , Megan Knight, WMAR-2 News (1 minute, 58 seconds) Maryland Crochet for Smiles, students at Atholton High School, image from WMAR-2 News They’ve have a website *, they’ve been in the Baltimore Sun , and now they’re on television! These high school students from Howard County are members of the group Maryland Crochet for Smiles. Members make things like blankets, sweaters, scarves and hats and give them to local charities, homeless shelters, foster homes and hospitals. The video is just long enough for you to take a deep b...

  These words come from Laura McInerney, an education advocate and writer in the UK: My dad abhors any negative comments about immigrants. Asked him recently why he's so strong on it: 'Because we're always happy to take the rich and clever ones. Which means it's not about disliking immigrants. It's about disliking the poor and vulnerable. And that's a bad human instinct.' A bad human instinct. Those words struck me and gave a voice to the feelings of revulsion and despair I’ve been struggling with over the past several days. On December 4th the Howard County Police Department posted an announcement of a critical missing person. Members of our community showed up and turned the thread into a cesspit of the worst kind of racism and hate. It blows my mind that one of our county families was in crisis, searching for a vulnerable family member, and the first thing some people thought to do was to argue about his race. He doesn’t look white to me .  And that, my f...

  The concert is for the kids. The concert is by the kids.  The Concert for Kids is back for 2025 with a blend of holiday music to get you excited for the winter season! This year the concert will feature the entire OM Performing Arts Department (Band, Choir, Guitar, Dance, Piano, Orchestra and Theatre), guest readers from WBAL Radio, and a visit from Santa! Photo credit Jonathan Edelson The Family Matinee is designed to keep our younger audience members entertained. With stories and a visit from Santa, your younger children will delight in the spirit and music of the holiday season. The Holiday Pops evening concert is an expanded version of the Family Matinee.  Filled with holiday readings by our friends from WBAL radio, as well as an expanded selection of holiday music, this concert is sure to fill you with joy.  All proceeds beyond our costs are donated directly to the WBAL Radio Kids Campaign. The concert benefits the Campaign:   Founded in 1983, the WBAL ...

I was going to write about something on the heavy side this morning but I just don’t have it in me. And maybe you don’t have it in you to read it today, either. I’m giving all of us a reprieve. ***** I’m relinquishing my Suzy Homemaker card.  Wednesday I offered the following in my Buy Nothing group: Gift: Iron and ironing board. I am handing in my Suzy Homemaker badge: I don’t iron anymore. Maybe you do? I do not remember when I bought this ironing board. I think I may own two irons but I don’t know where the other one is. To give you an idea of how frequently I iron, one day my husband opened a cabinet and said, astonished. “We own an iron???” ***** Once upon a time, in the last century, I lived in a center hall colonial in an old suburb where the mothers stayed home and the children all walked home from school each day to eat lunch. Our television was black and white and you put pennies in parking meters.  My parents had three daughters in an effort to produce one son. Aft...

 “You know we’re moving?” My doctor asked me yesterday as she checked me in to begin my appointment.  “I know the way someone with ADHD knows,” I joked. “I was aware, I’ve known for a long time, and then I came in the office today and saw the signs and thought, wow! So soon?” She smiled, then added, “I ask because apparently a lot of our patients say they didn’t know.” This surprised me. The office announced this quite a while ago and has been periodically reminding patients that this is in the works. It’s on the website. It’s on the patient portal. Signs have been posted on the reception desk. It’s been covered by local media. And then it didn’t surprise me. Think of all the folks who are outraged about the decision on the Downtown Library because there was “no public input.” “I didn’t know” is to them the equivalent of “It didn’t happen.” I bemoaned this line of ‘reasoning’ back in August of 2024 in  Sisyphus at the Lakefront . I do not know how anything in government i...

I find it rather startling that we have several actual “news” news stories breaking around town at almost the same time. It’s almost as though we’re a big enough place to have actual news.  Manor Hill Brewing violated Howard County zoning rules, hearing examiner finds: Brewery must seek new approvals to continue private events , Kiersten Hacker, Baltimore Sun 11/26/25 Howard County Council advances plans for new Columbia lakefront library , Jess Nocera, Baltimore Banner 12/2/25 Baltimore County Inspector General Kelly Madigan Leaves for Howard County Jo b, Rona Kobell  and Lillian Reed, Baltimore Banner 12/2/25 If you don’t have a subscription to one or both of these outlets, you do have access through the Howard County Library system. You will need the same information from your library card that you use to request books online. Once you try it you’ll be amazed at how easy it actually is.  ***** Many thanks to the good folks that responded to my rather despondent quanda...

Giving Tuesday is one of those days when I am so upset that I don’t have enough money to give that I just shut down.  I wrestle with how much money I can safely donate while still having enough to meet personal needs. As you might imagine, this struggle is not methodical nor scientific. I do not have lists nor analyses to inform my charitable giving. I have a gut feeling about how much I can afford to give and I try to work with that. If you read this blog with any regularity you are aware of the causes I support and the nonprofits I admire. I try to give when I can and use my social capital to promote them when I can’t give an actual monetary donation. They tend to fall (roughly) into two categories: responding to concerning needs, and pursuing important goals. This year I truly feel a whole new category of need rising up out of the usual candidates on Giving Tuesday: those who are responding to catastrophic crises mostly caused by the current administration in Washington. For exa...

  Now the first of December was covered with snow… So says the song by James Taylor. But he was on the highway from Stockbridge to Boston, and not in Howard County. There was a bit of sleet yesterday morning and some rumblings for Tuesday. But today? Nope. My weather app says it “feels like” 25 right now and it’s only going to reach about 42 degrees.  I wonder it there will be outdoor recess. I always hated recess in cold weather and that’s probably because 1) I was not a run-around sort of kid and 2) girls were compelled to wear dresses to school in those days. (!!!) If we had indoor recess it was rare and probably due to rain. My memories of that involved a game called 7 Up or possibly multiple rounds of Hangman at the chalkboard. Here in HoCo we can expect outdoor recess to be derailed by cold temperatures, snow - - and possibly ice - - all through the winter months.  My years as a teacher of young children taught me how deeply that kids need to move and to have self-d...

  I woke up this morning feeling as though my brain had been wiped clean during the night. Sadly, all that appears to be left intact are things that annoy me.  I’m going to indulge myself. Think of this as an inconsequential list of things that have been bugging me recently: Any YouTube Video entitled “You’re Doing it Wrong!” Facebook Marketplace listings that don’t contain the most basic useful information.  Food items that mix chocolate and gingerbread. These are two exquisite flavors that should be enjoyed separately. (You are not obligated to agree.) The local birds who have spurned our fancy new critter-proof bird feeder. Blah. All the junk in my email inbox. How Fox45 frames their local coverage. AI anything.  The mysterious mechanism which controls the hatchback latch on my car. 8 out of 10 times it won’t budge. The fabulous new dish soap we discovered at Lidl this summer? Discontinued.  The fancy new craft glue sticks I bought which are unaccountably for...

Are you boycotting Amazon? I am. This has been a big shift for me since I had become quite reliant over time to all of the conveniences that Amazon provides. I didn’t have to go out and deal the with holiday shopping crowds. Shipping was prompt, easy, and often free. I could browse through a seemingly endless variety of goods and it always felt like I could get “a better deal.” And this was always the big elephant in the room when I contemplated getting out of the house and patronizing local small businesses . You might even say it blocked the door.  After I came to the realization that Amazon was not “a better deal” - -  because of all of its related baggage - - very gradually the idea of shopping small became more feasible to me. I had always supported it in theory, but between a desire to be frugal and, in recent years, concerns in re being immune-compromised, I felt stuck.  What an incredibly successful business model Amazon has become, gradually convincing us that s...

  What would happen if big business stopped bowing to bad government?  And what would have to happen to bring them to that choice? Here’s a social post from Danya Ruttenberg. She’s an American rabbi, editor, and author. An important, important part of how we are going to make any meaningful change -- to address the injustices of this current regime, and to address the deeper structural harms of the current system-- is through economic choices. Eventually (soon, I hope) we will need to consider slowdowns, refusals, a national strike.  But for now, the ask for this weekend by Black Voters Matter Fund and co-signed by T'ruah and goodness knows how many more orgs, is pretty easy, honestly: Say NO to big corporate spending.  Don’t buy anything from Target, Amazon or Home Depot this week.  Use the time and money to connect with those you love, and rediscover what matters. If you must shop, shop small, local, and invest in immigrant, Black, and Brown-owned businesses a...

  If they cut open people the way they do trees to count the rings, I suspect that the indications for this past year would show marked, even catastrophic, distress. A weird way to begin a Thanksgiving post, but…you know what I mean, right? I’ve been struggling lately with the concept of blessings. When we receive something we really needed or experience even more than we needed we often say we have been blessed. For many that is connected to a belief in divine intervention.  If that is true then what about all the folks who aren’t receiving what they really need or experiencing what it’s like to have more than they need? Are they not good enough for God to love them or care for their needs? This is beginning to feel too much like the poor children who see what Santa brings the affluent children and wonder why Santa looked at them and found them lacking.  I have no answer for that except that I know that blessings are  not about some folks being more deserving than ...

  I’m in a couple of give-away sort of groups and I have mixed feelings about people posting something (especially food) by saying they want it to go to a needy family. That puts the responder in the position of publicly outing themselves to the group as being needy. This bugs me.  This is not mutual aid. No matter how well-intentioned, this practice comes across as an attempt at playing Lady Bountiful.  Why? Years ago I got into a bit of a kerfuffle because I objected to a (former) local blogger taking and sharing photos at a back-to-school giveaway event. My reasoning was that people turning out to receive school supplies were not automatically giving their consent to be publically identified. They deserved the respect of having their presence there - -  to support their children - - to be no one’s business but their own. Not everyone agreed with me, least of all that blogger.  It was a public event, therefore it could be covered. No thought, no nuance, no emp...

As I headed out of Clarksville Commons Saturday it occurred to me that I needed something from a hardware store and that I hadn’t been inside Kendall’s in quite some time.  Why not? I was right there.  In case you have never been, Kendall’s before Christmas is a delightful combination of mom and pop community hardware store around the edges (and the back) and Christmas goods in the middle. Need a screwdriver? No problem. You can also pick up some ornaments and a few stocking presents while you are at it.  When I walked in a young cashier greeted me and asked if I was looking for something in particular and I told her. She paused ringing up items for a second and gave me the aisle number. It was an auspicious beginning. I’m not a big fan of Christmas displays before Thanksgiving. Nevertheless, I felt as though I had walked into Kendall’s at the precise moment when everything had been set up to its best advantage and several customers were beginning to explore the aisles o...

Despite the damp and gray weather conditions on Saturday, I headed out to the Thanksgiving Market at Clarksville Commons. After all, there are only a few more times this season to get my hands on one of these. I can’t show you how gorgeous it was because I scarfed the entire thing on my way home. However, I did have a back up plan for Sunday. I don’t know what Rob and Sons does during the off season but I am going to find out. (Imagine that last bit in all caps.) If you want to see why these baked goods keep coming up on the blog, check out his website to see where he’ll be selling for the rest of the season.  I had a nice chat with the proprietor of The Salvaged Stitch about my quest for a brightly colored “something” to house the new remote for our overhead light/ceiling fan in the bedroom. It is white. Our new comforter is mostly white. It has quickly become the invisible remote. She had several things that were almost-but-not-quite-right. After some back and forth I realized ...