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Photo Finish

 



I’m not in this photo. But I certainly could be.


Image saved from a post on Bluesky


I’m white, retired, and have been known to write advocacy letters and turn up for public meetings. 


This is not in Howard County. But it certainly could be.


Image saved from Bluesky


Another evening of "This is why your city has a housing shortage."

Why do the anti-housing crowds always look the same regardless of jurisdiction?

Sigh.

You can’t possibly understand community needs when only one slice of the population gets heard. You can’t possibly meet overall community needs when only one kind of person is in the room. 

Are any of these people in crisis because they have nowhere to live? I can’t be sure. But I am sure…wondering.

I have reached the age where I feel that I’ve had some valuable life experience. It feels good to be able to give helpful advice when asked. I miss a certain sense of self-worth that came with my career as a teacher. I miss some things about life that just don’t exist anymore.

None of this entitles me to be the only person in the room. I don’t necessarily “know better” by virtue of race, age, experience, educational background, or financial status. 

Now, it isn’t as though I don’t have strong opinions. There are certain topics on which I wish everyone thought like me: arts education, for instance.  But I also understand that there are areas where the world is changing and that I am slow in catching up with or accepting. (This blog would be an example. I persist in blogging in a TikTok world.) 

On the one hand I’m not going to adapt to TikTok. On the other hand I’m not crying out for its immediate destruction, either. It’s a weird place to be. 

Everyone wants to have value. Everyone wants to feel significant. The folks in the photo above have something to say. They want to be heard. This is only human. The people in the photo and many others like it are not inherently bad. The continuing scenario where they are the only people in the room is very, very bad. 

People in our community who need housing want to be valued. The people for whom renting is the better financial choice want their needs to feel significant. They are human, too. 

As one Bluesky comment summed up so succinctly:

Many of these people have found community through activism (commendable). It is a community built around keeping out newcomers (reprehensible).

Surely there are better ways to build community.



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