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People Are Saying

 

 


I have an inordinate fondness for discovering what people think about Columbia/HoCo when I’m on Bluesky. (Same for Twitter, back in the day.) I think it’s good to see things through the eyes of folks with a different perspective. True, it’s not always flattering. But I usually learn something. And sometimes the takes are amusing.

Here are a few recent ones:

Q:What is the least culturally powerful city where people do the "you're not a real [local]" thing, because New York is very very far from the only one.

A: Columbia MD, where all directions are given in terms of a business that closed 30 years ago.

*****

The culture of Maryland is a married couple consisting of a doctor who works at a hospital in Baltimore and a lawyer who works in DC, who have 2-3 kids who pass down the same Volvo with each of their college stickers on the rear window, live in Columbia, and shop at Total Wine religiously.

*****

[It] depends a lot on where you are in the state. Like, in Howard County virtually everyone goes to public school, but the high housing prices can shut people out. In Baltimore, the housing is cheaper, but rich people send their kids to private schools.

*****

The man who designed Columbia Maryland should have to spend the entirety of his afterlife in a maze where he never finds his destination.

The last one is my favorite of the bunch. As someone who moved to Columbia as a fully grown adult - - and spent months getting lost every time I left the house - - I feel this. 

By far the biggest complaints about Columbia/HoCo are that it’s inconvenient to get here and inconvenient to get around while you’re here. I can’t argue with that. I suppose some folks think of that as a useful deterrent to out-of-towners. 

I think it’s worth considering other people’s points of view. As for me, I moved to Columbia in 1999 and I’m still trying to figure it all out.

What do you think?



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  1. Julia A. McCreadyJune 10, 2026 at 4:29 AM

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