Village Green/Town²

  One of these things is not like the others One of these things doesn't belong Can you tell which thing is not like the other By the time we finish our song?* Did you guess which thing is not like the others? Did you guess which thing doesn't belong? If you guessed this thing is not like the others Then you're absolutely right.  Our library promotes equity. Our library promotes literacy for adults who have come here from many places. Our library promotes accessibility to materials and opportunities. Our library is hosting multiple Harry Potter themed events?  Tell me this isn’t so. J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter book series, has and continues to use the profits from those books to advocate for laws that diminish the rights of trans people. She has and continues to use her fame to influence public opinion to view and treat trans people negatively. In short, Ms. Rowling is using the Harry Potter book series to make transgender people around the world less safe....

 “Make art. Make art.” These words concluded the acceptance speech given by musician and composer Glen Hansard at the 2008 Oscars ceremony. Hansard and collaborator Markéta Irglová won in the category of Best Song for “Falling Slowly” from the movie Once. As the news of Hansard’s accidental and untimely death spread yesterday, so did those words. Make art. Mark art. It was both an exhortation and a plea.  In 2026 it challenges the falsehoods of tech bros who tell us that AI will democratize the creative process. It does nothing of the sort. The AI model is based on the theft of the creative work of others. Those who fall victim to the lies will find they have lost the opportunity to experience true creativity: their own, inborn gifts. AI does not give. It steals.  Last night I sat outside and read a wonderful illustrated treatise/comic  by Alexandra Gallant-Lee. In many ways it is a love letter to the creative process and to our basic, essential humanity. It is ...

  Ten years ago I shared a guest post from an Oakland Mills mom:  Stand Up for All , Lisa Spangler Zovko, July 28, 2016 This morning I’ve been sitting with the words of this piece and with the photo she shared along with her words. I don't care if you don't want to hear this. You can block me. But this has to be said. In this photo is my son Ryan and all of his closest friends from high school. Awesome right?? They are all wonderful young men that will do great things. Here's the rub. Austin's mother and I don't have to worry the same as Kian's mom or John's mom or Jay's mom or Khaaliq's mom, or Adam's mom. We don't have to worry that someone might think something about them because of the color of their skin. That's called white privilege. That's why #blacklivesmatter. These boys are all like sons to me and I pray everyday that they don't come upon the wrong person with a gun. We must stand up for all. Every micro-aggression that...

  Wait, what? I did a double take when these photos from the Youth Climate Institute account caught my eye on Instagram. You may recall that the Youth Climate Institute is an initiative of the Howard County Conservancy .  The post I came across relates recent activities related to grant support from the Chesapeake Bay Trust. We're so grateful to @chesapeakebaytrust for awarding The Youth Climate Institute a Healthy Environment, Healthy Communities grant to support four Baltimore chapters in the 2025-2026 school year! Thanks to this generous funding, we were able to provide stipends and action project funding to @sparrowspoinths, @watershedpcs, @official_baltimorepoly, and Academy for College and Career Exploration. Together, these four chapters: - Raised an additional $2,000 in grant funding - Installed 16 raised beds - Installed 42 native plants - Collected 45 large bags of litter across several clean-up events throughout Baltimore (estimated 1,000 bs) - Positively impacted ...

  What does it mean to be “mid”?  Well, you’re in luck. The website for the Today show did an entire article about it in 2024.  What does the slang word ‘mid’ really mean?” , Elise Solé, Today According to Bark.us, a company that decodes teen slang, "mid" is "a term used to describe something that is average, not particularly special, 'middle of the road.'" Why do I have “mid” on the brain? It’s not a word I’ve used in daily conversation, although I did know what it meant. It turned up on a HoCoLocal foodie group yesterday in a way that had all the charm of getting slapped in the face with a wet fish. To paraphrase: This group isn’t giving enough attention to fine dining establishments, especially this new one. The kind of places it focuses on are what I think are cheap eats and thus the group is nothing but… “Mid.” This particular group has its ups and downs. The biggest complaints are generally of the “I had a bad experience” and quite frankly some of thos...

  Cars, Cats, & Coffee - - Will the perky alliteration never end? From Luna Cat Collective : Image from Luna Cat Collective social media  A recent  reel from the Instagram of Luna Cat Collective in the Normandy Shopping Center jogged my memory about something and I started digging through old posts. But first, info about the event: lunacatcollective:  Play with cats, enjoy some coffee, appreciate some rides Cars, Cats, Coffee this Sunday, July 26th 12-2pm Discounted Cat Time For Drivers & Bikers Meet at Luna Cat Collective, Park in the JS Taekwondo Lot 8480 Baltimore National Pike, Ste 311, Ellicott City, MD 21043   Hmm…think, think, think.  Isn’t this a Car Meet? Didn’t there used to be a Car Meet in this exact location? Aha! Found it!  Ellicott City Petition  , August 27, 2022 Someone named Vincent Harris had organized regular events called Cars & Boba at the Normandy Shopping Center but for some reason they were asked to leave....

  Pride in July? Yes, you can have Pride in July. You can celebrate Pride any time you want.  Howard County supports two major Pride celebrations - - EC Pride in June, and Howard County Pride in October at Merrriweather Park at Symphony Woods. Pride is a refusal to be erased, harassed, and criminalized. Pride celebrates the truth of the human experience in sexual expression and gender diversity.  The way things are these days it’s almost ridiculous to take a day off from supporting and celebrating our LGBTQIA family, friends, and neighbors. Snagged from a from a friend taking the Metro in July… DC Metro Pride Train From Columbia Association, an announcement for tonight’s Lakefront Live: Pride in July is back at the CA Lakefront on Saturday, July 25! Join us for an unforgettable celebration of love, togetherness and community. Come out for: A high-energy dance floor hosted by SADBrunch Dazzling drag performances featuring the fabulous Cake Pop! and local drag royalty burs...

  The year is 2015. Word gets out: there’s a runaway blimp. It was more or less thought of as a Baltimore Blimp. To be absolutely clear, it was stationed at Aberdeen Proving Ground. Military blimp goes AWOL for a joy ride,  Tom Vanden Brook, USA Today This was back when Twitter was really a happening thing. I wish I could recreate fully the explosion of humorous and whimsical runaway blimp posts as they occurred. Baltimore Twitter was in its element.   USA Today even covered the Twitter aspect of the story.  Breakaway blimp thrills Twitter  , Jessica Durando, USA Today  You’ll see that this article is full of blank spaces where tweets are no longer available. This is indicative of all the folks who have since left Twitter and completely deleted their accounts.  There was much gleeful hilarity at the rogue, unmanned sky adventurer. There was also a darker side. What was this thing? It wasn’t, strictly speaking, a blimp. The JLENS Aerostat was a military...

  And now for some thanks. Over the last five months I’ve lived away from my Columbia home and found myself here only when caregivers were scheduled. Now that I’m really and truly home I’m thinking about the HoColocal businesses that became a part of my daily routine as I struggled to keep my head above water.  You’ll see that all of these places are geographically centered around my part of town. That makes sense, doesn’t it? When time is short and your ability to make choices is limited, you choose the near and familiar. I couldn’t dilly dally when rush hour traffic awaited me.  A good old HoCo Holler to these folks who’ve been there when I needed them: 7 Eleven, Steven Forest Road  Especially at the beginning, when I was too stressed and tired to even think straight, this was the place I could grab a cold sandwich for dinner on my way back. I had to learn not to always grab chips and cookies every time but this place was a godsend. The folks behind the counter wer...

  “Why are Maryland pools so boring?” asked a poster on the Columbia Reddit. Below are images of a typical pool from the Cleveland Ohio area, versus a typical pool from Columbia Maryland. What gives? The poster, relatively new to the area, uses a pool from Rocky River, Ohio to compare to the Clemens Crossing pool in Columbia.  It’s an interesting discussion. I left Cleveland a very long time ago, but I found the Rocky River pool to be nothing like my neighborhood pool in Cleveland Heights. Cumberland Pool was built in 1927 and is still in use. Cumberland Pool, Cleveland Heights As I watched the conversation progress, I had a realization that we were talking about something which was the topic of much conversation in the past.  Do you remember the word Aquaplan? The year was 2011, and CA held a number of community meetings about the future of the pool system. I attended one of them. (Shocking, I know.) There was quite a bit of emotional pushback from these meetings, which ...

  Once upon a time I was encouraging people to read the Columbia Flier.  Hard Copy, Hard Issues , July 21, 2016 Today there is no Columbia Flier.  This story from WMAR2 News presents an interesting juxtaposition with my post from ten years ago.  Diversity wins: Howard County on track for first-ever minority-majority county counci l, Blair Sabol That’s not how you spell “dais”. Ten years ago I was concerned at how “white” our local news coverage was.  But as I reviewed this week's paper, an untold story leapt out at me. Almost everything in this week's edition could be categorized as The Stories of White People. The article about school suspensions is clearly the exception. But really, I urge you to get a copy yourself and leaf through it. Is this who we are as a community? Is our story just The Story of White People? I still see way too much of that kind of Columbia/HoCo coverage. But it’s not quite so predominant. Not “all better”. Not perfect. And I haven’t f...

  Another day, another mystery. Screenshot from Bluesky Who or what is RingJing? I’ve never heard of this company before. Here’s how they describe themselves on BlueSky: Okay, they have a website . They have an “About Us” page. But it doesn’t tell me who they are.  This drives me nuts. If you want me to trust your product and the information you disperse - - tell me who you are.  You wouldn’t drink water if you didn’t know its source. Especially today, when so much of what we see is the result of an aggregator on the other side of the planet or unadulterated AI slop.  A simple Google search shows that the only information available about RingJing is the company’s own website. So, naturally, the Google AI function is attempting to extrapolate that tiny bit of information into an entire explanation. Ugh. It is operated by its own RingJing Editorial Team.  Okay? They have an editorial team. Who are they? Are they local? Are they also the owners? Is RingJing a HoCoL...

  Hold everything! New HoCoLocal restaurant brings back a local favorite! This glowing testimonial comes from the Howard County Eats FB Group: We went to Tony's of NY in Ellicott City tonight and everything was great!!! We had garlic knots, Caesar salad, mozzarella logs, pepperoni and cheese New York style pizza!!! We will be back again. Yes, community foodies have been abuzz with word of the opening of Tony’s, more officially known as Tony’s of New York, Ellicott City. They’re located in the Enchanted Forest Shopping Center. Image from Google Maps  Here’s a reel from their Instagram that gives you a glimpse of today’s magic words. “ All You Need ” Tony’s of NY EC Have you guessed yet? No? It’s “garlic knots”. Long time hocolocals may remember the outcry that arose when the Tomato Palace at the Lakefront took garlic knots off their menu. The outrage! The laments! And it wasn’t just a brief objection - - people mourned the loss. It was ongoing.  Some folks even went so far...

  It’s Saturday in the summertime. The top story in the Banner is not the usual “What to do this weekend.” It’s this: How to protect yourself as wildfire smoke blankets Maryland,  Sara Ruberg, Baltimore Banner Nota bene: a doctor quoted in the article states that wearing a mask won’t help. A reader comment disputes that. The doctor quoted is rejecting the advice of many public health officials who say a well fitted N95 or KN95 mask can significantly help reduce exposure to these type of fine particulate. Please be more accurate when reporting on public health emergencies. Even Fox is reporting that those masks can help. - - reader comment In my opinion you should limit outside time as much as possible but, if you must leave the house, wear a high quality, well fitting mask.  Lung damage is no joke. This air is ugly stuff right now. Food for thought - - I noticed this comment in a Bluesky conversation about outdoor events this weekend: I'm starting to think that in our li...

  The Maryland State Department of Education proposes increasing instructional time for mathematics at the Middle School level. This will necessitate decreasing instructional time for other subjects. Want to comment? Time is running out. Revised Mathematics Policy Implementation Timeline & Secondary Mathematics Program , Comment form Every time I see those “other” subjects reduced or eliminated in schools I want to throw things. I am not a violent person.  Students are not geese to be force-fed with the aim of producing foie gras somewhere down the line. They are human. We are preparing them to have full human lives.  We have to give them a reason to live.  The more we narrow educational experiences, the less kids have to connect with and care about. What kind of a life is that? It’s also an ineffective methodology for education. We can’t simply pour content onto children and young people. They need to have the ability to absorb it. Reducing time spent in areas ...

  It’s Farmer’s Market Season. It’s CSA season. It’s bury your face in buttery, sweet corn on the cob season. Fresh, juicy raspberries. Salads with every variety of greens. It’s the very best of summer brought to you by our local farmers. And now it’s cyclosporiasasis season, too. Information shared by the Howard County Health Department  Without nationwide diligence in monitoring food safety issues, our food supply is compromised. What we once anticipated as special summer treats are now something to be feared. And it’s not simply a “special treat” issue. Access to fresh fruits and vegetables is an adequate nutrition issue. It’s an addressing food insecurity and hunger issue. It’s also a terrible blow to our HoCoLocal farms. Farm map from HoCoGov While there is information available* about safe ways to consume fresh produce, many folks are likely to deal with this current crisis in food safety by avoiding it altogether.  What happens, then, to our farmers? And to local r...

  Where do you get your local news? Do you like to read it? Hear it? Watch it? I’ve written a lot over the years about print media when it comes to local journalism. Lately I’ve been starting to look at how area television stations cover Columbia/HoCo. I got into a bit of trouble over on Reddit for speaking bluntly about WBFF Fox 45 reporting.  Go away, Fox News! If you look at the general output of Fox locally the vast majority of stories skew "crime", "danger", "fear" while other significant news is ignored. By trouble I mean that it was my first experience with being downvoted. Obviously I’ll live, but - - I was surprised. So let’s look at what comes up in a basic Google search for Howard County for each of our Baltimore area tv stations. WJZ CBS News: WMAR 2 News: WBAL-TV: Now look at WBFF Fox 45: Do you see it? The first three stations are covering a variety of topics. WBFF, the Sinclair station, shows 100 per cent crime stories in the top six hits on...