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Columbia: The Joy of Discovery?

 


Imagine my surprise when I Googled “Columbia, Maryland” this morning and this turned up first:



Will you look at that? The Chrysalis gets pride of place less than ten years after its dedication. 

On the other hand, AI has labeled Columbia as a “village” which is legitimately cringeworthy. Although…we are complicated, aren’t we?

I’ve been told by someone who knows that Columbia was deliberately laid out to encourage the joy of discovery. Sadly, this may be the same reason that I am always getting lost. When I saw the following post it reminded me of “the joy of discovery” and of Rouse’s Disney connection. I haven’t watched it yet but I’m going to.




What if the streets in your neighborhood were designed like a Disney theme park?
Here's how community designer Zach DeBoer says cities can create spaces that people actually want to explore: Why Cities Should Be Designed Like Disney.

My last discovery this morning about Columbia did not bring me joy. In fact it felt more like horror. A post on Bluesky caught my eye.

Gawd, I can't believe this is the same kid I went to high-school with.
He was just a little kid with spiky hair and a big backpack that I used to race to lunch every day.
We lived in Columbia, Maryland, a planned city between Baltimore and DC.
Such a nice place. Why did he go so wrong?

He wasn't even edgy! He just seemed too young to be in high school. like he was an elementary school kid who tested up or something. I was a senior at the time, so he was probably a freshman, but still...
He sounded like a muppet and was kinda goofy. I suppose we've all changed a lot, but... eww!

So who was the person that evoked such a dismayed reaction? Someone named Curtis Yarvin. According to Wikipedia he is a graduate of Wilde Lake High School. According to his own words he appears creepily anti-Semitic.*



I think it’s safe to say that the limited amount of time Yarvin spent in the New American City was not enough to influence his future trajectory in life.

So here we are.

Columbia, Maryland is a large master-planned community in Howard County, Central Maryland, located between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Founded in 1967 by developer James W. Rouse, the community was deliberately designed to eliminate racial, religious, and economic segregation while integrating open spaces, residential areas, and commercial hubs. - - Wikipedia 

Having opportunities for discovery doesn’t guarantee that they will be joyful. And to be honest, no one ever promised me a theme park, either.





*For what it’s worth, Yarvin claims he is not anti-Semitic. 

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  1. Julia A. McCreadyOctober 18, 2026 at 5:05 AM

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