Fresh, Local, and (Somewhat) Tasty

Only three more Saturday markets this season at Clarksville Commons! More information available on their Facebook page. Dress warmly and buy local!

Another fresh and locally grown experience comes to you today from the Howard County Department of Aging - - it’s the Mixed Vegetables Improv Group presenting a humorous informational take on sustainability at The Loan Closet.

Now, the next one promises “yummy yarns” but don’t be tempted to sink your teeth into them:

The Maryland Alpaca and Fleece Festival is tons of fun for the whole family, from the young ones who can pet the beautiful, soft, and sweet alpacas to adults who can also pet the alpacas to those who like to shop til you drop as well as excellent classes! This event is a great place to start shopping for Holiday gifts, including yourself! We have all of your favorite vendors as well as new ones for yummy yarns, soft fleeces with all the benefits of alpacas, alpaca products, and so much more.

As always, there will be raffle baskets of amazing items donated by the vendors as well as interactive demos for all ages because learning about Alpacas is just so fun! Save the dates for a great fall fiber event.

Information about hours and vendors can be found at the event page: Maryland Alpaca and Fleece Festival

If you’re looking for homegrown high school theater there’s a chance to see “Come From Away” at Howard High School and “Puffs” at Oakland Mills High School.

Do you have any exciting plans for the day? Any local event you’d like me to boost? Let me know.

Village Green/Town² Comments

Comments

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents. When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...

F ³: We Are Not Entitled

A college student went missing. His family and friends were distraught. The community was encouraged to be on the lookout and spread the word. Days passed. They must have been agonizing days for those who cared about the missing student. Thoughts that foul play had been involved cannot have been far from their thoughts. Then, at last, the student was found. Alive. The news was shared with the public. So. Much. Relief. A family had been reunited with their child. Even though we know that life is complicated, I think it is okay to accept this as a happy ending and leave it at that. But the world of social media says no. For every expression of joy at the news came questions and even judgement. It became clear to me that some folks felt entitled to an explanation. They wanted the backstory. It’s as though they felt that, by enlisting the help of the public on social media, the authorities now owed them all the details. Television dramas often weave curr...

Separate and Unequal

Remember “Separate but equal”? Remember how that really meant that Black schools languished in broken-down buildings without adequate heat or toilet facilities, with cast-off, ragged learning materials, underfunded and largely ignored? The Supreme Court struck that down in 1954. The evidence was clear that separate was not equal. Plessy v Ferguson had led to - - no, endorsed - - deeply unequal schooling and opportunities. We tend to think of Brown v Board as being purely about racial integration. It was not. It was about the logical consequences of segregation. And they were not, not, not equal. The ruling in 1954 didn’t transform public education for non-whites into a land of milk and honey by any means. But it articulated some essential truths in a way that made including everyone a legal precedent which could be relied upon and built upon. It was better than what came before it but it rested upon unsteady ground. It did not necessarily change the hearts or minds ...

Village Green/Town²

Search This Blog