The Forbidden Garment

Now, here’s an unusual tweet:

Seniors, Do not wear a Toga to school tomorrow. It is against Howard County School Policy. Thank You.

I wonder what the story behind that might be?

You see, I’ve read the Howard County Schools Dress Code and there is absolutely nothing about togas.  So what was so important about this that the school in question posted on Twitter and sent emails to parents? Are they worried that togas might expose “undue flesh or undergarments”?

There’s got to be a reason. I don’t doubt that. But I’m pretty sure it’s not against policy. Correct me if I’m wrong. I entered the word “toga”into the HCPSS website and the only hit was for the GT Research Program. (No, I don’t understand that connection, either.)

I ran this by some parents online and the response was, by and large, laughter. Some found it puzzling, as other schools have allowed togas, but overall it just struck folks as silly. And sometimes, when all the news is mind boggling and upsetting, a bit of silliness goes a long way.

I suppose that I wouldn’t find it so funny if I were a senior who had planned on wearing a toga, though. I wonder what they think?

So we can have senior skip day but they took toga Tuesday away?¿?
(A possibly-related local tweet.)

So, seniors, I guess you shouldn’t wear togas today. But, for the rest of us who are ever so curious, could you please find out why?


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Life On Line

Yesterday afternoon I was scanning Twitter for possible blog post topics and I saw this:

Shots fired inside Ellicott City Walmart.

There were a handful of tweets from different sources, clustered in a one-hour period. My impression was that this was an ongoing situation. I went to Facebook to see if anyone knew anything.

I posted:

Shots fired in Ellicott City Walmart?

The response was immediate.

Are you there?

I realized my mistake too late. Friends were seeing my post and assuming I was in danger. After a few minutes of trying to explain the situation, I deleted the entire post.

I’ve always thought I was a responsible user of social media but yesterday I was lazy. I didn’t do the additional research that would have shown that the event took place Saturday evening.  And I posted to Facebook in a way that caused friends unnecessary alarm. It was the social media equivalent of shouting “Fire!”  in a crowded theater.

In short, I screwed up.

The combination of ever-increasing incidences of mass shootings, combined with the hair-trigger immediacy of social media, puts us all on edge. And makes it easy to over-react. Jump to conclusions. Flail about in search of answers.

My apologies to anyone I may have frightened yesterday. I vow to do better.

Also, a recent (around 6 am) update on this ongoing story:

HoCoPD searching for gunman who wounded another shopper at the #EllicottCity #Walmart. Wounded man got his gun & shot at store @cbsbaltimore


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Parking Garage Epiphany

Is there a word for what it means to be genuinely happy for other people? 

Last night my husband and I dropped off my daughter and her date to the Homecoming Dance and headed down to Opus 1 at Merriweather Park in Symphony Woods. I thought that the timing, as it was just getting dark, would be perfect. It was. 

However, I wasn’t alone in my thinking.

We found ourselves in a long, measured spiral up the MedStar building parking garage. And, as we drove, it sunk in just how many people were going to be at this event. Neither one of us is big on crowds. By the time we reached the top and a few spaces appeared we had lost the will to park, get out of the car, wend our way through the darkness to the event. 

Did I mention there were a lot of people?

We looked at each other, weighing the pros and cons. And then we took the turn down through the parking garage and went home. 

Lame, I know. Two middle aged introverts on the brink of a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We turned back.

But here’s the thing. I spent much of the evening enjoying posts from those of you who were there. It was amazing. I may have felt a twinge of disappointment that we didn’t push ourselves to go, but mostly I felt a sense of joy for everyone who was out there and having such a glorious experience. (I must say the Chrysalis was looking good. It’s hard to imagine Opus 1 without it.)

Photo by Davd Saunier

It strikes me that one of the things which has been chronically missing in discussions of Downtown Development is the ability to be happy for other people. If it’s not going to personally benefit the writer of that letter to the editor, well, then, scrap the plans immediately. A prime example is this letter by Robert Tennenbaum to the Columbia Flier.

The completion of the Chrysalis [amphitheater at Merriweather Park] raises two very  different questions. Who approved this outrageous $6.6 million expenditure for a 5,977-square- foot structure? The almost $12,000 cost per square foot is beyond belief. I’ll bet no other “band shell” in the U.S.A. has even come close to this expenditure. The architect is proud that the entire enclosing awful green shell is built out of a skeleton of steel tubes, where the “structure would be fully exposed ... as a brawny steel exoskelton” sounds nice. But someone forgot that soon the Symphony Woods birds and maybe squirrels will happily discover this wonderful structure as ideal for their nests. Not to mention the droppings down on the nice floor and on peoples heads. More fix it expenditures are looming for the future! 

This is very likely the quintessential “Get off my lawn” letter in the saga of Columbia, Maryland. “I don’t like it, it’s ugly, and—squirrels!” Mr. Tennenbaum is entitled to his opinion but I’d just like to point out that it’s not his lawn.

It’s our lawn.

And, for all my friends and fellow community members (and visitors) who were celebrating in the woods last night—I am thoroughly and unabashedly happy. Joy, wonder, delight. Making my hometown a beautiful place in 2017.


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Lonely

Today:

Oakland Mills Fall Festival, 11 am - 4 pm
OPUS 1 Merriweather , 4 - 11 pm

Tomorrow:

Behind the Scenes at the Chrysalis: a tour with the designers, 1 pm
Out of the Darkness Community Walk, 1 - 3pm

*****

Going a bit far afield this morning. This photo popped up in a Facebook group I belong to about my old elementary school in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. The beautiful old school was torn down in the mid-seventies to be replaced with a one-level, open classroom space. 

This photo is from a soft cover “yearbook” that the photo company sold every year. I have long ago parted with all of mine. Today when I looked at it something leapt out at me that I had never seen before. Do you see?

The list at the bottom tells me her name is Tessie Martin. I have absolutely no recollection of her. Was she really in our class? Was she there for the whole year? I have plenty of memories of most of the other children in this picture. The fact that I don’t have any of Tessie means that I didn’t play with her in the playground, we never played st each other’s houses, she wasn’t in my reading group. In those days it was the tradition a girl would invite all the girls in the class to her birthday party. Did we invite her? I don’t think my mother would have omitted her. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t there.

One African-American child in a sea of white faces and I have no memory of her. I certainly remember that my teacher was African-American because, for most of us, that was our first experience having a teacher that was not white. But what kind of memories does Tessie have? Was she largely ignored and excluded by her peers? Did she have friends in other classes? Did she have friends in our class but I just never noticed because she wasn’t in my little geeky, bookish group?

I wonder if she was lonely.


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Targeted

Imagine that you're driving along and a light comes on. You know, one day of those dashboard lights. What do you do? Many of us might keep on driving, hoping the issue will resolve itself, or promising in our heads to get it checked later.

Well, that very situation happened to HoCo community activist and blogger Lisa Markovitz. Sharing with permission:

Very bad and scary news today. Someone cut my ABS, Tire control, Stability control and other safety features from my brake system, on both front brakes, with a clipper. It is even worse than cutting the brake lines, as that would have not gotten me very far. This was a very bad accident waiting to happen. A warning light went on that I luckily decided to have checked out right away, and this was found. The police are investigating, and the officer and the service people have said they have not seen anything like this. It was insidious and targeted. The officers have recommended certain safety issues for us, and we are very concerned. They told me to share with the public. They found wires in my driveway that are in evidence. Feeling very anxious and confused right now.

This is a crime that could have resulted in serious injury or death. It is not a prank like egging your car or a simple destruction of property like slashing tires. It's not your basic theft of items left in an unlocked vehicle. It is careful and calculated and it is meant to do harm.

What I am thinking about this morning is that someone in our community feels targeted for harm, and that someone else in our community is the kind of person who would do such a thing. Both ideas fill me with dread. Whether it is a random troubled person who might tamper with anyone's car, or an individual with a particular bone to pick with Ms. Markovitz, it is a sign that something is gravely wrong in our little suburban world.

Right now I don't really much care which one it is, although "random" would be much less creepy. I just want the perpetrator to be located and taken into custody quickly so that Ms. Markovitz and her family can feel some sense of relief from the fear they must be experiencing. And so that no more harm will be done.

As a local blogger the worst I have ever experienced is people writing nasty things and falsehoods about me online. And once someone left an anonymous letter at my house. That's just nothing compared to this.

I don't want to believe that Howard County has crime like this. Clearly it does.


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Festivities

Since I seem to be on an Oakland Mills kick this week, now would be a good time to invite you to the Oakland Mills Fall Festival, happening this Saturday. 

Entertainment Schedule:

10:55 a.m. – Oakland Mills High School Band

11:15 a.m. – SoulTET,

Soul, Funk, R & B and Jazz

12:30 p.m. – Unity Reggae Band, 

Reggae

1:45 p.m. – Tracey Eldridge and Friends, 

Children’s Music

3:00 p.m. – FunDrum Rhythm Circle, 

Drum Circle

You can click the link here to learn more at the Facebook event page.

Once upon a time it was an International Festival. Then it was a Cultural Arts Festival. Now it is a Fall Festival. It doesn't matter what the name is, it is 100 per cent pure Oakland Mills at its finest and you should stop by and have some fun. Bring the family. Eat some festival food, dance to the music. 

It's a little slice of Columbia awesomeness and it's free. Hope to see you there.

Practical and Compassionate

A Civil War story:

A woman journeys to a hospital in order to advocate for better care for her son, who is wounded. Day after day she ask nurses to assist in his care. Finally, an exasperated hospital worker says,

"Madam, your son is not the only one in the hospital."

She replies,

"He is the only son of mine in the hospital."

I begin in this manner to say that, when I write about Oakland Mills in the context of CA assessment share, I am keenly aware of my own bias. I cannot pretend to have a disinterested view. I am engaging in the discussion as a resident of Oakland Mills.

Trying to find the most equitable distribution of CA assessment share is a highly complex issue and it has been going on for quite some time. There are some Villages, Long Reach, for example, which feel they have been chronically underfunded. (I think it is probably safe to say that no one ever thinks that their Village is overfunded.)

All this being taken into consideration I can't help but have the following reaction to Jonathan Edelson's presentation to the Columbia Association. It is a thorough accounting of both the practical and compassionate work of a village. I don't know how anyone can hear that and say, "Yeah, we're going to cut you back $57,000.00."

You know that story from the New Testament? We haven't exactly been burying our talents in the ground over here in Oakland Mills.