Village Green/Town²

Foot's Forecast is practically beside itself. "6:00 AM 9/30 - Sometimes the truth, though painful has to made known. In this case, it's the realization Maryland may be facing the most significant hurricane threat since Isabel." The Capital Weather Gang doesn't appear to be as anxious. You can follow for yourself at the NOAA Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ So, part of the story today is whether we should be taking the possibility of a major storm seriously. The other part is whether the Kittleman administration is ready to marshall its forces to deal with this kind of weather event. Ken Ulman and his team had the emergency weather thing down to a science. And an art form, if that's possible. They were good at coordinating people to get the work done, and keeping the community informed every step of the way. Veterans of the "Emergency Operations Center" (or whatever if was called) are probably glad that they never have to do that ag...

So what's up with the Harriet Tubman Building? It's owned by the Howard County Public Schools. But it has historical significance to the community. Tonight there will be a celebratory event marking the 50th anniversary of desegregation in Howard County. Despite years of advocacy by Delegate Frank Turner and others to turn the Harriet Tubman Building into a museum, it remains in use as office space for hcpss maintenance staff.   Why?   It's true that the school system is using the building. But I would think that they would have bent over backwards to honor the desires of the community on this one. Surely there's some other-out-of commission building they could put to use?   I don't have all the answers on this one. But I do think we could be making more progress on this if we really put our minds to it.    

Following up on yesterday's post in which I expressed my horror at anonymous online comments--if you are interested in the dynamics of what makes people feel free to say these things you'd probably be interested in the upcoming Choose Civility Forum : Would You Say That To My Face? And Other Questions of Online Citizenship. The African Amercian Community Roundtable is having its Fall Forum this evening in conjunction with HCPSS. I would imagine they have a good bit to talk about. The public is invited. If you are interested in going a step further and connecting with other people in Howard County (and across Maryland) actively working to overcome racism, a great place to start is this Facebook page: Black Lives Matter: Maryland. You can support Penn North's new youth center in Baltimore City by attending a benefit concert this Saturday night at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia in Owen Brown. More about Penn North here . This promises to be a fun ev...

Lisa Philip's article for the Howard County Times, "Report points to racial divide in Howard County school suspensions" presents some disturbing numbers. " According to a report issued to the African American Community Roundtable by the Howard County school system, black students in the county were 7 times more likely to be suspended than their white classmates during the 2013 to 2014 school year, the most recent year included in the report." Seven times more likely. I'm equally disturbed to learn that AACR asked for this information three years ago but only just received it this past June. That doesn't feel very responsive to me. I'm not going to focus on the article itself today. Instead, it's the comments that floored me. HoCoTimes puts up articles on many different aspects of community life and often there are no comments whatsoever. Maybe just one or two from those diehards who just cannot restrain themselves. But watch what happens w...

Last night I was driving back home from hanging out on the deck at my daughter's house in Stevens Forest. My car windows were rolled down, the early Fall weather was mild and the James Taylor song was building towards the chorus. I turned into the Village Center and noticed a touch of Fall color on trees and bushes. The parking lot was busy with people doing a bit of Friday night shopping, picking up dry cleaning, Chinese food, heading into the Second Chance. I felt something well up in my heart. " I forget what to ask for, there isn't anything I haven't been given. How could I wish for anything more as I am here living in heaven? This moment in the sun to feel the wheel turning on." This is my home. These are my people. The beautiful streets and houses, the seasons changing, people out walking their dogs, the cross country runners from the high school. The teenager who breaks off from his pack to help an older lady who has dropped ...

Thanks to that cheery Memories function on Facebook, I am reminded that this happened a year ago, almost to the day. Do you think anyone benefited? Ms. Vaillancourt did emerge as the top vote-getter in the November election, but surely that was not the point.   In a week when I have written about journalists, transportation, Oakland Mills politics, the resignation of a school system employee, and academic outcomes for children who need help with food, Facebook tells me my biggest success was with a piece showing my teddy bear Buddy down at the Second Chance Saloon.   Perspective.   I wonder what I'll think about all this a year from now?  

At 7:22 pm saw the following post on Facebook: "Columbia folks, explosion info?" Followed shortly by another: "Earthquake? Explosion? House just shook!" And then the conversations were percolating all over the place. The best information was coming from the gentleman who knew how to follow the Howard County Police & Fire live web feed. News was spreading by word of mouth from one Facebook thread to another. Unbelievably, some people hopped in their cars to go take a look and post photos. (In my opinion, not a recommended course of action.) Social media allows us the ability to do this. And in times of crisis it can be very helpful. We're not alone. We can share what knowledge we have. But, at the very same time, our local journalists were going into high gear. First Amanda Yeager, then Andrew Michaels, then Kevin Rector (out of Baltimore) went to work collecting information and getting it out to the public on Twitter. A preliminary story went up onlin...