Village Green/Town²

  Almost as soon as I clicked publish on my recent post about shopping local for the holidays, one notable omission rose up and smacked me in the head: experiences.  In particular, music and art experiences. My friend/former colleague Ray Forton teaches guitar and ukulele. See what students are saying about working with him:  https://www.facebook.com/137656548030/posts/10157958200388031/  Ray has continued his private and class teaching during the pandemic via Zoom and leads strum-along sessions, too.  Looking for a gift that keeps on giving? Give yourself or someone you love the gift of music. I love teaching guitar and ukulele lessons tailored to each individual student! Get that instrument out of the case, put on a new set of strings. If you are buying an instrument get knowledgeable help! I'm happy to help! And did you know that you can borrow ukuleles from the Howard County Library? You can!  https://polaris.hclibrary.org/polaris/search/searchresults.a...

  As I sifted through photographs the other day, this one from February jumped out.  Taken at the East Columbia Branch of the Howard County Library, it’s probably the last photo I have taken in a public place “in the before times.” I was probably checking out a stack of books to augment our classroom science table. As I went to get in line I noticed a new mural.  “Well, this is new,” I thought, and snapped a picture. “Maybe there’s a story in this.” Well, that was a while ago, eh?  I have long since returned all those classroom books. Memories of being able to pop in and noodle around at the East Columbia Branch (my favorite) feel but happy dreams these days.  But I was still curious about the mural. When did it get there? What prompted its creation? Who was the artist? This week Christie Lassen, Director of Communications and Partnerships at Howard County Library System, was kind enough to put me in touch with Suki Lee, the Branch Manager at the East Columbia B...

  In April of this year I wrote two back-to-back posts about CARY and their survey of Board of Education candidates centering around LGBTQIA+ issues in the Howard County Schools.  Roots  http://villagegreentownsquared.blogspot.com/2020/04/roots.html Wings  http://villagegreentownsquared.blogspot.com/2020/04/wings.html The overarching theme of both pieces is that these issues are life-or-death issues for our students. We have ample, varied, and consistently accurate research that shows that appropriate boundaries, supports, and interventions can be the difference in outright survival for our LGBTQIA+ students. And that should be the bare minimum, I should think, of what we require of ourselves.  That’s why I treat this issue as a core topic and not as some would prefer, as a so called “identity” issue or something relevant only to a fringe subset of a larger whole. That’s why it’s important that the school system continues to work on this and make progress even w...

I was actually following a completely different idea when I came upon this letter to the editor this morning. That can wait. This is important. Over here in Oakland Mills we continue to struggle with skewed outside perceptions of who we are and wildly inaccurate descriptions of our community. Getting the good stories out there is like pulling teeth. Daily we elevate the good, while acounts in the news and on social media linger on racist dog whistles or a hyperfocus on income and test scores.  Sometimes it feels as though we are like those Whos on that tiny dust speck, ever gathering to get out the message: we are here, we are here. This letter from Talbott Springs Elementary School Principal Nancy Thompson should pop through the atmosphere on that front, as far as I am concerned. She, more than most, is intimately acquainted with the needs, challenges, gifts, and dreams of our students and families. Ms. Thompson takes the time here to shed a light on every effort, gift, initiative...

I was reminded by a reader that I was interested in gathering a collection of shopping local options for the holidays. I am grateful for her nudge!  Here is a completely unscientific listing, put together by suggestions and goodwill, word of mouth and past experience. Feel free to add your own ideas on the comments page on Facebook. You can get some of the most interesting gifts by shopping local and you are supporting your neighbors as well. This year feels like a particularly good time to make that investment. First off, several folks recommend supporting favorite restaurants through purchasing gift cards. Some ideas there: Roggenart   Aida Bistro Restaurants in the Iron Bridge/Cured/18th & 21st group Ideas for food gifts: Althea’s Almost Famous From Mommas Kitchen Neat Nick Preserves Oh What a Cake Breezy Willow Farm Store Local shops with an actual physical presence you can visit: Main Street shops in Old Ellicott City Serendipity The Pearl Spa   has great lo...

  Today new members of the Board of Education will be sworn in. Returning Board Member Vicky Cutroneo shared the following on her Facebook account and I think it is helpful: Tomorrow new members of the Board of Education will be sworn in.  It will begin at 3:15pm and will be televised on Howard County Comcast channel 95 or Verizon channel 42 and web streamed live at https://hcpsstv.new.swagit.com/events/6685  Per law, swearing in must be done in person, so the ceremony is starting early to allow new Board Members time to travel home for meeting which begins at 4pm.   All health and safety precautions will be followed. Order of swearing-in: Antonia Watts Jolene Mosley Jennifer Mallo Christina Delmont-Small  Dr. Yun Lu  Once the swearing-in ceremony has been completed, Dr. Martirano will state the meeting is recess.  Once all Board members presence is confirmed, the Board meeting will begin with me calling the meeting to order and then turning it over to...

If you don’t count trips to the doctor and pharmacy drive-though, I pretty much haven’t been anywhere since March. A few visits to my daughter and son-in-law’s house nearby. A Buy Nothing porch drop off. That’s about it. I occupy a weird health situation and I am luckily able to live accordingly, a point of great financial privilege, I know. In addition, I get to do this with two other humans who love me and who help sustain my emotional well-being. I have no room for complaints. Still, life gets a little small over here. And I wonder if, when this is all over, I will become the person you are more likely to run into at all those in-person community events. Will I be so ready to forsake this time of isolation that I jump at the chance to attend those retail openings, community meetings, government hearings, etc? It might happen, I suppose. It makes me smile to imagine it. Yesterday I found myself behind the wheel of my car driving over to Freetown Farm to pick up an item I had won thro...