Village Green/Town²

  It’s the last day of school and I forgot to turn the sound on for my alarm. My husband pointed out, wryly, that tomorrow is the day to turn off all the alarms. One thing that’s on my mind this morning is the size of the Howard County School System. It’s pretty darn big, you know. I looked at the size of the two public school systems I came from (Cleveland Heights-University Heights in Ohio, and Stamford, Connecticut) and they are tiny by comparison. HCPSS is made up of 78 schools, spread out over an entire county. Many school districts are based around towns, with multiple systems within a county. This is why we sometimes have those conversations about how winter weather events affect some parts of the county more than others, necessitating closure throughout the entire system. We’re not all the same, and yet our school system must make decisions for everyone. There’s a lot of ground to cover. Why is this on my mind today? Well, I’m thinking about parents. I do write a lot about...

  I can’t remember the last time I posted a HoCo Holler! but surely this deserves one:  ‘This is a really big step’: Howard County schools hold a first-ever ‘Pride Prom’ Photo essay by Kaitlin Newman and Heather Diehl, Baltimore Banner Today’s HoCo Holler! goes out to CARY HoCo for advocating for, organizing, planning, and putting on Howard County’s first ever Pride Prom for LGBTQ+ youth in the Howard County schools. From the Banner article: The Community Allies of Rainbow Youth, or CARY, works within the schools to advocate for a safe and affirming learning environment, raise awareness of LGBTQ+ issues, increase understanding of youth experiences across the community, and provide resources and support for allies. Pride Prom wasn’t just for dancing. Students had many other choices for a good time including an Escape Room Challenge, a movie room, a Low-Fi room and a game room. There was also a “cocoa and conversation room,” which was low-lit with offered relaxing vibes with tea...

A brief visit to 2013 via the Way Back Machin e this morning. Just had a brilliant, brilliant idea. CA and hocogov need to partner on a camp/recreational course for kids where all activities involve learning how to use Howard County Transit to get to the activity site. You want to change attitudes about public Transit? Kid + fun + knowledgeable, adequate supervision. When I posted this on Facebook back in 2013 I got a variety of responses. Most were positive but one was adamantly negative. I’ll admit I was surprised, and rather deflated. In fact, that one rejection lingered so vividly in my mind that I was surprised today when I went back to look that there were a number of quite positive responses. It’s funny how that works. I’m bringing it up today because of this: Tweet posted on May 15, 2023 by RTA, Regional Transportation Agency Hey, everyone! We just finished a presentation to students at Atholton High School in Columbia, MD, on how to ride the bus like a pro! We thank the studen...

  I will probably never live this down. Yesterday morning I posted what I thought was a perfectly normal question and I got some curiously irreverent answers. Should I stop feeding the birds during our local beer season? I feel bad about letting the birds down.  It honestly took me several minutes to figure out the problem.  CORRECTION: Should I stop feeding the birds during our local BEAR season? Gotta love my witty friends, lol. The past week has been full of alternating stories of smoke-filled air and bears on the move in Columbia/HoCo. The following is the first page of a Google search for “bears Columbia Maryland”: The advert for Build a Bear and the link for Hammond Golden Bears football made me smile. But the question remains: should I discontinue feeding the birds? Am I creating a needless bear hazard? On the other hand, what does it do to all the birds who have been relying on the feeders?  Yes, I’ve heard that one actually shouldn’t be feeding birds in the ...

There are serious topics to be written about. I wrote about one yesterday .  Today is not that day. Today my brain saw this photo and - - click! - - the die was cast. The tweet reads, “A brew that no Avalanche fan could pass up. Brewed in Columbia, MD.” If you want to know what all that means, you can take a look at this article about a song by blink - 182 and a Colorado ice hockey team. But, you see, when I looked at this picture my brain saw this name: All The Mall Things I was amused. And delighted. What better name for a beer from Columbia, Maryland, a planned community built around a mall? These days it’s even more ironic, as you’d have to be over 21 not just to enjoy the beer but also to enjoy the mall.  I was rather disappointed to learn I had read the title incorrectly. Here’s the actual song . I didn’t find it all that appealing, but you may know something I do not. As per usual, I’m interested in what you would call a signature, quintessential local brew if you wer...

On Wednesday evening in Baltimore, Lisa Snowden was driving home from her parents’ house. Then she saw something.  Snowden, the Editor-in-Chief and cofounder of newsweekly Baltimore Beat, stopped and got out of her car to observe. Everything that follows (until the break at the bottom of this piece) was live-tweeted by Snowden,  on-scene. It is shared with permission. - - jam Just witnessed BPD slam this young woman on the ground while attempting to arrest two other young men. This young man is alleging that he was arrested for the smell of weed.* A baby is in a car seat in the car. "I got a child in the car. There's no guns in the car." He says he was taking the other young man to work. Also says he can't breathe. Had an officer scream in my face and attempt to physically push me back. He backed off when I said I was a reporter.  This is at Greenmount and Bowen. He waved his pepper spray at me as though he was going to use it on me. “Y’all got physical over the smel...

  “The Howard County School system is suing.” If you saw those words without any other description, who would you guess was on the other end of the suit? It’s hard for me to imagine. In fact, I can’t think of any time in recent memory that HCPSS sued anybody. Scratch that. In 2020 they joined a lawsuit against JUUL Labs, Inc in response to student vaping.  Well, they have joined a new lawsuit. Howard County Schools sue social media companies, alleging a role in youth mental health crisis , Ethan Ehrenhaft, Howard County Times The Howard County Public School System filed a lawsuit Friday against Meta, Google, ByteDance and Snap Inc., alleging the social media companies have exacerbated a mental health crisis among its student body of more than 57,000 as the district tries to maintain adequate mental health services and supports. There was a time when I was hopeful about social media when it came to young people and education. Perhaps I was trying too hard not to be the over-th...