“Hello, it’s me, I was wondering, If after all these years you’d like to meet to go over everything, They say that time’s supposed to heal, yeah, But I ain’t done much healing…”– Hello, Adele
This song SPEAKS to me. It sings to me. I hear it in my dreams. All that. Her voice is sick. Plus I’m kind of like Adele, right? I’ve been gone for a little while and boom, I’m back. With a haircut and seventeen less pounds (Is that grammatically correct?). Minus the voice, though. Unless you count how I sound in the shower.
So I’m here. For now. I was feeling all kinds of pressure to get posts done more regularly. And I’m just not going to do that to myself. So I’m here now and I’m not sure when I’ll post again. But hopefully soon.
SO.MUCH.GOING.ON.
Let’s start with national stuff and work our way down to the local fun.
The red (IT”S ONLY RED?!) Starbucks Christmas cup- So…I’m not even sure where to start with this. In case you don’t know what I’m talking about: http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2015/11/10/starbucks-faces-backlash-over-plain-red-holiday-cup. (One day I’ll figure out the “click here” feature. Until then, feel free to laugh out loud.).
Bottom line is that some evangelist with a following said that Starbucks hates Jesus because the cups don’t have Christmas trees, snowflakes and ornaments this year. Then Trump, ever the opportunist, hops on the bandwagon and calls for a boycott.
I’m definitely a very spiritual person and I believe in the real reason behind Christmas. And it has nothing to do with ornaments and trees. Right? And, in my opinion, if you measure faith by what symbols are printed (or not printed) on a cup, something is wrong. Am I missing something here? If I am, I’ll listen.
A Jewish friend of mine posted this on FB, “You don’t see me complaining about the lack of blue Starbucks cups for Hanukkah.”
So, yeah. Stop the madness, drink your coffee in the red cup, and then go do something nice for someone who is less fortunate than you. Tis the season.
I hesitated to go here but….Greg Hardy. Wouldn’t it be awesome if the Dallas Cowboys team took a play out of the University of Missouri playbook and decided not to play until Hardy was fired? I know. Don’t wake me, I’m dreaming…. (Bonus points if you know what song that is…). It will never happen. And that’s very sad.
We shouldn’t need photos (or videos) to be outraged about domestic violence and, at the same time, those photos paint a picture of something that many of us are fortunate enough never to see. Or maybe choose not to see. I’ve said this time and time again (about many things), silence is not an option. Even if it makes you a bit uncomfortable, speak up.
Now, let’s get local. And we should really pay attention to this stuff.
Two members of the Maryland House of Delegates have filed interesting bills to address some community concerns.
Delegate Vanessa Atterbeary’s bill would ensure geographic diversity on the Howard County Board of Education by electing five board of education members by district (the 5 council districts) and two at-large. Currently only council districts 1,4,5 are represented on the school board and all seats are elected at large. Shouldn’t all districts be represented? Shouldn’t BoE members be accountable to the constituents in their general area while making decisions for the entire county? Shouldn’t it be a bit easier to run a BoE campaign? Yes. Glad you agree (smile).
Friends in Oakland Mills, Long Reach, Kings Contrivance, Jessup, Laurel, Savage and others in districts 2 and 3 may want to pay close attention to this one! You can read more here: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/howard/ellicott-city/ph-ho-cf-school-board-restructure-1022-20151016-story.html
Oh.. and I like it! Well… I love it! But I’m sure you already knew that (wink): http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-09-29/news/bs-ho-ulman-board-20110929_1_dyer-and-other-members-board-members-county-executive-ken-ulman
In a separate bill, Delegate Warren Miller is concerned about public access to information from the Howard County Public School System. Warren and I generally are not lock step on things but this is good. As someone who dealt with constituent concerns for seven years, timely access to information is important to the public. Essentially, his bill places additional requirements on the school system to ensure that information is released timely and it requires the school system to consult with a court before choosing not to release interagency docs (this apparently is a huge issue). You can read some more on this too:
So…What to do? What to do? You can lend you voice to the conversation (or even just listen) as there is a public hearing on these bills (and a few more) on December 1, 2015 at 7:00pm at the Banneker Room in the George Howard Building (3430 Courthouse Drive for the navigation system).
Get your popcorn out, folks as all of this stuff surely will make for an interesting Board of Education race in 2016! I’ve already met a few candidates and I hope they will be at this meeting on the 1st.
“Hello, how are you?, It’s so typical of me to talk about myself, I’m sorry, I hope that you’re well…”
RIP Nana.
IsThisThingOn? 