GREETINGS from HOME in COLUMBIA
Lloyd and I continue to take our daily 3+ mile walks.
When walking on the pathways in the Middle Patuxent
Valley Cedar Lane and the Little Patuxent
Parkway loop road through Clary's Forest we
continue to get "honks" from some of you and others. A few of you have seen me in the grocery
store, dry cleaners, or a restaurant and greeted me with "I'm one of the
honkers." I love our Columbia
community!
Now that seven months have passed since I no longer hold
public elected office, I am grateful, happy, and slightly surprised at how
smooth and easy the transition has been.
Lloyd and I are loving our time in our beloved community of Columbia , enjoying our
time with family, reconnecting with old friends and traveling around our state,
country, and planet.
There has been one somewhat rough spot in this
transition. I have never fully realized
how much I depended on various staff members in my office over the years to
keep my calendar straight. I
occasionally find that I have made
errors in dates, times, locations. With
help from one of our granddaughters, Katerina, I am improving. To those with
whom I've missed a date or time, my apologies. I feel bad about these missteps,
though they are few and far between...
Bear with me. I'm improving.
When I served as Howard County Executive in the 80's,
historic preservation was one of my priorities. As a result we preserved and
restored several properties in downtown Ellicott City ,
the old firehouse and the Thomas Isaac log cabin on Main Street among them. Recently I took a
walking tour of historic Ellicott City led by
the director of the Ellicott City Historical Society. He did a great job which I particularly
appreciate since I served as a walking tour guide there myself during the
celebration of the Ellicott City Bicentennial in 1976. Recently I was deeply gratified to learn that
I will be this year's recipient of the Senator James Clark Lifetime Achievement
Award for Historic Preservation in next month at Waverly Mansion Marriottsville Road . This is another of the structures for which I
collaborated with Jim Clark to preserve when I was County Executive Preservation Howard County
Speaking of Jim Clark, one of our biggest joys of summer is
to stop by the Clark 's farm roadside vegetable
and fruit stand. Tomatoes and corn on
the cob are our favorites. The farm is
now lovingly tended by Jim's daughter, Martha, and her family. She also fosters serving local produce by
local restaurants and held a great event on their farm this summer to support
and promote those restaurants. Thank
you, Martha. Yummy!
Recently I attended the memorial service for Columbia artist, Wes
Yamaka, who with fellow artist John Levering, graced our community with the
exquisite gallery, " The Eye of the Camel" near Oakland Manor. The Levering print of birds which hung above
the entrance to this gallery now hangs on the wall above the hallway of the
entrance to our home, having been given to me by another early Columbia artist, potter Zelda Simon, not long
before she died several years ago. It
was said at Wes' service that twenty years ago there was barely a home in Columbia that was not
graced by at lease one of his exquisite prints featuring a quote of
wisdom. Sitting at my computer in my
office, I can count four of them, one of which Lloyd gave me as a gift to hang
in my Annapolis
office. It quotes the "Great Law of
the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy - In our every deliberation we must
consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations." Those
words often helped me keep my priorities in order during my 20 serving in Annapolis .
REFLECTIONS ON ZACH
Last month Lloyd and I visited the Loring Cornish Gallery on
Thames Street
in Baltimore 's
Fels Point. Zach and his parents came
upon the artist and his gallery while out to lunch one day a couple of years
ago. They loved Loring's unique and bold
creations and bought a large wall hanging depicting "Peace" in large
glass pieces. Having heard much about
Loring from both Zach and his parents, we had been wanting to get down to is
gallery for years. Not surprisingly, we
met in Loring yet one more soul whose life continues to be deeply inspired by
Zachary and his indomitable spirit. He
has donated some of his pieces to auctions sponsored by the Zaching Against
Cancer Foundation. Turns our that the
name of his gallery, "How Great Thou Art," was created by Zach's dad,
John.
For the first week of August, Lloyd and I, our five kids,
spouses, and seven grandkids went to Corolla in North Carolina and for the 18th year in a
row stayed in the same beachfront house.
The first year there were only two grandkids, Zach and Julia. Now the youngest of the seven are thirteen
year old twins. Of course they are all
also much taller and not so easy to fit in
the house. What a glorious time
as we continue the spontaneous practice of eating all our meals in the house,
with the exception of a Friday morning breakfast out for the "girls"
- me, the five moms, and four granddaughters. Another tradition within a
tradition.
During this beach week I take two daily roughly hour-long
walks - one at 6am along the beach with my feet in the surf where Zach and I walked for years (though I
must admit I sometimes sleep in a bit and start a little later without him
physically present). In my mind while
walking, I replay the stories he told me over our years at the beach - tales
about Mohammed Ali and how with his rope-a-dope technique he served as a
teacher for Zach in recovering after his first brain surgery at age ten. Another favorite was a description of the
manner in which legendary basketball coach, John Wooten, inspired his student
players and Zach as well. The other
daily walk is with Lloyd around the flat streets in Corolla in late afternoon
before we sit at 5 with our feet in the ocean drinking a beer and waiting to be
summoned to dinner. Zach would often
come and sit with us for a bit. Whether on the beach, in the surf, on the deck
of our beach house overlooking the ocean, Zach showed up in the waves, sand, sun, clouds, moon and stars. As last year, the grandkids commemorated his
indomitable spirit with a human pyramid and Zaching pose on the beach.
I continue to meet new people who tell me of the impact
Zach's story has had on their lives. One
recent one was the daughter of a long time friend. In talking with her, I mentioned Zach's
amazing spirit in dealing with physical pain.
She said that when reading about him, it had never occurred to her that
that he had physical pain since he didn't mention it, much less focus on it.
Now with this realization, she is more inspired than ever.
The Zaching Against Cancer Foundation, which Zach himself began
with board meetings around his family's dining room table, continues to expand
its work in helping kids who are living with cancer and their families. His parents, Chris and John, and many others
are carrying on Zach's determination to help make the lives of these kids and
their families as good as possible.
Nothing is too big or too small to get their attention.
The Foundation continues to hold various events to promote
its mission and celebrate Zach's beautiful spirit and life. The next one will be a running festival at Turf Valley
You can learn more at the Zaching Against Cancer website.
REFLECTIONS ON MY BELOVED HOMETOWN, BALTIMORE
In last month's message, I described my "plan to do a
monthly communication of my experiences and observations of the impact of
public policy - local, state, national,
and international - on the lives of we humans and our planet." I also want
to put to use any wisdom I may have gathered on my combined spiritual and
public policy. Since then I have
realized that Baltimore
serves as a microcosm for many if not all of
them. Social and economic justice
(or injustice) in this city encompasses jobs, housing, guns, prisons, drugs and
casinos.
In the past I have written a few times about my admiration
for journalist/author/TV film director David Simon. Lloyd and I recall his days covering Baltimore and Maryland
for The Sun when we were in local
office in Howard County U.S. university
eloquently and strongly calling the graduates to the dire need for them to
become involved in their communities for the benefit of all residents.
As we did last year, Lloyd and I attended
this year's Baltimore Artscape which is held not far from the center of the
recent riots. The stars of Simon's HBO
series, "The Wire" put on a free program in support of the city where
the series was filmed. Outside the Lyric
theater hundreds waited patiently in line in record 90+ degree
temperatures. Inside there was standing
room only with speakers including Freddie Gray's step-father. The highlight of
my day was having my photo taken with "Bubbles." Streets outside were
packed for blocks and blocks with people of all ages, sizes, and colors viewing
the art booths and eating at the food booths. What a happy, peaceful, hopeful
scene. We saw about a dozen others we know from Howard County
'Wire' cast gives voice to West
Baltimoreans
'Wire' cast to lend voice to the unrest's
unheard
On Sunday night, after several virtually universally
acclaimed TV series - The Corner, The Wire,
Treme - Simon's six part TV series Show
Me a Hero, set in Yonkers ,
N.Y.
city about 20 miles north of Manhattan , debuted on HBO. Once again, Simon, working with Bill Zorzi,
another former Baltimore Sun reporter
who covered Howard
County U.S. today. He has gone so far as to catch the attention
of the president as a sage on the troubles in our nation's cities.
Clearly Simon has caught the our president's attention. Click below to view a video of Obama
interviewing him about his perception of the condition of our U.S. cities,
how we got here and what we can do to regain a more humanitarian approach
VARIOUS NEWS ARTICLES ABOUT BALTIMORE
AND THE STATE OF U.S.
CITIES
Some of you have told me that you love my e-newsletter,
though you don't read the news articles included. So no pressure, but I thought I would tell
you why I include them. These news
articles help me in putting together that afore-mentioned monthly communication
of my experiences and observations of the impact of public policy - local,
state, national and international on the lives of we humans and our
planet." Also, since some of them
are so well written, it seems only logical to make use of them verbatim, rather
than paraphrasing.
Regarding Baltimore , I
believe our Maryland
city serves as a microcosm of conditions in many of our U.S cities. Below are several articles dealing with social
and economic injustice in the city encompassing jobs, housing, transportation,
guns, drugs, casinos and prisons. There
is an interconnectedness among these various issues, just as their is among our
cities. Without transportation residents cannot get to jobs. Without jobs, they cannot pay for
housing. Without affordable housing they
cannot pay even if they have a job. Addiction to gambling throws more into
poverty. Easy access to guns and drugs
costs lives. Prison conditions foster
further gun and drug crimes. Parole is
only available to accused with considerable money. Many accused without money are unnecessarily
taking up prison space.....and on, and on, and on. Yet we look at Baltimore and ask "How
could this happen?"
Why should we living in affluent Howard County
JOBS / Transportation: CEO pay and Red Line
Gun Violence (I am
so grateful to my friend, Vinny DeMarco for all the work he does promoting gun
control legislation)
Drugs
Prisons
Casinos: Luring younger gamblers
BEYOND the U.S.
Peace Corps Volunteer
During the past year I have had the joy and blessing of
getting to know Peggy Walton who, as described in the Columbia Flier article
below, is returning to continue serving in the Peace Corps in her beloved Ukraine ,
despite severe political unrest.
Return home safely to us, Peggy. We love you.
POPE FRANCIS
The two Washington Post articles below increase my hope and
belief that Pope Francis may have the qualities to make a significantly
positive impact on our planet. The
accounting of his life growing up in Buenos
Aires makes clear why he is now such a compassionate
and knowledgeable populist. The
anticipation of his appearance before our U.S. Congress is widespread
throughout just about all sectors of society.
...and is it really any surprise at all that the Pope's
popularity ratings in the U.S. have fallen due to those in our nation "who
often disagree with Francis on the causes of environmental and economic
problems"?
NOTES:
Marriage Equality:
I end this communication with the following quote not simply
because Lloyd and I have supported and voted at every opportunity since the
70's for the cause of equal rights which ultimately led to the recent Supreme
Court affirming marriage equality but also as an example of the possible art and beauty of the English
language which we see all too seldom:
"IT WOULD MISUNDERSTAND THESE MEN AND WOMEN TO SAY THEY
DISRESPECT THE IDEA OF MARRIAGE. THEIR
PLEA IS THAT THEY DO RESPECT IT, RESPECT IT SO DEEPLY THAT THEY SEEK TO FIND
ITS FULFILLMENT FOR THEMSELVES.
THEIR HOPE IS NOT TO BE CONDEMNED
TO LIVE IN LONELINESS, EXCLUDED FROM ONE OF CIVILIZATION'S OLDEST
INSTITUTIONS. THEY ASK FOR EQUAL DIGNITY
IN THE EYES OF THE LAW. THE CONSTITUTION
GRANTS THEM THAT RIGHT. THE JUDGMENT OF
THE COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT IS REVERSED. IT IS SO ORDERED."
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy in the majority opinion
Thank you, Justice Kennedy
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