REFLECTIONS ON LIFE – May 2018

Absolutely Everything is Connected

A one-time change in my traditional format with this one-time important insert:

UPCOMING COUNTY AND STATE ELECTIONS

Campaign signs are springing up all over Columbia.  On June 26th our primary election will be held for local, state, and national offices.  I have chosen to lead off this “Reflections” with my upcoming election opinions because I have received more questions than ever on whom I am supporting in the contested races in my districts.  Here they are:

U.S.  Congress:                     Elijah Cummings

State Senate District 12:       Clarence Lam

State Delegates District 12:  Eric Ebersole and Terri Hill

County Executive:               Calvin Ball

County Council District 4:   Deb Jung

Four years ago, the first time in 20 years that I had not been on the ballot as a candidate to represent my legislative district in Annapolis, I chose to support Terri Hill for State Delegate. Terri won that election and was joined by Eric Ebersole and Clarence Lam to serve as members of the Maryland House of Delegates representing District 12, which includes all of West Columbia and a large part of East Columbia. 

This year I am endorsing, supporting and actively working for all three of the incumbent state legislators in their re-election bids:  Eric Ebersole, Terri Hill, and Clarence Lam.  Eric and Terri are running for re-election to the House of Delegates.  Clarence is running for the State Senate seat that is being vacated by Ed Kasemeyer who is leaving public office after many years. Lloyd and I have spoken often during the past four years of how each of them has represented our viewpoints in virtually all public policy issues that have come before the Maryland legislature during that time.  Clarence, Terri, and Eric have represented us with integrity, hard work, and well-informed good judgment.  All three of them have demonstrated the courage to support social, economic, and environmental justice, sometimes in the face of strong opposition by moneyed interests.  It is important to note that Howard County Education Association, the local teachers’ organization, along with numerous other environmental, social and economic justice organizations have also endorsed Clarence, Terri, and Eric.

There was a time when Lloyd and I were big supporters of Mary Kay Sigaty, who is running against Clarence Lam for the open Senate seat. We spent countless hours in our home working on her first County Council campaign and introducing her to our supporters.  We worked hard to recruit many volunteers. And even rehearsed her first cable TV spot in our family room. 

I realize that she has put much time and energy into her current office, but her demonstrated values differ deeply from those she espoused in our home. I particularly cite the instance of the $90 million gift given to the developer of Downtown Columbia by our county government. Ms. Sigaty led that movement and has been quoted in print saying that this gift was “essential.”  I find this very troubling, particularly considering the unmet need for funding for moderate and low-priced housing, a school site in downtown, adequate social services, and environmental protection. The county government has done very little to provide even moderately priced housing.   In another economically unjust aspect in the district in which I live, Councilmember Sigaty has also overseen the redoing of the Wilde Lake Village Center.  Now in place of a grocery store, we have only a CVS drugstore that carries a few food items at a much higher cost than that charged by a Giant or Safeway.  So much for economic justice for the moms with young kids. Where is Jim Rouse’s dream of “a place where the CEO and the janitor can live in the same community”?

It is also very important that we support Deb Jung for the County Council representing District 4.  I believe Deb can and will breathe life back into Jim Rouse’s values of social, economic, and environmental justice in our community.

I urge you to join me on June 26 or at one of the earlier voting opportunities at the Florence Bain Senior Center or one of the other early voting sites.

I have been asked to announce my support for many other local candidates.  I realize that every elected office is important, though I believe it is more appropriate for me to focus only on the district in which Lloyd and I live.

I have rarely, if ever, been so concerned about the lack of social, economic, and environmental justice in our Columbia community, Jim Rouse’s “Garden for Growing People”.  I understand that conditions change with time.  It is simply unacceptable, however, for his basic principles of social, economic, and environmental to be abandoned.  I could not be at peace if I did not address it strongly.

Peace, Liz

REFLECTIONS ON HOME IN COLUMBIA

A reminder that episodes of the Dragon radio show I do at HCC can be found at http://dragondigitalradio.podbean.com/category/reflections-on-life/.

May was well underway with its blossoms in our yard, mostly dogwood and azaleas, visible from the windows on three sides of our townhome.  Lloyd’s wood- sided box garden of lettuce and radishes was taking root and exhibiting rows of bright, spring-green small leaves visible from the two upper decks.  Birds and squirrels were very busy with their nesting and other spring activities.  Bird feeders on all three levels had constant diners stopping by for the sunflower seeds.  The heron began its slow stalking back and forth along the ponds’ edges.  Occasionally we could spot a hawk perched watchfully and well camouflaged by the maple leaves. Frogs’ moans were clearly audible all through the night.  In daytime, tiny frogs jumped in the downstairs back yard fountain that Lloyd designed and built ten years ago.  A lone huge blacker-than-black crow regularly visited our shallow birdbath at the foot of the front entrance steps.  Or could it possible have been a raven like the ones being spotted in some places in Maryland, though somewhat west of Howard County?

Then the heavy rains came and stayed and stayed and stayed.  The ponds lost their deep blackness and turned a muddy brown.  Lloyd’s lettuce and radishes were completely washed out. Tree branches waved wildly from one direction to another, amazingly without snapping, at least in our yard.  Days passed.  Weeks.  No one could deny our lack of control over nature.  Dangerous and yet awesome.  Nature, you do not play by the rules of us humans.  Then again, due largely to climate change, many of our “rules” are becoming increasingly vague.  Or could it be that we simply never realized there are no “rules” where nature is concerned?

We arrived home from our two glorious weeks in Canada, to find that there had been a serious fire in two of the four townhouses that share common walls in our community.  We had learned about it from my daughter, Chris, while we were still travelling. A third townhouse, our next-door neighbors’, had smoke damage only.  Our end unit was blessedly untouched.  The other three homes in our grouping of four remain empty until repairs are completed.  Lloyd and I are aware, particularly during the night that something very basic is missing. It’s too quiet around here! Due to much activity in repairing the damage, this May “Reflections on Life” is coming to you a week late.

While we were away one of Columbia’s very early residents, Fern Eisner, died suddenly and unexpectedly. She was a loving woman who in turn was much beloved by many.  Years ago we were both members of a women’s group that gathered monthly in rotating homes in. Believe it or not, I can recall being quite shy when I first joined the group.  Fern was one of the women who helped to “draw me out.”

In addition to being a warm, caring, vibrant woman, Fern was a very accomplished photographer.  She took many photos of Wilde Lake and Lake Kittamaqundi in the early days of Jim Rouse’s new town.  I particularly love the morning haze of vapor rising from the lakes’ waters, a trademark of Fern’s.  She also took seemingly countless photos of Columbia’s residents, particularly families and kids.  Several of them have graced the walls of Wilde Lake’s Bagel Bin for decades, including a precious one of two of our grandkids – Patrick and Greta Knowles.

We arrived home in time to attend a beautiful memorial service for Fern at the Oakland Mills Interfaith Center.  Shep Jeffries, another dear friend and very early resident, who with his family shared a back yard with the Eisners, led the service.

He brought a beautiful balance of reverence, sadness, and joy to all present.

My last time with Fern was about two months ago.  We walked together around Lake Kittamaqundi.  I will forever see her with her long graceful gait whenever I walk around this lake, the beauty of which she preserved for posterity so clearly in her photos.

REFLECTIONS ON ZACH

When I awoke on the morning of May 4, I was instantly aware that it was Zach’s 25^th birthday. I usually begin the day with meditative readings and “sitting” in Lloyd’s office adjacent to our bedroom while he continues to sleep.  This day I simply sat quietly.  Zach was there with me.  I called up memories of him as a newborn baby, then as a smiling chubby one-year-old, then on through his childhood to his elementary, middle, and high school years, and finally to his one semester at the University of Maryland.  Clearly there was deep wisdom within Zach since his very young years

I now sit typing this “Reflections” in our dining room.  One corner of this room is dedicated to Zach.  A glass-top table holds a copy of the program from his funeral mass, “In Thanksgiving to the Author of Life and in Celebration of the Gift of Zachary Lederer.”  Underneath the high school graduation photo of Zach, looking so straight on that I can feel his presence, is the quote that Zach chose to accompany this photo in his Centennial High School yearbook:  “A life is not important except the impact it has on other lives.”  Jackie Robinson.

Jackie was one of Zach’s major heroes.  Lloyd and I went to see the movie “44” with him when he was 19 and living with a brain tumor.  Jackie must have in some way known Zach when he made that statement.

REFLECTIONS ON BALTIMORE, MY HOME TOWN

While in Canada, we spent a few days in the town of Jasper.  It was a convenient location to drive through the Alpine-like forests, visit mountain lakes, and spot wildlife – including bears (or in our case, a bear). For lunch one day we stopped in a restaurant named “The Raven.”  We talked with the waitress who told us she was aware that a major U.S. football team was named The Ravens.  She did not know that the team was from my hometown, Baltimore.  She also had no idea of Edgar Alan Poe or his most famous poem.  I Googled it and we had a great conversation.  The restaurant had some beautiful and very creative hand-painted artwork of very large dark-black ravens displayed on its walls.  We suggested the restaurant create a hand written scroll of Poe’s masterpiece and hang it on the wall.  I believe they are going to do that.  More connectivity!

***

In my April Reflections I wrote at length about Lloyd’s and my attendance at the Kennedy Center of a play in honor of Ta-Nehisi Coates and how absolutely thrilling for me to get to exchange “hello’s” with this brilliant spokesperson for racial justice who grew up in my childhood neighborhood in West Baltimore, though he came 40 years after me.  Just before we headed out to Canada, I read that Ta-Nehisi would appear at the Baltimore Museum of Art while we were away.  This Catholic girls’ high school that I attended was located just across Wyman’s Park from the museum, and such a fitting place for me to hear Ta-Nehisi speak.  I heard it went beautifully, and in retrospect, I wouldn’t have traded for the opportunity I had to spend five days with Eckhart Tolle.  I’m sure I will get to hear Ta-Nehisi again, and now that I think about it, he and Eckhart have more than a little in common in their messages to us fellow human beings, including being present and conscious as much as possible.  So many good teachers in this world of ours. And we need every one of them.

REFLECTIONS ON PUBLIC POLICY - COUNTY, STATE, AND NATION

Howard County - Ellicott City

It would take volumes for me to cover the countless news articles about the tragic flooding AGAIN in Ellicott City while Lloyd and I were away.  Although it will not undo the damage done nor the people harmed, I think it is wise that we are beginning to take a closer look at the cause of these drastic floods.  I will be spending some time with some environmentalists and land use planners, many of whom live right here in Howard County and possess deep knowledge on the subject, about where we go from here.  Back as far as 1989, when I was serving as Howard County Executive, we proposed and obtained County Council approval for some tighter development restrictions.  I want to know the status of these laws now. Meanwhile, I hold the grieving survivors deep in my heart and soul, particularly during meditation.

***

The Baltimore Sun                                                          May 6, 2018

“Tracking historic sites in danger

Preservation group studies county historic properties that are threatened”

Several years ago, I served on the board of the nonprofit “Preservation Howard.”

This was in keeping with my focus on historic preservation as an elected official.

At that time it was very gratifying to be able to preserve numerous sites in historic Ellicott City: the log cabin on Main Street and the old firehouse which was located on a steep hill off of Main Street so the horses pulling the heavy water container and big fire hoses could get a running start downhill.  Another project we initiated at that time was the stabilization of the Patapsco Female Institute ruins, located high on the hillside of Church Road, which now serves as the summer home for Maryland’s Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, a magnificent backdrop for the Bard’s dramas.

Whoever dreamed that preservation would soon become an issue in Columbia? Fortunately for us, Fred Dorsey, the head of this nonprofit, and its other members realized the historic importance of the building that once housed the original Columbia Exhibit Center, which preserved the highlights of the unique process Jim Rouse utilized in creating Columbia, arguably the most successful planned community ever.  Thank you, Fred.  We are all indebted to you for your continuing dedication, diligence and vigilance.

State of Maryland

The Baltimore Sun                                                                 May 15, 2018

“Maryland’s plan to control health costs gets U.S. O.K.       Andréa K. McDaniels

The Baltimore Sun                                                                 May 19, 2018

“Maryland tops states in decline of prison population”         Michael Dresser

We can be grateful that our state of Maryland is taking the lead in these two crucial areas of public policy:  health care costs and prison population decline.

* * *

In the June 6 edition of his electronic publication, “Maryland Reporter,” former Columbia Flier reporter, Len Lazarick, writes “Joe Tydings: The man we thought we knew but didn’t very well.“ I was privileged to know Senator Tydings over the years, including since he left office quite a few years ago.  He would occasionally visit Annapolis when I was serving in the House of Delegates.  I am looking forward to attending a gathering with Joe sometime soon where he will discuss his book. I strongly agree with Len.  “Rediscovering Joe Tydings – “My Life in Progressive Politics:  Against the Grain” is a must read.  “If you read but one political autobiography in the next 10 years, make it this one, for sure.  And don’t rush your reading, but instead take your time savoring every single word, no matter how long it takes – It’ll be worth it, for it’s that good, really.”

* * *

United States of America

The Dallas Morning News                                                     May 20, 2018

“Episcopal bishop gives royal wedding an American flair”

You may ask “why “The Dallas Morning News”?  When we arrived at BWI for our flight to Canada, we learned that our flight was cancelled.  Flying through Dallas appeared to be the best option.  As it turned out we had to spend the night in a hotel at the Dallas airport.  Hence “The Dallas Morning News”.

I loved reading of the United States contribution to the magnificent wedding ceremony in Great Britain, not only the dignified and inspiring Bishop Michael Curry, who happens to be African American, but also the “stirring renditions” of Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me” and Etta James “This Little Light of Mine”.  My daughter, Chris, Zach’s mom, loved to sing that song when she was a little girl about three years old.

REFLECTIONS ON OUR PLANET BEYOND THE UNITED STATES

Canada

Following six days at Lake Louise participating in a retreat with Eckhart Tolle, Lloyd and I took a bus through the Canadian Rockies to the town Jasper, a popular site for skiers and mountain climbers.  We had tickets to take a train from Jasper to Vancouver and were looking forward to the overnight ride with deep anticipation.  We subsequently learned that this historic and romantic passenger train through the Rockies is struggling for survival.  Trains are sometimes cancelled outright and are perpetually late – often by tens of hours.  Sadly, much of the route is single-tracked.  Massive amounts of Asian goods coming through the port of Vancouver and headed to the major cities in the east are overloading the meager capacity of the tracks.  Freight gets priority since it is the railroad’s moneymaker.  Tis pity, tis shame.  We eventually went to Vancouver (a magnificent city) by bus over essentially the same route.

.

The Globe and Mail – Alberta Edition                                      May 24, 2018

 “The federal cabinet has invoked national security threats to block the proposed $1.5 billion takeover of Canadian construction giant, Accon Group Inc., by a state-owned Chinese enterprise – a decision that is likely to cause a rift with Beijing.

Clearly the U.S. is not the only re-evaluating its trade relationships with China.

Germany

The Baltimore Sun                                                          May 13, 2018

“Merkel decries U.S. withdrawal from Iran deal, gets peace prize”

This German woman, who in my opinion now comes as close as anyone to deserving the title “leader of the free world” spoke in Assisi on the occasion of her being honored for the welcome Germany gave to Syrian refugees.

China

The Washington Post                                                       May 3, 2018

“He was growing old alone.  So he asked to be adopted”

“A man’s plight highlights problem of an entire generation in China aging without

 enough support”

With so much in the news currently about China, as well as Lloyd’s and my experience visiting this vast and deep nation with a sister city contingent from the Columbia Association, I found this human interest article about aging quite moving.

REFLECTIONS ON OUR UNIVERSE

The Washington Post                                                               May 7, 2018

“Hawking left a last mindblower to mull” How a multiverse might work”

I wrote of the amazing mind and life of Stephen Hawkins and how his book “A Brief History of Time” had such an impact on me, a human being for whom understanding science is not a strong card (Just ask Lloyd.)

“Hawking, who died March 14 at age 76, overcame a devastating neurological disease to publish groundbreaking insights into black holes and other mysteries of the cosmos”

“We are not down to a single unique universe, but our findings imply a significant reduction of the universe to a much smaller range of possible universes.”  (Hawking in an interview last fall) ”To the very end, he (Hawking) was not afraid to take on the toughest problems, and the problem he’s taking on is the one that gives me a headache.”  (Fellow cosmologist Michael Turner}

Yesterday evening we attended the annual spring gathering to support The Columbia Foundation, a charitable organization founded in the very early days of our new town.  For years it was held in the Rouse Company headquarters building on Lake Kittamaqundi.  After that iconic building was converted to a Whole Foods, following years of studies of it’s becoming the main arts center for our county, the Foundation moved its annual event to Howard Community College.  This year it was held in the magnificent new Science and Technology building.  Upon leaving, we saw a posting on an electronic board of a photo of Hawkins sitting on a jagged mountaintop with his legs dangling over the side and this accompanying quote: “So remember.  Look at the stars and not at your feet.”

To me that wise choice of material on display reflects the College’s deep and clear message to its students of the importance of spirit (as distinguished from religion) as well of mind.

The Washington Post                                                                  May 15, 2018

“Images of universal appeal:  NASA website offers one out-of-this-world photo after another”

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Beyond amazing!

In his book, “The Universe in a Single Atom,” published in 2005, the Dalai Lama writes:  “This book is not an attempt to unite science and spirituality (Buddhism being the example I know best) but an effort to examine two important human disciplines for the purpose of developing a more holistic and integrated way of understanding the world around us, one that explores deeply the seen and the unseen through the discovery of evidence bolstered by reason.”    

Google “The Dalai Lama and Stephen Hawking” and listen to an amazing conversation between these two loving, brilliant human beings.         

“Pools of sorrow, waves of joy

Are drifting through my open mind

Possessing and caressing me

Across the Universe

~Lennon and McCartney

Be well and love life.

~ Liz