REFLECTIONS ON LIFE -- SEPT. /OCT. 2018

ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED

                  

As I did for the Primary Election in the spring, I am beginning this “Reflections”

with a list of the major candidates I will vote for in the general election.  I cannot recall any election where the stakes were even close to those before us now – countless elements of social, economic, and environmental justice.  I believe all of these human beings to be very highly qualified in both understanding the many complicated difficult issues facing us as a democracy, but also, and perhaps even more importantly, of the extreme danger we are facing in preserving our democratic form of government.  (I am listing only candidates who would represent my election district)

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U.S. Congressman Elijah Cummings – for me, the most courageous and inspirational public office holder (when re-elected, Elijah may well hold the position of overseeing that justice be brought to the executive branch of U.S.

Government.)

Maryland Governor Ben Jealous.   I am encouraged beyond words to have the opportunity to vote for a candidate with Ben’s insight, integrity, intellect, courage, humility, dedication and clarity. The Howard County Teachers Association has given him a very strong endorsement.  You may want to check that organization’s website which gives very clear and strong reasons for their endorsement.  (Much has been said and written about our current governor’s popularity.  I agree with many in saying he certainly appears to be a nice guy. Only recently has Ben Jealous been on the scene, and it has become very clear, very quickly how superior he would be on virtually all issues related to social, economic, and environmental justice.  I have read all of Ben’s words during the campaign and talked with him in person on two occasions.  Each time I walked away with a deep sense of hope and a lessening of fear about our future.  I have heard some say it is problematic that he has not held elected office before.  Not to be sarcastic, but is that really a good measure these days?

Maryland Attorney General   Brian Frosh has taken the lead across our nation in successfully challenging actions by President Trump which unconstitutionally interfere with personal rights. For that, our entire nation owes him gratitude.

Maryland Senate, District 12         Clarence Lam

Maryland Delegates, District 12   Terri Hill and Eric Ebersole

                                                      These three incumbents have served us with hard work, dignity, and integrity for four years.  Jessica Feldmark will complete the state delegation with deep experience and hard work. County Executive Calvin Ball      Calvin has a deep understanding of justice. County Council    Deb Jung      I know she represents the priorities of District 4

BE CERTAIN TO VOTE.  DEMOCRACY DEPENDS ON IT.

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REFLECTIONS ON HOME IN COLUMBIA

Life outside the window by my bedside changed last month.  Our homeowners association has hired a company to check all 60 townhomes for faulty cedar siding boards and then paint all of the homes including trimming.  They have done a very good job, and the Latino guys are great to have around the neighborhood.  There is a major sad side effect however:  the squirrels have moved away, hopefully temporarily. I believe it must be the incessant, though necessary, clanging of the tall ladders in order to reach the third floor level where our bedroom is located.  We have been home for two weeks now, and this morning I spotted the first squirrel.  I was so excited! He was not visible from my bedside window but rather from the window above the headboard which requires my getting out of bed.  The workmen packed everything up and left the neighborhood yesterday.  Hopefully, the absence of clanging will call the squirrels back home.  I miss them terribly.

Back to school, autumn 2018. In the weekday mornings we now see elementary school kids with their backpacks walking down our street to the nearby elementary school.  That sight gives me such a warm feeling – those girls and boys stepping out briskly on their way to learn……...

In September, for my monthly recording on Howard Community College Dragon digital radio program, I interviewed Colleen Morris, President of the Howard County Education Association, about life as a teacher in Howard County today.

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

Colleen was a teacher herself for years.  Although she loved teaching, she left the classroom to take on the role of advocating for public policy to make our schools as effective as possible given the pressure of dealing with ever changing technology and an increasingly diversified student population.  I learned a great deal from her and believe you will as well in listening to the podcast.

“ It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”

Albert Einstein

For October, I interviewed Lloyd Knowles who served as a member of the Howard County Planning Board at the inception of Columbia.  Later he served as a member of the Howard County Council and Chairperson of the Zoning Board.  He had moved to Columbia from the Laurel area specifically to be a part of Jim Rouse’s “Garden for Growing People”.  As an electrical engineer working at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, the concept of a new town fit him like a glove.  Lloyd put in countless hours in the 70’s to help make Columbia one of the most desired place in the U.S. in which to live, work and raise a family.  It so happens that, for the past 25 years, he has also been my husband, providing me, a literature major and law school grad, with an in-house resource of technical and scientific knowledge.

REFLECTIONS ON ZACH

Watching the kids walk past our home on their way to elementary school brings up very clear images of Zach’s learning and playing soccer as a member of a visiting team on the field of that same elementary school.  Lloyd and I would walk over to the school field with our folding chairs and watch his team play.  He loved the game and exuded energy and determination. Years later Zach would demonstrate even greater and more inspiring determination in living with brain cancer. Though I am certainly not a sports aficionado, I know there could never have lived a champion in any sport that demonstrated more courage than Zach did in living with cancer.  He literally took care of everyone around him – both mentally and spiritually. He continues to inspire players at his high school, Centennial, and countless young – and not so young – players everywhere. Indeed his inspiration extends well beyond the playing fields to life in its entirety – mental and spiritual as well as physical.

I have written before of the Zach photos and memorabilia that line the sill of the window beside my bed.  I awake each morning to the presence of Zach’s spirit and go to sleep each night deeply aware of that same precious presence.

Zach’s “little” sister, Julia, now a college graduate, has taken on a staff position with The Zaching Against Cancer Foundation.  Zach himself founded this organization near the end of his life on this earth.  It does remarkably good work in helping families with kids dealing with brain cancer. Her dad recently sent me a podcast in which she is speaking to a group about the Foundation and the inspiration her brother continues to spread in so many places.  She gave an inspirational talk, without notes, as if she had been doing public speaking all her life. On November 17 the Foundation is holding its annual racing event at Turf Valley. Lloyd and I always do one of the walks – 5K, I think.  Hundreds of runners with a big tent party afterwards. Check it out on the Foundation’s website and come join us.

REFLECTIONS ON BALTIMORE, MY HOME TOWN

 “Baltimore police have confirmed that a 32-year-old man who was fatally shot during the funeral of 18-year-old Marcus Brown on Wednesday was his older brother, Maurice Brown Jr. of the 300 block of Lyndhurst Street in West Baltimore.”  The Baltimore Sun     September 14, 2018

The site of this shooting is just a couple of blocks from Saint Bernardine’s elementary school to which I walked every day from the age of six through 13.  Again I ask “where is the justice in my having been safe there and today’s kids not?  Again I answer.  There is none.

While we were travelling two good news announcements about Baltimore occurred. Both the Lexington Market and H.L. Mencken’ home will be restored.

The Baltimore Sun                                                                      September 13, 2018

“Where is the leadership? If Baltimore doesn’t save Lexington Market soon, it will be lost forever."                                                                    Patricia Schultheis

The market, where my Mom and I would take the streetcar to shop when I was a pre-school age little girl has very significant historical value.  Of equal sociological value, today’s kids will be able to experience a totally different experience – and one closer to nature, I might add – than in today’s mega grocery stores.

The Baltimore Sun                                                                  September 15, 2018

“Repurposed Mencken House to open in 2019”

H.L. Mencken was a controversial humorous journalist, satirist, and critic.

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Stream of consciousness.  I recently received in the mail (snail mail) an envelope from Suzanne, a close friend of my sister, Martha.  After graduating from high school, they both entered the novitiate for the order of nuns who taught at St. Bernardine’s.  My sister spent the last four months of her life with us in our home. When she died 20 years ago after years of living with cancer, we held her funeral at St. Bernardine’s .  I spoke of Martha at that funeral.  So did Suzanne.  In the envelope that recently arrived in our mailbox was a copy of the words she had chosen for that deeply spiritual occasion,  “Reflections on the Life of Helen Martha Gilner, October 10,1931 – March 30, 1999”.  The words that continue to touch me most deeply recount how Martha, after ending her work as a teacher, prepared meals for Baltimore’s indigent at the Franciscan Center.  When I would drive my sister to University Hospital in Baltimore for her chemo treatments, along the curbside “street people” standing on the corners would call out “Martha, Martha.”  I am so deeply grateful to have these priceless memories and to have had Martha as a sister for more than 60 years.

REFLECTIONS ON PUBLIC POLICY

HOWARD COUNTY

There have been several possible approaches to addressing the future of lower Main Street in Ellicott City down by the Patapsco River.  I believe it’s extremely important that we do a thorough informed series of engineering, environmental, and historical studies before making the final decision.  It would be unwise to quickly approve major changes to this major site in the history of the United States of America where the very first train ride in the country took place.

MARYLAND

The Baltimore Sun                                                                 October 10, 2018

“Progressive senator also served as U.S. prosecutor for Maryland after his appointment by President Kennedy”

Jacques Kelly, Christina Tracie, and Frederick N. Rasmussen

I had the good fortune to meet Joe Tydings while he was serving as U.S. Senator from Maryland. In the very early days of Columbia he spoke at the Columbia Democratic Club.  At that time I was a young mom who had recently been appointed to the Howard County Board of Appeals and a citizen activist on environmental and healthcare issues.  “Joe”, as he liked to be addressed, had been defeated for re-election to that office before 1974 when I was first elected a member of the Howard County Council.  Years later we reconnected when I was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates.  He occasionally visited during the legislative session and went on to dinner in the evening with some of his friends who worked as staffers in Annapolis. I was fortunate to sometimes go along.  I recall how fluent he was, particularly in environmental issues.  He remained a purist regarding democracy, as well as an unapologetic idealist.

            

U.S.

The Baltimore Sun                                                                     October 14, 2018

“Cummings could become chief Trump investigator”

If anyone has the courage, integrity, wisdom, fortitude, and determination to do this work for our nation, it is Congressman Elijah Cummings.  It is truly a blessing to have Elijah as MY Congressman

REFLECTIONS ON OUR PLANET BEYOND THE UNITED STATES

France, Italy, and Austria

Lloyd and I celebrated our 25^th wedding anniversary on October 10; we decided to celebrate by retracing the steps of our three-week honeymoon in Western Europe   I had kept a journal including the small hotels in which we had stayed.  Lloyd made reservations in the same places in France, Italy, and Vienna.  We traveled by train, each carrying one small- to medium-size suitcase.  We were blessed with blue, sunny skies every day.

The following caught our attention in all three nations:

Cleanliness of the streets

Care for artistic elements

Upkeep of railroad system

Plethora of outside cafes

TURKEY

Reading of the apparent torture and murder of Post contributing columnist, Jamal Khashoggi, and the peace and beauty of his last column in this publication which I read every morning, I found myself in need of help in order to avoid despair.  I turned to the small book that never fails to sustain me, “Being Peace” by Thich Nhat Hanh.  I keep it on my bedside table adjacent to Zach’s altar.  I so strongly agree with the reviewer who described this volume as “a glass of water in the desert”.  It has certainly has been that for me.

REFLECTIONS ON OUR UNIVERSE

The Washington Post                                                          September 2, 2018

“Four planets glide across the sky”                                    Blaine P, Friedlander Jr.

I realize that this article is now approaching two months old, but I so love the imagery of “the Beatles crossing Abbey Road, and you’ve got a ticket to watch.”

Since we were more or less at the same latitude in France, Italy, and Austria as we are here in Columbia, night sky watching was quite similar to what it would have been were we at home.  And watch we did.  We enjoyed three weeks of clear skies and no rain.  The offset of the western European skies against the waters of the Mediterranean was gorgeous.

Nothing’s going to change my world

“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

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