Main Street, Columbia, Maryland

I walked around, visited Godiva and Wockenfuss taking time to smell the chocolate.  Bought a charm or two at Pandora, smiled at all I met, ran into a few friends and chatted, and signed the condolence book for the families of the lives lost there on Saturday.  A few stores are not yet opened; it was not crowded.  Some took photos of the notices of condolence on the boarded-up Zumiez Skatestore, where the shootings occurred.  There is a heavy police presence and a strong sense of sadness.

It seems the Mall personnel had been schooled in the potentiality of this happening.  As soon as shots were heard some customers chose to run, but store personnel grabbed as many Mall patrons as possible, directed them to storage spaces at the backs of the stores, and pulled down security gates. Some children were separated from their parents and other adults comforted them.   Personnel like those at the Disney Store and Cartoon Cuts actually involved the children in games:  playing bubbles and watching videos as they "sheltered in place" and waited for police to secure this very large mall and come and get them.  It took police and SWAT teams about four hours to totally secure the Mall.  They exited shoppers and workers store by store, telling the adults to cover the eyes of the children as they passed by Zumiez.

An author of an article about the shooting said, "How the shooting will define the city itself, known for its affluence and its founding in the 1960s by developer James Rouse as a planned suburban community infused with neighborly values, has yet to be determined."   

Columbia is a place that defines itself by the kindness and tolerance of its residents, not by a single incident that came from without, not within our community.  This is the same integrated community that allowed George Wallace to speak to its then 300 residents with the stated understanding that he was being allowed to speak because of the tolerance of this then nascent town.  This is the same community in which children can grow up color-blind and where all religions and backgrounds are celebrated.  This heinous act will not define us; not now; not ever.

The AC

I've written a lot about my hatred,loathing commitment and love of exercise and going to the gym and thought I'd share two photos of the roses and cleome outside what we refer to as the 'AC' or Athletic Club.



I think the plantings are a small indication of what the community is like -- as there are flowers and trees everywhere -- all maintained by the Columbia Association.
In Columbia, the community, in which we live, we are lucky to have Columbia Association which overseas the management of the 12 villages that make up Columbia, about 26 outdoor pools, three gyms with full workout facilities and indoor pools, an ice skating rink, miles and miles of walking and bike paths, three tennis clubs, two golf courses, 15,000+ acres of 'Open Space' --land designated to be treed and green in perpetuity, three man-made lakes with parks and walking paths around them, myriad 'Tot Lots', and an outdoor skate board park. It's been a nice place for us to raise our kids. We moved away once in 1981, only to return in 1983. Clearly this had become home.
We love the diversity (Columbia was the first place in the US where a black family could re-sell their home to a white family at a profit) of this James Rouse-planned community. Rouse had the idea that a community should include people of all socio-economic backgrounds. And while Mr. Rouse is no longer alive, this thriving community remains a testament to him.

The Day After

It seems so quiet outside. I think even nature realizes that the debates, endless TV ads, ubiquitous polls and pundits are finally at rest. My husband taped Obama's victory speech for me and I watched it tonight after dinner. I thrilled to the resounding, "Yes we can!" by the thousands gathered to celebrate his election. Obama brings such hope to our bereft and compromised table.
I wish all of us shared this euphoria or even a little bit of the optimism. The election was not about race to me and to many in the region where I live. We stood in line together yesterday -- an extremely diverse group with the commonality of being able to vote; sharing the excitement in choosing a new president. We counted the minutes together, and laughed and talked about a new spirit, and that we were witnesses to -- no, participants -- in the making of history.
I'm not naive enough to think this happiness is universal as I know for a fact it is not. A friend who lives in a state in the Deep South told me she has never heard the "n word" (sorry, I can't even write it...) as much as she has in the past three days. I know about the South (not that racism is indigenous only to that part of the county), and about carpetbaggers, and lynchings, marches, and hatred that comes from destitution and injustice, but I thought that this was a part of our past, that we as a nation of immigrants (let's face it: how many of our ancestors were actually born here??) could finally look past color and we could begin to judge people 'not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.' And so my happiness and hope are tinged with a bit of sadness and disbelief that bigotry still exists.