Dancing for Democracy

Posted on November 1, 2020November 1, 2020 by Jenny

With nearly a week of early voting behind us in Howard County, the photos and social media posts from local candidates and their supporters are showing us how to inspire others when things feel bleak. There is plenty to fill the doldrums of 2020, between the COVID-19 pandemic and our abuser-in-chief doing everything he can to destroy democracy and escalate his depraved cruelty. But there is a discernible energy taking shape, one of hope, optimism, and progress. The American people are turn...

Update: (River Hill) Money (Still) Makes the World Go ‘Round

Posted on October 24, 2020October 28, 2020 by Jenny

I wrote back in late August that of the $167,000 raised thus far by Board of Education candidates and PACs in the 2020 election cycle, roughly half of it has come from a single high school catchment area - River Hill High School. I surmised that River Hill was putting its financial might into a slate of anti-redistricting candidates. Another round of campaign finance reports are out as of yesterday, and that story hasn't changed. Except that the numbers have become even more mind-boggling....

Our Teachers Deserve Better

Posted on October 23, 2020November 1, 2020 by Jenny

My mother is a retired Maryland public school teacher. When she was a young teacher back in the ‘70s, she was the newspaper adviser in the high school where she taught foreign language. In 1975, two years after the landmark Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision, her students wanted to write a piece in the school newspaper about sex education, birth control, and abortion. Believing strongly in the First Amendment, my mother allowed them to write and publish the piece despite such topics being t...

It’s Time to Vote, Howard County

Posted on October 2, 2020October 28, 2020 by Jenny

Ballots are beginning to arrive in mailboxes, and ballot drop boxes are in place. It’s time to vote, Howard County, but please read this first. Today, the League of Women Voters of Howard County held a candidate forum for our local Board of Education candidates, a prime opportunity to watch all the candidates as a group debate several important topics. The candidates’ performances so perfectly embodied what I’ve been saying about them all year, so I’m going to present a debate analysis and...

The GOP’s Fake Outrage

Posted on September 22, 2020September 22, 2020 by Jenny

There are some in Howard County who are clutching their pearls with such vigor I’m concerned they may asphyxiate themselves. I’m referring to the self-righteous, gasping reaction over the weekend to District 1 Board of Education candidate Matthew Molyett’s announcement that he had received the endorsement of the District 12 Team (Senator Clarence Lam and Delegates Eric Ebersole, Jessica Feldmark, and Terri Hill), who also endorsed Jen Mallo for District 4 earlier this year. BOE member Vicky...