I was flipping through the Baltimore Sun... well, actually clicking through BaltimoreSun.com, and looked at the county I used to live in. Here were some of the headlines:
"31 Arrested, Drugs Seized at Phish Concert"
"Columbia Mother Convicted in Stabbing"
"Gang Member Involved in Oakland Mills Slaying Sentenced in Baltimore"
"Daughter Gets Jail Term in Columbia Cat Cruelty Case"
"Reward Offered as Hunt for Fugitive Continues"
What. is. going. on? Was I just sheltered, or did this not happen before? What is happening to my little, planned community? What happened to my suburbs? I've always been so happy and content with being from Columbia-- a planned community, where the mall gets exponentially bigger every summer,the Lakefront is a common hang out place, the Columbia Association taxes are one of the highest in the state, and where the children may never afford to buy a single family home in the neighborhoods they grew up in, because well, it's just to damn expensive. Where these kind of things may happen in Jessup, Elkridge, or Dundalk, but never in Columbia. (insert snobby attitude.) Maybe that's what shocked me the most-- not only did it happen in HoCo... but it happened in Columbia, the heart and soul of HoCo. Well... according to Columbums, of course. (Edward Norton! A Columbum! We are PROUD. His grandfather INVENTED US, people.)
When did mothers start stabbing people? When did the hoodlums at Oakland Mills become actual gang members?
Or, maybe--when did they start getting caught?
On a side note, that doesn't necessarily deserve its own post, this old article on Time.com really pissed me off. The whole article was fine, but one sentence stood out: "Insider Tip: Bring Fido [to W Seoul]. The W is one of the only hotels in Korea where pets are welcome (rather than on the menu)." Really? Did you really go there, Time? F. U.
times have changed ames, columbia is in fact changing. it was different when we were growing up here. i know, its kinda devastating.
ReplyDelete--vid
- That is ridiculous. I can see that shit happening in Elkridge not in Columbia. There has always been a lot of crap going on in Columbia that never got in the news. What do you expect though from a community where most of the kids get handed everything and there parents have money. (not that, that is a bad thing) You really can't be that hard from Columbia - wasn't that the joke before?
ReplyDeleteVid: I'm sure there are kids spray painting "VID KID" all over play grounds now!
ReplyDeleteAnon: We certainly weren't handed everything... but we did a good punctuation lesson or two in High School.
I've lived here all my life and I don't think Columbia is an untouchable mecca. It was designed so that all kinds of people would live here, and all kinds of people do. There have always been problems, you're probably just better at hearing about them these days.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, if the police are interested, why not just arrest people at EVERY Phish concert! [/phish_concert_stereotype>
I remember chaperoning a YMCA teen dance and having this conversation with a girl from way out Rt. 99.
ReplyDeleteHer: My mom almost didn't let me come tonight.
Me: Why not?
Her: Because of all those kids who come here.
Me: What kids?
Her: (loud whisper) The ghetto kids.
Me: (shocked) Ghetto kids? What ghetto?
Her: You know, Oakland Mills.
We laughed for a long, long time at that snotty little 14 year old.