this one's for the kids

The white stuff came down hard in College Park and the rest of the area, but it didn't last too long. On the bright side, I can now tell my children I had to walk home from school in the snow for a mile, because now it's true.

ANYWAY: While Marilyn Praisner backs away from her misguided proposal in MoCo, the District throws a new one on the table, seeking to ban teenagers from city clubs such as the venerable 9:30 Club. This is a bad deal for everyone (especially for high school and college students who like music), but what about the Birchmere, especially in its endangered state? I see a silver lining in Silver Spring . . .

- Ken Ulman, Howard County Executive, is lobbying the hell out of a proposed Green Line extension to BWI via Columbia. From Martin O'Malley, Ulman says he "didn't get a strong sense of his direct position" on the project, which doesn't sound all too promising, though this Post editorial only confirms his support for the Purple Line and other local transit projects. (So, to hell with Baltimore?)

- Paint Branch High School, currently sunk well below Old Columbia Pike, is about to see a raise. Or, more specifically, a raze, as the forty-year-old building will be torn down as soon as a new structure is built next to it. "It’s a much more positive presence at the top of the hill," notes PTSA president Don Hauprich, while Principal Jeanette Dixon hopes the newly visible high school becomes "the jewel of Burtonsville." It's a funny idea, school-as-center-of-community. Not one currently practiced at my alma mater, located between the middle of nowhere and a lot of megachurches. It sounds like whomever's running the Paint Branch renovation took some ideas from these Canadian school planners.

And that's it for now. Here's hoping for more momentary blizzards!