Schools & Churches

St. John Baptist Church has started construction on a sanctuary and fellowship hall on a 10 acre plot near Locust Park. Construction of religious buildings in Columbia has been a rare sight in our town's 42 year history. Now this site has become an eyesore entrenched between Owen Brown and Long Reach.

On September 20, 2007, Howard County school board officials finalized a deal to exchange 10 acres of land off Tamar Drive and Route 175 in Columbia for a 41 acre plot near the intersection of Marriotsville road and Route 40 in Ellicott City.

The Howard County school board has become more aggressive over the last few years in acquiring acres for future school sites. In the transaction with St. John Baptist Church, the school board acquired the 41 acre plot owned by the church for $2.7 million. Roughly $1.7 million was spent acquiring the land, the other million went directly to the church.

Church leaders have said that the new site is more convenient for their congregants than renting space at their old location, off Route 108. Convenience does not justify building this church in my opinion. I grew up attending services at interfaith centers until high school.

Religion no longer has a place in my life, but I'm still an ardent supporter of communal congregation sites in Columbia. Of course there are worship sites outside of interfaith centers in Columbia, parcels of land that never sold to the Rouse Company but this site is an outrage to everything Columbia stands for.

Are our children's educations really worth a Baptist Church in Columbia? This is how it starts. I've heard from other residents that the Methodists plan to build an extension to the Wilde Lake interfaith center. If the Baptists get theirs, every denomination will want theirs too, starting a sort of turf war. This building is unacceptable and needs to be torn down!

Where do you blog?

I commute to school, I live in Columbia. I publish most of my posts at school but I write most of them in Owen Brown. I find my voice and polish my prose in a niche in Cook Library.

Small brick squares available; Separated by windows with a desk lamp and plug.

The room smells like page paper. Not the hot off the printer scent but the dissertation under dust scent. The carpets are clean, people are quiet and there's a Starbucks upstairs, if that's your thing.

To my right are columns and rows of Easter egg colored tomes on vomit colored bookcases.
I try to stay off Facebook. I like to play Super Nintendo Games muted while I replay .dvf interview files questing for quotes. People like to write on the desks, the light panels even the bricks.

If you're ever in Cook Library, I penned some existential enlightenment on the stall of the 4th floor bathroom. I'll save you the trip:

Reality is defined by the perception of reality.

Ryan Ballengee Now

At 25, Ryan Ballengee isn't much older than I but what he lacks in years he makes up for with his blog footprint. About a year ago, Ballengee started Columbia Now to start a conversation about the issues that face Columbia. Ballengee got his start in the blogosphere two years ago with Waggle Room, a golf based blog.

Ballengee says he thinks the purpose of his blog is to share his interest in local politics.
"I encourage people to share an opposing view," says Ballengee. "My feeling is that the conversation can be nothing but good for the community, so long as it is rooted in facts and is honest."

Columbia Now's readers come from all over Howard county, says Ballengee. He says the content speaks for itself and though the feedback is usually positive, his readers may not always agree with what he thinks.

"More or less, I talk most political or policy issues on Columbia Now because my undergrad degree is in business and my Masters is in public policy. So, in a sense, what I cover is really reflective of some of my personal interests."

So who is Ballengee following on the blogopshere?

"I try to read bloggers from all over the County. I read HoCo Freemarket, Columbia Talk, Tales of Two Cities, Jessie X, and read HoCoBlogs for blogs that I may not normally see. I really enjoy the food and restaurant blogs because they give me good tips on where to eat."

When writing his blog posts, Ballengee says he gets his information from the Howard County website, the Baltimore Sun or papers on Explore Howard. He also gets information from other blogs.

Ballengee closes out the interview with his top five tips for bloggers:

1. Have a passion for both your subject area and writing.
2. Be responsive to your audience.
3. Don't let your audience dictate how you communicate with them.
4. Be a credible source and back up opinions with facts.
5. Blogging is fun. If you aren't having fun, stop blogging and come back to it.