Friday, May 18, 2012
Have a passionate perspective you think the community needs to hear? Send your contact information to Tamika@Patch.com.
Hi I'm Tamika Smith, the Local Editor for Silver Spring Patch, you may have seen me around town or online. I would like to welcome you to Blog with Patch! Writers who are interested in taking their craft to a new level while taking part of the history in the ever-changing downtown Silver Spring are encouraged to apply. Have a passionate perspective you think the community needs to hear about? Send your contact information to Tamika@Patch.com.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
The Washington D.C. music scene lost a titan today. How did Brown's music impact your life?
Update: 6:30 p.m. - Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker has issued a press release expressing his condolences over the passing of local music legend Chuck Brown. The statement reads in full: “My thoughts and prayers go out to the family, friends and countless fans of Chuck Brown. It is a sad day for so many in Prince George’s County, the Washington region, and throughout the world. Chuck Brown left an indelible mark on our hearts and minds with his very distinctive voice and incredible genre of music that he created, Go-Go. He was an icon whose music inspired so many and become the sound that defined modern-day Washington, DC and Prince George’s County. He will be missed, but we are so fortunate that his music will be with …
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
It is so hard to watch our kids fail—especially if we might be able to prevent it. Why I think we have to let it happen sometimes anyway.
My oldest son plays on a soccer team that is at a fork in the road. Some of the players will be trying out to qualify for more advanced teams. Some of them will stay in the purely recreational space they currently occupy. My dilemma: Do I let my son, who is mentally and physically destined to stay at a lower level in soccer, try out anyway? Or do I protect him from the heartache of loss and failure? It is a cliche, but there is a reason it is so. As Elizabeth Stone said, “Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” Once you have a child, once you have that heart walking around outside your body, all you want to do is to protect it, to keep it safe, to …
Thursday, May 10, 2012
What gardening moms really want for Mother’s Day.
Silver Spring mom Beth Py-Lieberman doesn’t want cut flowers for Mother’s Day. “They make me sad, because they are going to die,” Py-Lieberman said. “I want a plant for the garden. I want help weeding. I want someone to help me lift things, or carry things, or dig holes or weed. Or sometimes, I just want someone to come out in the garden and say, ‘It's beautiful, here.’" I took an informal survey of Silver Spring area moms and many agree with Py-Lieberman and her simple gift ideas. Mother’s Day comes each year in mid-spring just at the height of gardening season and many busy moms are wishing for more help and time in the garden more than any material presents. Natasha Hurwitz, of Silver Spring, concurs. “For Mother's Day, I'd love to …
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
In advance of Mother's Day, I want to say thank you to all the mothers out there.
Mother's Day is coming up this Sunday. If—and I know this only applies to a few of you—you have a mother or know a mother, consider this your fair warning to put a note on your calendar to say something nice to her this weekend. If you are a mother, prepare to put your feet up and be doted on. That's how it works, right? My family doesn't usually do a lot for Mother's Day. Generally they let me sleep in—without guilt—and I get some lovely handmade gifts, which are the best kind, in my opinion. I know that I feel like I get a wonderful Mother's Day gift every single day—and that is having the privilege to parent my three beautiful munchkins. That said, it's not all ceramic hand prints and relaxing mornings around here. I'm betting it's not …
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Deciding how many kids you want to have can be a difficult decision. For me, that decision came in a moment of clarity at a traffic light.
I remember the exact moment I knew I was done having children. I was stopped at a traffic light after a visit to the pediatrician's office. I had three kids under the age of five strapped into their car seats and they were not pleased. I had spent a long wait at the doctor's office corralling and trying to keep those kids happy through the waiting room, the tiny examination room, and, based on their age, probably a vaccination—that part I don't remember. I blocked a lot of that screamy-type stuff out. That was a year of my life that I have very little memory of. I had a one-year-old who refused to walk, a three-year-old who was headed down the road to an autism diagnosis, and a four-year-old who never stopped talking. I don't remember a …
Friday, April 27, 2012
MoCo officials want the Maryland Court of Appeals ruling overturned.
Earlier this week Montgomery County law enforcement officials called on Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a Maryland Court of Appeals decision that bars police officers from taking DNA samples from a defendant charged with a crime. So we want to know what you think. Is taking DNA from a defendant an invasion of privacy or is a good tool to help law enforcement?
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Sure, when you pick your kid up after the playdate, I tell you it went great—and for the most part it did—but this is what I left out.
Do you want to know what one of my favorite things in the whole world is? Playdates—at, you know, someone else's house. The thing about playdates, though, is that if you want to ever get the call that says, "Sure, drop off all three of your kids for a couple hours at my house," you have to extend the invitation as well. In their defense, even playdates that you are forced to host can be great. Often, adding an extra kid to the mix is exactly what you need to keep your own kids happy and occupied, even if at other times playdates are like throwing an incendiary device into a watermelon patch. Usually, however, they run by a pretty standard schedule. Sure, there are variations, but here is how things tend to go down at my house. Hour One: …
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
As I finally accept that I am, indeed, a soccer mom, I also give in to the commandments of the sport.
It seems like pretty much everyone I know has at least one kid who played in their first soccer game of the spring season last weekend. I had one of them myself. My 10-year-old plays soccer and headed out on Saturday, the warmest day of spring thus far, to kick the ball around. I headed out to keep my other two kids from running onto the field and to own my soccer mom-ness. As I acknowledge that I am, indeed, a soccer mom, I also acknowledge that there must be commandments to such a condition. Mayhap ten of them. I. Thou shalt not be able to remember the names of your child's teammates, even if they've played together for years. There is the kid with the brown hair, the kid with the longer brown hair, and that kid who always wears two …
Sunday, April 15, 2012
With the area's first 80-degree day expected, is is time to pull out the sprinkler for some old-fashioned fun?
Reggie Smith
12:36 pm on Thursday, May 17, 2012
Big Reg May god bless his family and relatives, for what Chuck has done over the years with his music he could never be replaced. (you wiil truly be missed)!!!!! more ›