How my sense of Columbia-ness was reawakened and how I know I'll be back.
Ironically, on my last day at Columbia Patch the last page of my Associated Press notebook I got at a journalism job fair got filled. My time in Columbia was on its last page. I’d first moved to Columbia from Boston when I was 10 and I thought it was the best place in the world. Everywhere there as a pool, there was Splashdown and the mall was seven minutes from my house. How much better could it get for a kid? I went to Clarksville Elementary, Clarksville Middle and then River Hill, living the normal Columbian kid life—I had a dog, a nice house and a car when I was 16. But when I went away to University of Maryland, I was surrounded by kids from other states (ironic) and I longed for Boston again. The cold air, the uniqueness and …
Hundreds gathered in the Wednesday evening event, singing and dancing to a classic holiday tune. Here's a first-person take from one performer, plus videos shot of their performance.
Not too long ago, probably while watching Glee, I realized that my life did not include enough moments where crowds randomly broke into song and dance. All that changed at about 7:15 p.m on Wednesday. The Mall in Columbia was crowded, even for the holidays. I loitered near Godiva Chocolatier, eyeing treats through the store window and talking quietly with a few friends. An instrumental version of "Sleigh Ride" filled the air, and then gave way to the opening hum of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." On cue with the lyrics, we began to dance, moving in time with several hundred other 'shoppers.' We were a part of a flash mob. A New Mob Mentality? Flash mobs, also called 'Inexplicable Mobs,' are a relatively new phenomenon. A group of …
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The Mall in Columbia
10300 Little Patuxent Pkwy, Columbia, MD
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River Hill High School
12101 Clarksville Pike, Clarksville, MD
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Danna Walker
3:02 pm on Friday, September 30, 2011
Dana, thank you for your wonderful contributions to Columbia Patch. You are a pro. Have a great time rockin' around NYC (Marshall Crenshaw: http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Rockin%27-Around-In-NYC-lyrics-Marshall-Crenshaw/E1D55E1FE6B4598248256B0500157AB5). You'll love it! more ›