Quincy Park

Now I'm peeved. Normally when people pass out flyers at the Metro, I honestly barely notice. I willingly admit to a certain amount of civic resignation or apathy. "What can I do?" "How is this relevant to me?" But then I received a flyer today that was relevant.

My dear Arlington county has decided they need to rebuild the oldest high school in the county. Which is a nice and lovely thing. I am all for improving our schools. Until I read the two proposals for rebuilding W&L. One would use the current location of the school. The other would wipe out Quincy Park which is catty-corner to the school with the new addition and a high rise parking garage. Apparently they're not even considering alternate locations, especially since the school shares lot space with the Education Center/Planetarium.

Quincy Park is the last large piece of greenery left in this county. Everything else has been gobbled up in the building booms, which is why they start building on smallish lots no one would consider buildable. Everyone plays there. I can almost tell the change of seasons from field hockey to soccer to baseball and softball. Never mind the traffic changes involved with this idea. They're not even on the same side of the street.

They're supposedly hosting public forums. I definitely want to go.

God I feel like I'm in a Brady Bunch rerun.

Farewell Amanda

I was surfing LJs, as I am wont to do and shouldn't, and learned that Carolyn Heilbrun, feminist author and creator of the Kate Fansler mysteries as "Amanda Cross" had apparently committed suicide at 77. I remember reading her books when I was on an academic mystery kick. Heilbrun had not been ill. From the accounts, she had just decided her life had run its course. I'm too young to fathom that concept to suddenly wake up one day and think everything is over.

melymbrosia wrote the initial entry I read and she mentions naomichana's take on Heilbrun and Cross.