I Scream for Ice Cream!
As a lifelong ice cream lover with lactose intolerance, my journey took a turn when I became vegan and discovered innovative dairy-free options. This year’s ice cream social hosted by the Columbia Democratic Club was the perfect reunion with my favorite treat, enjoyed alongside fellow Democrats and local elected officials. The event, promoting sustainability with a Bring Your Own Bowl initiative, fostered community while reducing waste. Join us for the next gathering—food and fun await!
I don’t know about you. But I love a good bowl of ice cream on a summer day. My love of ice cream has always been a complicated relationship. The reason is because I am lactose intolerant. As a child, I knew that indulging in the sweet treat would bring pain and sickness. Yet, the call of the iced sweetness of a scoop of awesome would override the deterrence given by my lack of lactose-processing. The pattern of indulgence and pain continued for years until I became a vegan and said goodbye to ice cream forever…or so I thought.
Thanks to the innovations in ice cream technology, amazing vegan ice cream options were born. And so I was reunited with the love of ice cream! However, this time the reunion did not bring the usual pain and sickness. I was able to finally enjoy ice cream without pain and regret. My heart has soared ever since.
With that background, I was super excited for this year’s ice cream social given by the Columbia Democratic Club. What could be better to this extrovert than an icy sweet treat consumed with amazing Democrats? And this year’s ice cream social did NOT disappoint! We came together, ate, and fellowshipped. We were even joined by our local and state electeds. We even honored the environment by making this event Bring Your Own Bowl which reduced the amount of non-recyclable waste and our carbon footprint.
I hope you all can join us for our next event! Don’t worry! I’ll make sure you all have early notice. And yes…it involves food!
Expunging Records…Giving Hope
It is no secret that the United States leads the world in the amount of people who are incarcerated. There are so many different ways that people here can find themselves entangled into the criminal justice system that it would take a 9,000 page book to list them all. But no matter how you end up in the criminal justice system, most people will find themselves out of the prison system. And then what?
There is the pervasive myth that once you serve your time, you come out of prison/jail with a clean slate. Sadly, that is not true for many people who serve their time. Depending on the conviction, you may have to deal with many long lasting, life constraining after effects. For the millions of people who have encountered the criminal justice system, these effects may seem insurmountable. Some of the constraints that many formerly incarcerated people may have to live with are as follows: being denied certain jobs, being ineligible for financial aid for college/post secondary training, being denied housing, being denied business loans or mortgages, being denied custody of minor children, and so many more. For those living life constrained after serving time, this can make life seem hopeless.
In Maryland, eligible people can access expungement after a period time as determined by different factors. Expungement of a criminal record can truly liberate people as they can now access many of the resources that they had been previously denied. It would seem like expungement should be automatically done as soon as people are eligible. However, it is not. People have to go through the process of expungement. As the process can be costly (most of the cost is in hiring trained professionals to help wade the waters of regulations and court), you can imagine that those who have already had restricted incomes may struggle to be able to obtain final liberation after completing their obligation to society.
On July 29, Columbia Community Care (CCC) offered their second Essential Resources Day to the community. It was a day in which many resources were brought together to help people to gain health,healing and liberation. One of the many resources that was offered to the community was a free expungement clinic.
Run in partnership with lawyers, the expungement clinic gave folks who have convictions the ability to have their situations reviewed with no cost. Yes, this was offered absolutely free of charge to our community. The ability to have a lawyer give you advice about your situation is worth a great deal of money. However, the expungement clinic did not stop there. For those who were determined to be eligible for expungement, the lawyers would then work that case until final determination. FOR FREE!!!! What life giving hope!