When Sekou Walker established a Facebook group on Aug. 5 titled, "You Know You Grew Up in Columbia Md When…" he just wanted to continue reconnecting with a dozen or so old friends from Oakland Mills and Wilde Lake high schools. He thought they'd reminisce about old times over the weekend and that would be the end of it.
But by noon that same day, 200 people had joined. The next time Walker checked the online counter it read 500, then jumped to 1,200 and so on.
A week later, nearly 3,700 people were members, and earlier this week, membership was approaching 4,000, with nearly 10,000 posts.
The former Columbian says he's flabbergasted by the page's runaway success, but he also understands it.
"It's just been a roller coaster of emotions, from sad to happy," the Catonsville resident said. "We've talked about Fun Putt miniature golf burning down in Oakland Mills, the original stores in the mall, and the radio stations we listened to — anything you can think of and it's been posted.
"People post, then go to sleep and wake up and post again. It's crazy," said Walker, who is 33 and works for Fed Ex. "I finally had to post that the page isn't worth losing your job over."
James Boyle, a 1992 Wilde Lake alumnus, can identify with Walker's warning. He discovered the Facebook page Monday, Aug. 8, and spent most of the next 36 hours on the site, though he said he's now tamed that obsession.
"I've lived in Wyoming, then Colorado for 15 years, so it's nostalgic and fun to talk anything Columbia," he wrote in an Aug. 9 email from the library where he works. "The vintage pics of the mall, Skateland, and other stuff that's changed or is long gone have been great. If I can't tear myself away from the page I'll probably lose my job."
Walker said he quickly became overwhelmed with managing the page because he was the sole administrator and therefore responsible for fielding all requests to join.
"I had to make other people administrators because it was becoming too time-consuming," he said. "Whoever wants to join can, though; this isn't just for certain people."
While most of Walker's Columbia friends are between the ages of 28 and 30, many ages are represented in the group, he said, including a 60-year-old woman who recently joined.
"Having so many generations is the best part of it. For instance, I just learned from a post that there was a big riot in the '70s," he said, referring to the gate-crashing and violence that erupted at Merriweather Post Pavilion when a traffic jam made ticket holders late to a Who concert.
'Instantaneous addiction'
Jade Jordan, who bought a house 10 years ago in the same Wilde Lake neighborhood where she grew up, logged onto Facebook at 5 a.m. Aug. 6 when she couldn't sleep and discovered that a friend had added her to the page.
"It was an instantaneous addiction," said Jordan, a Spanish teacher at Centennial High School. "So many memories, so many people — the page just took off."
Kim James, who said her family was one of the first to move into Thunder Hill in June 1970, saw a friend's post on her Facebook newsfeed about the new group and immediately thought, "I've got some things to say about growing up in Columbia."
"It's addicting to have conversations with so many people I've never set eyes on and it's all been so positive," said the 1985 Oakland Mills graduate. She said she had to change her notification settings since she was receiving an email every time someone posted, and her inbox got clogged with 500 messages.
What has stood out the most for James about the Columbia group have been the discussions about growing up in the racially and ethnically diverse community that was James Rouse's goal when he founded Columbia.
"My mother grew up in the Baltimore projects and my father grew up in the city, too, so on occasion I hear my parents' own biases," she said. "They didn't have white, Asian and Jewish neighbors, so they had an opportunity to move away from that."
Karen Bradley Ehler, who just got married July 19, works full-time for the county's Recreation and Parks Department and is a new step mom to four kids, is also spending what precious little free time she has reading some of the more than 9,000 nostalgic posts.
"I've tried to resist this page but there are so many interesting comments, from fun and silly memories to serious commentary on who's passed away," said the 1987 Hammond High graduate.
But Ehler has also gravitated to the discussions on the meaning of Columbia.
"We were so lucky to be raised here," she said. "A lot of us went through stages of emotions when we got out into the real world, from sadness to anger and bitterness, when we found out the world is not like Columbia.
"We thought racism was only in history books, and that our parents and teachers should have told us that isn't true," she said. "Columbia isn't as warm and fuzzy as it used to be, but that doesn't make it a failure."
Too successful?
Boyle feels much the same way.
"What made Columbia different and what I miss most about it is the idealistic foundation on which it was created," he wrote in an email. "When I was a kid, I thought things like racism and segregation were sad parts of the American past like slavery, and that everybody's neighbors were white, Korean, black, Chinese, or whatever.
"I realize there is debate on whether or not Columbia has achieved its initial goals, but now, with a broader view of the world, I appreciate those goals, achieved or not, more than ever."
Walker said his objective is to reach out to people who've had a shared experience.
"My whole thing is that it's the people, it's not me, that make this page," he said. "It was the simplest idea and anybody could have done it."
Walker is considering arranging a big get-together if people keep joining and posting, perhaps a "nice night on the water" at the lakefront restaurants in Town Center.
"I almost can't keep up with the posts anymore," he said. "This has almost been too successful."