Michael Olesker

Historian Places Trump Presidency into Context

by Michael Olesker | Sep 24, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

The acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin came to town Sept. 23 to talk about “Leadership in Turbulent Times” (Simon & Schuster), her new book about four of America’s presidential legends: Abraham Lincoln, both Roosevelts and Lyndon B. Johnson. Also, she...

Poll Shows Hogan Has Significant Lead Over Jealous

by Michael Olesker | Sep 20, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

If anyone wants to know why there’s only one Maryland gubernatorial debate before the Nov. 6 election, look no further than the new poll from Goucher College. It shows Gov. Larry Hogan with a 22-point lead over challenger Ben Jealous. For those thinking, “Polls?...

Hurricane Florence’s Havoc Hearkens Back to the Wrath of Agnes

by Michael Olesker | Sep 17, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

Here’s one man’s reaction to Hurricane Florence: In my head, I’m still recuperating from Hurricane Agnes — which was 46 years ago. Does anybody else still remember Agnes? Back then, it was the costliest hurricane in recorded history to hit the United States. It...

How ‘Success’ is Measured in Disaster Response These Days

by Michael Olesker | Sep 12, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

When last seen in Puerto Rico, in the awful aftermath of Hurricane Maria, President Donald Trump displayed the fullness of his sensitivity by tossing rolls of paper towels to a cluster of desperate people, causing many to imagine Marie Antoinette lobbing crumbs of...

Ravens Get on with Business

by Michael Olesker | Sep 11, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

The Baltimore Ravens are happy this week, and so are the men in suits who run the National Football League. Their season of twisted ligaments and forearms to the Adam’s apple has begun, and hardly a word has been whispered about the troublesome act of kneeling...

It’s the Supreme Court, Stupid

by Michael Olesker | Sep 5, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

Yesterday afternoon, Sept. 4, the cable news stations broke away from their coverage of the coronation hearings of future Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh because, they decided, something more important was occurring out here in America. The contents of Bob...

The Silencing of The Village Voice

by Michael Olesker | Sep 4, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

Maybe you noticed, maybe you didn’t, but The Village Voice had a final hardening of the arteries and died last week. Maybe you noticed because you still remember when The Voice championed an alternative style of journalism and an alternative America as well. But maybe...

The Price Paid by John McCain and Bob Timberg

by Michael Olesker | Aug 29, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

This weekend, they’ll lay to rest the body of Sen. John S. McCain (R-Ariz.) at the U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis, and the ghost of Robert Timberg will surely linger nearby. Nobody understood McCain’s ordeal better than Timberg, nor wrote about it better....

Lessons from ‘The Homesick Restaurant’

by Michael Olesker | Aug 28, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

The kids are heading back to school this month, some of them full of hope and others full of dread. So here’s a little story about bravery in the classroom involving the great writer Anne Tyler, who happens to live in Baltimore, and a young student named Melanie...

Remembering the ‘Most Successful Comic Playwright Ever’

by Michael Olesker | Aug 27, 2018 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

In the years 1965 to 1980, when the laughs kept coming, Neil Simon’s plays combined for roughly 9,000 Broadway performances. At one point, he had four hits running on Broadway at the same time. Awards poured in, and money, and so much acclaim that, by almost any...