Michael Olesker

‘O!’ Give Me a Break about Taking a Knee

by Michael Olesker | 26 mins ago | Blogs, Michael Olesker

In Baltimore, thousands of us cry out “O!” – that’s “O!” for Orioles – as our civic contribution to the national anthem. We’re not disrespecting our military or nation, as President Donald J. Trump might explain it. We’re just expressing a little hometown pride during...

The Specter of Vietnam Looms Over Trump’s UN Speech

by Michael Olesker | Sep 20, 2017 | Blogs, Michael Olesker

In front of me now are images of Rodger Snyder, who arrives via fading snapshots, random memories and the Ken Burns series on Vietnam, which airs all this week on PBS like an old haunting. You should trouble yourself to watch it. The old film footage will bring back...

Kamenetz Looks Beyond his Baltimore County Base

by Michael Olesker | Sep 18, 2017 | Blogs, Michael Olesker

For all those anticipating Kevin Kamenetz’s announcement that he’s running for governor of Maryland, you’re late. He did it already. His op-ed piece in Sunday’s Sun declared, for all to see, that he’s not just Baltimore County’s chief executive, he’s a man who can see...

A Cliched Approach to Baltimore’s Crime Rate

by Michael Olesker | Sep 13, 2017 | Blogs, Blogs & Opinion, Michael Olesker

On Monday night, two shootings in the city of Baltimore. On Tuesday night, three shootings. In the city of Baltimore, police know such moments of nocturnal violence by a phrase: pretty slow nights. At latest count, the city’s up to 246 homicides this year – a higher...

A New Religious Transformation Grips America

by Michael Olesker | Sep 11, 2017 | Blogs, Michael Olesker

Looks like we’re all minorities now. The percentage of Americans who are white and Christian, long the vast majority of the U.S. population, has dropped below 50 percent, according to a newly released poll by the Public Religion Research Institute, a Washington,...

Hello, Orioles Fans? Anyone Still Awake?

by Michael Olesker | Sep 6, 2017 | Blogs, Michael Olesker

Did anybody stay up late enough to see Manny Machado’s home run early Wednesday morning? Or was everybody already in bed, with heads too filled with thoughts of Joe Flacco’s health, to think about the Baltimore Orioles? OK, the hour was late. There was the rain delay...

Is ‘Happy Labor Day’ an Oxymoron in 2017?

by Michael Olesker | Sep 5, 2017 | Blogs, Michael Olesker

Hope everyone had a happy Labor Day — and here’s hoping such a greeting (“happy” and “Labor Day”) doesn’t sound like a contradiction in terms. We mark this holiday as a celebration of the American worker. Yet that worker continues mainly to tread water against a...

Feet on the Ground, But Gazing Skyward

by Michael Olesker | Sep 1, 2017 | Blogs, Michael Olesker

Some of us believe in heaven right here on earth. We welcome this month’s arrival of the High Holidays, those solemn days commemorating the birth of the world and the hour of supreme human penitence. But we also take heed of our earthbound beliefs. I’m reminded of...

Is Hurricane Harvey a Harbinger of Worse to Come?

by Michael Olesker | Aug 30, 2017 | Blogs, Michael Olesker

Hurricane Harvey is a terrorist attack staged by nature. The devastation across huge swaths of Texas reminds us of humanity’s vulnerability to sheer rain and wind, and around here it provokes memories of a storm we once considered powerful that now seems kind of puny....

A Failing Grade for Baltimore Area Public Schools

by Michael Olesker | Aug 28, 2017 | Blogs, Michael Olesker

The children will be going back to school soon, trailed by the dust of fading summer and the depressing news about their inability to write a complete sentence or add a column of numbers. The latest statewide English and math test scores – known as the Partnership for...