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Michael Olesker
Family health center is lifesaver in Cherry Hill
- Alvin Lee, at 62 still looking strong enough to flatten a linebacker, strides into the Family Health Center in Cherry Hill in short pants and sandals, as though heading out to summer football practice. That’s what he used to do, back when he was a legendary high school running back at Poly and then one of the first African-American athletes at the University of Maryland.
Where have all the children gone?
- On Tuesday afternoon, with God in his heaven and a sweet breeze holding the temperature in the low 80s, I'm gazing across the green and pleasant expanse of Cockeysville Middle School's playing fields. But the only ones doing any playing are a middle-aged lady and her Scottish terrier.
All the news fit to print in the checkout line
- The most esteemed journalists of America are telling us that John Edwards, former candidate for president of the United States, had sex with a woman not precisely his wife. These esteemed journalists discovered this, it turns out, by reading the National Enquirer, a publication previously famous for such headlines as “Half-Man, Half-Lizard.” Naturally, I wish to learn the details of this story, as Edwards plays such an important role in all our lives since dropping out of the race roughly six months ago.
Never afraid to speak his mind
- A. Robert Kaufman, as he was formally known in all his quixotic political campaigns over the last several decades, sits in a small sunlit room in an assisted living facility in Baltimore County and puts a few words together pretty well.
- A. Robert Kaufman, as he was formally known in all his quixotic political campaigns over the last several decades, sits in a small sunlit room in an assisted living facility in Baltimore County and puts a few words together pretty well.
A blow to the malls
- Leslie at the perfume counter moves in a fog of exotic fragrance. There’s Estee Lauder, there’s Chanel. But now the air goes malodorous. At the Boscov’s at Owings Mills Mall, where she works, there’s the aroma of death.
- Leslie at the perfume counter moves in a fog of exotic fragrance. There’s Estee Lauder, there’s Chanel. But now the air goes malodorous. At the Boscov’s at Owings Mills Mall, where she works, there’s the aroma of death.
Baltimore's Mechanic Theatre’s last act not over
- On the afternoon, five years ago, when the friends of Hope Quackenbush gathered at the darkened Morris A. Mechanic Theatre to memorialize that institution’s guiding hand, the great Broadway producer Liz McCann showed up to offer a few words that come to mind today.
Where do all the years go?
- The road from Gwynn Oak Junction to Gamber is a long one, but worth the journey: You travel from Northwest Baltimore to Carroll County for a neighborhood reunion, and the trip doesn’t end until you’re half a century back in time.
Long shadows longer after civil rights era
- Barack Obama runs for president and implicitly reminds everyone how far the nation has traveled on race. But Natasha Pratt-Harris stands in front of her classes at Morgan State University and talks about the distance that remains on that journey.
Will food prices follow slight decrease in gas?
- The big news at the Greenspring Shell station is the drop in price. A few weeks ago, it was $4.19 a gallon. This week, it’s all the way down to $3.99. Such a bargain! The other day, you could buy gas for $3.81 a gallon at the Crown station at Park Heights and Rogers Avenue and immediately become the envy of all your friends. Such a deal!
Parched economic times? Not for bottled-water buyers
- I am standing in the beverage aisle of a local supermarket the other day, a place where people come to quench their thirst. They do this with Pepsi-Cola, with 7Up, with Coca-Cola and Sprite. As everybody knows, such liquids can seem like the nectars of the gods on a hot summer day. But I am standing here with a different kind of thirst. I am thirsty for understanding. And I am feeling pretty parched.
- I am standing in the beverage aisle of a local supermarket the other day, a place where people come to quench their thirst. They do this with Pepsi-Cola, with 7Up, with Coca-Cola and Sprite. As everybody knows, such liquids can seem like the nectars of the gods on a hot summer day. But I am standing here with a different kind of thirst. I am thirsty for understanding. And I am feeling pretty parched.
New arena a long, long way from the old Coliseum
- How’s this for irony? At the very crossroads of history where Baltimore decides to tear down its biggest indoor entertainment complex — the 1st Mariner Arena — workmen in West Baltimore are finally finishing the demolition of a vaguely recalled relic on North Monroe Street called the Coliseum.
Artist’s success becomes portrait of perseverance
- Tommy Roberts awakens in his Towson apartment and begins to sketch the day. He does this in graphite pencil and charcoal and pastel, in water colors and oil and acrylics. He does it in a style he describes as realistic with touches of Impressionism. And he does it from the wheelchair he has ridden for most of his 48 years.
- Tommy Roberts awakens in his Towson apartment and begins to sketch the day. He does this in graphite pencil and charcoal and pastel, in water colors and oil and acrylics. He does it in a style he describes as realistic with touches of Impressionism. And he does it from the wheelchair he has ridden for most of his 48 years.
Out of the pool, buddy - Maryland reporters at arm's length from McCain fundraiser
- I heard John McCain came to Baltimore last week. I even wrote two stories about Tuesday’s visit, one before and one after. But I never actually saw McCain.
