Commentary

While crime among young people is a point of emphasis in mainstream media in Baltimore, homicides and non-fatal shootings are down. Community-based organizations like We Our Us and the Baltimore Peace Movement have been at the forefront of violence prevention efforts over the last several years, but the media does not do the work of exposing the community to the work these organizations do so we can build on their success.

As Gabriel Kahane wrote songs for his 2018 album “Book of Travelers,” he drew from his experiences on a train trip throughout the country. The trip included an hourslong conversation with a young Black man from Baltimore. During the conversation, the young man, who had gone out West to work as a national park trail crew leader, talked about his life and about why he needed to make a trip back home.

During the first week of December, lawyers representing Anne Arundel County are set to square off against their counterparts employed by the gun rights group, Maryland Shall Issue Inc., in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit to argue over a matter that, frankly, boggles the mind. Early last year, Republicans and Democrats on the Anne Arundel County Council unanimously approved an ordinance requiring gun sellers to distribute, with each purchase, literature on suicide prevention and conflict resolution.

West Virginia University’s pending decision to slash formal language learning programs on its campus is harmful to the economy, culture, and people of the Mountain State. But the harm extends beyond West Virginia students, teachers, workers, and entrepreneurs. In the context of decreasing state funding and increasing state meddling in higher education, the proposed cuts send a signal that language learning — without which all learning, not to mention commercial and cultural communication — is expendable.

An editorial in The Baltimore Sun should be exactly the wrong place to pay tribute to John Samuel Waters Jr., the breaker of societal norms, the maker of cult films, the counter-culture icon. We are simply too square, too bound by convention, too bourgeois for the task. Much like Waters’ infamous 1968 16-millimeter comedy, “Eat Your Makeup,” (about a deranged nanny who forces young people to “model themselves to death”) you wouldn’t expect to see such things around here.

It’s human nature to want to be included, whether it’s in an invitation to a party or just being in on the hot new meme. One of the most delightful parts of social media — which is mostly not delightful — is recognizing a pop culture or historical moment and thinking, “Hey! This is just for me! I’m in the club!” I feel that way every time I see one of those memes about how Gen Xers ran the streets like wild jackals and existed on water from rusty hoses and Jolly Ranchers.

If you’re like me, you’ve been keeping a wary eye on the forecast to see if Hurricane Lee is going to be a pain. If you’re not like me, well, be more like me. It can be hard to distinguish between the real danger and overhyped social media feeds or breathless TV news updates. But yes, Maryland does experience these tropical storms and hurricanes. We’re not Florida, to be sure, but it happens.