Baltimore Sun Columnist: Guess I'll stop mailing it in, now!

So a couple years ago they thought it would be a good move to ditch a true talent like Rick Maese, but they kept this piece of garbage, probably because they were worried about an age discrimination lawsuit?

 

Maybe it's just me, but I found that whole column hilarious.

Dude was clearly told to get off his ass and quit recycling old stuff, and he responds with a message to readers that he will no longer be telling the story about how his aunt used to clean her house -- even though he knows the readers LOVED it.

I suspect he was hoping for a swell of reader support demanding that he keep mailing it in with the grand tales of how his aunt liked to dust. I don't think it's going to happen.

 

How does an editor let this run?

 

I think this was some kind of half-assed apology he was ordered to write to explain why his column was going away. Sad commentary.

 

My reaction to this is somewhere between PCLoadLetter's and Mizzou's and Double Down's.

It feels somewhat tongue-in-cheek, and although I haven't read his stuff in the past, my guess was that references to Aunt Cora were, perhaps, somewhat akin to T.J. Simers' running references to his Grocery Bagger son-in-law.

I've no doubt, however, that this column was meant to be the vehicle for explaining Kelly's forthcoming change in assignments. The problem with the column as a whole is that it's not clear how it should be taken. In SJ parlance, is there some blue font needed, or not?

And, like everyone else, I can't help but be disturbed by the paragraph saying Kelly lifted/repeated whole parts of past work, and I have to question how the guy could know, with authority, that Lexington Market has undergone "more transformations than one can count" if he can't remember the last time he was there.

 

OMG . . . he'll actually have to work.

Poor guy.

 

This isn't an attempt to "work blue," as we might say around here. Trust me. I'm familiar enough with the man's work to feel confident saying that. He doesn't do jokes. He truly is this tone deaf.

 

Better late than never.

 

Or "Too late."

One of the two.

 

Even if he was ordered to fess up and write this inane column, it still begs the question: why does he still have a job, if he's admittedly been recycling and plagiarizing himself? How is that not fireable?

 

Maybe the worst part is that he admits his practice was against Baltimore Sun policy but it appears nothing was done about it. He just mentions it like it's nothing and moves on.