Miracle

Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy, the ebullient Memphis, Tenn., couple who made Michael Oher their third child, enrolled him at Ole Miss, then cheered him on when he became a Baltimore Raven, have collaborated on their own version of the story that became the book and the hit movie "The Blind Side." With Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins, they've written "In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving." Their book aims to bring the Michael Oher miracle off the big screen and back down to real life — and make sure that its message won't get lost.

Last fall, as Perry Hall's junior varsity field hockey team played at Catonsville High, Gator freshman Breanna Sudano suddenly collapsed in cardiac arrest with 30 seconds left in a 2-1 victory. Sudano, who had scored both goals, lay motionless on the turf as as CPR was administered by parents and coaches. Friday night, fans attending the girls lacrosse double-header between the host Gators and Joppatowne wore smiles of relief, and players chanted "We want Bre,"as Sudano was proclaimed an honorary captain for the team.

Shop till you drop, but not at the mall. That's the idea behind the sixth annual Miracle on Main Streets, a Baltimore-wide initiative that begins Tuesday and encourages residents to shop at local retailers and explore the city's neighborhoods. Managed by the Baltimore Development Corp. as part of its Baltimore Main Streets program, the Miracle campaign promotes shopping districts in 10 city neighborhoods: Belair-Edison, Brooklyn, East Monument Street, Federal Hill, Fell's Point, Hamilton-Lauraville, Highlandtown, Pennsylvania Avenue, Pigtown and Waverly.

I hate to admit it. But here it is. I'm one of those county residents who rarely goes into Baltimore City. Some years ago my husband and I were traveling on Charles Street on a Sunday afternoon when we were accosted by a group of teens blocking an intersection. They dared us to run them down. When we blew the horn and inched forward, they kicked out our front headlight. As crime goes, it was minor, but I was reminded of the incident Monday when my husband suggested that we visit the Christmas display in Hampden.

If you can't get enough of Kris Kringle and "Miracle on 34th Street" during the holiday season, you are in luck because the show opens Saturday, Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. at Laurel Mill Playhouse, 508 Main St. Performances run weekends, Dec. 3 through 18, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. amd Sunday matinees at 2 p.m., and a special Saturday matinee Dec. 17 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $13 general admission, students (age 18 and under), active duty military and seniors (age 65 and over) are $10. For reservations, call 301-617-9906 and press 2. http://www.laurelmillplayhouse.org .

From: Nancy McCarthyElkridgeI would like to thank you for the lovely article about Milton Leein Sunday's Howard Sun of June 9 ("Injured student recovers just in time for graduation," by Donna Boller).As a parent of one of the members of the lacrosse team, a dream came true at graduation.When the news spread on Saturday, April 27, and Sunday, April 28, about Milton's accident, everyone's concern was for his life to be saved.Once he was stabilized, I, for one, prayed that somehow he could get to graduation.

K

Reggae music filled the air at Bohager's in Fells Point. Folks in Hawaiian shirts milled around the club's thatched-roof bar, or lined up for autographs and photos with several Baltimore Ravens players at Mac's Reggae Sunsplash 2001. Ravens player Michael McCrary played host at the party for his nonprofit organization, Mac's Miracle Fund. And who knew purple was such a tropical color? Folks sported plenty of Ravens paraphernalia -- and then some. Fans Vicki Williams and Colleen Martin had even painted their toenails purple.

Leave it to Maryland's state legislators to seize on the slightest pretext to play demagogue. They did it last week in the State House when they called a private Colorado company on the carpet for failing to work wonders at the troubled Hickey School for juveniles. How much time did these legislators give the company to perform this miracle? A mere 70 days.Since a constant parade of state officials have failed miserably for decades to improve matters at the Hickey School, it isn't surprising that a private company hired only on Sept.

It was a big week, what with Stanford beating USC in football, of all things, and with a second-string quarterback starting his first college game, and on the same day political riots in Bern complete with rock throwing and tear gas - the Swiss! Acting up in the streets! - and on the very same October day it was 85 degrees and muggy in Minnesota. One jolt to our belief system after another. And then Cosmopolitan magazine offered to show us how to achieve the "blended orgasm" - I had no idea there was one!

The Bengals just announced that they've sold out Sunday's 4:15 p.m. game against the Ravens. It's just the second time this season they've had a sellout, according to reports. (The first was against the Steelers, with a lot of yellow-and-black clad fans getting credit for that sellout). You would like to think the reason for the sellout is that the playoffs are riding on this game. If the Bengals beat the Ravens, Cincinnati is a wild-card team. But more likely it's the 2-for-1 ticket promotion by the team and the begging by players and Coach Marvin Lewis that helped fill Paul Brown Stadium.

Waverly Main Street, the merchant association in the Waverly community, has not been "dormant," as you suggest in a recent article abut crime in the neighborhood, but it has not often been covered by The Sun in the 11 years since its founding ("Uncertain times on Greenmount," Nov. 30). Every year there has been a Miracle on Main Street holiday event. There were three Greenmount Avenue parades co-sponsored by the organization and there have been many special events such as the Taste of Waverly, a day-long block party, guided walking tours and the unveiling of a new historic marker at 33 r d Street and Greenmount Avenue.

If you can't get enough of Kris Kringle and "Miracle on 34th Street" during the holiday season, you are in luck because the show opens Saturday, Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. at Laurel Mill Playhouse, 508 Main St. Performances run weekends, Dec. 3 through 18, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. amd Sunday matinees at 2 p.m., and a special Saturday matinee Dec. 17 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $13 general admission, students (age 18 and under), active duty military and seniors (age 65 and over) are $10. For reservations, call 301-617-9906 and press 2. http://www.laurelmillplayhouse.org .

Since the congressional supercommittee appears unable, or unwilling, to take a lesson from Indiana or Virginia -- where Republican governors have made spending cuts and delivered budget surpluses without damaging the social safety net -- members might wish to consider Puerto Rico and what its governor, Luis Fortuno is doing. Mr. Fortuno is Puerto Rico's first Republican governor in 42 years. In 2009 when he took office, the U.S. territory had a $3.3 billion budget deficit. Three years earlier, Moody's Investors Service downgraded the commonwealth's bond rating to junk status while in deep recession.

Listings are accepted on a space-available basis. Deadline is 5 p.m. Thursday prior to date of publication at the latest. To submit volunteer items, mail to Volunteers, Patuxent Publishing Co. Editorial, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, MD 21278; email hccalendar@patuxent.com ; fax 410-332-6336; or call 410-332-6497. Small Miracles Cat Rescue - Seeking volunteers to help with cleaning and feeding at the shelter, as well as a morning or evening at either the Columbia or Ellicott City Petco, and the adoption process.

Tower Federal Credit Union's fiesta-themed employee appreciation luncheon and Casual for Kids Day event Sept. 21 at its Laurel headquarters raised more than $1,100 for the Johns Hopkins Children's Hospital in Baltimore, a member hospital of the Children's Miracle Network. For a $5 donation, Tower employees dressed casually and wore their favorite sports team sweatshirt, T-shirt or jersey. Since 1997, Tower has donated more than half a million dollars to local and national charitable organizations.

A Miracle of Catfish Larry Brown Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill / 455 pages / $24.95 For 16 years, Larry Brown's highly praised novels, short stories and nonfiction illuminated the brutally hard, funny and sometimes magical realities of his native Mississippi. In his sixth novel, A Miracle of Catfish, the book nearing completion when Brown died in 2004, he gives us old men and fathers as fiercely competent as they are murderous, and a factory maintenance man who can't do one blessed thing right, especially when it comes to fathering his wonderful little boy. There are considerably fewer Mississippi wives and daughters in the novel than there are male points of view about the women's attributes and responsibilities (a light touch when cooking biscuits matters, in other words)

More bad news about school construction in Harford County: The prime contractor building two schools set to open this fall ran short of cash and its bonding company has taken over financial management of the work.One school, Church Creek Elementary in growing Riverside, is already a year delayed, after resolving concerns about a possible toxic waste dump on that site and then changing contractors in midstream because of poor performance.The school administration insisted last month that the second school, Emmorton Elementary in another burgeoning community, Abingdon, would open on time -- missing only library, gym, cafeteria, kitchen and so forth.

Moira Liskovec doesn't agree with the adage that cats and dogs fight like … well, cats and dogs. In fact, Liskovec thinks the opposite is true. "I believe cats and dogs get along better than two cats," Liskovec said recently at Small Miracles, the Howard County cat rescue shelter she started five years ago. "You bring a dog into the picture, and most likely they're going to be best friends. I had a German shepherd, and I had a 6-pound cat who would totally chew on his head gently," she said.

Rita Allan is a biology teacher in the Howard County school system and was a biologist for 20 years before that, so when she learned that the Colombian boy who would be visiting her family likes science and nature, she took special note of their shared interest. Still, she and her husband, Steve, chose to keep their expectations low when they signed on with Kidsave International to host Duvan, an 11-year-old orphan, in their Columbia home for just over four weeks this summer. The couple, who have no children and have been awaiting the call to care for a child since becoming licensed foster parents in December 2009, didn't want to set themselves up for disappointment.