Marvin Olasky | Page 4 | Discovery Institute

^{Marvin Olasky
June 7, 2024
Homelessness

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Beyond the “Vets, Pets, and Kids” View of Homelessness

_{Marvin Olasky
June 7, 2024
Homelessness

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This column starts my third year of weekly writing about homelessness, with the goal of learning, teaching, and eventually turning the columns into a book. Both human interest and intellectual interest propel me. I'll start with the human interest and the two words "suffered enough." The expression comes to mind every time I live in a homeless shelter for a few days and ask residents about their pasts. Read More ›

^{Marvin Olasky
May 24, 2024
Homelessness

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Go West, Children: How Charles Brace Placed Orphans in Families

_{Marvin Olasky
May 24, 2024
Homelessness

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Last week I wrote about how Charles Brace set up homes for homeless children but did not see institutionalization as ideal. He wondered whether it was possible to find thousands of families willing to take responsibility for the children of the streets. The problem seemed enormous. Brace wrote: "How were places to be found? . . . And when the children were placed, how were their interests to be watched over, and acts of oppression or hard dealing prevented or punished?" Read More ›

In 1789 a charming five year old chimney sweep toiled through tough days in the bustling streets embodying the spirit of a spirited eighteenth century street urchin

^{Marvin Olasky
May 17, 2024
Homelessness

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Caring for Orphans in New York City

_{Marvin Olasky
May 17, 2024
Homelessness

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Two columns ago I mentioned Charles Brace's concern about high rents in New York City. When Brace founded the New York Children's Aid Society in 1853, he began by setting up religious meetings aimed at orphaned or abandoned boys from 10 to 18 who slept in alleys. Read More ›

A pioneer family on the frontier, amidst a vast prairie, setting up their homestead, gazes towards a hopeful horizon.

^{Marvin Olasky
May 10, 2024
Homelessness

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Go West, Young Man (and Woman) | Fix Homelessness

_{Marvin Olasky
May 10, 2024
Homelessness

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We often think westward migration was for males only. In 1862 the Homestead Act allowed land claims from “any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years.” Women, including those widowed by the Civil War, made one third of all homestead claims. Some men and women who made it to the Midwest and went no further became homeless. Read More ›

Manhattan Midtown Skyline with illuminated skyscrapers at sunset. NYC, USA

^{Marvin Olasky
May 3, 2024
Homelessness

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Helping the Manhattan Poor: A History

_{Marvin Olasky
May 3, 2024
Homelessness

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Much of what we hear in national media concerning homelessness originates in the salons of Manhattan, and if we want to understand why our policy savants sometimes go far off course, we should understand the history of New York City’s successes and failures. Read More ›

^{Marvin Olasky
April 26, 2024
Homelessness

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The Ups and Downs of Recovery at The Forge

_{Marvin Olasky
April 26, 2024
Homelessness

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The past two months I've written about those making progress at Forge, the Christian shelter I lived at in Joplin, Missouri. But not everyone perseveres. I played disc golf on a sunny day last October with one Forge resident who told me how he had become a devotee of YouTube Satanist channels. For a time, he combined demonic rituals, drug use, and increasingly elaborate drawings of skulls and skeletons. Read More ›

^{Marvin Olasky
April 19, 2024
Homelessness

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Homelessness in Colonial New England

_{Marvin Olasky
April 19, 2024
Homelessness

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Since starting this weekly column in June 2022 I’ve covered lots of topics, including homelessness in late medieval England — but I’ve shorted American history. Since today, April 19, is the anniversary of the battles in Lexington and Concord that started the Revolutionary War in 1775, it’s a good day on which to take a rapid ride through the New England countryside and summarize common responses to homelessness in the 17th and 18th centuries. Read More ›

^{Marvin Olasky
April 5, 2024
Homelessness

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Drugs and Homelessness

_{Marvin Olasky
April 5, 2024
Homelessness

5}

Last week we gave our third annual set of Zenger Prizes to ten journalists for articles or podcasts that emphasize good street-level reporting and a willingness to see that all human beings have value. One of the winners we announced is Sam Quinones, for an article he wrote in The Atlantic updating his acute analysis of America's drug crisis. Read More ›

^{Marvin Olasky
March 13, 2024
Discovery Institute

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Pivot Points

_{Marvin Olasky
March 13, 2024
Discovery Institute

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Whenever we pivot in life, freedom from fear requires either a colossal ego or a colossal God. Ego leads us to grab what is not ours. The path to contentment starts with faith in God. In this sequel to Lament for a Father, Marvin Olasky first describes his journey from Judaism to atheism to Marxism to Christ and then his adventures in evangelical, conservative, Read More ›

^{Bruce Chapman
July 6, 2021
Citizen Leadership

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Marvin Olasky’s ‘Lament’ for Earthly Father Leads to Heavenly One

_{Bruce Chapman
July 6, 2021
Citizen Leadership

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Why do sons write books about their fathers? Perhaps it’s because they feel a need to figure out the guy who sired their existence. If they’re like Marvin Olasky, the eminent public intellectual who edits World magazine, the act of writing promises to make someone distant and mysterious “come alive.” Read More ›