Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
JULY 9, 2020 – Yesterday evening we sat out on the dock watching some amazing birdlife. The two herons that hang out on the shore several hundred feet in one direction flew back and forth. On one of these trips a heron communicated with a couple of mallards swimming past the end of the dock. …
JULY 8, 2020 – Among my required triennial continuing legal education credits are two regarding “elimination of bias.” To satisfy this requirement I recently attended a webinar entitled, “The Impact of Bias in Negotiations and Mediation” by Nina Meierding, a nationally acclaimed expert. I hung on every word. Back in the day, “old school” lawyers …
JULY 7, 2020 – On our way to the Red Cabin, we pass through the trim town of Cumberland, Wisconsin, population 2,170. Mom-and-pop stores line Main Street, the sole commercial street in town. At the economic center of town is an old 3M plant across from the high school football field. The most remarkable feature …
JULY 6, 2020 – I’m not a “math and science” guy, though in school I did just fine. It’s just that I didn’t advance very far. I was too busy being a “words” guy. Still am. No apologies. And my disclaimer regarding math and science doesn’t disqualify me from deploying words about a scientific concern. …
JULY 5, 2020 – When your dwelling loses power, you’re reminded of the basics of modernity: running water, storing perishable foods, and most important of all—phone chargers. After a lazy, tropical day at the Red Cabin, my wife and I were about to sit down for our Fourth of July “barbeque” supper. Preparations had involved …
JULY 4, 2020 – (Cont.) “Who? I think I don’t know you,” he said. However much my chum might’ve changed physically, he wouldn’t have developed a thick accent. I showed him the photograph and explained why I’d thought he was Dick V. By this time, the woman had approached. By the shape of her mouth …
JULY 3, 2020 – On this cusp of Independence Day, I feel no shame in being American; no more shame than I’d feel imprisoned in a zoo of odd creatures, from a sloth to a turtle to a peacock to a lion to a wolf to a (breast-beating gorilla) to a playful porpoise to an …
JULY 2, 2020 – (Cont.) They pulled up their canoe onto the small landing of the little island and unloaded their gear. While the kids pitched skippers across the smooth waters around the island, Grandpa and Uncle Sugar pulled the big umbrella tent out of its oilskin bag. They soon discovered, however, that the island …
JULY 1, 2020 – Many hardy, nature-loving Minnesotans make annual pilgrimages to the million-acre BWCA (“Boundary Waters Canoe Area”) along the Canadian border. I’m not among them—the pilgrims, that is. Instead, we make regular pilgrimages to our family’s lacustrian Shangri-La in northwestern Wisconsin, south of Lake Superior and well south of the BWCA. Before my …
JUNE 30, 2020 – I must confess. Over the years, I’ve often skipped the introduction to many a book I’ve read or attempted to read. “Why an ‘introduction’?” I’d silently ask every time. “If it’s important enough to include, why not incorporate it into the book itself?” Often written by someone other than the author, the …
JUNE 29, 2020 – Time for (another) time-out from the headlines . . . and expletives. Time to re-engage with nature to remind ourselves that forces greater than ourselves are in control. The pandemic should’ve told us, but way too many folks still think it’s a Democratic hoax. So, back to nature . . . …
JUNE 28, 2020 – If I had 15-minutes with Biden, I’d say: “Joe, you’re in a unique position. You don’t have to worry about the electability of your VP pick. “Polls show you have a commanding lead over Naked Emperor and Sycophant-in-Chief. Doofus Duo will continue to plummet, and you’ll win by a landslide . …
JUNE 27, 2020 – The more our world seems to descend into chaos, the more I descend into . . . a study of history. Currently I’m still working with the Renaissance, but that period keeps pulling me back to the Middle Ages and pushing me forward into the Reformation. No matter where I land, …
JUNE 26, 2020 – I have four nieces who are stand-outs. One is also a stand-up—Erica Rhodes, comedienne-extraordinaire. Based in L.A., she’s performing this week—live and via Zoom—at the Acme Comedy Club in Minneapolis. In her routine she pokes fun at uncertainties about Covid-19, saying, “No one knows anything anymore!” Her comedic statement reminds me …
JUNE 25, 2020 – When I started law school, I figured the easiest subject would be “ethics.” I thought I had a solid handle on “right” and “wrong” and would know intuitively such foundational rules as, you can’t lie and you can’t steal from client funds in your firm’s trust account. Little did I appreciate …
JUNE 24, 2020 – I’ve never liked John Bolton, and now I like him less. Burned by the Naked Emperor, he decided to get even instead of mad. What’s “even” does little good. In an interview on the Late Show, Bolton said he wouldn’t vote for Trump in November but wouldn’t vote for Biden either. …
JUNE 23, 2020 – People reacting to the recent rash of statue sackings fall into three groups. First: angry folks pulling down symbols of racism—symbols erected by very white, very dead white . . . women (surprise!) who’d organized themselves in 1894 as the United Daughters of the Confederacy, primarily to build all those statues. …
JUNE 22, 2020 – In my first year of practice, I handled “misdemeanor prosecutions” under my firm’s contract with a small suburb. Most cases involved traffic violations, though occasionally a bar scofflaw produced disorderly conduct charges. I usually negotiated deals but drove harder bargains in DUI cases. Several went to trial, which I relished for …
JUNE 21, 2020 – Current anti-police sentiment reminds me of my own run-in with the cops eight years ago. My clients were the board members of a local mosque. They were battling a faction that had been previously ousted. My people—the “good guys”—were smart, reliable, educated, and struggling hard to make something of themselves here …
JUNE 20, 2020 – As the professor in tweed lit his pipe in front of us 10 students that first day of “The History of Western Civilization,” no one could’ve foreseen the future (three-and-a-half-years later): me in disguise, shoving a gigantic whipped cream pie into the prof’s face. A still-shot of that scene would cap …
JUNE 19, 2020 – “This is where they died,” said Tom. I knew immediately his reference . . * * * Between classes one morning barely a month into my freshman year of college nearly four years before, I checked my mailbox in the basement of the Moulton Union. There I found a letter from …
JUNE 18, 2020 – (Cont.) – Among the “rascals” was Tom, a middle school classmate of mine whom I hadn’t seen since I’d been sent to boarding school eight years before. We hadn’t been particularly close friends, but we’d been together in band (Tom on trumpet; I on drums) and track (he, the sprinter; I, …
JUNE 17, 2020 – On our drive yesterday in the full splendor of early summer, we passed a column of dump trucks lumbering in the opposite lane toward a road construction zone behind us. The trucks reminded me of the summer when I drove one. I was between college and law school and looking for …
JUNE 16, 2020 – June’s half over. In 15 days, the year will be half over. Time for three prognostications about the rest of 2020. Two are based on business phone conversations I had yesterday; one turns on recent news stories about Trump. The first conversation was with a banker client of mine. He’s in …
JUNE 15, 2020 – At the Red Cabin we have a TV but only for watching movies the old-fashioned way—via DVDs. But soon after my wife bought a large antique cabinet with doors and mounted the TV inside, we got used to the cabinet and forgot all about the TV. A year ago, though, we …