Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
OCTOBER 26, 2019 – Sixty years ago I entered kindergarten. My older sisters had blazed the trail, and I remember their enthusiastic anticipation of my first day of school. They told me about all the fun that was in store. “Oh, and you’ll get to ride in the boat, too!” said sister Elsa. “The boat?” …
OCTOBER 25, 2019 – When it comes to impeachment, the Democrats worry me. So do the Republicans. But more precisely, “we the people” worry me. Why? Because “we the people” are no longer “we.” One could fairly argue that we’ve never been “we.” Exhibit A: the institution of slavery, which pre-dated by over 150 years, …
OCTOBER 24, 2019 – Yesterday I went to the doctor for my flu/pneumonia shots and annual physical. Because I’m now 65, the sign-in questionnaire was quite different from the form used on younger adults. The “old folks” form includes such questions as, “How many times did you fall last year?” with a choice between “0-1” …
OCTOBER 23, 2019 – A Republican Facebook friend of mine recently asked me three questions about the Democratic candidates for president in 2020. I’ve elected to post the questions—and my responses—here. QUESTION #1: Which Democratic candidate for president would you support in 2020? The short answer is, I’d support any of them ahead of Trump. …
OCTOBER 22, 2019 – Ironically, my family’s retreat—our place away from it all—is in the middle of Trumpland, in far off rural America; “ironically,” because my wife and I can’t stand anything “Trump.” For three years, our morning routine has involved going out-loud ballistic over the latest headlines about a guy with no business being …
OCTOBER 21, 2019 – This weekend we had Illiana, our just-turned-four granddaughter, stay with us at the Red Cabin. She’s a dynamo—moving, talking, doing non-stop. During her visit, I wondered what details she’ll likely remember. Gathering “unicorn food” with her grandmother? Sniffing a wintergreen leaf that I folded in half and put to her little …
OCTOBER 20, 2019 – Fast forward two years. Another client, from Florida, had just bought out of bankruptcy, a short-line railroad running from a small manufacturing town 60 miles west of the Twin Cities to a railyard in Minneapolis. He hadn’t acquired the railroad for its freight-hauling business. He’d bought it for all the “sleeper” …
OCTOBER 19, 2019 – (cont.) I’ll never forget the settlement meeting that ensued. The developer was owned by two brothers who’d immigrated from Italy years before. The older brother had been a tank commander in North Africa under Rommel’s command in World War II. Of the Renowned Club principals in the room, one was a founder, …
OCTOBER 18, 2019 – As a guy who’s golfed only 36 holes his entire life, I’ve sure spent a lot of time on golf courses. During middle school, our cross-country running workouts and meets took place exclusively on golf courses. The summer between college and law school, I worked nights at a municipal golf course, …
OCTOBER 17, 2019 – I watched snippets of Tuesday evening’s “debate” among 12 Democrats running for their party’s nomination for president. Snippets were all I could handle. Here’s why: For many election cycles, presidential “debates” have been a platform for policy billboards pushing non-existent products. Moderators, commentators, and we the people have become swept up …
OCTOBER 16, 2019 – Anyone who was awake for The Great Recession is familiar with the Michael Lewis book entitled, The Big Short. The movie version followed. “Short,” of course, referred to selling borrowed mortgage-backed securities on the bet that the securities would drop in value. We all know how the bet played out. More …
OCTOBER 15, 2019 – . . . two guys in their early 20s, one wearing a MAGA cap, the other a camo-jacket and camo-cap. I found them standing behind the main protest crowd. “You’re Trump supporters?” I asked. “Yeah,” said MAGA. They looked nervous and wanting to slip away. I worked to gain their confidence. …
OCTOBER 14, 2019 – . . . an attorney hoisting a large sign listing the federal statutes that he believed Trump had violated. They were framed as “Suggested Reading.” “Ultimately it gets down to rule of law, doesn’t it?” I said. “Yes it does,” he said. We exchanged a ‘thumbs up,’ as we moved in …
OCTOBER 13, 2019 – Last Thursday Trump came to town . . . and we who oppose him went to town. If the “rally” inside Target Center (where the Timberwolves play) was highly regimented, the gathering of thousands outside was thoroughly organic. My office is six blocks from Target Center. For nearly three hours, I …
OCTOBER 12, 2019 – “At one of my violin lessons with Symphonie Espagnole,” I told him, “my violin teacher stopped to tell me a story about it. “During World War II he’d been a tail-gunner on a B-17. On a night mission, his plane got hit. The crew bailed out over the Allied/German line. My …
OCTOBER 11, 2019 – Thanks to a recalcitrant lawnmower (ours) and my small, back-deck, do-it-yourself project, Herb came out of his shell and all the way up our driveway. If, as he informed me, he hadn’t gotten along with his domineering father, he did take after him when it came to tools, small engines, mechanical …
OCTOBER 10, 2019 – My wife said I was his best friend. That statement is sad to the extent it was true. I wasn’t much of a friend. In earlier years, I’d had little interaction with our neighbor directly across the alley. His father, the retired owner of a machine shop, had been the dominant …
OCTOBER 9, 2019 – Projecting quiet, rugged confidence, the doctor greeted me and donned rubber gloves. As I described my run-in with a rock, she inspected my split skin and gently pinched the two sides of the wound. The good doctor then took a step back, put her fists on her hips and pondered. “We …
OCTOBER 8, 2019 – Now that I have your attention . . . I have a somewhat revealing, somewhat embarrassing story to tell—which will also explain why I didn’t pursue a medical career. My wife and I had just finished hiking in Interstate Park on the Minnesota side of the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway …
OCTOBER 7, 2019 – For today’s topic, I wrestled between trees and Trump. Sorry to disappoint, but trees won. A few years ago, we sold logging rights to back acreage of Björnholm, our family’s woodland retreat next to The Red Cabin. The loggers—two Mennonites—worked with remarkable efficiency, felling and piling hardwoods for sale to the …
OCTOBER 6, 2019 – Today marks the day three decades ago when our younger son, Byron Kang Boger Nilsson, first arrived in the U.S. We’d been through a similar event just over three years before, when his older brother, Cory, had landed in our embrace—likewise, after a “forever” flight from Seoul, Republic of South Korea. …
OCTOBER 5, 2019 – Yesterday my wife and I hiked through a boreal forest in northern Wisconsin to a precipice overlooking Lake Superior. Along the way I wondered how long I’d survive in those woods—or any northern woods—if I were equipped only with tools of early humans. Not long, I guessed. Maybe I’d catch some …
OCTOBER 4, 2019 – TRAVELED NORTH FROM THE RED CABIN PARENTHESIS WHICH IS ALREADY NORTH COMMA BUT EVERYTHING IS DIRECTIONALLY RELATIVE PARENTHESIS STOP DROVE THROUGH ELK COUNTRY AND DOWN MANY TWISTING GRAVEL ROADS THROUGH VAST CHEQUAMEGON NATIONAL FOREST STOP DESPITE LOW CLOUDS, MIST AND RAIN WE HIKED SOME STOP OUR REWARD ON ONE TREK WAS A …
OCTOBER 3, 2019 – I’ve never worked in the kitchen of a high-end eating establishment. At one place and another, however, I catch glimpses of the küchen when the swinging doors swing, as if I’m watching an early film flickering on an old theater screen. Depending on the establishment, the wall that separates kitchen from …
OCTOBER 2, 2019 – I am well into a nearly 900-page work of scholarship and analysis by historian Richard White entitled The Republic for which it Stands. The book is not for the faint of heart (or short of attention). It provides a detailed account of Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, and for me, anyway, fills …