Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
JULY 7, 2019 -I spend a lot of time in the woods around our cabin in northwest Wisconsin. Over the years, I’ve seen trees sprout, grow, get sick and recover, get sick and die, die young, die old. I’ve seen hearty trees, ailing one, lucky trees, unlucky ones; freakishly crooked, ugly trees; beautiful, towering, textbook …
JULY 6, 2019 – Last week I moved my office from the historic Flour Exchange Building to high-tech space down the street in downtown Minneapolis. The move was prompted by a rent hike at the old place and my realization that with the wholesale digitalization of my practice, my office—with space-hogging furniture plus cabinets filled …
JULY 5, 2019 – Intrigued by Portugal during last year’s sojourn, my wife and I decided to explore more of the country after our son’s wedding there two weeks ago. Last year, our son and his now bride did all the planning, driving and navigation; managed every detail. This year we relied solely on our …
JULY 4, 2019 – As go Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Presidents Day, so goes the Fourth of July. In other words, the fashion in which we celebrate these holidays is quite detached from the historical reality of their origins. In the case of Independence Day, where is the meaning in fireworks, local parades, fireworks, backyard barbecues, …
JULY 3, 2019 – In an instant the work of many hands turned into a magical scene. Script, setting, players—all fell into perfect place. An invisible hand directed the action into images indelibly written into our memories. We would share a bond among themselves as with no other people. Framing our memories were a late …
JULY 2, 2019 – Yesterday my wife and I returned from a 12-day sojourn in Portugal. It was an expanded version of our visit there a year ago. Last year the main objective was to meet our younger son’s future in-laws, António and Marie-Helena. This year the central purpose was the ceremony that would make …
JUNE 18, 2019 – Today my wife and I are bound for “Cortiços” (pronounced, “cor-TEE-sōsh”), a magical place unknown to us until a year ago. It is a village whose population matches its years—400. It lies amidst the olive orchards of Trás-os-Montes (“behind the mountains”) in the extreme northeast part of Portugal. What takes us …
JUNE 17, 2019 – Elizabeth Warren has become the “ideas” candidate for president. One of her ideas is forgiveness of student debt, paid for by taxing the assets of the super-rich, not the merely rich. I love the electoral simplicity of this idea: free stuff for the masses, ergo lots of political benefit; whopping price …
JUNE 16, 2019 – Beth and I are at the lake where we go to commune with nature—when we’re not pre-occupied with projects, which is much of the time. At just past 11:00 yesterday morning, Beth was installing hostas in the garden behind the cabin, while I was working on deck repairs. Suddenly, the nature …
JUNE 15, 2019 – It was June 1974. A high school friend who was well aware of my (then) political aspirations had recruited me to sell books door-to-door with a company he’d joined the previous summer. “It’ll be great experience for when you run for office,” he said, “’cause to get elected, you’re gonna have …
JUNE 14, 2019 – And I’m not talking only about Nero. I’m talking about Congress. I’m talking about all the Democratic candidates for president—because to date there are no Republicans with requisite spine to challenge the incumbent. I’m talking about the media—mainstream, social, cable, network, business. I’m talking about . . . all of us. …
JUNE 13, 2019 – Back in the day, we who are of a respectable vintage communicated by voice in two ways: in person or by telephone with a combination receiver/microphone attached by a cord to the telephone itself, which was hard-wired to the outside world. We corresponded primarily by one of three methods: a letter …
JUNE 12, 2019 – The flag-waver talked on. “Muslims shouldn’t be allowed into this country either,” he told me. “How many Muslims do you know personally?” I asked. “I know what they stand for.” “No, my question was how many do you know personally.” “I know what they want to do to this country.” “But …
JUNE 11, 2019 – Yesterday on my way to work I had two contrasting, back-to-back encounters. I’ll report them objectively, using as few adjectives and adverbs as possible, except to enhance visualization. I want the reader to be self-directed as far as conclusions are concerned. PART I – CAP AND FLAG When I crossed Third …
JUNE 10, 2019 – Recently I watched Ken Burns’ acclaimed documentary, The Civil War—the ultimate oxymoron. I’d read and studied much about that seismic event, and I’d been riveted to the first showing of the aforesaid documentary nearly three decades ago. But this time around, the Civil War looks more tragic, more cataclysmic, more baffling …
JUNE 9, 2019 – Though Dad died over nine years ago, I still think a lot about him—what he would think, what he would have to say about one thing or another. I’m especially aware of him when I’m up at the lake, walking the woods, observing nature or . . . working on some …
JUNE 8, 2019 – After a week in the rat race, we’re now enjoying the quietude of the northwoods. Here one notices the subtleties of nature and learns to appreciate the grander scheme of things. After dinner I slipped the kayak into the waters and paddled fast straight out until I was safely beyond the …
JUNE 7, 2019 – If we don’t materially alter our course now, big portions of the world’s 7.7 billion people will find themselves in areas so environmentally compromised as to be uninhabitable. Mass migrations will increase, threatening existing political and economic structures around the world. Consider, for example, rising average temperatures in most of India …
JUNE 6, 2019 – For eighth grade English I had Mr. Howe, the wrestling coach. Reliable sources reported that he was an excellent coach. I could attest that he was a superb teacher. When he included the lyrics to The Sounds of Silence in our poetry unit, he became everyone’s favorite teacher. He was soft-spoken, and …
JUNE 5, 2019 – One day at Franklin Elementary, where I was a third-grader, the teachers handed out flyers for the Shrine Circus. If you wanted to go, all you had to do was have your parents fill out the form at the bottom of the flyer and pay the dollar to cover the ticket …
JUNE 4, 2019 – Yesterday I yelled at four people—two by phone, two in person. I don’t mean “yell” yelled, but I was pretty steamed. In each case of “yelling,” two thoughts occurred to me: 1. I’m becoming a curmudgeon; and 2. The targeted person was probably less than half my age. (That would mean born …
JUNE 3, 2019 – This past weekend at the cabin we entertained our three-and-a-half-year old granddaughter; or rather, she entertained us. It was her first visit of the season, and she had a blast—nature walks, rides in the kayak, watering the gardens, playing in the sandbox, picking wild flowers, throwing stones into the lake, drawing …
JUNE 2, 2019 – I immediately called my client at home in southern France. He’d been expecting me to call after the hearing. “How’d it go? Did we . . .” “Can you hear me?” I said, repeatedly. Bad connection. I tried ringing again but the call wouldn’t go through. To improve the signal, I …
JUNE 1, 2019 – Once we’d settled in, the judge took his seat behind his commanding desk and asked us one by one to identify ourselves and our clients—none of whom was present. My guy was the only individual party in the case. The other parties were giant corporations, and I’d wanted to position my …
MAY 31, 2019 – The case revolved around an arcane issue, and the resulting briefs were sufficiently dense to put any judge fast asleep. They had been a laborious undertaking for all of us lawyers involved—briefs in support of cross-motions for “summary judgment.” When the time for the hearing arrived—9:00 on a Monday morning in …