Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
MARCH 31, 2024 – Last night I experienced a beautiful dream in which I was looking up into the royal crowns of a grove of aspens. Their bright yellow and light orange leaves stood out against a deep blue sky. A gust of air suddenly blew through the trees, producing a loud, pleasing sound like …
MARCH 30, 2024 – We’re a big, complex country; 330 million souls, an annual GDP of $26 trillion; billions of transactions and interactions each day that sustain our health, creature comforts, and better ways of life to which we’re accustomed. “Government,” as it were, plays a critical role in how we’ve organized ourselves. It legislates, …
MARCH 29, 2024 – When I heard about the “Key Bridge,” I thought of the “main” or “key” bridge serving greater Baltimore. I was not thinking about the author of the lyrics to our national anthem. The more information I absorb about the recent catastrophe and the enormous projects—recovery, clean-up and rebuilding—the more amazed I …
MARCH 28, 2024 – Trust me. I’m only half as crazy as I appear to be. But I must confess, I thoroughly enjoy the level of insanity that I’ve been able to maintain throughout most of my life—thus far. Despite my strivings to go all the way over the edge, I’ve long accepted that life …
MARCH 27, 2024 – Early this morning I woke up, checked the time—5:00—started coughing and went straight into a panic attack. It was stupid really. There was no reason for such alarm. Well, I won’t say there was no reason, but as far as I could tell there was no good reason. Except, I thought, …
MARCH 26, 2024 – On the recommendation of two friends, this evening Beth and I watched The Last Repair Shop, which won the 2024 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film. It’s a beautiful little film featuring the musical instrument repair shop run for the benefit of student musicians of the Los Angeles public schools. …
MARCH 25, 2024 – All of us have days of gray, colored that way by one thing or another in our lives; sometimes by a whole palette of troubles that cloud out light and warmth. Today was such a day for me and many others who in these parts battled seasonal sickness compounded by ugly …
MARCH 24, 2024 – Today to distract myself from a continuously runny nose—for which over-the-counter antihistamines provide zero relief—and a continual cough (also resistant to all over-the-counter remedies), I devised various imaginary predicaments that were far worse than my actual circumstances. If nothing else, I got a few half-laughs out of the game. The first …
MARCH 23, 2024 – Last December I thought it would make a fun Christmas present to give my wife three tickets for a performance of the classic ballet, Giselle, starring Daniil Simkin and Skylar Brandt, at Northrop Auditorium 15 minutes from our house. My thought was that Beth and I could take our eight-year-old granddaughter, …
MARCH 22, 2024 – Today I watched and listened to the recording of a live performance by the Borodin Quartet, one of the oldest string quartets in the world. The 90-minute concert I listened to featured Borodin—surprise, surprise—along with Tchaikovsky (Andante cantabile from quartet no. 1, opus 11), and Schubert’s The Death and the Maiden. …
MARCH 21, 2024 – For yet another day I’ve been stuck in a neutropenic rut, but I’m treating this condition as far from hopeless. In the first place, what’s the alternative? Second, at around 11:45 this morning, just as I was about to lie down for a nap, my good oncologist, Dr. Bhaskar Kolla called. …
MARCH 20, 2024 – I’m sick. And tired. Tired of being sick; sick of being tired. On the positive side, all test results on Monday, at least were negative: in my misery then I checked into the “Urgency Room,” where the staff took swabs for the possible suspects—flu, strep, RSV, Covid-19—and x-rays to rule out …
MARCH 19, 2024 – (Cont.) One of the papers I wrote for that freshman year survey course in Western Civilization was about the sincerity of Constantine’s conversion. Was he truly committing mind, heart, and soul to Jesus or . . . being a supreme opportunist was he simply riding the rising swell of Christianity within …
MARCH 18, 2024 – (Cont.) There on the top shelf was a book in mint condition. On its dignified spine was the incongruous title, A Short History of Byzantium: what could be short about a history of an 1,100-year empire? Were they still among the living, my college history profs would be impressed that I …
MARCH 17, 2024 – This post—more likely, series of posts—is about pure Shakespeare at the same time it had nothing at all to do with the Bard. It has much more to do with books by way of an example of one . . . or perhaps three condensed into one. From an early age …
MARCH 16, 2024 – Eventually, war stories go the way of war: they end by exhaustion. That’s a bit how I felt yesterday after concluding Chapter Thirteen – “New Beginnings” of my series War Stories. I have many more “war stories,” but if I’ve tired of telling them, surely my (dwindling) readership has tired of …
MARCH 15, 2024 – (Cont.) Once launched the book was on a roll. Our neighbor directly across the street happened to be building a business promoting local authors. She offered to help me gratis to enhance her resumé. She landed multiple signing events at area bookstores and appearances on locally popular talk shows. Before the …
MARCH 14, 2024 – (Cont.) When I emerged into the public space of the bookstore, I was flabbergasted. In implementing my marketing efforts for the signing event, I’d given no thought to crowd limitations imposed by the Minneapolis fire code. The entire downtown workforce seemed to have turned out. If half of them bought a …
MARCH 13, 2024 – (Cont.) Several months before my inaugural signing event at the Barnes & Nobles store in the heart of downtown Minneapolis, I happened to be in the store for another lawyer’s book debut. The book itself was flimsy in form and substance and smacked of a DYI project. I knew full well …
MARCH 12, 2024 (Cont.) It so happened that a year before I was fired, David, a member of the law department applied for an open position in my group. He made it to the final round and was scheduled to meet with me. We’d never even heard of each other before the job had been …
MARCH 11, 2024 – (Cont.) That evening I went for a long run—a very long run. As I circled Lake Como in St. Paul, a mile from our neighborhood, I resolved to see my firing as a positive event. Just as a Politburo member’s “catching a cold” had been laughable code for “falling from power,” …
MARCH 10, 2024 – (Cont.) Two weeks later, the newly anointed boss came to town to meet his former peers, now subordinates. He was as inscrutable as ever. I imagined that behind his back he carried a sharpened ax. From his perch in Dan’s old office, he began a series of one-on-one meetings with his …
MARCH 9, 2024 – (Cont.) As most of my peers and I had foreseen, the day arrived when Dan departed for a bigger and better job in the corporate empire of what was now Wells Fargo Bank. The merger had taken everyone by surprise, including the president of Norwest Bank, who reportedly was informed of …
MARCH 8, 2024 – (Cont.) If the copyright police in the law department had caught wind what I was up to, they would’ve wrecked the party. A few months before they’d come down on the “My Favorite Boss!” woman, who had bamboozled Dan into appointing her as head of marketing for the whole department. One …
MARCH 7, 2024 – (Cont.) About 18 months after he’d taken over the reins, Dan announced that he wanted us—his direct reports—to take turns leading the department’s periodic “business update” meetings. These had been all-department gatherings in the ballroom-turned-corporate meeting venue at a downtown hotel, led by our fearless leader and featuring the department’s year-to-date …