Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
NOVEMBER 3, 2021 – According to public information and insider observations, the heart of the Twin Cities metro area is a major crime zone. It’s not yet as bad as Minneapolis was 26 years ago, when with 97 shooting deaths, the city was known as “Murderapolis,” but the year isn’t over. Moreover, in Minneapolis this …
NOVEMBER 2, 2021 – One of the joys of having our six-year-old granddaughter visit is teaching her to pronounce, “Paganini.” This was in answer to her question, “What’s the music in the cat video?” The “cat video” is Fantasia dei Gatti (“Fantasia of the Cats”), a cartoon produced by Augustin Hadelich, the Italian-born/reared son of …
NOVEMBER 1, 2021 – Yesterday’s Times included the review of a “big picture” book, just released, written by British anthropologist David Wengrow and the late American anthropologist (and “anarchy activist”) David Graeber. By “big picture” I don’t mean large illustration. I mean a book that makes you question what billions of us have taken for …
OCTOBER 31, 2021 – I grew up in the “Halloween Capital of the World” (Anoka, MN). My wife, who didn’t grow up with world domination (Byron, IL), is skeptical. “A place doesn’t become a world capital of anything,” she asserts, “simply by saying so.” But we Anokans backed words with action. In the 1920s local …
OCTOBER 30, 2021 – Perhaps now I really have “recalibrated.” Or maybe my nearly two-month “news” blackout is simply working: once a news junkie, I no longer feel a craving for inconclusive . . . noise. But more is afoot here, I think. It’s called aging, not simply in a physical sense but psychologically, along …
OCTOBER 29, 2021 – The other night I dreamt that along with alleged co-conspirators, I’d been sentenced to execution for political crimes. I’m unsure what triggered the dream, though I’ve been reading about the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror (mid-1793 to mid-1794). The guillotine was in active use back then—initially in France then …
OCTOBER 28, 2021 – I’m not a tax lawyer, but throughout my career I’ve had more than a passing brush with tax law. Currently, I’m working on a protracted deal with lots of “tax angles,” and to my consternation, the tax accountant I work with characterizes these angles as “complicated.” Over the years, I’ve developed …
OCTOBER 27, 2021 – On paper, as it were, I should be a decent Scrabble player. I like words and etymology; I like to read and write. But in my family, when it comes to playing the game, I’ll never be more than an amateur—this despite my use of the word “qat,” my familiarity with …
OCTOBER 26, 2021 – In my latest plunge into the history of the French Revolution (Hero of Two Worlds by Mike Duncan—see 10/20/21 post), I’m reminded of a factor I’d dismissed in previous study: climate change. Royal decadence, aristocratic privilege, and enduring feudalism became a powder keg. But what was the match that lit the …
OCTOBER 25, 2021 – Recently, my sister and brother-in-law attended a fund-raising dinner for LiNK. No, not Linkedin but Liberty in North Korea. They were so impressed by the people they encountered—and by the mission of LiNK—I thought the least I could do was call attention to this amazing organization. Founded in 2004 by mostly …
OCTOBER 24, 2021 – Yesterday evening my wife and I and four friends (our theater group of yore) attended a play for the first time in nearly two years. To gain admittance to the Guthrie Theater, you had to show your ticket, a photo i.d., and proof of Covid vaccination. All good. The name of …
OCTOBER 23, 2021 – Recently, I’ve witnessed fear and suffering—up close and personal. I’ve also seen hope and kindness that confirm my faith in humanity. When peering into a matter of life and death, the existence or non-existence of “God” enter one’s thoughts. After the crisis passes, one contemplates the “Great Power” from multiple perspectives …
OCTOBER 22, 2021 – Yesterday evening while walking in the moonlight, I heard the distant echo of an amplified announcer calling a game at the local high school. The words were muffled, so I couldn’t tell if the event was a soccer match or a football game. At one stage, however, I heard, “puts the …
OCTOBER 21, 2021 – Once upon a time I was in third grade—at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis (October 16 – 28, 1962). On the day before Kennedy and Khrushchev stepped back from the ledge, I kept my fingers crossed from the 8:00 a.m. radio news until the sun went down. During that …
OCTOBER 20, 2021 – If you hadn’t heard of Mike Duncan . . . now you have. He’s the self-proclaimed “history geek” who narrates a 179-episode podcast, History of Rome. He’s produced another series on Revolution, which I found riveting just as riveting. His study of revolutions inspired his definitive biography of Lafayette, whose full …
OCTOBER 19, 2021 – Yesterday I cheated and read some news. Worse yet, I read political news. I did not listen to my inner coach. I did not “Just say ‘no’ to nonsense.” The more I read, however, the happier I became. (Maybe exposure to news isn’t as bad for one’s mental health as I’d …
OCTOBER 18, 2021 – Our town’s hardware store of choice was Joe Chutich’s Western Auto on Main. That’s where Dad bought stuff and where he rented a TV for the Olympics, presidential nominating conventions, and the moon landing. Joe was nice but serious. His kids were nice and smart. One’s now a Minnesota Supreme Court …
OCTOBER 17, 2021 – For many people, Covid has confined our travel space. For example, over two years have now passed since I took a plane flight. Not since my pre-teen years have I gone so long not going far, at least by air. This relative confinement has sharpened my awareness of a grand paradox …
OCTOBER 16, 2021 – I recently finished viewing yet another Russian TV series—Vlasik: The Shadow of Loneliness. It’s about Nikolai Sedonovich Vlasik, who rose from obscurity to become Stalin’s head of personal security in the 1930s and through WW II (“The Great Patriotic War”). As I’ve found with other productions by Epic Media (and its …
OCTOBER 15, 2021 – Given the inner calm I’d achieved by avoiding “breaking news,” I worried about the detrimental effect of reading Peril by veteran journalist Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, national political reporter for The Washington Post. The flap copy starts with, “The transition from [You-Know-Who] to President Joseph R. Biden Jr. stands as …
OCTOBER 14, 2021 – “Supply chain” problems plague us. Reasons abound for shortages of parts, materials, dock space, truck drivers, and other disruptions. Recently, however, my wife the discriminating consumer, stumbled upon a simple solution: stop junking up the system with . . . “crap.” Her revelation led us to hysterical laughter, but this required …
OCTOBER 13, 2021 – While driving across rural Wisconsin Monday, I saw an enormous sign that screamed, “F_ _ _ BIDEN.” The blue background, white lettering, and big white stars on the sides mimicked “[YOU-KNOW-WHO]/PENCE” and “YOU-KNOW-WHO]/2020” signs on display during last year’s presidential campaign and “YOU-KNOW-WHO]/2024” signs during this year’s “stop the steal” effort. …
OCTOBER 12, 2021 – Late yesterday I drove from the Red Cabin back to home in the cities. Full darkness descended as I entered the final leg of my journey—a busy highway linking suburbs of the eastern half of the Twin Cities. Swept into frenetic traffic, I stole a skyward glance and caught a glimpse …
OCTOBER 11, 2021 – Yesterday I didn’t encounter another human being. I stayed “on premises,” pulling our dock and lift out of the water and storing the components on shore for the winter. It’s a complex operation, and not wishing to over-tax my body, I took things slowly and deployed lots of “wheels” (logs) and …
OCTOBER 10, 2021 – Thirty miles from the Red Cabin, I stopped to buy a Subway sandwich. After grabbing the goods, I realized that I’d been subjected to . . . unnecessarily loud music. I wondered, For what purpose was it so loud? To keep the minimum-wage workers sufficiently alert not to confuse sliced cheese …