Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
JUNE 11, 2021 – Years ago while browsing the shelves of an independent bookstore, I encountered a tome called, Empire of the Czars by Marquis de Custine, a French nobleman who spent three months in Russia in 1839. His acerbic insights endured as a companion to the discerning examination of the United States by his …
JUNE 10, 2021 – Lately, extreme heat has descended upon our part of the world. My wife habitually announces that “It’s so hot” to remind me so. I’d adapted to warming trends. After all, I figured, isn’t adaptation a hallmark of evolutionary success? I used to hate the heat, but that was back when I …
JUNE 9, 2021 – Barking neighborhood dogs used to annoy me. Recently, however, I quit barking—to avoid another manifestation of “old.” A cranky geezer is as appealing as “grampaw” clearing extra phlegm in the morning. Time to act 10 years younger than I am. This attitude-adjustment renders me almost amiable. Got a rescue dog that …
JUNE 8, 2021 – Sunday brought sunshine to our backyard and upon our son Cory and his daughter, Illiana; son Byron and his wife, Mylène; nieces Linnea and Erica; Byron’s close friends, high school classmates and teammates—Christian and Kumar. As an elder, I found hope in talk and banter, play and food, picture-posing and theater …
JUNE 7, 2021 – Every Boomer guy I know has the same story. As a kid, he collected baseball cards and built a stable of stars but now has only a vague notion as to what happened to the collection, including superstars like Mantle and Maris. Today they’d be worth millions—or at least a few …
JUNE 6, 2021 – No matter how much I read about it; no matter how many movies I’ve watched, I can’t imagine myself on the beach at Normandy on that day—this day—in 1944. The Germans knew it was coming but didn’t know when or exactly where. Thanks to their Führer who thought he was a …
JUNE 5, 2021 – Yesterday I planted more trees. Seven balsam to be exact. The entire operation was complicated. It started with the nursery that grows trees from seeds to seedlings. Move on to the media by wh ich the nursery markets its products and add the systems by which those products are processed, packaged, …
JUNE 4, 2021 – We’ve all seen the most recent set of scratchy photos of UFOs. This time around, we’re told, the bobbing lights “really are unexplainable.” I’m skeptical—especially after four years of “fake news,” “Big Lies,” and a royal fest of “conspiracy theories.” But pretend, for a moment, that aliens have actually landed on …
JUNE 3, 2021 – When a client called me this morning, he asked, “Are you up on Walden Pond?” He knows of my attachment to the wilds of northern Wisconsin. “As a matter of fact . . .” I said. I’m here seeking “the cure” for the obstinate pain I described in Tuesday’s post. Coincidentally, …
JUNE 2, 2021 – I watched most of President Biden’s speech delivered yesterday in Tulsa. If we can debate the details of how to diminish racial economic disparity in America, all responsible citizens must acknowledge the fact of that disparity. All of us must also give Biden credit for—acknowledging formally, officially, openly, and in Tulsa, …
June 1, 2021 – Lately, I’ve experienced lots of . . . pain. Call me a wimp for my exceptionally low threshold—even for the needle that’s supposed to bring relief from pain. At midnight yesterday evening, when the ER nurse appeared to administer a shot of Toradol, I raised my hand and said, “Warning: I …
MAY 31, 2021 – I’ve long forgotten the context of the conversation, but one day when I was a firstgrader palling around with Johnny Ridge a couple of doors down, he told me nonchalantly that his uncle “sat on a grenade and got a reward.” Years later, the uncle, Rick Sorenson, came back to Anoka …
MAY 30, 2021 – When he was old, my Grandpa Holman liked to joke about his age when someone stopped for idle chat. “Know how old I am?” he’d ask with hardly any lip or jaw movement. “No,” the person would say. “Neither do I . . .” Grandpa would respond, adding, “because my birthday …
MAY 29, 2021 – Yesterday I took our five-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter to nearby Como Park, where she ran free in the gracious sunshine. On our way to the frog pond, Illiana—in her princess dress—rolled down a grassy knoll. If my back had allowed, I would’ve joined her, as oblivious to attention as was she. We had, …
MAY 28, 2021 – Historically, the power of political leaders emanates from the people who are subject to that power, voluntarily or involuntarily. Lust and fear, meanwhile, are the central ingredients in the relationship between the governed and those who govern. In a dictatorship, fear runs two ways. The dictator who lusts for power fears …
MAY 27, 2021 – After yesterday’s shootings, I’d planned to pontificate about gun control in America. But that’s a story of inertia, so I decided to write about something far more dynamic: aging in America. On an early biz call, an acquaintance asked. “How’s it goin’?” “To be honest,” I said, “[sciatica flare-up].” To which …
MAY 26, 2021 – Recently, the QAnon Congresswoman caught flak for what was deemed an anti-Semitic remark—comparing public health measures to Holocaust savagery. I see it differently. Comparing the face mask rule with the Holocaust lacks the cogency necessary for placement on the broad scale of anti-Semitism—from insidiously subtle to outrageously overt. Congressional Dems and …
MAY 25, 2021 – Displaced by news of human beings beating up on each other are the latest reports regarding “climate change.” Like 90% of an iceberg, this climate news is below the surface. Consider the following: The May 17 study, published by Nature Geoscience, concluding that global warming will expose more of the Antarctic …
MAY 24, 2021 – One of my made-up maxims (page 47 of my imaginary book, Eric’s Adages) is this: To give a statistic meaning, you need to give it company. Whether the context is economics, demographics, or scientific research, to understand a figure, a number, a data point, you need to have a reference point—often …
MAY 23, 2021 – Over the past two days I’ve enjoyed two scintillating conversations with two neighbors. I’m amazed that it took so long to open these nearby treasure chests of knowledge, insight, and inspiration. The first encounter occurred two doors down our alley. Mike was cleaning the inside of his car as I walked …
MAY 22, 2021 – Yesterday, I heard a report that cash is becoming obsolete. Not surprisingly, the pandemic accelerated the trend. The report mentioned that many retail businesses already don’t accept . . . cash. I wondered about the illicit gun and drug business, not to mention “cash” in exchange for that handyman working out …
MAY 21, 2021 – If you’ve been following even sporadically the Republican election “audit” in Maricopa County, Arizona or the Republican Congressional denial of the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, you’ve been following nonsense. Any human experienced in reality knows that the foregoing examples of unreality are just that—nonsense. But behind the nonsense lies …
MAY 20, 2021 – Dad would’ve turned 99 today—had he lived another 11 years. In his mind, 87, almost 88, was a respectable number. When the hospitalist gave him the bad news, Dad’s response was to note the ages of Presidents Washington and Lincoln. A student of history, Dad admired deeply George and Abe. “Washington …
MAY 19, 2021 – Over years I’ve experienced episodic lower back pain—sometimes severe. I’m not alone. In searching for relief, I discovered that 80% of people older than 18 experience back trouble. A deeper dive reveals that among other maladies and dysfunctionalities, lower back pain is killing us. I wonder if other vertebrates experience “lower …
MAY 18, 2021 – Surrounded yesterday by Mother Nature, I found her more compelling subject than yet more consequences of Republicans drinking too much Kook Aid. An email at 10:06 a.m. told me my order of seedlings had been delivered. I’d been on a biz call while sitting inside the front of the Red Cabin …