Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
APRIL 21, 2021 – We Twin Citians are relieved by The Verdict. Many call it “accountability,” not “justice.” It can’t bring back George Floyd, Jr. It can’t expunge generations of evil. But it marks a new beginning. Just ahead of The Verdict, I drove to George Floyd Square, 15 minutes from our house. Mostly journalists …
APRIL 20, 2021 – Today my bigger sis Elsa turns a big number. I say “bigger,” because we both have a “biggest” sister (see 4/11/21), each of whom is “big” when it comes to brains and beauty, though not in physical stature. Even if Elsa were my junior, she’d still be my superior. She always …
APRIL 19, 2021 – From 1897 through 2019, the Boston Marathon was held on Patriot’s Day—April 19 (after 1968, the third Monday in April). This year the traditional date coincides with the third Monday in April, though thanks to Covid, the race will run in October. I “ran Boston” five times, but my first—1978—was most …
APRIL 18, 2021 – Most “lake people” nowadays have a light-weight aluminum dock installed by easy-to-manage sections or by its own big wheels mounted under the front. In either case, most lacustrian dwellers hire out the task to a friendly, local service for a not-so-friendly fee. I don’t know of any research into the possible …
APRIL 17, 2021 – Yesterday, as my wife and I headed out of town for the Red Cabin, she read aloud from her newsfeed. This fueled an intense discussion about The Trial and The Latest Shooting. We speculated about reaction to next week’s verdict in The Trial. Will Minneapolis—the central part of which is already …
APRIL 16, 2021 – Yesterday I watched the clip of Dr. Fauci’s exchange with Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH). My skepticism about our national beliefs crystalized into acute fear. After centuries in the making, our country has come down to this—a debate between crass wrestling coach vs. erudite science teacher. The wrestling coach is no stranger …
APRIL 15, 2021 – Recently, I watched the Netflix documentary, Sérgio, about Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian UN diplomat extraordinaire. The film is as inspirational as it is heart-breaking. A UN staff member remarks how unusual it was by organizational convention that such a high-ranking official would be known exclusively by his first name. That …
APRIL 14, 2021 – During last year’s protests following the death of George Floyd, Jr., Mike Max, the popular sportscaster on local CBS affiliate WCCO, assumed double-duty as street-beat reporter. He did a fine job—reporting objectively, asking hard questions, not flinching in the face of approaching tear gas. Last night he appeared in the police …
APRIL 13, 2021 – The “Minnesota Nice” of my (white) privileged youth, is now, “Minnesota News,” and not in a nice way. Yesterday, I spoke with a lawyer whose office is a block from The Trial. He mentioned that plywood was being installed over all ground floor windows. “The memo came out last week,” he …
APRIL 12, 2021 – Sunday here in the Twin Cities was 53F, heavily overcast, with a north gust now and again. When I reached Little Switzerland for my daily routine of “hill climbs,” the place was crawling with golfers. My first reaction was, “What in the world?! Do they think this is some kind of …
APRIL 11, 2021 – Today is my oldest sister’s birthday, or as she’d call it, “the anniversary of her birth,” which is what it’s called—with syntactical correctness—in the Anglican (Episcopalian) Common Book of Prayer. My three sisters and I remember this form of “Happy Birthday!” from our upbringing. Kristina is the one who remains a …
APRIL 10, 2021 – Recently, I cleared a stack of books from one nook of our house and deposited them in another cranny. In the process a thin paperback escaped my grip and fell lightly to the floor. It was The Amateur Emigrant by Robert Louis Stevenson. On the cover was an illustration of the …
APRIL 9, 2021 – Between rain showers this week, I’ve been dashing over to the 20-year old, backyard cedar treehouse that I’m disassembling for its treasure trove of lumber. As I’m discovering, there’s as much art, engineering, and imagination involved in taking apart a structure of this size and structure as there is in putting …
APRIL 8, 2021 – According to a report by The New York Times, soon after the death of Floyd George, Jr., Officer Knee-on-the-Neck offered to plead guilty to a third-degree murder charge and accept a 10-year prison sentence—if (a) the time could be served in a federal prison; and (b) federal civil rights charges would …
APRIL 7, 2021 – Yesterday morning I resolved to do something about my pandemic hair. With the advent of spring I wanted to drive with the (tinted) windows down without fear of being ticketed for “distracting other motorists.” It’d been 15 months since I’d had a haircut. In my 7/11/2019 post, I introduced readers to …
APRIL 6, 2021 – I’d planned to resume writing about The Trial, but yesterday I stumbled into a large pile of scrap lumber. (See yesterday’s blog post.) More precisely, I encountered thousands of dollars’ worth of weathered but still perfectly serviceable cedar in the form of a grand “treehouse” in our small town. At the …
APRIL 5, 2021 – Being tree-hugger, I can’t stand a good piece of scrap of lumber going to waste. I caught this disease from my dad, who, in turn, had inherited it from his dad. My other grandpa collected scrap metal. Figures. He was an industrialist kind of guy. My dad and paternal grandpa, however, …
APRIL 4, 2021 – Today is Christianity’s big day when lamentations over the Crucifixion change to shouts of “Halleluiah!” over the Resurrection. This is the day when it is said that Jesus, deader ’n a door . . . er, crucifixion . . . nail, came to, sat up, rolled the stone away from the …
APRIL 3, 2021 – For today’s post I’d prepared a commentary on the world’s woes; another feverish snarl, drooling with invective, and reverberating with righteous indignation. It was all set to go, ready to cut, paste, and publish. But then a morning stroll disrupted my plans. Before breakfast I slipped outside to inspect the morning—morning …
APRIL 2, 2021 – When I was young, I couldn’t figure out what was good about “Good Friday.” From my limited perspective, it was all bad—first the betrayal, then the taunts, then the crown of three-inch thorns pressed onto his head so hard . . . A-a-h-h-h! . . . then spikes hammered through his …
APRIL 1, 2021 – As The Trial continued yesterday, the jury—the one in the courtroom and the one of public opinion—saw a cogent, composed eye-witness fall apart emotionally as he relived the traumatic scene; as he watched the replay of George Floyd, Jr. in distress. The witness happened to be an older Black man—his thick, …
MARCH 31, 2021 – On cross-ex during day two of The Trial, the defense focused on the “unruly mob.” If I were Eric Nelson instead of Eric Nilsson, I wouldn’t have gone there. To establish “reasonable doubt”— Chauvin’s sine qua non—your assertions have to be reasonable. What’s not a reasonable assertion is that a few …
MARCH 30, 2021 – Yesterday I watched in the entirety, both opening statements in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer charged with three counts of felonious homicide in the death of George Floyd, Jr. I saw the now infamous video that was shown by the prosecution. That evidence alone produces reasonable doubt …
MARCH 29, 2021 – In the spring of second grade my teacher told us to look out for signs that the interminable winter wasn’t so. Every Monday, first thing, she’d ask us to cite the most recent harbingers of a more hospitable season. There were the usual things—disappearing snowbanks, green blades of grass, a robin …
MARCH 28, 2021 – I remember Palm Sunday of my childhood. At some point you’d wind up with a palm cutting in one hand and a small palm cross in the other. As I recall, you were supposed to save the palms until Lent the next year. Mine never lasted that long. As to the …