Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
OCTOBER 2, 2020 – This is hurricane season in the Atlantic, and among the many dynamics that will affect the outcome of the approaching election, I’ve long cited the weather. What happens in states from Florida to North Carolina and Alabama to Texas and beyond if a CAT 5 storm strikes on the eve of …
OCTOBER 1, 2020 – You know the country’s in trouble when the local elementary school proudly broadcasts they’re a bunch of cheaters. I kid you not. Worse than Tuesday evening’s debate are the fallen standards at our neighborhood “institution of lower learning.” The sign currently bears large black lettering that reads, “WE ARE CHEETAHS!” And …
SEPTEMBER 30, 2020 – . . . after last’ night’s debate, I wish that Joe Biden were not who he is. I wish he were a Rhodes Scholar, a great debater, and 20 years younger. I wish he espoused a different policy here and there. I also wish that humankind were so perfect, it didn’t …
SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 – Often the big story lies unmentioned behind the lead story. Take for example a recent screed on Facebook. A “friend” posted a piece allegedly by a police officer in Duluth, MN—the only attribution to the eloquent exposition was “A police officer.” (If lawyers and English professors were half as eloquent as …
SEPTEMBER 28, 2020 – The Sham Man has now been called out in the most definitive way possible—for all of us who pay income taxes. For us who’ve always seen the emperor’s nakedness, news of Trump’s zero tax bill in 10 of the last 15 years and such details as his $70,000 deduction for hair …
SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 – Netflix and competitors have produced quality TV entertainment in volumes unimaginable a generation ago. For many people isolated during the pandemic, Netflix is a godsend. Starting in March, I’ve watched 60 (!) episodes of Bolivar, dozens more of The Borgias, The Medicis, and Marco Polo. My wife, meanwhile, has watched This, …
SEPTEMBER 26,2020 – After three and a half years, no one should be surprised by Trump’s latest disruption of political norms. But his most recent assault on our democracy should motivate responsible Americans to vote for Biden in overwhelming numbers. What Trump has said about the electoral process is not merely “disruptive.” It undermines the …
SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 – The other night I woke up with a start. Despite having been fed a hearty supper and later snacks my stomach was growling. I felt no discomfort, just annoyance from the interruption of a beautiful “movie” . . . I mean, dream . . . about skiing. The noise—from my stomach, …
SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 – Yesterday I stood in line for an hour to cast my ballot—affirmatively, convincingly, beyond all attempts to lose, miscount, question or disqualify that ballot. It would be no exaggeration to compare my feelings to how one feels when participating in a ritual of one’s religious organization. Granted, everyone wore a mask …
SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 – When I worked at First Bank, now USBank, I had a boss whose name was Jim Roberts. One of my co-workers called him “Jim Bob” for short. Pretty soon, we all called Jim, “Jim Bob,” though never to his face. Jim Bob was a good boss—smart, effective, trustworthy, affable. We got …
SEPTEMBER 22, 2020 – As one headline after another suggests America is the Titanic amidst icebergs in the North Atlantic, we should take measure of our ship—our country—to understand better what kind of vessel we occupy. We’re 50 states, big and small, urban and rural, coastal and inland, West and East, North and South—each with …
SEPTEMBER 21, 2020 – Out of nowhere Saturday came his text: “How are you and your family[?] Long time w no communication. I hope Trump doesn’t get to pick another SC Justice. Can we talk? Give me a good time tomorrow. Will be working on cabin. Jeff.” It was my close college friend, Jeff Oppenheim. …
SEPTEMBER 20, 2020 – Recently, a good friend of mine, whose sails had been below my horizons for all too long, emailed me an essay by E. B. White: The Sea and the Wind that Blows. White is the writer’s writer (Sea—I mean see—The Elements of Style). I didn’t know that the Man of Style …
SEPTEMBER 19, 2020 – Even though I got lost in the woods yesterday, the main point of this post is not about that—since I’m no longer lost—in the woods, anyway. Nor is this about anything broad- or big-minded; just something . . . down to earth. Know, however, that being lost in the great outdoors …
SEPTEMBER 18, 2020 – If you spend enough time “in nature,” you make realistic judgments. Sure, nature is grand and beautiful. But it’s also cruel, unforgiving, even obnoxious. Over the summer I’ve devoted many hours to trimming around each of my 300 planted seedlings and at least that number of volunteers over roughly 15 acres …
SEPTEMBER 17, 2020 – Yesterday I fled the cities again for the Red Cabin. That sounds as if the cities are “aflame,” but that’s not true. They’re safe and secure, and though lately the sun has exhibited an unusual orange tinge from West Coast smoke, the outdoor air is still breathable. Black Lives Mattersigns still blanket …
SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 – When I was little, our house caught fire—or rather, our attached garage did. The cause: a box of hot ashes that the cleaning woman had stowed between studs of the garage wall. At the moment Mother yelled, “Fire!”—I was on the living room floor listening to the phonograph play the story …
SEPTEMBER 15, 2020 – . . . “Let’s put Kennedy in the garbage can.” That’s what my older sisters and I sassed around our house in the run-up to the 1960 general election. Our parents were Republicans, as were our maternal grandparents. (Our paternal grandparents were in question; in 1965, Grandpa Nilsson expressed approval when …
SEPTEMBER 14, 2020 – My third memorable fifth-grade lesson was about battlefield courage. The lesson could be traced directly to the Civil War. Background is in order. My dad was a student of the Civil War. He’d read all of Bruce Catton’s books on the subject and owned the four-inch-thick, illustrated volume, Civil War, published …
SEPTEMBER 13, 2020 – (cont.) As I circled the correct answer to question #4 (Susan had erased her circle around a wrong answer), I pictured a pool of vomit in the aisle; Mrs. Hilliard saying “Everyone stay calm,” then rushing out of the room; her returning minutes later with “Harry,” the friendly custodian only slightly …
SEPTEMBER 12, 2020 – My second memorable lesson from fifth grade was about guilt, taught again unwittingly by Susan Johansen, the girl who sat in front of me (see my 9/11 post – “The Sneeze”). One winter day our official teacher, Mrs. Hilliard, handed out a two-page, mimeographed math quiz and gave us instructions as …
SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 – I learned three memorable things in fifth grade. The first concerned sneezing. Until then, I’d never given sneezing much thought. When I had to sneeze, I sneezed. My sneezes were normal. They didn’t scare the cat or cause my arms to flap. And they didn’t produce improbable sounds—nothing like BZZZZZKK! which …
SEPTEMBER 10, 2020 – (Cont.) I was ecstatic but perplexed. The big kids at home had ample space to “deal with” their catches—a stretch of sand, a patch of grass, terra firma on which to lay the fish and work the hook out of its mouth. But a bass flopping around inside a net on …
SEPTEMBER 9, 2020 – (Cont.) When Dad got something special for any of my sisters or me—a birthday present, for example—he’d “hide” it on the back shelf of the front hall closet, which was pretty much his closet, where he parked his fedora, hat brush, dress coats, and umbrella. Every day in the weeks leading …
SEPTEMBER 8, 2020 – Recently, while sitting on the dock, my wife and I watched a lone fisherman out a ways haul in a catch. “Hard to tell,” I said, “if it’s a bass or a walleye; it’s definitely not a northern or a muskie.” “O-o-h-h,” my wife scoffed. “You don’t know the first thing …