Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
OCTOBER 3, 2019 – I’ve never worked in the kitchen of a high-end eating establishment. At one place and another, however, I catch glimpses of the küchen when the swinging doors swing, as if I’m watching an early film flickering on an old theater screen. Depending on the establishment, the wall that separates kitchen from …
OCTOBER 2, 2019 – I am well into a nearly 900-page work of scholarship and analysis by historian Richard White entitled The Republic for which it Stands. The book is not for the faint of heart (or short of attention). It provides a detailed account of Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, and for me, anyway, fills …
OCTOBER 1, 2019 – Today’s post features an experiment. Quick quiz (with no “correct” answer): How would you prioritize the issues listed below? Impeachment (Or, “Democrats’ war against the president” (if you’re a Republican)/”The need to halt foreign interference in our elections” (if you’re a Democrat)); Responding to climate change; Keeping out hordes and rounding …
SEPTEMBER 30, 2019 – Yesterday we attended a retirement party for our friend Joe Craven, long-time commercial pilot (Northwest/Delta) and former Navy airman. Frankly, I’m sorry Joe is retiring. I always felt safer knowing that he was among the ranks of American commercial pilots. Whenever we socialize with Cravens, Rich Thomas, a mutual friend of …
SEPTEMBER 29, 2019 – Yesterday evening we “dined” at the wholly refurbished House of Wong in an old local strip mall that recently underwent a major “face lift.” House of Wong opened in 1958. We’d eaten there once about 30 years ago. It was popular among old folks then, and it’s a favorite of older …
SEPTEMBER 28, 2019 – For years I’ve enjoyed the daily experience of walking in a place that affords a 180-degree view of the sky. We humans spend most of our waking hours looking at the world parallel to the ground. You might say it’s a “down to earth” way of seeing things. If you’re an …
SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 – I’ve devised an impeachment quiz for supporters of the president: 1. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land: ____ Yes; see next question. ____ No; we’re done. 2. Have you read the background to Article II, Section 4 (impeachment) of the Constitution? ____ Yes; see next question. ____ No; …
SEPTEMBER 26, 2019 – I’m the luckiest brother on earth, because I’ve got the best three sisters on earth . . . or, as far as I know, anywhere else. Today is my younger sister’s birthday. Named after the Swedish Nightingale, “Jenny Lind” (or “Jenny Wren,” as our dad called her when she was a …
SEPTEMBER 25, 2019 – Like you, I trust, I’m scandalized by the incessant gush of the president’s corruptionfecklessnesserraticismselfdealingnepotismvindictive behaviorsupportfordictatorscontemptforalliesscornforsciencedisregardfortheruleoflawinhumanetreatmentofdesperatehumanbeingspersonalderisionofothersetceteraadnausem. Now the latest serious infraction: Ukraine-Bidengate, a much simpler case of wrong than the Byzantine record of prior offenses. Finally, Pelosi says enough is enough. Yet some Democrats still oppose impeachment on grounds the process would …
SEPTEMBER 24, 2019 – In case you haven’t already heard it, you must listen to the speech of Greta Thunberg (pronounced, TŪN-berry) at the UN Climate Change Summit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAJsdgTPJpU Her words and delivery smack you directly between the ears—where the brain resides. As she cuts to the quick, you remind yourself, “To travel from her …
JANUARY 23, 2019 – Awhile back I was hiking across my usual terrain in Little Switzerland . . . the golf course in nearby Como Park. Near the foot of the hill I call “St. Moritz,” I encountered a lost golf ball. I know it was lost because no golfers were anywhere in sight. Initially …
SEPTEMBER 22, 2019 – Everything—everything—from a quark to the universe is part of a larger system. At extreme ends of the spectrum lie quantum physics and grand-scale philosophy. Between those extremes, an infinite (paradoxically) number of systems interact. In our daily work and lives, however, we largely ignore the totality of most systems that affect …
SEPTEMBER 21, 2019 – Yesterday evening my wife and I joined 20 others to hear one sensationalist artist, Steve Copes on violin, accompanied by another phenomenon, Hanna Hjunjung Kim, deliver a pinnacle performance of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1. For 35 minutes, our lower jaws were in dangle mode. At the end, we were …
SEPTEMBER 20, 2019 – In the splendid weather of late, each morning with coffee and The Times out on the back porch—and each evening there with lemonade and a good book—are blessings to be savored. Thus, you can imagine my chagrin when these simple porch pleasures were denied by offenses to the senses. Yesterday morning …
SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 – I recently took two airplane rides aboard commercial aircraft (Airbus A319 and Airbus A321, to be precise). Listen to me—“airplane rides”! You’d think I’m some kind of bumpkin who rarely travels. Depending on your standards, you could justly accuse me of being a bit of a bumpkin but not one unacquainted …
SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 – Our family has a favorite story, originating with my younger sister and featuring the word, “behave.” Actually, it’s two words. The tale goes like this . . . My sister Jenny was on an extended tour playing violin in the orchestra of an opera company. In a rather obscure and underserved …
SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 – On the Nilsson side, I have three brothers-in-law, each of whom is an avid reader. One, however, is the dean. In fact, his name is Dean. Late last week, I had the privilege of visiting with him about his extraordinary literary travels. I first met Dean when he was a student …
SEPTEMBER 15, 2019 – Metaphors can work like 3-D glasses in a movie theater, revealing features not readily discernible otherwise. Consider for a moment, eating establishments—dives, diners, delis, oyster bars, steakhouses, club houses, fast-food franchises, and upper crust/uppercut restaurants. They’re as varied as people. Speaking of whom . . . I often wonder what contrasts …
SEPTEMBER 14, 2019 – At 10:18 I zipped out the door and onto the elevator. Remembering I’d not brushed my teeth, I fished the last piece of peppermint gum from my briefcase. As the doors opened on the fifth floor, I just about mowed down a waiting passenger. She screamed. I apologized. On the ground …
SEPTEMBER 13, 2019 – A fortnight ago I’d bought online a NYC-Boston Amtrak ticket. The objective: to visit my sister Kristina and her husband, Dean. I’d received confirmation but hadn’t given it another look until . . . precisely 10:11 yesterday morning. A week before I’d made flight arrangements—Minneapolis/St. Paul to LaGuardia—with the return flight …
SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 – Yesterday evening I attended the annual “dinner at the Algonquin” with this year’s class of the World Press Institute (“WPI”) fellowship program. Each year our organization brings journalists from around the world to the U.S. for a nine-week tour of media centers and other urban and rural corners of this sprawling …
SEPTEMBER 11, 2019 – Right now I’m in New York City on multiple missions. Remembering 9/11 is not among them, but it is impossible to be in this great town on this date without reflecting on the horrific event that so disrupted the life of the world on 9/11/2001. No one alive and conscious then …
SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 – One view of humankind is that we’re a bunch of incompetent dolts. Another view is that we’re just the opposite. You might say, we’re like LaGuardia Airport. It can be your worst nightmare or, against, the odds, everything can turn out just fine. When my younger sister, Jenny, flew to LaGuardia …
SEPTEMBER 9, 2019 – Unless your name is “Benjamin Button,” when you’re young, everything you know about being older is vicarious. You watch your parents, grandparents, maybe great-grandparents, and wonder how you’ll appear, think and act when you’re an old geezer. More likely, you’ll proclaim how you won’t appear, think or act. Good luck with …
SEPTEMBER 8, 2019 – My friend Steve repeatedly cites several aphorisms that help explain humanity. Here I describe three. Continually I encounter evidence supporting their validity. FIRST: “NO ONE IS AN A-STUDENT AT EVERYTHING.” By this Steve means that limits exist to the range of everyone’s competencies. Your plumber might be brilliant at installing a …