Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
DECEMBER 20, 2019 – What’s as predictable as Christmas is the alacrity with which it arrives. Now. When I was a kid, the slow passage of time allowed me to savor the approach of the biggest holiday in American culture. When I was in second grade, our teacher, Mrs. Lundring, who seemed way past retirement …
DECEMBER 19, 2019 – Earlier this week I had a spirited conversation with each of four lawyers, including a current sitting district court judge and a retired Minnesota Supreme Court Justice. One exchange was over an impromptu lunch; the others were in downtown Minneapolis skyways. I’ve known each of these people for years, having practiced …
DECEMBER 18, 2019 – A few years ago I was asked to represent a faction of a local mosque, whose members were Somali immigrants. They claimed they’d been ousted from the board and other positions by a competing faction that had resorted to illegal methods, aided by the local police. After extensive interviews, thorough examination …
DECEMBER 17, 2019 – On Sunday evening I watched David Lean’s Dr. Zhivago. I’ve lost track, but it might have been the 12th time I’ve enjoyed the 1965 epic film directed by David Lean. It went on to become one of the biggest box office hits ever. For those who read my “thumbs up” review …
DECEMBER 16, 2019 – You’ll be shocked to learn that I’m currently in . . . prison. Or maybe you’re not surprised. As some of you already know, my wife was sentenced a few weeks ago. Our crimes? “Circulating among humanity.” Yes, I know, it’s hard to believe that such an offense could be a …
DECEMBER 15, 2019 – One bad sign for any society is the normalization of the abnormal. In critical quarters since Inauguration Day 2017—overt, contemptuous disregard for observable fact has become the norm. The line was crossed by Trump’s insistence that his inauguration crowd was “the biggest ever.” One must acknowledge that “lying,” “cheating,” and other …
DECEMBER 14, 2019 – Impeachment can wait. Minnesota is lucky I’m not a highway patrolman. If I were, I’d have every other car pulled over for one infraction or another—speeding, following too closely, failure to signal, failure to yield, failure to come to a complete stop at a stop sign, texting while driving. If I …
DECEMBER 13, 2019 – Several years ago I read Daniel Kahneman’s brain-altering book, Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow. No other book affected my thinking—however fast or slow—as much . . . . . . until I read The Misinformation Age by two philosophers of science, Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall. The text is only 186 …
DECEMBER 12, 2019 – If you’ve noticed over the past several years, our Commander-in-Chief has an affinity for superlatives. Among 38% to 42% of the electorate, apparently, use of superlatives is an effective rhetorical device. Actually, “rhetorical device” assigns undeserved refinement to simplistic speech patterns. Let’s stop at “effective.” In my experience, superlatives are dilutive, …
DECEMBER 11, 2019 – Yesterday at 5:30 p.m. while I shivered at my bus stop, I checked the temperature on my phone: 4F. To my relief, the 5:35 bus appeared right on time. The commute the evening before had been a different story. Through new snow, buses on Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis had crawled …
DECEMBER 10, 2019 – On Saturday we joined a friend for a delectable meal at a Vietnamese restaurant. After 30-minutes of far-ranging but politics-free conversation, Trump’s name plopped down into the Phô, splashing soup onto the table. “I resent the fact,” our friend said, “that Trump now interferes with nearly every conversation I have.” My …
December 9, 2019 – Yesterday I came off a satisfying practice session with my good friend and piano collaborator, Sally S. As I drove away, I said to myself, “That piece is coming along.” We plan to perform it at our annual house concerts—this time in the spring. “That piece” is the Mendelssohn violin concerto. …
DECEMBER 8, 2019 – Friday evening my wife and I binge-watched on Netflix, Martin Scorsese’s masterwork, The Irishman. I say “binge-watched,” because though the film is not a series, it runs for three-and-a-half-hours—the equivalent of several back-to-back episodes of a series. The title role, played by Robert De Niro, was the nickname of Frank Sheeran, …
DECEMBER 7, 2019 – As President Franklin D. Roosevelt said famously in his address before a joint session of Congress, December 7, 1941 is “a date which will live in infamy.” He certainly welcomed the opening of the “door war” that had been closed so long and firmly by isolationists. Japan’s attack served as a …
DECEMBER 6, 2019 – A thousand years ago, or so it seems, I landed in what was then known as Bombay, India. I’d flown from Australia, where I’d been on the loose for the previous month, after the month before in New Zealand. Many of the European travelers I’d met “Down Under” had come via …
DECEMBER 5, 2019 – I confess to my Trump-supporting friends: I’m biased. With that acknowledgment I hardly expect to change your minds about Trump’s impeachment or re-election. I understand you oppose the former and support the latter. Fine. I get that you’re as immovable from your support of Trump as I am from my opposition. …
DECEMBER 4, 2019 – Let’s get down to basics. The hallmark of representative democracy is the dirty word, “compromise.” For all too long, we have lost the art of compromise. On the right, fear, greed, myopia, ignorance, and religious dogma have brought us intolerance and unprecedented demagoguery. On the left, disregard for real-world economics and …
DECEMBER 3, 2019 – Yesterday I took two Lyft rides—from my office to the dentist and back. The first driver was originally Haitian About 40, he’d been in America (mostly NYC) for 25 years. He’d come to Minnesota to pursue a PhD in “international business.” He and some fellow scholars plan to form a consulting …
DECEMBER 2, 2019 – With the onset of another winter—my first under Medicare—I have again resisted buying a snowblower. My reasons are several. First, our garage is a “Democrat Garage,” meaning, in line with my informal and years’-long survey, it’s too chock full of stuff (in addition to a motor vehicle) to accommodate another piece …
DECEMBER 1, 2019 – Yesterday evening while my poor wife coughed at home, I ventured to Pantages Theater in Minneapolis for Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Christmas. It was a brilliant show: Rich Dworsky at the piano, with the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band; Tim Russell and Sue Scott as “the voices”; Fred Newman at sound …
NOVEMBER 30, 2019 – Occasionally, I look up from my shoes to survey my surroundings. Amidst the detritus of human activity I see wondrous works produced by human minds, hearts, and hands. One endeavor for which I have special admiration is academic scholarship. As my blog readers know, I’m a sometime student of history. However …
NOVEMBER 29, 2019 – When I first heard Art Garfunkel’s song, “(What a) Wonderful World,” I thought the lyrics were kind of dumb. Now that the aging process has introduced me to my own (multiple forms of) dumbness, I realize that in a back-handed, unintentional way, the song serves as a kind of paean to …
NOVEMBER 28, 2019 – In tribute to the origins of the day, I’m plenty thankful for plenty—all the people and bounty in my life. But as we go ’round the turkey table expressing our individual thanks for one thing or another, I’ll have to say, “data storage.” That’s right: data storage. Currently, I’m moving 20 …
NOVEMBER 27, 2019 – Less than a month ’til Christmas. Given the overnight blizzard, Thanksgiving in these parts, at least, will be a white one. Oops! I hear disapproving groans over “Christmas” in place of “December 25” and “Thanksgiving” instead of “Genocide Memorial Day.” Know that my own relationship with religion (and revisionist history?) is …
NOVEMBER 26, 2019 – Last weekend I found “bad” and “good” on opposite sides of our house. The “bad”: a situation in which a whole lot of people dodged a bullet . . . or more precisely, a whole lot of bullets. Minutes later, on the other side of the house, I encountered “good,” as …