Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
JUNE 16, 2020 – June’s half over. In 15 days, the year will be half over. Time for three prognostications about the rest of 2020. Two are based on business phone conversations I had yesterday; one turns on recent news stories about Trump. The first conversation was with a banker client of mine. He’s in …
JUNE 15, 2020 – At the Red Cabin we have a TV but only for watching movies the old-fashioned way—via DVDs. But soon after my wife bought a large antique cabinet with doors and mounted the TV inside, we got used to the cabinet and forgot all about the TV. A year ago, though, we …
JUNE 13, 2020 – Covid-19 and the murder of George Floyd, Jr. remind us again that we can’t handle more than two big stories at once. (The economy and the November election are sub-stories of the two main stories.) Actually, one big story: Covid-19 is hanging in there by the string of a face mask …
JUNE 12, 2020 – I’m grateful for my Trump-supporting clients. They bring out the better angels of my nature, and perhaps this rapport models how our nation might avoid wholesale rupture. There is no magic to my conversations; no special formula, no complicated blueprint. Just two things: 1. Money; and 2. Mutual respect. First, the …
JUNE 11, 2020 – Wind is caused by differences in atmospheric pressure—a high pressure system battling it out with a low; or when two people with sharply contrasting opinions have a shout-out. Yesterday brought a lot of wind to our neck of the woods. Oops! Bad choice of words. I meant “golf course.” After escaping …
JUNE 10, 2020 – . . . young kids will still ask long before the halfway mark of a long road-trip. Likewise, two weeks into the post-George Floyd, Jr. era, we white-liberals behind the wheel can’t help but ask the same: “Are we there yet” in ending our nation’s legacy of discrimination? It’s the inevitable …
JUNE 8, 2020 – As the train of justice hurtles down the track and we privileged folks decide whether to (a) jump aboard; (b) jump out of the way; or (c) get run over, I must sing the praises of the baked potato. The track isn’t smooth, so in walking through the carriages toward the …
JUNE 7, 2020 – If relaxed curfews now allow us to catch our collective breath, we’re not out of the woods yet. We might well be facing more serious danger ahead—too little reform too late; another case of overt police brutality; some other flashpoint, starting with the prosecution of the four Minneapolis cops. All four …
JUNE 6, 2020 – On the way to our cabin recently, we saw a huge, road-side sign that read, “HOME OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE.” Honestly, the sign didn’t remind me of today–the anniversary of D-Day, start of the Allied invasion of Normandy to drive Hitler’s Wehrmacht back to Germany; an operation that …
JUNE 3, 2020 – An attorney I know often quotes Voltaire famous line, “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.” The lawyer’s point: by pressing too hard for perfection, you risk blowing the deal that your client desperately wants. At the same time, you must touch all the bases and home plate to score, …
JUNE 2, 2020 – How will the current chapter of our history read? There’s no script, no pre-determined outcome. There are signs, however, of what could well unfold. Not to sound melodramatic—which means the exact opposite: to sound melodramatic—but current dynamics in our body politic prompt thoughts about revolution. And I’m not thinking ala the …
MAY 31, 2020 – Instead of Netflix over the last three evenings, my wife and I have watched “Riots in the Street,” starring . . . people in the streets. Fortunately, thanks to Governor Walz’s leadership, last night ended differently from the previous two. Exhausted by the ongoing crisis, my wife retired early. I stayed …
MAY 30, 2020 – The charge, trial, sentencing, and execution of a black man—where a single police officer, given free rein by his three fellow officers, served as police, judge, jury, executioner—took mere minutes, end to end. It will now take a collective, herculean effort to tame the beast of chaos. That people outraged by …
MAY 29, 2020 – We live at the center of the Twin Cities, with downtown Minneapolis six miles one way and downtown St. Paul equidistant the opposite way. Yesterday brought more destruction in reaction to the killing of George Floyd. From our back yard amidst bird chatter and spring fragrance we heard the regular wail …
MAY 28, 2020 – Yesterday evening in my chair of privilege I faced the stark, tragic reality of America: Grant’s defeat. Two nights before, Netflix had been acting up, depriving me of my regular fix of The Medicis. I switched to the History Channel and chanced upon a three-part documentary about Ulysses S. Grant, produced …
MAY 27, 2020 – By now everyone’s seen the video of the Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of a cuffed, black man lying in pain on the street. The face of the officer reveals the absence of fear, and as officially reported, the arrestee had been apprehended not for violent crime but because …
MAY 26, 2020 – What now unfolds is Rotten Apple vs. Over-ripe Banana. Rotten Apple is crawling with worms, mushy with rot, and devoid of any “core” values. This fruit’s so bad, it’s not fit for pigs. Many people who’ve seen an apple know at a glance that this one is inedible. (That I can’t …
May 22, 2020 – I used to be a Lutheran—the moderate strain, meaning, E.L.C.A. (“Evangelical Lutheran Church in America”), which, ironically, was in contrast with the “Evangelical” persuasion that one usually associates with that term. How and why I became entrenched in mainstream, moderate Lutheranism—congregation president, chair of the worship committee, perennial Sunday school teacher, …
MAY 19, 2020 – This morning I saw the CNN headline, “America’s Covid-19 response is the most American thing ever.” The image featured a woman waving a large American flag, seated atop a parked jeep. The sub-headline read, “The country’s conflicting behavior in the face of coronavirus is a symptom of a national value that …
MAY 16, 2020 – This past week I had three political conversations: one with a strong Trump supporter, two with vehement anti-Trumpsters. The Trump supporter was convinced that Corvid-19 was hatched in a Chinese lab and aimed at bringing us down; that our best foil is a re-opened economy. One of the anti-Trumpsters, meanwhile, was …
MAY 14, 2020 – Paradoxically, one way to distract yourself from The Virus is to read all the lengthy articles on the subject by epidemiologists, statisticians, and the world’s leading conspiracy theorists. Personally, I’ve checked out of the discussions. This wasn’t the case early in The Crisis. I found myself sucked into all sorts of …
MAY 12, 2020 – Usually I’m sequestered from the nonsense that reigns supreme elsewhere on the good ship America. This morning, however, sudden zig-zags in the vessel’s course prompted me to leave the quiet of my stateroom to have a look. The air smelled sulfuric. Blindfolded passengers with bad hair, bulging eyes, and carrots jammed …
MAY 8, 2020 – On the 75th Anniversary of V-E Day, I wonder: should I think of “V-E” as “Victory in Europe” and dwell upon its lessons or . . . should I view today as “Very Easy” and live obliviously? If like Simon the Simpleton I don’t care about the portents of history and …
MAY 4, 2020 – My wife often observes how some see the glass half empty while others see it half full. The latter group, she says, are more likely to seize victory from the jaws of defeat. Generally, I’m a “glass half full” person. When the forecast is “partly cloudy,” I think, “partly sunny.” If …
MAY 2, 2020 – Perhaps you and I see the same images. Perhaps we don’t, for we live in the Disunited States of America. In any case, witness gun-toting protesters in Michigan and beach crowds in California. “What?” They say. “A killer virus is afoot? It’ll take time . . . and patience . . …