Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
MARCH 24, 2024 – Today to distract myself from a continuously runny nose—for which over-the-counter antihistamines provide zero relief—and a continual cough (also resistant to all over-the-counter remedies), I devised various imaginary predicaments that were far worse than my actual circumstances. If nothing else, I got a few half-laughs out of the game. The first …
MARCH 23, 2024 – Last December I thought it would make a fun Christmas present to give my wife three tickets for a performance of the classic ballet, Giselle, starring Daniil Simkin and Skylar Brandt, at Northrop Auditorium 15 minutes from our house. My thought was that Beth and I could take our eight-year-old granddaughter, …
MARCH 22, 2024 – Today I watched and listened to the recording of a live performance by the Borodin Quartet, one of the oldest string quartets in the world. The 90-minute concert I listened to featured Borodin—surprise, surprise—along with Tchaikovsky (Andante cantabile from quartet no. 1, opus 11), and Schubert’s The Death and the Maiden. …
DECEMBER 27, 2023 – This day last year marked my 31st day of skiing in a record season of 128 ski days. I know these numbers because they’re recorded in tally form on our basement wall. This year’s total ski days to date: ZERO, thanks to the cold and snow of winter having so far …
DECEMBER 26, 2023 – In the context of a musical performance, my dad used to say that greatness lay in the details—not any single detail, he noted, but in the aggregate effect of all the details. “Therefore,” he said, “as a performer you have to get all the details right.” Dad’s musical refinement came as …
DECEMBER 25, 2023 – After Santa’s visit last night and in the calm before the Christmas celebration storm today, I heard an interview with a serious journalist, Garrett M. Graff, author of UFO: The Inside Story of the U.S. Government’s Search for Alien Life Here—And Out There. I’m not particularly interested in the science (or …
DECEMBER 17, 2023 – I see a close parallel between certain team sports and the infinite spectrum of world problems. If the analogy doesn’t provide solutions, at least it allows reconciliation of chronic frustration against persistent reality. I start, though, with a team sport that’s not parallel to battling issues of civilization: basketball. Played at …
DECEMBER 7, 2023 – Late last night after a pleasant day filled with numerous wonders, I watched 20 minutes worth of the fourth Republican Presidential Debate (so called). DeSantis and Ramaswamy managed to set my hair on fire, while two or three times Chris Christie made me cheer out loud when calling out his colleagues …
DECEMBER 4, 2023 -I have a friend who invariably says, “No one is an A-student at everything,” when he encounters someone highly accomplished at one thing or another but is otherwise a klutz, rank amateur, or D-student. I thought about this the other day when a client of mine described a good customer who knew …
JULY 4, 2023 – In commemoration of Independence Day, today’s post breaks from my individual “inheritance” to celebrate our collective American inheritance. But in the mix of dazzling fireworks, condiment-loaded hot dogs, and liberal servings of potato salad, we should take a sober and sobering account of that inheritance. In my early school years, American …
MAY 31, 2023 – Late yesterday evening I stepped outside to check on the stars and saw that a few were out, beaming their light down from deep space. I did my usual—picked one I knew wasn’t a planet, called it “Twinkle, Twinkle” and made my wish. At the close of this little ritual of …
MAY 30, 2023 – (Cont.) Second: the plight of women. This is one of history’s great challenges. With some notable exceptions, women have shouldered burdens and abuse disproportionate to their 50% representation of humanity. (In the case of extremist Ukrainian atrocities against the Poles of Volhynia, women and children were a sizable majority of the …
MAY 27, 2023 – Recently, while I was hiking the hills of “Little Switzerland,” a golfer in his late 20s called out a greeting to me as he strode from his cart to the tee. An extrovert, he prompted me to respond similarly. I reciprocated and added a passing observation about the late-day improvement in …
MAY 26, 2023 – After paying my dues all morning and into the afternoon, I took a break to take our seven-year-old granddaughter to nearby Como Park, St. Paul’s version of Central Park. She had the day off from school—something about a teachers’ workshop—so her mom had taken her to work at a shop near …
MAY 20, 2023 – Today a sister called me to catch up. At some juncture she said, “I’m sure you remembered, but today is Dad’s birthday.” “Yeah,” I said, adding that he would’ve been 101. “Maybe it’s a good thing he didn’t live that long,” she said, light-heartedly. I agreed. Rarely are sight, taste, hearing, …
MAY 14, 2023 – (Cont.) Many princely pines in the Trädgård are in worse shape than how we found our back-garden princess, but the latter is more accessible and not surrounded by tick-land. With all the necessary operating equipment relatively close at hand, I decided to administer emergency care to the stricken princess. I summoned …
MAY 13, 2023 – Nature. We view it romantically, spiritually, philosophically, scientifically, even religiously. But we also have a long history of approaching it contemptuously, as a nuisance, an obstacle, an enemy, and of course, a giant reservoir of riches to be exploited, pretty much at any cost, so long as a handsome profit can …
MAY 9, 2023 – Late this month, Brown University will confer honorary doctorate degrees on six Americans of distinction. Among them will be the inimitable Ruth Oppenheim. I first met Ruth during college. Her son, Jeff, a close friend of mine, had invited me to stay with the family in Barrington, Rhode Island over Thanksgiving …
MAY 8, 2023 – As we navigate through life, we’re often oblivious to the random influence we have on one another. Today on my return from “Little Switzerland,” I walked past a house and yard that have been worked over beautifully by the owner. Over the years I’ve observed the substantial sweat equity he’s invested …
MAY 5, 2023 – Today we were among the honored guests at a most resplendent affair. Food and drink were of the finest quality; the music—of Latin temperament—was well chosen and masterfully rendered; the attendees were neither too few nor too numerous to provide a steady flow of scintillating conversation; and the whole celebration was …
APRIL 30, 2023 – (Cont.) Having escaped confinement, however, the World was now in open defiance of the laws of the universe. In reaction to my errant toe, the Big Ball shot across the carpet and rotated clumsily into a lamp stand, then like a billiard ball, banked left, straight for a chair. POW! In …
APRIL 27, 2023 – Finally, 650 pages and the comprehensive survey of the worst conflagration the world has ever known are behind me. I speak of Inferno, The World at War, 1939 – 1945 by Max Hastings. Few books have had such an impact on my psyche and my world view generally. I could easily …
APRIL 25, 2023 – Rumor had it—actually a local newspaper reported it in an article about my dad and our family when at 32 he was appointed to the public servant job he’d have for the rest of his working days. “It” was my mother’s notion that parents should always use positive language when framing …
APRIL 18, 2023 – The other day I enjoyed a long conversation with a college friend-classmate during which we talked a fair amount of politics. He’s a student of history, and in the context of our political discussion, historical perspectives necessarily came into play. He struggles, as do I, with making judgments about the views, …
APRIL 17, 2023 – (Cont.) I hadn’t intended to watch the “making of” segment that automatically followed the final episode of Transatlantic, but after a couple of minutes’ worth, I was hooked. Having read a few books on filmmaking back when I naively thought (and did) write a screenplay, I had some inkling of a …