SEPTEMBER 18, 2021 – If I’m short of material, all I need to do is hike to the end of our block and ring the Paulson’s doorbell. Invariably, Kent Paulson, retired honors English teacher at Roseville High School, has something pithy to say. He’s never without a cutting comment, an insightful observation, or an amusing account of a recent encounter with a fool or a genius. And he devours good books.
Yesterday, in need of material, I rang the Paulson doorbell—twice, separated by an appropriate interval. The door eventually opened. “Come on in,” Kent said in his characteristic tone that’s both mildly gruff and unmistakably inviting. As I stepped around the vacuum cleaner immediately inside the entrance of the nicely appointed house, Kent explained that his wife, Joan, was soon returning from an out-of-town trip.
“What guy wouldn’t understand the ol‘ vacuum trick?” I said. Kent grunted acknowledgment.
He held a photocopy of an article from The New Yorker. Before I could ask about it, I was given an appetizer—a colorfully humorous (if somewhat cranky) story about an elderly neighbor’s son who, after being divorced, returned to live with his mother and now thinks he’s Cat Stevens, howling at all hours of day and night in the garage across the alley from Paulson’s.
Next, Kent walked me through the detail of a recent remodeling of their dining room and adjoining reading room. The quality of the work obscured any sign that it hadn’t been part of the original (1940s) design and craftsmanship of the house. In pointing out details and describing the meticulousness of the workmen, Kent—former baseball and basketball coach extraordinaire (in addition to his main focus as an English teacher)—talked more like a museum docent. I then realized that despite his dedication to sports, this unusual neighbor of ours rarely talks sports, and then only about baseball (he’s on the adjunct staff of the Twins) and mostly about baseball literature.
Eventually I had an opening to ask about the The New Yorker article. It was Did Making the Rules of War Better Make the World Worse? by staff writer, Dexter Filkins. “He’s one of my favorite writers for The New Yorker,” said Kent. “I’m sending it to the husband of one of Joan’s friends—Mr. General Lieutenant Commander Sir Team Leader Curtis LeMay the Second.”
As a former Republican, Kent was unsparing, I thought, in his sarcastic characterization of a guy who was a military career man. I later found the article online and read it—twice, for good measure
That’s why I so enjoy conversations with Kent Paulson—a reader, a thinker, an original. In the wake of his work and in the continuing vibrancy of his life, he’s made the world a better reading, thinking place. As to house-cleaning, I’d say Paulson’s place looked pretty spic-and-span for Joan’s return. I’d have given it an “A+.” But then again, Joan has high standards. After all, she married Kent . . . who married her.
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© 2021 by Eric Nilsson
