A Boo Radley Moment People do not get to choose who they are. They simply are who they are and they live with it. Some are lucky and fall into the range of normal. They work and play, succeed and fail, get happy and get sad, all within a band that raises no eyebrows. Unfortunately, nature is not always so kind, in fact, sometimes it is downright cruel. Joe was one of the best looking…
Banking on Grace There are many times in life when you must do what your heart tells you to do and let the chips fall where they may. Sometimes is all works out well. It was 2004 and I had recently taken over the asset management area of the vaunted Bear Stearns. It was a return to Wall Street for me after a few years spent starting a venture capital business that was chugging along,…
The Death Railway of Burma I don’t read books any longer (at least not many). I do listen to audiobooks in far greater quantity than I ever read printed books. I can listen to books almost anywhere. I do it when I drive, obviously, but also on my motorcycle, in the hot tub, sitting at my desk doing work, walking around town, during my weekly two-hour therapeutic massage or sometimes just relaxing at home. I…
Stream of Consciousness One of the pros/cons of being a storyteller is that you occasionally stumble over some old prose you’ve filed away in a remote corner of your Dropbox. Such is this stream from several years ago. Aug. 9th, 2017 My name is Richard A. Marin, but I go by Rich. I am a 40+ year financial professional, most of that spent on Wall Street, but more recently focused on real estate development. I’ve…
Mark Antony in Sanskrit I went to high school in Rome, Italy. I took four years of Latin, which my UN diplomat mother swore would make me a better person. I can quote the opening lines to Caesar’s Gallic Wars, which has really come in handy over the years. Since I am neither a doctor nor lawyer, as best I can tell, I was best able to use “living Latin” while I was in Rome…