Anne Frank was a Jewish girl born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1929. When the Nazis rose to power, her family fled to Amsterdam, but after Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940, life grew increasingly dangerous for Jewish families there. In July 1942, when Anne was 13, her family went into hiding in a secret annex behind her father’s office, along with another family and a dentist. For over two years, they lived in cramped, silent…
The Canadian trade dispute has escalated sharply this week. In January Mark Carney, a Harvard-trained and Goldman Sachs employed economist who is now the Prime Minister of Canada, gave a widely-discussed address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, titled “Principled and Pragmatic: Canada’s Path.” The core message of that was that the rules-based international order is effectively over. He argued that Canada was adapting by building strategic autonomy while still holding to values like…
The National Debt is front page news this week. It seems time to ponder the issue and try to put it in perspective. It is said that debt is what helped make this country great and there is some history to suggest that. The debt began at Independence during the Revolutionary War, which left the young country roughly $75 million in the hole. It was the great Alexander Hamilton’s 1790 plan to have the federal…
My friend Steve just sent me a piece by Garrison Keillor that was uncharacteristically political in nature. He mentioned that he realizes that I have been writing less about politics, but thought I might enjoy reading Keillor’s ramblings on the subject. If I had to liken my writing to anyone’s (only aspirationally, of course) it would be to Garrison Keillor. Keillor’s writing is warm, wry, and nostalgic, built on a folksy Midwestern storyteller’s cadence, the…
Last night I went to go see the summer blockbuster film The Odyssey for the second time. It seems that Spiderman may be overtaking Odysseus for the top spot, but the Escondido IMAX was still pretty crowded after a few weeks since the release of The Odyssey, so I think it’s holding up at the box office. As you may recall, I saw the movie the first time from the second row of the Hollywood…
Kabuki is a traditional form of Japanese theater that dates back to the early 1600s, known for its highly stylized performances, elaborate costumes and makeup, and dramatic staging. To begin with, there is an all-male cast where even female roles are played by men (onnagata), a tradition that emerged after women were banned from performing in the early 1600s. There is striking makeup (kumadori) with bold, colorful face paint that conveys a character’s nature (red…
There are so many things to worry about in the world at any time. As to the biggest existential threats at the moment, experts generally rank the biggest risks as, first and foremost, nuclear war. This risk that had us doing drills hiding under our desks sixty-five years ago is still the most immediate way civilization could end quickly, especially with tensions around Russia/Ukraine, and flashpoints in East Asia and South Asia….and now, the Middle…
Tomorrow we drive up to L.A. for a long weekend while Kim is off in Wabash. In 2002 I lived in L.A. for six months and must say, was not so fond of the lifestyle as I thought I might be. It may have been the circumstances of my life at that time, but I have a hard time getting past the things about the city that didn’t appeal to me. First among those things…
I am doing a case with a group of lawyers located in Perth, Australia. Western Australia is an intriguing part of the world for me for some reason and I have no explanation for that. One of my old high school pals in Rome was from Perth, but it’s hard to believe that has anything to do with it. I suspect that it has more to do with the fact that the western side of…
For people of a certain age and temperament, there is a wonderful Chris Farley and David Spade movie called Tommy Boy, made in 1995. The duo are on an epic roadtrip to sell brake pads and Tommy (Farley) has a hard time containing his natural exuberance. Spade, on the other hand is a cynical young man who finds everything Tommy does as some combination of distasteful and idiotic. In one scene, Tommy is trying to…