Category Archives: remainders

Don’t Wait For The Eulogy

Why wait for the eulogy to state what someone means to you? If someone’s life and accomplishments have great meaning the day after they are gone, my bet is they had even greater meaning the day before. Tell them today — right now — while you have the chance. Because this moment may be your only chance. Because none are guaranteed.

You never know how it might have an impact on someone who needs to hear it. We so often do not get the full story. Even from those we are close to. A kind word of gratitude for who someone is and what they mean to you could make someone’s day or even save their life.

I’m a writer. Writing is how I make this world better, friendlier, stronger place. If these words improved your day, please let me know by contributing here.

Book Review: Atlas of Remote Islands

atlas-remote-islands

It is high time for cartography to take its place among the arts, and for the atlas to be recognized as literature, for it is more than worthy of its original aim: theatrum orbis terrarum, the theatre of the world. — Judith Schalansky

With this declaration in the preface of the book, the author then proceeds to create such a perfect final argument for her case. If there ever was or is to be map making as art and atlas as literature, this is it.

Atlas of Remote Islands is a stunning achievement. It is a book for lovers of geography, students of history, and dreamers of far-away places. But is is also an intelligent and compellingly written series of essays about each of the fifty remote islands presented. Instead of bland truths and interesting anecdotes one might find in a proper scholarly work, the author takes both factual details and myths and interweaves them into compelling narratives. She whisks you away to a time and a place that is literally in the middle of nowhere. She spins yarns of triumph and heartbreak. She addresses the practical and the fanciful with equal regard in doing so. Unlike any other Atlas you may have encountered, this is a work to be both studied and read.

The preface tells of the author’s life long love of maps and dreams of travel. She was born in East Germany, not long before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent reunification. Therefore, her perspective of going from dreams of travel that, under Soviet rule, would remain thus to suddenly having the dreams made possibility simply because someone had decided to change the lines on a map is very compelling. Thus her approach to maps is one where lines and borders are imaginary and impractical as any tale one might conjure. She understands that things such as history, maps, and borders are at the will of those that claim them.

This makes all the more sense when she says, “That’s why the question of whether these stores are ‘true’ is misleading. All the text in the book is based on extensive research and every detail stems from factual sources. I have not invented anything. However I was the discoverer of the sources, researching them through ancient and rare books and I have transformed the texts and appropriated them as sailors appropriate the lands they discover.”

This book is a wonder and a true gem. I highly recommend you appropriate it as a treasure for your collection.

Buy It: Atlas of Remote Islands by Judith Schalansky

The Truth About Winter In Minnesota

In my travels, when people outside of the state think of Minnesota, they think of the winter here. They often wonder why we would choose to live in a place where the threat (and reality) of snow and cold is present from October to April. Believe me, there are days in the thick of the season where I wonder the same.

That said, there is much to love about living here in the winter and it is not nearly as bad as one who has never done so may think. Here are some truths (my truths, at least) about winter in Minnesota. My hope is that revealing these will help to set the naysayers and otherwise suspicious straight.

  • It can be very pretty. The first snowstorm especially. I live in a neighborhood still very full of late 19th century Victorian style homes. A nice snowfall, especially the first big one of the season, is like living in a Currier and Ives painting.

  • Below a certain temperature, I find that all cold feels pretty much the same. For instance, it is really difficult for many of us to tell the difference between -10 degrees below zero and -30 degrees below zero. It’s just plain cold and one should dress appropriately.

  • One learns that layers of clothing are your friend. It is the difference between comfortable and cold on most winter days. For instance, today I wore a short sleeve tee under a long sleeve one with a full-zip lightweight fleece underneath a soft shell jacket. Four layers for those keeping score. That way, if I got a bit too warm, I could remove a layer and thus cool the temp I felt down by 5-25 degrees depending on the layer(s) I removed.

  • The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, where I live, are pretty well designed for it. There are many people, in fact, who rarely step foot in the cold for more than a few minutes a day. They wake in the morning, go into their attached and heated garage, get in their warm car, and drive to work. Once there they park in a heated parking garage, walk through the skyways — that connect most downtown buildings — to lunch, and then drive home. They never, actually, have gone outside. It could be -40 below and they would never feel it.

  • Furthermore, along this same theme, our local and state snow snowplows are seasoned experts at keeping the roads passable in almost any circumstances. They are out in force at the first sign of coming bad weather. Parking regulations take effect during heavier “snow emergencies” so that roads can be cleared and salted with amazing efficiency.

  • One learns how to drive in snow and ice if you live here through a winter or two (though, you will hear many an expert longtime Minnesota driver complain that it takes far too many too long to remember). You learn to leave a bit more distance between you and the vehicle ahead. To de-accelerate by lifting your foot from the pedal and waiting a second or two before applying the breaks gently. Or how to correct a spin out from happening by doing the opposite of what your natural instincts may tell you.

  • Of course, there are also plenty of winter activities to make the most of it. Skating, skiing, hockey, snowshoeing, etc. The options abound and all are a good time.

The point of all of this is that, while it is not my favorite season of the year, Minnesota is perfectly livable during the winter. I invite you to experience it for yourself sometime. Look me up and, if time allows, I’d be happy to show you around.