Steve Fernlund and The Long Way Home

The headline for an article in the October 1 issue of the online newspaper Minnesota Reformer screams, “Home sales on track for worst year since 1995.” That shouldn’t be happening with what I call “The Great Housing Shortage Myth.”  In my previous life in Cook County 30 years ago, housing and worker shortages were the top issues. In 2022, county officials and their consultants determined that 500 new housing units would be needed over the next four years. Recently, a significant number of apartments, far fewer than 500 units and euphemistically referred to as “workforce housing,” have been built, with more on the way. The consensus in local government is that more housing is needed so its economy can continue growing. Growth is assumed and thought to be desirable. I’m not so sure, but as a poor, dumb freight broker, what do I know? Experts agree that the U.S. is in the grip of a significant housing shortage, with estimates ranging from 3.5 million to over 7 million units. This cris...

I wasn’t very old the first time my mother told me a parable that she was to repeat many times while I tried to grow up:  “'I complained about having no shoes until I met a man who had no feet."  I never had more than two pairs of shoes in those days - one for church and funerals, and one for everyday wear. I don’t believe she said that just about a pair of shoes, but in hindsight and with the passage of time, I think she used that to encourage me to cultivate gratitude and perspective. Gratitude for what I had and the perspective to see that others had less than I did. She taught me empathy, and that has served me well. I thought about this the other night when I was tossing and turning in the dark, wrestling with my pillows. In recent years, I’ve been uncomfortable sleeping with every pillow I tried, and I’ve tried many.  I may blame my pillows for disrupting my sleep, but there may be many other causes, not least an aging and infirm body that stiffens up if I don’t kee...

Steve Fernlund, who writes the weekly column "The Long Way Home" for the North Shore Journal, has a writing style that is personal and anecdotal. He often shares stories from his own life, from his time as a freight broker to his experiences in retirement. He uses these personal stories to explore broader themes. Fernlund's columns read like a conversation with the reader. He is self-deprecating and often reflects on his own opinions and experiences, sometimes even admitting he might be wrong about a topic.  He is not afraid to take a stand on various issues, from government and politics to social issues. He has stated that his goal is to write what he believes to be true. While he may touch on larger national topics, his writing is grounded in his experiences in Cook County and the North Shore area. He writes about the "everyday lives of local people and issues of importance to them."

I woke up the other day and remembered that I am an old man. Not because I’m out yelling at squirrels and pigeons to get off my lawn, which I do to scare them away so I can take the dog out safely. It’s because I wake up with a unique perspective on the turmoil of the day, gained from living through a period of significant social and political turbulence, the 60s and 70s. Riots and political violence, along with a healthy fear of Soviet communism, seemed like a regular part of life.  Coming of age then didn’t include a sense of despair, so much as a sense of urgency. Urgency to get on with life, because we could be vaporized in an instant if Kruschev pressed a button. Memories of those days, and our struggles to get past them, bubbled up when some political organizer named Charlie Kirk was gunned down in front of a couple of thousand college kids with cell phone cameras. I didn’t know much about this latest victim of a public shooting. I guess he was opposite John Fugelsang (whoeve...