Steve Fernlund and The Long Way Home

While New Year's resolutions aren’t my thing, I do find it helpful to do a bit more self-reflection this time of year than I do lying awake in bed in the middle of each night. Motivated by John Lennon’s “So this is Christmas, and what have you done?”  a line that demands a personal accounting for the last twelve months, I reflect on a lifelong habit of over-committing to things. Amid the whirlwind of raising children and climbing the corporate ladder, the most profound feedback often came from the most unexpected places. I’ll never forget overhearing my daughter describe my career to a friend. Her words were simple, yet they cut through my professional ego with indelible clarity: “He leans back in his chair, puts his feet on his desk, and talks to people on the phone.” Kids say the darnedest things. Not long after hearing that, I became aware that the success ladder I’d been climbing was leaning against the wrong building. To extend the cliche, I started reading things that mention...

Last November, Congress overwhelmingly passed, and the President signed, the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The Act was spurred by the delay, despite the Trump administration's campaign promise to make it all public on day one.  If you haven’t been paying attention, Epstein was a wealthy financier who had a hankering for young girls. He was also very effective at cultivating relationships with many rich and powerful people whom he invited to his pleasure islands. People generally assumed these cohorts, but maybe not all, also partook in the nubile flesh his top recruiter, Ghislaine Maxwell, convinced or coerced to visit the islands. Attracted as we are to scandals involving the rich and powerful, Americans of all persuasions demanded an accounting of the government's actions in Epstein’s case. They also wanted to see their evil political and cultural opponents skewered by publicly shaming their involvement, if not actually seeing criminal justice done. On July 6, 2019, Epstein...

With Christmas in the rearview mirror, my mind—and likely yours—is turning toward New Year’s resolutions. Statistics tell us a little more than a third of us will make one, but most will be forgotten before the first week of January is out. In fact, less than one in ten actually reach the finish line. I’m no saint in this department. I can’t tell you how many times my "resolutions" to eat better or quit smoking lasted all of forty-eight hours. But this year, I have one resolution I know I will keep forever. Being "up in years" and gainfully retired, the Bohunk and I watch our fair share of television—or stream it, as the kids say. Lately, the programs feel like they’re just filler between the commercials. We are inundated with heart-wrenching videos from the ASPCA, the NAACP, St. Jude, and Shriners. The formula is always the same: a sincere request, a sad pair of eyes, and the promise that for just $19 a month, I can be the difference between life and death. But muc...

My Christmas memories are cast in the warm, sepia tones of the mid-century—the 1950s and 1960s. Vinyl albums on the spindle with songs of the season by Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, and Andy Williams. A spindly spruce tree that smelled like outdoors, draped with tinsel and handmade ornaments. A small pile of gifts under the tree, mostly socks, underwear, and a toy or two. We idolize that time as one of simplicity, conformity, and anticipation—a season where the commercial engine was beginning to accelerate. Still, the pace of life itself was decidedly slower.  Each fall, we’d receive the Montgomery Ward, JCPenney, and Sears Christmas catalogs. I’d spend hours each day leading up to the visit from St. Nick, going page to page to see all the wonderful toys and mechanical games that I’d never own, yet still wishing. Then I’d admire the BB guns and rifles, which I’d also never own. And that’s how wishing and hoping became part of my DNA. Today,  the holiday landscape is fundamentall...