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Things You Won't Find On My C.V.
I'm a member of Metropolitan United Methodist Church (pictured above) in Detroit. This church, built in 1924, sits roughly in the middle of a five-mile stretch of Woodward Avenue known as Piety Row because of the many beautiful churches. I participate in community service through this church, and also through Habitat for Humanity.
I was born and raised in Olivia, MN, a town of about 2500 halfway between Minneapolis and South Dakota. Like every other member of my family, I graduated from the University of Minnesota (one of the 30 "Public Ivies").
My wife and I have three great cats that we adopted from various shelters. Check out the Michigan Humane Society and Petfinder websites to find your next best friend. In the past we have also taken dogs into foster care while they recuperate from various ailments.
Looking for ways to tread a bit more lightly on planet Earth? Visit New American Dream for some ideas. You can also download a cool guide about one way we could save hundreds of thousands of trees.
I'm into acoustic music and guitars. One of the many good things about living in Detroit is that you're only about an hour away from one of the absolute best guitar shops in the world (Elderly Instruments in Lansing). I currently own a couple of guitars, and I also have a mountain dulcimer made from a chestnut tree that spent over a century under the icy waters of Lake Superior.
I love college hockey, and was very unhappy when Wayne State dropped men's hockey in 2008. Three great sites are College Hockey News, US College Hockey Online, and Inside College Hockey.
Check out the latest news on the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers (five-time national champions). In 2007, the Gophers' rink was named one of the Top Ten Venues in College Sports by Sports Illustrated. It's the only hockey arena on the list:
1. Rose Bowl (UCLA football and the Rose Bowl Game)
2. Cameron Indoor Stadium (Duke University basketball)
3. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (University of Florida football)
4. Michigan Stadium (University of Michigan football)
5. Rosenblatt Stadium (home of the College World Series)
6. The Palestra (University of Pennsylvania basketball)
7. Michie Stadium (US Military Academy football)
8. Mariucci Arena (University of Minnesota hockey)
9. Charles River (home of the Head of the Charles Regatta)
10. Allen Fieldhouse (University of Kansas basketball)
Here's what SI said about Mariucci: "Opened in 1993, Mariucci combines the luxuries of a modern facility (unobstructed sightlines, multiple concession stands) while maintaining a sense of history with a lobby that doubles as a shrine to Minnesota hockey. Add in 10,000 screaming Gopher fans and you have the best venue in college hockey."
Finally, here is a list of books I liked enough to read more than once:
The Same Ax, Twice: Restoration and Renewal in a Throwaway Age, by Howard Mansfield
The Death and Life of American Cities, by Jane Jacobs
Johnny Got His Gun, by Dalton Trumbo
Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World, by Scott Russell Sanders
Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, by Kathleen Norris
Leaving the Land, by Douglas Unger
The Experience of Place: A New Way of Looking at and Dealing With our Radically Changing Cities and Countryside, by Tony Hiss
Bad Land: An American Romance, by Jonathan Raban
The Worm Forgives the Plough, by John Stewart Collis
Why I Am A United Methodist, by William Willimon
O.E. Rolvaag's trilogy:
Giants in the Earth
Peder Victorious
Their Father's God
{I liked Boat of Longing too}
Vilelm Moberg's Emigrant novels:
The Emigrants
Unto A Good Land
The Settlers
The Last Letter Home
The first two were made into movies in the early 1970s -- in Swedish with English subtitles: Utvandrarna and Nybyggarna
The Philosopher's Diet: How to Lose Weight and Change the World, by Richard Watson
Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse
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