‘We are all human…’

For decades I used this phrase to convey my heartfelt belief that despite our differences we Americans have one thing in common and that’s that we are all human beings–that there is a commonality to our experience and despite the fact that human nature is flawed everyone is deserving of respect because we are all human. I believed with Anne Frank that “in spite of everything…people are really good at heart” and with Martin Luther King that “ the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”

Those feelings were developed and encouraged by my middle-class Congregationalist parents and nurtured by a solid liberal arts education based on the teachings of great Enlightenment thinkers. My glass was always half-full though it tended toward short term pessimism but long term optimism.

Today I see the phrase “We are all human” differently. I see a continuum that runs from angelic to satanic with humans like Pope Francis and José Andrés at the high end and Elon Musk and Adolf Hitler at the other with the rest of us somewhere in the middle. And that perspective change has all happened in the last ten years.

I try never to trade in hyperbole, but I believe America (and the world) is in serious peril at the moment—a moment not unlike that in 1933 when Hitler was taking control in Germany and cleansing society of what he considered “undesireable elements.” This time the propulsive cleansing is being orchestrated by a profoundly, ignorant and cruel man-child with no interest in anyone’s welfare but his own—who is being manipulated by equally corrupt friends with selfish motiives.

His ignorance and dangerous lack of historical understanding was on stark display last week in the Oval Office where ABC’s Terry Moran, seeing a copy of the Declaration of Independence hanging next to the Resolute Desk, asked him to share his understanding of the meaning of the document. Without irony, his response was,

“Well, it means exactly what it says. It’s a declaration. It’s a declaration of unity and love and respect. And it means a lot. And it’s something very special to our country.”

I’ve always been tempted to make fun of his ignorance. I think of Jimmy Buffett’s Gypsies in the Palace as a metaphor for his cabinet choices and Mel Brooks’ Springtime for Hitler as his theme song, but that was before January 20, 2025. It’s clear from what we observe about him that he’s not smart enough to destroy the country on his own–he’s too busy lining his own pockets and exacting revenge for personal slights—but he is surrounded by a cadre of true believers, including Elon Musk, Stephen Miller and JD Vance who are ready and eager to implement Project 2025 in service to the autocrats in waiting.

Since January 20th, in less than 100 days, USAID has been dismantled and all foreign aid put on hold, and  goon squads from ICE, the FBI, and a secret black-clad militia from Homeland Security are arresting and deporting non-citizens without honoring their due process guarantees, while the rendition and deportation of American citizens is under discussion and birthright citizenship, guaranteed by the Constitution is being challenged.

And domestically, universities are under siege on the pretense that the exercise of free speech i.e. criticism of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza, is an expression of anti-semitism. At the same time, law firms are under attack if the administration can tie them to cases in the past where they opposed the president, represented an adversary or challenged his policies.

Funding for Head Start, Meals on Wheels, PBS and NPR are under attack. Health and Human Services is shredding the NIH, CDC and other disease control and medical services including foreign aid to treat AIDS, malaria, and polio. Funding for scientific research  and anything related to climate change has been withheld. Science itself is under attack, and the Department of Education has been gutted.

And, perhaps most troubling is their abject concern with anything smacking of diversity, equity or inclusion and their attempt to erase and rewrite history the American experience by eliminating any reference to the horrors of the Holocaust and our African-American past that casts whites in an unflattering light at the two Smithsonian museums dedicated to their history.

The capper for me, however, is not any of the above. It is his demented attachment to the military—the military he lied and cheated to avoid—and now wants to have honor him with a big birthday parade with tanks and missiles like the one he observed in Paris or those in Moscow and Pyongyang. All this after eliminating Veterans Affairs programs, firing Veterans Affairs employees (including many veterans) and cutting benefits.

So many of us are asking what we can do to turn this anti-democratic tide around. Much of country, including the media, is threatened and intimidated by the tsunami of authoritarian acts and action. My wife is worried it may even extend to things like this blog. As a Marine veteran, former lawyer, and believer in free speech I can’t stay silent. I applaud all the Hands Off events, the courage of law firms like Perkins Coie, universities like Harvard, companies like Costco, and anyone else who fights the authoritarian push and attack on democratic (small d) principles. This is not about me or my wife. We’ll be fine. This is for our children, grandchildren, and all the poor, diverse, and unincluded Americans who are at risk. Don’t let this ignorant blowhard get away with it. Remember the humanity of Pope Francis not the inhumane acts of Elon and the autocrats.

Epilogue: This morning before I posted this I learned that today on Cinco de Mayo, the man-child emperor-to-be has exempted avocados/guacamole from his Mexican tariffs and will renovate Alcatraz for political prisoners. Viva!!!

Updated Profiles in Courage…

My first presidential election was in 1960, and I voted for John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was handsome, charismatic, literate, and a WWII naval hero. I was a newly commissioned Marine Corps fighter pilot and the world was full of promise.

Five years earlier Kennedy published Profiles in Courage, a book celebrating eight US Senators who had exhibited courage in the face of adversity and opposition. They included John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, Sam Houston as well as some whose names you wouldn’t recognize today. But Kennedy chose these men (yes, they were all men) from different eras of American history because he admired their integrity and principled action.

1960 was a prosperous, peaceful era in American history. It wasn’t perfect. The country was still sorting out the damage of WWII, playing Cold War chess with Russia, and watching China emerge from its own civil war. Nevertheless, all things considered, there was a balance of power in world geopolitics, and our economy was booming, 

Our 2025 world is dramatically different. The world order that held us in balance for 70 years is now unbalanced and there is a surging tide of autocracy worldwide. Here, in the US, the 47th president is doing his best to destroy most of what has made America the wealthiest, most powerful and respected nation on the planet—free elections, a two party system, investigative journalism, a free press, arts and humanities, technology, jurisprudence, the military, veterans, immigration, universities, law firms, clean energy, national parks, healthcare, cutting edge medicine, scientific research and science itself. 

It’s notable that there is an abundance of courage in America today, but the hubris, greed and cowardice of those in power has us on our heels. They are doing everything possible to undermine our democracy and strip us of our rights. It’s time to update Profiles in Courage in order to remind ourselves that we are still strong and determined. 

My updated list has twelve other names, but Thomas Sipp, a courageous young attorney you’ve probably never heard of is my #1 candidate, because he recently resigned in protest when the firm he was working for, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, one of America’s most prestigious law firms, took a knee and kissed the king’s ring (offering him $100,000,000 (yes, $100 million) in free legal services to support his causes).

Mr. Sipp is 26 years old, of mixed race, and came to this country without English language skills at age 10. He’s an American success story in the old fashioned sense. He mastered the language, attended the University of Texas and Columbia Law School and became a US Senate intern before carefully weighing the offers he received from several of America’s best law firms. He has always admired Barack Obama’s achievements and identifies with his mixed race story, so after careful consideration Mr. Sipp chose Skadden Arps. It seemed the best fit for him, because its policy allowed charitable pro bono hours to count toward an associate’s compensation package–something many firms wouldn’t consider. He was “all in” and decided to pay a little bit more in rent for a slightly worse apartment so he could be close to the office. Big law means long hours for an associate. He was there early and stayed late, but he loved what he did.

But things changed when the administration listed Skadden Arps as one of 20 firms under investigation for their practices related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. He couldn’t believe it but never imagined the firm would capitulate to the intimidation threat. But…it did, and when it did it caused Mr. Sipp to spend an agonizing weekend crafting a response to the firm’s leadership. That response ended up being his resignation letter – recently featured on The Daily, the NY Times current events podcast.  https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/podcasts/the-daily/trump-law-firms-skadden.html?auth=login-google1tap&login=google1tap When asked about it he said:

Personally, I felt ashamed to work at Skadden, and that was such a new experience because of how prestigious the law firm is. And then, suddenly, in the blink of an eye and just a few days, hours even, like my whole view of the firm has been completely tainted.

Can you explain why? Is it the specifics around pro bono work, which I know is so important to you? But what precisely is making you feel the shame?

It’s a mix of things. This is giving the president a P.R. win after being bullied. So it seems like I’m working at a firm that isn’t as high caliber as it said it was. But more importantly than that, so many lawyers agree that what the president is doing is wrong, trying to punish his enemies and then coerce any law firm who he perceives as an enemy to either himself or to his circle, from being able to represent clients who might be against them. 

I have no doubt that Mr. Sipp will find another place with a top firm, like Perkins Coie, that is resisting the administration’s assault on perceived law firm enemies. Perkins has sued and is supported by 500 other firms unwilling to cave and capitulate. More Profiles in Courage.

Note of Caution: As my friend, Jack Alkire, a former Perkins Coie partner noted, “To date not a single partner in any of AmLaw’s top 200 firms has resigned over the Trump business.” These big earners are held in position by their firm’s “Golden Handcuffs” – the promise of a giant paycheck. For example,  Data from BCG Attorney Search shows the Skadden Arps profits per equity partner in 2009 were $2,160,000, placing them in the 88th percentile. That’s the future Mr. Sipp gave up and the hold major firms have on their equity partners.

Here’s my current updated list of Profiles in Courage (who’s on your list?)

  • Jose Andres – World Central Kitchen – feeding the world
  • Mark Kelly – US Senator, fighter pilot, astronaut from Arizona
  • MacKenzie Bezos – philanthropist focusing on women, poverty and community solutions
  • Janet Trafton Mills – Governor of Maine who sued the DOJ over Title IX violations
  • Doctors without Borders – working worldwide to provide medical services in war zones
  • Melinda French Gates – philanthropist supporting education, health and equity for women
  • Liz Cheney and Adam Kinsinger – former US Representatives who told the truth about January 6, 2021
  • Volodymyr Zelensky – President of Ukraine resisting Russia’s invasion of his country
  • Harvard University – fighting for university independence 
  • Nicole Malachowski – first woman to fly with the Thunderbirds air demonstration team (and whose service was recently deleted from the Thunderbird website.)

I’m determined to be positive in the face of this assault on our values, institutions, and the rule of law. I could have turned the tables and submitted a Profiles in Cowardice list instead, but I want to go back to the optimism I felt in 1960 when I cast my vote for JFK. I want Americans rise up and respond to his call for action: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” On this day in 1775, the first shots of the American Revolution were fired at Lexington and Concord. That should be all we need to rise to the occasion. Amen.

Life and Death and the Whole Damn Thing…

“The dead dwell in the conditional tense of the unreal.”

You’ve probably never heard of David Siegel or Scott McGehee, but you will. They are business partners, screenwriters, directors, and filmmakers who’ve made eight feature films over the last 30 years—titles that include The Montana Story, What Maisie Knew, The Deep End, and Bee Season. All well worth seeing.

They make the kind of films I love—small, , thought provoking, literary, and independent. But I might never have heard of them either but for the fact that my friend, Dave Northfield, is one of Siegel’s best friends and the two of them stayed at my apartment in Berlin after graduating from UC Berkeley in the early 80s. 

I’m telling you this because Siegel and McGehee’s latest effort is in theaters now. It’s an adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s 2018 National Book Award winning novel The Friend, and If you didn’t read the book, you can see the film. Don’t miss it. It will help you get through these difficult times. I loved the book when I read it two years ago, and I’m going to see the film for a second time this week. 

I never imagined the book could be made into a film but they did it. It’s quirky, thoughtful,  touching, and deeply moving. Naomi Watts, Bill Murray, and Bing (an enormously talented and mournful Great Dane) are its stars.

Watts plays Iris, a single writer/teacher, who lives in a rent controlled apartment in Manhattan. Murray plays Walter, her friend and mentor, who (spoiler alert) commits suicide, and Bing plays Apollo, the dog Walter leaves behind. None of his three former wives is willing to take Bing and by default all agree he should go with Iris. Quirky enough? 

Iris’s problem is that dogs are not allowed in her apartment building. She has the best intentions but is having a hard time finding another home for Apollo. It’s a high wire act as she fends off the super, the building’s board, snarky neighbors and Apollo’s overwhelming presence in her small apartment while she searches for a solution but inevitably falls in love with the dog.

My friend, Jack Livings, who teaches creative writing at Princeton and Stanford hopes the film will bring Nunez the celebrity she deserves. I agree. She does a masterful job of creating a meditation on what a friend of mine calls “life and death and the whole damn thing.” Iris is mourning the loss of Walter and angry about the suicide, but it’s Apollo who brings life’s finite nature and the importance of relationships home to her. 

Important note: More than one review of the film has mentioned that some potential viewers have said they couldn’t watch it if the dog dies. FYI: We all die, but the dog does not die in the movie.

Iris manages in a creative way to overcome her problem keeping Apollo in the apartment but has another problem. She’s come to love him, but big dogs have short life spans. For Great Danes it’s six to ten years. Apollo is five when he comes to her and a year later there is a pivotal “come to Jesus” scene. 

In the city a short time ago a scary thing happened. It was scorching, the first really bad day of the season, and we were headed for the shade of the park. But before we could get there, and though we hadn’t gone far, you stopped, you buckled and sank to the concrete clearly distressed.

I  nearly panicked, thought I was going to lose you right then right there. 

How kind people were. Someone dashed into a coffee bar and came back with a bowl of cold water which you drank greedily without getting up. Then a woman passing by stopped, took out an umbrella and stood holding it open to shield you from the sun; it’s OK if I’m late for work, she said. A man driving by offered us a ride, but I knew you’d have trouble climbing into the backseat, and by then thankfully you’d revived and we were able to walk home.

Now every time I walk you my heart is in my throat.

Later, at the beach house where she and Apollo are spending the summer, she has her epiphany and finds peace.

So let’s think no more about it. Let’s look to this day, and only this day. This gift of a perfect summer morning.

One more summer. At least you got that.

One more summer to lie stretched out and contented in the sun.

And, at least I get to say goodbye.

This is Naomi Watt’s film. Except for two short scenes where Walter is the focus. She is part of every scene in the 120 minute film. It’s a bravura performance without drama. I think it’s Oscar worthy. She may be up  against Bing or maybe they will both win—he for Best Actor and she for Best Actress. And to complete the sweep Bill Murray wins for Best Supporting Actor and Siegel and McGehee get the Best Adapted Screenplay. I’d vote for that.

Go see it. You won’t be disappointed.

“Only the Best People…”

It will be interesting to see if anyone still visits Jack Bernard’s Travels. It’s effectively been on pause since the fall of 2023 when I went back to school for a low residency two year novel writing program at Stanford. No novel yet, but last week I finished the last required course which means I now have more time and flexibility to write here.

I’ve missed writing the JBT blog and commenting on things that matter to me—art, film, food, books, travel (and occasionally politics)—and I’ve missed hearing back from you about what you like or don’t like. I haven’t been totally absent–in 2023 I posted twelve essays and last year I wrote two restaurant reviews, a critique of Boeing’s engineering failures, and three essays on why I couldn’t support Biden (before he pulled the plug). Nevertheless, JBT has been off more than on.

***

So today, when I looked at this blank page, I didn’t know where to start. The world has changed so much in the last year and half…and so have I. So much turmoil. War. Autocracy. Climate disasters. Political chaos. The world is changing at warp speed. It’s inconceivable. So much to think about. So much to write about. It hasn’t been an easy time.

But there have been good things too. I’ve seen so many good films, read so many good books, seen so much good art, listened to so much good music – but I’ve also lost too many good friends. But, before I write about anything else I need to address the elephant in the White House.

I don’t plan to go “full monty” and only comment on politics, but I am concerned about what’s happening. And though I’m more interested in the arts, film, books, sports and food than I am in the day to day drama created by a vengeful, tantrum prone 78 year old infant I can’t ignore it. In the interest of brevity, I’ll limit myself and focus on the list of “only the best people” now populating the people’s house, You judge for yourselves. Here’s the lineup as of March 29, 2025:

  1. A felonious sexual predator, pathological liar, racist, grifter, draft dodger and failed businessman 
  2. A heavily tattooed sexual predator and Fox News host with an alcohol problem who rose all the way to Captain in the National Guard (the same rank I achieved in the Marine Corps) without getting reprimanded
  3. A pneumatically augmented canine assassin who looks like a sex toy and chose a tight white T-shirt and jeans for a prison visit in El Salvador
  4. A tech illiterate who fecklessly called a strike group meeting on an insecure platform where minute by minute attack plans were posted and shared with a journalist mistakenly invited to join the call
  5. A creepy anti-vaccine advocate with a worm in his brain and known to carry dead animals in his car
  6. A World Wrestling impresario’s wife
  7. A Fox host-looking blond with a law degree and questionable integrity
  8. A Fox News host/reality TV star with nine children who, as FAA boss, “hopes they can travel safely.”
  9. A military veteran who spouts RT propaganda and won’t say she thinks Edward Snowden is a traitor
  10. An NFL veteran and motivational speaker with no experience in housing and urban development
  11. A woman who grew up on a farm now in charge of US Agriculture
  12. An oil and gas CEO who thinks “renewables are Soviet-style communism.”

And then there’s the South African born, chainsaw brandishing, three passport holding, proto-Nazi with Asperger’s syndrome and enough money to buy the US government thanks to the Supreme’s Citizens United decision.

From Chaplin to Sellers to Musk

From Hitler to Strangelove to Musk

From farce to dark comedy to fascism

***

Now, on a more positive note, I hope you’ll go back to the top and enjoy the view of Mt. Baker from Brackett’s Landing in Edmonds where I walk every morning. It’s quiet, peaceful and calming. Far from the “the best people.”

Getaway…

T. S. Eliot wrote that “April is the cruelest month.” For me it’s November. The days have suddenly gone from the warm bright colors of Indian Summer to the rainy grays of approaching winter. The transition comes quickly, and now I have to think twice about whether to wear a rain shell, a down parka or both. Adding to sunlight affective disorder (SAD) is the darkness and impending doom of this week’s presidential election.

M and I used to getaway by getting on an airplane and flying to some exotic destination. It wasn’t so much getting away as getting to, but times have changed. We have aged. Our world is smaller. And, today we focus on local pleasures—especially food and friends.

Here, in the Northwest, it’s hard to find the perfect getaway. Not impossible but difficult. From our apartment we look out at Puget Sound and just north of us are the San Juan Islands. In October, M’s son Matthew gave her the escape valve we needed—a gift certificate for dinner at a James Beard nominated restaurant on Orcas Island. The irony is that he thought we could jump on the ferry in Edmonds and walk-off on Orcas. Unfortunately the ferry to Orcas leaves from Anacortes, a two hour drive north of Edmonds.

It was a great gift, and last week we reserved two places on Friday evening at Matia Kitchen’s chef’s table. Then we booked a room in a charming, no TV, Bed and Breakfast called Kangaroo House.  (Don’t ask. I have no idea how they came up with the name). Getaway weekend. No TV. No barrage of political news. A much needed break.

The tasting menu at Matia (pronounced May-sha) is ten courses with eight paired wines, and we were served at the kitchen counter by Julia, a professional sommelier-in-exile, who received her training at several of San Francisco’s fine dining restaurants before returning to the Northwest.

Ten courses and eight wines are a challenge for the chef, the server and the guests. Orcas is an island and seasonal. In the summer it’s full of tourists – sailors, cyclists, campers and summer residents. In the winter it’s cold, wet, dark and empty. Matia is a destination restaurant. It can’t survive on local business. I know what that’s like, having owned and operated Piccolo, also a seasonal restaurant. It’s always a struggle. Piccolo wasn’t fine dining but it was upscale and expensive to operate in the slower seasons. Like Noma it’s famous Danish counterpart, Matia’s survival depends on two things – a quality dining experience and a reputation that extends beyond its local geography – and it takes time to establish that reputation no matter how high the quality.

Matia opened in 2016, having established itself as a fine dining experience, first as a pop-up then in a storefront before taking over its current upscale contemporary location on Prune Street in Eastsound. The owners, Chef Avery Adams and Manager Drew Downing, were determined to offer the highest quality dining experience with locally sourced products whenever possible. It started attracting attention beyond the islands in 2021 when it was nominated as one of the James Beard Foundation’s Best New Restaurants. It garnered another nomination in 2022 and Adams was a finalist for Best Chef Northwest in 2023 and 2024. All well deserved.

As with other multi-course tasting menus, portions are small and demand your attention. Our first course was an oyster from Judd Cove, just down the road, served with a savory Matia hot sauce and seaweed garnish accompanied by an Alsatian sparking Crémant.

I won’t go course by course through the menu, but suffice it to say they varied from smoked celery root to Dungeness crab with sweet peppers to a  braised local pork chop and finished with an eggplant chocolate, sesame ricotta accompanied by a sweet Pineau des Charentes.

Last month, I wrote about our dinner at Bouchon in the Napa Valley, and I have to say this experience at Matia was its equivalent. I remarked then that the perfect restaurant experience is like the operation of  Swiss watch—so many synchronized moving parts and elements. The tasting menu at Matia changes nightly, so there is a lot of detailed planning required. The menu is professionally printed for each meal. The food is served on beautifully crafted, locally made pottery, and the wine served in a variety of glassware from sparkling-wine goblets to large balloon shapes to smaller dessert wine glasses. Our pairing even included an organic Saki (yes, it’s a rice wine) with the lobster mushroom course somewhere in the middle of the meal. Delicious.

Most satisfying about the experience was being transported from the helter-skelter world of presidential politics to an Epicurean world of simplicity, quality, friendship and community. Our meal was very expensive – far beyond the means of people living paycheck to paycheck – but the couple seated next to us were a local electrician and his social worker wife who were anxious to try their famous neighbor’s famous food and willing to splurge for the experience. We bonded and parted as friends. Food brings people together. It was a great escape and well worth the expense.  

Epicurus believed that happiness was the ultimate goal of human life and could be achieved through moderation, simplicity, friendship, and community. We agree. It was a great getaway. Thanks, Matt.