Merry Christmas, my thoughts in poetry... (2015)

Christmas Poetry 2015

Lord, save us from the dark of our striving,

Faithless, and troubled hearts.

With each day we live, we’re dying,

It’s with this poem my repentance starts:

From closing the year, socializing, and shopping,

December’s pressures are many.

Focus on the schedule isn’t helped by stopping,

Even though this month has as many days as any.

The culture of marketing and sales,

Begets a frenzy of doing and seeing.

But what is truly the wind in our sails,

Came down to earth as a human being.

School’s out and the decorations are sublime,

Lights are twinkling and glowing.

Some survive one day at a time,

They feel depressed without even showing.

Are we surprised by joy,

Can we live outside ourselves?

What’s the latest toy,

Flying off the shelves?

Seasons greeting, happy holidays,

Just don’t say Merry Christmas!

Cheer is passed along in many ways,

I love the name Immanuel (which means "God with us").

So many years ago on that Silent Night,

Jesus condescended.

By this he made all things right,

It's hard to be comprehended.

Now all the sleigh-bells ringing,

Don’t mean as much.

As to Jesus we’re clinging,

Changed by his touch.

Let all the earth fear the Lord.

Let all who dwell in the world stand in awe of him.

We read the Christmas story in God’s holy word,

And all together we sing a hymn.

Maybe it’s, “On Dasher, on Rudolf,”

And the rest of the crew.

You know their names,

You probably do.

Blitzen rhymes with Nixon,

What else can you say?

It’s Christmas ya’ll, and Santa’s fixin’

To ride up on a sleigh

He arrives in a couple of days.

The stockings are stuffed.

We’ve come up with so many ways,

To fill this month with fluff.

Is it different this year?

Or do we just get through it.

Hold your loved ones near,

And try to intuit:

“Peace is possible,

In our hearts we know it’s true.

But the story is improbable,

And it comes down to you?”

Away in a manger,

A baby was born.

To King Herod there was danger,

On that ancient Christmas morn.

They brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh,

A star guided Kings near.

I'm too busy wondering what to buy her,

Probably another kitchen utensil this year?

The baby grew and traveled,

He preached and he served.

Jesus teachings unraveled,

And the leaders were unnerved.

Christmas starts the story,

That morning ends at Calvary.

When Jesus in His glory,

Sets us all free. (Happy Easter)

So celebrate, feast, and gather;

The year is at its end!

But know what is the matter:

Jesus was born to save, Amen.

©Mark H. Pillsbury (2015)

Primary Election Day 2016: Thoughts on Texas Civic Health, March 1st

Texans for Civic Health:

Thoughts on Election Day 2015

With Election Day this week, I’m excited to see how Texans vote. While concerned about turnout; it’s clear that non-presidential elections show who really cares about politics, while it seems most people don't give a flip. On November 3^rd in Houston, there are some red-meat issues like City Prop 1, and we’re electing a Mayor, so there should be strong interest this cycle; even though for the past 25 years, the median age of a voter in a Houston mayoral election is 68 yrs old.

So, the question for this post is “why don’t more Texans vote?”

Experts use the standard, “Civic Health” like a lens, looking at what happens in public life: how citizens interact with one another, with our communities, with government. Civic health is measured by the degree to which a whole community involves its people and organizations in addressing its problems, and one of its cornerstones is voting. Because of Texas’ extremely low voter turnout, many question its citizens’ connectedness to government and confidence in its leaders, but the analysis must also hold individual Texas voters accountable; they may not vote b/c they don't have any "skin in the game?"

A survey of “low propensity” voters in Texas found the most-named reason (32%) for not voting was that “they don’t know enough about the candidates or the issues.” Is this ignorance, apathy, or negligence? How much of engagement relies on each citizen, and how much is it a result of poor civic health? Another 15% said they “don’t have enough time to find out about the candidates and vote.” Is that just a matter of poor planning or knowing failure to budget time for civic involvement? Are Texans bored with politics?

Among those who already classify themselves as infrequent voters, saying “I don’t have enough time,” rose to 21%, and among Hispanic infrequent voters, it climbed to 25%. Texans are too busy to vote, or at least that is what they say publicly. Privately, could it be that they don’t care to become educated or take the time to actually cast a ballot? With many activities competing in a busy social marketplace, participation in the “public sphere” doesn’t command the attention of other equally important matters. What about the working class who use public transportation? How convenient are early voting centers, and how long are they open? Presently in Harris County, there are 41 voting sites all over the metro area, and the polls are open for 12 full days before Election Day; but I’ve spoken with a few people who found the ballot confusing and the locations less than desirable.

The 2010 Census Survey asked us why we didn’t vote: almost one-third (29.5%) of Texas non-voters said they were too busy. Another 14.5% said they forgot to vote or to send in their ballot, while 16.3% said “they were not interested or their vote wouldn’t make a difference.” With almost ⅔ of the population apathetic about voting, or plainly blowing-it-off; government reflects small but powerful voting factions, those who get to the polls on a consistent basis. The average number of votes cast for a primary election winner increases ten-fold in the general election, making each voter 10X as valuable on March 1st; super voters show up for Super Tuesday.

According to The Washington Post, local TV ad spending for both presidential candidates in 2012 amounted to only $164,670 in Texas (with all of those dollars spent in support of Romney), compared with local ad spending in key battleground states like Florida, Virginia and Ohio, topping $150 million each! Notwithstanding 2012, and for the first time in 40 years, Texas will help decide the presidential nominees of both parties, March 1^st, 2016. Although no one knows what is boiling below the surface of the cauldron which is today’s electorate, this primary presents an opportunity for Texans to engage on a national scale with important political decisions.

Typically only tectonic shifts in the political landscape turnout large numbers of Texan voters, but Super Tuesday may gauge the larger voice of citizens usually too apathetic to care about elections. Both parties will present high-profile candidates to be the 45^th President, but how far down the ballot does a voter’s attention span go? This election gives outsider candidates at any level the opportunity to break through the establishment status quo. This vigorous field of Republican candidates has ignited a fire of dissatisfaction, consistently claiming that the political system is broken, and the current front-runners are clearly outsiders galloping forward on a reform horse. 

Some interesting facts from recent polling, each from different sources but mysteriously with the same percentages:

• 63% of the country thinks the U.S. is heading in the wrong direction (a pivot away from Obama?)
• 63% of the country believes that their children's generation will have a harder time making it than they did (and they're concerned about the future!)
• 63% of GOP voters said they would change their vote if they became convinced that another candidate was a better fit (not very firm about a candidate.)
• 65% believe that the news media "has a negative effect on the way things are going in the country." (who can they trust?)

The usual primary voter is active, educated, and motivated; however, in 2016, according to experts, at least 300,000 (other) “straight ticket” voters will also show up for the primary when otherwise they would only vote in a November general election (the kind with Republicans versus Democrats). As you can see from the polling numbers listed above, this election year is going to be about change. “Straight ticket” voters, sua sponte aren’t the kind who put a whole lot of effort into voting, but they at least show up for major battles. In four months, a March 1^st primary election might pique the interest of the “apathetic” voter enough for them to come to the polls; if nothing else because of the lively field of Republican candidates. On February 26, 2016, Houston hosts a Republican presidential debate, which should generate massive interest, just as previous debates this season. My prediction is for a very active primary in this state, with an uptick in turnout, and remarkable results.

How much attention will the "lever-pullers" or infrequent voters give to races down-ballot? They might be staunch, dyed-in-the-wool, yellow-dawg Democrats; but do they really care for individual races as much as (easy) blind party loyalty? If a voter rarely exercises their rights, at best too busy or at worst disinterested in elections; how will they engage in this process when there isn’t a simple, binary, straight-ticket decision to make? These are million dollar questions for the rest of the ballot, and fodder for political scientists to study for years, making the next time we go to the polls in Texas extremely interesting, and important.

"Professional politicians like to talk about the value of experience in government. Nuts! The only experience you gain in politics is how to be political." --Ronald Reagan

©Mark H. Pillsbury

[Pictures are shown by the “fair use” doctrine of using copyrighted material, not an infringement of copyright, but according to 17 USC § 107]

The Missed Deadline: What Does it Cost? The Story of Vail's Takeover of the Park City Ski Area b/c of a missed lease renewal

The story of the missed lease renewal in Park City, Utah

This simple story consists essentially of missing a deadline. Unlike missing a flight, a conference call, a weekly meeting, or missing a bill payment, this error cost a major ski resort operator millions of dollars in present and future value; literally changing the course of the company’s future. The instructions weren’t confusing; they're written in plain English on a lease; and yet, they missed it. This story also involves economics, management, law, history, negligence, opportunity, litigation, blame shifting, and most of all a ski resort! 

Introduction:

Had management recognized this lease document represented one of the company’s most valuable assets, it would have exerted all means necessary to see that its value and longevity were protected. Instead, it acted like the “third steward” entrusted with the care of money, in the Parable of the “Talents,” by locking the lease away in a file cabinet, where no one would get to it. (see Matthew's gospel, Ch. 25)

Call it negligence, but lack of care for the valuable asset of the very ground upon which they worked, caused an irreparable rip in the fabric of the company. In short, carefully inventorying assets and protecting those of highest economic value by watching them, reading them, encouraging them, nurturing, growing, and maintaining them in whatever form, must be a management priority.

The Operator:

Powdr Corp., privately held company founded in 1994, operates ski resorts, and is one of the three big companies like this in North America. It runs resorts in Vermont and Oregon, but its headquarters are in Park City, Utah. This corporation and its employees are the tragic characters of this story, because all this waste could have been prevented.

 The Resort:

Ultimately, this battle centered on the ski area called Treasure Mountain Resort opened in 1963,  with a single gondola, base and summit lodges, a chairlift, a J-bar, and a 9-hole golf course. Like any asset it grew into the wintry jewel of Utah.

By 1966, it changed its name to Park City Ski Area, and ground-leased the terrain from United Park City Mines, ("UPCM") with an annual lease payment of only $155,000 per year. A ground lease allows a business to operate as if they were landowners, for long periods of time.

In 1975, the parties amended the lease to expire on April 30, 1991; but added options to extend the lease for (3) three 20-year terms, possibly extending the lease out through 2051.

The Combatants:

The aggrieved party is Powdr Corp., who purchased Park City Ski Area in 1994 and renamed it Park City Mountain Resort ("PCMR").

Your opportunistic jerk is Canada-based, Talisker, acquiring United Park City Mines in 2003.

The ground lease between the successors-in-interest, Talisker and PCMR, covered approximately 2,852 acres of prime ski terrain, much larger than Aspen, Colorado; indeed, twice the size of the Texas Medical Center, and over 3 times the size of Central Park.

The Problem:

PCMR missed sending a timely 1^st renewal notice letter to Talisker (successor to UPCM). The lease required at least 60 days notice of the extension before the expiration  of the lease agreement, which was April 30, 2011. At a minimum, the letter had to be sent by March 1^st, 2011. Boom.

Seeing economic opportunity to make a better lease deal than they had w/ PCMR, Talisker decided to lease the land to Vail Resorts, Inc., one of Powdr Corp.’s biggest competitors. (Villain Vail could then link the PCMR land to their adjacent resort “Canyons”, making one of the biggest ski areas in North America).

Villain Vail paid much more in annual rent than PCMR’s $155,000; but they controlled 2 of the 3 resorts in the Park City Ski area (see map above). Twenty (20) years after the renewals were instituted, on the first opportunity to renew, PCMR failed to properly execute on the agreement. It was their fatal mistake.

The Lawsuit:

It took Talisker 8 months to respond to PCMR’s mistake but when they did, the lessee, PCMR filed suit against Talisker, claiming that Talisker waived, or was “estopped” by its own conduct from enforcing the notice provision in the lease. It was a desperate plea.

For these reasons and many others, this “high-profile lawsuit” involved most of the terrain underlying one of the largest ski resorts in North America. At one point in the litigation, PCMR foolishly presented a fake, "backdated" letter to make it seem as if the renewal was timely submitted; nevertheless, this tactic didn’t even come close to working, and they were severely punished by the court.

After Talisker reached their new lease agreement with the new tenant, Vail, they commenced an eviction action based on the expired lease with PCMR, sort of like getting rid of the ex-wife! The new marriage between Vail and Talisker was a 50-year deal, w/ six 50-year renewal options. Vail agreed to pay at least $25 million a year in lease rent; but the contract also leaves Talisker with the development rights to 4 million square feet of real estate on the resort. It was a win-win for the new parties to this agreement; but PCMR was left out in the snow without any skis.

The Ruling:

In 2014, Utah's 3rd District Court Judge Ryan Harris ruled in favor of Talisker because the resort missed a 2011 lease renewal deadline. He ordered eviction unless the parties could get together to settle the case before the 2014-2015 ski season. Naturally, PCMR wanted to appeal, but the parties couldn’t even agree on a bond amount for PCMR to post during the continuing court proceedings. Meanwhile, in June, 2014, the judge ordered the parties to Mediation.

Just two days after PCMR announced that it would pay the $17.5 million bond required to continue litigation and operate the ski area during the 2014-2015 season, PCMR's owner, Powdr Corp., announced the sale of the ski area to Vail Resorts, Inc. for $182.5 million in cash.

It was finally over, and the sale cancelled the bond and ended over 4-years of litigation between Toronto’s Talisker Land Holdings, LLC and PCMR, costing many millions of dollars in legal fees. Vail Resorts now owned both Canyons and PCMR in the Park City Utah ski area (colored purple and orange in the picture above). PCMR had to absorb decades of lost profits, for what was basically one simple sentence in a lease.

The Aftermath:

Previously, Talisker showed that Powdr CEO testified that the chief financial officer of Powdr Corp. was responsible for "understanding the lease," CEO Cumming said in his deposition, however:

 "that a 'combination of people' had responsibility for the Leases and that, as CEO of Powdr Corp., he was ultimately responsible for renewing the Leases."

CEO Cumming also said in his deposition:

"I run this business. Ultimately I'm responsible. And I have chosen not to try to pin the tail on the donkey . . . So the miss has been pinned squarely on me." Mr. Cumming viewed written confirmation as a “mere technicality.” 

At one point, Mr. Cumming, who was also a member of the board of directors of Powdr Corp., encountered a distraught PCMR President and General Manager, Jenni Smith, on May 2, 2011, after the deadline was missed:

"He explained that he was 'trying to tell her that things like this happen. Things like this mess that's going on right now happen,'"

Powdr Corp.'s chief financial officer at the time, Jennifer Botter, testified that:

"she thought the option to extend was 'automatic.'" According to court records, Botter, "actually testified that she believed the Leases had been extended because the renewals were 'automatic and . . . had already been gained verbally."

Botter resigned from Powdr in 2014. The moral of the story: don't let "things like this happen," read the lease and follow its provisions; or risk losing your business, a good job, and your favorite ski run.

##

[much of this story is summarized from earlier news reports, but the fair use of any copyrighted material shown or paraphrased herein, is not an infringement of copyright. 17 USC.Sec.107]

Opinions©Mark H. Pillsbury

Boom or Bust? #TXHSFB (Reflections on Texas High School Football) 25 years since "Friday Night Lights" book

Boom or Bust:
Reflections Tonight on Texas High School Football #TXHSFB

(Houston) If all politics is local; well then, so is football. Whether it’s pro, college, or high school, the closer you are to the action, the closer the action is to your heart. Under Friday night’s warm, gentle breezes, Texans congregate on either side of a grid-lined field, celebrating a game with deep roots in the our state. It’s a stage not only for the athletes but for entire towns to proudly exhibit their winning colors and traditions, despite the boom/bust reality for many of these communities. The ultimate team game is the ultimate town game.

The luminosity of the lights squelches competing brightness, banishing the darkness of the world beyond the stands. The inky evening in the distance streaks shades of orange and black as the night envelopes the sunset; curly clouds above look cotton-candy pink against a faded-denim sky.

Stadium lights stand bunched together on soaring poles, like supernova lined inside an egg box. Swirling wildly around the bold contrast of black and white in the night sky, lights edged with a blinding penumbra, fly thousands of late summer bugs, legion around the 1500watt metal halide bulbs, bouncing off each other in a frenzy.    

Dreaming of glory, searching for new heroes under the Friday night lights; spectators are lost for a few hours at the end of a long grinding week. Maybe they’ll see another runner like Eric Dickerson, another passer like Matthew Stafford, or another kicker like Russell Erxleben? The rat, tat, tat of drumlines, the warbly wah, boo-wap of the horn section, the cheers and whistles during play: all repeat like fight songs echoing down through the decades. We can all sing our alma mater. I’m not too old to remember the freedom of roaming around under the stadium with packs of elementary school hoodlums, caring much less about the game than our parents.

An oil boom in the 1950s led to the opening of Odessa Permian High School in 1959, and 55 years later the oil boom/bust cycle, like a roller-coaster, continues. It has been 25 years since the book “Friday Night Lights” [FNL] was published by De Capo press in 1990; written about the 1988 season. The price for a barrel of oil was just as depressed back then, but TXHSFB was as well-lit and well-funded as it is today. My high school in Dallas just lost a home game for the first time in 84 contests; the streak started before many of the players were born. It takes years of work to perpetuate that kind of success.

Splintered wood benches give way to smooth aluminum seating and modern scoreboards, with replays and current statistics. During halftime the cold hot dogs and bitter coffee have been replaced by fancy concessions such as hot nachos and fruit smoothies. Entertainment by the cowboy hatted drill teams with red lipstick and tasseled white boots have morphed into a striptease show by scantily-dressed dancers. The players’ tight elasticized uniforms and Star Wars helmets look like pro football teams but protect our little boys from concussions: who thinks that head injury issues could ruin this historic American game? The “gear” seems as conflicted as having multiple teams in each district make the playoffs: we want to highs of powerhouse winning teams, but we neither want head injuries nor the agony of defeat felt by kids at the season’s end. It’s too high or too low?

Media coverage of TXHSFB has grown like the game’s big lineman, many of whom are 300-pounds, a girth formally reserved for college or pro. In the 25 years since the smashing success of Bissinger’s FNL, the steady increase in magazines like Dave Campbell’s, bloggers like Angel Verdejo, tweets by Dan Jenkins, commercials with the Boz, songs by Kenny Chesney, highlight shows on TV hosted by Craig Way, and movies like Peter Berg’s, pushed the popularity of high school football to a new level. High school coverage in the 70’s consisted of AM Radio and the back pages of Saturday's Dallas Morning News, with print the size of an IRS document. At the same time, the U.S. imported 46% of its oil. Boom or bust?

TXHSFB is a family game, passed from decade to decade; for example, in north Texas, Denison plays Sherman this fall for the 106^th time, missing only 3 games during WWII. Many things have changed but so much has remained: sweeping runs, head-smacking tackles, few QBs with good arms; the scream of “Dee-Fence” when the game is on the line.

Games bring together communities, allowing them to celebrate success and teach young people how to plow through challenging situations. The spirit of competition shows the collaboration and work ethic of future leaders, their effort and joy floating over to the stands to encourage beleaguered, anxious parents.

The sport exists mostly in analog, its basics what we call “blocking” and “tackling” in business when we want to illustrate the building blocks of any project. But more than that, the diving into a pile for a fumble, the clawing, grabbing and fighting of the interior line, the reaching high up into the corner of the end zone for the impossible catch, these are the small battles that represent everyday work, considered life and death in football. We love the game because it’s real; it’s a team battling together. It’s both shiny and brassy, but down and dirty; the highs and lows intoxicate us every Friday night: boom or bust?

©Mark H. Pillsbury

Easy as A, B, C: Maturity and the Plight of the Litigator in the Legal Profession

Easy as A, B, C:

Maturity and the Plight of the Litigator in the Legal Profession

Recently, I saw the most trendy, upscale Justice on the Texas Supreme Court introduce an attractive new law clerk, also an attractive, voguish young woman, and it made me consider style versus substance? How can snappy young lawyers dressed to kill have the experience that years of legal battles give a seasoned litigator? It takes time, and handling thousands of files. So how can someone who just graduated from law school advise the highest court in our state? Maybe they should just look up case law at first?

Decompressing after another long conference call negotiating, I got off the phone and thought how many arguments I’d survived in 25 years in the legal profession. Sometimes it feels like all I do is quarrel. Any lawyer’s advocacy can result in conflict—it’s part of the job; if you play football you have to be ready to get hit. After every fight I wonder what I could have done or said differently, which is not an easy thing to do. Self-criticism is important, and we learn the best through adversity.

Without years of study and experience coming from preparing for disagreements and then plowing through the client’s legal and factual points from their frame of reference; young lawyers can’t know how to accept stressful encounters. Until they’ve lived through enough bloodshed to stay calm, engaged, and strategic, even during the opponent’s barrage, they don’t realize the toll taken by advocacy. Even though many young lawyers have early professional opportunities, will they pay attention to the old warriors, or does law school stamp out narcissistic upstarts one-after-the-other, constantly seeking to be right, or win above all other priorities?

Lawyers have clients, and we all must study the law which applies to our client’s story. By definition, the question before the lawyer is an obstacle or complication of our client which requires a lawyer’s assistance. The client’s pickle usually contains an antagonist represented by opposing counsel. This is the stock-and-trade of the legal profession. But there’s more of a nuance between the Main Character in the story and the Protagonist in the story. Lawyers who learn this difference are far more productive. The Main Character (Client) represents the audience’s eyes into the story; the Protagonist (Lawyer) pursues the goal of the story.

Law students practice debate and their professors fight circumlocution from the first day of law school; however, young lawyers don't even realize how oblique their opponent’s references will be when there isn’t much intelligence coming from the other side (as opposed to a law professor). What is the best way to oppose one-sided, unjustifiable positions? Surely it doesn’t include yelling, profanity, threatening sanctions, or discourteous behavior we called "Rambo" litigation back in the 1990s; however, sometimes as we go deeper into an argument, we only convince ourselves, the stronger we force ourselves over opposing counsel.

The way I break this down is just like A, B, C:

Adversity, conflict, or the disagreement of parties in a lawsuit (dialectical reality) is very common for any practicing lawyer. Often the facts of the lawsuit or the way the facts were communicated by your client put the lawyer in a bad position. After years of battles, a seasoned lawyer can survive with the professional perspective that “at least all I have to do is represent my client; I don’t have to take them home!” Older lawyers develop thick skin and grey hair on their way back and forth to the courthouse. Many times the lawyer just can’t take no for an answer; resulting in an inevitable argument and heated negotiations. Most people hate lawyers; but they’ll often tell you they sure like their own?! I learned early that this profession was tough, even though my dad said I'd never have callouses on my hands. It is better for the heart and soul to at least try to reach an agreement that is positive for both parties, although if it comes to a fight, we must do it well for our client.

[The Texas Legislature in their infinite wisdom recently passed a law labeled Senate Bill 534, adding to the lawyer’s oath of office set out in the Government Code, that all incoming lawyers who are licensed by the State to practice law, must also swear: (among their other constitutional duties) to “conduct oneself with integrity and civility in dealing and communicating with the court and all parties.” The bill was signed into law by Gov. Abbott (himself a lawyer) and took effect on September 1, 2015. Yet another attempt by the bar to make civil behavior among its members a cornerstone of the legal profession].

Belief in the position you must take, or the advocacy of the side you represent; the B doesn’t stand for blindness. Well-prepared lawyers know somewhat how the other side will argue, and they fight hard for their position, often against long odds. Reality has to be pushed into the sub-conscious sometimes and one has to internally and externally be consistent in order to be believable. It’s hard not to use hyperbole in place of logic; however if you don’t believe in your argument it probably won’t come across as credible. Yet there's the risk of cognitive dissonance; allowing our beliefs to acclimate to our argument, despite what is apparent. By pushing the opponent farther and farther away, the chances at reaching an agreement become less likely. Although many a lawyer has been deceived by their client, it depends on the case as to whether the lawyer really needs to know the truth; sometimes in order to pursue the goal of the story the lawyer merely needs to be prepared to argue their side and answer logical responses. It takes experience to know how much information is enough. A good example of this is the 1996 film, Primal Fear, with Ed Norton & Richard Gere. Trust me.

Consequences of the argument and the emotional or behavioral requirements required to become an advocate in a situation where the outcome of failure can be extremely unpleasant: I’ve known defense attorneys who take on a “God-complex” when defending a death-penalty case. It’s “Robin hood” taken to the extreme. One cannot always protect their client from their own misdeeds, or even injustice at the hands of the court. The balanced lawyer keeps an even keel, despite the highs of winning and lows of losing. Comparisons kill. Every case is unique, and hopefully in the end, justice prevails despite our flaws. The goal of negotiations should be to find agreement or at least try to find a solution that works for both people involved. Arguing a point just to be adversarial is unproductive, unfair, narcissistic. Each issue addressed is an opportunity to show preparation and the intellect it takes to apply the facts of the story to the law of the case. Law school exams cover an entire semester in one test. Young lawyers soon discover that exams mirror life. Sometimes a lawyer gets but one chance to make or break the case, so they must be vigilant and ready when called upon to argue. That's what is called the burden of proof. Often the case's outcome was destined, the lawyer merely secured a fair process on the road to perdition. The moral of the story is at times, that "it is up to the lawyers to make straight in the desert, a highway for God’s wrath."

Sometimes my dreams contain an escape from Viet Cong sniper fire in a Huey gunship during the Vietnam war. It’s not like litigation rises to the adventure of a firefight during the battle of Ong Thanh; yet, as if in the fog of war, sometimes I rise up from the smoky rice fields trying to strap-in fellow soldiers, wounded and bleeding, as the gunner sprays down a protective .50 cal. gauntlet against these deadly pursuers. Battle is battle, and the same fight or flight stress which affect humans physically and psychologically, manifests daily in litigators just as they did the young soldiers of Vietnam, although surely not as severely. As a non-veteran, are my dreams the result of too much war history, or do they play out in my subconscious the fiery chaos of the battlefield during the last stages of an epic confrontation, like a jury trial?

Finally, there is the topic of the consequences of the high-stakes, high-pressure practice of law which causes greater stress on attorneys as professionals than any other group. A 2016 trailblazing study of over 19,000 lawyers shows an alarming amount of substance abuse, depression, anxiety, and acutely poor mental health among all strata of the profession. Reaching a crisis point, and not being studied seriously in a generation, this study is frightening, and a stark dose of reality, especially for the young lawyers just 10 years or less into the practice of law. Cited here by the Texas Bar Journal (March 2016):

http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.barjournals/texbarj0079&size=2&collection=texbarj&id=226

©Mark H. Pillsbury

Lighthouse in an Angry Sea: dedicated to all the employees in the Energy Corridor

Lighthouse in an Angry Sea: dedicated to all the employees in the Energy Corridor

Alone in my boat, awash at sea, so small not even there;

Tumult and peril rolling over me, I row, crying out in prayer:

 

“Be thou my shield and hiding place, a lighthouse amidst raging tide;

As my rising dinghy falls, by grace, keep me safe inside.”

by Manet

Oh wondrous love! To bleed and die to bear the cross and shame;

In the depths of woe I summon God, exclaiming Jesus’ name:

“Help thy lost sailor Lord, to land on yonder shore;

And witness praise of saints unknown, for ten thousand years and more!”

by Thomas Moran

©Mark H. Pillsbury (This work is my original poetry w/ inspirational credit due to John Newton, Rector of St. Mary Woolnoth Church, on Lombard Street in London, 1779; as well as the Rend Collective, Ireland, "My Lighthouse" 2014)

Dedicated to all the workers getting laid off in the Energy Corridor, Houston Texas...........

Houston Rain Event: Memorial Day (2015)

Memorial Day Rain Event, Houston Texas (2015)

(Houston) On my daughter’s 14^th birthday, May 25, 2015 she celebrated by shopping, seeing a movie at the River Oaks Theatre, and eating dinner w/ her best buddy Elizabeth. My son attended another birthday party in Fort Bend County on Monday night, and we waited for him to return home around 10p.m., just as the storms intensified.

Finally, our team congregated all under one roof; while many weren’t so lucky. The storms were fierce, the lightning struck often, and the thunder shook the house. The Rockets hung on to win Game 4 of the Western Conf. finals; however thousands of cars were stranded in downtown while the waters rose up and out of Houston’s bayous.

Our family huddled high in our tree house; Hampton watching the wx-radar on his iPad and Eliza squealing every time the lightning illuminated the room. She loves a good storm the way some people love horror stories! Towards midnight the waters rose all over the city. Over 10-inches of rain fell in west Houston, and the Braes Bayou watershed that meanders through the Medical Center peaked higher than two other major rain events: Hurricane Ike (2008) and Tropical Storm Allison, 15-years ago.

Buffalo Bayou Flood Stage

This major storm raged, but our little family unit watched it from the safety of the Master bedroom. Rain fell in sheets and the street outside our house turned into a river, carrying away the trash receptacles waiting for tomorrow’s pickup. Daddy bravely retrieved them from the intersection a block away; but he returned soaked and scared at the power of the rising water.

Just one mile away, Buffalo Bayou rose up an over the banks trapping many in their cars. We lost power for a while, but sitting together in the dark wasn’t so bad since we had the togetherness to keep us courageous. We talked about the way the bayou rose quickly at our old house in Linkwood, and we remembered fondly the night Eliza came into the world, 14-years ago.

We are a close family and we know deep in our hearts that we can survive anything together; this proved itself to be true many times over the years. God’s power is immense, but we also see his love in our union. We woke to a flooded city, HISD cancelled school, and Daddy didn’t go into work until afternoon. Hamp was still asleep; but he rested peacefully. We don’t know when the flood waters will recede, but we know how tightly we held to each other on this historic night.

Downtown Dry





Fiction about The Fall: Ripped from the Headlines, 7.9 Kathmandu Super Earthquake

“I came to a place where every light is muted, which bellows like the sea beneath a tempest. The hellish hurricane, which never rests, drives on the spirits with its violence: wheeling and pounding, it harasses them. When they come up against the ruined slope, there are cries and wailing and lament, and there they curse the forces of the divine.” Inferno, Canto V (Dante)

(Nepal, April 28)

In Kathmandu you hold your breath when the mountain shakes.

 

We were rolled up tight as a cocoon; staying warm, huddled in a group on the side of Everest; where the temperature never exceeds zero centigrade.

Photo from AP

The weather was calm in the early dawn; yet my tent was still slightly visible, colored brightly orange like a road cone. Ready for the next stage of climbing, maybe one more full day; the caravan zig-zagged, reaching for the top of the world’s most prestigious mountain, but staging this evening just below the summit at a camp called, “Khumbu Icefall.”

This expedition was made of a diverse band of new and experienced climbers, and numerous, ever-present Nepalese Sherpas: part pack-mule, part ghostly guide, slowly leading us by taking the burden and responsibility of “feeling” the mountain. Only those with an indigenous attachment to Everest had the sensitivity to divine what the sounds, smells, shadows, and winds spoke to those daring enough to confront its harsh conditions. Costing over $30,000 to join an expedition, one of the more unusual reasons to climb was attending the wedding of Nepalese couple Moni Mule Pati and Pem Dorjeee, Sherpas on the mountain in 2004.

Copyright of Berta Tilmantaite (2015)

Everest is not the world’s tallest mountain but that’s like saying the Kentucky Derby isn’t the world’s only horse race. Those who argue that it is the highest mountain in the world put its height at 29,035 feet, about the altitude of a cruising commercial jet. The ultimate prize of every climber, it's as if reaching the summit allowed you to wear a coveted green jacket. Sticking out of the Himalayas, stretching 1,500 miles along the border of Nepal and China; in 2014, an avalanche killed 16 guides, so far, the greatest tragedy ever seen on Everest. Hundreds sleep on the mountain forever, their frozen graves permanently affixed to the mountainside; however, since 1953, more than 2,000 people have successfully climbed to the peak.

If the earth suddenly rips apart by 3 feet, how does it make a sound as if an old man belched?

The sudden jarring shift ripped away the tent from its anchor spikes, earth turning to jelly; but it was the high, rumbling roar, the sound of fury and death raining down from above, which was horrific. The shaking quickly subsided even though the actual earthquake lasted more than 90 seconds. The oncoming thunder of the falling snow resounded with intensity for a short time; before it hollered down from a rolling wave like a hundred thousand head of cattle driving across the dry plains of Texas.

Whether rolling or falling, the descent depressurized and disoriented the climbers, the floor dropping from under them in an instant. Plummeting over 1,000 feet in 5 seconds, confined in millions of tons of hard packed snow; the most immediate threats were suffocation, wounds, and hypothermia. Tumbling over and over in a clothes-dryer motion; the chances that any of them would survive the somersaulting plunge were as unknown as a bouncing lottery ball.

 

The terror stopped like a pause button. After minutes that seemed like an eternity; the booming, roaring, violent cacophony of the Fall ended with a soft thud. I was like a hot-dog stuffed inside a moist, pallid bun. During the twisted, rambling, hellish descent down the mountain, in what could have been a meat-grinder; my limber body was intact. I laid wrapped in nylon and snow, still in silence, making inventory of my limbs with my nerve endings; waiting for the scream of pain, as the score.

I’ve felt alone before. The everyday worker, husband, student, or octogenarian can understand that sometimes the overwhelming isolation of the human condition causes one to feel shut-in, forced into confinement even if it is not physical restraint. The vacuum quiet of mind-numbing pain, the racing heartbeat of anxiety, fear, and dread, swallowed him whole; it reminded him of old school days, when the heat rash of embarrassment flushed through his skin: “Proceed to the Principal’s office young man; and do it now!”

“Sir, you need to turn around and put your hands behind your back…” If you can relate to that sort of disorienting confusion, if you’ve ever felt so deserted, distressed, and shocked that you wanted to close your eyes and wish it all away; then you can understand a little of what it was like to settle into a hole, interned at the bottom of an Avalanche. What is going to happen next; will I live or die?

#Fiction ©(2015)Mark H. Pillsbury

As you consider Nepal, please consider supporting these relief agencies as they strive to help the real victims of this earthquake still suffering:

UNICEF  The U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, says nearly 1 million children in Nepal need help. UNICEF says it is preparing two cargo flights with a combined 120 tons of humanitarian supplies including medical and hospital supplies, tents and blankets, for urgent airlift to Kathmandu.
Online: http://www.supportunicef.org

World Food Program
The U.N. World Food Program says logistics and emergency response teams have arrived in Kathmandu.
Online: https://give.wfp.org

Red Cross
The International Committee for the Red Cross says it is working with the Nepal Red Cross Society and has a team working on emergency response.
Online: http://familylinks.icrc.org

Save the Children
Save the Children says it has staff in 63 districts and emergency kits, hygiene materials and tarpaulins already in Nepal and ready for distribution. Additional supplies and emergency recovery teams are being flown in.
Online: https://secure.savethechildren.org

Oxfam
Oxfam says its team in Nepal is assessing needs and it is sending emergency food, water and sanitation supplies. “Communication is currently very difficult. Telephone lines are down and the electricity has been cut off making charging mobile phones difficult. The water is also cut off,” country director Cecilia Keizer says in a statement.
Online: https://secure2.oxfamamerica.org

Doctors Without Borders
Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, says it is sending medical staff and supplies to Nepal, including emergency surgical teams.
Online: https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org

Samaritan's Purse

The Christian aid organization has deployed a disaster relief team and initial supplies for 15,000 households to support partner hospitals.
Online: http://www.samaritanspurse.org