The Rogers News

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  • The Risk of Moving Home

    I recently made the decision to return to my hometown of Traverse City, Michigan instead of staying in Chicago, Illinois where I spent two months over the summer studying for the Illinois bar exam. This was not an easy decision because of many factors, not the least of which is a fear that I might fail in front of those closest and most dear to me. David Byrne summarized this idea nicely in a recent Wall Street Journal article. Here is an excerpt:

    The generous attitude towards failure that big cities afford is invaluable—it’s how things get created. In a small town everyone knows about your failures, so you are more careful about what you might attempt. (Link)

    David is right that big cities insulate your failure and small towns do not, but I think he is driving at two different issues. It is okay to fail in any setting, big or small. What matters most is how you deal with it. If you can’t take the ridicule and gossip of a small town, then stay in NYC or Chicago. However, if you don’t mind hearing about why your community members think you failed (or succeeded) and you are able to process that information in a productive way, then a small town is much more rewarding because you are almost guaranteed of feedback, whether good or bad. In a big city, you run the risk of being drowned out.

    I think back to when I first started at the University of Michigan and I said to my parents that I couldn’t imagine moving back to Traverse City because I thought there wasn’t much going on in Traverse City! (I laugh now at my insensitivity and ignorance, hoping that in the future I avoid making such sweeping statements. But, I was new to college and everything in Ann Arbor truly was new, for better or worse.)

    I find now that there is more accessible activity in Traverse City than I’ve found anywhere else I have lived in the past ten years. I’m not sure what the city is putting in the water, but with much of the development around town (State Theater, State Hospital, Warehouse District, the Pit downtown, the Jolly Pumpkin, Shorts, other new microbreweries, the Young Professionals group, etc.), the founding of the Traverse City Film Festival, the wineries, and old and new friends all seems to have breathed a new life in my quite hometown. None of this would have happened if other people had not taken risks.

    In examining more closely what the big city of Chicago had to offer and what the small town of Traverse City had to offer, the risk was not in the possible exposure of failure but in failing to expose what matters most in my life – happiness, family, friends, and the many great experiences Northern Michigan has to offer.

    When I stand on the shore of Lake Michigan waiting for my dog to swim back to me or when I’m hiking through the woods of one of the many trails I have recently discovered and re-discovered or even when I’m walking down Front Street on a rainy day, it is crystal clear how much more rewarding the small town of Traverse City is than any big city.

  • Olbermann’s Comment on Health Care

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  • Passion & Sacrifice

    I played golf with a friend the other day and it reminded me of how passionate I used to be about anything that had to do with the game of golf. I played every chance I got, I worked at a golf store, I researched, tested and bought new clubs. While many of my peers seemed to have a modest interest in the game, looking back I feel that it consumed me in both good and bad ways.

    It’s been my belief that you have to forget about a lot of things to excel at one thing. There is a metaphor for success that involves a stove top with four burners. To excel in any one area, one must shut off two of their burners. The burners, which represent different areas of one’s life, are:

    • Work
    • Health
    • Family
    • Friends

    Looking back at certain times in my life, I’ve turned off or turned down different burners at different times.

    High School Golf

    Sacrifice: Golf being work, I turned down friends and family. Friends by choosing to hit golf balls on summer afternoons instead of beaching it with them. Family by creating a vacuum around me – time at the dinner table discussing my play, money spent on travel, lost work time, and mental anguish as I plodded my way around each course.

    Takeaway: Being great takes hard work, time, and sacrifices by those around you. I had a tremendous amount of support that I took for granted. Thinking about this now, I have a greater appreciation for the endurance required to be a parent.

    Ruckus

    Sacrifice: I turned off health. That’s really all I can admit to turning down, although, for the first time in my life, I was living in another state from my family and probably could have called/written/whatever more often. But this was a health sacrifice. I worked myself into the ground after five months, ended up with mononucleosis, and gained weight.

    Takeaway: It took until my second year in law school to give in to working out regularly and eating well (or at least better). Now when I overeat or eat too much junk, it pisses me off because I know I’m not doing what is right for my body. I’m sure we’ve all heard this before – that our bodies are holy sacred places. Who wants fast food in a place so dear?

    The point of all of this is that we make different sacrifices at different times in our lives. It’s healthy to recognize where we are lacking and that it’s impossible to keep four burners on high year after year. I’ve never been able to do it. What can be done is to seek moderation in all four areas, and be willing to sacrifice in any one area if necessary.

  • I Passed The Illinois Bar Exam

    I was hiking Old Mission Point Park with the labradoodle and the husky when I heard that the Illinois bar results were starting to be released, and made my way home to check online. It took a few minutes to read the comments on Above the Law to figure out that ibaby.org was overwhelmed by test-takers checking for their scores. This didn’t surprise me, however I hope that the Illinois bar examiners are able to remedy the problem for next year. It’s not fun receiving an email that tells you your results are up and not being able to login!

    October 9, 2009

    …

    Dear Mr. Rogers,

    We are pleased to advise you that you have passed the July 2009 Illinois bar examination.

    Our records reflect that you have satisfied all of the requirements for admission to the bar of Illinois pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 704 and will be certified to the Illinois Supreme Court as eligible to take the oath of admission.

    …

    Very truly yours,

    Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar

    This makes me very happy! Thanks to my family and friends for their support, the Franklin Pierce Law Center for teaching me well over the past three years, and the Starbucks on Halsted Street in Chicago’s Greektown where I spent most of my summer with my blue BarBri books and notecards.

  • The Empty Empty Diner

    “Sit down, will ya?” The waitress stood there, silent, and poured hot black coffee into an undersized stained-brown mug in front of me. “I’ve seen this all before,” I said. “I’m reading,” she turned to leave and I asked her to wait a minute. “What’s the rush? There’s no one else in this place.” She seemed to have no genuine response for this, but her haste conveyed that she had long ago determined that what she had to add to my world didn’t make up for what I’d be taking away from her’s. “Why the rush, sweetie?” She walked away to put the coffee pot on its burner.

    I drank my coffee and stared out the window at the soft-yellow reflections of streetlights on the wet asphalt. No one had walked by since the bells on the glass door jingled and jangled upon my entrance, yet I’m not sure it would have mattered if it were mid-day. I’ve seen it all before – life spent waiting for something else to come along. Boys would be sitting in the next booth over staring at dream girls – or just any girls – walking by outside – on the other side of the impenetrable pane of glass that obscures their faces and stifles their advances – their mendacious souls muted. Lame looking businessmen would be behind me talking about something that won’t matter five minutes later while using their BlackBerry’s as forks – nearly, perhaps. Outside, a spent looking mother might walk by in a bright pink sweatsuit. She’d probably be one of those parents too f****** focused on the outcome to realize that they are cooking their children like little frogs in a frying pan.

    I stared at the waitress for a long time as she hunched over the counter seemingly perfecting looking bored and pissed at the same time. I squeezed my coffee mug as hard as I could manage, trying to break it. It didn’t break. No one pays attention anymore.

    “Excuse me,” I shouted. Startled, slightly, she looked my way. I waived my menu. She walked over. I could see the imprint left by her bony ass on the red-topped swivel stool.

    “Do you enjoy waiting?”

    “Not all the time.”

    “When do you enjoy it?”

    “When we’re slammed.”

    “You like waiting for people to eat and move on? Don’t you wish you could eat and go sometimes?”

    “Why are you here? You’re not going. Why don’t you eat and go?”

    “I’ll eat and then I’ll go away out there.”

    “What do you want?”

    “One egg, dry wheat toast, and a donut. And more coffee.”

    “Is that it?”

    “Yes, that’s it unless you want to sit down.”

  • Walk Beside Me and Be My Friend

    In cleaning out my closet at home I came across the following quote in an abandoned journal with mostly golf swing notes in it.

    Don’t lead me; I may not follow.
    Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead.
    Walk beside me and be my friend.

    ~ Anonymous

  • Movie: The Informant

    Last weekend I saw The Informant starring a chubby Matt Damon. It was good, but nothing like what I expected. When I bought my ticket, I was expecting to see a movie along the lines of one of the “Bourne” films. The Informant is about price fixing and corn, not international spies.(Link)

    This confusion in expectations threw me. When I left the movie, I was underwhelmed. I said that the movie was good, but not what I expected. I was tempering my reaction, because I felt taken. If I had watched a preview, I would have known that the movie is based on a true story and tells the tale of Mark Whitacre (Damon), a bipolar executive at Archer Daniels Midland, who is forced into becoming a whistle blower on price fixing schemes performed by ADM and its competitors. The movie goes from there.

    Reflecting on the movie, I liked it very much. The story is interesting and the dialogue is compelling. The audience is constantly hearing Whitacre’s grandiose, absurd, creative, self-indulgent thoughts, which provide most of the laughs during the couple hours of run time.

    I recommend the movie to those who appreciate a creative adaptation of a real-life story. I liken the feel of this movie to Thank You For Smoking.