Indonesia continues to intrigue. On this trip, our band went up river all the way to Borneo. We represent 17 victim families from the crash of Sriwijaya Air Flight SJ 182 outside of Jakarta.

There are both similarities and differences with our successful lawsuit against Boeing in the crash of Lion Air JT 610 where we represented 46 victim families.  You can read more on my lawyer website.

Our clients are spread around the islands of Indonesia. In one of the cool highlights of my career, clients ceremoniously welcomed us into their families.

Once again I was reminded of how blessed I am to be able to assist people in need of justice. 

Urban Ocean Seabrook

Summer is coming. Urban Ocean is booking up fast.  We put our Market Street Loft at Seabrook into the rental pool this month. You can read about it and book it at “A Loft With a View.” 

Loft living, ocean views, easy downtown access, Urban Ocean is a vacation trifecta. Biased though I am, trust me on this.

And Seabrook is strangely enchanting, a cross between Martha’s Vineyard and “The Truman Show.”  You can see more at our Urban Ocean Instagram or my personal Instagram.

“We are tied to the ocean. When we go back to the sea – whether it is to sail or to watch it – we are going back whence we came.” J.F.K.

Movies and Books

On one of my long, long flights to Indonesia, I watched “Richard Jewell.” Directed by Clint Eastwood, it’s the true story of a hyper-vigilant security guard who saved lives when he noticed an abandoned backpack in a park. Inside the backpack was a bomb.  

Jewell is hailed as a hero for about 72 hours. Then the FBI and the media accuse him of being the bomber. He was not, of course. Still, he is subjected to three months of lies, gossip, speculation, and misleading headlines. Keep this cautionary tale in mind whenever you’re watching or reading “news” about a criminal case, or civil case, or just about anything else. 

Also on the flights, I finished James Michener’s memoir. While I’m not a big fan of his prose style, I am a big fan of his life philosophy. “I tried to always engage in tasks that had some significance and to associate with people who were trying to accomplish worthy ends.” 

He lived large, wrote it down, and succeeded in his goal. I admire him and recommend this memoir even more than his novels. 

Finally, one of his travel observations is consistent with what I often felt in the community as an elected prosecutor and feel again now in different worlds as an aviation attorney. “We are all brothers. We all face the same problems and find the same satisfactions. We are united in one great band.”

Thanks for reading. 

Today, January 31, is the last day I greet people with “Happy New Year!”

I am always enthused about starting a new year. I’m extra enthused this year. We sent out our New Year e-card with a Lindquist family update on New Year’s Day.

If you’re not already on our email list please join. Thank you.

Sad Movies

Meanwhile, in Spain, it’s the 30th Anniversary of the publication of my first novel, Sad Movies. Published in the U.S. by Atlantic Monthly Press, the book caught on and was published in seven languages. At the time, I thought this was pretty cool. I still do.

Outside of the U.S., it did best in Japan, Italy, Germany, and Spain.

Due to the anniversary, I was asked to do an interview for Vox Neuva. I think I said I look forward to visiting Spain again.

More Movies

As part of her ongoing pop culture education, my daughter Sloane and I watched Planet of the Apes. We started with the 2001 version. Next, we are turning to the 1968 original. The concept has aged well in our rancorous, divisive times.

Thanks to the pandemic, Sloane and I watched the entire Star Wars saga. We screened the movies in chronological rather than release order, which I recommend.

At some point, Sloane decided she needed a light saber. I bought her one. My wife Chelsea thinks I’m a sucker that way.

When the battery-powered light saber arrived, Sloane tested it out with joy. Still, after a while she wanted to know if she could have “a real one.” I asked Sloane’s friend and Congressman and fellow Star Wars fan Derek Kilmer if there were any real ones for sale. Apparently not.

New Books

I recommend Ryan Holiday‘s latest to begin your new year. The author of The Obstacle is the Way and Stillness is the Key explores stoicism further in Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius.

Organized into mini-biographies of various stoics, Holiday shares a highlight reel of life lessons.

“All things end. Philosophy is there to remind us of that fact and to prepare us for the blows of life.”

You can study in a few hours what it took some extraordinarily smart men decades of successes and failures to learn.

“Is it possible to be free from error? Not by any means, but it is possible to be a person stretching to avoid error. That’s what Stoicism is. It’s stretching. Training. To be better.”

For fiction, I recommend Jonathan Lethem’s new novel, The Arrest. It’s a dystopian, post-apocalyptic, Hollywood novel. The title refers to a day when technology stops working. Your iPhone, your car, your gun, your toaster, all of it stops.

This is difficult to imagine, but Lethem has a lively imagination.

As always, Lethem’s writing is smart, strange, sentence-driven and visual. “It was a season of burning leaves, burning light. Heaps of things burning.”

Personally, I’m a fan of his brief, cryptic chapters, though some might find a chapter consisting of a single sentence to be a tad too short.

This is Lethem’s 12th published book. About 15 years ago, I reviewed a collection of his essays, The Disappointment Artist. I’ve remained a fan.

Sriwijaya Air

Meanwhile, we’ve successfully resolved our cases against Boeing in the crash of Lion Air Flight 610. We were honored to represent 46 victim families. Assisting the families and getting to know the culture and country of Indonesia was a highlight of my legal career.

Sadly, another Boeing plane crashed in Indonesia recently, Sriwijaya Air Flight 182. While it’s too soon to say what exactly caused the crash, some theories and prime suspects have emerged. You can read more about it at my lawyer website.

Please let me know if I can help with anything.

Thank You

During this pandemic, I am especially grateful to everyone who has stayed in contact through this blog and my email list.

Thanks for reading.