Page 10 - Pierce County Lawyer Novemer December 2024

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER EDITORIAL
Nostalgic
for the Holidays;
Neuroplastic
for the New Year.
Despite my inarticulate misgivings about the onset of the
‘dark season’, we are again entering a magical stretch of
the year. Sunlight takes on an earthier quality, shadows
are longer, and coffee and Netflix are in higher demand. I have
previously documented my childhood Christmas memories
on North Cheyenne Street, and those pictures always return to
my mind around October each year. Now I am looking out my
office at a bright red autumn tree which adds to this ambiance.
I don’t think I’m alone in my nostalgia;
longing for a golden past when life seemed simpler.
For many, this human tendency seems to intensify ever so
slightly each year. Am I the only reader here who would
physically block demolition of a historic home or building
in this City of Destiny? In the 1990s, I happened on a fire;
the 1891 wooden Sampson Hotel accidentally burned down
near 11th and Fawcett. It would never return. Most cities have
similar, periodic losses. Despite the cost of retrofitting and
upgrading old stuff, it has far more character than what comes
in to replace it. Old City Hall and Stadium High School have
thus far dodged the wrecking ball. We value permanence,
predictability and the way things were, even as the rough
and painful parts are subconsciously edited from these hazy
memories.
I greatly regret the loss of Pierce County’s old gothic
Courthouse (RIP 1893-1949), demolished after significant
1940s earthquake damage. Part of its foundation remains as
the west edge of the parking lot. I wasn’t even born at inception
or demolition, but the pictures spark my imagination.
The ‘modern’ County-City Building which replaced the
courthouse may hold similar appeal for later generations,
though I doubt it.
As I’ve discussed before, downtown Los Angeles once
possessed an entire Victorian ecosystem known as Bunker Hill.
But from around 1950 to 1970 that whole district was razed
in favor of modernism, safety and, undoubtedly, developer
profits. I can’t quite place why these losses, which had nothing
to do with me, nonetheless affect me. Most American towns
have similar tales of destruction and renewal. Some of us really
resist change. But we can also hold contradicting opinions
in the same brain. Kids don’t realize this. How can you love
and hate the same thing? However managing our cognitive
dissonance becomes a useful skill for a functioning adult. As
we age many studies posit that it becomes ever more important
to attempt new experiences and acquire new skills. This goes
far beyond taking a different route home from work.
As for myself, I have actively worked on
improving my neural network and delaying
the inevitable processes by trying new things.
Over the past decades these involved flying lessons, guitar
lessons, and challenging myself to a number of new YouTube
areas of expertise. More recently, I tested my comfort zone by
testifying in court, rather than examining, cross-examining or
arguing.
My September 2024 trip to circumnavigate Ireland involved
a left-handed stick shift and some impossibly narrow
roads. Never done that before. Kudos to my friend John Jr.
who wisely advised a counter-clockwise route from Dublin
into Belfast, rather than clinging to the ocean drop on the left
side of that road. I thought it would be like driving around
Vashon. But no: Ireland is BIG. Two weeks of visiting local
pubs, abbeys and ruined castles presented a great change of
pace and new sensory input into my synapses. At the same
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