About the Meanderer

I have given myself the name of the Meanderer. I am not sure why, except that I seldom seem to go in one direction. As Bob Dylan said, “with no direction home.” Being omnidirectional is rarely a good thing. My real name is John Eric Neufeld. Some of my friends call me Hans.

I am a recovering lawyer and  a former teacher of Real Estate Transactions to law students at the University of Manitoba. I practiced law for about 40 years and taught at the University of Manitoba Faculty of law for about a decade. I am married to a woman who does not want to be mentioned on the Internet so I will try to respect that. I am the father of 3 brilliant sons and the grand father of the two most beautiful girls in Manitoba and the smartest young man under the age of 1 year. I have been told not to mention the names of the grand daughters so again, I will try to respect that as long as I can. I will wait for instructions about the grand son. No doubt they will come.

I am interested in many subjects.  Partly as a result of that and partly as a result of natural incompetence and fundamental laziness I know very little about anything at all. But my interests are varied. That is why I have to meander through them.  None will dominate my interests for too long.

Some of the things I am interested  in (besides my family about whom I am largely not permitted to comment  and yet  intend to comment on from time to time in this blog), are the following: Nature (in particular wild flowers), the world of ideas, including philosophy, religion, politics, travel, literature, music, and art, among many others.  I also love photography and intend to post photos from time to time. My photos usually reflect my interests.

If you like, lets meander together.

John Neufeld

 

 

 

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2 thoughts on “About the Meanderer

  1. John, your blog is interesting and I read all of it this evening while a large pot of soup was cooking on the stove. It seems to me that technological advances which occurred around 1900 were profound. They had a huge impact on society, culture, art, and notably politics but those in the midst of them didn’t realize what was happening. We are still trying to cope with these changes. The two world wars sped up the rate of change and increased the tension between ethics and social rules. Unfortunately ethics lost out to social convenience. These changes were also reflected in creativity in arts(the Impressionists etc.), science,architecture, music and politics, those very subjects that you are most interested in. I think the most profound change was the relationship between men and women. Women started to work outside the home during the wars and for God’s sake they actually started to earn money! Men were no longer secure in their position in society and their manliness was questioned. There was generalized anxiety especially in men and it continues today, sometimes resulting in abuse and even terrorism. Great changes that have taken place in the Church, in the nobility and massive advances in science continue to upset many. But these things are seldom talked about. We continue to try to treat the symptoms without mentioning the disease. Recently I read 2 books by a philosopher called Philipp Blom. One called Vertigo and one called Fracture. I think you might enjoy them if you haven’t already read them. Thanks for sharing the knowledge you gained in your extensive travels.

  2. Hello, Hans Erich, as your mother used to call when she wanted you to come in. This is Dave Dyck writing – the guy who, together with his brother John, slept in your bedroom for a school year. Glen Krentz just told me about your blog so I took a look at it just now. Interesting. I’m assuming, John, that you live in Winnipeg. If you’re open to it, I wouldn’t mind meeting for coffee some time.

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