The Name Game

Last year on this blog, I pointed out the eeriness of seeing my last name constantly plastered across headlines because of the troubles surrounding Scooter Libby.

Now, although in a somewhat more subtle context, I'm having that same feeling again, thanks to the economic clusterfuck involving Lehman Brothers. Most people instantly recognize Lehman Brothers as a global investment bank, but to me it means something else entirely.

My mother's maiden name is Lehman. And since long, long before I became part of the clan, my grandpa and his brothers (the Lehman Brothers, if you will) have owned a farm co-op outside of tiny Amity, Oregon, that goes by that very name. I spent many a childhood summer camping along the bank of the Yamhill River that winds through the farm, and both of the dogs I grew up with are buried there. Needless to say, seeing it in headlines describing economic ruin is pretty crazy.