Smatterings, a Collection of Short Stories, by Jim Friedlander

Smatterings, a series of short stories, by Jim Friedlander is available on Amazon; 231 pages. Jim Friedlander (1942-present) was born and raised in Chicagoland, going to public schools and then on to the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he continued to excel academically as well as in sports. During his senior year in college, he decided to join the newly created Peace Corps. At the urging of his father, he postponed beginning his public service until he completed Law School at Harvard and took and passed the Illinois bar exam. He was admitted as an attorney in Illinois in December 1966. Shortly thereafter, he began his Peace Corps service in Africa. He now resides in London, England.

Smatterings is a well written series of stories about some of Friedlander’s adventures, encounters, and service in various African states and his own diplomatic service for the country he was first assigned to in the Peace Corps—Malawi—after his volunteer service with the Peace Corps ended. He tells about dangerous encounters with more than one rhino, a wild buffalo, and a multitude of roaches.

Friedlander created a framework for many African countries and companies to use to negotiate treaties, agreements, and contracts. He engaged diplomats from many countries, CEOs from significant entities, and yet walked with the people on the street to get a flavor of the 100 countries he has lived in or visited. He found a way to converse with people fluent in many languages other than English and develop deep and lasting friendships.

His stories give us a vivid understanding of the geography, the type of government and leadership quirks of rulers in socialist, democratic, and autocratic regimes, as well as unique customs of various places. We learn of the difficulties to obtain work permits and visas to enter certain countries needed to fulfill his mission. His employment by the World Bank for the time of his tenure there gave him a greater ease in entry flying under the UN banner when he had to engage locals for Bank investments. He went to remote places including deep into a mining shaft to better understand a bank investment. Some of his friendships with diplomats nurtured over time helped as well. In one instance a tip or gratuity (a bribe), was necessary to enter a certain African country where corruption was present.

Friedlander tells how he and his wife traveled in her final months of pregnancy before the birth of their first child going from Malawi to Mauritius, to Nairobi, Kenya to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel, to Tehran, Iran, to Kabul, Afghanistan, to Delhi, India and Kashmir, to Bangkok, Thailand, to Taiwan, to Japan to the US in Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, Chicago, New York, and Washington DC. Friedlander retells experiences in each place giving us some sense of the political and civic climate then and now. Some of those places became war zones but fortunately not when the Friedlanders were there.

We learn of business events taking Jim to many other countries to establish agreements for air travel, gold mine licenses, law firm expansion, trade agreements, as well as social engagement. The author takes us to fancy places like the Taj Mahal and isolated and desolate areas.

We have the chance to become world travelers with Jim in the safety of our own reading chairs and do not face the dangers to life and limb he experienced. My own conclusion in reading this fine book that I highly recommend is that Jim’s life takes courage, intelligence, patience, endurance, and openness to difference. He was one important face to change the image of the ugly American to the helpful, loving, open, smart, and friendly American. Smatterings is a book one can easily read through from start to finish in a relatively short time. Since each chapter is independent of the others, one can pick and choose which story to read in any order. I went from start to finish moving in chronological order. I hope you order the book on Amazon and find as much enjoyment in reading this book as I did. John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier brought new fresh honest young people to places in the world in the 1960’s with great impact where professional diplomats had not previously been as effective.

Hon. Michael S. Jordan, Mediation & Arbitration Services, is located in Glenview, Illinois. He can be reached at 847-724-3502. Hon. Michael S. Jordan served as a judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County from 1974 to 1999 and then began a private mediation and arbitration practice from 1999 to the present. Jordan is the author of a biography: Becoming a Judge: An Inside Story, available from Amazon.com, which includes his role in the rise of John Paul Stevens to the United States Supreme Court.