There was something about Minnesota...

My cousin has been writing a column for The Northern Star, a weekly newspaper in Clinton, Minnesota (my mother’s home town) for years. He’s also published a couple of books and is generally considered to be one of the major successes in our family.

At least, that’s what my mother said.

Mom was a fan of the comparative style of parenting, using such tools as “Why can’t you be more like your sister?” and “Did you read Brent’s column this week - it’s really good.”

Mind you, I’ve thought my cousin was pretty wonderful since I was two and our parents took a picture of me kissing him. The look on hi...