My Brother and I

Growing up, my older brother and I were never of the same mind about anything. If he liked building things with Legos, I liked destroying them, if he liked the baseball video game, we had to change it to the Hedgehog one (which is still better). Similarly, during our teen years, if my brother was into memorizing members of congress and their districts, I was trying to one-up him with The Disney Anthology. Yes, we were that nerdy.

I was certain we would never agree about anything. I staked out the left, and he the right, he obsessed over college basketball and I over college humor magazines. Sure, there was a détente during college, when he would come to visit for debate tournaments, but after college, we really started to come around to each other’s interests. It started with movies—we both liked watching the same cheesy sixties exploitation films like Psych Out or The Trip. Then that led us to discover the same psychedelic rock bands from the same era, which led to a million other things. Of course, I still had no interest in the law (his career), but I’m no longer afraid of it either, and even finished The Brethren on his recommendation.

Recently, his bar association threw a variety show, and we collaborated on a two minute video—our first film together. We wrote a Midwestern-tinged parody of the Jersey Shore, “Ohio Shore” last Christmas, a friend filmed him and a couple of pals acting out the script, and I edited the footage on Final Cut Pro. I had no way of getting to Ohio for the actual showing the other week—but from what I heard, our partnership paid off and the audience enjoyed it. This was nice to hear.

And it’s nice to be talking again, and hopefully planning the next partnership. Because, who knows, maybe our uncle is right, we could be the next Coen brothers. OK, maybe that one is a stretch.

Comments on any and all sibling rivalries, whether recovered or not, are welcome.