Friday, September 08, 2006
Drove back to Chicago last night and had a few drinks with Hansen.
When I first met Hansen in an improv class back in 2001 he wore a ring that had been angrily thrown at him by an Eskimo. This happened because of a court case in Barrow, Alaska, the northern-most city in the United States, 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
Hansen: I was there for a month. There was nothing to do. It was always night. When I went to the courthouse I had to be escorted by the owner of the hotel who would carry a gun in case we were attacked by a polar bear. Barrow is the kind of small town where everyone knows everyone, so the strangers in the suits... they knew who we were. We were the lawyers. We were not liked. The Inuits have these soulcatchers that they put over open wounds where you can see the hot air steaming out of the body. They're supposed to keep the soul from escaping. Anyway, this guy had a soulcatcher made into a ring and one night in a bar, as he was leaving, he took it off and threw it at me. He said, "You'll need this." [laughs] It could have been worse. They spit in the face of one of the other lawyers.
Hansen used to wear the ring all the time. He doesn't so much anymore. After his daughter, Kate, was born, his wife gave him a ring and he wears that now.
Hansen: I still have it, though. I'll never get rid of it. That and the walrus penis bone I was given. It's mounted on a wall in my office.
