Pandora's Other Box

In our memory banks there are places and then, there are places. Looking back, it seems amazing that one city block (exactly 100 meters) would carry enough weight to remain attached for a lifetime. But so is the case for that block of Boullon (Calle 25 today) Between Santa Cruz and Sta. Elena. My world's center for most of the first 15 years of my life. “Paco… dame una Materva, que me muero del calor”… “Paco, give me a Materva (local soda); I’m dying from the heat!!” This would be a very common cry during any summer afternoon. The place where this cry was usually heard would be the corner “bodega”(store): combination soda fountain, hangout, quasi bar for the afternoon home returning working crowd and general food store. In Cienfuegos, Cuba in the 1950’s, there were no supermarkets as we know them here; instead, it was the corner store, much like the small towns across the USA. In our case, we had two from which to choose: the store owned by Pedro y Paco, or a similar store at th...

Illegal immigration is a difficult topic. Understanding the hell from which most of these families come, does not help decisions to become easier, either way. Our country is a magnet to many who live in hopeless despair but in coming here illegally, they themselves are contributing to the lessening of the number of opportunities which may have been available here. The legalization of migratory status is a multi-layered issue. Like peeling an onion, every layer reveals other layers beneath and each one provides issues and possibilities of its own.  It is difficult to agree on a course of action which is fair and just to all concerned but we as a people must do so for the survival of our own country and society. This is a topic which has kept me on an ideological balance beam for sometime now. I am an immigrant, first generation. I was born elsewhere and was accepted to come to this country some 48 years ago. I did not wade into a river, nor did I stuff myself in the back of a catt...

Good people often finish last. I am not sure who coined this phrase but, in these times on uncertainty within  the economic world, it certainly is brought home by stories that are lived by good people who are known to us and close friends. Apparently, they have done all the right things, with all the wrong results. In one of the recent presidential campaigns (believe it was one of the Bushes) the title phrase above became a war cry. However, ever since I have had a memory of things financial, this has been the war cry or, simply, the cry of most people. In the early 1970’s, with the gas crunch (which has now become a constant gas squeeze) the price of gasoline went from less than a dollar to well over 3 dollars. All this, in less than 6 months. We did not know it then, but this crunch was the end of economic wellbeing in general, and the beginning of a very long US economic slump. There have been temporary upswings but on the average, it has been a continuing downward slump whic...

This was started a few days ago...  Heard that one before, huh? There has been much to do and little time to sit at the computer. The first couple of paragraphs were written and left there. This morning the news that a fellow church member had finally succumbed to cancer, gave me some food for thought. So the posting went on, just in a different direction than it might have gone originally. It’s another warm, humid August day here in North Carolina. Considering where I was born, this type of weather should not bother me much. Interesting how the human body adapts and then “un-adapts” to different settings, according to the exposure given. I was born and raised for almost 16 years in a tropical setting: warm and humid in the summer, less warm in the winters. There was a time in my early life when, during the winter months, we had to put on sweaters if the temperature went below 82 degrees. And if it ever went to 65 or below (very rarely and usually for a day or two at most), it w...

I am not sure there is a defined end to this post. However, it is better to cut it where it is rather than running the risk of having it become an exercise in self pity. Now THAT would be totally unacceptable. We all  have moments or even periods of time during which we live and deal with a feeling of insufficiency  or insecurity. My best guess is that this and the previous posting are the result of one such period of time, or collection of moments. It's done!! Over and out! Eventually, we do come that which may be defined as personal commitment to a life partner. This is a whole different story and perhaps the most complex and difficult to even begin to understand. A willingness to commit that is not born of blood, family, creed or reason. Instead it is born from an attraction initially stemming from curiosity, and then blooming into a deeper feeling. It may be explained in many different ways, but a feeling that has never been truly understood. It can strip every...

Why do I get into these areas? I truly do not know. It has been an integral part of these postings to often sit and begin to write without a defined idea, letting the "cursory pen" take me where it may. This is a very personal topic; I am not sure as to why it came out now. In fact, I was not sure I would post it and still have the second half left to ponder. Anyhow, since there are not many of you out there reading, perhaps it is simply a personal reflection looking for some inner clarification. The concept of commitment is usually expressed (although not necessarily understood) at different levels within our psyche. There is the simpler everyday commitment that is related to the work we do: deadlines, payments, food, clothing, work in general. This type of commitment is easily understood and managed. It allows the daily routines to exist and, in being so, to maintain some basic order in our lives. There is the commitment to follow a cause, religion or creed we may choose...

Life happens... it barrels along and we, who sometimes think might be in control, are merely passengers on that train. Often, decisions are made; decisions which deviate from the ones usually made. When this happens, we look upon them as merely "doing something different". However,  oftentimes that deviation sets us on a different path than what might have been. And we will not be aware of this until much later on, as we look back on that time and that decision. Sometimes I wonder what is it that keeps me coming back to sit at this cantankerous old laptop and write about french fries to go… or some such thing. Much like my car it is old (as comps go, about 7 years!!) and slow; much unlike the car, this is one baby I will trade in as soon as possible for a newer, longer, lower, wider, more powerful version. Actually, what does bring me here to fill this virtual paper in, are issues that happen on a daily basis. As my remembrances may allow and when current issues are not tha...