MindWindow

You remember how that goes. About some of the time all of the time… etc... I guess this was perhaps more applicable to a “before the Ethernet” times. Today, most anyone savvy enough to get unto, and manipulate, the social networking scene can actually fool most of the people most of the time. Or for a long enough time to suit his/her purposes. This year is a prime example of these handlings. Of course… it is an election year. And this election has sort of become an important one for both parts; for the one side, already in power, they must show their standard bearer was not a total fluke or failure. For the other side, it has become a crusade geared to show exactly that: the current White House occupant should have never been elected to begin with.  Regardless of which concept attracts your like button and, I suppose, your upcoming November vote, you will get these on a daily basis from now until Nov 4th. There isn’t a moment when I open any one of a number of soc...

Must be a scary feeling… especially when the waters are a bit rough, as life’s waters are wont to be every so often. Every morning we are up at a certain time –depending on the day’s doings- and, as we begin to go through a set of non-thinking established motions, our minds become preoccupied with the events we hope will unfold during the course of the morning and afternoon hours. And I guess the key word in this reverie is “hope”. This is like watching a little “screen shorts tag” of events to come in our own little preview; and that screen is basically our mind’s eye. We know ( truer: “we think we know ”) what a certain meeting will produce, what those events programmed should develop, and what are the results that should be seen by the end of the day; whether on the personal or the professional plane. I think of every new day as uncharted sailing. Yes, I know… not much new usually brightens our moments but the possibility is always there for it to indeed happen. And w...

It had been a while since my friend Cheito called me… -“Oye chico …” …”Juat’s dis Gually Pond ju talk about?” -“Hi Cheito…”  “Had not heard from you in a long time…” “What’s going on?” Cheito, for those of you who may not know, is a dear, dear friend –more like family- who lives in Hialeah with his wife, his princesa and his mother in law. He came from Cuba some years ago and has tried very hard to get into the mainstream of the American life, albeit within the confines of his Spanish milieu. It is almost a different world over there; a mosaic of people from several Latin American countries, predominantly Cuban, who have created their own Latin-USA lifestyle. For those of us who have lived in the US for some time and who are, I guess, more from here than from there, it is like stepping into a time and space capsule every time we visit this little piece of country. And this is where Cheito and his family have chosen to live. For the older members of the family, i...

We humans are an amalgam of characters… some might even say we represent the “flotsam and Jetsam” of the unknown zygotic universe. Harsh thought? Maybe… then again, maybe not. Perhaps today I am being influenced by a bad flu aftermath; my head not wanting to accept much in the way of explanations or of softening elements to what I see and feel. Earlier today, still feeling a bit sorry for myself and my own personal health state, I was lying down ( seems I have done a lot of this lately ) and watching one of my favorite channels: Discovery Channel. The show was about some of the tribal civilizations which still inhabit the Nile River Valley , as well as other parts of the desert in Egypt . My attention was fixed totally on this story. Customs and habits which form a culture that has withstood the test of time and which still, other than the occasional motor vehicle, goes on as it has for millennia.  Truly fascinating viewing and learning. As one sees this unfold...

There is always the unquenchable thirst for more… As it is wont to be, the title above is but a mere suggestion of what can eventually, possibly, find its way to this post. Or not. That’s right… one more time when, as I sit at the computer, the mind goes blank and the spirit sags a bit. In more than one past entry, the concept of the paranormal –in one way or another- has been touched on. You know by now that I was brought up within the concept of spiritualism which, as far as we knew back then and in that world, went hand in hand with Catholicism. Well… doesn’t it?... You say no to this?? Then you have not been brought up in an island in the middle of the Caribbean , surrounded by folk who are umpteenth generation Africans, Spaniards, etc… all very susceptible to these airs. And very much proponents of the spiritual realm… on this earthly plane, of course! Last night I went to bed, as I usually do, after 11pm. Despite the fact that today my get up time was 6am. Usually, ...

It’s really quiet here, sitting among the trees and flowers that surround this tranquil oasis; the water clear and fresh lapping at my feet and… in doing so, helping to clear my mind. Yes, I know; that very mind which is being cleansed and refreshed is the creator of this beautiful spot… perhaps a sign of these troubled times when we have little access to peace and to privacy. We have to retreat to our inner spaces in order to be able to deal with the outer spaces. In this behavior, the oriental cultures have it over us. For many generations their training, in the cultural as well as in the spiritual planes, have taught them to create these serene spots inside, for those outside are full of the many negative influences found all around us. For some reason, ever since I can remember, I have truly admired this particular trait or characteristic; this ability to remain calm (at least on the surface) in the face of adversities. Some years ago, as the result of my work related tr...

Two days ago-on the Fourth of July- we celebrated one more anniversary of the birth of a nation; in this case, it happened to be the United States of America . Each nation represents, in principle, the aggregate lifestyle of the people who inhabit it. It also represents the wishes of those who created the original charter,  their previsions, thoughts and, often, their dreams for a better future. Fifty years ago, when I first came to this country, I was introduced to many of those dreams, the ones which talk about liberty and the pursuit of happiness; about being able to  think, to hope, to look forward to the future. To have the right to think and to then be able to express those thoughts without fearing any reprisal, from any quarter. Having then just arrived from a country where all those concepts had been eradicated by a very dictatorial government, and where I had lived already for some time under the threat of punishments ( in fact, as a 14 year old I was ja...

I get "chain" mails, like most of you do, in a nauseating amount... Sometimes, however, one comes along which makes me wonder if we are all looking the other way while the rug is being pulled from under us. Most of the content of this post is one such mail, slightly edited to make it reasonably "clean"... the comments at the end are yours truly...  Wal-Mart vs. The Fools ( no… not those... the OTHER, the official fools…)    -Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart Every hour of every day. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute!  -Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) of any given year  than Target sells all year. - Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target +Sears + Costco + K-Mart combined. - Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people, is the world's largest private employer, and most do speak English. -Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the world. -Wal-Mart now sells more f...