Pandora's Other Box

Elliott Jaques  coined this term in the 1960s to identify a period of time when adults come to realize their own mortality and how much time may be left in their life. Around my eight years of age, there was this lady who lived in-house and took care of the children ( my brother, sister and little ol’ me ) while doing some light housekeeping work… I guess taking care of us was considered heavy enough work… Her name was Calixta and she also had what was -unbeknownst to me– a “special gift”… she would at times go into a trance and while in this state, was able to “see things”. I am not sure about these bouts but the fact is she did say many things which would eventually turn out to be true. One morning, in the midst of one of these, she looked at me through somewhat glazed eyes and said: “you are going to travel far… you are going to go many places in the world and will stay away from here for many, many years…” To someone who was then around nine years of age and whose trav...

Co’nun’drum:  “something that is puzzling or confusing”… “a difficult problem that seems to have no solution. One of the primary reasons governments do exist, besides all the hoopla we are given on a regular basis and regardless of whether they may be considered good, bad or indifferent,  is simply because a country cannot be run by general consensus. I know… “We the People” and all that goes with this is truly an altruistic concept, but far from a practical one. This is unfortunately truer in a country as complex and as varied as our own, right here in the Good Ol’ US of A. Town Hall meetings are a good concept… of times gone by… they were perhaps very valid in earlier moments when face to face meetings were of the utmost importance, since there were not too many other means to make yourself known then. Today, because of the fact we are an expanding electronic society, ever busier, more knowledgeable (well, in most cases ) and ever more needful, these meetings have b...