Pandora's Other Box

Christmas is coming… in just a few days… Again. Amid all the rhetoric -of the socio-political kind- there are many issues lost and perhaps, this being the special time of year it is ( for those who profess Christianity as a belief ) there may be some time for reflection, and for reviewing what we have done and said and how these actions may have impacted others. It is hard not to imagine that, with all the finger pointing and yelling and with everyone wanting to appropriate a slice of the ever-diminishing pie, there are some who are left to slide down the inevitable cracks, to be lost and forgotten. Although it would be simple to pinpoint several scenarios which could easily and quietly fit into the above last description, there is a group of people or perhaps, a “subgroup” of people, who are in an eternal limbo, where any shorelines of hope or safe port are always just beyond the line of sight. Yes, coming to this country ( or any other, for that matter ) withou...

The working title for a space that should’ve been filled some time ago was “The Power of Words”. Although that “some time” seemed to be continuously delayed, as days went by and there was always something else to do. Which didn’t include sitting at the computer to write out an idea for the blog. Don’t get me wrong. Writing is not a “chore” for me. It is a cathartic moment which allows me to reflect, think, relax and forget about issues which weigh down the everyday moments. And there are plenty of those last… So, then, why is it so difficult to find the moment or time to actually get this done? The “working answer” is “I don’t know”. Those of you who have endured this blog over time ( thank-you!! ) know it began as a run, down memory lane ( try “run down” without the comma and it changes the meaning- perhaps a reality check ) and as such, it went for the first 200 entries or so. After that, other issues began to pop up once in a while. Wally’s Pond, well received conspirator Cheito...

This will become entry #400 for this blog. It started late 2009; a means to pass convalescencing time from my cancer treatment and the first of my hip replacement surgeries... Yet, as time went on, it became a rolling memory book, confessional, travelogue and just a place where most ( I have to be honest and say not all …) feelings have been shared. Supposedly, someone who writes must be willing to bare his/her inner self and put everything on the pages ( well, OK, the e-filings ) for all to see. Not my case. It is still my belief that some aspects of the mind -such as they may be- are private and should remain so. After all is said, it is often a rudderless flight of fancy ( nice term for aimless ramblings?) precisely the one that takes us to the most amazing destinations. Near death experiences… are they real?    ” a   personal experience  associated with death or impending   death . Such experiences may encompass a variety of sensations including d...

There are moments when words are not the solution. We can only hope that, in those moments, we know enough not to say anything foolish. Often, I truly understand that I am indeed blessed. This goes beyond my successful bout against cancer and the incredible places and people I have met over the years. Beyond unexplainable survival(s) at times when I was totally unprepared to face unexpected and considerable foes. Add to this all the minor and major mistakes made along the roads and detours life has steered me through. It really adds up to something much like a miracle. Today, at age 71, like many others I must work to meet my expenses. But, I am able to. And that’s a blessing too. For my work involves doing things I truly enjoy. Like doing the ESL classes. Teaching others to speak English so they can improve their lot and their families’ lot as well. Pretty much all of my students are Hispanic. Some with documents and full of ambition and some without documents and full of hope....

It’s about that time of the year when another 365 days of biological time-living have passed and I am compelled to sit, look at the computer’s blank page and let the moment wash over me, bringing forward all those semi-lost memories, languishing in the little reviewed drawers of my brain. Well, what’s left of it after 71 years of embattled endurance. A year ago yesterday marked the arrival my 70 th birthday. A benchmark of sorts. So I guess yesterday, if the numeral order is to be believed ( something I wish could be disproved occasionally) defined my 71 st birthday. Which, in sequence, actually means I am now living my 72 nd . Year… And, in turn, makes me the oldest member of my direct family’s oldest living generation. Hmmm… gets too complicated to look at the overall picture from that angle… lopsided. In any event, one more year has passed. I have not been very loyal to my blog in this time, relegating it to a some-when thing; only if the pang of peripheral writer’s guil...

   Today, being Saturday and most things that needed to be done being so done yesterday, there was some time in which to do not much, so HBO was tuned to and a movie called “The Last of the Blonde Bombshells” caught my attention.   A simple musical I thought… easy to pass the time. Well, it was a musical -of sorts- with a top cast, including Dame Judi Dench and a singer I had not thought about for quite some time, albeit one of my years ago very favorites: Cleo Laine.   Mind you, I didn’t know she was on the cast, it just happened along the way to a happy finish. The storyline is about an all-female ( plus a male drummer with blonde wig and all) English swing band (“swing” as it pertained to those times ) which had become famous during WWII. The movie is taking place in the present, so that long past story had taken place some 50+years ago, the plot switching back and forth between then and now. The main character somehow meets up again with drummer-boy ( anoth...

Sometime in the future, in a non-denominational world, the ages of quick knowledge and enlightenment may be measured by the above little letters. What do these critters mean? I’m sure you ask… These precious little letters mean no more and no less than… “Before Google Search Availability” and “After Google Search Availability”. Don’t laugh… there is a great cultural divide here. If you are reading this, it’s likely you belong to a group of individuals who braved the world of academia with rulers, dictionaries, and… OMG!!!... Books! Yep… those ancient things which had pages to be turned, read, marked, annotated and underlined and then, when you were done with the year studies, they were resold to the next class of aspiring students. The value went up according to the quality of the notes and underlining which paved the way for an easier study time. I think this crop of students, the “Goooglehead” generation, is privy to a lot of information we did not readily have. It could...

Many years and moons ago I began selling insurance… Back in the early 70’s there was this time when I was not a righteous member of the gainfully employed crowd ( only smirk if   you’ve never been there ) and a friend asked me to go to an interview with a local agency of a major insurance company. - “What, sell Insurance?” asked I with a look of surprise on my face. - “Yes,” he answered, “That, sell insurance… and, why not?” I have many defects ( Quiet there in the gallery… no need to agree so readily!!) but fear of the unknown is not one of them.  I went to the interview and received an offer to start working immediately… well, OK… that’s the same offer made to most any walking body that might sashay into that office back then… The decision was made to start selling this product, without understanding how much and how drastically my later life would change as a result. The sale of insurance, as a profession, carried somewhat of a stigma back then and this w...

I always thought that innocence and music are gifts from God. The former is pretty much gone and the latter, as represented by some of its latest iterations… well, I’m not so sure… Ever since I was a little child, hiding behind my grandmother’s skirts , I was a witness -and participant- of a devoted love to music in all its variations. Later, when I was about 8 years old and in the arms of that same grandmother, my journey through the steps of a dance floor began. I learned to dance the music of my childhood and of my grandmother’s adolescence. Danzones, Cha-cha, boleros, Waltzes… even a street conga or two… It was a time in which I would look behind the big radio to find the musicians that surely had to be hiding inside… Then, on realizing these folks could not really be inside there, I would be convinced that the answer was that there must be a giant theater somewhere in the radio station where troves of bands and singers would be sitting in wait for their name to be called as...

I have always liked this header. It seems to imply position or rank. Whether real or self-imposed, is a different story. There were times when, in the process of getting my own letterhead done, I actually thought about plastering this little ditty on the left superior corner. But in the end, it would not be found up there. Every time I thought about using it, the question would pop… But… But… whatever is coming, is not coming from my desk, is it? When did it learn to send things by itself? Yep, I know… it sounds nonsensical to me too… In fact, this whole thing sounds off the wall to me. So, let’s get on to another topic. And just how do we do this, I ask? … you may also ask if you truly wish to do so… The real answer is “I’m not sure” but if we keep on writing something is bound to come up. With all mental efforts avoiding the call to be drawn into the political arena… too easy… and too difficult at the same time. “ Your whole life is a manifestation of the thoughts that g...

I almost called this entry “one man’s opinion” but the other heading looked better on paper… We have come to live in a society where a single uttered word can unleash all kinds of Pavlovian gut reactions. “Racist”, “Homophobic”, “Misogyny”, “Fascist”, Etc. The list of these terms is becoming longer every day and the number of those who use, or misuse, these words is also growing. I will concentrate on one specific moniker for the duration of this entry: “Immigrants”. Wait, read on… Don’t go off yet… It is a topic which awakens feelings; both for and against. Yes, this nation has been built by immigrants but, for the most part and up to the last 10 years or so, these came in a somewhat orderly fashion and following a protocol. As is done in all other countries, we do have to have strong borders; I am also not against a temporary ban to immigrants from countries where the main export is terrorism (under any guise); anyone who commits a punishable crime, should be punished to th...