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2025

It snowed last night in the city and again today 

I felt that after a long hiatus, I would welcome it

But my feet were wet through soaking shoes.

It is a new year and I expected the excitement of its celebration 

Would last longer than the cold month of January 

But the contradictory news surrounding my humanity ...

THE DICHOTOMY OF DREAMS & REALITY
My  wife called from the Italian Riviera to say that she was in an outdoor  café, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, under the Tuscan sun  breakfasting on Huevos Rancheros.
I was about to tell her that I was  jealous, when she kicked and woke me, as she turned in bed next to me. I  snickered to myself, and yawned. Looking out the window at the rising  cliffs behind our house, watched the rising sun play peak-a-boo through  the clouds, and soft rain and fog adding to the dramatic scene. ...

VETERANS DAY
Last  Monday was Veterans Day. So, we salute all veterans. As a veteran  myself, I truly appreciate their service to our country and people.  But  it is saddening how some of our veterans are treated.  In the last  twenty years, more than 30,000 active-duty personnel and veterans have  died by suicide - compared to the 7,057 killed in combat in the same  20-year period. This is appalling and unforgivable.
Throughout history, many nations treated their veterans better than we do today...

MERRY-GO-ROUND OF HISTORY
Having  to deal with transferring our website to a new vendor – which has  turned out to be a nightmare – kept me incommunicado with our wonderful  readers like yourself. My apology! But today when I return to write an  article, I find the chaotic state of our world frightening and  disconcerting. So much so that I feel paralyzed to write anything, as it  seems that the very fabric of our social is being torn apart by the  very people who want to lead us. So, I decided to pull off this article  from our archives and publish it again. Maybe it will resonate with some  while deciding whom to vote for:
Virgil was horrified, when he was  forced out of his home of thirty years, by the government who  confiscated it and gave it to retiring politicians and soldiers  returning from war...

WAY OF WAKAN TANKA
HARM NOT THE EARTH UPON WHICH WE LIVE!
“When  I was a young man I went to a medicine-man for advice concerning my  future. The medicine-man said: ‘I have not much to tell you except to  help you understand this earth on which you live. If a man is to succeed  on the hunt ...

COUNTRY DOCTOR
Big  cities with their thousand-bed hospitals, universities and medical  centers definitely have their allure.  Affiliations with them and the  big salaries that come with them, are the dream of any fresh medical  graduate. But none of that comes cheap or trouble-free. On the contrary,  one can be sure that for every dollar earned, one pays many times over.
As a country doctor/provider, though, you’ll experience an entirely different lifestyle. I remember getting a call once ...

NATURE’S LANGUAGE
A family of crows made quite a racket yesterday.
Their chorus of ggrrr & ggaarrrs indicative
Of protecting a family member. Often a young that has
Fallen out, or left a nest early.
I have come to learn the language of nature
In our mountains and canyons ...

ENTREATY
Listen to me
Me the dreamer of peace
Tell them about me
To your clan, to your friends
Tell them about this hopeful dreamer. ... 

PEACEMAKERS NEEDED!
Last  Tuesday (July 9th) was the birthday of the Queen of Romance: Barbara  Cartland (1901). She wrote more than 700 novels and sold a billion  books. She said: "My stories are always the same, because the girl is  pure, and the man is not. ...   

CONTENTMENT
As we celebrate in this time of uncertainties, ponder
A beautiful gift of life is experience.
Experience gives us understanding.
Understanding gives us knowledge. ...

THE FUTURE OF THE PAST
I had an absurd idea of “what if”
I had come fifty years into the future
From the nineteen seventies?
How would I compare my today
To fifty years ago? And I find myself
Witnessing a terrible future.
If I was to return to fifty years ago,
Knowing the consequences of
Fifty years’ happening, what
Would I change? Could I change? ...

MEDICINE MAN
My memory’s foggy at times - perhaps the old age
But I recall many instances of
Practice around the world.
Happy encounters on tropical islands
Sad ones of losing a young patient to gang violence
Horrified days, treating wounded soldiers.
At times, I scream. Give me back my life ...

SENSUOUS SPRING MORNING
It rained this morning
The early morning thunder awoke all, startled
An oddity in this desert world
Dawn’s early light strained through the overcast
Occasional flashes of sunlight reflected from fields of raindrops
Otherwise, there is no change ...

OF TEACHERS AND HEALERS
When I was a little boy
My family owned a big bookstore
In it we had lots of books
For all generations and age groups.
Some took us far away
Others through mind's passageway
Books that told a silly story
And those that taught us history.
There were picture books and magazines ...

SPRING SNOW
The sun this morning was late, waking me
My late start welcomed to a wonderland.
Though it is spring, this late winter storm  
Blessed us with moisture
In this desert and dry land.  
When the earth is parched and sun brutal ...

TIRED PROTEST - UNFOUNDED OBJECTION
It  was the third surgical case of that morning and the second knee  arthroplasty. It was close to noon, we’d been working since 7AM and were  getting hungry. I was assisting Dr. T. A very competent, mild-mannered  surgeon. With us was Dr. A. a senior resident from our university  orthopaedic department. The patient was in her mid-fifties, an obese and  short lady. We had a little difficulty positioning her on the table for  the procedure.
Dr. A. who was a tall, athletic young man seemed disgusted with Dr. T’s meticulous attention to detail and ...

SPRING IN A TROUBLED WORLD
Spring  arrived on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at 11:06 PM Eastern and 8:06 PM  Pacific time in the Northern Hemisphere, marked by the Vernal (Spring)  Equinox.
Noted by many cultures as New Year for thousands of years.  Nurooz, which means new day, is celebrated in many parts of the world.  Zoroastrians were one of the early cultures that started their year  thus. It is a time of purification and setting one’s intention for a new  start. Other civilizations, such as the Mayan, also celebrated the  Spring Equinox for hundreds of years before the Spanish arrived. Even  the western cultures celebrated New Year in the spring till Julius  Caesar changed it ...

INTERNATIONAL PI DAY
Today  is International Pi Day. No, not pie day, rather Pi (π) Day. The  mathematical constant, that is the ratio of a circle's circumference to  its diameter, approximated as 3.14159... Although it is believed that  the Babylonians were the first to have calculated it to be about 3.125,  Archimedes (287-212 BC) is considered to be the first to calculate it  accurately. Thus, March 14 or the fourteenth day of the third month of  the year (3.14) is celebrated as Pi Day by mathematicians.
This mathematical constant is approximated as 3.1415926535… The decimal number goes on ...

THE AUDACITY OF EXISTENCE
The  ongoing calamities around the world strain rational thinking.  Just as  we feel that we have the grasp of one tragedy, another explodes. We are  being pulled in so many directions, that we may question the very  significance of life itself.  But if there is anything I know of life, of all the hopes, the happy days and the sad ones, of the days of blue skies and nights of the new moon, ...

THE YEAR OF LIVING ON THE EDGE
The  winds came at night, followed by the rain. Though the elders had warned  about the coming calamity, many gave it little heed. By morning, the  rivers were full and the rain increasing. Alarmed, many gathered what  they could and headed for the hills. Others fortified their dwelling and  hoped for the best. The levies upstream, however, could not stand the  onslaught and by the end of the day, burst their banks. The flood  inundated everything downstream and destroyed or damaged much in its  path.
Scenarios such as the above incident are common. ...

TRAVELING DISEASES
At  the end of a period of volunteer work on a Caribbean Island, a while  back, I hitched a ride back on a small plane belonging to a pilot friend  on that island. While boarding, I noticed that the plane looked heavily  loaded. Concerned, I asked him about it.
“No,” he said confidently. “Even with the two of us, we are still way within limits.” 
I had flown this very plane several times and trusted it to be in good shape. Still? ...

APPRECIATION
I  was working at a clinic in a resort ski town, when late one afternoon, a  seemingly middle-aged lady of obvious affluence presented with a wrist  injury. She wore an elegant fur coat over her ski outfit. On her  fingers, she displayed several rings adorned with diamonds and jewelry.  The kind I’ve never seen before.
Her wrist was slightly swollen. We got the rings off her fingers. I was worried about osteoporosis, ...

GRANDMA USED TO SAY
Grandma used to say: Never go to a restaurant where the cook is not fat.
If you want something done quickly, ask a busy person to help you.
Never criticize something you don't do yourself. ...

SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY IS HAPPENING IN THE WORLD!
In  watching the news of all that is occurring around us, we may feel that  the entire universe is against us. Perhaps the chaos of change is  waiting for a new direction. An article by Brazilian entrepreneur  Gustavo Tanaka published (in Huffington Post) back on Dec. 16, 2015,  titled; "Something Extraordinary Is Happening in the World and Most  People Haven't Noticed", stated ...

A RIDE TO THE EDGE OF POSSIBILITIES
I  was glued to the round black and white TV screen in the 1960s when  Allen Shepard - in a space suit - blasted off on his 5-minute trip to  space on a Redstone rocket. That trip took years of training and  preparation by Shepard, and millions of dollars of the national budget.  On December 8th, 2021, Shepard's daughter, Laura Shepard Churchley made  the same trip with five others with literally no training and minimal  preparation in the airline type cabin of the Blue Origin.
In medicine, too, our advances have been phenomenal. When Dr. Salk developed ...

BELONGING
I look out the window at a
fenced area where I once
had a plant nursery.
I nurtured and peddled new trees that
I thought should live here.
But, the weed, vine, and the pine ...

SLEEPLESS NIGHTS
Trying to make sense of the world these days
Could mess up your mind and soul
So many factions at work
None talk, communicate or are in control
Promises broken, before they are made.
Coffee was a dime a cup, just yesterday, and

Now, it’s not worth breaking a fiver for. ...

AMERICA’S PROMISE
Are these our dark days of history
The news sure paints it that way
Though our young keep trying
Our allies and politicians
Close the doors to any headway
 

It’s Veterans Day, yet still ...

MERRY-GO-ROUND OF HISTORY
Virgil was horrified, when he was forced out of his home of thirty years, by the government who confiscated it and gave it to retiring politicians and soldiers returning from war.
Though they were a family of farm workers; ...

AUTUMN MARIACHI 23
Fall  is now well advanced and the foliage on the mountain side sings in the  golden colors of autumn.  In my home state of New Mexico, it's Balloon  Fiesta time and hundreds of balloonists from around the world are here  to show off their flying talent and colorful balloons. The last several  years, the event was either cancelled or scaled down due to Covid.  So  this year the enthusiasm of us all is on full display with an immense  showing of the balloonists and the masses. The weather, too, has been  cooperating for the most part, to the delight of everyone.

In the streets, the aroma of roasting green chili peppers fill the air ...

NOBILITY OF NOBEL PRIZES
The Nobel Prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, peace, and economics, are awarded this week. Interesting, how telecommunication tools have played an important role in achieving many of these science outcomes.
The Nobel Prize for medicine, for example, given to Katalin Karikó from Hungry and Drew Weissman from the US, for their discoveries that led to the development of an effective vaccine against Covid-19.
The Nobel Prize for physics was shared by three scientists; Pierre Agostini, a French experimental physicist, ...

NOSTALGIA
A letter arrived the other day
From an old friend,
Saying that she was walking by a pier
And thought of me and that she missed me.
She said that the cold and foggy day
Was what she remembered me by                         
And how we went back to my place and
I played the blues for her on my old gramophone. ...

THE AFTERNOON OF OUR HISTORY
The  78th UN General Assembly is meeting in NY this week. The problems and  the solutions facing us are obvious, old and require cooperation and  reconciliation. But the aggressors of today,  all seem to be victims of the past who have carved a piece of this  world by force or chance for themselves and are unwilling or unable to  part with any of it.  Our shrinking world, however, is forcing the pieces to overlap, triggering further clashes. Ironically, today is the UN International Day of Peace. ...

LOSS OF A GREAT STATESMAN
Our  nation lost a great patriot and statesman last week. Bill Richardson  was the diplomat’s diplomat. He was at ease talking to the great leaders  of the world as he was to anyone in the street.
I met Bill  Richardson when he was first running for the US Congress in the early  1980s. I was working the ER at our hospital in Taos, NM, when he and one  other person, arrived there.
I was caring for a young patient when one of the ER nurses informed me that a congressman was there to meet us. ...

WANDERING AND WONDERING
On a hot summer night, a long time ago
I found myself walking across the city to escape the heat.
In the store windows, displays were inviting and mannequins smiling
A shoe store reminded me that I needed a new pair.
A jewelry store displayed only empty boxes of earrings, bracelets and watches.
The shiny goods that exhibited their allure in the day
Were safely locked in the back.
 

Wandering on, I found myself in an old part of town, ...

MAYBE?
News that’s sold, swirling
Spinning and whirling, hitting hard
Rotating tentacles of opinions
Views and thoughts.

Do we see the problems only
In our sobriety? ...

IDENTITY
One  of the most contentious sentiments among people around the world is the  matter of their ethnic and racial genetic purity and originality. Many  races abhor the thought of genetic diversity.  Proudly claiming the  purity of their race, nationality and bloodline. History is filled with  stories of atrocities performed under the pretense of preserving one’s  race. However, today’s science of DNA studies reveals our inherent  composition to be anything but unique or pure.
While serving in the US Air Force and stationed in RAF Lakenheath, England, I had the opportunity to travel to Scotland ...

BEWARE THE LIONS!
On  a nature documentary, awhile back, a couple of male zebras were shown  fighting over their territory.  They were so engrossed in fighting each  other that did not notice lions stalking them and ended up losing their  lives. 
The new and ongoing military and political aggression around  the world, reminds me so much of that grim and egotistic encounter.  The  most dangerous and life-threatening issue in our world today, is  climate change.  Yet many world leaders ...

The Mapuche knowledge
We’ve  been struggling to make sense of all that is happening in our world  today, only to find ourselves spinning in the merry-go-round of excuses  and blames. In this search for a rationale, one wonders how we got to  this point, and realize that our information highway has sent us so far  off course that we are hopelessly lost in this jungle of data. ...

I AM BECAUSE YOU ARE!
“I am because you are! You are because we are! A person is a person through others.”  African Ubuntu proverb.
“Quality  of Ubuntu gives people resilience, enabling them to survive and emerge  still human despite all efforts to dehumanize them.” Desmond Tutu
Ubuntu  makes us aware of our responsibility to others, especially to the  vulnerable among us. But perhaps more importantly, makes us aware of our  responsibility to the world around us, our environment. The  understanding that our very existence depends on the nature around us,  as we are an undividable part of each other. ...

LITTLE GREAT MEMORIES
Life  is an accumulation of memories. Memories of experiences amassed  throughout years of work and play. Some, life changing and profound,  others, whimsical and fanciful. All said and done, though, often it is  the small and minor incidents in life that leave a lasting impression.
Lake  Powell is a large man-made lake along the Colorado River, in the hot  dry deserts of Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. Rainfall is rare and  far between. A few years ago, we rented a houseboat and spent a week  exploring and sightseeing the many canyons and gorges, filled with the  water of the lake and accessible only by boat. It was late summer and we  were expecting a hot trip down the lake. However, we were pleasantly  surprised when a rare summer storm gave us cloud cover and a much  welcoming rain. ...

WHAT FUTURE AWAITS
We’re on the far side of school
A new life awaiting and soon
All efforts to get paid
Song of the future serenade.
 

A dream has been fulfilled
And a perfect life to build
Yet outstretched hands await
To steal the future at the gate. ...

'The DO’ review.
Thank you, Dr. Waters, and The DO (Journal of the American Osteopathic Association), for reviewing this book.
Dr. Waters’ observation of the core message of this book is a testament to its importance, especially for our students.
You can read the full review in this week’s The DO.  As Dr. Waters thoughtfully puts it:
“…(Ghadimi)  provides dozens of heartfelt reflections on what is central to  everything we do – the simple act of caring for another person.
I was  struck by the unique voice of each one (vignette, essay) even though  the subjects are many and varied. …They’re all personal observations,  steeped in the experience of a long career in patient care.”

MEANING OF LIFE?
“I  am going to venture that the man who sat on the ground in his tipi  meditating on life and its meaning, accepting the kinship of all  creatures, and acknowledging unity with the universe of things was  infusing into his being the true essence of civilization.”
Luther Standing Bear (1868? - 1939)
Oglala Sioux chief

I  find it fascinating that such enlightenment filled the mind of many  scholars, philosophers, thinkers and intellectuals throughout history.  But I don’t think that any of them envisioned that all that thinking and  philosophizing would bring us to the world of today...

MUSIC OF HOPE
As music is a universal healer
Of all that ails us, our troublers
Of all that weighs down our spirit
And makes the heart heavy with pain.
No matter what the affliction
Or what wind blows it in
All can get stopped by a note ...

THE VALUE OF EXPERIENCE
It  was late in the evening on a miserable night with a very thick fog  covering everything. I was stationed at the USAF Hospital in Lakenheath,  England, and working the ER that night. We were dealing with the  victims of a bad head on collision, on the notoriously narrow English  country roads.
What made this night different enough that, fifty years later I still remember it, was the ...

MARCH IS WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH
My  life in medicine started as a young boy.  I was brought up by my  grandmother, who was a powerful curandera. Though she was practically  illiterate, her knowledge of home remedies, botany, and common-sense  healthcare was well known and she was highly respected. Growing in her  care, I learned much just by watching and often helping her.
As many who have read my book: Practicing From the Heart in the Age of Technology can attest, I have high respect for women of medicine. Many stories in  my book are of experiences working with them around the world ...

GATEWAYS OF INFINITY
In the vastness of the West
Among the standing sentinels of rock and stone
Numerous arches, carved by wind and water
Through eons of time, have built gateways
To eternities of space and time itself.

THE HARDEST JOB YOU’LL LOVE
Of smoky skies and shaken land
Such is the destiny at hand
For all, who wonder of our faith
Of today, tomorrow, and life's prospect...

Wow your patient
Like a high wire trapeze swinging
Fearless from stand to stand
Listen to the concerns
And confidently traverse the
Possibilities till you land
Emphatically on the solution
Of your patient's problem ...

A NEW YEAR RESOLUTION
The  political atmosphere of the day demands clarity as we enter the new  year. The world in 2023 will be preoccupied with many regional and  international problems. In Europe, the Russia/Ukraine war shock of 2022  reverberates. Many European countries looking to the US for answers, are  disillusioned by our polarized and distrusting political parties. The  ongoing chaos in Brazil is...

MY TREE CASTLE
There is a treehouse in our backyard
I do not know who built it
As to my recollection it was always there
I do recall a day when I smashed my thumb
Trying to hammer a nail into the floor ...

EXCITING FIFA
FIFA  or the World Cup is usually held in the summer.  But due to the  location of the event - this year in Qatar - it was moved to December.  Qatar is on the south side of the Persian Gulf and the northeast side of  the Arabian Peninsula where it is known as ‘God’s Anvil,’ as was said  in the movie: Lawrence of Arabia.  The formidable winds from North Africa, further heat up as they cross this scorching barren land. ...

IT’S A WONDERFUL WORLD
With  the cold weather, we limit our exposure and shelter in, isolating  ourselves from the elements. As we celebrate this holiday season of  customs and beliefs, let’s not overlook the nature around us.
On an  unusually warm day awhile back, my wife and I were hiking a mountain  trail behind our house. Even the blue jays and chipmunks seemed  dumbfounded by the heat. I was leaning on my walking staff, lost in the  magic of the day. My wife, walking a few passes ahead, suddenly stopped,  turned and whispered; "We are not alone!" pointing to the side of  the trail. ...

RECIDIVISM
When  I was appointed to the NM Medical Board, it was winter and my first  attendance was the December meeting.  A cold front and an associated  early winter snow storm the previous night, caused havoc for my morning  65-mile drive to the state capital for the meeting.   I ashamedly  arrived an hour late for my first board meeting. To my relief, I learned  that two other board members making the same trip had not arrived yet  either. This is significant for this article, as the member’s tardiness  allowed a lengthy discussion by the members present about a complaint  received by the Board on a particular practitioner. ...

A THANKSGIVING PRAYER
Oh Great Creator
Whose voice I hear in the wind and running waters
Whose beauty I see in flowers and the setting sun
Whose breath I feel in all living creatures
Whose warmth I sense in the heart of my children
Myself, my parents and their parents before them. ...

IMMIGRANTS AND ELECTIONS
Elections are over, some have won
Others, lost
All the changes and nots
Affect many, but none more than us.
In times like these, when uncertainties abound
The nights are long, doubts and fear cry loud ...

VETERANS DAY
It's Veterans Day. So we salute all veterans.
As  a veteran myself, I truly appreciate their service to our country and  people.  But it is saddening how some of our veterans are treated.  In  the last twenty years, more than 30,000 active duty personnel and  veterans have died by suicide - compared to the 7,057 killed in combat  in the same 20 year period. The US is number 22 in the veteran suicide  rate in the world - this is appalling and unforgivable.
 

OF SEABISCUIT AND OTHER UNLIKELY WINNERS
It was on November 1st 1938, that the racing horse Seabiscuit, made history winning against War Admiral.
Seabiscuit  was small and ugly, his legs were crooked, and he injured often. He was  named "sea biscuit" a hard bread eaten by sailors, because of his  undesirability. It was during the Great Depression, and people needed  their spirit lifted by a winner ...

Night of the witches
This  Halloween article has been a favorite of our readers, as many who work  the ER, relate to the chaotic nature of such an evening, and so we  decided to run it one more year. ENJOY!
-------------------------------------
Awhile  back, I had the fortune or the misfortune of working the ER on  Halloween night, which happened to fall on Friday. At the time, I was  living in a small but very multicultural town in Northern New Mexico.  The night turned to be wackier than any of us expected. Of-course the  usual, Friday night crowd kept us busy with drunkenness, bar brawls, car  accidents, sniffling noses, and the standard medical incidents. But the  unusual was what made it, well, rather memorable.

Autumn's Lullaby
Come o nature of autumn cool
Rest your head upon the golden leaves
Your fruitful toll of summer, fulfilled
With the sun, soil, and
Water, to the life giving seeds
Grown to nurture man and beast.

HEY DOC
On  a cold and dreary night, long ago in New York, after a long and arduous  day of working in the South Bronx, I was going home on the subway. I  was surprised, when for the third time, I heard someone say; Hey doc, how is it going?
I  was so tired that I had not noticed the pertinence of the question,  till the third time. Amazed, I asked the man sitting next to me: How do  you know I am a doctor?
"Your stethoscope." He said, pointing to my neck.

OF NEANDERTHAL DNA & ENTANGLEMENT THEORY
The  UN General Assembly brought hundreds of leaders and policymakers from  around the world to New York for a couple of weeks.  I found this year's  session very disappointing. Many talked, yet little of substance was  discussed, as it seemed that blame-placing and finger-pointing was the  only thing on the agenda ...
On a positive note, the Nobel Prize Committee is meeting right now and some interesting people are awarded this year's prizes:

MEMORY OF A FALL DAY
Fading or faded, the memory of a fall day, no matter how great
Slips away slowly, yet leaves an impression of the unforgettable
Much like a one-night affair of long ago, with that special stranger
Though love has since, followed with all kinds of specials
That one memory, lingers on and shows her head
At all the right and wrong places.

THOTH'S CALENDAR
Interesting  thing, calendars. It is one of the ingenious inventions of mankind,  that we use without regard to its origin or makeup. The hieroglyphics  discovered in caves, tombs, pyramids, and stone monuments around the  world, reveals its origin to be tens of thousands of years old.  One  such calendar of interest is the Ancient Egyptian Thoth Calendar,

UNMINDFUL OF TIME
Out of the nature that surrounds
And the world that turns around
Day and night set the mode
To work or rest when it's sound.
Time works to nature's need ...

LONGING
Reminiscence  of bygone days, memories of what (once) was.  Nostalgia need not be for  long ago or far away, sometimes one can feel longing for something  quite recent. Though my fishing trip just happened, I desire for its  peace still. ...

THE OLD AND THE NEW
A  documentary starts by showing a small caravan of six camels and four  men walking across the hot sands of Mauritania in West Africa. The  hooves of the camels and sandals of men displace the dry sand with ...

SUMMER HOPE
Expectations of summer
Hot days, green pastures
Lazy afternoons
Firefly evenings
Dreams of cold winter nights.

A QUESTION OF QUESTIONS
There is a question
Unanswered for centuries and millennia
That has left us bewildered.
Scholars and prophets have asked
All for naught

The Declaration of our independence
Monday  is America's Independence Day, our birthday and anniversary as a  nation.  We should be celebrating it joyously.  Yet in the face of all  that is happening around us, it may be difficult to celebrate anything,  while we are under attack from within as well as without.

PRACTICING MEDICINE ABOVE THE CLOUDS
A  colleague, returning from three years of work in Chile, talks of the  magic of practicing medicine in the villages of the Andes. "My clinic",  says he, "could not be reached by any means but foot, burros or llamas."

OF FLAG, FATHER, AND NOBEL
Tuesday  was Flag Day. On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress of the  United States adopted the Stars and Stripes as the flag of the United  States.   And next Sunday is Father's Day, to celebrate and honor our  fathers. Just as a flag raises the

SILENCE OF THE ASS
The  total disconnect between many politicians and leaders of the world and  their constituents leave many of us bewildered. So much so that the  disconnect itself has become news and limitless stock for comedians.  It  brings to mind an old proverb:

LOST HUMANITY?
Like  thousands of others, I watched the movie 2001 - a space odyssey, in  1968. And was awe struck, spellbound, and hopeful for a promising  tomorrow.

MEMORIAL DAY
In  the face of recent calamitous events, my heart and mind are numb to the  violence and brutality of all that is occurring in our country and the  world.

COMMENCEMENT
Dressed in your best, you wait. Pressed gowns adorn anxious bodies, caps on, tassels hanging. 
It's graduation and expectation day. 

SPRING TEASE
Spring, she is a teaser!
With her tormenting winds, she plays with man and nature alike.

POWWOW
The Gathering of Nations Powwow, an annual festivity of the Native Americans and indigenous from around the world, is held
in  April, in New Mexico.  A celebration of cultures to honor the  traditions of ancestors by reflecting, praying, dancing, and singing.

CHOLLA'S ADVISE
Rising seas, hurricanes, tornadoes, drought, floods and fires.  Epidemics, wars, refugees, homelessness and famine. 
Nature and history are screaming alarms, is anyone listening?

THE HOMELESS GYPSY
I met a man in Marrakesh, the story goes, who claimed to be a homeless gypsy.
His family and in fact entire clan had been wiped out by the war.

ALL THE KIND PEOPLE
A clap of thunder, this morning
Awakened me with a scare

GARDEN OF LIES AND DELIGHT
Waiting for a train
In a drizzling rain