Of Estrangement, reconciliation, forgiveness, and not forgetting…

New Year’s Day.  Either we are recovering from last night’s festivities or wondering why others have more fun, or maybe, we are just being who we are without pretensions or artificial nuances.  I suspect some of us are thinking about those we once loved, and now find ourselves on a separate path devoid of the other(s.)  We may make attempts to reconcile, to re-find the reasons why we cared for that person whether or not it is a family member, friend, or casual associate.  The popular psychology is to embrace forgiveness in order to capture inner peace and solace.  And that does not mean one forgets  any past transgressions.  I am sure there are folks who do not forgive nor forget, and they are fine with that particular resting place. 

Now, you are probably wondering what any of these themes have to do with this particular blog and the contributors being highlighted or their work.  Is an answer even important as long as we engage ourselves in contemplation and reflection? 

Chin and King kick-off the aaduna’s new year.  Welcome to our 2018.

Michael Chin (photo provided)

Here are the opening lines from Michael Chin’s “Fingerprints.”

I liked Latrell Sprewell from the moment I saw him, not in real-time, but in still image on the cover of Beckett Basketball Monthly, both hands clutching the ball tight, so tight his fingers might press though the surface, so tight the ball might explode. He wasn’t in flight yet, but past his defender, arms all sinew, eyes up just waiting for his body to take flight.

I could relate.

***

Stephen King (photo provided)

Here’s another opening, Stephen King’s “One Summer of Love.” 

The summer of 1967, known as “The Summer of Love” to those not familiar with some of the jargon from that era, is remembered as the supposed seismic center of the counterculture experience.   

What happened then affected nearly everybody in some way and has people from every walk of life still trying to take it all in.  I believe very few people in 1965 would have had a clue as to what would unfold from 1966 to 1969.  It has been romanticized, demonized, trivialized and as the Chambers Brothers would put it: "psych-o-delicized".  Many others had far more interesting adventures than me that year and far from being a time of carefree youthful abandon, that year for me contained moments of abject misery.  And not really any real love in it. 

***

aaduna published its first online issue during the second month of a past new year, 2011.  It is now 2018.  Time flies!  And by the way, there is connective tissue between Latrell and the Chambers Brothers.  Don’t know? (Oh…don’t go there.  Race is so simplistic.  Think deeper.  Look at old basketball footage and find the vinyl.  Look and Listen.  You will know.)  Anyway, finding the past connections do not matter in the larger scheme of things.

Enjoy your present life.

It is a new year.  Just know, you are important to its poignancy and strength. Contribute to this year' vibrancy and relevance.

In 2018 and with every new year that the journal is published, aaduna embraces its embryonic 2011 roots.  Whew!  We do not forget.  Never will.

Happy New Year!

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