July 22, 2023, Manizales.  High in the central range of the Colombian Andes, touching the sky while playing with clouds and watching birds soar below me.  Verdant mountains, snow clad peaks and thermal springs, the tall spires of a gothic cathedral with a Christ seemingly having finally accepted the adversary’s challenge while Kumanday lies dormant, at least mostly, although it’s stirred quite a bit lately in its sleep, as though unpleasant dreams were unsettling him.

Double digits again. 

1946.  The first was the instant of my birth when I was zero-zero, although of course, that could be represented in a single digit, “zero.  Mom, la Mamita, Carola and Livia, my father, all too briefly.  The Hotel Roma.  Manizales, Colombia, the Earth, the Solar system, the Galaxy, the Universe, The Multiverse.  Divinity.  All new to me just then.

1957.  Eleven: a turbulent year spent traveling from one state to another, one country to another, one continent to another. North Carolina, where I was happy, then Florida and insecurity, then Colombia, back to roots, for a little while.  A period of extreme changes, both personally, and in the country of my birth.

1968.  Twenty-two:  Rites of passage, a Citadel man.  Things changing much, much too quickly and in too confused a manner.  Bobby Kennedy assassinated.  Susan.  On my own for the first time and not all that well done.

1979.  Thirty-three:  A great deal had been accomplished, a great deal lost as well.  Vicki.  Florida.  Hazeltine.  Rutti- tootie and kazuti.

1990.  Forty-four: Cyndi; three sons, finally, but all hell breaking out, hopes dashed.  Reality confronted and slowly understood.  Metamorphosis of sorts.  Hendersonville. 

2001.  Fifty-five: Millennium’s beginning, aliens on the moon delayed.  My world seemed all too well but that was an illusion, the calm before another storm.  Joe Radcliffe in the rearview window, Lenny Tucker in his place.  Ocala.

2012.  Sixty-six:  Manizales.  Diana Marcela for a bit.  Political science, the university, the media, nationally and internationally.  Alex, two of three in the language of the Borg, or perhaps, three of five, is with me in Colombia, but on his own, having attained his own place in the world.

2023.  Seventy seven:  Natalia.  Love and stability.  Writing.  Radio.  Tennis.  Free time.  Introspection encounters speculation and reflection.

In the good old US of A in 2023:  Orwellian dystopia rampant, censorship, perpetual war, polarization.  Inchoate nuclear and environmental devastation.  Deception.  Manipulation.  Hypocrisy.  Racism and xenophobia rampant. 

Still, I have my Citadel and EMA brethren to remind me that all is not lost and that pockets of the benign still bravely exist.

A compilation: Loads of errors, from some of which I’ve learned and become a better person.  Many, many regrets, people I’ve hurt, things I’d do very differently.  Successes, most unexpected, a few well earned; luck as much as anything else.  Legacies, in writing at least, all over the place and in diverse genres.  Former students everywhere, some coming into their own while others retire.  And my own progeny: not how I’d planned or what I’d hoped for them, but seemingly doing well, although far, far away, and even more, very, very distant.  Life seems good, better than I earned on my own.  Caesar was right, the goddess Fortuna is the one most to be feared as well as adored.
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© Guillermo Calvo Mahé; Manizales, 2023; all rights reserved.  Please feel free to share with appropriate attribution.

Guillermo (“Bill”) Calvo Mahé (a sometime poet) is a writer, political commentator and academic currently residing in the Republic of Colombia (although he has primarily lived in the United States of America of which he is also a citizen).  Until 2017 he chaired the political science, government and international relations programs at the Universidad Autónoma de Manizales.  He is currently the publisher of the Inannite Review, available at Substack.com, a commentator on Radio Guasca FM, and an occasional contributor to the regional magazine, el Observador.  He has academic degrees in political science (the Citadel), law (St. John’s University), international legal studies (New York University) and translation and linguistic studies (the University of Florida’s Center for Latin American Studies).  However, he is also fascinated by mythology, religion, physics, astronomy and mathematics, especially with matters related to quanta and cosmogony.  He can be contacted at guillermo.calvo.mahe@gmail.com and much of his writing is available through his blog at https://guillermocalvo.com/.