It was summer in Sacramento, the temperature reaching nearly 110 degrees outside, and having some time on my hands (a lot, actually) because I had just been laid off from my job, I saw the light! In my kitchen window, there arose a strange conglomeration of shadows, wavy lines (the curtain), and graduated grays. The message? It wasn't clear. Was the heat melting the window glass and baking the ceramic pots into an ethereal nothingness? No. There was no message, just that it was almost 12 noon and I'd better get with it and fix the boy's burritos cause they were getting hungry. I quickly snapped the picture since I was curious if the overbright exposure would play havoc with the camera's automatic settings chip. And I got busy fixing lunch for my sons. When I had some money to spare months later, I got the film developed at Long's and glanced at the snapshot. Thoughts: As much as one seeks security and sureness in life, one ultimately comes around to the belief that there's no simple answers, nothing is just black and white. The will may be strong, it may be steeled but there's worlds we can't readily see, around us, but they're there. They come in shades of gray, from the light to the dark, from recession to prominence. My Father was a very confident man, well-educated, a hardworker, and if you listened carefully to his stories you would come away appreciating why overstatement and exaggeration rarely trump humility. In the gray tones you'll find the rich colors.

I can't exactly remember, I was 10 or maybe 12, but I was being scolded by Papá for being disobedient that day, which was not unusual, for me. The transgression was not too bad though and I was relieved (ningun cinto, no belt out!) that I was only going to be warned. I questioned "back" a little and said something about things not being fair. Rather than arouse his anger for talking back, he held my shoulders gently and said,
"Alex, este es un mundo complicado y nada es sencillo" -- this is a complicated world we live in and nothing is simple. Of course, at the time, I rejected that, in my mind, since I thought I was being singled out for the disobedience, but I didn't continue my argument. I see those same wise words around me these days, in thoughtful essays, in good conversation, and ironically, in seemingy simple photographs or paintings.