If “Mr. Smith” were in a Presidential Debate, here is what he might say:

Moderator: Hello. Welcome to this first of two fictional debates.

Mr. Trump: This debate is already rigged!

Secretary Clinton: I am no longer responding to Donald, so I have nothing to say.

Mr. Trump: Good…trademark.

Moderator: Let’s move on. Mr. Smith, if you go to Washington…

Mr. Smith: By the way, it was a great movie with Jimmy Stewart.

Moderator: Yes…a classic, but if you were elected how would you solve poverty?

Mr. Smith: I wouldn’t.

Moderator: Um, pardon?

Mr. Smith: I wouldn’t because I alone can’t. You can lump into that: solving crime, ending drug addiction, curing obesity, or lowering the cost of medical insurance.

Moderator: But you are running for President, sir.

Mr. Smith: Yes. But I am not an all-powerful omniscient god. Not only that, but I am only one branch of government at the federal level. Then there are the 50 states and their legislators. And, if I heard you correctly, you used the word ‘solve’—that implies that poof the problem is gone for good. Poverty and the rest of the aforementioned maladies facing America can’t be “solved” by one person.

Mr. Trump: I can…only I can…trademark.

Secretary Clinton: I am no longer responding to Donald, so I have nothing to say.

Moderator: Mr. Trump, the next time you interrupt, your mike will be turned off.

Mr. Smith: Anyway, I can’t solve racism either. And these are only the domestic issues. I can’t stop immigration—no “wall” can. I can’t make the planet stop warming. I can’t replace dictators like Assad in Syria or his ilk in North Korea, not to mention the brutal leaders in Africa, who are literally chasing the continent’s people into the sea.

Moderator: Well, Mr. Smith, then why are you going to Washington when you admit you can’t solve these problems?

Mr. Trump: He’s a loser…(Microphone off)

Secretary Clinton: Again, I am not commenting on anything Donald says. However, I think the point Mr. Smith is making is that one person alone cannot ‘solve’ any of those issues. We are ‘Stronger Together!’ and I have a 30 year history…

Moderator: No…no…we already…just turn her microphone off for a while.

Secretary Clinton: …I began working for…(microphone off)

Mr. Smith: Yes, it’s true. We are stronger together, but we are not acting in the best interest of the American citizens or following the provisions of The Constitution

Moderator: Please explain. They won’t bother you anymore.

Mr. Smith: Look, I don’t want to go to Washington for job security; there should be term limits in congress and the senate. I want to make my voice heard so people can hopefully realize that we have more in common, and to be aware as Lincoln said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

Moderator: So what would you say to the American people?

Mr. Smith:  I think Justice Scalia was right about limits to the Second Amendment writing that there can be legal and legitimate restrictions on guns. I think that it is not the governments’ –state or federal—what  a woman does with her body .The Supreme Court ruled that states cannot put the interests of a fetus ahead of the interests of the pregnant woman until the fetus is "viable."After viability, the state could regulate or prohibit abortions unless they were ``necessary, in appropriate medical judgment'', to preserve the life or health of the woman. I’d prefer a woman goes to term and give the child up to adoption. But I have no right to tell her what to do.

Moderator: Well, that’s two controversial issues. What about the Black Lives Matter issue of racism, Mr. Smith?

Mr. Smith: I think racism is a stain, and has been, on America’s moral fabric. I think Americans need to heed Dr. King’s creed: to judge people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. We make assumptions about blacks, Asians, Hispanics, Muslims, Jews…the list is endless. I think Atticus Finch’s words in the American classic novel Mockingbird are timeless. To his children he said that once you step into some else’s shoes and walk around in them, well you’ll never understand them. Ghettoes are the last remnants of segregation, and it will take individual strength on all of us rid the issues plague inner cities. It’s on all of us.

Moderator: You mentioned global warming?

Mr. Smith: Yes. I think it is a foregone conclusion that man made warming of the planet is the major driver in climate, and it threatens the existence of the generation we are sending to elementary schools today. I think solar panels should be the landscape of the desert; that aqueducts should flow west to the heartland, even over the Rocky Mountains. I think coal and oil should be significantly phased out of the national energy plan. But it is bigger than America—its about developing nations like India, China, Brazil. I think the Paris Accords are the best chance for global survival.

Moderator: We are short on time but quickly, what about education?

Mr. Smith: I think that school’s budgets shouldn’t be determined by the tax base of the neighborhood—but that a national baseline should be established for adequate funding for all schools. Jonathon Kozol made that point in Savage Innocents decades ago. I think teachers should not receive tenure until they have served 10 years with distinction, as judged by the master teachers of those districts.

Moderator: Again, quickly, on taxes and how to you bring jobs back to America?

Mr. Smith: We pay a price for living in this great nation and that price should be progressive, not regressive. The more you personally make, the more you rate. Corporations leave and outsource because their allegiance is to its shareholders, not to American interests. So when that occurs I think we have only two choices: lower corporate taxes and pray they return their factories here—and that is an iffy proposition since they can always find cheaper labor and increase profits as we try to offset their tax bill, or we can look to President Obama’s program of “insourcing” as explained in the Washington Monthly: “Though President Obama has praised insourcing’s leaders as “CEOs who take pride in hiring people here in America.” Why are companies doing that? Some companies consider insourcing  “have learned the hard way about offshoring’s hidden downsides, such as the lack of intellectual property protection for proprietary manufacturing processes, quality control issues, and the frustration of waiting weeks for products to arrive by container ship while rivals potentially rush hot new products to the shelves. Moreover, long supply chains mean more exposure to earthquakes and tsunamis, wars, oil shocks, and other unpredictable disruptions.”

Moderator: Well, that’s interesting.

Mr. Smith: It is.

Moderator: Well, thank you Mr. Smith, but we have run out of time. Join us on our next fictional debate next week in which we will tackle Obamacare, Isis, Middle East peace, immigration, the Supreme Court and a host of other issues. We hope you vote on Election Day, November 8^th. Goodnight. 

"Growin' Up" (with apologies to Bruce Springsteen) 1964-1973-

As fate would have it, my cousin Joe got it a bad motorcycle accident. Joe drove his motorcycle often. He drove it to my parent's house the afternoon my father was slipping away. He helped me turn my dad over in his hospice bed as my mom (Tessie) served him (Louie) his last meal. My dad only took a few bites for our benefit; he rolled his eyes. Joe Pacilio got on his bike later and headed for the San Gabriel hills. My dad passed away in his sleep that night.

Not to confuse the reader, but my Uncle Joey-no relation to Joe, my cousin, climbed up the steps of the mobile home (that my dad always reminded my mom, "was mobile, Tessie. If it rains, the whole thing is on jacks and it floats down the street!") Anyway, Uncle Joey looked at me the morning of my dad's passing and said, "Louie, that son-of-a-bitch, that's the way to go...if ya gotta go."

Fast forward 6 years. So when my cousin Joe was recovering from his crash with a couple broken legs (keeping the story less graphic), I knew I had to see him. That meant a trip back to my old stomping grounds, perhaps better remembered as the grounds where I was stomped on. After all, I am the classic version of "Leo the Late Bloomer."

So off I went in my truck heading from San Diego to LA, where my parents settled back in 1964 after leaving New Jersey and Brooklyn. This meant I had to drive up the interstate 5, up, up and eventually up passing Azusa Blvd: its motto was A- Z in the USA; who could possible forget that?

Then I realized, if I got off the freeway and traveled down Azusa, I had to run into my old elementary school of 1964. Saint Martha's Catholic School was old even then; each grade was one room. I wondered what it looked like, had it closed down, or had it been completely renovated? As I drove down Azusa, I did not recognize a thing.  And then out of the morass of tacky strip malls-- there it was.

I felt like I was in a time warp. Nothing, I mean NOTHING had changed. The same small rooms that probably were built in the 1950's. The same playground in which I remember playing kick ball and having to FREEZE the moment the freeze bell sounded. I climbed the steps to the upper grades and walked to the door marked 8th GRADE. It was open. I peered in. Okay, at least the desks were new-ish, but not a smart board to be found or a computer on any desk. Nope. For all I knew Mother Invincion, our teacher in '68, could be still standing there ready to tape my mouth shut because I was talking to Debbie or Cathy or JoAnn or Helen or Katie--names that are not in vogue in today's modern classroom. I took pictures. You'll see more of them on my FB page.

I then realized that I knew my way to the high school, if I just kept driving down Azusa Blvd. I had not been there since I graduated in June of 1973 at the curly-haired age of 17. Naturally, I didn't need GPS. This was my past I was trailblazing. So...I got lost. I stopped at a Starbucks amid so many strip malls. Was I gonna quit. No way. I had come this far. I did what any red blooded man would never do--I asked for directions.
I consulted the one person who has given my life direction--I called my wife. Quickly she jumped on the computer and realized I was within blocks.

I drove up into the neighborhood of homes in the town of El Monte, passed homes that were easily built in the 50's which surrounded my Alma mater, and again there it was. EXACTLY THE SAME. The only difference was the sign--just like at Saint Martha's the classrooms were identical. The grass fields that the seniors chased us around for initiation, the parking lot that only the seniors (or really cool kids) could park, the football stands that I sat in for yearbook pictures...all frozen in time. I wondered if they still had the girls' side of the school and the boys' side that was divided by a yellow line? I couldn't find out because the gates were locked.

 I asked an older man across the street how to catch the freeway to get up to my cousin in San Gabriel. After a few lefts and rights, he looked at me and asked why I was taking a picture of this school building. I said, "I went to school here in '69--it was a big deal then to go here. Pat Haden and John McKay played football here." He nodded but it didn't register. I went on my way.

I arrived to see my cousin at his house that he dubbed "Club Pacilio'--he had the neon sign to prove it. He was looking great for a guy in the hospital for over a week. And we reminisced about our dads who were brothers. I promised him I would be back to see him, and we would toast our dads with our wives next time.

But I would never go past my schools again. I guess it's true that some things change, but some remain the same. And some are better off remembered as they were in my days of innocence.

Some of the Saint Martha's Gang at our 40th Bishop Amat reunion. Me?
I'm the guy in the back row among all the girls I talked to.
 It was a great affair. Thanks, Debbie. 

To the Parents of the Metaphor Cafe with Love

“La Petite Café at Midnight, New Years Eve”

I used to plan out our evenings

Then present you with choices

On an elegant menu next to a single red rose:

“Stefano’s and the Upstart Crow in Hillcrest,

Alfonso’s and a stroll to the Cove Theater in La Jolla,

La Petite Café and the Pannikin coffee house in the Gaslamp.”

Your choice.

And now we are hostage to busy babysitters

Limited to a couple of hours

--maybe three--

nodding off at films

tired dining at banal restaurants immediate to our home.

And sometimes we even do the unimaginable

Finding ourselves in, of all things, Grocery stores

--with coupons--

paying for the freedom to do

the mundane chores that life assigns.

And home, again

To kiss the foreheads and pull blankets under chins

--drive babysitter home--

only to return to a house softly slumbering,

tucking your blanket under your chin.

Our choice.

Maybe someday we will stay up late again

Planning evenings until midnight

On a New Years Eve

All dressed up with some place to go

But still worrying where they are

With no one to tuck them in.

p.s Many years ago, when are children were so young, I challenged my students to enter a poetry contest. They said, "Why don't YOU write a poem, Mr. Pacilio?" I told them to find a contest for teachers that paid real money! They did. "La Petite Café at Midnight, New Years Eve” was debut into the published world. It was the winner. Bob

The 10 Best Days of My Life…So Far…

Dedicated to the memory

Of my parents and my wife’s parents.

They did the best they could

To make a better life for both of us

And their grandchildren.

So …I was thinking about some of my best days

as I walked the streets of Encinitas one morning.

(Since it is a given that every day the Good Lord allows me

to walk up and smell the roses, is a good day:)

The 10 Best Days of My Life…So Far…

1. The day I married Pamela Jean

2-3 (a tie) The days Nicholas and Anna were born

4-5 (a tie, again) The days they graduated from college

6. The day I received the San Diego County’s

                Teacher of the Year Award

7. Kathy and Mark McWilliams Wedding Day

8-9 (a tie, what can I say?) The days I took my family

          To see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band

10. The day I proposed to Pam at the Ventana Inn in Big Sur

Honorable Mentions:

The 16 years as Mt. Carmel High School’s Speech and Debate

          Coach and State Champions/National Finalists- 1991

The day both of us were in Pam and Jim Reifeiss’ wedding

The day both of us watched Bob Bjorkquist give away

          His daughter Olivia to Ben

The surprise on my 60^th birthday that arrived at my front door

Every day I spoke at various schools about 9.11 to Springsteen’s

          “The Rising”

Everyday my students and I danced through the decades

The last day I taught my freshman English class:

                My final day as a teacher

                When my students stood on their desks and

                Recited:’’Oh, Captain, My Captain”

                In the Metaphor Cafe

The Politics of Cynicism vs. Gratitude. Your Choice

These are facts: poverty rate is declining ( NY Times, three weeks ago, front page); unemployment 4.9%; President Bush was mislead and spent trillions in Iraq ; President Obama cut off the head of 9.11 attackers, Bin Laden: just facts. 
Yes . People's wages are awful. People are angry and distrustful. I do not underestimate the pain these families and individuals are suffering.
The cause is the issue, as is the solution. Do we blame the managers of our government? Or  do we blame the top tier of the corporate world( in which profits skyrocket) ? Do we blame failing workers' unions? Do we blame the industries that do all it can to avoid taxes and pay higher wages and medical benefits? Do we blame public schools for not preparing students for the new economy? Do we blame the families who are falling apart and, with it, do we criticize the lack of parental guidance? Do we blame a drug culture that has turned people into zombies from Appalachia to urban ghettos (see "Hillbilly Elegy) ? Do we blame colleges for costs that outstrip the ability to pay these loans?
                                               Or...
Do we look in the mirror and work harder despite all this and prove that we are stronger than this and stronger together- regardless of party affiliation and life's difficult circumstances?
That is the crux of the issue.
Senator Bernie Sanders pushed Americans and Secretary Clinton to ask some of these questions. We would be wise to pay attention. President Obama saved us from economic disaster as we bleed out 800,000 jobs a month. He restored integrity to the office. His family modeled for America what parenthood should be. The First Lady, Michelle Obama continues to be a beacon of hope for young girls and women, here and abroad.
For this I am most grateful.
Blame and hate gets us nowhere, making us cynical, and turns us against each other. We should pay our fair share of taxes to live in the greatest nation on Earth. The effort to remain the guiding light of liberty is ON US!
So...that's my view from the Metaphor Cafe. (previously a response to FB post--but updated)