GLINDA WAS RIGHT, THOMAS WOLFE WAS WRONG

Everyone talks about the future. Well, why not? We're going to spend the rest of our life there....!

But now here's a question: Who do you see yourself as in that future? Researchers at Stanford University wanted to find out. So they turned to -- what else! -- their MRIs. And when they did they report the rostral anterior cingulate cortex is most active when people think about themselves instead of others. Something I've been wanting to know for years, because I spend a lot of time with that particular brain lobe.

The research suggests our future behaviors can actually be affected by the way we perceive ourselves in the present. Do we see ourselves as "me" or as "someone else?" [Scientific American Magazine has the full report a few issues back]. But after scanning it, I couldn't help but turn away from my future to look instead to my past. [I tend to live in the past, because most of my life is there]. So here's what I did.

I took my annual sentimental journey through the streets of my childhood neighborhood on the old westside of Chicago. Thomas Wolfe compellingly argued "you can never go home again," but I found that only partially true. Whereas every door here seemed to be locked and shut tight, I vividly remember a time on these very same streets when they were not only unlocked, but often wide open.

Time happens.

Now 70 years later, these cozy red brick bungalows and leafy side streets have grown old. And angry. And fearful, because of the gangs that populate them, and the crimes that infest them. And yet my journey was worthwhile if for no other reason than Raphael. He was the little kid managing the lemonade stand on the corner of my old Mayfield Avenue. I had to stop and buy a glass, because this was so very yesterday! So very once-upon-a-time!

And do you know what...? When Raphael had to run into the house for more sugar, the back door was wide open...! Gee, maybe the best of yesterday is still here today.