Last night I watched a French film on Netflix called Street Flow (Banlieusards). It’s a drama that addresses issues of race, poverty, family values and the struggles of a single parent through the lens of a black Muslim family living in the suburbs of Paris. Soulaymaan, the middle brother, is a scholar working on hisContinue reading “Street Flow”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Hansle Parchment
Hansle Parchment, the 110-meter Jamaican gold medallist at the Tokyo Olympics, posted an incredible and awesome story on Instagram that testifies to a Christ-like figure. Hansle narrates. On the day of the semi-finals of the 110 meters hurdles, he accidentally boarded the wrong bus. Why? He was focused on his mobile music. Understandable! Isn’t it?Continue reading “Hansle Parchment”
The Cross and the Environment
In my blog on Renewal and Retreat, I described a dugout area, whose surface was lined with stones in the form of a cross at the edge of the cliff on a property at which I was retreating. Its vertical section is about 24 feet and the horizontal portion is about six feet. One canContinue reading “The Cross and the Environment”
Happy Interdependence Day!
Arising to the dawn today, I remember it’s August 6, Jamaica’s Independence Day! To be honest, I prefer to celebrate Interdependence Day! Independence from the colonial legacy of Independence and Individualism influenced by a Eurocentric thinking, “I think therefore I am” (Descartes). Let’s divorce this thinking and remarry the African philosophy of Ubuntu that says,Continue reading “Happy Interdependence Day!”
Clouds and Feelings
I am sitting precariously on the six-inch concrete block in a dilapidated shed at the edge of a cliff. At the base of the cliff are crashing waves, hitting the coastline like an angry boxer. Protruding from the side of the cliff is an orchestra of coconut trees dancing to the instructions of the wind.Continue reading “Clouds and Feelings”
100 Meters: Emancipation Day Gift
Today, I woke up with one thing on my lazy Saturday morning mind: Watching the finals of the Tokyo Olympics women’s 100 metres finals. As the finalists lined up, I felt anxious and nervous. My heart pounded like a vibrant and energetic Tassa drummer “beating the daylight” out of the drum. The wait seemed eternal.Continue reading “100 Meters: Emancipation Day Gift”
Children
I was alone watching the evening news. Suddenly, I screamed. I yelled. I gasped. Feelings of sadness and of being distraught blanketed me. I felt a mother’s and a father’s pain in my belly bottom. Three children in the Burke’s family in Maraval, Trinidad perished in a house fire. They were trapped like prisoners byContinue reading “Children”
Retreats and Renewals
Retreats – spiritual, business or leisure – are necessary and beneficial. I received this healing opportunity for three days. It was incredibly refreshing, renewing, and rejuvenating. The coastal town of Blanchisseuse, Trinidad, was the therapeutic hospital for my renewal. Three days of sleep, old talk, board games, eating, reading, writing, reflecting, with a mix ofContinue reading “Retreats and Renewals”
Grandparents!
I never knew my grandparents. I don’t know what they look like. I don’t know the entire story of their lives. I don’t know their personality traits or mannerisms. I simply just don’t know. They were dead before I was born. Growing up, I listened with sadness to the stories of my friends’ grandparents, orContinue reading “Grandparents!”
Vaccination
I received this 1930 cartoon from Archbishop Jason Gordon. Look at it carefully. Remember, it’s around 1930s. I thank God for the wisdom of my parents. Their wisdom saved my life and the lives of my siblings. Diligently, they carried us to the public clinic to receive all our vaccines – polio, mumps, small pox,Continue reading “Vaccination”