It stopped being “take back the night” a long time ago, didn’t it? It’s take back the day, the night, the street, the mall, the workplace, the classroom, the home, the church/mosque/mandir/etc, the community, and so many hearts and minds… We’re almost like a society walking around with chronic PTSD, where the symptoms only get more and more acute the closer and more directly we’ve come to … Continue reading Taking back more than the night
I wanted to be a marine biologist for a spell as a child. I was particularly fascinated by the “big fish” – the fish and mammals that dominated the ecosystem. Sharks in particular fascinated me, being among the few species that had barely had need to evolve over millennia, so perfect was their design. It horrifies me a bit that among our local delicacies is … Continue reading Shark protections — a necessity in Trinidad & Tobago
I don’t know what to feel. I love my country. Not just because I was born and raised here, or love the natural environment; the playfulness and creativity of our people (sometimes I wonder if we don’t actually have a higher than average talent quotient per capita, despite all); and the simple pleasure of going everywhere from a house lime to the grocery to … Continue reading A happy independence…? My beloved T&T
You know a country by how it treats its most vulnerable: its children, its seniors, its ‘differently abled’, its ‘minorities’, its natural environment – including its animals. Shame on us all, mostly for permitting so many governments and political parties to get it so, so wrong for so, so long. Shame. Shame. Shame. The Dangerous Dogs Act is a deeply flawed though well intentioned piece … Continue reading Trinidad’s ‘Dangerous Dogs’ act and what it says about us
There are quite a few Caribbean people who may want to eviscerate me for this, but I am delighted that international corporations, rights groups, and others are putting pressure on conservative and regressive Caribbean governments (Jamaica and St Kitts for the moment) on human rights and animal abuses. If we want to play the capitalist game, there are capitalist consequences when those who’ve got more … Continue reading It’s about time…
Originally written for and published in Caribbean Beat magazine in 2008 Painting the Spectrum: A Celebration of Love It takes a fair amount of courage to put on a film festival in the Caribbean. Resources are often limited in terms of funding, venues, and sourcing Caribbean-oriented material. Nevertheless, in the last few years, festivals have emerged in several Caribbean nations, including Jamaica, Guyana, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, St … Continue reading Love after love | Caribbean Beat
It’s traditional in the Christian/Catholic Lenten season after Carnival that fish often replaces red and other meat in the Trinbagonian diet. This often sends the price of fish up, and sometimes puts a strain on fisherman and the islands’ marine resources to keep up with the demand. For a number of environmental and ecological reasons, however, the supply of fresh fish has been less than … Continue reading Dolphin, not mahi-mahi
The Economist reported this week that the Caribbean region is – according to the BBC report – the “world leader in violent crime.” And I wish to the heavens I fully understood why. So many factors – an increasing gap between rich and poor; corrupt governments, judiciaries, and police services; the drug and illegal arms trade (I won’t even contemplate the human trafficking or sex … Continue reading Whose country? The Caribbean & crime
