· October, 2006

Stories about Ideas from October, 2006

Dominica, UK: Jean Rhys

  27 October 2006

Jeremy Taylor's dislike of the new BBC dramatisation of Dominican novelist Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea leads him to consider, among other things, Rhys's struggle to reconcile “her creole and European selves” and the British reception of her work.

China: How blogging has changed my life

  27 October 2006

The Chinese Blogger Conference will take place in Hanzhou this weekend. To prepare for the conference, the organizers announced a submission of posts on “How blogging has changed my life?” Keso has reviewed the posts and yesterday announced the best two. The two bloggers, Zola and Xiao Mei, were awarded...

Trinidad, UK: Between two worlds

  25 October 2006

Trinidad blogger Jeremy Taylor returns to the “quiet corner of the mudder country” (England) where he grew up: “There ought to be a name for this state of mind. (Perhaps there is.) When your head is split between two worlds.“

Jamaica, Dominica: Jean Rhys's “remarkably screwed up life”

  25 October 2006

After seeing a play based on Dominican writer Jean Rhys's “remarkably screwed up life”, Jamaican novelist Marlon James wonders: “Must every great artist have a self hating streak? Didn't Jean Rhys transfer hers to writing and Naipaul to everybody just like him? Is happiness a false goal for an artist?“

Russia: Thoughts on LiveJournal/ZheZhe

  25 October 2006

The Second Blog War continues in Russia. Brad Fitzpatrick, the LiveJournal's creator, has now joined the discussion over at sup_ru LJ community: in English, he offers some explanations and apologies here (and receives 248 comments so far) and lists the bloggers’ most common questions and concerns here (123 comments so...

Trinidad & Tobago, UK: Review of “Londonistan”

  24 October 2006

Trinidad blogger Jeremy Taylor reviews the book Londonistan by British journalist Melanie Phillips: “What causes intelligent people to slither across the political spectrum from left to right (and sometimes the other way) as they get older? When she was a young journalist, Melanie Phillips used to write outstandingly sensible and...

Jamaica: Pam Mordecai

  23 October 2006

Jamaican writer Pam Mordecai is the subject of the second installment in Geoffrey Philp's “In My Words” series.

Bahamas: Represent

  18 October 2006

A blog post by a fellow Bahamian causes Nicolette Bethel to consider questions of representation: “How do we collectively decide who represents our nation? When we choose people to send abroad to represent us, what criteria are foremost? And do we use different criteria for different arenas?“

Singapore: Inspired by the Nobel Prize Winner

  17 October 2006

Huang Shoou Chyuan in Singapore is inspired by the Nobel Peace Winner for 2006 - Muhammad Yunus. “Yunus and the Grameen Bank is an inspiration to me. I hope that when my life is finally through, I can achieve even a fraction of what they have done for their common...

Trinidad and Tobago: Mobilised or immobilised?

  17 October 2006

Elspeth at Now Is Wow reflects: “Funny how a statement like ‘I'm mobilised’ (which sounds so positive, proactive and ready-to-go) when condensed into one word, becomes the exact opposite: Immobilised”. She writes about her frustration and anger at the news that an acquaintance has been murdered.

Barbados, Canada: Life's not fair

  17 October 2006

“Dog luck aint cat luck”, says Jdid at Doan Mind Me, quoting an old West Indian saying. In other words, different strokes for different folks. An encounter with a man “just smokin off some weed out in the open” in Toronto, ignored by the police, makes him wonder how some...

Turkey is Typing…

  14 October 2006

Two things have been the subject of debate this week in the Turkish blogosphere…Orhan Pamuk being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and the passing of a Armenian genocide law in France. The issue of the Armenian Genocide has always been a hot-topic discussion, with the claims of whether what...

Russia: Winter in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk

  12 October 2006

White Sun of the Desert writes about “Toyota Landcruiser with remote control starting,” a must-have for the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk winter: “One of the more surreal side effects of this functionality is walking to your car parked amongst dozens of others in a secure care park and finding several cars sitting seemingly...

Iran: New Research about Iranian Blogs

  10 October 2006

In Iranian Truth, Celine Petrossian shares her research about Iranian blogs. Researcher says without a doubt, blogs have allowed Iranians to connect with their homeland and cultural traditions and freely discuss political, cultural and social issues on a transnational level.

Syria: Blogger Blocked in Syria

  10 October 2006

Bloggers in Syria are puzzled by the new move from the Syrian Government to block access to all .blogspot blogs, although access to the main www.blogger.com is still available… The service is blocked through all Syrian ISPs including private one AYA, reports Amr.