Stories about Ideas from June, 2011
Trinidad & Tobago: Art & Politics
“Once more, art confronts us with the intersection of ideas”: Pleasure reviews Richard Rawlins’ recent art exhibition, saying that the icons of “white elephants, dangling flies that become pianos, non-performing arts academies and lego politicians all suggest what we all know: the realm of politics is one big megee.”
Bermuda: The Attitude/Economics Equation
Politics.bm says that 30 years after tourism's heyday, “Bermudians are wondering where all the tourists went” and fears that the same thing will happen to the country's stake in international business; Vexed Bermoothes echoes his concern about Bermuda's economic outlook, saying: “At the rate we are going, we may soon...
Japan: Real Voices, Real Japan
An Enligh-language website called Real Voices, Real Japan documents “the business environment and recovery in post-quake Japan.” Its purpose is to “keep foreign business communities up to date on the Japanese recovery and enables decision-making based on accurate, locally-sourced information.”
Haiti: Helping to Stop Human Trafficking
Stanley Lucas blogs about how the effects of 2010's earthquake have affected Haiti's “significant child trafficking problem” and offers a few suggestions to “guide government officials and organizations working on anti-trafficking initiatives.”
Suriname: On Art
SRANANART'S BLOG considers the work of Marcel Pinas to start a discussion about what constitutes art.
Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica: Buju's Prison
“Buju Banton was the one who helped us figure it out. He danced between social commentary and slackness. He transformed himself into a thoughtful prophet”: Attilah Springer says it's “a nightmare when you wake up to realise that the one to offer a place for escape is in prison too.”
Trinidad & Tobago: A Case for Children & Computers
Lisa Allen-Agostini is irritated by “a call for the dismantling of the Government initiative to give laptop computers to all incoming secondary school students” and explains why “our children…deserve to reap the benefits of progress.”
Uruguay: Backstage in TEDx Montevideo
Mauricio Milano from Montevideo Blogger [es] tweeted [es] and updated the official Facebook [es] feed for TEDx Montevideo [es], which was held on June 22. In his personal blog he writes about his experience ‘backstage’.
A Syrian Solution for North Korea
Libyan and Syrian cases are significant to North Korea's possible change by exhibiting how quickly ruthless totalitarian regimes can become unstable in the face of resistance, wrote Joshua from the One Free Korea.
Slut Walk is Besharmi Morcha in India
Slut Walk, a fresh feminist movement that originated from Toronto Canada, and had been taking rounds of various western cities, is now coming to New Delhi, the Indian capital. Amidst criticism of the use of the word slut, which is uncommon in India, the event organizers attempted to contextualize the movement by renaming it 'Slut Walk Delhi Besharmi Morcha'.
Guyana, Bermuda: Food & Graffiti
Guyana-Gyal suggests a way to help control rising food prices, while a bermudian's view suggests that the best way to deal with graffiti is to “have [it] removed within 24 hours.”
Latin America: ‘La Furgo-Nana’ On the Road For Children's Rights and Lullabies
A documentary, a ‘transmedia platform’ and a humanitarian project: in ‘La Furgo-Nana’ (“a Volkswagen Type II Bus from 1969″) Maria and Anton are driving through the Pan American highway from Tijuana, Mexico to Ushuaia, Argentina to “transform the difficult reality of Latin American children into a fascinating adventure you will...
U.S.V.I.: The National Park on St. John
A Nation or Nobody blogs about a report on National Parks, Tourism, and Local Development, written 30 years ago, which he feels “should be required reading for every student in the US Virgin Islands…it [also] has the power to speak to a much larger audience on issues of development, government...
“Russia For All” Exhibition Sparks Off Discussions On Russian Identity
Bloggers actively discuss [ru] “Russia For All” [ru, .pdf] exhibition. Viktor Bondarenko and Dmitri Gutov, the authors, aim to combat the nationalist slogan “Russia for Russians.” Each painting contains a name of a well-known historical person and his/her ethnic origin. In the numerous discussions around the blogosphere, netizens ask a question,...
India: The Monsoon Legend Of Kerala
Why there is so much rain in the Indian state of Kerala? Maddy describes a legend behind it.
Guyana: Blogging Etiquette
“If somebody use work from you’ blog on their website, and make it look as if you’s writing for them, and they don’t link back you’ writing to you’ blog…you think is a form of stealing?”: Guyana-Gyal wants some link love.
U.S.V.I.: Literary Reflections
A Nation or Nobody bonds with a fellow litblogger over “how two Trinidadian writers, Naipaul and Lovelace, have interpreted the infusion of North American cultural forms into the Caribbean”, saying: “It is my opinion that Afro-Caribbean, Indo-Caribbean, and Euro-Caribbean literatures are in fact reflections of each other, not categories that...
Bahamas: On Fixing the Education System
“When a process in the market fails to provide the results people want, they scream for government intervention, yet when a government service fails, people call for more government”: Rick Lowe at Weblog Bahamas thinks that a critical part of the problem with the country's education system is “because of...
Ecuador: Project Aims to Bring More Green to Guayaquil
In El Ecuador de Hoy [es] Guillermo Sornoza praises a project called ‘Guayaquil Ecológico’ [Ecological Guayaquil] which aims to bring more green spaces to the city in the form of picnic areas, parks, bicycle paths, etc.
Trinidad & Tobago: A Lawsuit Too Late?
When it comes to the lawsuit filed by the Central Bank against top CL Financial directors, Afra Raymond is “doubtful of the choice of targets in the apparent attempt to deal with this financial fiasco”, saying: “The early questions…are for me ‘Why this lawsuit?’ and ‘Why now?’.”
China: Beauty Concept
Jocelyn Eikenburg from Speaking of China writes about her experience in a makeup shop which reflects Chinese woman's idea of beauty.
