Stories about Jamaica from May, 2006
Caribbean: Lists
On his freshly launched blog, Jamaican novelist Marlon James weighs in on the New York Times “Top Twenty-Five American Books”. Barbadian blogger Titilayo singles out a few notables from TIME magazine's “list of “100 men and women whose power, talent or moral example is transforming our world”.
Caribbean: What blogging is for
“Blogging … challenges the elitism that pervades the Caribbean and is a great experiment in the democratization of data,” says Geoffrey Philp in a thoughtful essay on the potential role of blogging in the region. “Blogging provides the kind of freedom that is anathema to many gatekeepers who want to...
Rock Steady: Desmond Dekker
Mshairi remembers Rock Steady great, Desmond Dekker who passed away recently. Who can ever forget “Israelites”
West Indies: Cricket victory over India
Today Trinidad and Tobago hosted the fourth match in the current West Indies vs India One Day International cricket series. Francomenz didn't make it to the Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain to watch the match, but she followed it on the radio. “Too exciting!!!” she wrote when West...
Jamaica: Family history and chicken soup
Geoffrey Philp reminisces about Struie, the small village in Westmoreland, Jamaica, where his mother grew up, and provides a “Jamaican-Miami” version of a traditional family recipe for cold-curing chicken soup.
Caribbean: WI cricket resurrection?
He's afraid of blighting them with his positive words, but Jeremy Taylor at the Caribbean Beat Blog has been more than pleased to see the West Indies cricket team show some of their old mettle in their recent encounters with India: “. . . in the last week some real...
Jamaica: Motorcycle bandits
Illegally-imported high-powered motorcycles are one of the latest additions to the arsenal of Jamaica's criminals, says Scratchie: “We tend to find ways to beat the systems here so of course importation rules are no exception. According to last night's news report the bikes are sent in barrels in pieces and...
The Global Voices Show #1
Global Voices is pleased to announce the first of our new magazine-style podcasts, which aim to do for online audio what the Global Voices web site does for text blogs — introduce listeners to some of the exciting offerings from podcasters around the world. In this episode we feature the...
Jamaica: Ghetto tourism?
Francis Wade remembers taking tours of “slum” areas in South Africa and Brazil, and the lessons he learned from these experiences. “It would be powerful if we in Jamaica could get over our embarrassment long enough to realize that we are the ones in the way of giving structured tours...
West Indies: Cricketer Ramnaresh Sarwan comes of age
Today the West Indies cricket team won its third One Day International match in the current series against India, in which Guyanese batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan scored 115 runs not out. “He’s coming of age before our eyes,” says the West Indies Cricket Blog. Ri at Revolution Island reminds us that...
Jamaica: Mango season
It's mango season in Jamaica (and the rest of the Caribbean), and Geoffrey Philp rhapsodises his four favourite mango varieties: Bombay, Number 11, East Indian, and Julie. He even writes a mango poem.
Montserrat volcano watch and West Indies cricket
A woman looks at the rear window of her car, broken by a flying rock from the nearby Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat, on Saturday. Photo from the Trinidad Express website Nearly eleven years ago, Montserrat’s long-dormant Soufriere Hills Volcano began erupting for the first time in the island's recorded history....
Caribbean: Hurricane outlook
Over at the West Indies Cricket blog, Ryan Naraine cites the NOAA’s 2006 Atlantic hurricane season outlook, which says there is “an 80% chance of an above-normal hurricane season, a 15% chance of a near-normal season, and only a 5% chance of a below-normal season.”
Caribbean: A West Indian anthem?
Kyk-Over-Al links to a column in Guyana's Stabroek News criticising the new West Indian anthem adopted recently by CARICOM (the Caribbean Community), and the Caribbean Beat blog asks its readers how Caribbean leaders should have gone about choosing an anthem. “Via a competition, soliciting entries from the region's best composers...
Jamaica: Missing generation
Francis Wade thinks about the “missing generation” of middle-class Jamaicans who emigrated seeking better lives for their families, and suggests four reasons for expatriate Jamaicans to return to their homeland, as he himself did. “We probably should not be so ready to encourage our children to migrate, selling them on...
Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica: Remembering ancestors
At The Pan Collective, Trinidadian Attillah Springer describes the Ifa ancestral ceremony held yesterday on the third anniversary of her grandmother's death. “We sang for her. Cooked her favourite foods. Cried a bit and missed her dry humour terribly. And in the end the Iya cast the obi. The offering...
West Indies: Brian Lara's appointment “commercial”?
Sir Viv Richards, West Indies cricket legend, says star batsman Brian Lara was recently appointed captain of the team for “commercial reasons”. “A tad ungracious of the great man,” says Jeremy Taylor at the Caribbean Beat blog.
Caribbean: The meaning of “excellent service”
Jamaican Francis Wade at Chronicles from a Caribbean Cubicle thinks about customer service in the Caribbean. “There is not a single island I have visited in which there is a local company giving excellent service to local people.” He tries to understand why, and congratulates the Sandals resort chain for...
Jamaica: Homophobia or not?
Francis Wade argues that Jamaicans aren't homophobic, but “homo-name-a-phobic”: “the particular kind of homo-related phobia that we have in Jamaica is not of gays themselves, but is instead of ‘being called gay’ … it is a fear that is shared by every single Jamaican, whether they are gay or not”.
Francophonia: Remembering Bob Marley
“May 11, 1981 – May 11, 2006: It's been 25 years since Bob Marley left us”, says (Fr) Martiniquan blog Bondamanjak. France-based Forum Realisance posts lyrics to Redemption Song and commemorates the Jamaican legend (Fr): “I had the incredible fortune of meeting him in Brussels in a private club; I...
Caribbean: New West Indies anthem
At the Trinidad & Tobago World Cup blog Stacy-Marie Ishmael parses some of the mixed reactions to the new West Indies anthem, which was sung for the first time at yesterday's Trinidad & Tobago v. Peru football match in Trinidad.
