Stories about Caribbean from August, 2006
Barbados: Development double standards
The Mulllins Bay Blog slams the double standard that allows wealthy developers to construct destructive barriers of dubious utility on the seashore, while “the few small home owners remaining in the area have to jump through hoops to get permission from “Coastal” to place a few rocks on the beach...
Trinidad & Tobago: Port of Stain
Walking through Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago's capital city, The Manicou expresses despair at the amount of litter in the streets, but has little hope that this will ever change.
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: A Vincentian Paris Hilton?
Abeni is disturbed by an e-mail she receives featuring photos of a Vincentian woman “in various states of undress as well as engaged in some sexual acts”.
Trinidad & Tobago: Reviewing the draft constitution
Jeremy Taylor parses Trinidad & Tobago's new draft constitution, and concludes that “there are some very strange things in this draft, which would have the effect of increasing the power of the country's political leader at the expense of the judiciary and the parliament.”
Aruba: Waiting for Ernesto
“It's hot. It's humid. There is no blessed, cooling wind,” writes Arubagirl as the tropical disturbance known as Ernesto passes through the area, creating some dramatic wave activity that she photographs.
Global Food Blog Report #29
#1: Maika's Blog on Haitian Food: "Griot" (pronounced: greee-yo ) a popular Haitian original. Which is fried pork shoulder accompanied with a spicy hot as habanero cole slaw like condiment called “Picklese” (s pronounced like a z). And served with a side of fried flatten green plaintain "bunan passe" (...
Trinidad & Tobago: Parliament TV
“I'm wholly in favour of wasting a TV channel on this, because it will show just how absurdly tedious parliamentary affairs have become,” writes Jeremy Taylor, reporting on Trinidad & Tobago's newly launched Parliament Television.
Jamaica: Better policing
Gela relates an incident which paints the Jamaican police in a less than glowing light: “The police is one of the public sector groups who are currently agitating for more pay. I have no quarrel with that, but can we the taxpayers who are funding the salaries see some good...
Haiti: Travelling heavy
Nightshift makes fun of Caribbean travellers’ legendary inability to travel light: “If successful, Mr. Lafargue will complete the feat first attempted by Jean-Jean Jean-Michel in 1976 when he tried traveling from New York to Haiti with a single bag only to be guilted by a ti-gran into adding one of...
Guyana: Wild garden
Guyana-Gyal's mother likes a wild garden.
Trinidad & Tobago: Eco-friendly
Is the eco-resort you plan on visiting really that eco-friendly? Karen Walrond shows you how to make sure.
Caribbean: Exporting Carnival
“. . . it's interesting how these festivals have echoed, in a small way, the evolution of their original model in Trinidad, as a vehicle of solidarity, an assertion of identity, a gesture of defiance in a hostile environment,” says Jeremy Taylor, writing about the Carnivals “exported” by the Caribbean...
Jamaica, UK: Linton Kwesi Johnson
Geoffrey Philp extends birthday greetings to Britain-based Jamaican dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson: “He became only the second living poet to be published in the Penguin Classics series. His poetry involves the recitation of his own verse in Jamaican Creole over dub-reggae, usually written in collaboration with renowned British reggae...
Bermuda: Rum terrorism
Valentine Michael Smith reports on the vicious attack on Bermuda's rum supply perpetrated by a group called Al-Cassava: “the group’s demands are said to include increased moped parking, a reduction in milk prices and SMS messaging that works more than 1 day in 5.”
Antigua & Barbuda: Quizzing the Labour Party
John has a list of pointed questions for the Antigua Labour Party.
Trinidad & Tobago: Tourism truth
Asks Trinidadian Elspeth Duncan: “Can our ‘tourism truth’ continue to lie in pretty cliches, unchanging statistics and glossy, tropical images Photoshopped to seduce foreigners?“
Barbados: Terrorism euphemism
Barbados Free Press calls euphemistic the Barbados's Minister of State's pronouncement that “the threat is “terrorism” itself”.
Bahamas: Not press freedom
Lynn Sweeting gets at what may be the real issue behind an English editor's position at a Bahamian newspaper. As one commenter put it, the issue is “the hiring of Bahamian managers, not freedom of the press.”
Bahamas: Education upgrade
Bahamian educator Neil Sealey lays out the steps necessary to upgrade the Bahamian education system.
Antigua & Barbuda: Property tax
Claudia Ruth Francis considers a new property tax imposed by the government and its impact on locals in Antigua and Barbuda.
Trinidad & Tobago: An open letter to Flickr
Unable to renew his Flickr Pro account because PayPay doesn't accept credit cards with addresses in certain countries (Trinidad and Tobago included) Taran Rampersad writes an open letter to Flickr.com.
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