· February, 2011

Stories about Trinidad & Tobago from February, 2011

Caribbean: Bocas Announces Longlist

  28 February 2011

“The OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature — which will be awarded for the first time this year — has announced its 2011 longlist of ten books”: Caribbean bloggers discuss.

Trinidad & Tobago: The Death Penalty

  28 February 2011

“Faced with a major problem with serious crime in Trinidad & Tobago, the current government is ( rather predictably) pushing for the reimplementation of the death penalty”: Globewriter is heartened by “a few young activists who are…speaking out” against the move.

Trinidad & Tobago: Saving by Sou Sou

  28 February 2011

“A sou sou is structured where one person will be in charge of collecting monies from a group of people. All the monies collected will be given to one person in the group, on selected dates, and it rotates that way until each person has received what they call, a...

Trinidad & Tobago: The Mayor's Way?

  25 February 2011

“We have been planting the seeds of the very breakdown in society we decry and lamenting the crops for too long”: Plain Talk suggests that perhaps the Mayor of Port of Spain might be the right “farmer…to pull up the weeds.”

Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica: The Facts About Banton

  24 February 2011

Globewriter comments on the shocked reactions to the Banton verdict: “The fact is there is video of Buju Banton chatting with federal agents and tasting the cocaine…and he is now convicted. What is the problem?”

Trinidad & Tobago: What's After Carnival?

  24 February 2011

As controversy ensues over the behaviour of a “sore loser” at a Carnival music competition, Coffeewallah observes that the priorities of Trinbagonians may be skewed: “In two weeks this will all be over, the remnants of costumes swept up, the glitter packed away, the soca stars will go on to...

Trinidad & Tobago: Learning from Nature

  22 February 2011

“It's not always necessary to have complete control in a garden. Sometimes it's necessary to stand back and let things evolve naturally”: My Chutney Garden lets nature take the lead.

Cuba, Trinidad & Tobago: The Gay Agenda

  21 February 2011

Could prioritizing the gay agenda be diverting attention from more pressing issues? Iván's File Cabinet explores the possibilities, while gspottt says the Trinidad and Tobago government “has its priorities on GLBT issues wrong.”

St. Lucia, T&T, Cuba: Literary Festivals

  21 February 2011

“All indications are it promises to be a grand affair with an eclectic mix of creative offerings that are sure to appeal to literature fans from all over the world”: Caribbean Book Blog is excited about the Bocas Lit Fest, while Iván's File Cabinet blogs about the Havana Book Festival.

Trinidad & Tobago: “Arima” in Kiddies Carnival

  16 February 2011

“Arima — which means both ‘place of the beginning’ and ‘water’ — is an indigenous Amerindian place name for what is now a large town in eastern Trinidad”: Alice Yard blogs about its children’s Carnival masquerade band, which “attempts to bring these two definitions together”.

Trinidad & Tobago: Same Sex Marriage

  16 February 2011

Lisa Allen-Agostini thinks “it’s great that we have begun to think about the question of same-sex marriage in Trinidad and Tobago…[but] we have a long way to go–legally as well as socially–before we can make it an option for our people.”

Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago: Of Beauty & Bottoms

  10 February 2011

Stunner is incredulous over the skin bleaching phenomenon, saying: “Black is beautiful”, while Lisa Allen-Agostini “can testify that it is not easy for a black woman to be without a big bottom…the cult of the bamsee is strong.”

Trinidad & Tobago: Economic Parallels

  10 February 2011

“It is an epic failure in that the world’s strongest and most diversified financial system was brought, literally, to its knees by a tidal wave of greed”: Afra Raymond says that “If any of this sounds familiar, yes, you are right; it is almost the same as our own crisis.”