Stories about Trinidad & Tobago from January, 2006
11 key moments in [Anglo-]Caribbean blog history
THE INTERNET ARCHIVE IS preserving copies of many early blog pages, but most bloggers are too busy posting to think about otherwise documenting what they're doing. The history of the blogosphere goes back barely a decade, but evolution has been rapid, and bloggers who were around just three or four...
Trinidad/Jamaica: Creole into Chinese?
Caribbean-born sci-fi writer Nalo Hopkinson announces on her blog that two of her novels are to be translated into Chinese. “I wonder how they will deal with the creoles,” she says, “including the one that's a mashup of Trinidadian and Jamaican?”
Caribbean: Plays, pantomimes, identity
The Caribbean Beat Blog solicits opinions on a newspaper review of this year's Jamaica pantomime, encourages Caribbean bloggers to engage in a “round of collective soul-searching” and publishes “outtakes” from an article in the current issue of the magazine.
Trinidad & Tobago: Prime ministers who live in glass houses
“Is there nothing Patrick Manning won't take credit for?,” asks Jonathan Ali, reacting to the Trinidad & Tobago prime minister's declaration that the recent arrests of two government ministers on bribery charges are the direct result of reports he made to the Integrity Commission. “It's more than a little curious...
Trinidad & Tobago: Mobile wars
The West Indies Cricket weblog links to a BBC news story which recounts the latest in the drama between Trinidad & Tobago's current – and up to this point only – telecommunications services provider and an Irish telecoms company about to enter the market. The Irish provider, Digicel, was also...
Caribbean: Art, film & the Seven Caribbean Wonders
The Caribbean Beat Blog links to to a conversation between the director of Jamaica's National Gallery and the guest curator of a current exhibition; an article about a Hollywood film made on location in Grand Cayman by a young Caymanian director; and solicits input for a list of the “Seven...
Caribbean: Best to quote Best
Nicholas Laughlin finds he could have saved himself the work of writing his long post about “Caribbeanness” simply by quoting renowned Caribbean thinker Lloyd Best.
Trinidad & Tobago: Arresting developments
Christopher Yee Mon scoffs at the claim by Trinidad & Tobago's Opposition leader Basdeo Panday that members of his own party were treated more harshly when warrants were obtained for their arrest than members of the ruling PNM. Mr. Panday, who was slapped with a corruption charge in 2005, made...
Caribbean: Diversity in sci-fi
Tobias Buckell quotes from an essay on diversity in sci-fi and remembers “the first book that took the islands seriously”
Caribbean: Wayback when
The Caribbean Beat Blog has some fun with the Wayback Machine, linking to early – and in a few cases embarrassing – incarnations of a few Caribbean web sites.
Guyana/T&T: Send in the clones
Nicholas Laughlin links to a Stabroek News news story about a Guyanese scientist's apparently successful attempt at the cloning of a politician. Laughlin goes on to reveal the existence of a similar, though less successful, program in Trinidad and Tobago.
Caribbean: BlogHer goes international
Karen Walrond announces that she's been recruited as editor for the Caribbean section of an internationally-minded new web site soon to be launched by BlogHer.
Trinidad & Tobago: Would Naipaul get published today?
Caribbean-born sci-fi writer Tobias Buckell links to Cheryl Morgan who links to British sci-fi writer Neil Gaiman who picks up on the stunt pulled recently by the Sunday Times’ which involved submitting a slightly altered version of the opening chapter of Trinidad-born Nobel Prize-winning novelist V. S. Naipaul's Booker Prize-winning...
Caribbean: What does the word before the colon mean?
“What does “Caribbean” mean? What a vast weight of confusion & possibility & debate those four little syllables have to bear,” says Nicholas Laughlin in a thoughtful post inspired by a long-gone writing deadline, by the debates around the restructuring of the Global Voices “Americas” region, and by Taran Rampersad's...
Trinidad and Tobago: Paper carnival
Richard Bolai posts photos of the results of Trinidadian Carnival artist Marlon Griffith's work at the Mino Paper Village Artist Residency in Japan. Griffith created carnival costumes and other objects out of washi, a variety of handmade paper.
Trinidad and Tobago: Carnival Boat
An exquisite sculpture by glass artist Dale Chihuly inspires Francomenz to rhapsodize on Trinidad and Tobago's famous Carnival, which is gearing up virtually as this is being written. “It. . . doesn’t matter what forces have conspired to shape the glass,” says Francomenz, “they’re all in the same boat, going...
Trinidad & Tobago: Cronyism
Cronyism is nothing new, says Taran Rampersad, commenting on the furore surrounding FIFA Vice President and adviser to the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation Jack Warner's alleged hogging of tickets for matches in the 2006 World Cup.
Caribbean: CARICOM and ICT
Jacqueline Morris links to a Jamaica Observer article about moves being made by the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) toward greater implementation of ICT in the region. She's especially pleased that CARICOM's plan seems to acknowledge “the efforts of the civil society in the region and expresse[s] support for...
Trinidad & Tobago: Soca Soccer
De Cooler : Soca News links to an online flash game called Soca Soccer inspired by the Soca Warriors, Trinidad & Tobago's football team, who make their debut at the World Cup in Germany this summer.
Trinidad & Tobago: Zoo Visit
Karen Walrond visits the zoo in Trinidad and posts some gorgeous photos of a few of the residents.
Caribbean: MIDS and other Caribbean afflictions
Writing from Trinidad, Taran Rampersad weighs in on the global challenges faced by the Caribbean.
