I am a writer and media producer based in Trinidad and Tobago. Follow me on Twitter @JanineMFranco.
Latest posts by Janine Mendes-Franco from December, 2008
Trinidad & Tobago: Carnival Culture
“Minister of Culture Marlene Mc Donald has no doubts that Carnival 2009 will be a success even in the face of the global economic crisis”: Trinidad Carnival Diary is not so sure.
Cuba: Remembering José Silvestre White
AfriClassical profles José Silvestre White, an Afro-Cuban violinist who became a composer and professor after graduating from the Paris Conservatory.
Trinidad & Tobago:
“It is an interesting note on which to end this year. Going back in order to go forward, knowing what went to know what comes next”: Trinidadian blogger Attillah Springer bids farewell to the Old Year and welcomes the new…
Bermuda, Grenada: Freedom of Information
Bermudian blogger Vexed Bermoothes reports that Grenada is in the process of introducing a Freedom of Information Act and public sector integrity legislation, with additional plans to “establish a common code of practice and ethics for media.”
Jamaica: Communing
“We won’t be condemning the Palestinians or the Israelis…we won’t be contributing to the chaos on frontlines…[we] have decided that our approach will be to help bridge communities”: Jamaica's Abeng News Magazine has a very clear goal for 2009.
Cuba: Letter to Castro
Cuban diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense links to an open letter [ES] to Fidel Castro, written by a political prisoner.
Trinidad & Tobago: The Goings-On in Gaza
Notes from Port of Spain examines the situation in Gaza: “In terms of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is a total waste of time and of life. It is a big step backwards.”
Cuba: Subsidies
As “Raúl Castro reaffirmed the idea of ending subsidies”, Generation Y observes: “Between the symbolic price of a pound of rationed rice, and the enormous ‘slice’ of our salaries taken by those who govern us, we are more the givers than the receivers of subsidies.”
Cuba: Wishing for Freedom
Cuban blogger Retazos [ES] shares some of her wishes for 2009.
Barbados: Football Match Mayhem
As four people are shot at a football match, Barbados Free Press says that this is “what happens when you combine no rule of law with no effective police force and a top-down culture of corruption in government…”
Cuba: Waiting for Cable
The submarine cable linking Cuba and Venezuela has “a vague completion date” of 2011, but Generation Y is clear about “what this projected umbilical cord should bring us.”
Bahamas: Students & Drugs
“In the Bahamas, the average age for male and female students who peddle and smoke weed/drugs is age 13 and 14, respectively”: Adrian Gibson at Weblog Bahamas says that “the illicit drug plague has ripped our social fabric and will unremittingly haunt the history of our island chain for many...
Haiti: Restavek
“In the truest definition of the word it means ‘one who stays with'”: Tara at The Livesay Haiti Weblog says that the Restavek system “might be one of the most frustrating ones of all for me to accept. The fact that children are used for labor and for the benefit...
Trinidad & Tobago, Cuba: City of Contradictions
Trinidadian blogger Tattoo spends Christmas in Havana and comes away with the impression that “the revolution has not achieved a new equilibrium. Instead, it has re-appropriated the inequalities inherent in any capitalist society and ensured that those in power are the haves as opposed to the have nots. And this...
Cuba, U.S.A.: Lifting Limits?
Uncommon Sense links to an article which suggests that US President-Elect Barack Obama seems prepared to lift limits “on how often Cuban Americans can visit family members on the island and on how much money they can send them”, a move which the blogger says would end “one of the...
Jamaica: Blogging in Times of War
The Israeli strikes on Gaza cause Jamaican Annie Paul to remember Nobel Prize-winning German author Günter Grass’ “heartfelt rumination on war and the role of writers in times of war”, saying: “While Grass did not explicitly mention bloggers (perhaps in 2006 they were not as omnipresent as they are today)...
Guyana: Best Books
Litblogger Signifyin’ Guyana lists her picks for best Caribbean books of 2008.
Trinidad & Tobago, U.S.A.: Sock & Awe
Trinidadian blogger Attillah Springer is playing Sock and Awe, “the simply brilliant online game” in which more than 46 million people have pelted shoes at President Bush – but more importantly, she is “plotting ways to pelt intellectual shoes, coming up with ideas on how to bobolise those who would...
Trinidad & Tobago: Booming
Caribbean Free Radio posts an interesting podcast with Trinidad rapso artistes 3 Canal.
Cuba: Be Part of the Solution
Generation Y‘s Yoani Sanchez has the solution to Cuba's problems: “Let everyone speak, no matter whether in complaint or in support of a proposal designed to address the problems…only freedom of opinion will allow those who can advance remedies to dare to do so.”
Barbados: Journalists Appear in Court
Barbados Free Press is keeping an eye on the case of the two arrested journalists, calling the open court hearing “a stunning victory by the dozens of local news media people who showed up to support”, while at the same time denouncing local mainstream media for not making an issue...
