Latest posts by Janine Mendes-Franco from April, 2012
Cuba: Diaspora Reacts to Ferrer García's Release
Cuban prisoner of conscience Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia was released over the weekend. Diaspora bloggers comment on this most recent development.
Trinidad & Tobago: Grammatically Correct
“I know that I would really judge someone who couldn’t construct a sentence properly. I write for a living. Can you blame me if I think that great grammar skills...
Haiti: Death by “Clairin”
“In early 2011, a dozen people died after drinking ‘clairin’ – a traditional Haitian alcohol drink – made with methanol in the Fond Baptiste region, north of the capital. Another...
Jamaica: Of Art & Literature
Nadine, Unscripted, notes that there are three Jamaican writers who have made the shortlists for the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize and Commonwealth Short Story Prize, while ART:Jamaica blogs about an...
Trinidad and Tobago: Watching Crime & Dangerous Dogs
Two controversial topics are grabbing the attention of bloggers from Trinidad and Tobago: the recent arrest of the host of “Crime Watch”, a popular local television show and the proposed legislation against dangerous dogs.
Cuba: Hopeless Information?
“Information in Cuba is hopeless,” says Bad Handwriting, but she thinks it can be helped.
Cuba: Resorting to Hunger Strike
Cuban netizens, primarily from the diaspora, are once again blogging about instances of police abuse in the country and how the island's justice system routinely makes hunger-strikers out of prisoners of conscience.
Trinidad & Tobago: Parenting Off Limits?
West Indian Mother thinks that parenting may now have joined the ranks of politics and religion as a taboo subject.
Bahamas: Elections Getting Closer
With just two weeks to go until the country's general elections, the Bahamian blogosphere has been filled with political discussion. Blogworld yesterday compiled her usual Twitter Weekly Updates, which gave a good overview of the issues being discussed.
Jamaica: Literary Festival Founder Gets Guggenheim Fellowship
Nadine, Unscripted says that “kudos are in order for poet, author and co-founder of Calabash International Literary Festival Trust, Kwame Dawes, who has been awarded a 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship for...
This Week in the Caribbean Blogosphere
In last week's summary of the regional blogosphere, a young comtemporary artist from Barbados made the observation that the region is “more than the beach and coconuts.” Here's a round-up of what Caribbean netizens were talking about this week, with not one mention of beaches or coconuts...
Bahamas: Election Discussion
Bahamaians go the polls on May 7 in the country's 2012 general election. Bloggers have already started talking about it. In this post, the discussion continues…
Cuba: Diaspora Blogs About Dissidents
The plight of prisoners of conscience is a front-burner issue with Cuban diaspora bloggers. This week, they are talking about two in particular: Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, a former member of the Black Spring “Group of 75″ and Andres Carrion Alvarez, the man who was detained after shouting, “Down with Communism!” prior to the start of a mass during Pope Benedict XVI's recent visit to the island.
Trinidad & Tobago: Review of Bagoo
Caribbean Book Blog publishes a review of blogger Andre Bagoo‘s first book of poetry: “One [has] to have ample amounts of time and quiet to properly ponder and appreciate the...
This Week in the Caribbean Blogosphere
It has been another interesting week in the Caribbean blogosphere, with netizens discussing everything from crime to upcoming elections…
Cuba: No Calm After Papal Storm
“The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Cuba left a storm of arrests, blocked phone lines, and beatings against non-violent dissidents”: Cuban bloggers note that dissidents are suffering in the...
Topics of Interest in the Caribbean Blogosphere
The Caribbean blogosphere has been talking about an array of different issues over the last week or so. Here's a look at some of them…
Trinidad & Tobago: It's Play Time!
West Indian Mother blogs about play as a path to productivity.
Cuba: Unholy Actions
Pedazos de la Isla reports on the “wave of terror” that plagued the island's dissidents over Holy Week, here and here.
Trinidad & Tobago: Madness in the Ministry
The curious case of Cheryl Miller, an employee of the Ministry of Ministry of Gender, Youth and Child Development who reportedly got into an argument with a senior official and, as a result, found herself being taken from her place of work to the St. Ann's Psychiatric Hospital, has caused a commotion in the Trinidad and Tobago blogosphere, with netizens insisting that the issue is not Miller's mental health but whether her employers breached human rights and industrial relations codes.
Jamaica, U.S.A.: Asking for Justice in Martin Killing
Of the “Wild Wild West” killing of Trayvon Martin, Abeng News Magazine says: “When stories like these emerge from the streets of cities in the Middle East and other countries...
