bigdrumnation

Reading Time 7 minsJanuary 6, 2022 (First published January 18, 2021) “Oh, how we danced to the beat of this lovely lie… Until a man opened a door and showed us our other side.”  “Hossay” – David Rudder “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world… The best lack all conviction, while the worst. Are full of passionate intensity.” “The Second Coming” – William B. Yeats In 1964 the acting Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago was forced to resign for what many civilians viewed as a minor infraction. The testimony of a police corporal… Read More »“This Place Too Damn Democratic”?–Winthrop R. Holder

Reading Time 8 mins   December 30, 2021 A beautiful creek runs across the 400-acre estate where I live in Belize, a nation of some 400,000 people, locked between Mexico to the north, Guatemala to the west, and Honduras to the south, on the Caribbean Coast.  The creek originates in the mountains with five cascading waterfalls, only accessible by hiking for two hours upstream along a narrow valley. There is nothing but tropical forest for miles on either side; a jungle inhabited by countless little animals; wild pigs that run in highly dangerous packs; agile deer; a few lumbering tapirs; and… Read More »VIEWS FROM BELIZE-Dr. Geoffrey Frankson

Reading Time 11 minsNovember 25, 2021 Introduction “Surely the symbolism implicit in having a native Barbadian as Head of State will convey a subliminal message to the youth that they can also aspire to reach the highest office in the land.” The event that is to take place in Barbados on 30 November 2021 will be an event of historic necessity.  Barbados will become a republic within the Commonwealth.  Her Excellency, Dame Sandra Mason, the present native Governor-General, will replace Queen Elizabeth, the monarch of the United Kingdom, as the Head of State of Barbados and the island’s first President. … Read More »BARBADOS BECOMING A REPUBLIC IS AN HISTORIC NECESSITY-Sir David Simmons

Reading Time 3 mins November 19, 2021   While individuals and entire groups out there deny either the COVID-19 virus itself outright or its deadly impact, NYC Transit workers have no such luxury. Over 160 MTA employees/mostly transit workers, have died, many friends and colleagues. While such deniers belong to another conversation, their logic needs to be noted. They invariably rest their case on denying science and any information or facts that do not comport with their worldview. That world consists of endless rabbit holes of mostly senseless, circular arguments. But we should also admit that many individuals and groups… Read More »My Two Cents, Part I: Labor & the Covid Vaccine Mandate–Roger Toussaint

Reading Time 2 mins“[W]e were passionate about Laventille and the lack of recognition of Laventille as the cultural womb of our society. [Leroy and I] used to have many, many conversations about Laventille and giving recognition to the heart of Laventille: Desperadoes and (the recently departed) Brother Resistance (Lutalo Masimba).” Poet Laureate Eintou Pearl Springer November 1, 2021 Iron Love: A Book of the Desperadoes Steel Orchestra By Patrick Roberts PR Trinidad Publishing, 2021 US$50 215 pp. Illustrated, Hardcover.   “Isn’t it a beauty?” My words to a friend who was sharing her excitement after reading ‘Iron Love.’ I continued, “Ever… Read More »Love for Despers and Laventille!–By Stella Richards-Alleyne

Reading Time 2 minsNovember 1, 2021 “All that presupposes my critical approach to my own practice as an artist; and those that Eye teach–the root of lessons that may inspire them to engage their creative tendencies with sterner ardour and, of course, to that end of self, longing for grace.” LeRoy Clarke, “To Know Knowing…Know,” T&T Review, February 2012       Sunity Maharaj, a respected columnist for the Trinidad Express and former Managing Director of The Lloyd Best Institute of the Caribbean, penned a detailed recollection of Le Roy’s numerous accomplishments. His paintings. His poetry. His philosophy. His books. She… Read More »Remembering Le Roy–Dr. David Brizan

Reading Time

Reading Time 1 mins Sisters, Brothers, Today is October 19th, 2021. Life and death and life day. The shock waves of the losses from COVID-19 and with it the passing of stalwarts such as Peter Bain, and the passing too of young people such as Giovanni de Gannes are tremours only,  compared to the seismic shift of October 19, 1983. Still, our hearts are aching, our souls are draining.  Today is a day of deep grief — and even deeper prayers and rising hope. We are not re-living the horror, just remembering not to do evil! Indeed, let us always remember… Read More »October 19, 2021

Reading Time 6 minsSeptember 24, 2021 As replicas of the Trinidad and Tobago red, white, and black national flag fly ceremoniously, I wonder what independence and republican status mean for our twin-island Republic. Once again, it’s that season of folly and frolic when decorative colors of postponement adorn the steel and concrete avenues of poorly maintained structures and now signal the abandonment of patience. Unlike Sparrow’s sentiment that “We Like it So,” we may not have yet found a satisfactory way of extricating ourselves from our self-made dilemma.  Can we catch ourselves in this fall? We are tired, no doubt, frustrated… Read More »Re-Educating Ourselves in the Matter of Independence and the State of the Republic(T&T)–Dr. David Brizan

Reading Time 4 minsSeptember 8, 2021 Monday, September 6, 2021, marked the 136th anniversary of the observance of the First Monday in September as Labor Day. The first Labor Day on September 7th 1885 was the culmination of a long and arduous road of struggle by workers of all races; struggle which included strikes, demonstrations, the Haymarket massacre of demonstrators in Chicago, and the struggle for an eight-hour workday. Congress in 1868 passed the Law and granted government employees the eight-hour day. From the humble beginning of the Knights of Labor to the founding of the AFL-CIO, the Labor Movement has had… Read More »The Labor Movement’s Tradition of Activism–Richard Dunn