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Reading Time 1 minsApril 30, 2021 “Every heart, every soul, is a drum… here’s your sanctuary.” David Rudder, Song of the Earth Kim Johnson’s The Illustrated Story of Pan captures and reveals so much of the Caribbean‘s essence by prompting our dangerous memory’s activation and reclamation. By fashioning a haven for deep meditation on “the transformation of a drum into a melody maker” and a movement, the book compels cultural retrieval. In this, the third commentary in our ongoing Writers’ Symposium/Lime, Kamau Odinga, in  “What This Pan Book Did For Me–The Ancestors Are Jumping,” reconnects with and deepens his early pan memories through a… Read More »Recapturing The (True) Spirit Of The ‘Pan Pioneers’*

Reading Time 2 mins April 30, 2021 The Ancestors Are Jumping! Kim Johnson’s The Illustrated Story of Pan took me away from my reading of Hubert Harrison’s “When Africa Awakes” and ushered me into a solid weekend (April 17-18) of Pan. Pan Memories, like Sunland, the Tunapuna Steelband with members like “Dalgo,” Silver,” “Joe Dog,” “Monkey,” and “Wolf-Man” were quickly recalled. Somewhere between eight and ten, some 63 years ago, I can see myself on the Eastern Main Road J’Ouvert Morning in Sunland, and I recall the heavy iron section. I was born in Tunapuna and lived the first 15 years of… Read More »What This Pan Book Did For Me –Kamau Odinga

Reading Time 6 minsApril 16, 2021 To those who think that pan arrive out of the blue: that pan has no soul, no identity; that pan has no place in society; that pan is just another thing that them ragamuffin used to do or started, so, it has no substance; it doesn’t belong; is nothing to be proud about – Well, you better read this book. This Illustrated Story of Pan is a classic. Johnson’s 304-page book is a pleasure to behold as it captures pan — its deep past and evolution. Kim Johnson went beyond himself.  You can see and… Read More »Pan In All Its Glory! — Monty Guy

Reading Time 1 mins Reflecting the urgency of the moment, BDN expands the conversation from our “International Women’s Day 2021” commemoration of March 8 and bookends this year’s Women’s History Month with three iterations celebrating grit, determination, strength, and grace of our ‘Women of Steel.’ We begin with Simone Dalton’s “Making Meaning From Memory,” a spirited and deft review of Kim Johnson’s The Illustrated Story of Pan, underscoring the ingenuity that spawned pan’s creation and the integral role women played in sustaining pan’s movements. Second, in “Kamala Harris: From Howard U. To Vice President,” Kanene Holder maps the course of the VP’s rise to the second-highest office in the… Read More »Celebrating Our “Women Of Steel” — BDN Introduction

Reading Time 5 minsMarch 31, 2021 “Lift every voice and sing, Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty; Let our rejoicing rise, High as the listening skies. Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.” “Lift Every Voice and Sing”— James Weldon Johnson “Old pirates, yes, they rob I Sold I to the merchant ships Minutes after they took I From the bottomless pit But my hand was made strong By the hand of the almighty We forward in this generation Triumphantly.” “Redemption Song”– Bob Marley There’s a lot to celebrate! Despite the gloom and doom brought… Read More »Kamala Harris: From Howard U. To Vice President* — Kanene A. Holder

Reading Time 4 minsMarch 31, 2021 Raising Malcolm X: Louise Langdon Norton, Malcolm’s Grenadian Mom (Part I)* Malcolm X’s contributions to American civil and political rights and pan-African causes are well-known. What is not sufficiently highlighted in the many narratives about Malcolm X is the role of his parents, particularly his very educated activist Grenadian mother who nurtured him and imbued in him a lifelong political and ethical skill set, the basis of a political education that would inform his future direction. In 1917, Louisa Langdon Norton, a young Grenadian girl, migrated to Canada to live with her uncle in… Read More »Raising Malcolm X: Louise Langdon Norton, Malcolm’s Grenadian Mom (part I) – Martin P. Felix

Reading Time 2 minsMarch 30, 2021 In The Illustrated Story of Pan (Second Edition), Kim Johnson delivers on his promise of “a book akin to a photo album.” It feels personal. In fact, a photograph of my father, Selwyn Henry, is featured in an early chapter called “The Audacity of The Creole Imagination.” It is a 1950s snapshot of the Casablanca Steel Orchestra. He is a boy among men, all wearing costumes emblazoned with symbols of the French, playing a tenor pan. In a flash of grey, black, and white tones, my family becomes your family. But The Illustrated Story… Read More »Making Meaning From Memory! –Simone Dalton

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Reading Time 2 minsFirst published, March 8, 2021. Republished March 8, 2022 “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world.” While March is celebrated as Women’s History Month in the United States since 2016, March 8 is a special day in this most special month. It is celebrated globally as International Women’s Day (IWD). Originally organized by the Socialist Party of America, the celebrations first took place in February 1909 and were called International Working Women’s Day.  What began as a suggestion in 1910 following an International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen, grew into an international celebration… Read More »Happy International Women’s Day 2022

Reading Time 8 minsMarch 8, 2020 Big Drum Nation [BDN]: The role of Jamaican women as heads of most households and their, contributions to Jamaican sporting prowess, seeming growth in business leadership and, commanding role in shaping ideas through popular culture and the arts in general, does not seem to be commensurate with their subordinate positions in the realm of political power. To what do you trace this disparity? Sandra Coppin Mbodj [SCM]: Although women head most households in the country, the culture is still very much male-dominated. As such, it is reflected in positions of power such as in politics. We… Read More »Women’s Liberation Impossible Without National Liberation – Sandra Coppin Mbodj