bigdrumnation
All Saints Day This
Reading Time 1 minsNovember 1 is All Saints’ Day. It is that day when we remember and honor our dead with prayers, candlelight, drink, sweets, and most of all, food. The All Saints’ culinary alphabet begins with the letter “C”- C standing for Corn [maize] a Mesoamerican crop that arguably is our keenest symbol of generosity. Every ear of corn is a call to unity and community-making. Of course, giving food is at the apex of the moral systems of agricultural societies: the kitchen sits the parliament of the agrarian community. Mesoamerica is an area extending roughly from central Mexico to Honduras… Read More »All Saints Day This
Carnival Documentary Premieres in Brooklyn
Reading Time 2 minsCaribbean Awareness Committee (NY) Presents: “Our Soul Turned Inside Out!” a NY premiere film screening “Our Soul Turned Inside Out,” a documentary film that examines traditional Carnival characters created in the 19th century crucible of slavery and emancipation and the psychic impulses behind them, will have its New York premiere on Friday, October 30, 7 pm at Medgar Evers College auditorium, 1650 Bedford Av. Brooklyn. The film, which runs approximately one hour, focuses on traditional carnival characters – the Pierrot Granade, blue devils, stick-fighters and jab jabs – highlighting the depth of conflict, physical and verbal aggression, inherent in these contested… Read More »Carnival Documentary Premieres in Brooklyn
10/19: MEMORY and REMEMBERING
Reading Time 1 minsMEMORY and REMEMBERING “There are non-material forces, which cannot be measured precisely, but which nonetheless carry weight.” – Umberto Eco “The evidence shows that this is how the murder was committed” – From “A Fratricide”– Franz Kafka “In this great future, you can’t forget your past”. -Bob Marley Conscience strikes ten-nineteen! I returned to Memory where every one here had a fantastic alibi. But Memory remembers the fratricide that crested the fortified hill. Comrade, How do you plug a leaking memory? An island is just a puny plot; a scar upon the water, according… Read More »10/19: MEMORY and REMEMBERING
THE MORANT BAY REBELLION: OCTOBER 11, 1865
Reading Time 1 minsTHE MORANT BAY REBELLION: OCTOBER 11, 1865 War down a Monkland! War down a Morant! The two lines from a Jamaican folk song [cited above] recall the “war” – the so-called “Morant Bay Rebellion” which opened on 11 October 1865. The rebellion came just three decades following the Abolition of Slavery in Jamaica and the British West Indies. The Abolition brought an end to chattel slavery and inaugurated “wage slavery”. The Jamaican people sought “full free”; the island’s colonial Governor Edward John Eyre and his British overlords in London were militantly opposed. The Colonial Administration was very… Read More »THE MORANT BAY REBELLION: OCTOBER 11, 1865
David Mitchell “Play(s) One” for Black Stalin
Reading Time 1 minsDavid Mitchell “Play One” for Black Stalin First published September 24, 2015. Long before I was able to analyze the lyrics of Stalin, no Black Stalin, I had to deal with the image of the man. I had to see myself in him and not Michael Jackson. Long before I was strong enough to deal with the individuals in his stories, I had to deal with the blazing intellect inherent in the themes of the Kaiso. Born to two pan lovers on “Lavantie Hill”, I probably met Winston Spree Simon but was too young to understand his… Read More »David Mitchell “Play(s) One” for Black Stalin