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Reading Time 4 minsFebruary 7th, 1974, the date Grenada, was given independence by Britain, is not one that I celebrate. We are not a free people. Hence my reason for not being particularly interested in celebrating the event of being granted political independence. Independence, as I see it, is a work in progress. And quite frankly we have a mighty long way to go to attain sovereignty; when we can chart our own course. We are not self-defining people: far from it. It would be more fitting to celebrate a National Heroes Day the way we go about celebrating independence… Read More »Grenadians in the Diaspora Reflect on the Meaning of Independence

Reading Time 6 minsFebruary 7, 2019 “The whole of nature”, wrote William Ralph Inge, “is a conjugation of the verb to eat, in the active and passive” .  We eat to live and if Brillat-Savarin the eighteenth century French gastronome is to be  believed, “we are what we eat”. Of course the idea that there exists a relation between food and character did not originate with Brillat-Savarin: the Old Testament anticipated him by more than 3,000 years. Now in addition to being what we eat, can it also be said that we are how we eat, the how calling attention… Read More »NATION FOOD AND NATIONHOOD: A REVIEW OF MERLE COLLINS’S “SARACCA AND NATION” – Caldwell Taylor

Reading Time 2 mins…is all too sudden. Sonny. im want to ress a while from all dis pain an distrulationcause when im reach down-dey. im nevva soon-come-back again… The weary salmon swims upstream to spawn future generations, fertilizes, and ultimately becomes part of the fabric of all that is exists thereafter in that ecosystem. Such is the life of a true creative revolutionary. Engaging in the lifelong struggle to find and then to fill a space with ideas heretofore non-existent, the creator withstands the slings and arrows of both the entrenched old guard and of the trying-to-join-the-club new jacks. Brathwaite… Read More »Edward Kamau Brathwaite (May 11, 1930 — February 4, 2020): Inspires Still –Carlyle G. Leach

Reading Time 3 minsThursday, February 6, 2020 “Play I some music, (dis ya) reggae music”, so begins Bob Marley’s Roots Rock Reggae. In today’s world, Reggae is universal and Jamaica is synonymous with that Genre. There is not a country that has not adopted Reggae as part of its music. Jamaica, a land built by slave labor, captured by the Spaniards and snatched by the English. The Europeans exterminated the natives and filled the island with Africans, captured and enslaved. They added Indian and Chinese labor to the menu. The Africans brought with them instruments of music, so did the… Read More »Bob Marley: 75 and Growing – Richard Hoyen

Reading Time 2 mins“Doesn’t anybody ever know?/Doesn’t anybody ever know?/That the world’s a subway, subway.” – Our Lady Peace “Superman’s Dead” The New York City subway has long held a fascination with Caribbean immigrants. Antigua’s Swallow captured this sentiment when he gave a Caribbean nation roll call in the Subway Jam. Decades before, Lord Invader introduced us to “New York Subway”, a journal about going to Brooklyn to visit a lady, and not being able to figure out his return subway route. When subway artist Michael Stewart was killed by transit cops in 1984, world-famous Haitian-Puerto Rican artist Jean-Michel Basquiat remarked… Read More »Underground Diaries: Trains of Thought – Martin P. Felix

Reading Time 3 minsI. Atlantic Crossing: A Scattergun Description #carriacou #grenada #caribbean #sailing #parang Hi Rich*, I wanted to drop you a line to let you know that I had a wonderful time in Carriacou after you had sailed on to Grenada.  You’d have loved much of it.  I’ll include a scattergun description of some of my adventures.  They started out as emails to Bridget, then got cut-and-pasted into emails to other friends.  It’s an elliptical account, but you’ll get the idea.  So, thank you for making the connections that got me started.   I boarded the schooner Alcyone in November 2001 at Tenerife in… Read More »Adventures In Carriacou During Parang Season — Jeff McNish

Reading Time 5 minsOn Friday, I played with another Carriacou string band — either the Strugglers or the Stragglers—vowels here are really a problem for me. But it was pretty great. But . . . oh, what did I do? I took a bus to Windward, the northeast tip of the island. It’s where the boatbuilding tradition of Carriacou was first introduced, by Scottish people, I think. Wandering around Windward I sensed that the relation between the people here and the sea is really vital and strong. They build all these boats — still do it. On the pier at… Read More »II. Deep Connection Between People, Land, and Sea — Jeff McNish

Reading Time 3 minsSo yes, Thursday I get to go to Belmont (a village in the southern part of the island) and rehearse with a band for Parang.  Who knows what that could have meant?  Wednesday, I was walking between Hillsborough and L’Esterre (where Sonnel lives) looking for a guest house that wasn’t booked for the Parang Festival.  Along the way, I ran into Sonnel who was coming back from the funeral of the woman for whom they had the wake Tuesday night.  He and I walked to the tire shop of his cousin, Gus (where we’d played Tuesday night… Read More »III. Hillsborough is the Place for Me! — Jeff McNish

Reading Time 2 minsThere’s so much more: Boat-tailed grackles– a bird species Bridget had identified for me in Montserrat on Alcyone’s first pass through the Caribbean.  Googling them I learn they may actually be Greater Grackles, whose range includes the Caribbean.  Frogs run over on the road.  Goats everywhere.  A snake run over on the road. A couple ah donkeys.   I arrived in Belmont around 4:30, met Uncle Winston, the bandleader, and composer (“Margerita!  Seniorita!  We doan wanna play dat ting.  We wanna play tings we kyan nous!  El muchacho!  El Parango!  We doan wanna play dat ting.  We wanna… Read More »IV. A Nice Mix Of Nature And Art — Jeff McNish