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A TRIBUTE TO E.R., AND ALSO TO THE GREAT TEACHERS OF THE WORLD

Reading Time 1 minsSidney, Mr Fox, and the Paid Servant, was the title of E.R. Braithwaite’s novel published in 1962. In his The Measure of A Man , a spiritual autobiography, Sidney [Poitier] writes: “When I was a boy there was a schoolhouse, and it was one room. Sometimes we went and sometimes we didn’t, because we were in the fields most of the time . “I got to Nassau at ten and a half, and I quit school at twelve, so what I picked up between Cat [Cat island] and Nassau was just  just enough to read the basics.   “But I had… Read More »A TRIBUTE TO E.R., AND ALSO TO THE GREAT TEACHERS OF THE WORLD

IN CARRIACOU: THE LONG-AWAITED MOTHER AND CHILD RE-MEETING, SEPTEMBER 27-30, 2016

Reading Time 4 mins         (part 2 of 2) Caldwell Taylor   Home is the place where , when you have to go there, they have to take you in. -Robert Frost Our drum is the shortest route to Africa, and the Big Drum ritual signifies the unity of Carriacou’s nine African nations. In order of precedence the nations are: Arada (Rada), Cromati, Igbo, Manding, Temne, Kongo, Chamba, Moko, Banda. The Temne, Number Five in the Big Drum circle,will celebrate a historic reunion in Carriacou, September 27 to 30. The occasion promises to overcome the pain of… Read More »IN CARRIACOU: THE LONG-AWAITED MOTHER AND CHILD RE-MEETING, SEPTEMBER 27-30, 2016

Grenadian Olympic Athletes Inspire National Pride & National Unity

Reading Time 2 minsA Big Drum Nation Editorial Bigdrumnation wishes to congratulate the seven young men and women (Kanika Beckles, Oreoluwa Cherebin, Kurt Felix, Kirani James, Corey Ollivierre, and Bralon Taplin) who represented Grenada so proudly in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  These athletes (including the two swimmers) showed the world the highest ideals that Grenadians emulate and aspire to — inner strength, discipline, persistence, grace, humility, goal orientation, and resilience.  An appreciation of our athletes cannot be complete without recognizing the administrators, coaches, and other professionals that provided the necessary preparation and support for their success.… Read More »Grenadian Olympic Athletes Inspire National Pride & National Unity

I Was Once Afraid of Black Stalin – Richard Grant

Reading Time 4 minsFirst Published March 30, 2016 Stalin first came to my attention when I was a high school student in Jamaica. My friends and I marveled at his ability to command the attention of an entire nation.  We understood that everyone listened to him very carefully, and reacted immediately to his words. So, when we heard about the Black Stalin, we were terrified because there was no doubt that a Black Trinidadian dictator would definitely be crueler than his European counterpart. Although I was still young, I was fully aware of the rivalry, and was confident Jamaica could not be outdone, because soon we… Read More »I Was Once Afraid of Black Stalin – Richard Grant

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

Hurricane Janet, September 22, 1955

Reading Time 1 mins Sixty years later today Janet smolders in the Grenadian mind. “Janet”, the Hurricane, stands for fury and apocalyptic fire! Curiously, the word “hurricane” is derived from Harucan, the  name of a Carib “Indian”  god who shot calamitous winds.   Poet Derek Walcott acknowledges the Carib deity in a poem entitled “Huracan”.   Once branching light startles the hair of the coconuts, and on the villas’ asphalt roofs, rain resonates like pebbles in a pan, and only the skirts of surf waltz round the abandoned bandstand, and hear the telephone cables hallooing like fingers tapped over an Indian’s mouth, once the… Read More »Hurricane Janet, September 22, 1955