“[…] The first stage is normalisation. Some things normalise harmful mindsets—sexist attitudes, unwanted (non-sexual) touch, the idea that boys will be boys. The second stage is degradation—catcalling, victim-blaming, flashing/exposing. This is where sooting and other types of street harassment belong. The final stage is assault—groping, molestation, rape, and murder …” …
Read More »Daly Bread: ‘The silence of the panyards’; needing Boy Boy to rescue our ‘desolate Carnival Land’
No pelau is cooking for a semi-final Panorama Sunday, in which we should be revelling today. No coolers and food baskets readied for the Savannah. The magic drums are silent. My soul’s feeling like it get planasse! The silence in the panyards sent me back to a brilliant Phase …
Read More »Vaneisa: The intimidating, disorienting rattles of change and loss
As time goes by, I find myself increasingly preoccupied with revisiting childhood experiences. It comes from my belief that all that we are, all that we have become, is rooted in those gnarly years. It makes me think of mangroves and their intricate intertwining of robust and reedy roots, rising …
Read More »NWAC: Singing Sandra ‘echoed voice of the mothers, abused, poor and downtrodden’
“[…] Singing Sandra has left a great legacy in the calypso world as one of the most powerful female calypsonians to date. Her style of calypso was able to highlight the issues, concerns and hardships of women to the nation and the world at large. “Through her music, she echoed …
Read More »NACC: Two-time Calypso Monarch Singing Sandra was a national treasure
“[…] Sandra Des Vignes-Millington is among only three female calypsonians to have won the National Calypso Monarch title and the only one to have won it on two occasions. “Singing Sandra will long be remembered, not only for her commitment to the art form, but even more so for the …
Read More »‘I hope restrictions are lessened safely so sales can get going’: Day in the life of a bar owner
“[…] Business is slow [as] not much people want to come here to buy alcohol or beer to go. They would prefer to go to the grocery and the groceries are now open on a 24 hours basis. “[…] One thing that could have probably been given a try is …
Read More »Demming: Politicians should collaborate across the aisle for the common good
A friend recently lamented the advantages people who live in the north of our island have over people who live in the south. My impatient response showed my disgust with these silly discussions about north v south, Indo v Afro, prestige v secondary schools, Westmoorings v Beetham and the full …
Read More »Gafoor: Sir Hilary Beckles truly is the Caribbean’s Martin Luther King Jr
“[…] I have a dream; a dream in which the University of the West Indies upholds Sir Hilary [Beckles] as the Martin Luther King Jr of the Caribbean. “A dream where his phenomenal contribution to academia, sports and reparation justice for those who endured the dehumanising shackles of slavery and …
Read More »Daly Bread: Another letter for Thelma and another 2021 loss
For some, it is belatedly and painfully sinking in that there will be no Carnival 2021. But what art forms have we lost? In answering this question I can look through a long lens, having been six years old when my mother first ‘disguised’ me. I have no specific memory …
Read More »Vaneisa: Building on a soft foundation; how to transform T&T from the bottom up
A friend of mine based in the USA mailed his first novel to me on 15 September 2020—more than four months ago. There has been no sign of it; no indication from TTPost that there is a package for me to collect. Nothing. Many citizens receive statements and bills from …
Read More »Dear Editor: Congratulations to Hilary Beckles on Peace and Freedom Award
‘… [This award] has come at a good time to stimulate regional governments and non-governmental organisations to refocus our energies on the issue of reparations. Caricom’s historic decision in 2013 to put reparations for chattel slavery and native genocide on its agenda gave impetus to this struggle for justice globally. …
Read More »Demming: Use Covid-19 lockdown to re-imagine our creative economy
It’s January 2021, and I can only reminisce and fill the silence of pan-less evenings with musings about what can be done to make magic in 2022 or possibly 2023. January is usually my month for late evenings filled with the repetition of steelpan notes and chords, deciphering the phrases …
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