Tag Archives: mental health

We associate the idea of walking away from something as an admission of failure, of quitting, and giving up. North American films are famous for having protagonists proclaim that they will never quit. Generally, the idea that’s been sold is that one must stick to the thing at all costs. …

I turned 58 last Thursday. Never one for fussing about my birthdays, I didn’t make plans. But it turned memorable of its own accord, starting with a couple of people coming to my home to watch the CPL match the night before. Three, actually. Two of whom I had not …

Last Sunday, Queen’s Hall was the venue for Dawad Philip’s Sunday with the Warlord, a play about the calypsonian Lord Blakie (Carlton Joseph). Blakie was perhaps best known for his two Road March wins, “Steelband Clash” (1954) and “Maria” (1962), and the play is a sort of narrative about his …

I came across this column I wrote in 1998, and for some reason it felt so relevant that I thought I would share this trimmed version (with a Billy Joel headline). When I quit full-time work, a major factor had been the desire to spend more time with my infant …

“[…] We are staring at a deeply wounded nation. Many are concerned mainly about the impact on business and the nation’s economy from direct effects of serious crime. But there is a more massive problem lurking. “The mental health implications of the rising homicide rate in Trinidad and Tobago extend …

One of the characters in a tele­vision series I looked at recently is going through one of those existential crises, questioning his meaning and relevance to the world he inhabits. As he lowers himself into the abyss of despair, he asks: “Who am I to my history?” Examining his life …

A friend messaged me a couple of days ago to say that her doctor had put her on anti-anxiety meds and it makes her feel so exhausted. It reminded me that after I got Covid, I had experienced a quickness to exhaustion myself—a general fogginess and a funk. I deduced …

Snippets from childhood can pop up arbitrarily and stick in your head. As a wee ­reader (from the age of three), I read anything I could find, and some things have obviously lingered. I kept hearing this line from what was probably a morality tale during a difficult period these …

“[…] Access to justice is a human right and divorce is a basic exercise in access to justice. For many women, divorce is the only means by which to escape domestic violence or financial subjugation at the hands of a spouse. “[…] Adjournments or no shows of judges prolong the …

He is in his mid-fifties, a woodworker of the old school, where craftsmanship was an emblem of pride. He had come to Trinidad many years ago, on a roundabout journey from Guyana that had taken him to places far, and jobs disparate. Now, in modest circumstances, he plies his trade: …

The fictional Winnie the Pooh greeted her best friend, Eeyore, the donkey: “A lovely day, isn’t it?” He replied: “I wish I could say yes, but I cannot.” The Eternal Pessimist could never countenance a good day. For him, it is all for nought! The heavy rains that wrapped our …

We, as a nation, are perched at the point of tipping into anarchy, but all is not yet lost. The choice is ours to make. There is no magic bullet or pill to take away our pain. Only a sense of determination, commitment, and a clear vision will drag us …