“[…] Mr Watson Duke may wish to withdraw his statement about investigation of the Prime Minister, which is erroneous, libellous and no doubt seeps from a well of ignorance of the interaction to which he referred and of matters of international engagement. “[…] Mr Duke’s understanding of the situation and …
Read More »Daly Bread: Mama Dis is Mas; the brilliance of Kitch and potential of Caribbean music
If I wanted to make my mother Celia steups, I would tell her that Sparrow was better than Kitchener. Of course I did not mean it because I became a Carnival piong when they both ruled town. This column focuses on Kitchener because this year is the 100th anniversary of …
Read More »Noble: Random musings about Trinidad and Tobago—a country trapped in zig-zag mode
Last Sunday, late at night, I took a flight to the ANR Robinson Airport in Tobago. The journey was unremarkable, but a memory kept rising. That memory was of Mr ANR Robinson on a similar flight, but from Tobago to Port-of-Spain not long after he had split with the then …
Read More »NJAC remembers Basil Davis, the first martyr of the 1970 Black Power Revolution
“[…] Basil Davis represented the type of persons who were joining the Revolution in their thousands in 1970. He was an ordinary brother from the blocks of Barataria. His now late mother and other family members testified that Basil was a very kind person, who shared what little he had …
Read More »Dear Editor: How the 1970 Black Power Revolution stirred up a ‘conscious’ Holy Name Convent girl
“[…] Two days later, Pelham Warner, a youthman from Morvant, was waiting for me by the school gate. He greeted me with the words, ‘I took your poem to Granger (Daaga), and he wants to see you immediately.’ “That very evening, at Waterman Road in Belmont, three NJAC seniors, Makandal …
Read More »Daly Bread: The Government and the Media; distracting the watchdog of our minds
Marshall McLuhan, Canadian educator and philosopher, published work in 1964 which became fundamental to understanding the media in the electronic age—even though electronic communication, as we know it, had not yet been invented. He created the famous phrases ‘global village’ and ‘the medium is the message’. McLuhan posited, in summary, …
Read More »CRFP: T&T’s battle against gender-based violence should recognise its colonial roots
“[…] Luisa Calderon and Thisbe […] lived through the foundational violence of colonialism which shaped not only the vulnerabilities that they had to negotiate in their time but those that women must still navigate today. And both women experienced terror at the hands of the same celebrated colonial icons: Governor …
Read More »Daly Bread: The Sullivan vision; remembering the Pamberi genius and anticipating Tobago’s Carnival
Nestor Sullivan was modestly described as manager of Pamberi Steel Orchestra when we lost him at the beginning of this month. My few precious interactions with him and his cool, dry witticisms caused me to become aware that he was a tireless presenter of scholarly but practical papers on the …
Read More »Noble: ‘Good guys’ and closed doors—how abusers operate
‘The things that happen to people we will never really know. What happens in houses behind closed doors, what secrets’ — Lee Harper, To Kill a Mockingbird. This quote came back to life this week as we tried to digest the horrors of domestic violence in our land. We attempt …
Read More »MoE apologises to Beekhoo and Subero, names two winners each for SEA President’s awards
“[…] In a situation where two highly performing students have both excelled academically and have been both—through no fault of their own—promised the highest accolade of the President’s Medal and have both declared their willingness to share this accolade, as an exception to any earlier practice, this option has been …
Read More »Dear Editor: Shouldn’t the media make the distinction between CXC and GCE grading?
‘[…] ‘Distinction’ is a term which was used in the GCE ‘O’ and ‘A-Level’ examinations and has no place or equivalence in CXC’s grades. CXC simply says that a particular performance was excellent. ‘CXC uses criterion reference assessment, a procedure that can be compared to having qualifying standards in Athletics… …
Read More »Dear Editor: Forget Jagdeo’s ‘unfounded’ comments—T&T has always been there for Guyana
“[…] Some of Guyana’s most brilliant and respected attorneys and scholars are not only highly regarded by Trinbagonians, but considered to be part of the callaloo that makes Trinidad and Tobago the most welcoming island in the Caribbean. “[…] How can the former president of Guyana forget the role of …
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