Wellness

Everyone seems to be gloomy, and angry. The far-flung wishes for merriment, good health and prosperity making their way into our spaces seem regular enough, but if you have a conversation using voices, you can hear the bleakness. Things are tight financially (at least in my circle), relationships are floundering, …

A PEOPLE’S aspirations can never be defeated. This is the lesson of our history. I started with aspirations here to articulate my own position about regional relations within Caricom. Regardless of what governments do, an aspiration to regionality is the tidalectics of the Caribbean. We value our connectedness whether in …

“[…] Today Christmas—and many other religious observances—has become totally commercialised as a rapacious capitalist system sees the opportunity to make significant profits at this time, almost to the point where the religious significance of Christmas is lost. “[…] Surely the Prince of Peace would have called out the hypocrisy of …

“[…] We are losing hope in the ability of our economy to provide good jobs for us. A smaller share of the working age population has been participating in the labour market. “[…] The decline is largely driven by falling male participation from above 80% to just above 60%. Female …

Last week I dealt with this Government’s commendable moves to deal with the problems arising out of the use of amplified sound at Carnival fetes and similar events outside the Carnival season. The explosive sounds of fireworks are also a major problem for citizens. The recent amendment of the Summary …

He was ranting angrily about his wife of 25 years. He often came to me to vent; she did too. There was little to do but listen. They were spectacularly unsuited for each other, but the thought of getting a divorce was an unthinkable one, because according to the way …

On most maps, Trinidad and Tobago is a small smudge near the mouth of the Orinoco River. In real life, it is a place of astonishing biodiversity, and a place that bigger powers have long treated as useful. Empires, oil routes and warships have passed along this coast, rearranging both …

There have been recent announcements that will disrupt the output of the Carnival sector and its interconnected networks of employment and economic diversification. Additionally, another recent round of terminations of state enterprise steelband sponsorships will disrupt music education, youth and community development. The Prime Minister has declared prohibitions on the …

We’re on the brink of losing many things that have shaped us. Makes me wonder what we would select to put into a time capsule for the future. Memories can be brittle. We would need physical reminders in the future to imagine the world left behind. As we enter the …

I don’t recall ever seeing such a high level of apprehension in our space. Do you? It’s coming from a multitude of shadowed places, so many that it is difficult to put a finger on any one thing as the root. Armadas and squadrons loom on our horizon. Conflicting reports …

Thinking about the issue of belonging, I have been wanting to return to the subject of patriotism. I came across this column I had written in September 2021. Essentially, it was what I have wanted to say. So, here is a version of it. In the seventies, my large group …

“[…] Rachel Price made this observation reflecting on social media: some things that may have been deemed shameful a mere 10 years ago, are now common behaviours in order to solicit ‘likes’ and ‘shares’. “[…] Historians have longed recognised the role of shame in keeping groups in check. In the …