The following is part two of an interview with FC Santa Rosa founder and head coach and ex-Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) technical committee chairman Keith Look Loy interview: Clubs no longer have roots in their communities. This uprooting leaves room for other institutions, like gangs, to attract young …
Read More »Vaneisa: Get up, stand up—T&T must ditch apathy to save country
Responses to the declaration of a state of emergency have predictably been draped in political flags. As usual, everyone knows what should be done, and just as in West Indies cricket, everyone knows where the blame falls. What continues to be apparent is that it is not politically expedient to …
Read More »Noble: Raising the next generation—on Akeal’s “escape” and Tyeisha’s travails
Akeal Hosein, the latest West Indies cricket sensation, described his father, in an interview published on CricInfo, as “the perfect role model” who worked two jobs and one evening collapsed with exhaustion upon walking through the door. He was a man who spoke to him with respect and as an …
Read More »Noble: Increase resources for children born into chaos, or face their mounting rage
“In a great country like ours, we should aspire for every child to grow up to achieve his or her full potential. Anything less is a waste of talent and a blemish on human dignity and flourishing.” Mike Petrilli (Fordham Institute), 2023. In April 2009, our country hosted President Barack …
Read More »Vaneisa: Do we actually think about the rights of the child?
Last Monday, the international community observed World Children’s Day; the theme: “For Every Child, Every Right”. The day has been marked on 20 November since 1954, for nearly 70 years. Looking at the rather superficial statements on its behalf in our space, I wondered if we ever stop to think …
Read More »Noble: Will we condemn our children to lives of crime? There is another way
“The lie of a pipe dream is what gives life to the whole misbegotten mad lot of us, drunk or sober.” Eugene O’Neill. Media scrutiny of all criminal incidents has heightened in recent months and intensified with the promise of “crime talks” between the Government and the Opposition. I admit …
Read More »Vaneisa: The Unseen and the Unspoken—and the need to fix “us”
When I started what I thought could be a series on cricket and our Caribbean societies seven columns ago, I imagined separating it into two elements: internal and external. My intention was to try to grasp the factors that affect the way our young people process thoughts and information. I …
Read More »Vaneisa: Dear President Kangaloo, here’s one way to advocate for change in our youth
President Christine Kangaloo played a hopeful string of chords for me with her inaugural address. She spoke of modernising the protocols that govern how citizens and her office interact, and “having its facilities put to even greater use in hosting cultural, educational and artistic ventures, particularly among the youth”. My …
Read More »Vaneisa: Hauntings from the past—Gabriel García Márquez and reconciled childhood memories
The fantastic stories he told emerged from the cellar of his childhood—resurrected and polished till they exuded the patina of his mind. Gabriel García Márquez often said that what Westerners called magic realism was actually commonplace events in his native Colombia. Over and over he mined moments from those days …
Read More »Vaneisa: How it feels matters—diary of a “picky” eater
I have always misunderstood marshmallows. Never quite got their popularity. In the old days, they popped up mostly around Christmas time, along with butter cookies and other treats. I’ve since discovered that they are actually made up of 90 per cent sugar, but that had nothing to do with my …
Read More »Vaneisa: Something to cry about—the winners and losers of repressive childhood codes
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: …
Read More »Noble: What the police cannot do—how to address T&T’s angry climate
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 …
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