Tag Archives: societal change

Congratulations to the people of Trinidad and Tobago on a relatively peaceful and safe electoral process. Now that the ‘carnival is over’, to quote the late great, grandmaster: let’s see who is who, and who is made of what. Like many, I too anticipated the change—though I did not think …

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way it treats its children.” Nelson Mandela, May 1995. Ezekiel Ramdialsingh’s murder on 15 April received wide coverage in our newspapers. One even had it as a front-page story. But the description given to him was “an aspiring …

“[…] Surely, we are supposed to be fed up and tired of the mess perpetrated on us by politicians who profess to be spiritually moral and incorruptible, yet they and their fanatics on social media, radio talk shows and letters to the editor, encourage and promote: “Lies, half-truths, innuendos, picong, …

“[…] I stand here not just for myself, but for every young professional drowning in rent, every couple delaying marriage because they can’t afford a place to live, every parent lying awake wondering if their child will ever own a home. “Trinidad and Tobago is in a housing crisis: 77% …

Little things add up—sometimes, they can sneak up insidiously so that we don’t see them coming until something happens. It’s not that signs haven’t been there, it’s that they don’t seem important enough for us to take note. Take the recent situation when Dr Joel Teelucksingh, a newspaper columnist, who …

Today, when I look around in the world, what do I see?/ I see footprints that man has left on the sand/ While walking through time./ I see fruits of our ambition, figments of our imaginations/ And I ask myself, When will it end? When will it end?/ It is …

In a Field Guide to Getting Lost (2005), Rebecca Solnit wrote of the places in which one’s life is lived: “They become the tangible landscape of memory, the places that made you, and in some way you too become them. They are what you can possess and, in the end, …

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 …

Natasha Wilson’s words came to me while reflecting on my interview with Keith Look Loy. In significant ways, her calypso summed up Keith’s sentiments: Sweet T&T, is my country/ I want you to know that I love you/ Every creed and race, have an equal place/ So let’s work together …

Little things add up. Irritants that are not, of themselves, enough to make you feel besieged. Combined and constant, they are damaging to the psyche—the way water dripping away for years can erode rocks. Feral cats and stray dogs prowling the neighbourhood, stripping garbage bags and shredding the contents. Garbage …

We begin 2025 with the shocking reports of a teen being murdered by his ‘best friend’. The reality that gangs are everywhere causes us to pause. We are struggling to get food on our tables. Life is closing in on us. We are living in grim times. We can no longer …

Today, we face a myriad of problems. It seems as though there is a cascading chain of events that seeks to deaden our response. We do not finish dealing with one thing before another arises. How, then, will we run our country? How will we manage to survive? Which course …