Tag Archives: Vaneisa Baksh

It’s a struggle deciding what to write about every week. Often, so many issues seem to be competing for attention: pick me! pick me! Sometimes, when things around us seem too dreary and dismal, the instinct is to trudge away seeking a happier, lighter place to alight upon. There’s no …

Breadfruits are back in season, and I have been obsessively experimenting. I used to avoid cooking them, deterred by the difficulty I had peeling the coarse green rind. Once I’d figured out that if I wrap it in a paper towel and put it in the microwave for five minutes, …

There didn’t seem to be much point in writing about the ignominious end to the Test series between West Indies and Australia. Like rain flies swarming about after heavy showers, indignant cricket spectators have rained harshly abusive comments about the performances over the three matches. There have been some useful …

More than a decade ago, when the People’s Partnership Government provided laptops to students entering secondary school, it was seen as a wise and progressive thing to do. It was reported that 95,000 laptops had been distributed. I witnessed something then that had startled me at many levels. This is …

Last Tuesday, Gwynne Dyer headlined his Express column Stupid old men. You could substitute all sorts of adjectives before the words ‘old men’ to describe the characteristics of the cohort that has had the most influence on the world we inhabit. Greedy, self-righteous, racist, arrogant, selfish, a multitude of negative …

My preoccupation with advocating that we do more to encourage a love for reading stems from a conviction that it is a fundamental aspect of our development as a society. It’s not so much about learning to read, important as that is, but more about finding pleasure in the act. …

The life that Safiya Sinclair describes in How to Say Babylon bears many similarities with lifestyles throughout our region. I have heard enough stories to convince me. The specific nature of her relationship with the Rastafari culture can easily be transferred to fit the widespread value systems that allocate superior …

I had mentioned in a recent column that I was hesitant to review Safiya Sinclair’s How to Say Babylon, because I was afraid I would gush too much. My friend, Patrick, had quickly messaged me to object. He wanted to read my full response, he said. “Write the thing, in …

If you have grown up in an agricultural environment, you have a strong sense of what fruits and vegetables look like in their natural state. You recognise their scents, even when you are not quite aware of it. I recall uncovering a container of shredded cabbage and discovering my late …

It has been a long time since I was so captivated by a book that I neglected other activities just to succumb to it. The book, Edible Economics – A Hungry Economist Explains the World, by Ha-Joon Chang, was enlightening, and such a pleasure to read that it was a …

I was surprised to find it was in December 2023 that I hosted a pepperpot lime at my home. Seems like it was just last Christmas when my friend Lynette came to teach us how to prepare this national dish of Guyana. My daughter was working on an article on …

For as long as I can remember, cow heel soup was a regular on Caribbean tables. As a child, I did not like the texture, the way it made your lips sticky, and the work to get the gelatinous strips off those big hard bones. I was a terribly picky …