tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953848556540874315.post948648226387793347..comments2023-09-07T01:46:58.215-07:00Comments on Active Voice: Let us Prey! The flight of Calder Hart from Trinidad and TobagoAnnie Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18002716362243335338noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953848556540874315.post-69410791320466553792010-03-15T14:27:41.143-07:002010-03-15T14:27:41.143-07:00Well, the post is *not* about some obviously contr...Well, the post is *not* about some obviously controversial issue in Jamaica, so our die-hard nationalists won't take to it. But that's exactly the point made by Nicholas's piece (thanks for sharing that, NL!). It is for us, the citizens, to define the issues, and to bring what we have to bear on making our voice heard. There is no time like the present to do that. And it's not like there's not tonnes of raw material to work with in Ja. On top of the daily body count and the Dudus embarrassment, there's the JHA, the perennial garbage problem, the selective water shortage but still nuff nuff deh fi UWI Carnival, and that woman who headed the Correctional Services during the Armadale fire is rumoured to have been transferred to another gov't position. Sounds like musical chairs or dandy shandy happening up in Parliament and Jamaica House. All those are just variations on a theme. My mother used to talk about going to Speaker's Corner at Parade. Where are the griots, the warner-women and the broadsides to speak the voice of the people?Nataliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05974754968045758692noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953848556540874315.post-41115045460380914222010-03-13T08:33:54.247-08:002010-03-13T08:33:54.247-08:00Thanks Nicholas! i should have included this in my...Thanks Nicholas! i should have included this in my post if i'd remembered---Annie Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18002716362243335338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953848556540874315.post-55393567728893602702010-03-12T11:07:29.145-08:002010-03-12T11:07:29.145-08:00I thought I should (belatedly) share the link to a...I thought I should (belatedly) share the link to a few notes I wrote about the cows last year (I was a member of the herd):<br /><br /><a href="http://nicholaslaughlin.blogspot.com/2009/05/herd-instincts-written-for-very-belated.html" rel="nofollow">http://nicholaslaughlin.blogspot.com/2009/05/herd-instincts-written-for-very-belated.html</a>Nicholas Laughlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08636815243848162408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953848556540874315.post-53042054504284849692010-03-12T05:48:48.117-08:002010-03-12T05:48:48.117-08:00Hey Gelede,
thanks for the comment! the first sin...Hey Gelede,<br /><br />thanks for the comment! the first since i posted this...wondered why no one could bother to say a word one way or the other.<br /><br />thanks also for recognizing the effort it takes to stitch things together. they're not just out there waiting to be recorded in their pristine, fully developed forms.Annie Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18002716362243335338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953848556540874315.post-48033227566282142472010-03-11T21:54:42.559-08:002010-03-11T21:54:42.559-08:00Annie - thanks for stitching this narrative togeth...Annie - thanks for stitching this narrative together! Trinidadians act like they live in a democracy, Jamaicans just like to say it, but we don't know the hell what it means. And certainly not our artists, too many of who seem to think it's a requirement hat they suspend all ability to think critically and engage with the issues of the day in order to sell their art. One of the reasons that Jamaica so, so frustrates me is the pervasiveness of cowardice at every level, and the retreat to "law" as the solution for every blasted ting, just so we the people don't have to get up off our baxides and do anything. For all of the noise about patriotism, such unwillingness to speak up and speak out against the wrongs that are being committed in our midst is definitely unpatriotic. Everything just "too hard" therefore it shouldn't be done. Its a level of laziness that I really have difficulty wrapping my mind around. Of course, all it takes to change this is a critical mass, but even the people who I was thinking would be down for such, they too are showing themselves to be raging cowards. But I haven't given up hope. Not yet.Nataliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05974754968045758692noreply@blogger.com