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NOW THE FESTIVAL
OVER....................”
It is February 8. It is a new
day in Grenada. It is the proverbial “first
day” in the rest of our individual and
collectives lives. The Independence festival
over and it is time to get back to the
bruising job of building our country. We are
now 37- years- old; yes, we have travelled
this far since we pioneered the march of the
Caribbean’s smallest states to political
independence and nationhood. On that fateful
day- February 7, 1974, the Statehood flag
was lowered and in its stead we hoisted the
radiant gold, red and green with the nutmeg
on a red disc in the middle.
Read
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NATION FOOD AND NATIONHOOD: A REVIEW OF
MERLE COLLINS’S “SARACCA AND NATION”.
Caldwell Taylor
“The whole of nature”, wrote William Ralph
Inge, “is a conjugation of the verb to eat,
in the active and passive” . We eat to live
and if Brillat-Savarin the eighteenth
century French gastronome is to be
believed, “we are what we eat”. Of course
the idea that there exists a relation
between food and character did not originate
with Brillat-Savarin: the Old Testament
anticipated him by more than 3,000 years.
Now in addition to being what we eat, can it
also be said that we are how we eat, the how
calling attention to the rites, customs and
conventions that attend our ceremonial and
other eating? I believe it is so.
Read
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PRIME MINISTER
HOSTS MEETING WITH TRADE UNION COUNCIL
ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA,
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2011_
The leadership of the Grenada
Trade Union Council (GTUC), on the
invitation of Prime Minister Tillman Thomas,
on Friday discussed areas of concern and
issues of national interests with government
officials.
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MOTHERING A DISOBLIGING NATION: MOTHER
ANNIE, THE SHOUTER (SPIRITUAL) BAPTISTS AND
GRENADIAN “NATIONISS”
Caldwell Taylor
Is it not enough, Lord, that the world has
intimidated us [women]so that we may not do
anything worthwhile for You in public?
-St Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)
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Grenada, Grenada, Land of Ours!
Where our parents and
fore-parents laboured
for many long and painful hours
the Land of our forefathers
the Land
that keeps striving
with vibrant , beautiful colors
with only rain and sun to help
grow such beautiful flowers
Read
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37 Years of Independence
In their own words
Grenada’s voyage
of 37 years of independence has been tinged
with imbalance, and at times downright
turbulence. I recall in my University days
the serious doubts expressed by people more
experienced than I was, that the small dots
in the Caribbean could survive as
independent nations. There is, in my
opinion, great achievement in the fact that
the ship has stayed upright and moved
forward, and that Grenada has held its head
high among the countries of the world. The
past 37 years of effort by all Grenadians
must be used to shape the next 37.
© 2011Winston Phillips.
Dr. Winston Phillips –
Author Grenada Boys Secondary School Hostel
Visit his blog on Hostel experience
www.myboardingschoolblog.net
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Celebrate 37th Independence
Anniversary
Our flag flew high and voices
sang
To greet our Independence Day.
A long road from Kalinago’s Camerhogne
Before the French held total sway.
Today our faces beam with pride
Our hands in patriotic grip
The road to self-determined height
Our heroes kept in their sight.
A dream they had of a future bright
When autonomy will rule the day
And Grenadians would assume the reigns
European countries rigidly claimed.
Seventh of February Nineteen Seventy-four
A new nation then was born
Documented in the history books
So our children now can look.
They will read about William Donovan
Eric Gairy and Marryshow
Pillars of the integrated song
Still a hope, but harbored long.
Our leaders we must lift up high
And those who paved the way
From darkness into the marvelous light
With God’s help, a future bright.
HAPPY 37TH INDEPENDENCE
ANNIVERSARY!
TATOES
© 2011 Wendell DeRiggs
Author – “Reflections of an Island
Man”; “Island Reminiscences and Other
Selections” |
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Happy
37th Anniversary
Grenada
Congratulations
Grenada on this 37th Anniversary of
Independence.
Land of my birth, Land of your birth, this
is a clarion call to all Grenadians living
abroad Listen up
"
Organize for the future of Grenada!" Make a
contribution to the generation to follow.
Remember Grenada.
HAPPY 37TH ANNIVERSARY, I AM
PROUD TO HAVE GRENADA AS THE COUNTRY OF MT
BIRTH.
THERE IS SO MUCH MORE ORGANIZING THAT COULD
BE DONE ON THE NATIONAL LEVEL.
ALL QUALIFIED GRENADIANS (BAs, MAs PhDs,
Skilled and Experienced) should organize to
uplift the intellectual conscientiousness of
all Grenadians. Invite all Grenadians to
participate. For those who want to really
make a contribution think of the future. We
can all begin by participating in something
that we all know too well
Generation
Genarativity.
Happy 37th anniversary GRENADA! With our
pooled contributions to our society we will
have a better society where each and every
citizen cares enough and is responsible
enough to know that it is imperative to give
back to one's county!
© 2011 – Annette Coxall
Origin: SJC Grenville, St. Andrew's Grenada. |
"BENJIE”: THE PORTRAIT OF A MODERATE MAN
Caldwell
Taylor
The
mark of a moderate man is freedom from his
own ideas. Tolerant like the sky,
all-pervading like sunlight, firm like a
mountain, supple like a tree in the wind, he
has no destination in view and makes use of
anything life happens to bring his way.
-From Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching
“We live in a society which denied itself
heroes”
-V.S Naipaul
Reynold “Benjie” Benjamin, family man,
community builder, and agricultural
researcher who played a leading role in a
1950s study which led to the creation of a
vegetative propagation technique for the
nutmeg -died on Monday , October 7, 2010.
Benjie’s transition came just one week shy
of his eightieth birthday and only four
months following the demise of younger
brother, John, a Grenadian artist who
won international acclaim for the kinetic
excitement of his compositions on canvas,
many of which codified the Grenadian
experience. An outstanding artist in his own
right Benjie, unlike Brother John, scored
his artistic and aesthetic expressions in
landscaping and in floral arrangements.
Read
More.... |
Nature Miracles
By Hudson George
Today the sun is shining
Tomorrow I don’t know if it will shine
Yesterday the wind was blowing
Tomorrow I don’t know if it will be calm
more... |
We will never Know.
Wendell DeRiggs
We will never hear the agonizing mourns
Or the terrified wail of crushed bodies
Buried in the heap.
more.. |
The Horror Beneath the Pile
Wendell DeRiggs
From beneath the fallen bricks
Came a tap.
more.. |
Click on
image for more information |
Leon
Wells made a comment which we
thought would meet with full
agreement from most Hostel Boys:
“So many of us came to the Hostel as brash, crude, ‘ignorant’, unhewn base
metals, and left as polished gems”.
……., the picture that came to my
mind was of character and
personalities unfurling under the
offerings of the Hostel.
[In the Hostel]
I found a natural
comparison in what happens with a
nutmeg tree, no stranger to Grenada,
as it reveals its treasures of
nutmeg and mace. The tree bears a
pod which is closed and green when
immature. If the pod and its
contents are no good, it wrinkles
while green and falls to the ground
where everything rots. As pods
mature they grow in size, they turn
yellow and progressively split in
two halves to reveal bright red mace
ensconced on a dark shiny nut. The
open pods then fall to the ground
from where they are picked up and
another journey begins. Such was my
Hostel experience |
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In the
immediate wake of Indian Arrival Day 2010,
BIGDRUMNATION’S Raymond Viechweg and
Caldwell Taylor “spoke” with Wilbur Adams,
President, Indo-Grenadian Heritage
Foundation (IGHF). The interview was
conducted via the Internet. BDN submitted
its questions on May 6, 2010 and Brother
Adams responded on May 12, 2010.
Read
More.... |
| John
Benjamin (MBE) - RIP
John
Benjamin (MBE) Member of the British Empire
(1992) - passed away this morning at the age
of 77 -Sunday, May 30th, 2010. He was one
of Grenada's renowned artists.
Read
more... |
Some
Reflections on Food Security and Sustainability in
Grenada’s 2010 Budget
by Martin P. Felix
Finance Minister Nazim Burke presented
the Grenada 2010 budget with the theme of “Exploiting
the Crisis for Job Creation, Renewed Growth and
Sustainable Development through Partnerships.” While the
presentation focused on several pillars of development
and priority considerations, I found the section on
agriculture most interesting for reasons of measuring
sustainable development goals, and as well as for the
long-terms benefits it promises to the average
Grenadian.
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REMEMBERING BROTHER
REX, Part 1
Caldwell Taylor
Is the university
of hunger the wide waste
Is the pilgrimage of man the long march
-From Martin Carter’s “University of Hunger”
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Globalization and Failed States: In Defence
of Jamaica
By Julien Fedon
Jamaica is one of the most globalized Small
Island Developing States (SIDS) in the
English- speaking Caribbean. The island has
been a leader in reforming its economy and
opening its markets and even so, it is the
only Caribbean island with a complicated
political system in which politicians and
gangsters share power. What explains this
paradox?
Read
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Sickle
Cell Centennial Conference
June 25th 2010
Bourne
Lecture Hall
St. George's University
Grenada
Registration information at:
http://www.sicklecellgrenada.org/
Grenada - The birth place of Dr.
Walter Clement Noel The 1st
recorded case of Sickle Cell
Disease
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Carriacou Maroon and String Band Festival -
April 28th - May 2nd
About The Event
http://www.carriacoumaroon.com
The Carriacou Maroon & String
Band Music Festival is a cultural education
and entertainment event, developed as the
main brand event for Carriacou, and meeting
world-class standards.
Maroon culture is about thanksgiving and
prayers to the SOURCE of all life,
production and prosperity. Its African
origins are authentically depicted through
the drumming, singing, eating of ‘smoke
food’ and other rituals practised by the
local people. This aspect of the festival
is a celebration of the rich cultural
traditions, and the important values of
sharing, unity and community self-help.
String band music is very popular on
Carriacou and has historically been a main
source of entertainment at social functions
and the Parang Festival at Christmas. There
are various genres of this music and patrons
will get to experience the scintillating
power of this musical tradition. You must
dance! |
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Read
More..... |
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AT
LAST, MAURICE AND THE AIRPORT ARE RE-UNITED
The Point Salines
International Airport was officially opened
in October 1984,just one year following the demise of the Grenada
Revolution and the brutal executions of
Maurice Bishop and others. Today, 26 years
in the wake of the bloody events of October
1983, the airport and its most
celebrated poet- Maurice Bishop- will be
re-united.
Let us remember that the idea
of naming the airport for Maurice started
with Terry Marryshow and the Maurice Bishop
Patriotic Movement (MPBM) in 1985:
Marryshow’s pioneering toil must be
acknowledged.
Naming the airport for
Maurice Bishop is not the same as turning
him into a saint; nor is it an attempt to
put him in a place beyond reproach.
Maurice was very human and
being human meant he could make mistakes;
and he did. Being human ourselves, we do
not hold up Maurice’s imperfections as a
valid reason to deny him the honour that is
truly his: we will never have human heroes
and sheroes if such honours were open only
to the unblemished.
Some of our compatriots are
opposed to the idea of naming the airport for Maurice. We
must be careful not to make light of their
dissent. We must never deny the sincerity
and the earnestness of their stated
objections.
We must remind ourselves that
much healing could happen if we remained
sensitive to opinions expressed by Lloyd
Noel, Andrew Bierzynski and others: The
musician with a keen ear makes harmony out
of dissonance.
Martin P. Felix does have a
keen ear and it is why he took the time to write a little book
around which we can celebrate what is a very
teachable moment in our history. First
published in 1998 (under the auspices of the
Grenada Forum, New York), Felix’s “Maurice
Bishop International Airport” is a sensitive contribution to
our continuing search for comity and consensus.
The ruling NDC Government
deserves our thanks for showing courage on
this issue; we believe it is a good thing
for Grenada that the opposition
NNP also backs the renaming of the airport.
Let us all look ahead to building on this
rare show of bi-partisanship.
One love,
Sue Patrice and Caldwell
Taylor |
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Martin
P. Felix wrote this little book
around which we can celebrate what
is a very teachable moment in our
history. First published in
1998, Felix's "Maurice Bishop
International Airport" is a
sensitive contribution to our
continuing search for comity and
consensus.
Caldwell Taylor
Read more at this link
http://www.bigdrumnation.org/airport
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REMEMBERING
“MARIO” GEORGE RANDOLPH EARLE BULLEN
Caldwell Taylor
His voice seemed to me the
sonic signifier of a smile. It wasn’t
a big voice: it was just a voice that
elicited attention; a voice that
illustrated the geography of a temperate
mind; a magnetic and manicured voice. |
THE
FEDON REBELLION (MARCH 2, 1795-JUNE 19,
1796)
Caldwell Taylor
That martyred place called Haiti was the
locus of the only successful overthrow by
slaves of their masters. And you know what?
Grenada’s Fedon Rebellion (MARCH 2,
1795-June 19, 1796) came closest to
replicating Haiti’s singular triumph, a
matter that has escaped the attention of the
historians. |
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CHALKDUST
WINS AND NUMBER 8
by
Caldwell Taylor
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"Chalkdust" is the Trinidad and
Tobago Calypso Monarch for . Last
night’s win was Chalkie’s eighth,
tying him with Sparrow for the most
calypso crowns in the history of
calypso king (monarch) competitions:
.Among calypso historians there is
wide agreement that the first major
calypso competition was held in
1939: that show crowned the Growling
Tiger, whose victory earned him five
dollars a bottle of white rum. |
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Congratulations
Grenada on your 35th
Anniversary of Independence |
Abolition,
Indentureship and Creoleness: Reflections on the
Indo-Grenadian predicament
by Raymond
D. Viechweg
A Meeting of cultures
The abolition of the
British slave trade in 1807 signaled the end of the
trade in African slaves and the beginning of the trade
in Indian indentures.
As such, it meant the
continuous intermixing, or creolizing, of cultures that
would eventually place the Grenadian Indian in a
position of cultural vulnerability. When Indians arrived
in Grenada in 1857, they found themselves in a position
subordinate to a dominant Anglo-African creolization.
The occasion of the abolition of the slave trade should
be commemorated neither as spectacle, nor as a mere
dramatization, but as a marker which from year to year
will chart the progress made towards mitigating the
hegemonistic tendencies within Grenadian creolization.
Hegemony is the
tendency of one group to exercise dominance over other
groups, even without the threat of force.
In hegemonies, the
espoused beliefs, values and philosophies of the
dominant group are empowered, almost to the exclusion of
others. In Grenada, Indians have functioned within and
alongside the dominant Afro-Grenadian cultural formation
for 150 years now. So, as we commemorate the abolition
of the slave trade, we must simultaneously commemorate
the addition to Grenadian culture of an indispensable
East Indian component.
Today, as we remember
the perils of the slave trade, so should we also
remember the perils of the journey from India. As we
remember the end of the slave trade, so should we also
remember the beginning of indentured labour.
Today, unfortunately, we
must lament the absence of any monuments to Indian
contributions to Grenadian nationhood and culture.
Hopefully, through the lamentation, a solution may
appear.
read more >>
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Beyond
Miss World-An Electronic
Conversation with Jennifer Hosten
Three
cheers to you Cousin Jennifer
The
fairest of all that is what you are
Charm
and mannerism
With
poise and magnetism
And
stepping in style
With a
lovely smile
Oh,
how we love Cousin Jennifer
And we
are all very proud of her
She is
the most beautiful
Yes,
the most wonderful
The
most beautiful girl in the world.
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MAY-POLE
Dance in Grenada
Editor's note:
The following is the text of Caldwell
Taylor's introduction to a May-pole dance,
which was performed at the Grenada
Association's (Toronto) Independence Dinner
of February 9. The dancers were led by Jenny
Burke and Renwick Herry, leading exponents
of Grenadian culture in Canada.
Caldwell Taylor |
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Independence Day
Independence day
Some of us celebrate our freedom
As a people and a nation
With political speeches
Military parade
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FAIR ISLE
Fair Isle upon the Carib Sea
This song I give to thee
And every morning as I wake
This pledge anew I make
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Congratulations
Grenada on your 34th
Anniversary of Independence |
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