The Intersection of Gender, Culture and Education: Jamaica: The Next 50 Years!

“ ‎ Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you.” - Henry Ward Beecher Do you get the feeling that a significant number of Jamaicans have put down their guard regarding the coronavirus?   The hustle and bustle on our roads has returned. It's business as per usual everywhere you look.   Masks are not readily worn in some public spaces. It has become commonplace again to see passengers in taxis without masks. Perhaps some of us have been swayed by the numerous anti- propaganda campaigns on social media surrounding the wearing of masks; sadly some have questioned whether this pandemic is real. Unfortunately, it appears that sections of the public have bought into this misinformation regarding COVID-19.   The young and the young at heart are the ones who have been pushing back against established government protocols which are in place to minimize the spread of COVID-19.   Jamaica has recorded 14 deaths thus far from the novel coronavirus. The r

Buju Banton’s “I am A Jamaican” is the winner of the 2020 Jamaica Festival Song Competition and what a "bam bam" it has caused.    In what should clearly be a time of celebration the jury is still out regarding whether or not Buju Banton being an international recording artiste should have been allowed to enter the competition. The same argument should also be made against Freddie McGregor, another international recording artiste who also entered the 2020 edition of the Jamaica Festival Song competition. There are those who argue Banton’s entry into the Jamaica Festival Song Competition robbed up and coming artistes from getting a “bus” or the exposure through this national platform which is organized by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC). Many are of the view that Buju by virtue of his star power and wide appeal to the Jamaican audience was already the winner and as such the Jamaica Festival Song Competition was unfair.   The winner of this year’s competition

The Jamaican society is fast losing its identity. We have allowed external forces to shape, educate and to inform us as to who we are and how we are to behave as a people. The Jamaican identity is being eroded and, to a great extent, is being replaced by an alien disruptive culture. This alien culture is fast replacing our strong traditional values and attitudes which our forefathers passed down to us. This new culture by far is North American by origin. Culture defined in its simplest form is the values, traditions, language and ideas of a people which are passed from generation to generation. One can summarize that culture is the sum total of a community’s customs.    Jamaica’s proximity to the United States of America and our dependence on tourism has exposed our society, willingly or not, to many ideas, values, practices that were once taboo in Jamaica and which are not necessarily wholesome for good family relations. This strong economic dependence on the United States was reinfor

Covid-19 mek wi reason. From last year yuh deh pon wi like ticks pon cow’s back. Is wha so? Yuh no tiad fi people call yuh name, dutty man. Yuh no fraid a people eye water. People stress OUT! Unemployment! Chaos, fear and anxiety are the footprints of your handiwork covid. Pupa Jesus hear our cry. Covid give us a break nuh. Are you aware there are other planets in the galaxy, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune to name a few? Pack your bags! Go and check out the other planets in our solar system. Leave us alone. We tiad a yuh to rass.    This too shall pass. Time and time again we hear these words. We believe these words, especially in times of adversity, but covid-19 seems to have applied for citizenship. Death, destruction, despair all around. Lockdown, self quarantine, isolation has become the order of the day.   The mental health of many has been negatively impacted. Father God cancel this application. We decree and declare a cancellation of covid-19 throughout the world.    Dear M

“Journalism and the question of journalistic ethics, and why certain stories are put on the air, when, how and for what reasons, are big questions in our culture and society.”- Thomas Sadoski The public has a right to know how their taxpayers’ dollars are spent. Public officials should always be held accountable in this regard. One does not have to be a trained journalist to know when a question is poorly crafted. Many tongues were left wagging and perhaps wigs fell out of place at the rather direct question by the journalist regarding infidelity of a government minister. It is often said it is not what is said but how it is said. This saying was on display recently when Zahra Burton of 18 Degrees North asked the Minister of Health and Wellness if he had cheated on his wife with any of the principals. The question was in response to allegations that Market Me Consulting Limited was unfairly awarded a contract for the Jamaica Moves campaign. Prior to Burton’s question, Gleaner reporter

“Life is unfair.”- J.F. Kennedy Are you a customer of the monopoly Jamaica Public Service Company? Have you been engaging in energy conservation measures over the years; yet your electricity bill does not reflect this? Have you ever queried your high electricity bill but to no avail? Have you been on vacation or know of someone who has, yet a ridiculously high utility bill is attributed to them? Look at the bright side, the widely known secret is now out in the open. Scandalously, the paying customers of the Jamaica Public Service Company are sharing the electricity cost for our brothers and sisters who prefer to steal electricity. In some instances these non paying customers of the JPS have air conditioning units and the latest appliances in their homes which you and I cannot afford. While we suffer during the hot summer months with perhaps a fan they are living luxuriously in air conditioning. While we pinch and conserve there are others who do not need to since their bills have a

“Stupidity is far more dangerous than evil, for evil takes a break from time to time, stupidity does not.”- Anatole France The world continues to be on pause. The uncertainty regarding the return of normalcy is driving many of us to act silly. The coronavirus appears to be outsmarting us as many of us continue to engage in silly acts which facilitate the spread of COVID19. It is an interesting time to be alive. To see events unfold before your very eyes cannot be captured by a third person account.   The refusal to wear masks by some in public spaces, as well as our indiscipline nature surrounding social distancing serve as fuel for this pandemic which has now entered its seventh month.   Too many of us are acting as if the coronavirus has disappeared. Too many of us have abandoned the science and have bought into a growing sense of falsehood and misinformation. The virus is still very much here and scientists have predicted that the virus will be with us for quite some time.   A num

“By a sweet tongue and kindness, you can drag an elephant with a hair.” - Persian Proverb There is a popular saying; there is an elephant in the room. Elephants are huge and strong mammals; many of us have never seen an elephant except for those we see on the television or on some other media source.   It is safe to say that we all have a soft place in our hearts for elephants. In recent months some very disturbing news has been emerging from Botswana, home to over 150,000 African elephants.   Botswana, a landlocked Southern African country has the world’s highest population of elephants with more than 156,000 counted in a 2013 aerial survey in the country’s north. Former wildlife minister Tshekedi Khama, has blamed poaching in the Okavango Delta on President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s decision to disarm the wildlife department’s anti-poaching unit in 2018. Soon after that decision, conservation group Elephants Without Borders reported 87 elephants found stripped of their tusks in the ar