Author Archives: bethpow06

FMM 7 2 2021 Sing me a Song!

“Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart.” ~ Pablo Casals. I moved away from home at the age of eighteen. After finishing high school in Jamaica, I returned to the land of my birth to see if I could reconnect.  I knew that I could happily live in Jamaica […]

FMM 6 25 2021 That’s Insane!

“Follow your inner moonlight; don’t hide the madness.” ~ Allen Ginsberg. When I was growing up in Chapelton, Jamaica, there was a man from the area who was considered mad.  It was fairly obvious, as he could be seen from time to time hitting his head against light poles.  Of course, since we couldn’t understand […]

FMM 6 18 2021

“The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.” ~ Anatole France. We all know at least one child that seems to ask a thousand questions a day.  One of mine was peppering me with questions as I got ready […]

FMM 6 11 2021 Show off!

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” ~ Confucius. When my mother was young, she told me, she once had made some comment to her own mother about her looks.  I suppose like most teenage girls she felt insecure.  Her mother gave her some practical advice. ‘Be grateful that you are neither so good-looking […]

FMM 6 4 2021 Message in the Sky

“Music is the message of peace, and music only brings peace.” ~ Zubin Mehta. I don’t know when I first realized that my father could be many things to many people. On Sundays he was ‘Parson’, solemnly conducting the church service; bellowing out hymns with his strong tenor voice; quietly leading the church in prayer; […]

FMM 5 28 2021 Never say Never

“Pets are humanizing. They remind us we have an obligation and responsibility to preserve and nurture and care for all life.” ~ James Cromwell. When I was around seven years of age, I was allowed to have my first pet.  Actually, it was pets, plural.  It had taken some work to persuade my mother. It […]

FMM 5 21 2021 Comfort over Fashion

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” ~ Aristotle. I don’t remember being very fussy about clothes as a child.  As the youngest I inherited most of my ‘gently worn’ outfits. I remember one dress in particular. It had not been handed down from my […]

FMM 5 14 2021 A Ubiquity of Photographs

“Memories of our lives, of our works and our deeds will continue in others.” ~ Rosa Parks. When you are the youngest of five children, you tend to feel left out of family reminiscing. One of my plaintive cries on such occasions was: ‘Was I born?’ Of course, you don’t appear in many of the […]

FMM 5 7 2021 You better ‘preciate!

“Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.” ~ Karl Barth. This week I am wrapping up a ‘Spring Break’ – a week off between semesters, where it is often hard to truly ‘break’ away.  Finals’ week is always hectic, with unexpected slowdowns and distractions.  Can electronic gradebooks be trusted? Out come calculators and old-fashioned computations, […]

FMM 4 30 2021 Commodification

“Rivers, ponds, lakes and streams – they all have different names, but they all contain water. Just as religions do – they all contain truths.” ~ Muhammad Ali. There is something about rain.  I was born in the north west of England, a city famous for its grey skies and persistent rain.  I have not […]