Category Global health and disparities
FMM 8 18 2023 Change the Narrative
“Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.” ~Thomas Gray. My father was a man that many confided in. Whether it was because of his profession (a minister and teacher) or personality, he had a ready ear, and gentle words of advice. Of course, as his kids, we may have heard words that were […]
FMM 8 11 2023 The Price of Greatness
“We have, I fear, confused power with greatness.” ~ Stewart Udall. The year after Jamaica attained Independence from the colonial power of Britain, my father bravely (with his entire family and all our worldly goods) took us across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean island of Jamaica. I was the youngest, so I had very […]
FMM 8 4 2023 Grinding Gears
“The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind small.” Sextus Empiricus. The first time I had anything to do with changing gears in a manual (stick shift) car, I was about nine or ten. A group of us children were driven to school in an Austin Cambridge, by the uncle of one of […]
FMM 7 28 2023 Whither the Weather?
“I have forgotten much, but still remember Poinsettia’s red, blood-red, in warm December.” ~ Claude McKay. When I left England at age almost eight, it was a rainy, damp place. Skies and buildings were drab and grey. I am sure there was sunshine, occasionally, but it was in sharp contrast to the tropical island we […]
FMM 7 21 2023 True Colors
“There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supercedes all other courts.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi. Early in my marriage, my home was a place where there would be consequential arguments about significant topics like historical and social injustice. Friends who came over would be engaged in […]
FMM 7 7 2023 In Harmonium
“The reason why the world lacks unity, and lies broken and in heaps, is, because man is disunited with himself.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson. My parents were both musicians. Both played piano and organ (in the church). My mother could read music, and taught all of us kids to do so also. Whether we learnt […]
FMM 6 30 2023 Finding Family
‘In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future. ‘ ~Alex Haley. For most of my life I have lived apart from my nuclear family. Despite having numerous cousins on both sides, I have never lived close enough to bump into one in my neighborhood. In fact, most of […]
FMM 6 2 2023 Oh Really?
“This is what I want in heaven… words to become notes and conversations to be symphonies.” ~ Tina Turner. I became a student of language when I moved to Jamaica from the UK as a child. Although English is the official tongue there, the first language of most Jamaicans is patois (‘patwah’); a wonderful blend […]
FMM 5 5 2023 The birds and the trees
“I have forgotten much, but still rememberThe poinsettia’s red, blood-red in warm December.” ~ Claude McKay. Memory is a funny thing. You never know what will trigger recall of a place, an event, people, even an emotion. It seems as if the memories are richer, fuller, when they occur spontaneously. If you set out to […]
FMM 4 28 2023 I would be True
“I would look up, and laugh, and love, and lift.” ~ Howard A. Walter. I want to say that my relationship with music began around the time I moved to Jamaica (which would be appropriate, though possibly not accurate). My early days in Jamaica would usually end in music, since a television was not a […]
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