Category Global health and disparities
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 […]
FMM 4 21 2023 Know better, Do better!
“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.” ~ Coretta Scott King. My mother was one of those annoying parents/teachers who was never off duty. She would be on your case in every way, checking on your posture, your behaviour, your manners, she never took a day […]
FMM 4 14 2023 What If?
“Of all men’s miseries the bitterest is this: to know so much and to have control over nothing.” ~ Herodotus. I used to be an excellent worrier. I somehow felt that if I imagined all of the possible bad outcomes that could happen, then they wouldn’t happen. It would be arrogance on my part (I […]
FMM 4 7 2023 Glimmers of Hope
“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”~ Martin Luther King, Jr. Growing up in the church, you have lots of Bible stories to entertain you, many of them appealing to kids. Picture animals marching two by two into a ship, as Noah gets ready for an apocalyptic flood. Or Moses parting the […]
FMM 3 31 2023 Dereliction of Duty
“I know of only one duty, and that is to love.” ~ Albert Camus. I was brought up by pacifists. My father and his two brothers refused to be enlisted in World War II because their Christian beliefs told them to love their enemies, and not to kill their fellow man. They each had to […]
FMM 3 24 2023 Diversity Equity Inclusion
“Truth is powerful and it prevails.” ~ Sojourner Truth. I was submerged in diversity from an early age. Plucked from the rainy, grey city of Manchester in the UK, I was exposed to the natural beauty and colorful environment of rural Jamaica. They talk about culture shock, for those who move from one part of […]
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