Category Global health and disparities

FMM 3 31 17 Love the One you’re With

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”~Buddha. They say that if you go to sleep with a champagne cork under your pillow, you will dream of your future husband.  In my case it was true, but I may have cheated a bit.  The night that I placed […]

FMM 3 17 17 I’m an Alien

“Only the weak are cruel. Gentleness can only be expected from the strong.”~Leo Buscaglia. Picture me at ten years old, the only little white girl in a rural Jamaican school, convinced I could fit in if only I could speak like a Jamaican.  One of the realities of our lives is that we can only see […]

3 3 17 Distracted by the Light

“To succeed in your mission, you must have single-minded devotion to your goal.”~A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. My mother was the kind of housewife who hated the mundane repetition of regular cleaning and dusting.  She much preferred those jobs that required some degree of creativity.  She loved to bake, crafting endless variations on a theme (a friend […]

FMM 2 24 17 Challenge your Assumptions

“You must stick to your conviction, but prepare to abandon your assumptions.”~ Denis Waitley.  One of the first riddles I learned to tell was (and this is better spoken than written): “What is black and white and red (read) all over?”  The answer was a newspaper.  I grew up in a household that read newspapers religiously.  […]

FMM 2 10 17 Cations for Change

“Every day brings new choices.”~ Martha Beck.  My mother had a special personality.  She could be quite harsh, but often didn’t realize how that came across.  She was, in fact, a contrarian, not trying to be like others, she never made an effort to fit in.  But she had a sense of humor, and could […]

FMM 2 3 17 Fine Print

“The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human beings.”~Albert Schweitzer.  My father-in-law was a simple man.  His wife died and left him with four young kids, and he raised them in the old-fashioned Jamaican way, sure that firm discipline and education were essential to a good upbringing.  […]

FMM 1 27 17 Selah

“Every time I hear the sound, the sound, the sound…” ~Mutabaruka.  I grew up surrounded by music, music of every description.  There were hymns and choir practice of course.  My father was a singer (the Welsh are famous for their Male Voice Choirs), and long road trips were often accompanied by family sing-a-longs.  Included in […]

FMM 1 20 17 Sense of Adventure

“The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us?”~Dorothy Day.  I once got lost in the fog.  England used to be famous for its fog – ‘pea-soupers’ they used to call them.  Fog so thick you could […]

FMM 1 13 17 Return of the Prodigal

“Half the story has never been told…” ~ Robert Nesta Marley. Superstitions are funny things.  For whatever reason, human beings hold on to unreasonable beliefs, even after science refutes them.  Whenever my mother spilled salt, she would always pick up a pinch and throw it over her left shoulder.  I am not sure what that […]

FMM 12 16 16 From Fairy Princess to Feminist

“A woman is like a tea bag, you can’t tell how strong she is till you put her in hot water.”~Eleanor Roosevelt.  As a child, I hated the color pink.  I don’t know how early this started, but I detested it.  There was a saying: ‘Pink to make the boys wink’.  I detested that too, […]