Category Global health and disparities

FMM 7 7 17 Soul Ajar

“The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.” ~ Emily Dickinson. My mother once got prayed against.  In an open church.  By Deacon Morris.  I have noticed that I tend to write more stories of my mother than my father.  But perhaps it is because if you know my father, you are […]

FMM 6 30 17 My White Life

“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.”~Joseph Campbell. I learned to ‘roll flour’ (make dumplings) at Beulah School All Age School, in Jamaica.  The girls (no boys) had to help out in the kitchen, taking it in turns to do our part.  The technique wasn’t too strange to me.  I was an […]

FMM 6 23 17 Dry Lightning

“For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”~Luke 23:31  At the end of the last century I traveled to England in June for a wedding. For weeks before the affair I begged my siblings who live there to tell me what kind of outfit to buy.  […]

FMM 5 26 17 Which Path?

“Live as if you were living a second time, and as though you had acted wrongly the first time.”~Viktor E. Frankl.  I am a Mancunian by birth.  That means that I know that the correct pronunciation of the city’s name is Manchister, with the emphasis on the first syllable.  I lived there until I was […]

FMM 4 14 17 It Coulda Worse!

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.”~Denis Waitley. They say travel broadens the mind.  There is something about experiencing a place, a people and a culture far different to the one you are familiar with that helps to open […]

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 […]