Category Global health and disparities

FMM 9 20 2024 Sticks and Stones

“My fellow Americans, we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. We were strangers once, too.” ~ Barack Obama. I have spent more than 85% of my life living in a land that was not the land of my birth.  Thus, as I recently posted on social media, I identify as Immigrant.  My […]

FMM 9 13 2024 Imagine a World

“Mozart’s music is so pure and beautiful that I see it as a reflection of the inner beauty of the universe.” ~ Albert Einstein. Many years ago I attended a day of continuing education classes.  All nurses must complete a certain number of hours every two years, in order to renew their nursing licenses.  There […]

FMM 8 30 2024 Better to Give

“We may give without loving, but we cannot love without giving.” ~ Bernard Meltzer. When I moved to South Florida in the late 70’s, it was the third big cultural shift I had made in my young (ish) life.  My first move had been the most dramatic, emigrating from England to Jamaica at the age […]

FMM 8 23 2024 Keep the Faith

“As I get older, the more I stay focused on the acceptance of myself and others, and choose compassion over judgment and curiosity over fear.” ~ Tracee Ellis Ross. I have a confession to make.  On Friday mornings I get up with my phone, with notes to myself as my guide for what I will […]

FMM 8 16 2024 One Drop

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” ~ Marcus Garvey. I became a teenager at a time of racial upheaval in the USA. It coincided with the growing consciousness (‘woke’-ness) in Jamaica of young people of African descent. Rastafarianism and awareness of African culture […]

FMM 8 9 2024 Better than she Ought to Be

“I say be careful what you teach the little childrenMake sure a nuh something to hurt themMind what yuh say to mi sistaShe could be the next Prime Minister” ~ Tony Rebel. My maternal great-grandfather was a self-made man.  He left school early (as they did in those days) to be a bricklayer’s apprentice.  He […]

FMM 8 2 2024 What’s Love got to do With it?

“Father, fatherWe don’t need to escalateYou see, war is not the answerFor only love can conquer hate.” ~ Marvin Gaye. Twenty-five years ago, before my father started to show evidence of cognitive decline, one of my nephews got married.  Three generations of the family were represented, and my father, although he no longer officiated at […]

FMM 7 12 2024 Sustainable Storytelling

“The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.” ~ Ben Okri. My father was a storyteller.  He was also a Minister, and so had the opportunity and the venue, each Sunday morning, to intersperse his preaching with […]

FMM 7 5 2024 Off Grid, Off your Head?

“Vows made in storms are forgotten in calm.” ~ Thomas Fuller. I have no recollection of my first severe weather event.  Growing up first in the UK, in Manchester, rain was an ever present fact of life.  But it was mostly the persistent, miserable drizzle kind of rain, raindrops so fine they could be more […]

6 21 2024 In the Garden

“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” ~ Khalil Gibran. In the midst of my current whirlwind schedule, I am having a hard time knowing where I am. It only lasts a moment or two on waking up, as I try […]