Category Global health and disparities
FMM 3 8 2024 Big Tree, Small Axe
“A reading man and woman is a ready man and woman, but a writing man and woman is exact.” ~ Marcus Garvey. When I started high school in Jamaica, one of the highlights of this new experience was the ‘social’ also known as a ‘boogie’. I suppose at the time the twin influences of the […]
FMM 2 16 2024 Legacy
“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” ~ Aldous Huxley. February, although the shortest month, carries the weight of history. In the US it is the month assigned to commemorate ‘Black History’, a term (like the country) which unfortunately continues to judge people by the color of their skin. February […]
FMM 2 9 2024 Larger than Life
“Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.” ~ George Eliot. I don’t know how old I was when I went to my first funeral. I know that it was not a requirement, even though my father was the minister of the church. But I was probably a teenager and a […]
FMM 2 2 2024 Community Health
‘Lean on me, when you’re not strong, and I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry on…For it won’t be long, ‘til I’m gonna need somebody to lean on.’ ~ Bill Withers. My professional introduction to mental health began in nursing school. I was assigned to an inpatient facility which was housed in a beautiful […]
FMM 1 19 2024 Don’t throw it all away!
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” ~ Mary Oliver. It has been said that travel broadens the mind. The thing about cliches is that they are often true, but repetition has rendered them trite. On my recent visit to Jamaica I was reminded that when […]
FMM 1 12 2024 Going with the Flow
”All night, all day.Angels watching over me.” ~ (Trad). Although I was brought up in the church, I can’t say that the usual vision of heavenly angels was something I actively believed in. Like fairies, elves and gnomes, they seemed to be a little too fantastical to be real. Thus, the concept of life after […]
FMM 12 29 2023 Roads Less Traveled
“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” ~ Lao Tzu. When I first returned to Jamaica after an absence of some fourteen years, I had already begun writing, filling unruled journals (I did not appreciate the lined versions, which seemed too restricted, too dictatorial) with thoughts and impressions. […]
FMM 12 12 2023 My First Love
FMM 12 22 2023 My First Love “I have forgotten much, but still remember The poinsettia’s red, blood-red in warm December” ~ Claude McKay. My parents came of age in a country at war. Britain was mobilized against the threat of a fascist, one whose dream was to take over the world. My mother was only […]
FMM 11 24 2023 The Luxury of Language
“Sell a country?! Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the earth? Did not the Great Spirit make them all for the use of his children?” ~ Tecumseh. The celebration of Thanksgiving always leaves me conflicted. Who can possibly object to the concept of being thankful, of declaring appreciation for all […]
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