Category Inspirational

FMM 8 1 2025 Too much Noise out there!

“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds!” ~ Marcus Garvey. Last week we enjoyed a cultural event, attending a play written and directed by a local African American poet and playwright, Darius Daughtry.  This is the second of his plays that we have attended, and one of the most noteworthy […]

FMM 7 25 2025 Writing my Truth

“Poetry is the lifeblood of rebellion, revolution, and the raising of consciousness.” ~ Alice Walker. It hit me this week that I am not familiar with my children’s (now adults) handwriting.  It was when I was reading over something my father had written in 1992 about the town I grew up in, in Jamaica.  Those […]

FMM 7 18 2025 No Trouble

“Not one of us can rest, be happy, be at home, be at peace with ourselves, until we end hatred and division.” ~ John Lewis. One of the most important things we teach our children, in almost every culture that I know of, is to be polite, to have manners.  Even before kids learn their […]

FMM 7 11 2025 Body Language Included

“Books and all forms of writing have always been objects of terror to those who seek to suppress the truth.” ~ Wole Soyinka. There is something in the light of a Jamaican pre-dawn.  For those who leave a country and live away from it for many years (at this point, many decades), there are things […]

FMM 7 4 2025 Ode to Joy

“Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.” ~ Emily Dickinson. After seven days of activities and events here in Jamaica that have produced so many moments of joy, I am not sure how I will report on them in just one post.  But perhaps I can tempt your senses with […]

FMM 6 27 2025 No Excuses!

“It doesn’t take a lot of strength to hang on. It takes a lot of strength to let go.” ~ J. C. Watts. One of the messages that was drilled into me as a child, was to never give up.  There were any number of rhymes or quotes to instill perseverance. ‘If at first you […]

FMM 6 20 2025 Amplifying Hope

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” ~ Desmond Tutu. My thoughts have been on my childhood a lot recently.  Ever since I was invited to be the guest speaker at my old primary (elementary in the US) school’s graduation, I have been reminiscing about those days […]

FMM 6 13 2025 Of Men and Moons

“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.” ~ Buddha. Growing up in Jamaica, in the center of the island, full moon nights were special.  For a start, they were so bright you could actually read by the light.  For another, they changed the environment into shades of grey, leaching out […]

FMM 6 6 2025 Todo el mundo Bailando!

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” ~ Albert Einstein. I heard yesterday that there is a type of English known as ‘Miami English’.  Unlike Spanglish, which freely mixes the two languages, switching mid-sentence from one to the other and then back, Miami English is predominantly […]

FMM 5 30 2025 Nothing at All

“The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love – whether we call it friendship or family or romance – is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other’s light.” ~ James Baldwin. I was not a particularly self-confident child, although as to whether that was innate or learned behavior is a question […]