Tag Archives: injustice
FMM 9 2 2022 Living History
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl. I often wonder what happened to Evelyn. The first school I went to in Jamaica was a private ‘Prep’ school, run by a married […]
FMM 4 29 2022 Fight for the Right
“Life without liberty is like a body without spirit.” ~ Khalil Gibran. I can clearly remember the first time I wore pants – as in long pants, not jeans. I was young (less than eight, as it was when I was still living in the UK). In my memory the pants were plaid, but I […]
FMM 6 12 2020 All the Rage
“Retribution haunts everyone, but catches up only the few.”~ Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach. I admit I was naïve. I blame Jamaica. I had grown up as a white girl surrounded by a population whose motto is ‘Out of many, one people.’ The majority of Jamaicans are descended from the enslaved Africans who were brought to the […]
FMM 6 5 2020 Two Americas
“You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.” ~ Malcolm X. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” When you want to be a writer, or even an author, you aspire to create a killer first line, an opening sentence […]
FMM 5 29 2020 No Jestering
“Let justice roll down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.“ ~ Amos 5:24 and Martin Luther King Jr., (Letter from the Birmingham Jail). Growing up and attending a school in Jamaica (as in any country associated with the British Colonial past) included studies in ‘Bible Knowledge’ (BK, or some variation on that name). […]
FMM 11 22 19 Acknowledging
“’We, The People’ is more than a statement of purpose. It is an acknowledgement of an obligation to each other.” ~ Charlie Pierce. There are many traditions that have been lost in this technological, smart phone driven era. My family was fortunate to be blessed with many aunts, all of whom were very good about […]
FMM 6 21 19 I’ve looked at Clouds
“The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.” ~ Aristotle. When I think about it, I had the childhood that an anthropologist would have paid money for. Being plunged into the Jamaican countryside was an immersion experience for this eight-year-old English girl. In typical Jamaican […]
FMM 6 14 19 Sing out Loud!
“As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest.” ~ Nelson Mandela. There is nothing like waking up before dawn in the cool hills of Jamaica; there is peace and quiet before the roosters start to crow, and the dogs start their chorus. Once the daylight […]
FMM 8 3 18 Book of Rules
“It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have”. ~ James A. Baldwin. I know most people love to say that preachers’ and teachers’ kids are the worst. In Jamaica we would say ‘parson pickni a di baddiss!’ But the reality of growing up in […]
FMM 6 8 18 Beds are Burning
“Religion without humanity is very poor human stuff.”~ Sojourner Truth. What is your comfort food? We humans have some very strange practices, often wasting energy on activities that have no tangible benefits. The compulsive repetitive practices of people with OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) begin with basic healthy principles (such as hand washing, checking to see […]
Friday Morning Messages 