By Lionel Gayle
Fathers deserve their big day too. Just like mothers – who are pampered to the hilt on Mother’s Day each year – dads should be encouraged to adapt that air of expectancy every time Father’s Day comes around.
This year the highly commercialized Father’s Day is being observed on Sunday, June 19. It was inaugurated in West Virginia in 1908, mainly to celebrate fatherhood, and of course, to complement Mother’s Day which “is rooted in antiquity.”
Do all dads deserve some pampering on Father’s Day?
Some people, mainly disgruntled wives and neglected “baby-mothers,” think not. And some of them have taken on the devious task of dividing fathers into a sort of loving, “responsible alpha males” and wicked, “dead-beat dads.”
But there is a wide spectrum of “other fathers” between those two popular, categorised markers. For instance, what about the “good” homely dads with all those secret children outside? And think of the Jekyll and Hyde fathers who, at nights, are transformed into lechers as they prowl after-hours clubs and whorehouses, as well as rob and hurt innocent people.
And there are those who verbally and physically abuse members of their families, and engage in incestuous relations with their children. And for various reasons, there are many fathers who are estranged from their grown children.
So here are four recommendations for Father’s Day 2011:
• Reconciliation with estrange children
A father’s guilt, based on his years of neglect can easily be the cause of lack of communication with his grown children. Or, it could be the daughter’s (or son’s) resentment of her dad’s action that is at the crux of the matter. Then again, they probably arrived at that stage because of some disagreement in the not-too-distant past.
Now is a good time to bury the hatchet. But who should make the first move? Anybody can initiate the move with a phone call. Then you meet and take it from there. If both of you followed through and you actually met, that’s a great Father’s Day gift. There’s no need to buy anything.
• For so-called dead-beat dads
If you’re a father who has not been taking care of your children, change that situation now. Especially if it’s a case in which their mothers can’t cope, or can barely manage. Don’t allow your ex-wife or baby-mothers to keep maligning you.
And you don’t want any of those children to grow up telling people about “my mother who fathered me” while you are alive and well.
Incidentally, a common case like that led Jamaican anthropologist Edith Clarke to document her landmark book “My Mother Who Fathered Me,” published in 1957. It was re-issued by the University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica, in 1999.
• Get help for your incestuous behavior
Dads with incest on their minds should get help immediately. In her hypothetical experience Queen Ifrica sings, “Everyday a wonder why ma daddy had to be di one to take away my innocence.” Check out her song, called “Daddy” (Don’t Touch Me There) at this link. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYrXb_KJmEU&feature=related).
• Don’t ignore your children’s connections
Start talking to their teachers, pastors and sport team leaders. Get to know their friends. In fact organise a party – nothing big and fancy – and invite their friends’ parents. Show your appreciation to those who play important roles in your children’s lives.
Four Recommendations for Father’s Day
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
By Lionel Gayle
“This time I’m coming like Hurricane Hatty.”
That’s a catchy line from teenager Jimmy Cliff’s song, “Hurricane Hatty,” a mere reference to the Category 5 Hurricane Hattie that crashed into British Honduras (now Belize) on Halloween 1961.
Besides claiming over 300 lives, the powerful hurricane forced the Central American British colony to relocate its capital from Belize City to present-day Belmopan.
Whenever I hum Cliff’s melodious ska tune, I’m not in the least mocking the inhabitants of the Caribbean region, especially when they are in the throes of another perilous period. For the next five months, a lot of West Indians will only be able to watch and pray as some weird and dangerous climatic conditions batter the region as the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season takes its toll.
The National Hurricane Centre has predicted 12-18 named storms and hurricanes for the season that began, officially, on June 1.
To many others the stormy weather is hardly a deterrent to their accustomed lifestyles as they stage lavish pageants, regattas and carnivals. Add to those, a series popular music fetes featuring jazz, gospel, soca, calypso, hip hop, reggae, or a multi-genre showcase like the St. Kitts Music Festival (SKMF), scheduled for June 23-25, 2011 at Warner Park Stadium, in Basseterre. (http://www.stkittsmusicfestival.com/).
If at first you chose Ocho Rios for the 21st annual Jamaica International Jazz Festival, June 11-20, you must visit St. Kitts-Nevis on your island-hopping. At this time Basseterre should be teeming with excitement as the first concert of the festival kicks off on Thursday, June 23. This year marks the 15th annual renewal of the event which has been downsized to a three-night musical extravaganza.
If you’ve abandoned your staycation and heading south for a vacation, don’t worry about hurricanes. Use this 1898 memory poem as a maxim: “June too soon/July stand by/August look out you must/September remember/October all over.”
Despite all the odds against them, Caribbean people are a resourceful and fearless lot and even with the inherent danger, it would take more than the baddest storm to scare them. Presently – based on a 2010 estimate – there are more than 36 million people occupying over 92,000 aggregate square miles of land space in the Caribbean region.
Since its inception in 1996 as the Shak Shak Festival, no hurricane has ever blotted out the SKMF. However, the event was dropped in 2000, the same year St. Kitts-Nevis presented the 7th Caribbean Festival of Arts (Carifesta).
When I first visited St. Kitts in 1999, one of the organizers explained that the festival had no set formula. “It varies from year to year,” but they were aiming for 80 per cent Caribbean content, he added.
I did not scrutinize the formula on my last attendance in 2002, but something seems to be working right – or almost right. The show has been moved from the historic Fort Thomas Hotel to a larger venue, Warner Park Stadium, and the SKMF is now a fixture on calendars of events throughout the Caribbean, and probably right across the “global village.”
Three cheers for the SKMF management committee and all the 35,000 souls on the 64.9 square miles of volcanic rock that looks like a chicken drumstick, with sister island Nevis sitting off the southeast tip like an over-sized McDonald’s nugget.
For more information contact St. Kitts Tourism toll free: US 1-800-582-6208 and Canada 1-888-395-4887.
“This time I’m coming like Hurricane Hatty.”
That’s a catchy line from teenager Jimmy Cliff’s song, “Hurricane Hatty,” a mere reference to the Category 5 Hurricane Hattie that crashed into British Honduras (now Belize) on Halloween 1961.
Besides claiming over 300 lives, the powerful hurricane forced the Central American British colony to relocate its capital from Belize City to present-day Belmopan.
Whenever I hum Cliff’s melodious ska tune, I’m not in the least mocking the inhabitants of the Caribbean region, especially when they are in the throes of another perilous period. For the next five months, a lot of West Indians will only be able to watch and pray as some weird and dangerous climatic conditions batter the region as the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season takes its toll.
The National Hurricane Centre has predicted 12-18 named storms and hurricanes for the season that began, officially, on June 1.
To many others the stormy weather is hardly a deterrent to their accustomed lifestyles as they stage lavish pageants, regattas and carnivals. Add to those, a series popular music fetes featuring jazz, gospel, soca, calypso, hip hop, reggae, or a multi-genre showcase like the St. Kitts Music Festival (SKMF), scheduled for June 23-25, 2011 at Warner Park Stadium, in Basseterre. (http://www.stkittsmusicfestival.com/).
If at first you chose Ocho Rios for the 21st annual Jamaica International Jazz Festival, June 11-20, you must visit St. Kitts-Nevis on your island-hopping. At this time Basseterre should be teeming with excitement as the first concert of the festival kicks off on Thursday, June 23. This year marks the 15th annual renewal of the event which has been downsized to a three-night musical extravaganza.
If you’ve abandoned your staycation and heading south for a vacation, don’t worry about hurricanes. Use this 1898 memory poem as a maxim: “June too soon/July stand by/August look out you must/September remember/October all over.”
Despite all the odds against them, Caribbean people are a resourceful and fearless lot and even with the inherent danger, it would take more than the baddest storm to scare them. Presently – based on a 2010 estimate – there are more than 36 million people occupying over 92,000 aggregate square miles of land space in the Caribbean region.
Since its inception in 1996 as the Shak Shak Festival, no hurricane has ever blotted out the SKMF. However, the event was dropped in 2000, the same year St. Kitts-Nevis presented the 7th Caribbean Festival of Arts (Carifesta).
When I first visited St. Kitts in 1999, one of the organizers explained that the festival had no set formula. “It varies from year to year,” but they were aiming for 80 per cent Caribbean content, he added.
I did not scrutinize the formula on my last attendance in 2002, but something seems to be working right – or almost right. The show has been moved from the historic Fort Thomas Hotel to a larger venue, Warner Park Stadium, and the SKMF is now a fixture on calendars of events throughout the Caribbean, and probably right across the “global village.”
Three cheers for the SKMF management committee and all the 35,000 souls on the 64.9 square miles of volcanic rock that looks like a chicken drumstick, with sister island Nevis sitting off the southeast tip like an over-sized McDonald’s nugget.
For more information contact St. Kitts Tourism toll free: US 1-800-582-6208 and Canada 1-888-395-4887.
Monday, June 06, 2011
By Lionel Gayle
The above headline certainly reflects a kind of gender disparity.
However, the clever defence lawyer who highlighted that female tendency in a Jamaican court many years ago wasn’t pitting a woman’s character against a man’s.
His male client was before the court for the possession of ganja – more politely called marijuana or cannabis. As it turned out, the attorney allegedly argued convincingly that what his client had in his possession was the male substance of the species. Back then the Jamaican law had identified the female stock of the cannabis sativa strain as the more potent form of hemp.
I cannot recall if in those days the possession of the male cannabis would’ve resulted in an acquittal, or a lighter penalty. But subsequently, as I understood it, the Government of Jamaica amended its narcotics law to embrace both strains of ganja as being dangerous and equally illegal.
Today the feminization of cannabis is a big deal; but it is mostly a business concern for grow-operators who maintain that “female plants that have not been pollinated” produce more marijuana buds. So it’s a cardinal rule not to keep a male plant in a grow room, since the goal is to produce the highly potent sinsemilla (seedless buds).
As the worldwide war on drugs reportedly failed, the high-profile signatories to a report that calls for an end to such futile exercise, said cannabis should be among the drugs decriminalized.
And when the Global Commission on Drug Policy released its report June 2, 2011, in New York, it pointed out that the failure came “with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world.”
One of its recommendations is that drug-users who don’t harm others should not be criminalized, marginalized or stigmatized. (http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/Report).
Although cannabis is illegal in Canada, this country was the first nation to legalize medical marijuana for the terminally ill “and those suffering certain painful debilities.” Currently, there are more than 4,000 Canadians licensed to use weed for medical purposes.
But in the meantime, the country has been given 90 days to revamp its marijuana laws which a Province of Ontario judge has deemed unconstitutional. The countdown started April 13, 2011.
Sometime in early 2011, the United States recorded its one millionth “legal medical marijuana patients,” who are licensed in sixteen states and the District of Columbia. And a company called weGrow has opened a 21,000-square-foot store in Arizona to sell marijuana grow-op products. The International Business Times, on June 2, 2011, dubbed it the “Wal-Mart of Weed.” (http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/156173/20110602/marijuana-wal-mart-of-weed-home-depot-arizona-la-detroit-federal-crime-medical-marijuana-wegrow-dhar.htm).
In Jamaica where it’s zero tolerance for the possession of the weed, the National Commission on Ganja, in 2001, recommended that the government decriminalize the use of the drug “in small quantities by adults and also as a religious sacrament.” And in April 2011 the government appointed a committee to review the recommendations in that report.
If reggae star Peter Tosh were still around he would have had more reasons to sing his landmark song, “Legalize It” (And I will advertise it). And chances are, the controversial showman would’ve had some disagreement with the Jamaican senior who has expressed his hatred for the word “legalize,” merely because “you can’t legalize weh [what] God create, because God a God.”
The above headline certainly reflects a kind of gender disparity.
However, the clever defence lawyer who highlighted that female tendency in a Jamaican court many years ago wasn’t pitting a woman’s character against a man’s.
His male client was before the court for the possession of ganja – more politely called marijuana or cannabis. As it turned out, the attorney allegedly argued convincingly that what his client had in his possession was the male substance of the species. Back then the Jamaican law had identified the female stock of the cannabis sativa strain as the more potent form of hemp.
I cannot recall if in those days the possession of the male cannabis would’ve resulted in an acquittal, or a lighter penalty. But subsequently, as I understood it, the Government of Jamaica amended its narcotics law to embrace both strains of ganja as being dangerous and equally illegal.
Today the feminization of cannabis is a big deal; but it is mostly a business concern for grow-operators who maintain that “female plants that have not been pollinated” produce more marijuana buds. So it’s a cardinal rule not to keep a male plant in a grow room, since the goal is to produce the highly potent sinsemilla (seedless buds).
As the worldwide war on drugs reportedly failed, the high-profile signatories to a report that calls for an end to such futile exercise, said cannabis should be among the drugs decriminalized.
And when the Global Commission on Drug Policy released its report June 2, 2011, in New York, it pointed out that the failure came “with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world.”
One of its recommendations is that drug-users who don’t harm others should not be criminalized, marginalized or stigmatized. (http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/Report).
Although cannabis is illegal in Canada, this country was the first nation to legalize medical marijuana for the terminally ill “and those suffering certain painful debilities.” Currently, there are more than 4,000 Canadians licensed to use weed for medical purposes.
But in the meantime, the country has been given 90 days to revamp its marijuana laws which a Province of Ontario judge has deemed unconstitutional. The countdown started April 13, 2011.
Sometime in early 2011, the United States recorded its one millionth “legal medical marijuana patients,” who are licensed in sixteen states and the District of Columbia. And a company called weGrow has opened a 21,000-square-foot store in Arizona to sell marijuana grow-op products. The International Business Times, on June 2, 2011, dubbed it the “Wal-Mart of Weed.” (http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/156173/20110602/marijuana-wal-mart-of-weed-home-depot-arizona-la-detroit-federal-crime-medical-marijuana-wegrow-dhar.htm).
In Jamaica where it’s zero tolerance for the possession of the weed, the National Commission on Ganja, in 2001, recommended that the government decriminalize the use of the drug “in small quantities by adults and also as a religious sacrament.” And in April 2011 the government appointed a committee to review the recommendations in that report.
If reggae star Peter Tosh were still around he would have had more reasons to sing his landmark song, “Legalize It” (And I will advertise it). And chances are, the controversial showman would’ve had some disagreement with the Jamaican senior who has expressed his hatred for the word “legalize,” merely because “you can’t legalize weh [what] God create, because God a God.”
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
By Lionel Gayle
It is no longer called Caribana, but don’t expect major changes when the world-renowned Caribbean festival kicks off its annual three-week run July 12.
Even with a new name on its 44th anniversary, it remains North America’s grandest summer fete. But Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto (SCCT) is a helluva mouthful for the name of a merrymaking event. Still, that shouldn’t be a deterrent to the thousands of revellers who are expected to converge on Toronto for the cultural explosion. (http://www.thestar.com/news/article/996630--caribana-unveils-its-new-name?bn=1).
And even though, in May 2011, an Ontario Superior Court forbade the five-year-old Festival Management Committee (FMC) to use the old name, I believe people will still call the event Caribana. And as time goes by you’ll probably hear “Scotia Carnival,” “Toronto Carnival,” “Scotiabank Festival” or some other easy-sounding variations.
However, the Caribana Arts Group (CAG) – former organizer of the event – whom the court had declared the rightful owner of the Caribana trademark seems very unhappy with the name-change which it calls “a theft.” It has expressed its intention to reclaim control of the festival under the Caribana banner. (http://www.sharenews.com/local-news/2011/05/26/fmc-renames-caribana-festival-amid-controversy).
Looking back over the years, it seemed that long ago Caribana had evolved beyond the manageability of CAG’s predecessor, the Caribbean Cultural Committee (CCC) who started the festival in 1967. In fact, in the past the CCC had been severely criticized and accused of mismanaging the festival, even by members of its own community.
So for whatever reason, the City of Toronto and the Ontario government yanked their Caribana funding in 2006, it’s of little importance now. But at the time of the drastic action the CCC was blamed for its consistent failure “to produce adequate financial statements.”
Despite the controversy, the SCCT office said on June 1 that everything was in place for the official launch of the carnival on July 12, at Metro Hall, downtown Toronto.
If you are going to the Caribbean Carnival for the first time, take note that the Grand Parade is the showcase of the three-week revelry. It is scheduled for Saturday, July 30, along Lakeshore Blvd., a short distance from the edge of Lake Ontario.
It starts about mid-morning at the nearby Exhibition Place where several mas’ bands, some with hundreds of participants, will dance up a storm in front of a panel of judges and a paid audience. Then one-by-one, each group will trek out of the stadium onto Lakeshore Blvd. and head west on a 3.5-kilometre journey that ends at a designated dispersal point.
As the procession moves along the route, the sounds of calypso, soca, reggae, and a few other popular music beats will blare from speaker boxes atop elaborate floats – some with live performers. Observe the scantily clad mas players in their splendiferous costumes as they gyrate suggestively in front and alongside the slow-moving floats.
Perhaps as many as one million revellers from all walks of life will stand behind metal bars, along the parade route, to witness the spectacular display of the multi-ethnic Caribbean culture. Don’t hesitate to join the excitement. Jump and shout; get “something and wave” – a rag or a flag.
If it rains on the parade, the intermittent showers won’t dampen the spirits of masqueraders and onlookers, but the blazing sun can be brutal. However, there are tons of remedies close by – neatly placed stalls and kiosks sell anything from bottled water to a wide variety of ethnic foods, as well as lots of exotic arts and crafts items.
This link will give you a list of some necessary items that you should take to the Carnival Parade. (http://www.torontocaribbeancarnival.com/pagedisplay.aspx?i=239).
It is no longer called Caribana, but don’t expect major changes when the world-renowned Caribbean festival kicks off its annual three-week run July 12.
Even with a new name on its 44th anniversary, it remains North America’s grandest summer fete. But Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto (SCCT) is a helluva mouthful for the name of a merrymaking event. Still, that shouldn’t be a deterrent to the thousands of revellers who are expected to converge on Toronto for the cultural explosion. (http://www.thestar.com/news/article/996630--caribana-unveils-its-new-name?bn=1).
And even though, in May 2011, an Ontario Superior Court forbade the five-year-old Festival Management Committee (FMC) to use the old name, I believe people will still call the event Caribana. And as time goes by you’ll probably hear “Scotia Carnival,” “Toronto Carnival,” “Scotiabank Festival” or some other easy-sounding variations.
However, the Caribana Arts Group (CAG) – former organizer of the event – whom the court had declared the rightful owner of the Caribana trademark seems very unhappy with the name-change which it calls “a theft.” It has expressed its intention to reclaim control of the festival under the Caribana banner. (http://www.sharenews.com/local-news/2011/05/26/fmc-renames-caribana-festival-amid-controversy).
Looking back over the years, it seemed that long ago Caribana had evolved beyond the manageability of CAG’s predecessor, the Caribbean Cultural Committee (CCC) who started the festival in 1967. In fact, in the past the CCC had been severely criticized and accused of mismanaging the festival, even by members of its own community.
So for whatever reason, the City of Toronto and the Ontario government yanked their Caribana funding in 2006, it’s of little importance now. But at the time of the drastic action the CCC was blamed for its consistent failure “to produce adequate financial statements.”
Despite the controversy, the SCCT office said on June 1 that everything was in place for the official launch of the carnival on July 12, at Metro Hall, downtown Toronto.
If you are going to the Caribbean Carnival for the first time, take note that the Grand Parade is the showcase of the three-week revelry. It is scheduled for Saturday, July 30, along Lakeshore Blvd., a short distance from the edge of Lake Ontario.
It starts about mid-morning at the nearby Exhibition Place where several mas’ bands, some with hundreds of participants, will dance up a storm in front of a panel of judges and a paid audience. Then one-by-one, each group will trek out of the stadium onto Lakeshore Blvd. and head west on a 3.5-kilometre journey that ends at a designated dispersal point.
As the procession moves along the route, the sounds of calypso, soca, reggae, and a few other popular music beats will blare from speaker boxes atop elaborate floats – some with live performers. Observe the scantily clad mas players in their splendiferous costumes as they gyrate suggestively in front and alongside the slow-moving floats.
Perhaps as many as one million revellers from all walks of life will stand behind metal bars, along the parade route, to witness the spectacular display of the multi-ethnic Caribbean culture. Don’t hesitate to join the excitement. Jump and shout; get “something and wave” – a rag or a flag.
If it rains on the parade, the intermittent showers won’t dampen the spirits of masqueraders and onlookers, but the blazing sun can be brutal. However, there are tons of remedies close by – neatly placed stalls and kiosks sell anything from bottled water to a wide variety of ethnic foods, as well as lots of exotic arts and crafts items.
This link will give you a list of some necessary items that you should take to the Carnival Parade. (http://www.torontocaribbeancarnival.com/pagedisplay.aspx?i=239).
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