RIP Lou: Sunday, October 27, 2013

It’s been a sad and nostalgic Sunday for me, with the news that one of my truest, fiercest musical icons, Lou Reed, passed away this morning. OK, that dates me, I know. But I spent half the day rummaging through YouTube, endlessly replaying the dark, gritty and sometimes melodic sounds of Velvet Underground, and Lou. What a remarkable songwriter he was, too.

Meanwhile, I knew it was only a matter of time before the Riverton City dump (no, it’s not a landfill) caught fire. Today firefighters were trying to save people’s homes, made of board and zinc. If you have never been there – you should. It is not a place for anyone to live.

Seems everyone is running off to China these days: Education Minister Ronald Thwaites is trying to get China to take some of our trained teachers that we don’t have jobs for. I’m all for Jamaicans learning more languages, but why would Chinese people want to come all the way here to learn English? And the highly-favored Mayor of May Pen, Scean Barnswell – that’s right, the Mayor who sees no reason to resign – has been off to an agritourism conference in – yes, you’ve guessed it, China. Three questions: Who pays for these trips? What is the cost of a return flight to China (first class? Since our Prime Minister always travels first class I expect her officials/ministers do too?) And thirdly, what the blazes is agritourism? Read more here: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20131025/lead/lead5.html and http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20131025/news/news8.html

It took the murder of a young Woman Special Constable for our National Security Minister Peter Bunting to open his mouth and speak about our horrible murder rate, which has simply taken off this month. In my next post, I will do a quick tally and give you a rough idea of the number of murders for October. Even after the National Heroes Day bloodbath Minister Bunting said not a word, until this poor young woman was killed. At least he did say that every death was a tragedy, whether a policeman/woman or not.

Are you as weary as I am with the Jamaica Labour Party leadership race? It seems to be dragging on interminably. When is their conference? I know the date changed. Oh, it’s November 3. Good. I am really tired of nightly TV news items of men and women in various shades of green sitting in school classrooms at tiny little desks they can hardly fit into while Mr. Holness or Mr. Shaw, sweating profusely, tries to get some excitement going with a microphone. (These are delegates’ meetings). The Sunday Gleaner reports here: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=48913

No endorsement: By the way, G2K (the JLP’s young professionals arm, and a very effective political entity in many ways) is not endorsing either candidate. President Floyd Green says, “While we expect that our members will be actively involved in either campaign, their views and expressions of support are personal.” I think that’s fair enough.

Oh no, I got it wrong: The JLP conference is on November 10! Two more weeks? Well, we will just have to brave it out a bit longer… The end is in sight

Goat Islands alert: The Ministry of Industry, Investment & Commerce will be holding what appears to be a closed-doors, highly-priced forum on the logistics hub, excluding the average Jamaican, for the private sector, on November 12. I wonder if the media will be allowed in. This coincides with a meeting of the Iguana Specialist Group at Hope Zoo – including many representatives from the United States, Australia and elsewhere. Why is this meeting not open to the public? Your guess is as good as mine. Also, Minister of Everything Omar Davies says an announcement will be made in the Lower House (possibly Tuesday) on the preliminary report into the use of Goat Islands. See here: http://rjrnewsonline.com/local/findings-of-goat-islands-study-to-be-released-this-week. And last week a group of European diplomats toured the Portland Bight Protected Area and “congratulated” the Government on its concern for the environment, while touring mangrove restoration projects that the EU funded. Some subtle (not so subtle?) messages here, I think! Read more here: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20131027/news/news5.html

And the tiefing continues… In some communities the latest ruse by the light thieves is to connect to street lights to steal their electricity. As a result, whole neighborhoods are plunged in darkness, thus encouraging more crime. In other communities, the theft of copper wiring from LIME installations is becoming a regular nightmare. Whenever it happens, residents’ phones and Internet services disappear, and LIME loses millions. Is the police aware of any of this and why can’t they do something about it? Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/No-light-matter__15314255 and http://rjrnewsonline.com/local/scrap-metal-federation-distances-itself-from-theft-of-limes-copper-cables

Holiday for students of Oracabessa Primary: Students at this school got a few unexpected days’ holiday after it was discovered that the place became infested by fleas over the long holiday weekend. Some stray dogs lolling about in the cellar were blamed. I found the reports baffling. The cleaning ladies swore that they kept the building spotless, while the Principal mumbled something quite meaningless. Two days after the weekend, the problem remained. I hope the students are back at school tomorrow.

A little more “ruly”: I know that’s not a real word… The unruly students of the Half Way Tree Transport Centre in Kingston have been tamed…for now, according to the Jamaica Observer. I have a feeling that this story might recur in the future though. A bit like the Riverton City dump fire story.

A change of heart: Mr. Damion “Build, build, build” Crawford, the Junior Tourism Minister, was once much more environmentally aware, it seems. When interviewed for the Gleaner’s tourism supplement some years ago along with environmentalist Wendy Lee, a more youthful (and he would now say, perhaps, naïve?) Crawford declared: “For a tropical country whose tourism relies totally on the state of its natural environment, we are not even close to adhering to even our own national standards…In many cases, environmental impact assessments are not being done where they are required, solid waste management remains poor and there continues to be widespread dumping of sewage in the sea.” Oh, how people change when they obtain political office! You can read the article here: http://hospitalityjamaica.com/20080514/environ2.html (Oh, will an environmental impact assessment be done on Goat Islands, one wonders?)

Jamaicans need beaches: Last Sunday I referred to Archbishop Howard Gregory’s excellent column on access to beaches (or the lack thereof, in most cases) with particular reference to Little Dunn’s River, which has been summarily closed by the Urban Development Corporation because of illegal activities allegedly taking place there. This is not the way to do it. Our recreational spaces (and opportunities to enjoy what’s left of our beautiful coastline) are becoming fewer and fewer. I understand that church leaders and concerned residents in the Ocho Rios area are not going to take this one lightly. Think again, UDC!

Some things I have not heard much about lately… *Trafigura *Medical tourism *The Tivoli Commission of Enquiry – date!

Note to Television Jamaica: I am not impressed by your new practice of airing rather poor video footage of a radio discussion program on RJR earlier in the day as “news” every Sunday evening. I know TVJ and RJR are part of the same media group, but this is lame and doesn’t work. It also just seems very lazy. What works for radio does not always work for television, does it? Or don’t you know that?

Speaking of “lame”… The Gleaner’s editorials are becoming more and more limply apologetic. The Sunday Gleaner editorial this week (“The PM’s next step”) left me dumbfounded. Stunned, even. It reads like an essay by a high school student who has copied some nice-sounding words from the Internet, with grammatical errors and politely meaningless clichés thrown in. What planet are you living on, Mr/Ms Gleaner editor? Here is the link: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20131027/cleisure/cleisure1.html

Recommended from elsewhere… I came across a great TED talk by one of my heroes, Jane Goodall, about “How humans and animals can live together.” Here’s the link. It’s food for thought, allow yourself twenty minutes to watch and I think you will enjoy it: http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_goodall_at_tedglobal_07.html

For those who want to delve into history and learn more about the descendants of the Tainos across our region (yes, there are still descendants), this is a fascinating read: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/What-Became-of-the-Taino.html

Sunday kudos to:

Digicel Foundation who pulled off another tremendous Night Run/Walk downtown on Saturday night. I understand that an astonishing 7,500 Jamaicans participated. This was the second such fundraising event. I hope (and believe) they raised lots of money for Jamaicans – adults and children – with special needs. Congraulations!
I Believe Initiative for their marvelous National Youth Conference last Thursday. I wrote about it over the weekend. I Believe chose the three speakers well, and I think many of those young people attending were inspired. It was good to see them actively participating in discussions, too. Here’s my article: https://petchary.wordpress.com/2013/10/27/helping-our-youth-to-believe-in-themselves/
JPS Foundation for their “model school” projects. CEO Kelly Tomblin (looking very jazzy in a pink dress and white-framed sunglasses) broke ground at the Falmouth Basic School this week. The relatively new Foundation’s focus is education and youth leadership. Good for them!
Hampton School, an excellent girls’ boarding school in rural St. Elizabeth, which is “going green.” And more thanks to Digicel Foundation for supporting this forward-thinking effort. I do hope more schools – and in particular, government offices – will follow suit. http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20131026/lead/lead6.html
The Jamaican organizations who have just received grants from the U.S. Embassy under the President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Small Grants Program administered by the U.S. Department of State: Eve for Life, Mustard Seed Communities, National Council on Drug Abuse, Caribbean Community of Retired Persons and BREDS – the Treasure Beach Foundation.

It has been an especially horrible week, and the sadness continues, every day, relentlessly. I am going to start posting photos of those murdered, where available. So that we know they are real people, not statistics. Their grieving families and friends know they are people, and I send my sympathies to all.

Unidentified man, Arnett Gardens, Kingston

Jason Armstrong, Conway Road, Kingston 11

Jason Mais, 19, Mud Town, St. Andrew

“Indian,” August Town, St. Andrew

Special Constable Arianna Henry, 23, Portmore, St. Catherine

Gavin Huggins, Frazers Content, St. Catherine

Unidentified man, Burke Road, Spanish Town, St. Catherine

Pixiean Brandford, 23, Harker’s Hall, St. Catherine (on October 21)

Glendon Clarke, West End, Negril, Westmoreland

Tashman Stevenson, 32, Mount Carey, St. James

Leo Oldfield, 44, Mount Carey, St. James

Unidentified woman, Adelphi, St. James