8 Books I Plan To Reread This Year

When I think about it, there are not that many books that I have reread over the years, though there have always been some books that I have intended to reread. So this year, I’m going to do some intentional rereading and here are eight books on my list.

1. Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

I read this when I was 12 or 13 and it consumed me for a couple of weeks. I squeezed it into every spare moment. I remember a few times being so engrossed reading it on the bus from school that I missed my usual bus stop and had a longer walk home than usual. I cried when I finished it, as I wanted the fantastical journey to go on forever. My older brother was surprised to find out recently that I had never reread Lord of the Rings, as he says he rereads it every few years.

2. Augustown by Kei Miller

As soon as I finished reading Augustown a few weeks ago, I had an immediate impulse to go to the beginning and start reading it again. As though there was some seamless way in which this story could (should) keep playing out. I can’t remember ever having had that impulse with another book. There is a compelling mix of the historical story of Bedward, the groundedness of people and communities dealing with real life in the 80s and the mythical and fabulous running through it all. Cutting of hair was revived in Jamaican public discourse last year, demonstrating that things past are still present and things fictional are often not fictional at all.

3. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

This is the first of Adichie’s books that I read and I felt its impact for a long time after I read it. There is something monumental about the novel, which captures brilliantly that sense of people living their lives into and through a major historical event or period. As the reader, you may know to some degree the outcome of the event or the details of the period, but what you don’t know is what will happen to the fictional characters. When I read this time,  I will already know what happens in this novel about the Nigeria-Biafra war. And I want to see what difference that makes to how I experience this amazing story.

 

4. Young Warriors by V.S. Reid

A childhood favourite. My brothers and I went through multiple copies of this children’s novel. Maroon boys helping to defeat Red Coats was good fun. I have read it to younger siblings and cousins and my own children as well, but I’d like to reread it myself one more time, just for fun.

 

5. 1984 by George Orwell

Because of Donald Trump.

6. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Also because of Donald Trump. By chance, I was reading Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower at the time of the US election last November and then read Parable of the Talents soon after, both about people trying to survive in a dystopian America. Which was rather eerie. A time for dystopian novels?

7. The Middle Passage: The Caribbean revisited by V. S. Naipaul

When I was eighteen I read and enjoyed Naipaul’s The Mystic Masseur and Miguel Street. On a Naipaul streak, I then read The Middle Passage. I disliked the book so intensely that it put me off Naipaul for life. Seriously, I have never read any of Naipaul’s other books, fiction or non-fiction. It is a rather shameful admission to make! I have bought a number of his books since then and have long intended to give him another try, but haven’t. So I intend to reread The Middle Passage to see how (if) decades more of living have changed my reaction. Then, perhaps, more Naipaul….

8. Summer Lightning and Other Stories by Olive Senior

This is one of my favourite collections of short stories; I still remember how much I enjoyed it when I first read it back in the late 80s. I have reread individual stories since, but not the entire volume. One story has  perhaps the most intriguing story title I have encountered – “Do Angels Wear Brassieres?” I will have to buy a new copy of the book , as I can’t find my old copy. (Trying to remember if I lent it to someone….)

There are some books I read and enjoyed decades ago that I wouldn’t attempt to read again, as I know that I wouldn’t enjoy them as much now. But it will be interesting to revisit the books on my list as a different reader and to see how that and the passage of time affects the experience. The two books that I read most recently will both stand rereading – Half of a Yellow Sun ( a few years ago) and Augustown (a few weeks ago) – and I  look forward to going beyond the experience of first reading to something more.

(This also makes me think of looking at the books I have reread in the past and my reasons for doing so. Another blog post.)

 

 

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Cups Without Handles: Weekly Photo Challenge – Repurpose

“For this challenge, show us something you’ve put to new use.”

Sometimes – quite often in our household, it seems – a cup loses its handle. A cup without a handle becomes a pot to put things in.

Tiny plants.

Pens and pencils.

Loose cloves of garlic.

Broken and still useful…

Weekly Photo Challenge – Repurpose

Jamaica & #Zika One Year Later: First Probable Case of Zika-Related Microcephaly

On January 30, 2016, the Ministry of Health (MOH) notified the public of Jamaica’s first confirmed case of the zika virus. Almost a year later it has notified the public of the first probable case of a baby born with zika-related microcephaly.

The MOH post on its website gave brief information about the case and some background information regarding actions taken and to be taken by the Ministry. (Click here for full brief.)

In media interviews, Chief Medical Officer Dr Winston De La Haye indicated that the baby had been born in late December 2016 at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital, that the mother had had a rash during her pregnancy and that tests done for other possible causes of microcephaly, such as HIV  and toxoplasmosis, had come back negative. He said that the Ministry is now awaiting results of tests for zika infection in the baby, which would confirm this as zika-related microcephaly, if the results are positive. He also spoke about the support which will be given to the family and the baby over the coming years.

Dr De La Haye noted that to date there have been 21 suspected cases of zika-related microcephaly in Jamaica, but only this one probable case and no confirmed cases.Suspected, probable and confirmed cases are classified as follows:

MOH October 26, 2016 Brief on Zika Virus Outbreak in Jamaica

We wait to see if this probable case is confirmed and if there are more babies born with probable or confirmed conditions related to zika infection. Jamaica, like so many other countries which have had a zika outbreak, may not experience the level of problematic conditions in babies that has been documented in Brazil.

Other Caribbean countries, including Trinidad & Tobago, Grenada and Guadeloupe, have reported confirmed cases of Zika congenital syndrome.

Zika Outbreak Data

The following chart showing zika data from August – December 2016 is compiled from data posted in periodic updates on the MOH website. The actual number of zika infections would be significantly higher than given, taking into consideration those who had symptoms but never visited a doctor or clinic, those doctors who may not have reported all cases they saw and those people who had a zika infection but never displayed any symptoms. 

The October 26, 2016 MOH brief, also on the website,  contains further information about the status of the zika outbreak in Jamaica at that point in time, such as this figure showing the distribution of zika across the parishes:

and this section giving figures for cases of dengue and chikungunya during the same period.

A year after the first confirmed case of zika in Jamaica, the outbreak is long past its peak; the number of reported cases has been on a downward trend for months. Now we wait to see what level of impact the virus has on babies being born in the wake of the outbreak. It will also be useful to see at some point an assessment of the government’s overall response to the outbreak.

 

 

Bird at Sunrise: Weekly Photo Challenge – Graceful

“Gracefulness is a tricky quality — it manifests itself as an effortless, subtle harmony between a subject and its environment….For this week’s challenge, share something that says “graceful” to you”.

It was morning and the bird sat on a thin branch of the privet hedge, eating. Its head went up and down smoothly, as it easily picked the fruit out of the open pods. Oblivious to the sunrise or the clumsy human observer.

Weekly Photo Challenge – Graceful

It’s All About Waiting: Weekly Photo Challenge – Ambience

This week is about ambience. “What have you photographed with exceptional ambience?”

Airport ambience is all about waiting. Everything geared towards going somewhere. But so much time spent sitting still.Chairs waiting to be filled.Chairs waiting to be filled.Planes waiting. People waiting.Sitting and waiting to go.

Click here Weekly Photo Challenge – Ambience to see more of this week’s submissions.

A National Hero & An International Airport: Weekly Photo Challenge – Names

“This week, share a photo that includes a name.”

In 1972, the Government of Jamaica changed the name of the Palisadoes Airport in Kingston to the Norman Manley International Airport, in honour of National Hero the Right Excellent Norman Washington Manley.There is a display in the main hall of the airport that gives information about Norman Manley.And at the airport, his name appears on things large……and small. (Does anyone else remember when the parking tickets contained a typo and read “Normal Manley International Airport”? I used to ask jokingly whether that meant there were some abnormal Manleys.)

Weekly Photo Challenge – Names

Add Kei Miller’s “Augustown” to Your To-Read List

I am currently in that temporary space that I sometimes occupy having just finished a book that has captured my imagination for days or weeks, depending on how long it has taken me to read it. The book is finished but I am still inhabiting its world, unwilling or unable to let its time, its place, its people go. This time the book that I have finished but have not yet left is Kei Miller’s novel “Augustown”.

The novel is set in the fictional community of Augustown, geographically located at 17° 59′ 0″ North, 76° 44′ 0″ West, we are told, “a community that bears an uncanny resemblance to and shares a parallel history with a very real place: August Town, Jamaica.” The novel moves between the 1920s and the 1980s and as the narrator says:

“When the past takes hold of us, it does not let go easily. We find ourselves, miraculously, in two places at once.”

Every character in the novel feels as though s/he has been well-seasoned and simmered long. You learn more about some than others, savour some more than others, which is the way with any book. “Irie Tafari, otherwise known as Ma Taffy” is the blind, old woman who bridges the two places in time, telling the story of Alexander Bedward, the flying preacherman, even as we are shepherded towards the autoclaps that takes place in the 1980s. Because when young Kaia runs home crying and tells Ma Taffy “Is the teacher, Grandma. Is Mr Saint-Josephs who cut off my dreadlocks”, you know it can’t end just so. You know, as Ma Taffy knows before she even knows what was done to Kaia, that it can’t end just so:

Ma Taffy lifts the spliff back to her mouth. She is growing nervous. Another coming autoclaps. ‘Steady your heart, Taffy, ‘she whispers to herself. ‘Steady.’

So you journey through time and place, walking into the lives of the characters – Bongo Moody, Mrs G, Miss G, Mr Saint-Josephs, his wife Mary, Governor Leslie Probyn, Sister Gilzene, Soft-Paw and others – and whether you walk with a character for a mile or only a few fleeting steps, you feel you have glimpsed someone real, or someone who could have been real. (Brief note – the only one that feels undone to me is Richard Azaar, the “brash businessman”, who could have done with a pinch more seasoning and half-an-hour more on the stove.)

The novel is an exercise in story-telling, quite explicitly, and has the feel of a fable, of folklore. The story of Bedward, from one perspective or another, is part of both Jamaican history and Jamaican folklore. The story of Rastas having their locks trimmed is also part of Jamaican history and a legendary image of abuse. Kei Miller easily mixes mythical threads with excerpts from Gleaner archives, as he tells a deeply moving story of individual lives and of divisions – class, colour, race, religion, culture –  and the impact on people and communities. Things that are past but are still present.

If you haven’t already, you might want to read “Augustown”.

Advertising for Police Commissioner & Other Public Posts

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Novelette Grant will assume the position of Acting-Commissioner on January 7, 2017, when the current Commissioner’s resignation takes effect. Commissioner Carl Williams’ resignation became public on December 22, 2016, when his resignation letter, submitted weeks earlier, was leaked. Commissioner Williams explained that the timing and manner in which his resignation became public knowledge wasn’t the best, as it had been planned that the news wouldn’t be made public until the selection of Acting-Commissioner had been completed. This RJR report (including an audio clip from his interview with journalist Dionne Jackson Miller) was one of many media reports dealing with the news of Commissioner Williams’ resignation at the time.

The Ministry of National Security quickly issued a press release  thanking Commissioner Williams for his service and dealing with other issues connected with the resignation and replacement process. (mns-police-commissioner-to-demit-office-22-12-16)

The following day, the Police Service Commission (PSC) announced that DCP Grant would act as Commissioner during the search period, a process that is expected to take 90 days. In a speech on Sunday (Jan 1, 2017), DCP Grant made the pragmatic statement that there would be no miracles in the process of dealing with crime and none should be expected of her.

Also on Sunday, the advertisement for the post of Commissioner was carried in the press. It focussed on the duties and responsibilities of Commissioner and set out the deadline and contacts for submission of applications. DCP Grant is so far the only person to have publicly declared an intention to apply for the post and she is, in fact, a very likely candidate for selection.

I think that the advertisement posted is seriously lacking in one regard. It does not set out in any specificity the qualifications and experience required of applicants for the post of Commissioner of Police. What level of experience in law enforcement is required? Must experience be within policing or will experience in some other context be considered, for example the military, correctional services or private security? Is there a minimum number of years of experience necessary for consideration? What level of supervisory/managerial experience is required? What are the preferred and minimum educational requirements for the post? These are a few of the requirements that could reasonably be expected to be specified in such an advertisement. It would also be useful to know if the PSC is advertising the post outside of Jamaica, regionally or further afield.

I have long thought that this is an approach that should be taken routinely when advertising vacant public posts, not just for the current vacancy for Commissioner of Police. It gives the public a clearer idea of the criteria considered important for successful fulfilment of the job. It also gives the public a basis for evaluating how well the candidate eventually appointed meets the required qualifications and experience for the post. This would support the increased move towards transparency and accountability required in modern approaches to good governance. It is not too late for the PSC to adopt this approach, and perhaps it is time for this to become routine and required when advertising  vacancies for public posts in Jamaica.

 

 

 

350 Words Or Less: The New Year Begins

It is an artificial designation…that one day the old year ends and the next day the new year begins. But it serves a useful purpose in the calendar, Gregorian or otherwise. It provides a moment for reflection on the year past and contemplation of the year to come.

Where I was for the last sunrise of 2016, the sky was almost cloudless, and the sun came up over the hills with a bright golden glow. I greeted it with Lorna Goodison’s “The Chant of Light” from her poem “Ceremony for the Banishment of the King of Swords” in the collection “Heartease”, part of which reads:

We have light.

Only who gave it

can put it out

We have light

diffusing dark

cancelling doubt…

We have light

You see

We have light.

Sunrise on the first day of 2017 was very different. There was heavy cloud in the sky, and I couldn’t see the sun itself as it rose above the hills, only its light reflected on the clouds.

The New Year designation reminds that we have a chance to begin again. Not from scratch. Not with a slate wiped clean. But that we can renew efforts, that we can make different choices, that we can review and set new intentions. (I still remember the voice of the first GPS system I experienced in a car, almost 10 years ago. When you veered from the set route, the GPS voice took a moment to set the new route, all the time saying “Recalibrating….Recalibrating.”) While appreciating the New Year’s opportunity for recalibrating, however, it’s good to remember that this opportunity exists at every point in the year. One of my favourite affirmative statements is: The point of power is always in the present moment.

Happy New Year!