Our unbounded influencence

Very few people appreciate the role music played in lightening the load of our ancestors during slavery better than Colin Smith. 

Smith who was awarded a Badge of Honor by the Jamaican government in 2025 for his role in the preservation of Jamaican culture, is not only the Chairman of the Louise Bennett Heritage Council but is also founder/leader of  the Miami based Tallawah Mento Band. It's in that role that he was recently invited to Costa Rica in April 2026 to address the 2nd Marcus Garvey  Symposium on the topic "How enslaved Africans used music to lighten their burden."

The heart of Jamaican culture in Costa Rica is in the province of Limón where it is estimated that of the over 65,000 population there, 75% have Caribbean ancestry, and also in nearby Puerto Viejo (translation Old Harbour!) where Jamaican colors and food dominate. 

Some Tallawah band members pose beside the sign.

Like so many other places in Central America, thousands of Jamaicans moved there and settled after working on the Panama Canal and they retained their culture.

I first visited Limón decades ago after hitching a ride on a Jamaica Producers vessel which used to go there to fill up with bananas to meet its British quota.

What stood out in my mind then was not only how most people could switch from our patois to grammatical Spanish seamlessly but also how our favorite traditional dishes were easily available everywhere. 

On my second visit, I learned that Hon. PJ Patterson, Prime Minister was honored there in 2001. 

What I never knew then was that Garvey was held up in such high esteem there that each year on the 18th April, they put on activities to honor him. 

He had been working there as a timekeeper and between 1910-1911. When he saw the exploitation of the black workers on the banana plantations there, he not only established a branch of the UNIA but also a hub there for his Black Star Liner.

In 2023, Costa Rica declared Garvey an honorary citizen for his contributions to culture and human rights.

It was no doubt a great honor for the Tallawah Band, one of the last surviving mento bands, to be included in this year's festivities.  

They even performed on their first  night in Costa Rica at La Caribena in the Capital San Jose, before going  

on to Limón. 

The performance there  received overwhelming applause. 

I really don't know that too many of our countrymen really appreciate how our culture is revered in so many corners of the globe and the fact that we may even still have many relatives in diverse places that we know little about.

Below are snippets of Tallawah's performance in Costa Rica. 

Nb. Pics and videos contributed by Anette Smith.

That exhibition!

 I am sure happy that I took in the Sistine Chapel exhibition at La Galleria in Fort Lauderdale, as it made me appreciate all over again, the sheer genius of Michaelangelo.

I had actually visited the Sistine Chapel itself in the Vatican decades ago, when my children were just pre-teens but I don't think I appreciated what he had actually accomplished and gave the world. 

In fact the only thing I really remembered was the fact that he had painted the ceiling of the Chapel, lying on his back for the entire time.😊 

Random Old Testament prophets above.

It's only now since I have started to take art classes, that the depth of his ability, conquest of every detail and the general production really hit me. 

Remember, in the 1500's, artists had to make their own paints, (you couldnt walk into a store and pick the medium and your colors😁). His use of colors, tints and shades is therefore out of this world.

Further he had no pictures to guide him, so everything came from imagination. 

He got his inspiration from the Old Testament, but it's his interpretation of those texts that is so dynamic.

Noah drunk and naked.

The great flood.

Another angle of the great flood.

The Adam and Eve story.

Some aspects of the judgement.

The judgement en toto.

I am certainly not into religion, but his dynamic interpretation of some of those characters and events is phenomenal.

So happy I went down to Fort Lauderdale and enjoyed it with fellow student Helena.

Even happier that I have this blog so can turn to it from time to time to remind myself what real genius is!

Whoever can, should take it in.

Bad luck and obeah.

 It's really true, bad luck really wussa dan obeah.😡 

How do I know? Because, obeah only works if you believe in it but bad luck jus bad.

My experience with obeah happened many decades ago before disposable razors were invented. I was then a weekly columnist with a leading  newspaper and one day, an innocuous looking letter arrived at my home in a small white envelope. No return address. 

When I opened it, it had in nothing but a shiny, brand new razor blade with a long black strand of hair wrapped around it. No letter or note inside. 

Right away  I realized it must be some attempt at obeah sent by someone who was upset about something I had written. (I regularly got abusive, dissenting mail!)

As I don't believe in obeah, I screwed the blade into my razor and used it several times to shave my leg. Naturally nothing happened as if you are an unbeliever, obeah is ineffective.😁.

On the other hand, I have never had such a string of medical bad luck in my decades on this planet, than over the past week.

I had traveled from my home in Florida to Denver, Colorado, (mile high city) to attend my daughter's award ceremony when a string of medical problems just tek set pon mi.

It all started the day after I arrived, with a front tooth under a bridge breaking and the bridge fell out. 

Well yu know, panic set in as there is no way I cudda smile or tek a picture with missing front teet.😭.

Long story short, I googled dentists nearby and luckily found Dr. Kevin Smith.

He was a godsend, quickly removing the offending tooth, stuffing the bone section under the gum so it wouldn't heal out of shape, then he sutured the gum. He then gave me a prescription for an antibiotic to enhance rapid healing.

I never felt a thing. He was really great but you know it cost an arm and a leg.

How can one survive in the USA without credit cards?

Feeling on top of the world after Dr. Smith's intervention.

Anyway after looking in the mirror I walked to Walgreens across the road to fill the prescription then headed home feeling on top of the world on the sunny  spring morning.

The owner tends her tulips for spring

Well massa dats when the rest of di bad luck chip in. 

I dont know if it was at the pharmacy or the dentist office that I picked up the flu virus.

 Yes, that same wicked one, because for the next three days it was pure chills, no energy and fever. 

Tell you the truth, mi nuh know if it was really the virus, for yu know Denver is called mile high, as its more than 5280 feet above sea level.

Well, when yu get old, all dem little things matter, for according to the experts, the high altitude and thinner air can exaberate pre-existing heart issues, cause fatigue and rapid dehydration.

 Well massa, it look like I got the whole shebang for I was sick like a dawg for the next three days, despite swallowing every drug I could lay my hands on at home and even from the pharmacy.

Fortunately, on the evening of the award ceremony I was feeling much better so happily attended.

That was my whole reason for going to Denver anyway and I was proud as a mother hen and had a great time. 

But the bad luck wasn't finished with me yet, for that night a piece a belly ache and belly works land pon mi yu si!😡

Long story short, I searched down the house next day and found some Pepto Bismal which did the trick and had one whole good day after that.

Its really great to descend from the mile high though and return home. 

I don't see myself heading that way again anytime soon.

Despite all the crosses, I am happy that I was able to make it to the award ceremony though.😊

Keep soaring Michele.

Link: https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2026/04/living-her-dream.html?m=1.

Living her dream👍

 I am not allowed to forget how I reacted when my daughter first told me she wanted to become a teacher. For all I could think of was how badly paid they were. But to her, it was a family tradition which she would be carrying on.

She received this award on her daughter's birthday! 

And now she has broken many barriers by being named Educator of the Year, twice in 10 years! 

When I was in Colorado for Christmas, she got the news and was in shock as she never dreamed anyone was so rewarded more than once in a lifetime.

But she did it.

When Michele first gave up her stint in the hotel industry to get a teacher's license, her first school was with Coyote Hill Elementary in an upscale and very racist suburb of Denver. (Anonymous racist graffiti often appeared at some homes and even decapitated rabbits were occasionally strewn on vehicles😡).

There she was the only non-white teacher on staff and naturally there were not 

many minorities, but she felt called to become a role model for the few non- white kids there. 

 That's where she was first named Educator of the Year.

In Colorado, schools get resources from property taxes, so the poorer a neighborhood is, the more neglected their schools are. 

Seeing how many children were being left behind in the poorer neighborhoods, she got a transfer and headed for an Elementary School in a high poverty area of Aurora. 

There they have homeless kids, orphans and on and on.

When you listen to her passionate stories about the challenges being faced by families in this kind of environment, you know that's where she will be staying.

A past student hugs her former teacher. She hopes to become a teacher too.

Even after she earned her PhD after years of hard work, she insisted that neither going into administration nor seeking tenure at a university, were her calling so she was staying right where she was needed.

That's commitment, thats focus👏.

That's what she saw on the tv screen in her classroom when she returned to school !
👏

Link:

https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2026/04/bad-luck-and-obeah.html?m=1

A flop

I like Busy  Signal, but being bored for an hour or two waiting for him to come on stage, is not my idea of an afternoon well spent!

Tamarac is well known and respected by adjoining cities for it's excellent festivals.  

But this was not one.

To begin, it was not held in one of the usual spacious parks, but in an chucked- up area where they have established an amphitheater. This place is so small that you immediately start to feel claustrophobic the minute you get there. 

Most of the people I saw there did not appear to even be patrons, but workers, volunteers,  vendors, security personnel etc. Up to when I left after a boring 90 minutes, the attendance was really poor. Obviously, unlike me, most people knew what to expect, so they stayed away!

Apart from using this, small inadequate place, there were no chairs available and to add insult to injury, we were prevented from bringing our own folding chairs on the shuttle bus!

There were lots of food trucks offering the usual wide range of delicious dishes they usually offer right there on the last Friday of every month, but wine? I only saw one small table offering tasting of the cheap, bad tasting boxed wines.

 Yuck.🤑

I hope those who paid $85 to attend got a better quality of wine to taste.

Stage and sparsely supported VIP area.

The entire affair was not only badly planned but also boring, for although there was background music being played by a DJ, I saw no other form of entertainment after spending more than an hour and a half there.

And I was not the only one who left early, disappointed at the offering, as there was a steady stream exiting, most  leaving with the food they bought.

And many grumbled.

Crowded sidewalk but noting spectacular happening. Mostly vendors.

Sparse attendance.

Before leaving I made sure to call a friend from Miramar whom I had encouraged to attend, to tell her not to bother wasting her gas to come up, as this festival was nowhere close to the standard of Tamarac festivals which we all love so much and enjoy.

Yup, in my book, this one was a big flop.

Honoring women

 International Women's Day is the 8th March, but the entire month is celebrated worldwide as Women's History Month.

We therefore appreciated Tamarac City hosting a breakfast and social on Thursday 26th March, to remind us of the outstanding women throughout the country who had broken through the glass ceilings, making life better for all of us.

It was fun.

Purple is the official color for womens history month.

Joan 1, an ever present volunteer 

Michelle, the dedicated manager

Jakaya (l), the D J extraordinaire

Joyce caught on candid camera

Jaylin controlled the music from the far side.

Carol and I.

It was a nice little session, good food, good music and fun people.