The Montegonian

Michael Jackson and Mobay

2009-08-07T14:48:00.001-07:00

From MJ’s high to his lows, ‘his heart was always pure’

By Peter Gelzinis
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 - Updated 3d 1h ago

It was a red leather jacket festooned with zippers, not exactly made for the tropical heat of Jamaica’s Montego Bay.

But Cleon James remembered it yesterday with an affection undimmed by time. “Every boy in Jamaica wanted one of those jackets,” he said, as Stevie Wonder’s voice rang out from the flat screen bolted to the wall of his Roxbury barber shop.

“We ran around singing ‘Beat It’ and ‘Thriller,’ dressed up in those leather jackets, pretending we were Michael Jackson,” Cleon said, one eye trained on a customer, the other on a memorial service 3,000 miles away.

“It’s hot enough in Montego Bay as it is,” the barber laughed. “But in a red leather jacket with the zipper up, it’s much worse. But we didn’t care. Every kid wanted to moonwalk like Michael Jackson.”

In the other corner of the “Top Notch Barbershop,” Donald Martin spoke of growing up immersed in the soundtrack of the enigmatic genius now sealed inside a golden coffin.

Jamaica Gleaner News - Queen Ifrica plays, explains 'Montego Bay'

2009-08-07T14:22:00.001-07:00

Queen Ifrica plays, explains 'Montego Bay
'Published: Thursday | July 16, 2009
Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Montego Bay is Queen Ifrica's first album with VP Records.As she presented Montego Bay, her second full-length set, at her first album launch on Tuesday evening, Queen Ifrica's face and posture reflected the mood of the songs.And there was ample time and reason for the changes, Ifrica explaining the background to almost all the songs on the 13-track set in an extended stint at the podium during which she got noticeably more comfortable as time went on, engaging the large audience at Kabana, Hope Road, St Andrew.The trip through an outstanding album actually started with her voice alone, not the actual recording, as after a herald of horns, Ifrica delivered the album's title track a cappella, smiling, the audience cheering at the start and again when she hit the chorus.After the recording was played, Ifrica explained, "Montego Bay is special to me. That's where my whole Rastafari development took place." Still, she noted, the inner-city communities do not see the benefit of the 'lush' from the tourism industry.She was sombre for Streets Are Bloody, dedicating it to 20-year-old Ejaun, "a very close individual to Flames. He was gunned down by a soldier at a club". Ifrica described Ejaun's kindness, respectfulness and computer wizardry, commenting that in the society "the people who do good are the people who die like this". The song has the line "none is immune, Ejaun gone to soon".In My DreamsIfrica smiled as she asked, "Any lovers? Any husband, any wife, any matie?", before In My Dreams was played, rocking away with eyes closed and clasping her left shoulder with her right hand.And when she said "we ago step up the vibe" with Yad To The East, commenting "dis a di man whe dem sey inna Ifrica", Ifrica grinned gloriously as the rhythm hit and the crowd exploded at the opening line, "Selassie I never lose a fight yet".And so it continued, Ifrica often merging her voice with the tail end of the recordings, playfully prodding the audience to more enthusiastic applause and dropping advice on hard work, focus, purpose and the importance of teamwork to younger artistes.She has stuck to a team, as before she sang along to the recorded songs on Tuesday night, Ifrica sang the praises of Tony Rebel, giving the background to starting to work with his Flames Productions in 1998, after performing at a Garnet Silk tribute concert. And among the other persons Ifrica said thanks to was Penthouse's Donovan Germaine who "say I am a granddaughter of Penthouse, because Tony Rebel is a son".Guest speaker Kay Osbourne, general manager of TVJ, heaped praises on Queen Ifrica and Montego Bay, which she described as an awesome collection that showcases the inner workings of Ifrica's mind and soul."It is clear that this unique woman of truth has something to say," Osbourne said, taking a closer look at many of the songs. "She expresses the personal universally," Osbourne said later in her address.However, Osbourne is not impressed with much of Jamaican music being produced currently, pointing out the narcissism, exhibitionism, image manipulation and "the mere ability to attract attention is rewarded".Tony Rebel, who welcomed all to the album launch, spoke about Queen Ifrica's development, from not being able to do a song properly in the studio and having to be told 10 times what to do, that being reduced to thrice, then twice and "now you don't have to say anything".There was a time when she had to be asking producers to go on rhythms; now she is being requested. Long gone are the days when she was trying to get on shows; now there are so many offers she has to decline some."When you have someone like a Queen Ifrica standing up and not taking off her clothes I have to salute her," Rebel said.Extensive exposureIn presenting Montego Bay, Ifrica noted the struggle that her song about incest, Daddy (which appears in English and Spanish), has been going through in terms of getting extensive exposure on the airwaves, although it has connected in the streets and at live performances.When she was asked which track was her favourite Queen Ifrica did not name one, but said that the opening chant, TTPNC, is special, as "it is my whole Rastafarian belief ... That is who I am. I am a Niyabinghi woman".The recordings ended with Far Away, Lady Saw, Assassin, I-Wayne, Capleton and Tarrus Riley embracing Queen Ifrica onstage. It wasn't all over, though, as there was one more a cappella song for her to deliver, the crowd whooping for Keep It To Yourself.

Jamaica Gleaner News - Queen Ifrica plays, explains 'Montego Bay' - Entertainment - Thursday | July 16, 2009

INTERVIEW: Queen Ifrica discusses her Road to Montego Bay

2009-08-07T14:01:00.001-07:00

June 8th, 2009 · Posted by: DEAN ROGERS in Hollywood Insider, Music

Recently I had the honor to interview reggae artist QUEEN IFRICA to discuss her upcoming sophomore album, Road to Montego Bay, which will be released on Tuesday, June 16th.

Eclipse Magazine: So tell us about your new album, Road to Montego Bay?

QUEEN IFRICA: The album is about Queen Ifrica introducing herself to the international Reggae world from a female rastafarian point of view with her views and opinions of how we can make a better society. We also take on the subject of love & relationships and just keeping it real. That is Road to Montego Bay in a nutshell.

EM: I’ve noticed that the song Lioness on the Rise showed us your strong spirit. What was your inspiration to writing this song?

QI: This is a very special song because its about empowering women without being sexist while of doing it. It can be appreciated by a man who will be listening to that song. He could get actually get inspiration from where we’re coming from. Even though its about strengthening women and giving women a pat on the back saying “Yeah, you can be a housewife and also be an hard worker of peace.” Even a husband or a son would want to be one of those persons encouraging her along. It lot of this derives from universal innocence in a way.

EM: Coconut Shells feels like a journey back to your roots. Tell us about its inspiration.

QI: Coconut Shells is it a herb song for the Rastafarian community. I associated with reggae music. Its only fitting to do a herb song. Its not a herb song about smoking all day but its from the point of there are things that you can say and get an education from listening to people as oppose to just burning it. Some people can provide a good mediation while listening to the song.

EM: Finally, “Daddy” is one of the most powerful songs on your album. What can you tell us about this song?

QI: “Daddy, don’t touch me there” speaks for itself. It deals with incest and the things of what it can do to an individual. I talk about it even though its a taboo subject for a lot people.

EM: Speaking of “Daddy”, I read that you presented UNICEF a copy of the CD during the World Day for the Prevention of Child Abuse and has drawn controversy when it was released. Do you feel that this song will give the voice all those who are affected by child abuse?

QI: Yes, I definitely feel so. I feel its actually an action from the responses I’ve gotten from people who carried it within them for so long and not been able to come and say it out loud. A lot of people have been talking about going to the police, going to their Mom or their Dad to talk about this thing. I can pat myself on the back for saying that it was my vainess that gave a lot of people who wanted to do this for a while. The courage to come forward.

EM: Do you think Reggae music is in a good place?
Even though it is in a good place, there’s always is going to be destruction because this world is made up of good & evil, depending on the side you choose. The music of reggae was never about class or creed, it was in the sense of the poor. It was born out of poverty. It was born out of people who are downtrodden by society. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if its in America, or Europe, wherever you find people who are suffering, they will always gravitate to music because it soothes the soul.

Music has the power and ability to go beyond the barriers of languages and culture. There’s going to be that element because we live in a world where goodness is never welcomed by negativity. They will do everything to keep it in the dark. You’ll find that because of what reggae music represents. A lot of negative elements that try to tarnish the image in whatever it can. It’s like your blood, you cannot change the color of your blood. You cannot change the vibe that reggae music brought in the form of Bob Marley.

EM: Who were your musical influences growin up?

QI: Definitely Mr. Tony Rivers because he was the only positive Rasta artist that young rasta people could look up to.

EM: Are you planning to tour the world with your music?

QI: Fortunately for me, I been given the priviledge to come to europe a number of times on the count of Tony Rivers. A year from now, I’ll be going on the road to America to do promotional tour on this album coming. Also, looking forward to coming to Europe. i can safely say when I come to Europe, I am happy that Europe always accepts and love my music.

EM: What parts of Europe?

QI: We have gove to Germany, France, Switzerland. You name it, we go right across the board. I went to this one European island where its close to Africa and there’s beautiful sunshine around the clock.

EM: If you could pick your ultimate place to tour where and why?

QI: It would be more than one place but it would be Paris. There is this one venue in Paris where I had performed where the energy of the audience was totally overwhelming. In the summertime, it would be Italy. The energy and the people is like over the top. What I find is all the other areas that you go to, like the club and the smaller shows. When it comes to the big shows, there are young people who travel from these area and come into the big cities. They have all the fun when they come to the show like the Sundance festival. It’s beautiful the way the little areas come together and explode with excitement.

EM: What is the one message you hope your listeners can take from this album?

QI: When you are aware of yourself its much easier to be aware of your surroundings and how you go about your daily life. When you listen to Queen Ifrica, I see myself an individual who is on a journey of self–awareness and being appreciate of self. You hear it come out in my music because i want it to sound as beautiful as I would love to sound myself. I hope that the individual that sit down to listen can find their way to theirselves while listening to me because it was speaking to my peers in the form of instructions and advice. It helped me to find myself along the way through music. We each find strength in each other and I hope that the individual would find strength in me.

Look out for Queen Ifrica’s ROAD TO MONTEGO BAY coming to you on Tuesday, June 16th

For Eclipse Magazine, I’m Dean Rogers

Montego Bay and Michael Jackson

2009-07-11T10:01:00.001-07:00

Here is an excerpt of an article I found that discusses Mobay and MJ with some NOSTALGIA

From MJ’s high to his lows, ‘his heart was always pure’

By Peter Gelzinis
Wednesday, July 8, 2009

It was a red leather jacket festooned with zippers, not exactly made for the tropical heat of Jamaica’s Montego Bay.

But Cleon James remembered it yesterday with an affection undimmed by time. “Every boy in Jamaica wanted one of those jackets,” he said, as Stevie Wonder’s voice rang out from the flat screen bolted to the wall of his Roxbury barber shop.

“We ran around singing ‘Beat It’ and ‘Thriller,’ dressed up in those leather jackets, pretending we were Michael Jackson,” Cleon said, one eye trained on a customer, the other on a memorial service 3,000 miles away.

“It’s hot enough in Montego Bay as it is,” the barber laughed. “But in a red leather jacket with the zipper up, it’s much worse. But we didn’t care. Every kid wanted to moonwalk like Michael Jackson.”

In the other corner of the “Top Notch Barbershop,” Donald Martin spoke of growing up immersed in the soundtrack of the enigmatic genius now sealed inside a golden coffin.

A mother's secret - Boy triumphs in GSAT not knowing his father had been killed (Jamaica Gleaner)

2009-06-12T13:56:00.001-07:00

Western Bureau: "My father was killed a week before my exams, but I did not know," reflected 11-year-old student Demoy Kerr from Montego Bay, who was placed at Cornwall College following his success in the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT)...

A mother's secret - Boy triumphs in GSAT not knowing his father had been killed (Jamaica Gleaner)
Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:05:22 GMT

Jamaican cocaine smuggler to stay in T&T jail - radiojamaica.com

2009-02-23T09:58:00.001-08:00

Jamaican cocaine smuggler to stay in T&T jail
radiojamaica.com, Jamaica
Rhonda Campbell, 42, of Montego Bay in St. James has been denied bail. She is scheduled to return to court on March 2. Miss Campbell, who is a vendor, was reportedly held with $250000 worth of cocaine. She was held while about to board flight to ...
No bail for 2 women in Piarco drug busts Trinidad & Tobago Express
all 2 news articles

Jamaican cocaine smuggler to stay in T&T jail - radiojamaica.com
Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:58:20 GMT

Bucknor calls it quits (iafrica.com)

2009-02-23T09:51:00.001-08:00

Veteran Montego Bay-born umpire Steve Bucknor will retire next month.

Bucknor calls it quits (iafrica.com)
Mon, 23 Feb 2009 06:55:09 GMT

Credit crunch Carnival?

2009-02-19T09:49:00.001-08:00

How has the global financial crisis affected Carnival in your country this year? Have your say.

Credit crunch Carnival?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/caribbean/
Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:09:37 GMT

A second album for Queen Ifrica

2009-02-18T15:53:00.001-08:00

Check out the first single from the Jamaican queen's new album.

A second album for Queen Ifrica
Fri, 13 Feb 2009 01:13:31 GMT

Peter Lloyd

2009-02-18T10:41:00.001-08:00

Peter Lloyd born in Kingston, now resides in Montego Bay, but is on a steady rise … moving at his own pace, and according to his strategies… to claiming his spot among international reggae legends.

Peter Lloyd
Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:00:00 GMT

Your Weekend Forecast For Montego Bay, Jamaica

2009-02-16T14:18:00.001-08:00

Chance of Precipitation: Fri: 10% / Sat: 10% / Sun: 10%. For complete forecast details...

Your Weekend Forecast For Montego Bay, Jamaica
Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:10:46 GMT

Your 10-Day Forecast for Montego Bay, Jamaica

2009-02-16T14:17:00.001-08:00

Today: Partly Cloudy & High 80°F / Low 69°F.---- Tue: Partly Cloudy & High 80°F / Low 68°F.---- Wed: Partly Cloudy & High 79°F / Low 69°F.---- Thu & Beyond.... For more details?

Your 10-Day Forecast for Montego Bay, Jamaica
Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:10:46 GMT

Jamaica moving to secure greater share of Chinese travel market

2009-02-15T15:49:00.001-08:00

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica (JIS): The government of Jamaica is moving to secure a greater share of the fast growing Chinese travel market, with estimates are that as many as 90 million Chinese could be traveling abroad annually over the next couple of years, said Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett.

Jamaica moving to secure greater share of Chinese travel market
editor@caribbeannetnews.com
Sat, 14 Feb 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Cold Front: World War Woman! (from the Western Mirror)

2009-02-15T15:43:00.001-08:00

Women are not inherently passive or peaceful. We're not inherently anything but human.
~Robin Morgan

Every girl should use what Mother Nature gave her before Father Time takes it away.

~Laurence J. Peter
The average woman would rather have beauty than brains, because the average man can see better than he can think.

~Author Unknown

Don't wait for the good woman. She doesn't exist.

~CHARLES BUKOWSKI, letter to Steve Richmond, Nov. 1971

Woman was God's second mistake.

~FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE, The Antichrist

Good evening or good morning, greetings I bring whatever time where ever you are. I know if it isn't chilly now, you will at least be feeling the lingering after effect of the cold front. You'll probably be curled up round a cup of coffee or maybe tea, if you are the afternoon-evening-ish person, then you'll likely be nursing some JB or Bush Rum, or just your choice of alcohol, I know you maybe in the middle of indulging in your drug or vice, be it your hair products with your friend in your veranda or outdoor makeshift salon, putting in the Friday hair, or listening in an out to your favorite evening program on the radio, or smoking or using caffeine, or overeating... whatever it is relax, open your mind and indulge me this evening while I put forth maybe a contentious argument. Now take a deep breath, open your mind, stretch a metaphorical mental stretch, make a real one if you must, yawn... and try to imagine the black diaspora, a massive wide expansion of people. There are roughly a billion of us, out of the six billion people on the planet. And guess what we are an endangered species; ravaged by diabetes and the things we eat (high starch diet), cancer with all we consume, with a genetic peculiarity which makes us more prone to catching AIDS, so we sleep unprotected with the enemy, we are attacked by crime, poverty, economic distress, pollution and malnutrition. We possess the weakest economic power as a people. We have none of the worlds most spoken languages, we have no Gods of our own, we have no history. Black History only begins where we encounter the Caucasian and he slaved us, named us slaves after the Slavs and Barbarian tribes they had, and they documented what they believed us to be. What happened to the us before that. We are a weak and broken race of people.

Now in this grand posturing we call Black History Month, or what I call Black Mystery Month, I would like to focus on herstory not his, but hers, yes “Fi ar tory,” today we discuss the roll of the Black woman and child, Queen Omega, the role of the black woman in the malaise of the black nation and their apathy. (I have a feeling this article maybe a two parter) I write this article, one because I realize I've got 3 nieces now, and they will be women one day. My niece Nyla-Joy had her birthday Sunday gone, and the race is off, to black womanhood. I write this because I have a lil (daughter) Poopy, because, I know many women who are falling astray (Careless ooman go dance and leff dem pickney dem at home, cannot care for yourself the Gideon red inna Rome, population under pressure and yet dem have more man a clone- Jr. Gong, The Mission). I write this because I know many women eating out their spoogies and significant others, many have more than one, instead of helping the black man build, instead of building buildings and bodies of work.

Some women opt still in these times when the world seems to be falling apart and the temperament of the people seems to have reached the end of all it can take.to “Gyal-ivant. When boys become are brainwashed on corners everywhere by the teacher, hell bent on putting them in the ramping shop to sell god knows what, and insistent on turning the entire Jamaica in to a Gaza, a desert filled with bodies, where bullets and bombs explode everywhere. In an age where girls will recite on the way from school “that they want it forced into her tripe” probably unaware that her tripe is only led to via her rectum, and anus. A world where the black child hood is none existent, because the children live in concrete jungles and have no place to play, and so become street urchins and street rats, the more enterprising few may become windshield wipers and may even graduate into some small commerce, but that vast majority will be crippled in hospital owing to knives and bullets, another portion will be at Dovecot or Pye River.

Imagine the other day, I had to sit in a taxi and was lucky enough to hear two “Come SEE” girls reveal their diabolical plan for an older man who was interested in her and offering her money. She had planned to lull and loll him along, never taking a dime, and then come (Oscar worthily)crying in dire need and feigned desperation for money in excess of $60,000 for something like backed up rent or school fees, or depending on his gullibility a car. Ha! Now imagine that not even 18. Woman. What have you become, black woman what are you doing? But unfortunately, they weren't much of a surprise to me, that she had planned to find a man to live off, I've seen other women skulking the Internet's social networking sites like Hi5 and Facebook and such, just preying on naïve men to send them money via western union or whoever. Women sell vagina, to get by. Women, girls are digging into taxi-men's pockets, to shopkeeper's pockets to the white collar worker's pocket. I see women playing 4 men just to get a car, her groceries and her rent paid while barely working or flossing on minimum wage.

The Black Woman has become a greedy lot, greedy and acquistive, never interested in giving nor building. Ever insistent and persistent with the belief that her genitalia is all that matters and then they make belief or over talk its virtues, and that it is work every penny in your pocket and that it worth a house and home and a car. Never once giving serious thought to bold and daring, brave sensible logical ideas, plans, to hard work and an honest dollar. Never once working on a belief or dream. Mostly takers and rarely givers. Grown on the belief that something is owed to them for their vagina. Maybe its the Cosmo, or those goddamn Mills & Boons, or the silly ideas passed on to us via foreign literature. But black woman, Rasta a tell unnu plain and straight that can't work come again!

Stay tuned till next week when I round off the argument completely, and ladies try not to his and puff and cuss too much eh!

Yannick Nesta Pessoa

yahnyk.blogspot.com

www.youtube.com/yahnyk

yannickpessoa@yahoo.com

PS. Happy Birthday Mel... Wetters, aka Tickle! (Mi cyah afford a mirror ad :P)

Wasting the people's capital - Jamaica Gleaner

2009-02-15T15:41:00.001-08:00

Wasting the people's capital
Jamaica Gleaner, Jamaica - 14 hours ago
... economic and social development value, that could have been developed based on the realisation of CAP, is a highway connecting Kingston and Montego Bay. ...

Wasting the people's capital - Jamaica Gleaner
Sun, 15 Feb 2009 07:11:12 GMT

Eastday-Chinese vice president salutes bilateral cooperation in Montego Bay, Jamaica (Eastday.com)

2009-02-15T15:23:00.001-08:00

Visiting Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (L) and Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding attend the ground-breaking ceremony for the Montego Bay Convention Center, which is contracted to be built by China, in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Feb. 14, 2009.

Eastday-Chinese vice president salutes bilateral cooperation in Montego Bay, Jamaica (Eastday.com)
Sun, 15 Feb 2009 02:31:07 GMT

Chinese vice president salutes bilateral cooperation in Montego Bay, Jamaica (People's Daily)

2009-02-15T15:22:00.001-08:00

Visiting Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on Saturday broke ground for a China-funded convention center in Montego Bay, north of Jamaica. At the ceremony, Xi described the amity between China and Jamaica with a Chinese saying which says bosom friends stay close at heart though thousands of miles apart. The China-Jamaica friendly partnership for common development, established in 2005, has led ...

Chinese vice president salutes bilateral cooperation in Montego Bay, Jamaica (People's Daily)
Sun, 15 Feb 2009 04:38:09 GMT

2008 Review: The International Year of Fluffy

2009-01-07T08:39:00.000-08:00

Greetings Montegonians where ever you roam. Welcome to my 2008 Year in Review. Now what a year it was. Death, crime, dying, scamming, economic collapses, economic meltdowns, a half black president, Wall Street collapses akin to Jericho, oil crises, oil prices, sliding dollars, kidnappers in Jamaica, bizarre rape crimes, the fading away from the spotlight of the notorious homo duo (2), Pirates on the high seas in Somalia, Bolts of Jamaican Lightning, Olympics, the usual decade itch to start thinking up a new Armageddon this time it isn’t y2k but 2012… we also had another lackluster year from a different political party than the PNP this time around, we had Mavado and Kartel ascend to the posts of Bounty Killer and Beenie Man… guess who is the Doctor Fish (he who switches, and by the way Mavado won Sting OK… don’t let the media fool you), we had inflation as usual and women jostling for the helm of America, Bush was shoed and booed, and of course I am none the richer.

Montego Bay continued another year and continued her epic struggle to not be the second city, in sports, we followed Tappa on a miracle that almost pulled us to the world cup, and we watched as St. James High a.k.a. Seior School become school kings of the west and though we never copped the Olivia Shield here in the west we gave the Jamaica the best underdog story in a while. Only to be beaten by our own over confidence and of course Kingstonian antics and hubris. The city tore apart at the seams as murders reeled and men brought the blood bath to Sam Sharpe Square. I didn’t see much of Dr. Chang, who for another year has showed us he has no solid plan and approach to the city, so too our Mayors and councilors out west. On a civic and municipal level, we have been treated to a fair and bizarre bazaar of non-ideas, half baked plans, a tradition of simply “tradtionality” and methodology; we’re just doing what has been done, holding meetings and acting busy.

Last year time magazine gave Mr. Obama the prestigious title of person of the year. Errrrrrrrrrr wrong, I disagree completely. I think person of the year goes to FLUFFY, who ever she is where ever she is, and I’ve been a fan along time, Ok. So let me plug a line, all the lovely fluffy women of Mobay unnu can link me (joke, mi nuh waan get no beaten). Yeah, but on a serious note, this was a serious year for the resurgence of the buxom and busty and rubenesque and rotund women. I saw news feature where model agencies started seeking plus size women, a documentary I watch even noted a brand of modern porn they labeled BBW; Big bodied women. Hmmm, then if you perused the social networks, the facebooks and hi5s you’ll have noticed a surge of women or profile titles saying, Fluffy or Fluffy to the world or Fluffy to the flipping universe, whatever status the Diva had a few years back, Fluffy ‘tief it.’ I’ve even seen hybrids a species known as the Fluffy diva, Fluffy was so popular this year I even had a minor debate in a lunch line with a man who was protesting Fluffy’s return, and lamented how “him nuh deh pon that”, “well me deh pond at” no pun intended. Last year women embraced their fat sexuality and their bodies for what they were, or just a hit back at all the years of rib jutting hip poking “Victoria can’t keep a secret” models. Yup in ’08 one of the more positive things was that while crime escalated so did women’s weight from anorexic to fluff, and what can I say, it makes me happy. Whoever figured out the formula for saving women’s self esteem can you please work on crime next please?

Personally, last year for me was terrific in terms of entertaining myself with fluffy eye candy, but on the real it had been a difficult if not grueling year, watching friends die, and people suffer, and general economic decline, it didn’t do wonders for my psyche at all, but I’m glad it’s over, and I hope all the Fluffies stick around in 2009 and I hope we can leave crime and tragedy behind us. Ladies and gentle people 2008 is behind us, STEP IN TH E FUTURE, I’m waiting for you there. “Oh and mek sure unnu carry Fluffy when you a step, caah mi nuh waan see no bag a man inna mi future.”

To you and yours, all the best for the New Year: May the Lord preserve thee from evil, may he preserve thy soul, and may he preserve thy going outs and coming ins from this time forth… Selah!

Yannick Nesta Pessoa
yahnyk.blogspot.com
yannickpessoa@yahoo.com

Ps. Pssssssst Fluffy yuh can e-mail me enuh! (Mi know mi go get beaten now)

Threnody

2009-01-07T08:06:00.000-08:00

“crossing that bridge with lessons I've learnt, time is a space between me and you”
~Seal: Prayer for the Dying

“Those who are dead, are not dead, they're just living in my head”
~Coldplay: 43

Good Afternoon, Good Evening and Good Morning, I hope you'll be still enjoying the lovely weather when you get a chance to read this, be huddled at that seat at the shop, or sombrely warming up to that shot of JB which you'll be happy to have excuse to drink, “A Wedda, A Wedda! U nuh see seh time chilly.” Or maybe you're on your verandah, I hope the breeze doesn't hamper your reading too much, but where ever you are I beg and beseige thee, take a very solemn walk with me, a path some of you maybe vaguely acquainted with, some of you not so acquainted with. Our scenario today reminds me of a Stephen King series I read named The Dark Tower. It is a tale of a Gunslinger, who has seen all his friends die and seen his country and his lovers, home and family dessimated and is on the chase to reach a place called The Dark Tower, to defeat a Red King and call out the names of all his fallen friends and reset or restore the order to things. And some things stood out in that book for me and one was an expression he used frequently to describe the changes that he saw took place in his world, and it was this “The world has moved on.” He never said from what, but it was from the point he had marked as the better years of his life.

Now death and loss are things I've always known of, however in my early twenties I realized that I was ill-prepared for it. Because I never realized that as early as 19 and 20, so many of the ones I knew would be gone, and I've come to realize that I have lived under the naïve belief that me and all my friends would grow old, but now I know better. This year I've had to learn of death all too intimately.

A threnody is a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person. The term originates from the Greek word threnoidia, from threnos (lament) + oide (song). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European root wed(uued or ooed)- (to speak) that is also the forefather of such words as ode, tragedy, comedy, parody, melody, and rhapsody. And that is what this article is gentle people all across the land. My Threnody for Paradise Lost. I don't know if it is because we are in a leap year or what but the tragedies this year seemed a many. It all start last year this time. Decemeber 7 to be exact, when a police battalion rolled through Paradise and killed one Cedric Thorpe, also known to many as Goosey. I had seen him, just an hour before, stood and spoke, then continued my journey downtown, by the time I had reached the top of Union Street, people were talking about a Goosey dead, and I paid it absolutely no mind, after I had just spoken to him, must be another one. By the time I was at Perry Street my phone was ringing of the chart, “Yuh hear she dem just kill Mankind!” That set the trend for the year to come, I would be standing out by Likkle Dread loitering before getting food when a friend of mine Homie's father would drive pass in his little red car as per usual, stop get a cigarette at the shop up the road, he would complain of not feeling well, and I would watch him drive off in his little red car, only to have a heart attack and crash less than 4 seconds later. He would drive off into a column and crash and die of heart complication. Just like that life will blindside you, and it is just earth runnings and the way of the world, and leaves us to wonder, what is man...

I would later have to watch my close parri, suffer through the loss of his mother. Then to bear witness to some kind of secret wars being waged in Paradise and watching innocent and young lives spin out and spill out in bloodshed, and then to not really know, what secret games and deeds they had played and been punished for. To watch the life of Sticky Bean get snuffed out for mistaken identity on a rainy day, to hear Bess a shopkeeper's life being wasted away at 6:50 in the morn while drinking tea, to get up the following morning to hear a pretty little girl you watch grow, offer proper council and advice when you could, Madeeks, get wasted away at the same taxi stand you and everyone whoe probably knew her, all before the age of 20. To then watch the spirit of a community die. Shortly after some respit from the urban prowl only to return and hear my good friend, a very spirited old man, very short thin and pixie like, full of verve and life a man that sat amongst thieves, murderers, weed heads, rum heads, youths, gun toters and average Joe's, a Roman Catholic at that, who would always be in spirited debates with me and my entourage about politics and God, and it was always good natured and never got bitter, no matter who we persecuted his belief or angle. His name was Dandy... and he lived by that name, he was always dandy. No one knows how Dandy real died, he just became ill, thin and died. In the space of 2 months that I had not really seen him, he just upped and died. Then there are Jerome (Amoy) and Gwangy (who the front page of the Mirror named Wong by some error in calculation or translation and they even gave him a career as a cane vendor). They gave away their life carelessly by persistent pursuit of bad things. But they were human, they had families and friends, some of whom I am very close to, I knew them. They died. Byron Balfour who I knew, he wasn't fond of me who wrote next to me in the Mirror write on the next page there, so close to me in some regard he died too. And my cousin/unlce on Tate Street... my fallen friends and soldiers are many.

Most days I feel like Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, weeping for all the sorrows I've seen in this world, all the lives we must touch and live to see shattered, for all those who curdle up on the street, under taxi stands and make the concrete jungle their posture pedic, for all my friends who have tossed way their lives to coke and now roam the town like ghosts for all that to die, for it has said, many more will have to suffer and many more will have to die, don't ask me why.

I close with a Peter Gabriel song “I Grieve,”
“it was only one hour ago
it was all so different then
there's nothing yet has really sunk in
looks like it always did
this flesh and bone
it's just the way that you would tied in
now there's no-one home

life carries on
in the people i meet
in everyone that's out on the street
in all the dogs and cats
in the flies and rats
in the rot and the rust
in the ashes and the dust
life carries on and on and on and on
life carries on and on and on”

Yannick Pessoa
yannickpessoa@yahoo.com
http://yahnyk.blogspot.com

I Will Remember You CONT'D

2009-01-07T07:58:00.000-08:00

Well ladies and gentle people I have to admit last week's article seems to have struck a chord with many people and to think I almost discarded it. Hmmm, now what artistes mean when they say they never know which song on the album is going to be the hit single. Yeah but I digress we were speaking on memory weren't we? Yah I think so! So... yeah we as a people, Jamaican's and Montegonians have forgotten who we are, and just it has always been my belief that it is part of the charter and mandate of Rastafari to be the axis of cultural resistance to European ideas that have been proven historically to never benefit our people and in essence is what a “Far-I” friend of mine, a certain I-an Harper was saying to me the other night when he said Rasta is the memory of the people, and with all truth that is what we are, we the cultural residue and remnants of what it was to be truly African and we are the last desperate hope fighting to keep the remnants alive and to harken the mind of the people to a time before European dominance and to the fight to achieve a sustainable future of our independent thinking and devising! So we as a people have forgotten, but I do remember you!

And last week I spoke of Tate Street and it seemed to resonate with people too. And it seems coincidentally that as the fate would have it Tate Street has proven to be some kind of axis and focal point of energy and if I were one for serious astrological contemplation and in the world of spirits and omens then I would think it had a meaning. As it represents in my mind the golden age of Montego Bay, maybe because of its old world appearance and dimming glimmer of yesteryear charm or maybe its because my mother lived there and she had a million and one fond stories of playing cross from Jarret Park or going to park or when she went to Girl's School, is that Barracks or Corinaldi, I can never remember, then there was my old teacher Ms. Nelson who though teaching at Mt. Alvernia Prep, always said “When I was at Corinaldi yuh see...” then there was my old Aunt Ellis who lived at Tate Street and My mother's hair dresser Patsy lived around the corner, and I loved Satdays at Tate Street because my Grand Aunt Ellis had and eternal supply of soda, coincidentally my Aunt Ellis' son, my cousin-uncle died just recently, so a whole host of the Tate Street cast was at my door step in Paradise, I can't escape. And just when I thought the fates couldn't cross more at Tate Street, here comes my brand new co-worker a young Ms. Wiggan who happens to live on Tate Street and then there is the fact that now when your on Tate Street you have to look in the Mirror, literally and it seems I am compelled to do so figuratively and mentally as well. Seems Tate Streets is about Mirrors and reflections and reflecting. So it seems Tate Street, I remember you.

But I want to get back to the point about the golden age of Montego Bay, because I believe many of today's Montegonians don't remember a Mobay when it was a young city booming with potential and mellow balance of country and town, I think the youth of today have been saddled with the burden of carrying memories of a Mobay that is one big disorganized shanty town and urban nightmare, a failure in planning and myriad of haphazard malls and plazas chucked up on stilts and residence that are concreted to each other and roads riddled with potholes and a city infested with cocaine, crime, homosexuals, dialer, scammers, vain and trivial material pursuits and pursuants. How many will know Coral Wall and Gi-gi beach, how terrible it is to know that many will only know Aquasol and never remember again, Walter Fletcher. How many will forget the ampitheatre that gave way to highways, how many won't know that before civilization and rampant malignant urban sprawl, before the Central Business District (CBD) started its march out ward that Jarret, Tate, McCathy, Hart Street were prime real estate and proud residential communities, instead of rotting board houses and make shift garages and ad hoc concrete creations. How many have forgotten, how many will remember, I remember.

Memories are important people, they are the marks and the milestones and the landmarks in our lives, minds and history that make us who we are, that carry us to this inevitable point, it is what must be used to propel us into the future, but I fear if you cannot remember, ifyou do not remember, then you shall be lost, if you have left your future to be governed by someone else, if you don't know where you have been coming from, what is you liked and cherished, who it is you are, what you are, then you can never keep it, you can never maintain it and you can never restore it. You have name reference or frame work upon which to draw to map and chart your future, for if you trust it to outsiders, Europeans, Americans, gods, Barracks, or any other would be Messiahs then my friend, remember at least this, you are lost. But I remember.

And to all my friends, soldiers, comrades who are wondering why Yannick is M.I.A. don't worry, to all my friends I haven't seen in eons, to even the people who glimpse and barely touched or passed by in my life, to childhood friends from wonder years ago, like Ms. Tamora Decqarish ( I think I lost on the spelling there but), mans and mans from College weh mi nuh see inna years, Cherry, Lisa Thorpe, to Ms. T. Campbell, to even those who malice me, and who feel like dem a mi enemy, every single souljah... I and I remember YOU!

Ancient Memories come on into my soul...

Yannick Nesta Pessoa
yannickpessoa@yahoo.com
http://yahnyk.blogspot.com

I Will Remember You

2009-01-07T07:54:00.000-08:00

I Will Remember You

“Ancient memories come on into my soul...”
~Sizzla Kalonji

“I've never tried to block out the memories of the past, even though some are painful. I don't understand people who hide from their past. Everything you live through helps to make you the person you are now.”
~Sophia Loren

“We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams.”
~Jeremy Irons

Good Evening gentle people one and all, wherever you roam, I wish you the best of Friday evenings or the “mellowest” of Saturday mornings, I assume thats when you will probably be perusing this edition of the Mirror, so I hope you have one of those unhectic Friday evenings, maybe you'll have gotten paid and can find your choice of great escapes, whether it be the bar or the sports lounge, the infamous and ubiquitous “ends” or the more notorious corners or just that particular shop you haunt or hold your palavers and congregations, or maybe its just your baby mother's place or on your verandah, I hope its one of those evening when the informal radio stations we call sound systems are broadcasting Barrington Levy and Jacob Miller and Beres, some “Black Roses” and some “Tired fi...” and some “Putting up resistance” and those other sounds that calm the savage beast and mellow the mind. Hmmm or maybe it's one of those early Saturday mornings when you catch the rooster and walk out to greet a gentle sun peeping on the eastern horizon, and get the opportunity to glimpse and injest the breaking of day the slow stirring of the world around you as it begins to wake, and your getting your tea and seeing about breaking your fast. Yeah one of those easy evenings or morns. Do you remember those? I know it's easy to get caught up in the pace of living and life, but do you remember those, easy at peace and at one with yourself morns or evenings, do you?

So why is it that I am on the issue of memory and remembering this week? Well, actually I don't remember. Joke! Ahm, well it is because I've been remembering a lot of things recently and also I find I tend to be very redolent or in remembering mood at this time of year. I guess in a way this time of year is the evening time of the year or the that end of the day point of the year, when the breadth of 12 months is almost over and that year end new year period is some what like those evenings and early mornings. Well what have I been remembering? Actually I've been thinking about the issue of memory itself, as well as remembering things. Things like Tate Street, Montego Bay the way it was, many Montegonian icons come and gone, people I haven't seen in years, the massive amount of people I knew that died this year (and oh they were many), and of course the endless line of fallen soldiers in the street, long lost loves, school days, Kingston days, days in Sav, days in foreign lands. When do you find those moments to remember? Is it those easy morns or evenings? And who or what do you remember and is it even worth remembering?

Now I want you to churn over this little summation or definition of memory I borrowed from The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: ‘Memory’ is a label for a diverse set of cognitive capacities by which humans and perhaps other animals retain information and reconstruct past experiences, usually for present purposes. Our particular abilities to conjure up long-gone episodes of our lives are both familiar and puzzling. We remember experiences and events which are not happening now, so memory seems to differ from perception. We remember events which really happened, so memory is unlike pure imagination. Memory seems to be a source of knowledge, or perhaps just is retained knowledge. Remembering is often suffused with emotion. It is an essential part of much reasoning. It is connected in obscure ways with dreaming. Some memories are shaped by language, others by imagery. Much of our moral life depends on the peculiar ways in which we are embedded in time. Memory goes wrong in mundane and minor, or in dramatic and disastrous ways.

Well it seems this article has begun to run away from the word limit and word count so, it seems it's going to have to be a FEW parter (I tell you I've spot a conspiracy to destroy the english language by genderizing and sexualizing every word, but I digress), and had wanted to talk more about the things I actually remembered like Tate Street and a lot of the people and faces and some more places, but till next week...

Yannick Nesta Pessoa
yahnyk.blogspot.com
yannickpessoa@yahoo.com

Montego Bay needs more focus

2008-05-17T17:20:00.001-07:00

"Being the Montegonian this letter caught my eye and reflects quite a few of my own sentiments"

Montego Bay needs more focus
published in The Daily Gleaner: Thursday | January 17, 2008

The Editor, Sir:

While I am very pleased with the country's infrastrructural develop-ment, thanks to the People's National Party, I now have a strong sense of disappointment with some recent decisions of the new administration.

To be more specific, the new transportation centre in Half-Way Tree is quite pleasing, and so are the other positive improvements on a general scale.

Now that the Government has opened the facility, I hear of a plan (to spend hundreds of millions) on another centre in downtown Kingston, as well as to improve another park in the same area.

I am not against the development of our country but care should be taken as to how fairly resources are distributed throughout the island.

For example, just recently, a plan to do some much-needed work on the Bogue main road in Montego Bay was shelved because of "lack of available resources".

Yet, the entire business arena in the Montego Bay area has been severely affected by the traffic congestion resulting from inade-quate lanes on the Bogue main road.

We, in Montego Bay, are an important part of the Jamaican economy and cannot continue to 'live on the backburner'.

Almost all the head offices for the various companies are found in Kingston so if you wish to conduct certain business transactions you have no option but to go into Kingston. The focus has to change.

I am, etc.,

O'NEIL ARMSTRONG

oneilarmstrong@gmail.com

Gunn's Drive, Granville

St. James

Via Go-Jamaica

'Japsey Thursday' patrons protest midnight lockdown

2008-04-19T04:19:00.000-07:00

HORACE HINES, Obserever staff reporter hinesh@jamaicaobserver.com
Saturday, April 19, 2008

A policeman makes a point to residents along Barnett Lane during yesterday morning's demonstration against the turning off of the sound system at midnight at the popular 'Japsey Thursday' street dance in Montego Bay.

MONTEGO BAY, St James - A strong police/military presence was maintained along sections of Barnett Street and Barnett Lane up to late yesterday evening following a massive demonstration by patrons attending the popular 'Japsey Thursday' dance which was shut down at midnight by cops.

Thursday night's police action, in accordance with the Night Noise Abatement Act, took some patrons, who normally attend the popular dance after midnight, by surprise. The sound was locked off by the cops before the dance got into full swing, much to the ire of the patrons.

THE KIDS AREN’T ALRIGHT – Part 1

2008-04-16T16:15:00.001-07:00

"Disenchantment, whether it is a minor disappointment or a major shock, is the signal that things are moving into transition in our lives."
William Throsby Bridges

"The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization and intellectualization and, above all, by the disenchantment of the world."
Max Weber

"People grow old only by deserting their ideals, Macarthur had written. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope as old as your despair. In the central place of every heart there is a recording chamber. So long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer and courage, so long are you young. When your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and then only, are you grown old. And then, indeed as the ballad says, you just fade away."
Douglas MacArthur

"Youth can be characterized as a transition from childhood to adulthood – a developmental journey during which one gains independence and begins to participate fully in society. This period is fraught with enormous challenges for young people themselves and for the rest of society. It is imperative that societies invest in their youth, as they are especially vulnerable to the increasingly complex problems facing the world today."
United Nations World Youth Report 2003

Good Afternoon, brothers and sisters young and old one and all, this afternoon I want to bear with me another evening as I tackle the issue of the Generation Gap and attack if only intellectually, those who would too quickly, too easily, too readily the plight of the youth, the plight of the young as simply owing to our changes in attitude and belief to theirs. This week I rise to the defence of the young, youthful and inarticulate who cannot, who won't have the chance to or cannot defend themselves and communicate to the minds and brains of yesteryear. Before I continue I would want to share with you a song by The Offspring, a song about the disenchanted American youth called "The Kid's Aren't Alright" that I think many Jamaican maybe able to relate to. " When we were young the future was so bright/The old neighborhood was so alive/And every kid on the whole damn street/Was gonna make it big in every beat/Now the neighborhood's cracked and torn/The kids are grown up but their lives are worn/How can one little street/Swallow so many lives. Chances thrown/Nothing's free/Longing for/Used to be/Still it's hard/Hard to see/Fragile lives/shattered dreams. Jenny had a chance, well she really did/Instead she dropped out and had a couple of kids/Mark still lives at home cause he's got no job/He just plays guitar and smokes a lot of pot/Jay committed suicide/Brandon OD'd and died/What the hell is going on?/The cruellest dream – reality/Chances thrown/Nothing's free/Longing for/what used to be/Still it's hard/Hard to see/Fragile lives/Shattered dreams.

Nowadays it would seem older folks and the younger individuals constantly bicker and complain of generation gap ("Missa So & So nuh see seh a nuh when dem a did yute dis" vs. "Dis gingeration of vipers, yuh nuh see how Eula big bwoy deh gallang") and of breaking down of the communication between these two. But who is to blame, is it Ole Ms. Matty's fault or is it mine? I think both go wrong every now and then.

The elders, seniors, old wizen sages are more critical of the younger generation with a "HUGE-MUNGOUS" catalogue of complaints against the youth (the low pants, the earring, the hair style, the tattoo) and the young for the most part tend to pay no attention (I-Pods and Bluetooth blasting in their ears) to the grumbling, mumbling and occasional loud protestations of the older generation(When Mama seh "Den EH! Weh yuh feel seh yuh a go dress so, not as long as you live unda my roof, poopa Jezaas tek di case and gimmi di pilla, dah lilly piss'n tale gyal yah"). But now and then they do protest. They resent the petting attitude of the elders, who seem to assume the young are too inept to do anything, or know their way in the world.

Generations clash on a variety of topics some are as follows:

Of ideas on general conduct comprising dress, food habits etc.
Morality, marriage & career
Of tastes on art, music, literature, and in short total outlook.
Family unit breaking up and gradually losing the importance it once had. The central authority of the paternal figure becoming redundant.
Imposition of the self-righteous attitude of the older generation on the young.
Biological evolutionary difference

It is generally observed that the old behave like a frog in the well. They are fully convinced that the ideas they have had throughout their lives are the ultimate and ideal. They ignore certain vital factors that are no longer valid in the case of the modernity. There always has been generation gap since the dawn of civilization. The young have always deviated from the older standards and it was well that they did or there wouldn't have been any progress today.

Did you know the largest-ever generation of young people is now entering the transition from childhood to adulthood? According to UN statistics, up to 48 percent of the world population is under the age of 24 and 86 percent of 10-to-24-year-olds live in less developed countries. In many parts of the world, young people are still suffering from hunger, lack of access to education, health services and job opportunities, and are exposed to insecurity and violence and to a large extent, the quality of life for the next generation and society will depend on how today's young people manage their transition to economic independence in difficult environments, such as countries hit by economic recession, or war or famine, or in areas plagued by HIV/AIDS and the oncoming onslaught of global warming. The roles young people are forced to assume in countries affected by war or poverty greatly affects the transitional phase to adulthood, which takes place at an earlier stage than their First World counterparts.

Are you aware the lack of financially viable opportunities in less developed countries makes young people more dependent on their parents? This places them in a situation where they are no longer children, but where they are also deprived of the independence they seek. Without the opportunity to become productive, young people find themselves in a permanent limbo, waiting for a chance to gain economic independence and psychological maturity. Are you aware that when lacking opportunities and means of expression, young people become susceptible to violence, a display of their wish to become more powerful, and have access to the material goods they crave? I'm sure you've all seen many boys hang out in bands on corners and organise themselves in armed clandestine networks, making a living out of illegal trading and as road bandits.

Yannick Nesta Pessoa

http://yahnyk.blogspot.com
yannickpessoa@yahoo.com

PS. Don't touch that dial and stay tuned till next week (yeah right!)

THE PERISH COUNCIL: Give us vision lest we perish

2008-04-07T04:14:00.001-07:00

"Them have sight, but lacking vision..."
Junior X a.k.a. "Tash Kent"

"Visionless fools, DUNCE..."
Tickle Puss

"Give us vision lest we perish,
Knowledge send us Heavenly Father,
Grant true wisdom from above,"
Jamaica National Anthem

I've been thinking a lot lately about humanity as a whole, of the city as a whole and communities, and critically the role of the individual in the giant machine, how do you, we, I, Us as little cogs and screws and motor function in the big machine of mankind we call society. I've also wondered about the great men of ages gone by, and the ones that are going by right now as we speak. Is this the world they imagined, is this the world Columbus envisioned on his voyage, is this the India Ghandi imagined, the Africa Selassie dreamed of, the Jamaica Marcus wanted, the Montego Bay Sam Sharpe and September fought for? I highly doubt it. But they wanted something, they envisioned something, something that propelled us here, that brought us here to this moment, at an age and stage where the new prophets, Gods and great men are to be established... and I find the people visionless, especially those elected or so they claim to lead, yes... I am referring to the Leprechauns and little green men that have taken the helm of Government locally and centrally. At an age where new things ought to be birthed from the seeds sown long ago I find, the people unimaginative, repetitive, pitiful, and visionless, at a time when Montego Bay seems to have stalled in fundamental areas of development, I find the Perish Council, fumbling to find an idea, unique singularity of vision to take to the future, the idea of what we are to become or imagine we can or may become. We have stagnated in stale plastic airport signs of welcome to a long passed friendly city. That illusion has long passed, that isn't what we are... so I ask everyone now... you at the Perish Council, you at the JTB, you at the Chamber of Commerce, you at TPDco, you at Flankers, and you out by Freezone and you out on the corner, you in Paradise, you out by Ironshore, you up by Salem, you round by Lane deh so, what is to become of us, what are we to become, what will we move towards, not just as individuals but as communities and a city.... What is your vision?

I honestly believe the Perish Council has lost its sense of direction and worse sense of sight. They are lacking vision and so the Council will inevitably lead us to Perish. For I fail to see or have failed to notice where they have considered Montego Bay's place in the holistic sense of the word, our place, as city amongst 3 in the island, being second chronologically doesn't equate to second in viability, finance or "live-ability". I fail to see where they have considered our place internationally beyond being a tourist facility, we have no museums, no grand civic projects, no grand civic symbols, no monuments to any significant achievement, I see no crucial plan to address the layout planning and charted and coursed development of this city, all I see is ad hoc, wild, rampant untamed concrete sprawl. I have failed to hear the Council address the impending threat of closing Dead End Beach (by some greedy self interest, who lacks the vision to see how the beach impacts the city) a significant local icon, a free beach that in essence symbolizes there tourist advertisements, a place where people had the freedom to venture, to vent, to escape the brutality of everyday life and so it is and so it goes, that those who are elected to serve the people serve their own interests and allow those that have their own interest at heart to do as they please in the interest of personal wealth accumulation. And so maybe Dead End Beach will be a story I tell my children about eh.

Many times I wonder if the Councillors who are allowing us to Perish ever said the National Anthem with any meaning, any heart felt honesty that maybe just maybe once, the would feel like sticking by it, acting in the interest of the people, in the interest of the city, in the interest of the nation. I'm sure they even recited that song "I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,/ Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love... And there's another country, I've heard of long ago,/ Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know; /We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;" Imagine I took these words seriously as a child and only to discover that those that taught me them, obviously didn't. How could they... if they did we wouldn't be caught at this crossroad, without a real plan of action, without a vision of the way things ought to be, or where we ought to be going.

To show you that those who lead have been caught flat footed, without vision. We live in a city where the creeks and gullies flood ever so often, an yet into the onset of global warming, more severe weather, rising sea levels, no one has come forward to address the future in light of these things. Nope we the people are going to wait until the hurricane of all hurricanes comes in August and we have monumental disasters and loss of life before these things cross our worried minds. And what of the coastline, with every hurricane the amount of sand that gets dumped on to the hipstrip is alarming, a sure sign the tide is rising, so in the words of Bob Dylan who sang "The times they are-a-changing" , "Come gather 'round people/ Wherever you roam/ And admit that the waters/ Around you have grown/ And accept it that soon/ You'll be drenched to the bone./ If your time to you/ Is worth savin'/ Then you better start swimmin'/ Or you'll sink like a stone/ For the times they are a-changin'./ --Come writers and critics/ Who prophesize with your pen/ And keep your eyes wide/ The chance won't come again/ And don't speak too soon/ For the wheel's still in spin/ And there's no tellin' who/ That it's namin'./ For the loser now/ Will be later to win/ For the times they are a-changin'./--Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call/ Don't stand in the doorway/ Don't block up the hall/ For he that gets hurt/ Will be he who has stalled/ There's a battle outside/ And it is ragin'./ It'll soon shake your windows/ And rattle your walls/ For the times they are a-changin'./--Come mothers and fathers/ Throughout the land/ And don't criticize/ What you can't understand/ Your sons and your daughters/ Are beyond your command/ Your old road is/ Rapidly agin'./ Please get out of the new one/ If you can't lend your hand/ For the times they are a-changin'./--The line it is drawn/ The curse it is cast/ The slow one now/ Will later be fast/ As the present now/ Will later be past/ The order is/ Rapidly fadin'./ And the first one now/ Will later be last/ For the times they are a-changin'."

Till Next Week!

Yannick Nesta Pessoa
http://yahnyk.blogspot.com
yannickpessoa@yahoo.com

Talking Japanese- Part Few

2008-04-07T04:12:00.001-07:00

Japanese The Man

And as we proceed from last week... ah! Where were we? Oh yeah aaaahm... the quasi-interview. So the place is Mobay Proper, 3 pm, your average day, the place isn't very lively, just a few kiddies doing some after school bit, workers milling and mulling about. Then it hits me, I wonder what he looks like seeing we've never met. I instantly deduce that he won't be Japanese or even really look the part or even be a Black Chiney, because often enough thats just how things work in Jamaica and Mobay especially. I've met men with names like 'tallis' and he was short, 'biggas' who are small, I know a "gunman" who only ever had a board green gun, so as it seems Jamaicans have a sense of irony and paradoxical if not oxymoronic way of labelling and tagging people. So I just guessed on him not being really anything near Japanese in appearance. As soon as I finished that thought he pulls up and my theory is proven right. Our star and feature character, in fine Jamaican style, is not really anything near Japanese for real. The man who comes to sit and talk is undoubtedly Japanese, but just not a Japanese-Japanese if you get what I mean. This Japanese, the Jamaican Japanese however, is evidently a Samurai, or at the very least a warrior, as it is impossible to neglect to notice the scars this man bares, and on seeing them I remember a No Fear, T-shirt that I have or had, which says, "Scars are tattoos for the brave."

On starting the quasi-interview, I promptly announce, "Ahhhhhm, I don't really have any questions per se, because, I don't usually do interviews and I don't know how to right a Q & A article, I do have some broad vague ones though, but really I just want to get a jist of things..." To which he responds "Ok, you just want to get the essence... Ok" and so, with that we took a little walk down history lane. In uncovering Japanese's history, I uncover more of Montego Bay's history, he is linked like another historical figure, September, you do remember September, right? Well if you don't he was the slave from Salt Spring I did a little feature on last November I think. Anyway I digress, he too, like September, is linked to Salt Spring as much as he is linked to Barnett Lane. Seems Salt Spring is more of a revolutionary focal point for this city. As he recants tales of his adventures in the second city, the story is littered with all the 'it' spots you hear the elders refer to in their own old fables of Yesteryear, he harks back to an age when Tate Street was still a suburban-esque type of set up. The tales also incorporate legendary characters in the city too, some gone long ago, some not too long ago... men like Rucko, men like Goosie and others.

One of the few questions I did ask him was, how did he see himself? Seeing that sometimes with legends, the myth or the tale sometimes isn't the reality. Most of you will have heard of him as one sometimes might have heard of maybe Santa Claus, Sam Sharpe, Jesus or the Black heart man, sometimes we can't seem to find out who these characters really are. From the horse's mouth, Japanese is a leader, a role he has always found himself in he says. From Jamaica to the USA to Prison and back to Jamaica again. His life it seems to me is one of charting courses, and off the beaten path. Without being boastful, almost with a sense of regret, and what seemed to me a just a glimpse of what he used to be, with just a tint of pain and a hint of maybe passed tragedies, he says "A me mek nuff yute know seh dem can fly out an do dem ting, me mek dem know the running inna Mobay, me mek dem know seh people can fly out an do this and that, me mek nuff a man reach a farrin... enuh." At one instant he even recants his time in US prisons where he says "ask Owen or Colin or dem man deh when mi deh a lock down, me still at the helm, an a nuff lock down them gimmi." He went on further to elaborate about how this kind of time gave him the solitude to look inward, to read more, to learn more... to become a writer. However, the depth of Japanese doesn't end there, he went on to say to the effect that the leader he was, isn't the leader he now intends to be. "Mi know the yute dem have a different idea of Japanese, but that was then, mi a go try show dem supm different yah now..."

One of the different things that he has just put on the ground is well, you know... "Japanese Thursdays" Barnett Lane, the talk-about event in the city these days. However, his re-invention and evolution hasn't been without some doubts, as he lets me know. "Just the other day, I was at the station clearing up the legalities of my likkle dance, and when I had finished sorting it out... Mr. So and so (some Police personnel) another police entered the room and Mr. So and so said this is Japanese, when the other says we just come out of a meeting bout you..." to which he responds "About what and why?" as it turns out the top cops in the city had been meeting to discuss none other than Japanese. He goes and links all the hierarchy and clears the air that they have nothing to fear, what they expect isn't what they are going to get. He wasn't disturbed by the eyeing and all of the hubbub that surrounds him, he even expected it. He is glad for it even, as he puts it "Japanese a go be supm different and mi waan dem see dat."

Before we closed though, it seemed Japs, had one last card up his sleeve, a question, does he know me or someone related to me, I gamble and opt for the family member I know everyone knows, Mobay's most popular Granny, and spit out "hmmm my Grandmother, you probably know her, it seems everyone does!" What's her name he asks "Dorothy Thompson" I reply. To which he says "Dorothy Thompson... Mrs Thompson from Tate Street... mi madda used to work fi ar enuh. Mi know seh mi muss know somebody fi you, who is your mother Juilette?" The answer of course is yes, we make a quick sweep down the family tree, and then go over to my Aunt (Judith, a childhood friend of his) and Stretch to make a quick chat on "its a small world after all."

Japanese it seems is inextricably linked to Montego Bay, Montegonians and surprisingly the Montegonian. Such is life. Well ladies and gentle people thanks for holding it out with me another week, and hope you learned something about our history in the second city from this little two part-er, which just barely peeps under the surface of Japanese and even Mobay. Till Next week.

Yannick Nesta Pessoa
http://yahnyk.blogspot.com
yannickpessoa@yahoo.com

Ps. Big up Colin aka Missa MAC aka Mr. Pang... whose contribution was critical to the coming together of this article.

Talking Japanese – Part 1

2008-04-07T04:10:00.001-07:00

"History is a set of lies agreed upon."
Napoleon Bonaparte

"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it"
Winston Churchill

"History is written by the victors."
Winston Churchill

"History doesn't repeat itself - at best it sometimes rhymes"
Mark Twain

THE PREAMBLE

Ching chung wah wang foo yeng... No ladies and gentlemen, this isn't your University 101 course intro to Japanese, I won't be teaching you the grammar, syntax, vocabulary or semantics, no accents or (H)accident as some people put it. This week we'll be taking a peep at more living history, more black history, more Montegonian history, more mystory, not dem story nor Kingston's story, but a tale that tells of one of our own Legends in the street or urban legends in some regard a tale of an icon, that if I didn't write, maybe we would have lost another story to the back pages of history or to some footnote in some book, because Mobay is home to icons such as Sam Sharpe, Jungle Jesus, September and Jah Cure and sometimes I believe that our heritage and legacy and contributions to this nation, financially, culturally, musically and intellectually have been treated with scant regard and pushed to the back burner. The Montegonian tale... our tale, takes us this evening to a man, the man who broke the Jawbone of the REAL King of the Dancehall, no not Fisheenie Man (Twins of twins seh to be King, Beenie need two Jaw fi bruk), Yellow Man, this man's tale spans decades and a variety of social and political eras from the age of tribal politics to the U.S. foreign invasion (by Jamaicans) to Jail and forward to contemporary Jamaica... readers one and call come hither and lend me your metaphorical ear, your eyes as it were and see the man I paint for you with words today, some of you who have your PHDs and Bachelor's Degree in urban living, gully sitt'n, garrison 'livity', thug life at the Montego Bay University of Street Thought (M.U.S.T.) will be familiar with this name, you must have heard it at your corners lecture, and those of you far removed from real life and living in a bubble meet... (drum roll) JAPANESE.

INTRO

Now how I came to this story is a little story in, and of it self. As with quite a few stories, this one starts at Junior X, a.k.a. Tash shop, sitting down with the usual host of characters, when one person says, "yuh know seh Japs soon come," when another person whimsically and sarcastically replies, "heh, from mi a lilly pickney mi hear seh Japs a come enuh" and as if tempting the hand of fate, another person, Colin's phone rings... Bling Bling "Aye yow wah deh Gallang... eeh Dat yuh seh... wah yuh seh... Japs deh yah, eeeh hih" and so the tale began Japanese was here...

JAPANESE THE LEGEND

Like most great men or even popular men, their name precedes them, so too with Japanese. To date some of his exploits have been recorded by the National newspapers of the day, and is the model from which many of the 'now-a-days' top-a-tops fashion themselves. He is a man who can say "been there and done that" for circumstances, must self styled or fashioned dons wish they in there list of experiences to put on their Bad-man résumés and curriculum vitae. His name is hallowed in the grittiest street sense of the word. Most "beknowing" (be known/ well known) characters of the second city and formerly the friendly city, can tell you a tale or two about this man, known for his generosity in the street and his uncommon acumen. Cellmates of his will tell you about a man who is focus, no nonsense, intense, his own critic, an ethic and character that manifests they say even when he was locked away in the states manifested around simple things like Ludo games, his fervour for scrabble, his passion for reading and books. Other people can tell you of his indomitable spirit in lock down and how he channelled what could have been a life crushing experience into literature... yes ladies and gentlemen, know this the same Samson that broke Yellowman's Jawbone is writer, whose literature will soon be on sale here in Jamaica as well. And for people who live in a far away bubble, know this, Japs, isn't unlike you, but probably more like you than you think, an avid Sidney Sheldon reader, and Danielle Steele, and Louis L'Amour, and John Grisham. The street in sprinkled with talk-a-tons who will tell you much more than I can in one article about the legacy of Japanese, some will tell you about the link they have some will tell you about, what he did for them and there community.

All this is not so relevant however, what I am sure you all want to know is the man. Japanese the man, not the don, nor the past, nor the myth or the legend, or the hype... Well, I managed to get a hold of him and have a chat courtesy of MR. PANG... and so we sat and had a chat, just to shoot the breeze and hold an informal interview of sorts. No questionnaires, no pens, no paper, no recorders, no "nutten"... just a chat to get his view of things, life, Mobay, himself, the legend, his plans and yadda yadda yadda. But I've run out of space for this week... so stick around till next week when we learn to talk more Japanese.

Yannick Nesta Pessoa
yannickpessoa@yahoo.com
http://yahnyk.blogspot.com

Of Samson & Delilah: Rasta vs Ooman

2008-04-07T03:39:00.001-07:00

There are three things men can do with women: love them, suffer for them, or turn them into literature.
~Stephen Stills

Nature has given women so much power that the law has very wisely given them little.
~Samuel Johnson

What men desire, is a virgin which is a whore.
~Edward Dahlbert

The girls that are always easy on the eyes are never easy on the heart.
~Author Unknown

Greetings once again ladies and gentle people, once again, I've found my way to everyone's favourite topic... WOMEN. The articles with women seems to be a crowd pleaser, who would have guessed it... women love women, men love women, readers love women, I love women... though I am ever cautious of them. Ironically, Courtney Melody's 'Modern Girl' just started playing on the computer, "I need a modern girl with some old fashion loving..." Ha what a dream eeh? Anyway! I digress. This week's prattle knocked me over the head while down by Freeport last week Friday. Went to link a friend and while waiting, a familiar face from Peace View/Cassava Walk, a cute Miss by the name of Kedra, pops up with another hotty hotty friend and start to hold a palaver with a crew of Rasta. A lively and animated discourse on the state of Rastafari today pops up, not under that nice intellectual banner I just typed out, but in the more everyday forms of conversations, when the girls broach the topic of "how dem now days Ras yah so hot?" Drum roll and that t.v. thematic sound that chips in when something surprising happens (doom dum dmmmmm, or something to that effect). The girls broached that timelessly sensitive topic about what does and doesn't a Rastaman do?

Now the age old tale of men with long hair and women is cast anew. It seems coincidental that in my music play list is a young woman by the name of Regina Spektor who sings a song called Samson. It's about loving a man with long hair, and cutting it... took me sometime to appreciate that song but... I got around to it. By the way on the topic of Samson, I'll share a nice Bible verse with you... help wash down this topic... Judges 16 vs 17 "And he told her all his heart, and said unto her: `There hath not come a razor upon my head; for I have been a Nazirite unto God from my mother`s womb; if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.`And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying: `Come up this once, for he hath told me all his heart.` Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought the money in. And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and had the seven
locks of his head shaven off; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him."

Mind you, Kedra and her friend never came to trim anybody, but... they did under the guise of fun, joke and entertainment, asked the Rastas some piercing and pinching questions. The first was the crack at "how dem now a days Ras yah so hot eeeh? Straight pants and boasty turban, polo shirt... A whaaapm to crocus bag, whaapm to slippers and sandals eeh? Tell you bout dem now a days Ras! Her friend proceeded to chant "Hatta Ball, Fiyah Ball." It didn't end there either, one of the two then exclaims no sah, mi tink mi all a smell roll on... nutten good nah gallang roun yah man, dem now a days Ras! They playfully harassed another Rasta about resembling Bin Laden, they danced with the Rasta man, they teased and provoked in only a way a woman can, "yuh simmi, yuh ovastand!" They attacked me on the issue of me wearing ear ring, they even touched the topic of matters of the flesh.

On matters of the flesh, I remember a police after search a Rasta friend of mine, started giving his girl a little speech, so the police asks who was her MAN, after she hesitated and fumbled, the Ras told her to speak up and tell him. Upon realising that he was lyrics the Rasta man's woman, the police proceed to chastise the young man and lament on and on about how he "cyaah understand dem new fandangle Rasta, have hot girl, and mix up wid so much flesh and how the way old time Rasta bun flesh not yuh not even too see dem wid ooman" and yadda yadda yadda. I have a friend Mr. Pierce, Teacher P. Who whenever spotting me even giving a girl the eye, love to grumble "Harumph... hmmm... tell you about Rasta today you see... hmmm... nuh artical at all... love flesh too much... Delilah." Just the other day some people and I were debating Sizzla Kalonji who one man lamented had gone a stray... from "Black Woman and Child" to "Pump Up Her _-_-", and in all seriousness and logical reasoning I had to ask, so after celebrating Black woman and child, isn't it only fair and reasonable that he get a chance to tell you how Black woman got that child? More questions of Rasta and women arise, and the women out at free port had questions to arouse and arise. Sometimes even I have to wonder how so few Rastas have a Rasta Woman, and how so many Rastas go to a Salon, which reminds me, my friend Junior X/Tash has a pretty Sister (Niesey) who I call Fantasy Sister and when I do, he reminds me... "Heh mek sure yuh 'member seh Niesey own hairdresser shop and dem chemical deh cyaah come off ar hand, so you better know wah yuh eh do."

The nature, state, role, function, form and evolution of Rastafari, especially Rasta and women today carry a whole lot of questions to the front (no pun intended) and are questions and issue I think most Rasta shy away from, and I think they are pertinent relevant questions that need to address, not just Rasta and woman, but the whole body that is Rasta. Till next week... in the words of Kedra "HATTA BALL!" Hahahaa.

OOMAN

2008-04-06T15:03:00.001-07:00

Women like silent men. They think they're listening.

~Marcel Achard, Quote, 4 November 1956

Sure God created man before woman. But then you always make a rough draft before the final masterpiece.

~Author Unknown

Women cannot complain about men anymore until they start getting better taste in them.

~Bill Maher

The two women exchanged the kind of glance women use when no knife is handy.

~Ellery Queen

A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction.

~Oscar Wilde

Jesus is the wisest man I know, he never married and his only rumoured girlfriend was a whore, it doesn't get better than that!
~Author Unknown

Well I did say that I would be under the "ooman dem" tail (no pun intended) this year, didn't I? Well it seems I can't run around the issue any longer eh. Firstly because it seems people keep bothering me about women, some women keep bothering me, and I did promise to put them in their place this year, and I just came from breakfast this morning round by Likkle Dread who insisted on telling the crowd and trying to get them to believe that I am the biggest "gyal-ist" in Paradise and MoBay. Ironic (Imagine none a dem big bottom girl weh mi ever big up not even gimmi a smile nor a blessing)... seeing that I used to try to get his daughter's attention, a one Miss Lisa Thorpe, but "bwoy" Rasta lose out in the Gideon eh... such is life... I think Likkle Dread is mocking me, what do you think? Anyway, this week I don't have a specific topic or agenda but It can't hurt to talk about women eh, I love them, you love, them, even women seem to love them too these days. Which reminds me of a bit of home made comedy the other day... I saw a Rasta man psssseeeeeeeeeeeeeting down a woman and running a few lines, when she made an attempt to Boof the Ras and tell him she was a lesbian, to which he humorously replied "Me too, a only ooman alone me f---." I don't if you find it funny but I nearly died laughing.

Before going any further, I want everyone to know, these women articles are meant for all women not just some, everyone. "The batter creps, the lawyers, the doctors, the lesbians, the freaks, the bisexuals, the school girls, the go-gos, the "ho's", the thuggee thuggee, the miss hitch up pon corners, miss baby madda, miss love bun weed and parro, miss skets, miss natty, miss Ras, miss bank teller, miss gwaany gwaany, miss goodas, miss video light, everybody mi a talk to unnu... all ooman." So that little anecdote I think is a nice launching point for the article, it shows us how the dynamic and relations and the interplay between men and women has vastly changed over the years. Firstly, when last you had a female companion, that was your "parri," you just jam, reason and such, without the "buy mi a..." coming up. When last did you meet a woman who could role with the crew, or could contribute to your creative process, or to help you build or to assist you positively... Jah know... I don't want to seem like a reprobate but... I can't tell when last. How about you? If you have anything to say on this man and woman issue you can e-mail me and tell me eh.

And have you seen the rampant changes in how things proceed between the sexes... open barter. Have you seen all the schoolers who look like dancehall queens? Have you been meeting as many lesbians or part time lesbians (bi-sexual) as I have? Have you seen the change in calibre of women, most of them these days seem to me flakey, ditzy, unaware, non-progressive, unconscious, vain, materialistic, acquisitive, lazy, concern more about clothes, money, fashion, hype cars and hype man and being the hottest. Like the line from one of my current favourite song The Roots' Seed 2.0, "She wants platinum ice and gold, she wants a whole lot of supm to fold, if your an obstacle, she just drop yuh cold 'cause, one monkey don't star the show." Now think on those words, it's the truest thing. The way I see it these days, I don't even try to talk to women, because right now I'm into the business of building my little empire and pursuing dreams, so I don't have money to squander on frolicking and chasing skirts, my money will not be at the hair dresser shop, and it won't be spent fuelling the suss spots where women congregate to build negative vibes and discuss "who fah man have money and who fah man nah seh nutten etc and who deh wid who." The father up above know, I'm afraid of these women now. No reciprocity no give and take... just take take take take take and take from as many men as you can.

There are even more gender, man and woman issues to peruse and to examine... this article won't be able to look at the porn schoolers, the rumoured freak show and circus out at Freeport, the rise of lesbianism, our attitudes to prostitution, sex and the church, Rastafari and sexuality (matters of the flesh yuh know), the early blooming TV generation, the men who have opted to become women, the homosexuals and why women befriend them, the age of consent, the blurring gender fashion and such. Sexuality in Mobay and women in Mobay on a whole needs to be explored and the Montegonian will soon touch (again no pun intended) that for you.

In closing I go big up some women still who hold the order for me... well firstly My Mother an number one fan, then Laurayne who still call mi from Trinidad every week, Chip Chip who lively up every dance for me and one of the few women who will buy me a drink and see that "mi sort out," Mel... Mammi Noodle... "who nuh stop from harass me seh mi nuh put her in the paper" and insist on call me BoBo Tickle... (sigh), Monique Melbourne and Tanya... true we can reason all the while, Rash... who insists I call her Mrs Pessoa, Tess... for the support, Cherry who is ever supportive, Natalie... true yuh cane row mi natty free (but mi go rush you soon eh), Poopy mi likkle dwata... And that young lady who saw me the other day on Strand Street and made my day by telling me one of my articles made her cry... Cassandra... Soso (even though you gimmi cold shoulder all the while)... Shorty... Michelle...Crystal and Ms. Pretty Coolie Girl 'cause unnu ever look just too nice and light up mi day and all the beautiful women who pass through Likkle Dread restaurant in the morning .

Yannick Nesta Pessoa
http://yahnyk.blogspot.com
yannickpessoa@yahoo.com

PS. Ramon (EMPIRE) don't bad mind me true mi big up the ooman dem eh... and watch mi nah go get none.

Aluta Continua: The Never Ending Battle Year 2

2008-04-06T14:43:00.001-07:00

"To be capable of steady friendship or lasting love, are the two greatest proofs, not only of goodness of heart, but of strength of mind."
William Hazlitt

"Leadership is not something that is done to people, like fixing your teeth. Leadership is unlocking people's potential to become better."
Bill Bradley

"A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way."
John C. Maxwell

"A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day."
Bill Watterson

"When principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win the day, then battle is your calling, and peace has become sin; you must, at the price of dearest peace, lay your convictions bare before friend and enemy, with all the fire of your faith."
Abraham Kuyper

Aluta Continua is a Portuguese (not Afrikaans) saying meaning "The struggle continues". It is highly believed that it was discovered as an inscription on Kunta Kinte's commemorate. So says Wikipedia and the Wiktionary if you are familiar with the internet like that. Anyway, I always liked that phrase, because in a way I believe it is probably the ultimate summation or word to sum up what life really is... the continuous struggle... the never ending battle to find freedom liberty and peace, to stave off poverty, to escape "sufferation" and feed the constant needs for food, for both belly and brain, to nourish your body, to keep your brain active and stimulated, to find emotion comfort, and those that only the opposite sex can bring (though this seems to be an issue of debate these days...). It sums up also my attitude to the new year. Seeing I had no real holiday as such and no merry making really, I just felt as though the season missed me while I was on the grind and hustling together funds and cobbling together some semblance of a life. Also, I liked the phrase because I remember it from the days of yore when JBC used to sign off and showed Alex Haley's Roots and shows like Shaka Zulu. And of course seeing it is Portuguese and my last name is as well, I think the stars and planets aligned these coincidences for another article. And seeing that since the other day, battles, battlefields, death and warriors has been the theme well it only seems fitting to start the Montegonians year just like mine... "The Struggle Continues."

Well this year I didn't stick around to hear the thunder in the mountains at New Year. Though I did hear from other souljahs in the street that the mountains and valleys of Mobay did rumble and CHK CHK THOOOOM ruled the night, the only difference it seems police sounded sirens to try to quell the bellowing barrels and bullets. The New Year caught me at Sonny Ranking's Ball... watching fools floss their fleeting funds for females who will probably on flirt and flitter away by night, Hennessy by the bottle and Moet by the case, a monumental waste of money eh! When we should be pooling resources to make a better nation, building a city, here was the mass of people who ought to be my peers, my equals, only chasing skirts and playing to the crowd and playing the popularity game, who flossed this, who f—ked her... silly, stupid and inane. I must confess though, the women there did look on the premium side... pity I don't premium style, premium money or premium dress. The women too played the same silly games, looking for pockets to pillage and pilfer, Delilah to play, Jezebel to portray, peddling pelvis or any of the other not so polite P words, simply to pursue flight of fancy and momentary pleasure at the expense of crumbling young men's little empires, putting him back on rent and his car loan. Where are the soldiers... ???

This year though, I am going to be on the "Ooman dem case" because they are laming up in the Gideon too and to be honest I will not deny like a lot of men, that Jamaican society was built on the strength of women, "MAMA and Granny dem" and truth be told I feel the Jamaican empire is falling apart because women have fallen out of line. No more soldiering... just hair, nails, tattoos, sex, money, suss and lies, and I am not one for the subjugation of women but I think their neglect of home and children, the new generation of Baff-hands that can't cook, wash or garden, who need washing machines, TV dinners, pre-seasoned chicken, Superplus ready cook rotisseries, who grow up MTV and KFC... are now the invalids and that are left to herald in new generations and scire the next labour force, yet they themself have no knowledge or skills or valid facts or information to pass on and perpetuate... Yeah man mi a talk it loud and clear, "NUFF OOMAN a move marunga a road and gallang like batta crep, jeye ears and piss'n tail style iyah," "2000 and Love (2008) that cannot work again. Everyday sex and no food, baby at home starving, house a burn down wid pickney true unnu deh a road a gossip, or hitch up pon corners a bun weed wid man, matter still inna eye and white white deh a mouth corner... naaah man..." Anywhere I see them this year 'STRAIGHT FIYAH.'

Ladies and gentlemen, rumhead and stockie, goodas and batta crep, beggar and bleachers, badman and gun boy, this year is a different pattern, it is time to continue the build back. Time to reinitiate progress, finish build that house, buy some more block, fence off your place, garden up, start the empire, fix the roof, get creative, no money thing, start live up and stop flexing like you gonna give up, stop frolicking and gallivanting / gyally-vanting... put more muscle for the hustle, toil and tussle, bounce in the bustle, time to expand the shop, time to re-stock, time to decorate your room, paint it out, if is get back on the school program do that too, start nurturing you talents, it is time to shine, make this year your's and mine, cause this year, this year the weak will be culled from the strong, this year, this year I will be waiting to sight up the movement of Jah people, and if Jah people don't start the movements well... we shall perish...

Yannick N. Pessoa
http://yahnyk.blogspot.com
yannickpessoa@yahoo.com

Letter from the Battlefield

2008-04-06T14:39:00.001-07:00

"Take the first step, and your mind will mobilize all its forces to your aid. But the first essential is that you begin. Once the battle is startled, all that is within and without you will come to your assistance."

Robert Collier

"You're in the midst of a war: a battle between the limits of a crowd seeking the surrender of your dreams, and the power of your true vision to create and contribute. It is a fight between those who will tell you what you cannot do, and that part of you that knows / and has always known / that we are more than our environment; and that a dream, backed by an unrelenting will to attain it, is truly a reality with an imminent arrival."

Anthony Robbins

"To be nobody but yourself in a world that's doing its best to make you somebody else, is to fight the hardest battle you are ever going to fight. Never stop fighting."
E. E. Cummings

"The hardest battle you're ever going to fight is the battle to be just you."
Leo F. Buscaglia

Good Evening ladies and gentlemen wherever you are this Friday evening, I beg this Friday the last of the year, that you lend me your ear, and hear my voice when you see these words, for I write to you now as warrior weary worn and forlorn in the midst of a battlefield of everyday life. This has been a year like no other, I've watched the year begin with a barrage of bullets, and watched a bullet start the year in Paradise killing Jerome "Gully" Morgan, and travelling almost similarly from the literal level and taking on spiritual form to kill the very spirit and vibe and essence of a community, a bullet that has travelled throughout Mobay and wreaked untold havoc and mourning and snuffed out hopes, dreams and lives. But before finishing its year long tour of Mobay, on the way back it makes a tour de force of sorts in Paradise accompanied by a demon army to take one more life in Paradise, that of one Cedric Thorpe. And sometimes I wonder if I predicted all this... at the start of the year when I wrote an article January 13, 2007, The Neverending Battle, that got quoted in the Observer, it read...

"Bam bam bam bloiy bloiy bloiy chk chk chk thoom thoom pieee pieee blam balm bookam bookam.no amount of onomatopoeia could convey to you the grand gun orchestra that played in Norwood, Gulf, Glendevon, Canterbury, Albion and Gully (all inner-city communities of the city of Montego Bay, Jamaica) to commence the New Year. Literally the year in St James started with a BANG!

At the stroke of midnight December 31, 2006 or the morn of January 1, 2007, I was at the yellow night owl's outpost in Paradise, Glen Skeng's shop, only to see the whole Paradise pull to a halt and I watched as multitude of people stopped what they were doing to come outside and listen to the barrage of bullets in what seemed like gangsters singing their own anthem. I watched people listen, and listened as well to gunshots on rapid from 12 (midnight) to 12:30 am and I counted somewhere in the region of near 500 rounds and can only imagine what I missed. The year has begun, the garrison has spoken."

Compound a year like that with serious political upheavals, escalating murders, police killings, fatherless children, dying communities, urban decay, poor environments, deteriorating surroundings, pollution, global warming, MONSTER INFLATION YEAR, escalating oil prices, cost of living off the chart, young men and adolescents becoming killers and crack-heads, girls selling their bodies for KFC, phone cards and maybe cash sometimes, beggars on every corner, corrupt politicians, and now doesn't the future look really bright and promising. Do you understand why I am worn do see the world with my eyes now? How many lives do you know have been snuffed out this year huh? How many of your soldiers have gone by knives, bullets and car crashes? I not about you... but let me tell you, this year I've seen too many, more than I feel healthy, social and functional human beings need to see.

The talking heads on television and the radio-heads will continue to jibber jabber about one love and other generic tokens of love and try to reminisce on the "good" old days. But the problems that afflict Montego Bay like some crippling cancer won't be solved by speech but serious resolve, by serious SOULJAHS ready to stop playing hypocritical games, to stop laming up in the Gideon, to stop palavering on corners round the clock, to start improving the world around them, starting from there room, beautifying the room, the house, the yard, the community... to start looking to make small changes that will sum up if you are willing to look beyond instant gratifications, to take pride in small battles and small victories, and to know an to take faith in the fact that other soldiers are working, soldiers who are building better worlds and brighter lives, soldiers not caught up in frivolous and trivial vanities and idle pursuits, soldiers who need more soldier s of substance, not "fren tief" who will cripple his own parri's enterprise, more loyal women, who don't seek to solely take from her man's pocket but "boots him" then. Women soldiers too, who won't be in the dance while baby at home starving, in the prettiest clothes while, baby look shabby, women who will not simply open their legs on the basis of finances or hype, women fit for the war, sound minds and sturdy body and steady intellect, keen minds and pure hearts... that's what this battle is calling for, if we don't have soldiers like that then the city is lost... the communities are lost, the nation is lost... others have done it... are you prepared to do it?

The battle to change a nation, to salvage a people is started, with me, and many others I don't even know who too, have woken up to the same demoralising life as myself, to lies and pointless tradition, to a sea of corruption... so now I ask... what are you doing in the battle, in the Armageddon, in these days... are you making the world better or are you just another "MTV cable TV Cosmopolitan living in a bubble corners idling vagina peddling drug abusing rap music and alien culture junkie and zombie"? Are you making your world better (and I don't mean financially) are you making THE world better... if not then "yuh nuh fit fi the Gideon" and "to how the race a run its gone be bitter..." to end with a quote from the Gangster for life himself... Mavado. Till next year... If I make it till then!

Yannick Nesta Pessoa
http://yahnyk.blogspot.com
yannickpessoa@yahoo.com

Gideon Morning

2008-04-06T14:34:00.001-07:00

"Everyone you meet in your life - even total strangers - are already intimately connected to you. The idea that we are all separate and distinct beings is nothing but an illusion. We are all parts of a larger whole, like individual cells in a body. (…) When you look at other people, you're really looking at yourself. "

– Steve Pavlina

Good day dear Jamaica, today I have a tale to tell that I stumbled upon this morning, the Gideon Morning, a story that is a threnody and a lamentation of sorts, a story of mourning and sorrowful "woaahees" that began while we were crossing the Atlantic packed in vessels like sardine, a story of weeping and wailing that continued through slave fields and rebellions, a cycle of bitter memories and a sour history that continues to this day, it is in essence the story of Montego Bay, the story of Jamaica, the story of our lives. This story of weeping our penchant for producing wailers and wailing souls for the world and through music has made us famous. It is this same story of dead, death, dying, bitter pain, tragedy, unforgiving scars, torturous existences, that I have stumbled upon and come across, on Dec '06. At the 11^th hour of December 5, 2007, somewhere in the Gulley Banks, the hills and valleys, the garrisons of the Second City, I hear the familiar round of bullet bullet bullet, kick off in the night, unanother merciless crusade to pierce flesh and break bones and shatter lives. It so happens that a few days prior I had been speaking to a very old friend of mine via internet, one Mesha-Gaye Brown, someone I hadn't spoken to for since a millennia if you get how long I'm trying to convey to you, she was in the States, doing Med etc and going about life and pondering the plight of Jamaica, and whether or not she should return seeing the hell hole we have built for ourselves. A profound question, should she? What would you tell her?

Well maybe we have told her. I bucked up the answer this morning. While at bottom road in Paradise eh, near 6 o' clock or probably a little after, "a Rasta Man buss the corner and seh Police man Missa Brown dead last night and dem jussa find him dis mawnin dung a Albion..." seeing that bottom side Paradise is close to Albion the link is fairly strong there and a mass of people descend on Albion to see the proceedings and I follow, on the way there I connect the dots, the shots I head last night, which police man name Mister Brown this is that lives on Second Street... imagine the big expletive that pops into my mind when I come to the realization that it's Mesha-Gaye's father. The same old friend from donkey years ago that I just talk to not too long ago.

Imagine my frame of mind walking into Second Street, a hobbled dirt lane, the road seemingly left unattended by Government or whichever agent responsible, chickens hob knobbing around, zinc fences, board house on the right, the Albion School's open playfield and back yard on the left, and the road turns into an incline, a mini mountain before me, and the sun peeping over on the left, the morning light trickling in this rustic nook and rural oasis in the middle of Mobay, and the mournful "eh eh eh eh" and hook line "it's too late..." thumping in my ear from some speaker box somewhere... Imagine all that... and then imagine the picture I see when I start to descend the incline of the road and walk toward a mass of people all lined up on the left, they compose of all kinds of characters intermingled, Police with long guns, gangster types, semi gangsters, old gangsters, regular folk, Rasta men, children, folks going to work and stopped, some with matter/cold still brimming at the eyelids, all standing to the left like a rising or well organized choir, all mournfully lamenting... Imagine how I have to feel next to actually see her father, gruesomely destroyed, and troubled already by scavengers. Maybe it is too late eh!

Imagine the scene, Police mourning police and people cursing the Police. One woman put it like this "Imagine eeeh, a good police enuh, a him defend we dung yah and look out fi wi, good police enuh, and Police live side a him and people call Police and dem only come, come spin round and glimpse if nutten a gwaan. Ah dem owna squadie enuh, and them just come spin round, an him a good police, Imagine if a did poor people like we, Imagine eeeh, dem owna squadie, dem nuh have a use." Imagine this is the Gideon I wake up to, this is what I wake up in, and Imagine, governments and politicians want me to believe that there is a future here, that I can build a home and life and be safe and raise children... Imagine that? Isn't it a wicked and cruel LIE???

Now its been 400 years and some more and we have been suffering, mothers weeping, how many times have had to sing "Johnny was good man," how many more children will have to go pointlessly fatherless, how many more mothers won't have husbands, how much longer will these children suffer, how many more time will we have to have a Christmas rebellion, how many more Septembers from Salt Spring will it take... how many more soldiers must give up their lives till we can live sensibly and peaceable, so that we might govern our own existence, so that we may Justice, so that the suffering will stop. Ladies and Gentlemen, in a most startling and profound, yet gruesome way, I think we have answered young Miss Brown's question. But might I ask, like on those popular game shows, is that your final answer?

Yannick Pessoa
http://yahnyk.blogspot.com
yannickpessoa@yahoo.com

Gideon Morning

2008-04-06T14:32:00.001-07:00

Quote of the day

2008-03-27T09:38:00.001-07:00

“The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created--created first in the mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating.”

The Wall of Jericho: A Tale of Sons and Fathers

2008-03-24T14:50:00.001-07:00

The Wall of Jericho: A Tale of Sons and Fathers
by Yannick Nesta Pessoa

Greetings once again Montegonians, were live again from the battlefield of daily existence in our once friendly city. However before I delve into the topic, I must apologize for the inconsistency as of late, but sometimes real life has away of interrupting and hampering the writing process. But anyway, this week, I would love to have titled the article "The Wall of Jericho: A critique of the JLP in St. James." Owing to the fact I'm sure there wouldn't have been space I'm saving the mirror some editorial work. Well here is another of my stabs at political debate and analysis out west. Here is to hoping that I can catch some of that letters to the editor fan base that the mirror has, that eternally sings the praise of Robert Esq. and Byron Balfour and all these archetypal political pundits. Now the other day we had some showers, God knows I'm happy for the blessing but there came a day when it fell like no other, battering on way past its usual 3-6pm respite, I'm sure most of you will have remembered that day in particular. But before I delve any further, I need to take you a little back to set the stage for my critique as it were.

Now Paradise is an axis point community, a nexus for Albion, Peace View, Mango Walk, Norwood, Canterbury and so one. Now in these most crucial of times and instances, when everything is sky high, the cost of living is battering everyone and the city has a brewing garrison problem, with communities fermenting with crime and social decay; Issues which failed to be addressed thoroughly or properly by our archetypal polluticians. Now smack dab in the middle of these ailing communities, some developer or the other with the blessings of the government and possibly even under their auspices rises the ostentatious symbol of urbanization, development and progress, The Mango Walk Country Club. Think of it like I like to, I call it "The Community Apart"… as in apart from all the other surrounding communities, because here we are erecting a gated community, of town houses and fine living and so some brilliant guy in a suit and tie probably saw it fit to erect a monumental wall that is at some points a towering 30 feet, which seems to me clearly meant to illustrate what Bogle called "we over yah so and dem over deh so." An ode or testament as it were to, the fact that the uptown-downtown elitist and segregationist phenomenon, the stark social contrasts I witnessed in Kingston have now arrived in the once friendly city. This wall I tell you of symbolizes all that. I call it "The Wall of Jericho."

Now for most of Montego Bay's entrance into the 21^st century we have seen the hallowed halls of "THE CECIL DONALDSON BUILDING" the home of St. James Parish Council decked in green. Now ladies and gentlemen, I am going to show the sardonic, if not poetic nature of life. The Parish Council came to Paradise up by where we call "POND" grounds of the Supreme Prep School, to hold palaver with the plebs, the common folk, yup, us the masses. Our current mayor was there. Cameras were too. So if they still have them at the council, if they haven't discarded them yet, they can bare my witness. Our Mayor Noel Donaldson sat as Mayor, before his father, once mayor of Montego Bay himself, as a citizen and member of the community of Paradise, and somehow, it seems when his father told him that the legal height for a wall was I think 6 or 5 feet, he didn't hear. And when his father asked him as a citizen of Paradise why a neighboring community needed a 30 feet wall he must have been out of space. Now Proverbs 15 verse 5 says "A fool despiseth his father's instruction, but he that regard reproof is prudent" Now to tell you how prudent our mayor was… he did absolutely nothing to address the wall.

Now let me illustrate the disaster that the wall is. Firstly it has done nothing more that serve to propel the legend of BIN LADEN / AL QAEDA who swoops these tall walls at night to rob from the rich estate owners / real estate developers, the oil / gasoline that runs their machines to sell or distribute to the "needy." The legendary BIN LADEN / AL QAEDA also specialize in ply, bricks and steel, but the strangest thing is no one is sure he is real, not the security over by the country club and the wall, or the police who it seems he evades effortlessly. The wall has reached the point of being a joke. Not only that but the country club also sit on top a few caves, caves that carried and still do carry water from what was once known as Kaya bush to another or possibly the same network of caves that run underneath the Cornwall College ball field and then to the sea. However with the advent of the country club and the wall, where does that water go? Hmmm well in the great rains we found out. It banked up at the walls near a place us here in Paradise call LIKKLE MIAMI. Well when it banked up there, at the architectural disaster of a wall 30 feet high and with columns 20 feet apart and no horizontal beams across it, and no reef or vent holes for water to pass. So after the many days of water beating around the wall of Jericho, it burst at the seams, what little of them it apparently had and like a busted dam water came flooding through garages, yards, homes, washing away cars, dogs, sand, stone and clothes. It almost sent a van hurtling into my friend Likkle Dread's yard, and washing away a dog of his.

So now I have some questions for the Mayor and JLP. "Mek unnu suh hard ears?" Didn't you hear when your daddy told you about this, didn't you hear when the people told you, or do we have to feel before you hear, or is that you all just don't care, or are the lives beyond the wall are disposable, are the board houses less important than those on the caves, didn't money sweat and tears go into their erection, more soul and spirit than the prefab walls we call town houses? Please smaddy gimmi an answer. And let us be real, now isn't it a visible fact that under the GREEN REGIME we have seen an increase in crime… with whispers and hushes in the streets about the new green arms that just arrived. Welcome to the Second City, the 21^st century of where Montegonians and Jamaicans labour and pollutitions party.

So while political pundits play tea party and talk trite about the silly season of political merriment, here is the real story, "MI NAH WEAR NO GREEN OR NO RED AGAIN… MI A WEAR BEIGE" and I think the ordinary citizen will agree on this point because I know they don't care about the board room talk, just real life real issues and here it is. From the frontline… yah! Till Next week.

Reel Life: Lens Y

2008-02-06T22:11:00.000-08:00

3 Things That I Love About Montego Bay

2008-01-22T04:40:00.000-08:00

3 Things That I Love About Montego Bay
September 12th, 2007 by Galba Bright

From the congested streets of Streatham in South London to the wandering goats and cows of Montego Bay is quite a journey. Robyn McMaster’s invitation to join Robert Hruzek’s My Home Town Meme is a lovely opportunity to reflect on 3 things that I love about Montego Bay, the tourist capital of Jamaica.

Animals At Large

I’ve lived about four miles outside Montego Bay for almost eleven years. I used to be awakened at abour 5:15 am by the daily “clump”, “clump” of cows’ hooves marching by my front door. This daily ritual was fascinating.

I learned that I never really get to “know” cows. I never had in depth conversations with them, yet I certainly learned to respect them.

The Parish Council has since put an end to the dairy procession, yet I still see a grizzled goatherd tending to his goats from time to time. I really enjoy being up front and personal with animals in a setting that isn’t as structured as a zoo.

How To Use Your Naturalistic Intelligence

A relative recently visited me and revealed, to my amazement, that I had a veritable bird sanctuary in my back garden. Sure, I’d seen, heard and enjoyed some woodpeckers and the occasional owl resting hauntingly on a telegraph pole outside our house, but the variety of hawks, nightingales, doctor birds and doves that he expertly pointed out to me was quite amazing.

A Look Out Of The Window

As Montego Bay is a tourist city, people mistakenly believe that those of us who are fortunate to live in the city spend all of our time on the beach. This isn’t my story, yet I’m blessed that Mother Nature’s fantastic gifts are always front, left and centre for even the hardest working Montego Bay resident.

Every morning, I look across the Caribbean sea and experence a wonderful tranquil scene. On Wednesday mornings, a cruise ship eases it’s way into the Bay. My gaze at the same view in the evening brings me a fantastic crimson screen as the fireball red sun sets gently over Negril in the western part of the island. I often sit on the balcony, peruse the view and write my journal.

Building Out Montego Bay

The cows are no longer around because Montego Bay is a growing, developing city, although the downtown area is still congested and needs serious planning. The city now boasts major highways and new hotels stretch throughout the north coast of the island.

In essence, my three favourite things about MOntego Bay are Mother Natures’ blessings of the animal kingdom, beautiful and inspiring scenery and human efforts to improve the physical environment.

Thanks for indulging my off topic reflection. I dedicate this article to the memory of my good friend and visionary Jamaican urban planner, the late Arlene Dixon. Arlene played a major role in inspiring me to make the life-changing decision to move from Streatham to Montego Bay.

Her spirit of humour and her razor sharp thinking lives on.

Hurricane Dean or Hurricane Portia: Not changing nooo course...

2007-08-19T02:52:00.000-07:00

Don't mind my use of the double negative yes Yannick does have a better grasp and command of the English language than you so you don't need to correct me... ha... and my vocab... come on pack up yuh bags... anyway I digress...

Here I sit on the cusp of an impending hurricane, the signs are evident it will becoming, I knew it from the very beginning, just sensed it. Or maybe it was the ominous looming sounds of distant thunders on the high seas. Like a warship, a massive vessel full steam ahead with all cannons cranked and aimed at us. I can imagine it, over vast Caribbean seas, dark, thick, rich, like a market woman with a tantrum. Landfall Jamaica will no doubt see what it has never seen before.

The literary and biblical allusions cannot be avoided. Some say this is teh first miracle of Portia, to reverse an irreversible election. Some say it is the armageddon (hmmm the hyperbole) a result of global warming, nuclear testing and mankind's wicked ways. An act of God some say. Pastors are no doubt praying so that it can veer south, and claim credit for acts of nature... silly folk...

Well Yahnyk TV will be bring you the reports, photos, videos and battalion of info, if I survive...

May the King follow you all the days of your life, till/if we meet again... in this life or the next... this is Yannick Nesta Pessoa reporting live from the Gideon battlefields from the frontlines of Jamrock... Some bwoy nuh know dis, dem come around like tourist... (that was my jab at those in the diaspora and off the rock)....

MOBAY at 25

2005-09-20T11:18:00.000-07:00

Still hungry for independence from Kingston, still beset by decay

BY MARK CUMMINGS Sunday Observer reporter
Sunday, September 18, 2005

MONTEGO Bay has long had an uneasy relationship with the capital Kingston, asserting consistently that it is kept beholden to the seat of government, and that its development has been held ransom to decisions made 125 miles away. Often, the passion is understandable - Montego Bay is filthy in some sections, thriving in others.

Its leaders, mainly those in business and tourism, want the independence and the cash generated from taxes, to decide where the priorities should be placed.

Read on

10 Good Reasons to Live in MoBay

2005-09-13T11:11:00.000-07:00

10 Good Reasons to Live in The City of Montego Bay
By Yannick Nesta Pessoa
B.A. in Philosophy
yannickpessoa@gmail.com

1. The Jamaican city with the lowest crime rate.

Montego Bay may not be the largest city in the island or the most active, but it is a city with most of the perquisites of a city; hospitals, schools, fire stations etc. So one can reap all the benefits of a city here and not have the levels of crime face by our country’s other two cities. Though crime is on the rise here, it is not at the level that Kingstonians or Portmore residents have to face. However we ought not to take too much comfort in this fact, if the cancer that is crime is not addressed in a sensible and timely manner, it can bring all development in the city to a grinding halt.

2. Business opportunities.

Our friendly city, grand as it maybe, still has lots of room for development. The Business arena is no exception. Entertainment, the arts, tertiary education, music industry and technology are all underdeveloped spheres that can do with much more attention. Alternative forms of entertainment in Montego Bay are limited, and people are limited to the Hip Strip. The city suffers immense brain drain and as such a well marketed tertiary institution would prosper if it caught the attention and interest of young minds. I do not think an arts institute would do badly either.

3. The weather and the view.

Montego Bay is blessed by fairly regular rain fall and as such is not prone to the arid conditions seen in some southern parishes and is not drought prone like our islands prime city Kingston. The temperature in the days do not usually stray pass 31 degrees Celsius, and if it ever gets too hot the beach is always a hop sprint and a jump away. A lot of places in the second city allow its residents the luxury of sea views of varying aesthetic value. Of course the ever overstated beaches are always crisp and blue. The sunsets at the site of the old hospital, across from the Pelican as well as at Doctors’ Cave Beach is lends credence to cliché.

4. Near To Everything

In an hour give or take some, you could be rafting at the Martha Brae, climbing Dunn’s River Falls, swimming in Negril, exploring scenic towns of Falmouth, Lucea or Sandy Bay, visiting heritage sites such as Maroon Town, Nyahbinghi camp or investigating the myths of Westmoreland’s “herbal properties.” If ghosts and things of that nature tickle your fancy there is always Rose Hall to see and lots of fishing spots.

5. Cheaper rent and transport the other cities.

Montego Bay has been blessed with scenic locales and affordable living. Rent in Montego Bay is at last 30% cheaper than Kingston. What is $25,000 there, you get for $15,000 here. Even better is that Montego Bay has a cheaper, more organized and more convenient transportation system than the other cities.

6. Some of the best entertainment shows and features in the island

Montego Bay offers, Redstripe Sumfest, Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, Hybrid Events’ Spice, Dancehall Queen Competition, Spring Break, World Clash etc. For the race car aficionados there are all kinds of rally and race events. For the more athletically inclined there is the cities sports realm to explore, football has a very large following in the friendly city.

7. The escoveitch fish at White House.

Well here you get seaside, beach views, ‘scrimmage’ football and the finest fish you can find in our friendly city.

8. We have icons like “The Sam Sharpe Square Preacher.”

Montego Bay if anything is filled with colourful characters. Everyone is bound to have one character that comes to mind who is unique to the city, whether it be a vagrant, a madman, and the religious type women who launch sermons and prayers just about anywhere, a vendor or a taxi man. Mine happens to be the preaching man at Sam Sharpe Square who since my eyes were at my knee has been doing his thing there, the pencils behind the ear, customary white suit, the bible, fruits on the banana leaf and all, screaming “…and the lord said.” I’m sure every Montegonian has seen him at the very least once.

9. Dead End, the “liveliest” little spot around.

This sweet spot is where those who wish not expend $300 for the luxuries of going to Doctors’ Cave Beach, where sand and sea are free and the setting is crowded by so many accents and pseudo-accents. Music is always there where on an idle radio or in some one’s car. The vibe here exist pretty much 24/7.

10. Montego Bay is where most of the greatest people in the island come from or passed through.

We have a long list of fine Montegonians. One Montegonian who is currently creating waves is the now renowned Siccature Alcock better know as Jah Cure. We have likes of Colin Channer, Rex Nettleford, Aggrey Brown and many more.

Rats overrun MoBay

2005-09-13T11:06:00.000-07:00

( I seriously doubt this story caah me live a Mobay and don't see dem, so)
published: Thursday | August 11, 2005

Claudine Housen, Staff Reporter

WESTERN BUREAU:

IN A bid to rid the island's tourism capital of its worsening rat infestation problem, St. James health officials are now preparing a proposal to present to the St. James Parish Council.

"We are working on a rodent control programme, which is to be submitted to the parish council soon," said Dr. Rao Panado, Medical Officer of Health in charge of the St. James Health Department.

The proposal, which is to be submitted in the coming months, comes on the heels of steps taken by the Hanover Health Department, which recently conducted the first of its rodent control seminars to rid Lucea, the parish capital, of rats.

"When the rain fall I don't know where the rats them appear from but we have to run. Them not afraid of anybody and dem big like mongoose," said Montego Bay resident, Dawn Huggins. "The authorities need to do something because the rat dem walk around like them pay tax," she added.

Same old same old: "Sex and the City"

2005-09-13T11:05:00.000-07:00

Same old same old… “Sex and the City”

We can't quite decide if the world is growing worse, or if the reporters are just working harder.
~The Houghton Line, November 1965

Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock.
~Ben Hecht

They kill good trees to put out bad newspapers.
~James G. Watt, quoted in Newsweek, 8 March 1982
The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.
~Thomas Jefferson

Once again, it seems I will have to take up my role as Montego Bay’s public defender and superhero extraordinaire. The islands longest running paper, The Gleaner has opted to use its platform to bring to the fore, the same old rag story of “Sex in the City” (a title I used the last time I addressed this topic) and try to pass it off as news, in its September 4, 2005 edition of its Sunday edition. Sex in Montego Bay the tourism capital is not “News” it is “Olds”, story that the national papers seem to pick up anytime there is a slow news week. I’ve said this already. My main contention is that these stories only serve as bad publicity for our fair city and worse yet the stories contribute nothing new or substantially different to what we already know about the sex trade here.

None of these well funded papers have taken any time to do real genuine qualitative or quantitative research on what is happening. Sure most of these articles about MoBay and sex from the major national papers will undoubtedly have interviews and quotes from a variety of unnamed sources. It seems impossible to me however, that year after year after year they are unable to produce more people with real names and can point out real and poignant factor that affect them and their lives. I for one am tired of the nameless and faceless participant in the prostitution ring, their anonymity is bordering on fictitiousness now.

Another one of my bones of contention is that none of these articles as feature pieces, never offer solutions but always point to the economic realities and harshness as and tourism influences as usually the sole factors that press along the sex trade in MoBay. What happens to the ones who opt into it for the gratification and the not dire financial but the excess material wants (not needs). I wonder if there aren’t any other variables and issues that lead to or lend themselves to prostitution in Montego Bay. It is also seems odd to me no one has spoken to or rarely speaks to the clientele of these flesh retailers, because business never occurs without customers, so it seems to be a bit imbalanced to not examine the other aspect of the business, and see what new information can be “gleaned” from that vantage point. I’ve also heard that prostitutes in MoBay do have some very ‘cashy’ customers and financially ‘well-endowed’ connoisseurs of flesh that range from the average Joe to some of the friendly city’s prominent members, like Parish Councillors and influential business men.

By the way isn’t there any other feature type stories happening in and around MoBay. Geee, why hasn’t any feature or quantitative or qualitative examination been given to the escalating levels of crime? There are criminals out there that need to be interviewed so we can see what is happening get the real scope and scoop. The police need to be addressed on this. Instead of stories written, I’m almost certain without leaving the desk or the computer in the air-conditioned offices.

Why hasn’t anyone done any feature on the city’s bright sparks as yet, seeing that CXC and ‘A’ level results are out now? Are we going to continue to perpetuate the myth and stigma of the Sex City MoBay? This journalism bias and focus cannot continue much longer. People need to know from these large media platforms that Montego Bay is a multifaceted city, with more to offer than some sex, beach, “Hospitality Jamaica” and Margaritaville. With the revenue and supposed kind of backing that these large media houses have it is a shame they leave the task of the real nitty gritty and some what niche stories to the smaller papers like “The Western Mirror”, “The North Coast Times” and such.

Of course, I’m certain the powers that be and the Mayor in particular will not address either the issue of prostitution in the city or the fact that the media continues to and refuses to paint our city in any other light than a den of sex, sea, sand and scandal. While we are on the subject the tourism interests don’t seem to mind the negative national PR. Sandals MoBay might as well be “Scandals MoBay”, and MoBay might as well be “‘Ho’–Bay” seeing that if the media is write/right only debauchery occurs in our tourism capital. Montego Bay and Montegonians have so much more to offer the country than sex, I only wish the national paper could see that and make at the very least a reasonable attempt at showing that. So here is to hoping that maybe in this weeks Sunday Edition of the national papers that we see a feature story on MoBay that beyond the now played out lines on Sex in the City.

By Yannick Nesta Pessoa
B.A. in Philosophy
yannickpessoa@gmail.com
or yahnyk@hotmail.com

Sex in the city - MoBay: liberated and decadent

2005-09-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

STRAIGHT OR perverted sex, the choice is yours. Liberated and in your face, in an apparent effort to keep on top of the tourism market, Montego Bay seems to have rebranded and rejigged the popular tourism theme: sea, sand and sex.

With nightclubs offering adult entertainment, aka 'live sex', sex toy shops emerging in a number of plazas, parlours on every corner offering sensuous massages, prostitutes lining major streets, which were once out of bound, old houses giving way to brothels, groups offering call girl services and young girls turning to lesbianism, the city has taken on new life.

Read on

Sex and the City

2005-09-13T11:00:00.000-07:00

The whore is despised by the hypocritical world because she has made a realistic assessment of her assets and does not have to rely on fraud to make a living. In an area of human relations where fraud is regular practice between the sexes, her honesty is regarded with a mocking wonder.Prostitutionby Angela Carter1940-1992 British Author

To hear many religious people talk, one would think God created the torso, head, legs and arms, but the devil slapped on the genitals.
Sex
by Don Schrader

The big difference between sex for money and sex for free is that sex for money usually costs less.
Sex and Prostitution
by Brendan Francis
1985 Playboy

Tourism and whorism two terms often used interchangeably when examining the second city are once again topics at the fore. For those who read The Sunday Observer for June 26, 2005 you would have been made aware that the spotlight has been once again placed on Montego Bay where the sex trade is concerned. This may be due the fact that much international pressure has been placed on the island in regards to our tardiness in curbing human trafficking, more commonly known to us as exploitation of children and women, particularly in the sexual arena. The ambiguity of the term aside, one ought to realise that the newly renamed phenomenon of child prostitution is nothing new to the world and here in Jamaica and particularly Montego Bay is nowhere as prolific as it is in the United States where child pornography runs rampant. Child prostitution is wrong wherever it can be found, no doubt, but I can’t help wondering if the local media houses sudden zeal for sighting child prostitution in every nook and cranny was inspired by the barking of the big bad “Uncle Sam.” No doubt, with this spotlight on the tourist capital, there is sure to be an all to cliché spate of rambling and ranting in the media about Montego Bay being the ‘whorism’ centre of the island.

Well if the investigations are true, it would seem the number of women getting too friendly in the friendly city, are not only on the rise but their age is subsequently lowering. The economic logic of entering into “the world’s oldest profession” (and to think they don’t have a union yet) is undeniably easy to see. Firstly in an economic climate where jobs are scarce and the selling of flesh out pays those with a job, the retail of the female genitalia become tempting option to many particularly those that lack the necessary educational background to viably compete on the job market. Secondly in a job where the young are likely to get larger salaries than the veterans in the field/streets (or if the Sunday Observer is right Long and North lane), who really is not going to be tempted by quick money? Third it does not hurt that Montego Bay is easy locale for the earning of foreign exchange and access to foreign clientele.

Montegonians really ought to be used to this played out talk about prostitution in the second city, even with its new “human trafficking” spin. It seems to me that at least once or twice a year when the news slows up and parliament is on a scandal break, Montego Bay becomes canon fodder as it were and some idle editor or reporter dredges up a story on the prostitution scene here. It amazes me that after so many years and so many of these stories, so few of them have added anything substantial to what it is we already know and so few of them have any names, or moving human interest adage that makes it of qualitative relevance. Honestly, prostitution has been apart of MoBay long before most of us were born, older folks will tell you of a time when Fort Street was a haven to ladies of the night. I even remember when the amphitheatre was in front of the KFC on Howard Cooke Boulevard, the throngs of sex seller that flocked their.

Sodom and Gomorrah as MoBay is referred to by the more moral and pious amongst us is no different from any other city or town even. There is no area in the island in which you will not see those black painted buildings with the words exotic, along with some flowers painters in fluorescent or neon colours, usually a red or pinkish hue as well as bright green. This leads me to wonder if the stereotypes that Montego Bay has, tends to cloud or impair the objective lenses of the media. I would also like to know the level of research that went into examining prostitution in Montego Bay. For such an abused and regularly publicized issue, I would like to see more quantitative as well as qualitative evidence.

I would like the Mayor give some response to this, be it a letters to the editors of all media houses, a press release, even a televised address on the community channels, but this bad publicity that the second city is subject to cannot continue indefinitely. If it isn’t bad enough, national newspapers are constantly reminding us that crime is on the rise in Montego Bay and St. James, and if I remember correctly we are now the constituency with the second highest crime rate outside Kingston. If all that is not too much, our Member of Parliament Dr. Chang has also been subject to some negative press. I honestly feel Montego Bay’s plight in terms of crime (of which prostitution is one the last time I checked), our public perception and the morale of the citizens needs immediate address.

Giving prostitution a broader look, I really believe it is about time that it is legalized. If it were legal, we could tax this large income and generate more money for the budget (or some corrupt politician) and ease tax burden. Also we could better control aids, by setting a prostitution regulatory body which could carry out AIDS screening, registering and educating prostitutes (as to how to prevent STDs, use their income and even counselling), and how could I forget, keep out the minors and kids. As with Holland, we could set up red-light districts and keep the sellers of flesh from back alleys where they are even more prone to associate with other crimes or become the victims of crimes. It could keep the women more secure and in control of there lives if we remove the pimps. However all this is just the humble opinion of a simple Montegonian. Till next week, dear reader.

By Yannick Nesta Pessoa
B.A. in Philosophy
yannickpessoa@gmail.com
or yahnyk@hotmail.com

Spirit Continues Caribbean Expansion; More Service to Montego Bay ...

2005-09-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

Spirit Continues Caribbean Expansion; More Service to Montego Bay and Intra-Florida Service to Add Convenient Connections to the Caribbean

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 10, 2005--Spirit Airlines continues to strengthen its position as the leading low cost carrier to the Caribbean. Effective November 10, 2005, Spirit will add non-stop service between Orlando and Montego Bay, Jamaica(1). Spirit will also add intra-Florida service with flights from both Orlando (effective November 10) and Tampa (effective December 15) to Fort Lauderdale. This new service to Fort Lauderdale in addition to being available for local traffic will give Tampa and Orlando area residents convenient low fare connections to numerous tropical destinations:

-- Cancun, Mexico

-- Nassau, Bahamas

-- San Juan, Puerto Rico

-- Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

-- Montego Bay, Jamaica

-- Kingston, Jamaica

Read on

Student transport crisis looms in MMTR

2005-09-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

Horace Hines
Sunday, September 04, 2005

MONTEGO Bay Metro, the bus company that provides student transportation for the Montego Bay metropolitan transport region, says it is without adequate resources to service its routes.

Metro runs on seven routes across three western Jamaica parishes.
But, on Friday, the company said 17, or approximately 60 per cent of its fleet of 28 buses, are in the garage awaiting repairs.

The company said it was still waiting on the government to disburse the funds for the repairs.

Read on

MoBay chamber renews call for convention centre

2005-09-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

HORACE HINES, Observer staff reporter
Saturday, September 03, 2005

MONTEGO BAY, St James - President of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mark Kerr-Jarrett has renewed the call for the construction of a convention centre in Montego Bay, urging prime minister PJ Patterson to break ground on the project.

"It has been some four or five years that that commitment (to construct the centre) has been given and I don't think we are elephants and we have that long gestation period. I would like to see the birth of this very quickly so that we can drive business in western Jamaica and Jamaica," the chamber president said. "We can open up a new arm of tourism, which is the commercial tourism, and hold large meetings. And so we call on the prime minister to convert on that promise in very, very short order." Kerr-Jarrett was speaking at Wednesday's press launch of Caribbean trade exposition 2005, which is to open on October 7.

Read on

Travelling minimum wage talks starts in MoBay

2005-09-13T10:40:00.000-07:00

Observer Reporter
Monday, September 05, 2005

THE first in a series of four regional consultations on the National Minimum Wage starts today in Montego Bay, the labour ministry has announced.

Four months ahead of the planned January 2006 implementation of the new increase, the ministry is moving to secure an even wider body of views in town hall-type meetings.

Last adjusted by 20 per cent on January 31, the minimum wage now stands at $2,400 for a 40-hour week. For security guards, it moved 12.5 per cent, from $3,600 per week.

Read on

Emotional welcome for J'can hotel workers in Montego Bay

2005-09-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

HORACE HINES, Observer staff reporter
Friday, September 09, 2005

MONTEGO BAY, St James - Emotions ran high at the Donald Sangster International Airport here yesterday as family members came out to meet 80 Jamaican hotel workers who had to cut their contract short in the United States because of the destruction in Louisiana and Mississippi by Hurricane Katrina.

"When it (hurricane) hit Monday night and the place start tear up and you see things just flat down where Burger King was and KFC you just see the pure ground. There was nothing, nothing to see, road split in two, bridges break. It was horrible, but thank God for life and I am glad I am home but I will go back anytime because I have to eat," said a young woman from Glendevon, St James, who was going on the programme for the first time.

Read on

JFJ in MoBay

2005-09-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

JFJ opens documentary centre in MoBay
Jamaica Observer, Jamaica - Aug 30, 2005
MONTEGO BAY, St James - The human rights group Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ) yesterday opened a library and documentary centre in Montego Bay. ...

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Father and Son Killed

2005-09-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

The Montego Bay Police are probing a shooting incident involving a 51 year-old businessman by gunmen at Hart Street on Thursday night. The incident occurred a day after his son was gunned down in the same community. Investigators are now...

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MoBay student gets $100,000 scholarship

2005-08-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

Observer Reporter
Tuesday, August 23, 2005

A five-year scholarship valued at $100,000.00 has been awarded to Camille Wedderburn, a graduate of Supreme Preparatory School in Montego Bay, who did exceptionally well in her GSAT examinations.

The scholarship, which has been made available through Churches Co-operative Credit Union in Montego Bay, is being presented for the ninth year to top performers in pre-high school examinations.

As part of celebrations for its second year in Montego Bay, Churches Co-operative Credit Union has chosen Camille, who will be attending the Mt Alvernia High School in September, as this year's recipient of the scholarship.

Read on