Big Up Jamaica!

First Usain and then the ladies today - what a triumph!

A word of condolence for my brethern and sistren in the States. I understand that the 100 m men's final was not shown live in the States. The US coverage of the Olympics is disgusting! I was in the States during the Atlanta Olympics and you couldn't see any part of the winner unless they were American. I imagine that once Tyson was out of the final they decided it wasn't worth showing. How ridiculous! People interested in sport want to see great performances no matter what country they come from.

But like I said at the beginning, big respect to Jamaica and many congrats to the ladies and Usain. Asafa - come again and re-group, and dust them later. Keep you spirits up.

RIP Bernie Mac

Really sorry to hear that Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes have died. Bernie Mac in particular shocked me. He was so young and I loved his comedy. That man was really funny - swore too much but was really funny.

Rest in peace both of you.

Bigging Up Caribbean Teachers

Check out this story on Dr. Carolyn Cooper.

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080804/flair/flair1.html

She was one of my lecturers when I did my BA in Literature at UWI Mona campus in the early 90s. She was (and probably is) one of the nicest and best teachers I have had. Her classes were fun bwoy! And often quite rude (benz bonnet as a phallic symbol – anyone remember that one?) And she used to host the best parties at her house in college commons – good food, good music and some interesting art. But apart from that I learned a lot in her classes. I learned the importance of observation – on many levels and the importance of bigging up yourself as a dark skinned, afro centric looking woman. That was and is important.

There were other fantastic teachers at UWI, Professor Baugh, Dr (now Prof Chang), and Mr. Smith, my Shakespeare lecturer. Now he was something else. He (and the others mentioned here) truly educated me in that they taught me to think and to appreciate the finer things in life and to consider the human experience. They made it clear that my education was an edifying experience, not a few years during which I could cram in as much information so that I could pass a few exams. I’m reminded of one of Prof’s (Professor Rex Nettleford’s) comments to Mr. Noel Dexter (who was the musical director of the University Singers when I was with them). He said, it that wonderful accent of his, ‘but Mr. Dexter, a butu is a boogooyagga!’;. Hilarious. But I recall that to say that the education I got at UWI ensured that neither butu nor boogooyagga was the result of my time there but a woman with an appreciation for people, literature, science and the arts and an appreciation for the efforts of educators like those mentioned here and elsewhere was the result. Some used to say when you said you were reading for a degree in Literature ‘den lawd missis, yu ah go dead fi hungry!’ but I’ve done alright on the salary front and I don’t regret the lit degree at all. I learned a lot and was privileged to be around some Caribbean giants. You can’t put a price on that.

House of Saddam

Just saw the first episode of House of Saddam on BBC2. It was produced in conjunction with HBO. It was really good. Good script, good editing, good cinematography and good acting.

If accurate, it really highlighted how brutal he was. Damn, he shot his best friend in the face.

Check it out if you didn't tonight - on the BBC iPlayer.

Private Practice

Been getting into Private Practice – the spin-off from Grey’s Anatomy by Shondra Rhimes. It’s really good – in fact for the more mature viewer it is better that Grey’s – much less soap and more storytelling. Check it out if you haven’t already.

Think before you make decisions on your children’s behalf

Just saw a documentary on channel 4 on the vaccine for cervical cancer. It has been tested for five years and this year will be given to 12 year olds I believe followed by all girls between 12 and 18. The documentary was pretty well rounded – asking pertinent questions about cost, etc. but what shocked the living daylights out of me was the incredibly stupid response of two Catholic mothers and a Muslim father. The father said he wouldn’t give his daughters the vaccine because it would encourage them to be promiscuous. The mothers said basically the same crap. But one of the mothers added the gem that she didn’t think it was appropriate to discuss STDs with her 12 year old daughter.

What a load of rubbish! Fist of all, do you really think a young person considers the possibility of getting cervical cancer when they decide to have sex or not? I am a Christian and this point of view mystifies me. Christians (and I would imagine Muslims too) work hard to instil their respective values into their kids which means no sex outside of marriage. This should be the major focus of teaching which you would imagine would have greater sway than the removal of the possibility of getting some strains of cervical cancer. And as for the mothers – a young girl of 12 should have had the facts of life explained to her by then – it is possible to begin menstruating at 10. There is no reason why STDs shouldn’t be explained to a 12 year old girl. These people are remiss and seemingly don’t have much faith in heir faiths if they think that being told about cervical cancer and how it comes about is gong to override years of upbringing and make their kids jump into bend with any and anyone.

It’s a crying shame parents who claim to have faith can’t do a whole lot better than this.

Giving kids the facts – and making sure the facts are age appropriate – helps equip kids for life. And by facts I don’t just mean he mechanics of sex, I mean the spiritual, emotional and health aspects. So many Christian parents forget, or weren’t told of all of these aspects. God is God and in charge of all things including sex; better you explain it to your kids within these parameters than leave it up to the devil to explain it – in practical and often tragic circumstances.

As to whether or not to give your daughter the vaccine? Get as much information you can and then make an informed decision. The programme mentioned the thousands of idiotic parents who didn’t give their kids their MMR vaccine because that doctor said there was a link with autism. What makes people arbitrarily believe one doctor without checking the facts and then put their kid at risk for measles? Some of the parents on the cervical vaccine programme were talking in the same way. If an expert makes a comment like this, check it out, get it corroborated, get background on that person and then weigh up all the facts and then make a decision. Damn, for all the free education available in the so called developed world there sure are a lot of dumb people – scary thing is they are reproducing.

Hamilton Mash Up Di Place!

Did y’all see how mi bwoy Hamilton jus coof Massa outa di way – twice? This man has balls the size of footballs and can he drive. Can’t wait to see the next race.

The Dearth of Black People on UK TV

I tend to do a sweep of the UK papers online and I caught sight of a headline that said that black people and Asians say that UK TV is too white. Now that headline was in a racist paper – the Mirror but the headline has a point.

Do you know that on sketch comedy shows in the UK, when they want to depict a black celebrity a white person puts on black face – because there are no black people in their casts. This is 2008. Now the US is racist but this would never happen.

It’s true that in most UK TV programme the cast is either totally or nearly totally white. There has been an unhealthy tradition of having black people segregated in shows with just black people in them. It’s sad. Look at Law and Order – sometimes there are three black people in one scene (the Lieutenant, Green and that chick who always brings the messages in though she may be Latino). This would be unheard of in the UK.

I notice a lot of black British actors flash to the states for work (Idris Elba, that guy off of Hustle who was in Primary Colors). Will things change here? Not unless the same thing that made things change in the States happen – i.e. heavy lobbying and a refusal to accept the status quo. Learning from past behaviour in the UK I don’t hold out much hope.