One of the headlines in world news today was the surge in the price of cotton. It is the highest it has been in fifteen years. I am thinking about the inflationary prices of fabrics; shirts, jeans but most importantly on mind is Montserrat Sea Island Cotton. It is a cold comfort, as I recall the many class trips to the cotton ginnery, viewing the ladies weaving the strands of cotton. I can see those finished products, the table cloths, the place mats, the shawls, belts and scarf’s. Sea Island Cotton weaving is still being used for local consumption and retail but not on a large scale for exportation. Today I also recall the first time I saw a cotton tree in bloom in The Bahamas while driving through Stapleton Gardens (New Providence, Bahamas). I was so overwhelmed I stopped, came outside and took a closer look. I touched it with such tender care that you would have thought that I was cotton laborer in exile.
I was not even born when Montserrat had a booming cotton industry. The raw cotton material was exported to Liverpool and Manchester in England; or even around in 1901 when Montserrat first experimented with Sea Island cotton with a sample seed imported from Barbados. Montserrat had turned to cotton production because it required fewer slaves than sugar. Cotton had played an important role in our island’s economy.
In the 1940s and the 1950s there was a mass exodus from Montserrat to England and as a result of this in the 1960s there was a decline in the cotton industry. In 1969 the Chief Minister announced in his budget speech that the cotton industry was losing its significance. Therefore in Montserrat we came from cotton being responsible for our improved finances in 1910 to our economic decline in 1968. When I reflect on the mass exodus of the labors from Montserrat to the UK in 1940 and 1950 I can not help but feel a profound sense of loss and powerlessness as the migration parallels our island’s current situation of the displacement of our people because of the volcano.
In reflection I am inclined to think that it may be because we are a small nation that we do not fare well even in comparative advantage (trade) or perhaps we give up too easily. I say this as cotton sustained us economically in 1910 why not in 1968? Imagine the wealth of a plantation owner in 1683 who was involved in cotton fetching (harvesting) in Montserrat. Then the price was two shillings six pence per pound compared to today’s price of over one dollar per pound.
Today countries such as India has a high demand for cotton as their stock levels are low I wonder where would we have been today if it was not for our people leaving in droves? I recall that we used phrases like ‘cotton picking mind’ (a phrase many find offensive). The whole idea of cotton resonates with me or fascinates me.
No matter what industry or service you work or have worked in chances are you have used cotton before. The next time that you put on a T-Shirt, your favorite jeans or use a q-tip remember that you are touching a part of history. What are you doing now that will resonate with future generations? It may be fascinating to your great, great grand children to find out what you did for a living. They may be amazed to know what you could buy for a dollar. They may find it remarkable to learn why you live where you live, and what activities occupied your time. I implore you to make the best of what you do now and enjoy the fruits of your labour and record it by photos or in writing because history is occurring now right before your eyes.
Recently I was watching a National Geographic Channel special, which featured a replay of the September 11 attacks. My daughter was in the room and my natural instinct was to turn the channel and spare my child such horrific events. As I searched desperately for the remote in a panic she said to me Mama leave it, I told her I am going to give her Sprout (a preschool Network) her favorite channel she shake her head no. She watched intensely. At various points in the program she tried to articulate what she saw as she gesticulated with her hands. As a mother today the children who have lost a parent that day taunted me. I wonder how those children are coping with their loss?
As I type I recalled a conversation I had with a friend whose birthday falls on September 11, I asked him where he was on his birthday in 2001, his response was not one of, “I did this or that”, but he remembered the week prior to the bombings he was at Ground Zero. Today there are so many divided emotions. Someone is celebrating another year of birth, anniversary, maybe the loss of a loved one but etched in their conscious are the painful images of September 11, 2001.
September 11 has changed everyone world’s point of view in terms of what happened before it compared to what happened after it. No matter the geographic location it was a dividing line in time so we reflect on the events of that day.
Yesterday from “sunrise to sunset” I constantly thought about and noticed things about the life of the elderly. It started out with British Broadcasting Services (BBC) who featured a team of grandmothers in a community in South Africa playing football (soccer). The eldest member of the team is eighty three years old. Later in the morning I was given a gift of a magazine featuring Dominica’s recorded centenarians. The portraits of the people portrayed in the magazine have travelled the world, featured at various exhibitions and have thus created awareness, admiration, and respect.
I was filled with nostalgia as I read the article about the centenarians and as the reoccurring broadcast replayed in my head of the grandmothers playing football in South Africa. Many of my dearest memories was spending time with my ninety five year old great grandfather in the eighties learning bible verses and realizing that my ninety eight year old great grand aunt had jump through a window as she was as sprightly as we (then) teenagers after we had locked her in for the night. I remembered watching our family prepare to celebrate a cousins hundredth birthday which he never lived to see. My most recent memory about the elderly in my family was making a special trip to London for my ninety five year old grandmother (who is still alive) to see and hold my then ten month old daughter (she is now three years old). There was and is now a glow, a joy and a privilege that comes with spending time with them. Today I want you to think about the eldest person in your family and think about;
How do you feel about their age?
What you remember about them?
How does it make you feel about yourself and family history?
What emotions stir in you when thinking about them?
Maybe you can start a dialogue with the younger members of your family about this.
I hope your spirit has been lifted in this exercise, as you went through the questions, as we think about the people who have brought us together.
Recently I watched this video that my younger cousins and her friends where in awe about. This was really a solemn video and quite compelling as the artist Trey Songz immerses himself in the story. The story is about a young wife being called off to the war and leaves her husband and two year old daughter behind. She is killed in the line of duty and they delivered the news to her husband. Amazing! Can you believe this is everyday reality for most soldiers and their families? There is a lot we really take for granted in this life. Whatever we decide to do today let us call to mind the fallen, those who have served in fighting wars, both living and departed. Let us also pray for all those who are currently in the line of duty or who are preparing to leave. Let us commit to memory those who have died, their sacrifice and legacy that live on in the spirit of those who continue to serve. They are missed.
As individuals we are placed on this earth to progress in all areas; mentally, spiritual, physically etc. When we learn we move forward. I hope that what you have learned recently, whether through experience, proxy or in written form that it transports or even transform you to a position to further progress.
Olive Tree near l'Estaque painted by Georges Braque in 1906
Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani in a night heist
Brazen swipes across the river Seine
Under the gaze of the imbecile’s intent
Cameras unmask ‘Still Life with Candlestick’
Padlocks relents, windows smash ‘Olive Tree near l’Estaque’
Stolen moments lights triumphant
On ochre and brown ‘The Dove with Green Peas’
‘Woman with a Fan’ swung under his rebel spell
Saturated brows, clammy fingers, breathe on Braque and Léger
As temperate spring lends to the thunder of his winter heart
Bold moves with loose strokes under the eye of Modern Art
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Poem Written by Brenda McCartney
Five masterpieces were reported stolen from Museum of Modern Art in Paris on Thursday 20 May 201, with an estimated value of just under 100m euros (£86m; $123m) click for more information .
“GRAY MATTER left-Neurons make new connections during learning. Right- no connections”
Have you looked into your library recently and found that you can not recall most of the books you have read? Well, research shows that the neural connections which are responsible for receiving and processing information weaken when not in use. According to Dr. Taylor a professor at St. Mary’s College of California “we need to know stuff, but we need to move beyond that and challenge our perception of the world. If you always hang around with those you agree with that you already know, you are not going to wrestle with your established brain connections.” Reading is great way to focus your thoughts and exercise your brain. It may take a lot of discipline to read consistently but the rewards are never-ending.
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