- Image taken from Corbis
This week many children will return to the classroom after a lengthy summer break. Most schools in The Commonwealth of The Bahamas opened last week. In Montserrat we would say ‘their free paper burn,” which means their leisure time was now limited to the rigor of school. In Montserrat as it with most of the Eastern Caribbean school starts today the 6th of September. When I was younger and a child was slow in learning (slow) we would say they went to August school. So, needless to say we did not want to go back to school in August.
Recently, after much debate and an apprehension to enroll my daughter in a certain school, I conceded and registered her at the school. At this point Uncle Gerald would have had a good laugh as he ragged me before now that my daughter would not go to school because I would have to go with her and that was not possible. Monday morning all the children were well clad, every pleat in line, everything was new; uniforms, ,bags, lunch boxes, shoes. The returning students seemed to beam with joy. I must admit I had a different level of respect for the school just walking through. Parents of first time attendees showed up with a joyful expectancy. Of course for the younger ones (pre-school age) there were in tears they wanted to go back home – they wanted their mothers.
As I entered my child’s class room the teacher was enthusiastic and had a certain degree of dignity in her attitude and by the way she carried herself. Later in the evening my three year old daughter came home with a schedule of subjects for each day, something I did not see until I was in High School. Also there were two letters one from her class teacher and the other from her assistant introducing themselves. As I said before I was not sure I would let my daughter attend so I did not attend Parents teacher’s conferences held in June. To my surprise, I learned that her teacher, whose deportment was that of a first time teacher keen to exercise the knowledge she had garnered, was a seasoned teacher of sixteen years. I was taken aback, I breathed a sigh of relief and was reassured then that my child was in capable hands because she took pride in her appearance and strove to develop her field. So far my daughter likes it and now I see why this school has one of the best reputations on the island.
As our children, grandchildren, friend’s children, niece’s, nephew’s, sisters, brothers, cousins God children return to the classrooms let us support the teachers whom we have entrusted with our children. They too have taken the time to be experts in their fields so that they can groom our children when they are away from us. Let us encourage and support them by putting in those additional hours outside school so that their loads may be a little lighter.
It has been seven years since I left the halls of a University, but continuously rooted and recurring in my dreams are assignments uncompleted. This morning I jumped out of bed thinking that I overslept with a black and white exercise book in my hand. Is my dreams steering me towards something I need to explore? Is it conveying a few thoughts and questions about my future? Or are my dreams of late simply a gentle reminder that it is time to act on goals set earlier? Maybe a similar situation has kept reoccurring for you too?
Maybe we are too busy with the day to day happenings in our lives that we have not been listening. As Carl Gustav Jung says it best “It is on the whole probably that we continually dream, but that consciousness makes such a noise that we do not hear it.”
Its lapis eyes
Serrate the setting
Ink works veil in blue
Prime notes lined the writers pad
Crystal spire mimics
As language drops into form.
-
Poem Written by Brenda L. McCartney
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Photographed by Anthony Asael
I saw the above image this week and it struck a chord with me. From the image I recalled the days when we would fight to pair up and carry those long wooden benches from the woodwork classroom on to the open veranda for spelling lessons, story time or to play games. This particular spot was well sought after by each class in the final hours of school (2-3p.m).
The school’s conventions prescribed that a teacher had to send a student to see if anyone was on the veranda before going there. When we as students found out that no one was there we would race to open porch.
The veranda had a view overlooking the ball field, a pond, the village of Gerald Bottom, livestock grazing the field, a look at the Silver hills Mountain range and the ocean all in 180 degrees. There was something fascinating and refreshing about learning in the open air. As we advanced on to higher grades our seating arrangements were more personalized and sophisticated.
Your alluring presence
Dark Skin
Domineering physique
Amid extremes
An open eye, open mind
An art to treasure
-
Poem written by Brenda L. McCartney
Photographed by Ashley Tuitt
There are many stories and controversies that surround silk cotton trees. I have seen some gigantic pictures; ones which make this one dwarf in comparison but to me the tree in this picture is an historic symbol to the people of Montserrat.
The silk cotton tree is a native of South America the Bombax ceiba. The giant branches are worn like a crown that can spread to one hundred and twenty feet in diameter and is supported by the Buttress-like roots that brace the tree. It can take up to 60 to 70 years before it reaches maturity.
The tree in the photograph is a tree in the village of Cudjoe Head. Cudjoe Head was named after the 18th century slave, Cudjoe, who ran away from his master and was caught and beheaded. His head was placed on this silk cotton tree as a reminder to other slaves who were considering the valiant run to freedom.
This tree has tremendous significance to many people for many different reasons. For me I recall that when ever we had exams and we finished earlier than when the school bus was expected we would walk home. We often sat on the wall under the silk cotton tree as a shelter from the sun and to rest before we journeyed on to our respective villages.
Cudjoe Head Day celebrations began in 1989; the first Saturday in August. It is used as an avenue for Montserratians to highlight their African roots and the impact it has on its culture as a way to unify the residents of Cudjoe Head and the remaining residents in Montserrat.
Photographed by Anthony Asael
The term ‘school bruk up’ was a term that we used every summer to mean ‘school is on break.’ At one time I literally thought they had to break down the structure and rebuild it then later I learned the actual meaning. It was the hurricane season but hurricanes never came until September or after.
Looking back at the end of the term in Primary (Elementary) School all students/pupils were happy and looked forward after exams to the two months holiday. Officially this time of the year all schools in the Caribbean are on holiday; the commencement exercises, the speech days, the prize giving ceremonies have all climaxed. Children looked forward to going away to spend holidays with their relatives on the islands or the United States or explore their own island. The ones who remained home looked forward to Vacation Bible School, the mango season or simply to have adventures up and down the river; to catch Cray fish or play games like we were Huckle Berry Finn and Tom Sawyer.
A treat for me was to visit my Aunt in another village and spend most of my summer with her and meet other cousins from her village.
Sometimes my excitement of sharing summer with my cousins was short lived as I had an Aunt who loved telling her children the night before they were due to travel take down their suitcases because they were going away the next day. I vividly remember my cousins protesting. I lived in the country looked forward to going to town often with my aunt, godmother or grandmother. I also look forward to play lawn tennis as my aunt had a tennis court among many other treats. ( I still have what is left of my Arthur Ashe Tennis Racket from back then.)
Another memory was visiting my paternal side of the family and getting to know them. I recall my grandfather milking the cows, whisking the cake batter by hand and my grandmother baking or preparing a meal for someone who did not have it. My brother always had to visit some relative or friend of my paternal grandmother to carry some of the delicious treats she prepared. Sometimes he had to walk or take a bus. I am so blessed to have her as my only living grandparent. (She just celebrated her 94th birthday.)
Another highlight of the summer as well was to go to the Village Post Office. The interesting thing about attending the Post Office was that all the people in the village gathered around a particular time when the postman was expected. When the postman came we all assembled outside a house they would call the mail out one by one. If any mail came for your family or even you, you had to say loudly “please pass it.” Of course the children would always go to Post Office about an hour before roll call to meet up with one another and play roundus, cricket or doge ball in the road; and of course we were always interrupted by traffic. (Traffic on the island is not like how it is now in the busy streets.) We were so thankful when the postman was late so we could have extra time to play. Occasionally we would go to beach as a treat but under the supervision of a trusted adult – maybe an out of town relative who was visiting.
We may have not had much but we did not know that then because we enjoyed every moment of life and the experience of summer was such a joy.
Looking back at it we should live free as children and enjoy the simple things in life.
Image taken from United Colors of Benetton
Today He Must Know
Pretending not to know
We both look away
For fear of the unknown
His colour white
My colour black
Not caring for each other
He would have sworn racism was missing
But now he pretended not to know
He looked away
Not wanting to appear
Walking with a Negro
Side by side we walked
He urged his step
I mimicked his back
Today he must know
It is a privilege to walk with
A Proud, Resilient, Educated BLACK
(From the book ‘LeAp – a Collection of poems’ by Brenda L. McCartney)
I recently published a book of poetry called LeAp. One of the poems is named England. In the poem I expressed disapproval for the phrase ethnic minority. Reading the book of poetry one may infer that I disliked living in England; well it is quite the contrary. I love the place and would move there again tomorrow. To paraphrase Maya Angelou in her recent book Letter to My daughter England to me has all I want history, Universities, mixture of races, great book stores and fine places for dinning. But I wrote about my view on the subtle undercurrents of race relations. In England, during my time there, they would often use the phrase Ethnic minority to refer to Blacks, Asians, etc. To me, it almost seemed like the N word.
According to the Cambridge Advanced Learners dictionary, the phrase Ethnic minority means a national or racial group living in a country or area which contains a larger group of people of a different race or nationality. On the other hand Wikipedia the free Encyclopaedia describes it as follows:
A minority is a sociological group that does not constitute a politically dominant voting majority of the total population of a given society. A sociological minority is not necessarily a numerical minority it may include any group that is subnormal with respect to a dominant group in terms of social status, education, employment, wealth and political power.
I do feel that most of the time we are often judged as being subnormal with respect to [the] dominant group until we can prove otherwise. However we need to embrace even those who do not fully accept you on the basis of race, religion, gender or for any other reason. For example, Oprah once said in an interview that her grandmother told her to love white people. Grandmother I do agree whole heartedly. When we sit down and hate others it harbours stagnation and inactivity. Hate often seems like getting things off our chest as we would say back home, but no good can come of it. I do understand that it is a process and once we are treated in a way that would minimize our worth or damage our ego we take some time to heal. In my post yesterday entitled Caribbean Living I had issues with a hairdresser denying a simple request of mine, but I did not hate her. Yes I returned to the hairdresser because I convinced myself that I was wrong to get upset over other peoples things. I had to rid myself of the contempt that I felt. However, when I received the magazine six months later, that day I took her eleven magazines and I have never been back. Being in England was a similar matter; I took every negative experience or comment with a grain of salt.
Let me give you an example of how we can be ostracized. Very often, no matter what your profession or qualification was before you entered the United Kingdom it was not good enough. If one did not have British Experience one had to start from scratch. Some may say okay, starting from the bottom allows you to know the ins and outs of the business world; but to me their treatment of outsiders was often undignified.
To be specific, my first degree was obtained in the Caribbean; after being accepted at University in England I was told that I would have to redo all my classes. I huffed and puffed but I could not blow any house down. What I can say is that when I look back at it today my English classes were contrastingly different and added tremendous value to my education and for that my friends I am thankful.
After University, I recall emailing my curriculum vitae (C.V) for a position which I thought I was quite able to do. Well, within minutes I received a call for a job and that I could start on Monday. I naively went shopping for suits. Here comes Monday – I showed up ready to work, low and behold, before I could open my mouth I was told they read my C.V. wrong. I was peeved but I left gracefully in the valley of humility. My work experience following that incident was exceptional and I would not take anything from my journey now. Of course I had to start from a lower level than I would have liked (I had an MBA from Britain and I had to work with British students right out of Secondary school.) Yet given my resilience my potential was quickly realized and I advanced.
You may say that I am ambitious and I am but I do believe that any ambition should be allowed to grow in impartial surroundings. So that brings me back to the phrase ethnic minority. Lets put it this way to me that word sums how I feel about how prejudice can hold you back if you let it but we should never let an opinion that someone holds about us hold us back. Nor should we let an opinion that we have about someone else create an environment for hatred or injustice. Yes that phrase says a lot and given my experiences of being an Ethnic Minority to think about it if someone were to grant me a few wishes I would make that phrase a SAVAGE INDICTMENT against humanity and illegal as well.
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