What every Jamaican should Know about the Chikungunya Virus!

How to recover from Chick V

According to Wikihow.com, Chickungunya has three phases that can last from 3-12 weeks to a month. There are no vaccines or medication made specifically for this virus and it said to have been originated in Tropical regions such as Africa and is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected Mosquito. The chikungunya virus (CHIK V) is a RNA virus belonging to family Togaviridae, genus Alphavirus. It was first discovered in Africa in 1952-1953 and later introduced into Asia.Major epidemics or outbreaks of chikungunya fever occur cyclically, a disease-free period of several years or decades may exist between the outbreaks. For example, a well-documented outbreak of the disease occurred in parts of India in 1963, 1964 and 1973. For the last 30 years there have been few reported cases, however, in 2005 several states in India have reported outbreaks of the disease and the outbreak is still continuing.Chikungunya is present where its mosquito vectors are common. Chikungunya is found in areas with heavy rainfall and abound during the rainy season.


What differentiates Chikungunya fever from dengue fever is the absence of excessive bleeding and shock, and the persistence of joint pains in Chikungunya. Incubation period is 1-12 days before symptoms occur in a patient. It is crucial that one drink teas and consume food that boost the immune system so as to prevent disease.
It is transmitted through a bite by two mosquitoes, namely Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. These are daytime mosquitoes which are active a few hours before sunrise and for several hours before sunset.

The symptoms of Chikungunya includes as followed.
In the Acute Phase-

1. Low or High Grade fever similar to flu like symptoms
Fever may last for 24 hours up to 48 hours and then it might disappear for a day and return. The febrile state may last up to two weeks before normal body temperature is restored.

2. Joint pains that will be severe in the mornings and can be relieved by walking around but will get worst if one does an exercise that puts too much pressure on the muscles. Pain maybe felt in the wrist, elbows, knees, shoulders and hips.

3. Rashes that might look like small reddish bumps and pimples. It some cases there might be blisters and they often follow the fever. Not everyone will get rashes but look out for those. Over the counter Anti-itching and topical cremes may relieve discomfort.

4. The most common eye conditions in Chikungunya are conjunctivitis, eye pain, and pain behind the eyeball,

Other Serious complications that may arise


Chikungunya occurs from a month to three months after the acute phase of illness ends. During the subacute phase, the main symptom is arthritis. Aside from this, disorders of blood vessels like Raynaud’s phenomenon can occur.
Raynaud’s phenomenon is a condition where there is decreased blood flow to the hands and feet in response to cold or emotional stress.
Chikungunya may affect the meninges or coverings of the brain, the spinal cord, the brain itself, and the nerves. Brain and nerve disorders due to Chikungunya are varied and beyond the scope of this discussion. Some disorders of common knowledge would be seizures, nerve pain, and altered mental condition of the patient.
As for blood complications, there may be mild bleeding conditions in Chikungunya like bleeding under the conjunctiva of the eyes, nose- and gum bleeding. Unlike dengue, bleeding in Chikungunya is self-limiting or will not persist for long and eventually stop.
Some conditions seen in Chikungunya would be myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), pericarditis (inflammation of the heart covering or the pericardium), heart failure, irregular heart beats, and abnormal blood flow. However, know that these complications of Chikungunya are rare and occur only in the subacute to chronic phase of Chikungunya.


Treatment of Disease


Paracetamol at the Pharmacy. Aside from Paracetamol, do sponge bathing until the temperature returns to normal. Use tap water and not ice water for sponge baths because of rebound return of fever or fever tends to be higher immediately after using ice water.
Treat Pain with Ibruprofen
Low Impact Exercise for Joint Pain

Have a solid eight hours of sleep at night and other nap periods if necessary. Rest in a warm environment.
Apply cold compresses to the affected joints in order to decrease pain and reduce joint damage.
Consume plenty of water at 2 liters in 24 hours at home to prevent dehydration from fever and for well-being. Be sure that urine output is more than 30 milliliters per hour or at least 720 ml per 24 hours.
Use pain-relievers and massage for headache. For headache, using paracetamol as described above, would help. Napping for a few minutes or massage your forehead or scalp should help relieve the headache.

Papaya and the boiling of the leaves to make tea is considered a grand herbal remedy to fight the Chikungunya Virus. Papaya leaf remedy is found to be highly effective in increasing the blood count lowers when one has Chick V virus. It is said to improve it within three hours of consuming tea or in many cases pulp extract of the Papaya leaf. Take two leaves and remove the stems, grind it to smooth paste and strain it to extract the juice. Take 2-3 tbsp of juice for 3 days.
Garlic Tea is great for antibiotic purpOses
Castor Oil or Coconut Oil are essential for massaging joints to remove pain.

Chickungunya Prevenetion tips

Cover tightly with a lid all water tanks, cisterns, barrels, rubbish containers, etc.
Remove or empty water in old tyres, tin cans, bottles, trays, etc.
Check and clean out clogged gutters and flat roofs where water may have settled.
Change water regularly in pet water dishes, birdbaths and plant trays.
Introduce larvivorous fish (e.g. guppy) to ornamental water features as these eat the mosquito larvae.
Trim weeds and tall grasses as adult mosquitoes seek these for shade on hot days.
People can do the following to prevent themselves from being bitten by mosquitoes.
Wear long sleeves and pants.
Install secure screens to windows and doors to keep mosquitoes out.
Use Insect Repellants
Sleep under mosquito curtains or nets, this is particularly important when children are sleeping or resting during daylight hours.
In high-risk areas insecticide sprays may be used to kill mosquitoes.

Warnings

Avoid using aspirin because it may cause bleeding in the stomach or intestines and Reye’s syndrome in children less than 12 years old. Reye’s syndrome is a serious disease among children 4 to 12 years old where there are serious brain and liver symptoms, and can be fatal. It is due to a viral illness and even aspirin.

Read More Here
http://www.wikihow.com/Recover-from-Chikungunya

Finding a Good Relationship Partner in Jamaica

I had a rather interested conversation with a male friend a while ago and him a say him want a good woman. Man a say them want a good woman and woman a say them want a good man. It is not that good people are not out there it is just that everybody feel them deserve better. So every man and woman a scout for an upgrade. 

Everybody a play fool to somebody for we all a chase people who we think a our better and then these people a run down some other people weh them feel say a fe them better. 

Better has a lot to do with value too for a college graduate might think she should be better to a ghetto youth whose better is a light skin girl.  So she end up a chase a man who will never see her value more than skin deep cause he has an entirely different value system and criteria for his relationship. It is not that the girl values less, her attributes are simply not worth anything in this ghetto youth eyes. 

It all boils down to valuing yourself. You cannot force someone to validate you. If someone does not see your worth at face value it is futile to invest time in trying to convince them that you are their better. That is something they have to work out for themselves. 

We are as fake about our relationship as we are about life. We don't want "better"! We don't want Mr/Mrs right and we sure don't want good enough, we simply want somebody who other people want and cannot get. We want to conquer and monopolize. We want a challenge. We want someone to trophize like our house and our cars. We want to win the best person for ourselves. 

Love in the modern world is not about sincerity, it is a competition and the prize companion has every suitor eating out of the palms of his/hers hands. 

It is funny how women say them want a good man and when they say that they don't mean them want a man who can love them, take care of their essential needs and provide a convenient life. 

A good man is a man with money to spend. A good man is a man who can bring her the world. A good man is a man with surplus money to spend. This might explain why the "money man" have ten girls jumping through hoops to become his first draft pick. While on the contrary, the man who calls a girl on a regular, text and offers to buy her lunch is considered an idiot and taken for granted. Why? She would rather earns someone else love, work overtime to convince another to love her than accept the free will love in front of her. Love that comes easy is not valued much. 

Ghetto Slam BookExcerpt by Crystal Evans

Draft from New Book
Ghetto Slam Draft
Copywritten so dont copy me
Copyright Crystal Evans 2014

The sweet melody of dance hall music emanated from Strawberry Hill and the slender bodies of females strew the sidewalks, faces dolled up, animated, scanning the promenading vehicles for a companion for the night. In these streets girls treated sex like a handshake and men were only interested in getting ahead in life, literally. Bitches readily exchanged tongue titillation for five thousand dollar platforms. For the right price, girls would be in love. Iggy Azaela best called it Head over Heels.

Popular men stood at the bar and cliques of female a few feet apart orchestrated stealth espionage on the latest money prey. The brave one even in the face of uncertainity will strut over, sticking her ass out for a boss chick knows how to flirt without ever making herself appear desperate or easy. These Niggas might not have degrees in human behaviour but they can spot a thirsty chick from a mile off. Some niggas are slow and you sometimes have to dangle your vagina before them for them to get the hint, then if he is stupid he will lap that shit up like Hennessy.

If a nigga has money, good social clout and great reference on his dick game then even the bossiest of chicks will wait her turn. She will express her interest, give a little and retain some for to make a nigga know you going crazy over his dick even when "it a mad you" is relationship suicide. Some girls get this game of tangle free relationships, others basically go to the Dance Hall to drool, lining up to give some undeserving nigga head. They show up for every pot cover that knocked, pouting lips,rubbing their nipples on outstretch hands and touching men's shoulders to test it's strength, thinking about how these dude's penis must hang between their legs rocking to and fro like a pendulum.

You couldn't keep a man tuned into you if you were not talking about sex. Men were concerned with two things, sex and money. If you were not offering either then you might as well waltz over to where the other wallflowers stood, ogling the assortment of men in matching abercombie slippers.

Ghetto Slam is not primarily about sex, it the ambiance of the sexual scenario, an unleashing of sexual energy. It is carnal and torrid, as provocative as the Wimbledon movement Popcaan discussed in his Fall In Love tune. Wimbledon was that jerking of the ass, rapid shuffling of the buttocks against a man in the doggy style position.

When the poor boy get rich?

when the tear up batty pants bwoy start drive x5...all of a sudden he is treating ppl the way people use to treat him..like the slave who becomes a master and in order to feel less of a slave he too has to enslave, belittle and demean others...the only way you can feel truly values is by devaluing others. I think not. 

In order for people to shake off their feelings of inferiority when they elevate in life... They must treat people like shit, ironically the way people use to treat them when they were nobodies. Superiority is essentially commanded not demanded. If you deserve respect and clout, you will get it, you don't have to diss ppl. They might fear you but they will never respect you or value your life.

Encourage collective success and not competition among our children

People think about life mainly from a self perspective but I see life for what it is collectively.  Like when we were children and our parents encouraged our individual success above all else, ingraining a notion that our achievements were about conquest and hierarchy instead of liberation and  societal advancement. 

I once told a mother that it would be disadvantageous to my daughter to encourage her to be the best and wish failures upon my neighbour's child. You see even if my daughter becomes a doctor, who would teach her children? Who

Would handle her money and finances? Who would protect her when she sleeps? Who would negotiate with other countries to secure products that she cannot produce locally? Who is gonna put out the fire in case your child's house burns down? If my child becomes a doctor and yours become a gun man then my child will have to build fortresses to keep your child out! Life is fairly interconnected. 

Encourage collective success among our children and not competition because your child will need other professionals along with themselves to create our future societies. They cannot do it on their own. We know what happens when we have a country of " dunces". Do not encourage this notion. Encourage our children to study in groups and build success among their peers so that we can have a better Jamaica. 

_Crystal Evans 

Children of the Jamaican Working Glass 

©Crystal Evans Book Club 

Buy a book and support this blog 

What if all of my Facebook friends were white?

What if all my Facebook friends were white? 

When I was kid I heard Ron Muschette on the radio saying that if wealth or the directions to finding diamonds, was in a book then the black man would never find it. I was around thirteen year old but I understood perfectly what he meant, I heard the maxim before, it meant black people rarely read and there fore the best place to hide something from them would be in a book. 

It is embarrassingly so. We are further behind in the "race" of life because knowledge holds the truths to the evolution of mankind and we stray everyday further and further away from anything that remotely involves an investment in reading. 

There are a few local groups online mainly Facebook, geared at soci-political upliftment. I observed the responses to posts in these groups with relation to likes and commentary. Try posting a profound statement and watch the likes and comments you get on a forum of twenty thousand Facebook members. Now look at the amount of likes and comments a poster gets for a flyer for a party on independence weekend in comparison You are liable to find the same twenty people liking your post and commenting on it, twenty times over.  What happened to the other nineteen thousand plus members? Now post a picture of a frivolity and before long, it is granted over fifty likes. 

I sometimes chalk this down to not having enough white friends. Black people claim that white people are superficial, maybe they should check themselves. They enjoy spending their entire lives copying everything white, abandoning and denouncing anything black and moving up to kiss ass behind white people. They are as meretricious as the white folks they complain about. They act like they all black but in reality hate themselves, take for instance a lot of Jamaican reggae singers, Rastafarians married to white or high brown skin women yet preach black consciousness and black beauty in their music. They probably can't help it, most black men see a relationship with a fair skin woman as exotic, exciting and superior. 

Nothing scares black people more than the success of another black person. It highlights their own inadequacy, they become enraged, angry at the achieved for showing the world that success is attainable if only one put their minds to it. It discredits the excuses of racism, classism and Slavery that many of use to hide behind why we have largely failed as a race in-spite of our many successes. 

Well some might say they don't read long post because they do not have the time, there are people out there using social media to enlightened the masses, posters and forum moderators becoming disillusioned because they have come to realize that Jamaicans are not interested in anything remotely revolutionary or profound. 

Those in the diaspora love nothing more than coming online to beat their chest about why they would never set foot on Jamaican soil again when they left families who while not actively but passively contributing to mayhem they talk about in their vitriol. They are part and sunder of the problems we have as a people, it is a mental issue. Instead of offering words of encouragement, they gloat in the failures of their country, firing off in malicious satisfaction trying to find a way to justify their notion that it is the worst place on earth and they are happy that they left. They will find every way of highlighting the bad about this country, look at the Gleaner and Observer commentary section, lot of comments when the news is bad and three or so comments when successes are highlighted among our people. 

I guess our ancestors probably said the same thing about Africa when they boarded the slave ships or no, the local slaves horned in the America's wasted no time in telling them how inferior they were because they hailed from the motherland. 

Black people have some serious issues with success. They have a "climb on top of everyone in my race mentality" while remain under those outside my race's  conviction. Look at how a black Jamaican security guard treats his Chinese employer as opposed to how he will publicly disrespect, insult and humiliate his black employer. Often drawing reference to the skin of the soil to reinforce his belittlement, telling him that despite what you have achieved you are no better than me because you are still black. 

Think about how black people in a dominantly dark skin country like Jamaica treat other black people when they come to do business especially in the service industry. The receptionist is liable to treat you with blatant disregard, usher you to a waiting chair with a look of disgust on her face and regard your impatience with overall contempt. She would blather away on the phone ( hence why when you call you get a busy signal), do a million things on the computer before responding to your queries and in many cases you will end up leaving there without the information you wanted because the receptionist does not know anything about the company she works in. 

Now watch the receptionist perk up when a white, high brown or Chinese individual enters the room. She will go above and beyond to get the necessary information, respond in a saccharine tone and with a permanent smile plastered on her face, twinkles in her eyes. 

We have been taught to hate and to treat each other with contempt, never allowing anyone to feel they are better than us if they are the same colour. The receptionist can't help the way she is because she was socialized to believe her education albeit fragmented makes her very bright and superior to other black people. Her parents encouraged her to treat those whom were below her ( dunces and those from

poor homes with disregard), she has carried over those values into adulthood. 

Herein lies the theory for our failed system of education, we have smart black people with the wrong values. Smart black people who regard education as status instead of liberation unless we get our values right and get back to the books then we won't ever improve the plight of our people. 

Am not interested in us conquering the world, I just want us to be able to help and support each other since very few people outside will. Just imagine black writers probably get more support from non black readers than their own kind. We spend a lot of time waiting for "others" to validate the success of our people before we embrace or give them support. 

I once had a white friend whom I dearly loved and she was a good friend indeed until she started dating a black man from my area and everything changed. The black man made up conjectures about me and left out everything about himself. I did not quarrel with my friend, our friendship deteriorated, he made me out to be an opportunist. He won because she failed to see that he was destroying our relationship so that he could get what he wanted out of her. She didn't see it until it was far too late. 

I once heard a story that a black man could never own a bank. If he did succeed in getting his own people to bank there, they would watch him like a shark, and if he shows prosperity such as buying a new house, his black brothers would believe he stole from them. They would insist that they wanted back their monies and no doubt run his business into bankruptcy. Don't think you can explain this to them, they are more interested in getting back their money than the legalities of the business. 

Black people will jump through hoops and do everything possible to ensure that you don't make it to the top. Yet they can never invest the same amount of enthusiasm and tenacity into fueling their own success because it is always easier to be a destroyer and a hater than to lend support to each other. 

The Jamaican Woman's Fairy Tale Complex

Every girl has an ideal man, a checklist of physical features, personality attributes and social elements that we would like to have in a husband. Truth is life is never like those Cinderella books, good girls don't always win out like they do in Mills and Boons, nor does plain Janes marry millionaires like in the Harlequins Romance Series. Life is different from our fantasies, good girls are side chicks, most wealthy men are jerks who view commitment as an option, something they can delay until they lose their virility. 

Remember our high school perfect husband discussions and how wanted this and that in a man or our husband should look like him, have this and that. Many of us smart women assumed that an education would get us some rich surgeon until we discovered that it took more than a degree to snag a well off man. 

We wake up to the reality but some of us are still holding on to wistful romantic notions that some perfect man is going to show up on our lives and whisk us off into the sunset in his mechanical chariot. Nothing is wrong with dreaming, a girl gotta have hope. What if you end up spending your life, wishing for something that might never happen? 

Are you in a position to meet the men that you want? You can't expect to meet surgeons and corporate executives at a street dance. You would have to attend conferences and social gatherings that these kind of men converge on. Nor can you expect a man who is a CEO, running his business, to give you all his money, funding your lifestyle when he can get someone else to complement his. 

You cannot want a man with abs and muscles yet your body is completely out of shape. Don't

You think someone who takes as much pride in his appearance won't notice that of his partner. Appearance can be improved but in order to get certain men to consider you, you would first have to get him to look at you. 

Chapter excerpt: the country gyal journal

Copyright ©®™ Crystal Evans

I knew what I wanted for myself even before listening to the Kelly Clarkson's song that mirrored the poignance I often felt staring out the window of my grandmothers house during a late afternoon shower that left the air with an earthy perfume. 

I wanted to break away but before that I was happily content with my life. Mama would bring back patty from the factory and we would fry them over in the frying pan and eat it with Gratto Bread. I remembered my sisters and I eating out the peanut butter in the fridge or licking out the milo tin that mama hid in the cupboard. We would pull the chairs and take down Horlicks from off the fridge top and eat it like there was no tommorrow. Our favorite delicacy for lunch was bread and sugar or condensed milk washed down with water. 

When Christmas time came we had roast breadfruit and fried saltfish, I particularly enjoyed using my finger to lick the grease from my plate and if my granny was absent, I would readily obliged the usage of my tongue in the same manner. 

We had jokes and Dolly house was nice. We married each other with Bulla Cake and Water, sometimes we had money to buy dollar cooler and suck suck to quench our thirst as we played in the sweltering son. 

Sometimes when the rain came down like a torrential downpour we remained inside and played jacks and ball or watch Tv. We didn't have Dolls but managed to find some old weaves and plastic bottles to improvised. We had plastic Dolls and our nieghbour Kiesha mother sent down Dolly with clothes set from foriegn come give her. We were not jealous but vaguely aware for the first time that albeit we were never hungry, we still lacked and want. 

Our favorite past time would be carrying water from the standpipe across the cow pasture, early in the morning when the only sign of the sun was a chalky, powdery pinkish haze on the skirt tail of the horizons, when dew water wash your foot like rain and the mist of the morning smelled by leaves. When you use dew water to drop inna your yeye from it's dollop accumulation on the dasheen leaves because your granny  said it would get the gunk out of your eye after waking two mornings with it glued shut with matta.

  We would race across the grassy surface at the same time the common fowls marched across the cow pasture in lines like a soldier and we avoided sliding, falling face down in a pile a cow shit. In the days when we were not staring in awe at the length of Brother Roach Donkey penis, we would be hunting bees, using paper and bottle to trap them, then setting them free. We were oftentimes stung but never deterred, because chasing bees and butterflies were the happiest moments of our lives. 

We had games like Chinese skip when my sisters, I, Doodo Pet, Quennae and Puuchie Loo would play chinese skip until the sun went down or our parents called us home for food. We enjoyed roast goat seed, hog seed and the only thing we hated about Pigs was cleaning out the Hog Crawl. 

Boys were rude but never as violent as they are today. Boys had work to do like tying out the animals in the mornings and my cousin once lost a herd of goats in the hills, he could not sleep in the house as my grand uncle ordered him to find the goats before daylight or don't come back there. He slept in the hills that night even when my Granny cried shame on Uncle Roy for being such a heartless brute. 

I hated playing with boys because they hurtle the ball with too much speed therefore the impact was often more excruitiating that when girls played alone. We got more jokes, winced and pleaded with the boys not to crack a bone when they caught the ball in our usual bat-and-run-a-bound- games. 

These boys were not interested in playing crickets and flying kites on the open field in the searing sun like boys did when I was a child. These boys wanted console games and smartphones like the American teenagers on cable tv. They wanted to drive chromes vans and date women with chrome skin. Everything they valued had to look like silver or gold, shiny and attention  pulling like the lifestyles of those in movies. 

I remembered how my first pickney boyfriend kicked a ball and pushed the bucket of water off my head. It was unponderable the intensity of the hatred he reserved for me up until adulthood. I think he is still reeling over the comment I left him with, one I overhead my grandmother telling a man one day. " even if you gave me you hood, I wouldn't know what to do with it". I didn't understand what my grandmother meant by that but between eating the Mangoes and Guinep he brought from bush for me in a crocus bad, I told my twelve year old admirer that I was not remotely interested in him and his Dolly House business. 

Now I leave this community, glancing up at the regal spread of the mountains posed above the trees, kissing the horizon against the serene blue sky, meditating over the very purpose of my existence. 

Know your Jamaican Man Patterns

When it comes to dating a Jamaican man, he can say anything to you and you might believe, you are even entitled to believe his actions but you must never doubt a man with a glaring pattern. Am not saying that you should pull out your Nancy Drew glasses and start an investigation on your new beaus dating history. People do change but a man with twelve kids, seven baby mothers, a white wife in Pennsylvania and a side chick that owns the bar in the town is not a man you want to invest your time muchless vagina with. 

Another pattern you cannot turn your eyes away from is the man who is obviously in transition. The man who is separated from his wife, living with his baby mother and two year old son yet asking for your number is a guy who is a serial cheater and you are his next statistic. He is not over his wife since that baby is barely two and he lives with a chick that he will no doubt cheat on with you, he's basically feeding you the same bull crap he fed them. 

Patterns never lie. The guy who dates a slew of women who loom a certain way them suddenly decides he wants a change in his type of woman. He is either tired of the monotony of women he's been with or you have something he wants that none of his type can give him. A man with a track record of dating supermodel chicks don't just stir up an appetite for a plus size darling and her thirty inch waist. The plus size chica has something he wants wherein he is willing to overlook his tastes for, it might not be a bad thing but have to be alert. You cannot let your guard down. 

There's a trend among certain men especially those financially well off who dumped their thirty year old wife or baby mother that they have been with since she was eighteen for a college freshman with a round buttocks who is a schoolmate of his eldest son from his first relationship. This trend should tell a smart chick that this guy only dates young women and if you have no intentions of getting old then you can hop onto his lap. Whatsoever he did to them he will do it to you too even if it means he has one foot in his grave. 

Am not saying be specific about a dude because people do change along the way but at a certain age it takes a lot to break relational habits. Some of these behavioral traits are so entrenched that the chances of this man changing in this lifetime would be incredulous. Know your patterns, be an ace before you break a heart. 

Black people and the belly full laughter

I am often surprised at the way unaccomplished people use laughter, often loud ululations to bring attention to themselves. They could never be laughing at me, I know their laugher is a sham to divert attention away from the paucity of a life. They like that belly full laugh. It means they are not hungry, at least not hungry for the right things. 

I was never given more tools than them so how come my success is responsible for their downfall. I never cheated, facilitate their failure and usurp success out of their hands. I merely sought to develop myself. People can hate others for their ambition, my grandmother would say that it's not her fault that they are theirs. 

Human's may seem as if they cannot make up their minds. They already have decided where they want you to be. You see if Oprah never made it out of Mississippi she would always be reminded about what happened in her past and most of her peers would use her past to discredit her. They will be like  "oh there goes Oprah thinking she better than us when she got pregnant in school or her relative raped her". You see your own will not love you until strangers start claiming you. They just trying to benefit from your stardom. Hoping the stardust will rub off on them when they tell people they know you from way back when. Oprah is a celebrity now, she's out of their reach, she's a real star because strangers heaping praises on her. They will celebrate her accomplishments because she's not near to outshine whatever reflected light ounces off them. 

When it comes to black people you cannot blossom in their eyes, it reminds them too much of their own inadequacies when someone from their own dirt paved streets makes something of themselves. It simply means they didn't try enough. Don't think they do not gloat with malicious satisfaction when the girl who is doing well in high school gets pregnant and become a drop out like so many of her peers. Do not let them fool you, we all know black people are crabs in a bucket, they are happier seeing everyone crowded at the bottom. I don't know if it is slavery that made us so distrustful of each other and insecure about our brothers prosperity. White man tricked us by dividing and conquering, but our insecurity is bigger than that it stems from our parents who indoctrinated us to only seek success for ourselves so that we might be considered socially superior to our neighbors. We become discomfiture with others success because we think that they view us in the same light that we were socialized to frown upon failed people. We think they look down on us and we create problems, distractions to keep the attention off our pitfalls. 

It is true there are many black people who believe they live better lives among whites than among their own. While they might have a point, and good reasons to get away from their own kind, we wished those who get out of the bucket would turn around and help a few good crabs out. 

Where ever you are in your life, it is truly a milestone for you. I don't know how far you are coming from and I genuinely believe you deserve every ounce of happiness and success that you have now because you have proven yourself worthy. 

Don't allow anyone to ever make you feel ashamed of your success because it makes them feel uncomfortable. Make the most of your life because chances are you will die alone. 

Kartel going to Jail

Kartel if you do the crime you must do the time...you queens counsel lawyer, Tavares and matlock cAan save you. No damning evidence presented though but if you are prosecuted, it will be on reasonable doubt... Circumstantial evidence points to you. Can't believe Kartel knowing how precarious and fragile his position is in this society. Renown for turning my generation into deviants...would put himself in a position to be seen as a liability...make himself dispensable. He probably assumed he was above the law. 

News flash teacher... No one is above the law in Jamaica. Probably that X5 guy who killed Kahjeel Mai's is but not the World Boss. 

I am wondering where are the guns that the prosecution claim Clive Lizard Williams was murdered for? That part of the story is still very much a mystery.A big one too. 

I always knew Kartel would get this big. He was all the rave during high school. When I hear my alumni saying Kartel should do time you must know because his ardent supporters would never diss the world boss ever. 

When you high profile in Jamaica, worst if you from a certain background and you a endorse errant or criminal lifestyle, you are not contributing to the improvement of this society. You will be removed by any means necessary. 

Sometimes I wonder what makes almost every Jamaican young man believe that if he is not endorsing badmanism  and errant culture then he is not respected by his peer? 

The story is twofold. The Likkle badman thinks his lifestyle is illegal but somehow legitimate because he has his cheerleaders. He has a whole host of people who inspire him by sensationalizing and glorifying his illicit deeds. 

Little boys would not want to become gangsters if we did not have artiste advocating gangsterism, movies idolizing James Bond and video games that help boys simulate gun slinging culture. 

We have a created a culture where guns are the emblems of power and people value money more than morals. It didn't happen overtime, it happened gradual, insidious until it culminates into what we have here. 

Sometimes I mused that our boys should be given a chance to rehabilitate instead of being shot dead on sight. Other times I think about how we are going to undo laziness and years of values entrenched overtime. 

Jamaicans and Education

Education Saved the Little Boy's Dreams

The mere imparting of knowledge does not guarantee that one will become educated. Many black men are exposed to education but growing majority do not reflect characteristics of an educated cache. Education must cover all aspect of human life for it to be truly effective. An education system devoted to a notion of preparing a few from the paucity of society to become wealthy will never transcend any country. 

It has become clear that teaching kids to get out of poverty is not assisting in establishing and reinforcing morals and values in our society. It simply creates a group of people , well spoken, literate and certified who are of no benefit to the uneducated mass they came from. They perpetuate the notions of condemnation by seeking to distant themselves from the lower class. Even those who pursue politics do so not to liberate the masses or improve their conditions but to auspice their own personal ambitions. 

Education is regarded as an avenue, a rite of passage for social upliftment. A chance to change one's economical status, education transforms but it does not develop. It is for that reason we end up with a society of graduates looking to be hired slaves than entreprenuers,  innovators and inventors. They should be creating employment for the skilled, underqualified and üntrained populace instead the educated competes with the less qualified individuals for scarce jobs. It creates a Job Flation where employers underpay certified individuals and one's qualification devalues as you are forced work side by side with practically less trained personells.

We have been clamoring for years for a social intervention for our boys. Young men need special attention and are often uninitiated in how they should handle day to day conflicts that will arise amongst themselves. This lack of direction underpins the growing crime situation where young men resort to violence to resolved squabbles. 

Bring back some Great Men: Nelson Mandella

Prisoner to president... You have taught me that anything is possible in this life...I don't doubt for a minute that the world is mine to conquer because you remind me that I am as big as my dreams. It doesn't matter where I am for as long as I know that I will get there regardless of the obstacles I face even if it means spending twenty years in prison. 

You like so many men immortalized in history remind me always that great leaders have risen from the dumps of our society and that my background does not define me. 

You are a leader who leads by example. No leader can truly free a people until he himself has discovered what it means to be in bondage... 

Go Mandella... 

Hurts me to see our young men refusing to emulate men of honour like you but instead alluding to idiots like 2 chainz. 

You are one of the forefathers who fought openly against racism. Men who paved the way so that we can be free today and no longer collectively validated by the colour of our skin... 

Instead of a race moving forward, we regressing because we have forgotten our roots and are dishonouring the legacy and sacrifices of those who fought for our redemption. 

Rest in Peace Nelson Mandella. The world has lost a great black Man.

They do not know not understand that many have died and brutalized so that they can live the way they do today. Free. If it was not for the sacrifices of men like Mandella but Africa would still be in psychological captivity. 

Our young black men take their freedom for granted. Free to become who they want to be but they choose primarily, high percentage to become gangsters and hustlers instead of men committed to the Advancement of our race and society. 

A true leader of an enslave mass can never free his people if he has never experienced bondage: nor can he lead them to freedom if he does not first free himself. 

I understand more now than ever that we live in a world that will never produce the heroes of our past. 

 People are afraid to become heroes because they  are wary of becoming targets for those who cannot find heroism in their own lives. 

Too many heroes have died by the triggers of those they readily wanted to take bullets for. 

"Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them." — John Maxwell

Economy of the Ghetto

The economy of the Ghetto is a system of hustling and what is called a "roast". Getting paid for manual labour,making sufficient money so that they can meet their nutritional needs for one day and then they will hustle tommorrow again for food for that day. 

There is nothing to save. It's not even suffice for creating balance meals for a family. Children have to get school fee and the money pinched in order to save for bills,hire purchase or the hundred dollars a day partner. 

A lot of people don't understand how the partner helps out the poor man. He can pool his money with his neighbors and save then he collect a lumpsum. This lumpsum can go towards extending his house or paying for the tertiary education of his child. 

 There is no guarantees, just faith and hope that something will turn up the next day that will allow one to subsist. It is a game of survival. Life is not a luxury but many would rather be alive than dead because as long as they are alive then there is a hope. It does not matter what is going on in a Ghetto person's life, it is all about being here, as long as one has life, one has a chance of changing his circumstances. 

The lure of illicit activities in the Ghetto is real. It offers an opportunity to change the economical circumstances. The money is fast and it is often in large amounts. Poor people believe that money will make their lives a bliss. Therefore they believe that the pursuit of money is the ultimately goal. They will find out in time that money does not solve their problems. 

When a Ghetto person is poor, no one sees him. When he shows sign of making money, he incurs the attention of his community who will invariably expect him to share his spoils with them. If he refuses then he is seen as being traitorous to the identity of the Ghetto and seen as someone who "switched". 

Bad Men within the community will begin to use badness and threats to solicit money from the newly rich Ghetto person. The individual understanding the intricacies of the Ghetto and will comply if he wants to spare the lives of him and his family. 

If he decides to resist the demands of extortionist then he must leave his natal community. He understands that his life is in jeopardy. He can leave or form his own army to protect himself. Hence the connection between illicit money and crime. Where there's an illegal operation accruing profits, men offering bodyguard services and "strong arms" will no doubt gravitate to that person because a "food haffi eat".  Illicit money fuels crime. 

Respect begets respect Police Officers

I  see the relationship between the police and citizens as a two way street. You respect the civilians and they will respect you. Respect begets more respect so the civilian too must also mindful of how we deal with the police. Gussy's death taught me two things about police. You have good cops ones that held constant dialogues with the community after Gussy was killed and you have bad cops who come and point them gun inna you face and talk bout " who dead dead already and we have nuff more fe kill... Me left mi heart a mi yard"... Now tell me which onlooker, friend or family would not be angered by such an utterance after the killing of someone you knew your entire life. Now people look down on poor people behavior with contempt, but don't witness firsthand the ignominable behavior of members of the security forces. 

This notion that police have to use bad man tactic to get people to cooperate is a myth. The real bad man don't need to bad up people, him just need fe expose him gun and people will cooperate. No one will ever challenged the man with a weapon. 

We cannot have the people who are suppose to be endorsing law and order behaving like common criminals. This is a significant social element why citizens do not respect the police. 

But then you can't blame police in Jamaica because the police and the criminals are shaped from the same mold. The same culture, probably similar upbringings and exposure to a decadent culture. What we end up with is men with license to shoot with a depraved sense of morality. 

I don't understand how police officers can approach people like marauding gun men. The police thinks we live in a criminal state and the citizen believes that they live in a police state. In a criminal state, every citizen is suspected of doing illicit activity and can only be vindicated by the probe of a police officer or the courts. In truth we are all guilty until proven innocent. Which means any one of us can be shot down at anytime and labelled as a criminal with a gun. 

I do not support crime and violence and anyone who knows me know that me no keep bad man friend. I don't even like see them. And people always tell me I should not make my contempt that obvious but I can't help it. It is the nature of my humanity. I despise those who have no regard for human life, bad man or police. 

If you see life's answer to our problems as blood for blood then we will never reach anywhere. We won't get any long standing results. We will breed a nation of people carrying grudges for the death of their family members. 

Kill for kill is not the answer... Never was and never will be. I don't understand how people see death as some form of punishment when we all will die. Death, involuntary change is inevitable. So death within itself is no form of penalty... 

Gussy's Homecoming: Buried like a King

Today is Gussy's Funeral, he had a phenomenal cleaning day, an inimitable grave digging and historic Wake and I am almost sure he will have a thanksgiving service unlike no other. 

I believe that if Jesus was killed by his own people then any of us, as good as we might be, as Puritan as our moral stance or as transparent a character as we are, our individuality is forever at the mercy of the tribal values.

There are many Ghetto Jesus that we crucify along with thieves because people within our own communities set them up. We have Pharisees and scribes who sit on their self righteous throne and pretend to want good for our collective well being. When In truth they are only seeking their own individual opportunism and salvation... It's a facade, it's not really about us. It is about them. 

The self righteous must be poked with the truth to shatter their fake veneer and allow their real personalities to explode like a dynamite. 

We are the architects of our society which means it is not set in stone. We can break it and rebuild it anyway. Why do we pretend that our notion of a society is not intangible and pliable to our aspirations?

There was a time when slavery was considered acceptable by very Christian, highly religious societies. What does that say about how we as a people see injustices. Well it is ok to be cruel to people if they are from certain economical circumstances or if "upper echeleon" of society deems it so. We tolerate injustices as long as it does not affect us or it benefits us in some way. 

I gave a tribute at Gussy Funeral about how I thought someone like him who has done more good than bad for his community was killed by the protectors of our community was a chilling paradox. Gussy who several pastors attest to assisting with community charities. Grandpus a man who we all knew from childhood was dying in an infirmary and Pastor Evans had approached Gussy with his wish to be buried not by the infirmary but the generosity of his community. Gussy told pastor Evans no problem, just get everything together and I will pay for the package. That was Gussy... 

A boy crashed in a bike collision and his mom could not afford his surgery and she approached Gussy. It cost 100,000 dollars and in a few hours Gussy rounded up contributions from every one and the mother was on her way to saving her son. 

A young man of poor circumstances died, a destitute old man and Gussy along with his friends assist with the burial. Gussy gave to the poor and assist the needy. He has done more for this community than any elected politician, he was only twenty four years old. 

If you wanted to do a business, Gussy was approachable. Everybody could come to him and ask for assistance. Gussy made dreams come true. Gussy send pickney go a school. Why do you suppose the officers allowed us to properly mourn his death instead of treating him like the common criminal some people assumed he must be to be gunned down by the police. 

Man has an idea for a play involving key actors in the Jamaican play community. He approaches Gussy as an investor. Gussy started advertising his play the Wednesday and he was killed the next morning. That's my last memory of his coming from his afternoon football session with his friends driving his brothers jeep advertising an event no one has ever considered doing here. 

Restocking Hardwares, building a pool bar, a craft market in Negril for his older brother. Investing in parties, committing to charities. Is he a criminal or a martyr? 

Well yes he might have been a criminal in the eyes of some people. If so be the case then we have police and politicians that are criminals too but we don't hear anybody demanding that they be gunned down and flung into van back like a dog.

 Oh Right, I forgot, Gussy mother sell pon roadside and him daddy push hand cart fe mind them and when him couldn't manage the economical strain of taking care of the children , he abandoned Miss Madge. Gussy Father admits at the grave digging that if Gussy walked past him, he would not even recognized his own son. He cried when he admitted that Gussy called him several times, saying "daddy cone check me no". He cried that Gussy called and told him about what he was doing and everything he bought. Gussy was a forgiving young man and reached out to his father. 

None a you have any right to judge these youths cause unoo don't know weh them a come from. I carried water from stand pipe up until I was seventeen years old, I had to get up every morning go clean out my fathers business place and the house before u go school. Sometimes me late. I have back problems now from carrying those heavy jugs and I can't sleep till morning light because my body is trained to wake before dawn and do domestic chores. I thought my life was hard then but I now realise that some people have it worst than me. My father never abandoned us. He might not have been the greatest father but I was never hungry and I went to school everyday. Do you think it is fair to Miss Madge for someone to take away her child that she has made sacrifices for and invest in before he came to actual fruition? 

Stop reasoning with your prejudices and classism because that is what this is a about. A girl wrote that we should never assume that my cousin went to heaven because him was never living a life to warrant entrance in the kingdom of God. I kept thinking " what the fuck does she know about Gussy? He has done more good than her and as far as I am concern in a greater position for heaven than she, the pastor himself said that gussy better than nuff so all Christians because he had a good heart . 

I know because Gussy black like a tar and he looks Ghetto cuz poverty no wash offa him yet. Hard life still a show pon him. He does not look refined and he's not related to anyone important. He's a king where he is from and that is most important. Gussy will always be remembered, he's done more for this community than people born inna money yah. I know one particular one, you couldn't even get a thousand dollar fe borrow from him cuz him always bruck and him a drive convertible. And Gussy gave away thousands of dollars. But mr convertible might contend that Gussy was kind and him end up dead cause its his generosity that lures the good and the evil towards him. That maybe do but it never deterred him from giving back to the poor. I have to learn to live with his death. It's gonna take the woman in me to get over his death. 

When i see people from near and far bawling and wailing at sight of the escalade drawn chariot with his lifeless body in a glass casket. I know from every indication that he was loved by everyone. 

Death had an epiphany on me. It has a way of putting life into perspective. When Checky was murdered, I no longer I obsessed about the fifty something pound I gained after my daughter because Checky lived in a gym everyday, everyone knew how he worshiped his body and to see all that hard work go to waste. I would have taken Checky back even if he was fat like that Gabriel girl that played "precious" because I liked interacting with him. Gussy death exposes how much I should never take anyone for granted, cherish every moment I spend with the people I love because you do not know when someone is gonna your life. 

I do not know how anyone can think it is ok or justifiable for Miss Madge to bury her son after all that she has invested in him. After struggling to sell on the road side and pushing hand cart to buy the chicken back and the bag a rice to feed her four sons and three daughters, someone or any one deserves to deny her the right to get grandchildren from Gussy... Smh... Donkey say the world no level.