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Jamaica
| November 10, 2011 | 1:28 PM |
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Birthday
Related to country: Canada
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Hey Guys,
I had a blast for my birthday, I began yesterday by visiting Canada's Wonderland and today I stayed in and relax.
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| September 19, 2011 | 6:46 PM |
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'Survive' by Jacques Roche
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This poem was written by a Haitian poet, journalist, activist Jacques Roche, who was killed six years ago this month. It's really beautiful, and I think the poem does justice to itself and its writer. Let it speak to you ...
You can destroy my house
Steal my money
My clothes
And my shoes
Leave me naked in the middle of winter
But you cannot kill my dream
You cannot kill hope
You can shut my mouth
Throw me in prison
Keep my friends far from me
And sully my reputation
Leave me naked in the middle of the desert
But you cannot kill my dream
You cannot kill hope
You can put out my eyes
And burst my eardrums
Cut off my arms and legs
Leave me naked in the middle of the road
But you cannot kill my dream
You cannot kill hope
You can cover me with open sores
Poke an iron into the wounds
Take pleasure in torturing me
Make me piss blood
You can shut me away without pen or paper
Treat me like a madman
Drive me mad
Humiliate me
Crush me
Give me no food or water
Make me sign my surrender
But you cannot kill my dream
You cannot kill hope
You can kill my children
Kill my wife
Kill all those I hold dear
Kill me
But you cannot kill my dream
You cannot kill hope

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Guess Who's Back?!!
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Dear Jason, What took you so long?!! I nearly had a fit without you!! I swear, I really missed you! Why were you gone for so long? Don't you know that work is not the same without you? That my days are quite dreary and just - blah - when I haven't got your sketch comedy to listen to, especially when the constant whining about your absence starts to sound like an unhealthy obsession? Jason, listen, seriously. Don't do that again. Don't leave me like that. Prior notice would be greatly appreciated, so that I can try to find suitable replacement (if that is possible). You can't get a person hooked on you, and then just up and disappear like that. It's not funny. And it's not fair. So don't ever do that again. PS Tell BBC I said thanks for hearing my cry and bring back the Byrne! I love 'em that much more for it! So, yeah, it took them a whole two months or so, but they brought back my Irish comedian, and I am absolu-totally-n-wholly thrilled! I love love LOVE Jason Byrne! I mean, seriously, I LOVE him, and I really really REALLY missed that show. He was gone for waaaay too long, and I'm just TOO excited to have him back.
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Quick update
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Life is good. Check that. Life is GOLDEN. I'm still living, learning and growing. I'm staying on top of my game and making progress - sometimes painfully slow, but always steady and sure! I'm here. Love y'all!! Thanks for the support, the big-ups, the one-liners, two-liners and sometimes whole paragraphs of love that you keep showering on me. I'm not missing. I'm still right here ... and still very much large and in charge. God is good. Peace.
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Hope Springs!
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He thought it was over. She thought she was through. They thought they couldn't live anymore. I thought I'd seen the best of 'em all. But then, hope springs. And there's a new day. And he can still smile. She finds a laugh. They share a group joke. And I live to see it all. Hope springs. Don't forget it.
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What Speaks To My Most Authentic Self?
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That's my question of the day. I heard a renown educator pose it to an audience, and it hit me: what speaks to my most authentic self? For a moment, I thought I'd have a ready answer. Because, gosh, I know me so well, right? Wrong. There was/is/has been (note change to present continuous tense) prolonged contemplation. Then here I am, blogging about it, and still not in any definitive way. What speaks to MY most authentic self? WHAT speaks to my most authentic self? What speaks to my most AUTHENTIC self? It is, I admit, a worthy question. What I love about this question is how it is personalised. It's not asking about YOUR most authentic self (no offence to you, I assure you I value and highly esteem your self and its authenticity). It's asking about ME and MY authenticity. It's talking about ME from MY paradigm, MY perspective, MY point of view. I think many people have become so absorbed in (and by) their environments that they have forgotten the existence of their authentic selves, and the need to nurture them. We can get so caught up in being politically correct that we begin to create - and nurture - a self that engenders what everyone around us wants us to be, but that betrays the very essence of those elements that speak most to who we really are or want to be. It's like kids growing into adults and forgetting the importance of having and pursuing dreams with firm belief in their possibility. The kid had the big heart, but not the knowledge. The adult has no heart, lotsa *negative* knowledge. And, for some reason, society affirms the adult, rehabilitates the kid, but never considers a way to consolidate both points of view. I love this question because it asks us to go back to basics and rediscover genuineness and authenticity. It asks us to do more than just get by under the shroud of conformity. It forces us to face up to what is different and real about each of us - and to own it. I hope you take the time to answer the question.
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As the World Turns ...
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My mind is screaming to go beyond established walls. Beyond the boundaries of chronic limitation. Like Mandela, there's a gnawing in me, because powerlessness must not be tolerated. It must not be accepted. It must be fought. And inertia can be a disease that debilitates forever. And it must be avoided at all cost. 'Wutlissniss' has to start somewhere. It starts on the day when you decide to slow down. That one moment when you decide to 'take a break' can somehow metamorphosise into years. Years of breaks and breaking. Until finally, you see something new taking form. Water comes together. Dry land appears. Shoots and roots burst into being. The wheels of time keep turning in endless revolutions. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Aha ... Eureka! A revolution. An evolution.
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Bring back the Byrne!!
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 | Jason Byrne, of the BBC's Radio 2's The Jason Byrne Show. |
I'm a sucker for BBC programmes (Jamaicans, I mean the internationally known TV/RADIO station/news service, not the cloth!). It could very well be a cultivated bias (because I've become a kind of BBC buff, with a marked interest in all things BBC). Or it could be that the quality of their programmes appeals to me like no other broadcasting group's programmes have. Whatever the reason. Here I am. The BBC buff. I especially love their iPlayer service because it affords me the luxury of listening to pre-recorded programmes at my leisure. So, for example, I can catch up on programmes from Radio 4 and 2 that I wouldn't otherwise hear (because those stations are not available in Jamaica). And that's exactly what I do. I listen to either the World Service live (I love World Have Your Say and the News Hour), or something on the iPlayer. I'm particularly in love with their comedy offerings. I think they're fantastic! The wit. Puns. Clever riddles and literary wheeling and dealing ... I love it! My favourite type of comedy has to be sketch. It requires the kind of on-the-spot, quick thinking that leaves my adrenaline peaked, pulse racing and general respiratory cavity breathless from chronic laughter. I love The News Quiz, I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, Just A Minute, The Unbelievable Truth, Saturday Stand-Up ... but most of all, I absolutely adore this Irish sketch comedian called Jason Byrne! He's dynamite! And hilarious. The wit. The jokes. The Irish accent ... *swoons*. You get the picture. He's become a big (read really important) part of my weekly BBC diet, much like a glance at the BBC's news home page has become a seriously indispensible part of my daily routine. Imagine my surprise when I couldn't find his programme on my iPlayer anymore. I felt crushed. Deserted. A little lost. A lot upset. And empty (how's that for dramatic, lol). How could the BBC - my one true love - have jilted me in this way? I wasn't even this upset when they ended the Caribbean service and dashed to pieces every bit of hope I'd had of one day working there. No. That hurt. But not as much as this kidnapping of my weekly bit of Irish heaven. I was incensed! Still am. I've gone a week without him and I don't think I can last. Nothing is the same. The BBC has GOT to listen to me on this one. Lives are stake here, so bring back the Byrne!!! I must find him on my iPlayer tomorrow, or else ...
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TO be on a team for change
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To be on a team for change - good, wholesome, positive change - is a thing of much beauty and cause for great delight. I feel absolutely blessed to be in this position - thus endowed. I must make the absolute most of it.
More anon.
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Blog-a-day Challenge: Day 23 - A song that you cannot stand to listen to
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OK. This is pretty difficult because I just don't have any songs that get to me that much. Oh no. Wait. Yes I do. That Rihanna song. Not the Umbrella one. The one about going downtown. Ugh. Sorry. Out of respect for you, I will not be placing it here. But I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about... Yeah, that one.
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Blog-a-day Challenge: Day 21 - Your favourite song
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Oh come on!! There is no way you can expect me to choose just one favourite song out of the many I have!!! That's ludicrous!! Anyways, if I must choose one favourite song, I have to think carefully about it and, let's see ... Nope. There's no way I can choose just one song. Just NO WAY! i love too many songs for equally important but vastly different reasons. I love and give five stars and two thumbs up to ALL Hillsong songs! I LOVE Jeremy Camp! (Have you heard Let It Fade and There Will Be A Day?) I'm loving Matthew West and Britt Nicole and Michael W. Smith and Casting Crowns and Avalon and Chris Tomlin and Lincoln Brewster and Mandisa and David Crowder and Toby Mac and Nicole Mullen and Jaci Velasquez and Aaron Shust and Addison Road and Tenth Avenue North and Natalie Grant and Newsboys (omg, I LOVE these guys), and delirious (even though they've dibanded - they AWESOME). And I have favourite songs from all of them. And that's just one genre of music. I have others. Like
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