Originally written for and published in Caribbean Beat Magazine (May/June 2015) It was sixty-five years ago that Cyrano de Bergerac was released, a film that would make Puerto Rican actor José Ferrer the first Caribbean person to win an Oscar (for best actor in a leading role, 1951). He also won a Golden Globe, and a Tony award for the Broadway …
Tag: trinidad and tobago
Pragmatism vs idealism…or something
I am at odds. On the one hand are the succinct, sage but fatalistic words of Trini (West Indian? African diaspora? Universal?) sayings like: "Like who like you" "Bat in yuh crease" "Goat doh make sheep" And the blood-chilling end to the fable that lives in different incarnations in different parts of the world (the …
Golden voices | Caribbean Beat
Originally written for and published in Caribbean Beat magazine in 2013 The half-century anniversary of Trinidad’s popular Marionettes Chorale It was all a little inevitable. My mother was the conductor, and my two godmothers were the executive management. Some of my best-established blackmailers are those who can recount me “conducting” from the audience as a pre-schooler, with …
Heather Headly shines on
Written and published in CariVele Magazine for their special issue commemorating the 50th anniversary of Trinidad & Tobago's independence Any list of Trinidadians of distinction would be grossly incomplete if ever omitting Heather Headley. Easily one of the most driven and multi-talented of Trinidadian artists who have excelled abroad, she has already made history as a …
Ella Andall: spirit dancer
Written and published in CariVele Magazine for their special issue commemorating the 50th anniversary of Trinidad & Tobago's independence “I am not afraid to sacrifice for my fellow man Prepare me now to dance this dance, spirit hold my hand… I could make de grade, I could make de grade, I eh ‘fraid…!” – Spirit Dancer Ella …
K2K: Fashion, Mas and Philanthropy | OUTLISH
Originally written for and published on OUTLISH.com in 2012 “A breath of fresh air.” That was the phrase that numerous people used over and over, when I spoke to them after K2K’s launch of their 2013 Carnival presentation, “The Human Race” last Thursday. Twin designers Karen and Kathy Norman have introduced something to the Carnival …
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Heather Headley: a star with her feet on the ground | Caribbean Beat
Originally written for and published in Caribbean Beat magazine in 2012. The full interview transcript is published here, and at Discover Trinidad & Tobago. In 2000, news spread about a Trinidad-born actress making waves on Broadway. Her command of her emotions made you sure that her onstage tears must come from some fresh real-world trauma. The truth was very …
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Trinidad’s ‘Dangerous Dogs’ act and what it says about us
You know a country by how it treats its most vulnerable: its children, its seniors, its 'differently abled', its 'minorities', its natural environment - including its animals. Shame on us all, mostly for permitting so many governments and political parties to get it so, so wrong for so, so long. Shame. Shame. Shame. The Dangerous …
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