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The Yankee Stadium
It was a balmy evening, the night sky was lit by stars, seemingly suspended to sprinkle stardust. Cars highly polished, were parked in the streets surrounding the Stadium. Ladies resplendent in stoles covering arms earlier exposed to the sun, were held close by husbands and partners suitably attired. There was a whiff of expensive perfume in the air, as chauffeurs stood beside their automobiles, prepared for a long wait.
The ladies glided into their seats at ringside, shephered by their male companions who acknowledged business colleagues and friends at ringside. Some couples brought cushions to protect expensive attire from the early evening dew.
This Yankee Stadium was in of all places Brittons Hill St Michael. The great and the good of Barbados sporting society were prepared for for a night of boxing.
Enterprising women whose land surrounded the stadium, charged small boys and young men a few cents for a perch in the high trees on their property, which gave a view of the ring. One is reminded of the phrase often used at the turn of the century in New York to describe Barbadians: “As soon as these West Indians have two more cents than a beggar they want to start a business.”
Outside the stadium the ubiquitous sweet sellers were hard at work, downwind of them the rich aroma of freshly roasted corn wafted the night air as corn lay atop coals whose embers were red aglow. Small boys scampered about as they often do when excited. No doubt an exciting evening of pugilistic endeavor was expected.
Brittons Hill? I hear you ask, I doubt anyone under fifty years living there would have seen the Stadium.
In this most unlikely of settings, a purpose built boxing stadium was erected and a successful one at that…thanks to Belfield Alleyne .
For those with no knowledge of this Stadium, at Brittons Cross Road, travel towards the Villa Road, after about thirty metres you will come to Cummings Road. Turn right, the site of the former Public Bath will be on your left, about twenty metres along the road, is the site of the Stadium. Almost opposite the site where Mr Chase had his Blacksmith shop…many an old donkey cart owner would know of him…a nice man.
I wonder if Jack Dick and his fellow pugilists could return what they would think of the place now? Alast Brittons Hill is not the place it used to be… a glimpse of old Barbados.
Beautiful piece of prose Yardbroom.
You sweeping clean Sir!
Enjoyed it!
IS THIS WHAT IS STARTING TO HAPPEN IN BARBADOS WITH THE ILLEGAL GUYANESE IMMIGRANTS?
From the L. A. Times
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> 1. 42% of all workers in L. A.County ( L. A. County has 10.2 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This is be cause they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without a green card.
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> > 2. 96% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
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> > 3. 78% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.
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> > 4. Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal , whose births were paid for by taxpayers.
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> > 5. Nearly 40% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.
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> > 6. Over 350,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.
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> > 7. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.
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> > 8. Nearly 70% of all occupants o f HUD properties are illegal.
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> > 9. 21 radio stations in L. A. are Spanish speaking.
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> > 10. In L. A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 4.3 million speak Spanish.
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> (There are 10.2 million people in L. A. County . )
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> > (All 10 of the above are from the Los Angeles Times)
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> Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops, but 37% are on welfare.
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> > Over 73% of the United States ‘ annual population growth (and over 90% of California , Florida , and New York )results from immigration.
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> > 34% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens.
IS THIS WHAT IS STARTING TO HAPPEN IN BARBADOS WITH THE ILLEGAL GUYANESE IMMIGRANTS?
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!
Bajan Underground, we need you! We need poeple like yourself and the Barbados Free Press to keep up the good work. With you we would be lost.
David I think you should remove Yardbroom’s prose from this thread, and start a thread with post on life in a Past Barbados.
With this in view, I hereby submit A short story submitted to a friend’s website in 2002 entitled MISSING THE LAST BUS
Missing the last bus
Boys will be boys they say. That includes liking girls. That also includes visiting them at their homes if you are allowed to do more than stand on the premises. Some fellas assist the girls with their homework, and others get to cuddle and do diverse and sundry deeds. All this was all well and good, once you left in time to catch the last bus home. If you left your girl and all was well, and the rain didn’t fall, well you counted that as experience. But often if she was quarreling cause you were “horning she” you got no good night kiss and you left disappointed. It was usually on such nights that the windows of heaven would open and the rains would descend in torrents. There is perhaps no experience as bad as the triology of leaving your lass in a huff, missing the last bus and then being drenched by a tropical downpour. That is what you call missing the last bus in beautiful, beautiful Barbados.
For those from other shores, and those of recent vintage we must clarify a few things. Depending on where you live in Barbados the public transportation system the last bus leaves Bridgetown, the connecting hub and capital at a particular time for each destination. In the sixties it was 6 pm for some destinations, 8 pm for others and 11 pm for others- like mine. It was incumbent therefore to know this important information when engaging in the science of chick checking (courting.) Very few youngsters were then given their father’s car to engage in this lofty pastime, and fathers were not given to rise from their warm beds to rescue silly sons who did not know how to be punctual. Missing the last bus therefore meant that you had to “slam tar”- a most inelegant euphemism for walking home sleepy and tired in the dark!
Usually when you were at the young ladies home, as the clock hands turned towards 11 p.m the young lass would put her hair in curlers or she would otherwise “set” her hair. As soon as you left she was in her warm bed. By the time you reached the bus stop she was far, far away in slumberland. And we the love-infected fellas were on the road struggling to get home. But as they say, boys will be boys; and that includes checking chicks in the approved Bajan fashion. Any girl worth her salt-or sugar- could easily induce the most quiet and conservative boy to miss the last bus. Any normal red blooded chap who sought after the mystical “sugar and spice” of which girls are alleged to be made, readily risked missing the last bus- and getting laughed at. After all, boys must be boys!
One Thursday in July 1972 I left home in St James to seek a job at the JuC Factory in Bay Street. I was unsuccessful and so I went up to Wanderers Cricket Club in Dayrell’s Road to watch an under nineteen cricket game between Barbados and Trinidad.(Craig, Ashby of Cawmere played in that game. As well as Nigel Johnson and Joel Garner.) Cricket finished at 5:30, and I ought to have set off for home at that time. But the lure of seeing my darling, who lived opposite the cricket ground was too great. Next thing you know it was 10:30. Since we had heard no bus pass on the way up to the top of the route, wisdom dictated that I should run to town if I was to catch the last bus to my home in St James.
In those days I was at my peak in the science of running for the last bus. I could run the two miles or so to town in less than 20 minutes if missing the last bus was to be averted. I was not of course an athlete, but until then I had never missed the last bus. True to form I hit Fairchild Street at 10:50 after running through the rain for over a mile. To my dismay the 11 o clock last bus to Holder’s Green was gone! Gone before the time!
I boarded a Paynes Bay Bus and descended therefrom at the bottom of the University Drive on Highway one, to walk the two miles or so to Redman’s Village area. Would you believe it? Half way on this trek the rains descended in a manner that would have caused Noah to fear. I was soaked for the second time that night as I walked wet and wearily homewards. No one could personally have cursed me as I cursed and chided myself that night.
The following night I walked my sweet heart home from the Youth Service, and left in time to run to town to catch the last bus. What do you suppose happened? The bus again left before the scheduled time, and again I got soaked. What angered me most was that I was there on time! It was not my fault that I had missed the last bus! That really hurt! I retired from this pastime at the tender age of 22 when I departed to Jamaica to study. By the time I returned to Barbados I was married and owned a car.
Some years ago my wife and I were entertaining the sweet heart of one my fellow medical students at our home. One rainy night my colleague came to visit, and as expected, lost track of time and missed the last bus. The bus had taken an alternative route to the end of its route near to my home. As a result we did not hear when it arrived. We heard when it left, however. My friend had missed the last bus! He had arrived! He could be certified as a real chick checking man!
I announced to my colleague “Eustace boy, you miss the last bus and we are too tired to drive you home tonight. You will have to walk home. After all you are not a real man till you miss the last bus, and walk home through the rain.”
To my amazement his girlfriend responded “Come Eustace, I will go with you.” They were both Dominicans, and certainly did not know the way from Rendezvous to the Medical Students lodgings in Jemmott’s Lane, just outside Bridgetown. However, because she was the first girl I had met who was willing to accompany her boyfriend home after missing the last bus, I relented and we drove him home. This, after I had rolled up all over the floor having a good Bajan belly laugh at his plight.
Today, few young men know what it feels like to miss the last bus, because they tend to go courting with their parents expensive cars. But I believe with all my heart that a man has not truly courted properly the Bajan way unless he has at least once, on a rainy night, missed the last bus.
Come on fellas . Let’s have some good last bus stories.
Bush tea,
Here is what this year’s 13 scholarship winners plan to study…
Medicine – 6
Law – 2
Psychology – 1
Art – 1
Comp. Science/Management – 1
Architecture – 1
Accounting – 1
… maybe your timing is not as far off as I initially thought. The above reads like the education profile of a country embracing your endgame theory.
Man MME,
It is even worse that that…. practically all of them are female…. (I only saying this here because it is only you and me), but the problem with this world is weak leadership. It takes special men to provide strong leadership so when a struggling little country ends up with only females being propelled towards positions of leadership ….what can I say?
I hate to confirm, but the remaining time is shorter that any of us think….
BT
When you write …………I hate to confirm, but the remaining time is shorter that any of us think….
I suppose you are talking about the Second Coming of Christ. If so I think you are spot on!
It is even worse that that…. practically all of them are female…. (I only saying this here because it is only you and me), but the problem with this world is weak leadership. It takes special men to provide strong leadership so when a struggling little country ends up with only females being propelled towards positions of leadership ….what can I say?
I simply cannot resist this statement here. Not all men show leadership ability. It makes me sad when females are spoken of in this matter. Africa has a history of female as well as male leaders who were strong. There are names in our history like Yaa asantewa, Nyzinga, The Candace (Ken-dah-kay) who bore the Kings of Ethiopia, Nnandi-the mother of Shaka Zulu and
here in the caribbean we have Nanny Grigg and Nanny of the maroons who led rebellions against our oppressors. Would you have had the nerve to tell then they could not lead their kingdoms? Who has the nerve to tell WI women that we are weak leaders. We have been the backbone of this country throughout history until slavery, colonialism and the convertions to christianity cause women and especially black women to be seen as inferior and just lacking. Look through the postings on this blog and see how negatively women are spoken of by the men posting.
We need balance in our society. The ‘battle of the sexes’ makes absolutely no sense since people’s abilities and desires do not fit neatly into boxes labelled ‘females do’ or ‘males do’. Ability is not as influenced by gender as by societal expectations of what we should be doing if you were a ‘real man’ or a ‘real woman’ are we going to hold on steadfast to stereotypical thinking instead of socialising our children to be different but fundamentally equal? We should allow our children to develop unhindered by negative self- fulfilling labels. I find it strange that in a society where women are studying and men are dropping out there is resistance to educated females taking up positions of leadership because it is not ‘a woman’s place’.
I want to ask the men this question:
How would you feel if you studied for four years, then did a masters and then you were told that you could not work in a leadership position simply because you were male. Do we punish our females for succeeding when their male counterparts do not seem to place importance on educating themselves? What are we to do when educated girls marry uneducated boys? Do we tell our young men that he should still ‘wear the pants’ in his home? causing him to try to compete with her instead of cooperating with her? A man who opts to stay home with his children while his wife works is ridiculed in our society. If his wife tries to get him on track with his education she may meet constant resistance from him ‘you trying to change me? why you didn’t find a college man?’. An educated woman cannot seem to win. She is prevented from reaching positions that her male counterparts achieved simply because she is not supported at home–her husband needs to wear the pants. So she still has to come home and ‘take care of him’ and their children. Most women remain single for this reason. A professional woman has to choose between children and career. Men do not seem to bother about this choice, they can have both, they have wives who look after their homes, there is no such thing as a ‘house husband’ and children do not seem to limit a man’s freedom. So be very careful about the way you set your mind. Balance needs to be brought back to our relationships. It is time for the battle of the sexes to end, the casualties on both sides have become too many for our society to survive intact. Cooperation and balance between the sexes is the only way that the old time values we had may return because it is only when men and women put down their weapons that they see the children who have been watching the fight from the start. Is it worth disturbing our children? Most youngsters believe that relationships are a waste of time and marriage is hell. We gave them that impression
@ Devils Advocate
Let me try to answer some of your questions at the end of your post, based on what I saw in my home while growing up, what I endured in my marriage and on the counselling I was involved in as a doctor.
AS a doctor I quickly learned that most women came to the doctor for man problems. Either the man had beaten her, had given her a STD, was not pulling his weight, was being unfaithful etc.
When I did my systems inquiry and found nothing wrong I would bluntly say “There is nothing physically wrong with you. YOu have man problems man. Wanna talk about it? I was usually right, and wished I had written a book about the answers I recieved over the years,
So I do understand what you are talking about. So bear with me, even if you dont agree with all I say.
YOu wrote
I want to ask the men this question:
1- How would you feel if you studied for four years, then did a masters and then you were told that you could not work in a leadership position simply because you were male.
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REAL BAD The same way you feel when you are rejected because of your race or nationality. IT HURTS!
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2-Do we punish our females for succeeding when their male counterparts do not seem to place importance on educating themselves?
This is a difficult question but a present REALITY! But the educated women in a sea of non achieving uneducated men is a new paradigm that is frustrating women all over the world. I believe it is a spiritual issue related to the end times.
I HAVE NO answer for you in this matter. BUT i know of the problem. HOw do we get men back on track? This is one of the evils that came out of the sucess of the struggles of the bad days when we were poor.
The problem is if unachieving young men had to go hungry and without, they would exhibit the attributes that we older folk boast about on the thread PAST LIFE IN BARBADOS. That is where some of the parents in my generation went wrong.
Contemporary female achievers will thus suffer unless this attitude can be reversed.
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3- What are we to do when educated girls marry uneducated boys?
IT IS STUPID FOR AN EDUCATED GIRL TO MARRY AN UNEDUCATED BOY! If you are a Bible believer; remember too that this is being unequally yoked. This is a problem that many Christians don t understand. But this is definitely being unequally yoked. The woman in this scenario has not married an equal.
AN EDUCATED GIRL SHOULD NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE MARRY AN UNEDUCATED BOY
I feel real strong bout dat. The boys have the same opportunity to suceed as the girls.
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4- Do we tell our young men that he should still ‘wear the pants’ in his home? causing him to try to compete with her instead of cooperating with her?
Men and women in a relationship ought to be complementary not competing ever! I believe that a man should ‘wear the pants’ in his home.
But I also strongly believe that the Bible teaches that MEN SHOULD HAVE WORK BEFORE THEY LOOK FOR WOMEN. I BELIEVE THIS SHOULD BE TAUGHT IN THE HOME, THE CHURCH AND IN SCHOOL.
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5- A man who opts to stay home with his children while his wife works is ridiculed in our society.
This is because it is considered abnormal.
I can assure you that to be in that situation puts a great pressure on a REAL MAN. IT IS ABNORMAL The scripture teaches that a man should look out for those of his own household, and if he does not he is worse than an infidel or DEVIL!
You have no idea how that destroys a real man, who knows what his role is supposed to be.
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6- If his wife tries to get him on track with his education she may meet constant resistance from him ‘you trying to change me? why you didn’t find a college man?’
She should not have married a man that is not progressive in the first place! They are not equally yoked if she is progressive and he is not. Equally yoked DOES NOT MEAN GOING TO THE SAME CHURCH GROUP!
If the girls dont put down thier feet, this nonsense will go on. Hopefully Jesus will come soon anyway.
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7-An educated woman cannot seem to win. She is prevented from reaching positions that her male counterparts achieved simply because she is not supported at home–her husband needs to wear the pants. So she still has to come home and ‘take care of him’ and their children.
THIS IS HARD AND TRUE
Most women remain single for this reason. A WISE DECISION
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8- A professional woman has to choose between children and career. THIS NEED NOT BE SO. Some professional woman do have caring professional men who participate.
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10- Men do not seem to bother about this choice, they can have both, they have wives who look after their homes, there is no such thing as a ‘house husband’ and children do not seem to limit a man’s freedom.
THIS IS HOW IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN TRADITIONALLY. BUT IN THE LAST 20 YEARS OR SO THERE HAS BEEN A SERIOUS PARADIGN SHIFF! This has caused a lot of trouble, and it is difficult to resolve!
Greater access to education means the girls have moved on hoping to be equal with thier male counterparts BUT thier male counterparts have dropped out leaving the girls as it were in a race with no men! Watered down wishy washy wimps!
I have met the type. Men whop hate you cause you wont give them curves so they can ge the grades the girls have!
Ma dear lady, it is so everywhere.
I remember five years ago teaching in a BIble INstitute in a church in Antigua. ONLY THE GIRLS WROTE THE ESSAYS. That never happened in my day in the 60’s!
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So be very careful about the way you set your mind. DIFFICULT!
11- Balance needs to be brought back to our relationships.
The balance changed when the paradigm shift changed. And women became winners on one end and losers on the other end. And whereas women loved the new paradigm of being in control or climbing the ladder, they hate what is also important to them; losing family life and children.
I agree that the women are not at fault, and that they are getting the wrong end of the stick for excelling. And I can understand.
If I am running a race with you, I will run as fast as I can and expect that you are doing the same. So if you drop out of the race……..there is no race…….and no fun. THats what happened to the girls with the paradigm shift.
Truth is the shift is ungodly! I dont think this is of GOd. I cant tell you how a woman should function if men dont function the way they were designed to function.
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12 – It is time for the battle of the sexes to end, the casualties on both sides have become too many for our society to survive intact.
It is not so much a battle of the sexes — but a paradigm shift which men are having difficulty with. All of a sudden the women around them are not acting like or in the positions that their mothers held.
IT IS DIFFICULT FOR THE MEN TO DEAL WITH
lET ME TELL YOU A SECRET
IT IS DIFFICULT FOR A MAN WHO HAS HAD A GOOD MOTHER OR AN OLD TIME WOMAN FOR A MOTHER TO DEAL WITH MODERN WOMAN
ALSO IF A WOMAN HAS HAD A VERY GOOOD FATHER SHE IS AT A GREAT DISADVANTAGE she will never be able to settle with a lousy man for a husband.
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13- Cooperation and balance between the sexes is the only way that the old time values we had may return because it is only when men and women put down their weapons that they see the children who have been watching the fight from the start. Is it worth disturbing our children?
The cooperation and balance between the sexes about which you speak existed under the old paradigm- which worked even if only in some cases because the women suffered much.
But those days are gone!
The girls going foward but many of the men are dropping out. Can you see that a shift has occured?
14 Most youngsters believe that relationships are a waste of time and marriage is hell. We gave them that impression
Yes that is what they are witnessing.
Devils Advocate
In response to the top part of your post.
It was a thing unheard of in our day that females were even considered for scholarships. So some balance has been restored.
But there should never be a situation where NO boy should be capable of winning a scholarship. Don’t you agree that some of the boys should also win scholarships by MERIT?
It is indeed true that “the problem with this world is weak leadership.” It has always been true that “It takes special men to provide strong leadership.” It also ought to be of grave concern that “a struggling little country ends up with only females being propelled towards positions of leadership.”
I also agree with you that “Not all men show leadership ability. It makes me sad when females are spoken of in this matter.” I also agree with you that women have been the backbone of this country and many other countries. But conversion to Christianity has always caused the lot of women to be better. Because the salvation that Christ offers liberates women as you will see in reading the Pauline Epistles, where men are enjoined to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it!
Because we live (or say we live) in a Judeo-Christian society we believe that the man is the head of the woman as ordained by God as enunciated in the Pauline Epistles. Consequently it is normal for reasonable men to opine that leadership is not ‘a woman’s place.’ That does not mean that women are not capable of leadership. Your list of women who have been leaders indicates that these scenarios were the exception rather than the norm.
It is indeed unfortunate that in many contemporary societies that women are studying and men are dropping out. The resistance you experience is because this phenomenon is unprecedented and quite abnormal.
I agree with you that people’s abilities and desires do not fit neatly into boxes according to their gender, and that societal expectations color who should be leaders. What you call the ‘battle of the sexes’ is really nonexistent in the minds of those who matter, because women are increasingly being put in positions of power. They surely don’t see the in balance in society that you are experiencing, because women are to day large and in charge, more than they have ever been.
Despite what you think girls are achieving and are indeed developing unhindered despite the negative labels of which you speak. The girls are winning all the scholarships. They occupy the halls of political power. It seems you are having an unnecessary problem with this issue of being fundamentally equal.
The reason I commented about the man staying home and looking after his children so his wife could work?
I know of young fathers who want to keep their sons for the first year of their life and have no problem with that BUT those around them discourage them. There are some young men who have readily adapted to the paradigm shift and these are men who have a nurturing feeling towards their son. The men I know were raised without their father’s input but want to have some of the closeness that mothers get from constant contact. You see, my father struggled with the traditional roles in the sense that he wanted to be a ‘hands on’ father with us but he was made to feel incompetent by the females of his household and he gave up. I gave him the opportunity to look after his grandson and he was glad for the change in our times. It warmed my heart to know I had helped my father emotionally. Understand, men have also suffered because of our previous system because in those days a man was not supposed to know anything about children. I don’t think we should discourage men who want to be with their sons. I would work day and night (overtime too) if I could get that kind of attention for my son. No day-care fees! The little boy is with his father almost exclusively if the father is self employed. Men, please, allow a woman to help you if you need it. The modern woman appreciates kindness. If a man is kind but uneducated and a young educated girlfriend sees potential in him and encourages him to go back to school to help him gain his confidence, what is wrong with that? Would you refuse that kind of love? Out of pride? We are frustrating our young men too by telling them not to let women support them. Why is it seen in a different light when a man pays to educate his wife, lover , or girlfriend? Am I emasculating a man when I see past his insecurities and try to influence his positive development? If educated girls cannot give our young men a hand up when they need it, what will become of us as a people?
Are we to train our sons to avoid girls that are more educated than they are? If your son had played the fool at school and then met a girl who was educated who believed in him and supported him, would you discourage him from accepting her kindness? Would you tell him that something must be wrong with her to choose him?
@ Georgie PorgyI have a problem with any kind of supremacy. Yes women occupy the ‘Halls of Power’ but do they have any influence there? Especially in a society that believes women should ‘know their place’? What is a woman’s place? I seek balance. Some of the women I mentioned from Africa were Queens who inherited the throne from their fathers. If you read African history you will discover that leadership was leadership regardless of sex. Those women lead armies of men and women in battle!! The Candace (ken-dah-kay) were warrior women who fought many battles, a man could not be King unless he was born of one of these women. We were a people who fought as a people, attack a village and everyone there knows how to fight, men and women cooperated to oust the oppressor. Imagine how important it would be to the slavers to destroy this unity!!! The arrival of christianity caused a paradigm shift and made women defenseless and a burden to men, instead of a partner fighting by his side, she becomes something else to protect, own, and control. Christianity has done the African woman a great disservice in the sense that women had more power in Africa at that time and men who converted to Christianity changed in their perception of the value of a woman. Men today have more in common now with white supremist men than ever before. You tend to treat your female counterparts the same way that massa treated her during slavery and that proves to me that as long as we remain a people who do not read and seek truth we will remain chained to the psychology that was imposed on our ancestors during slavery. We have become a nation of ‘generationally cursed’ people. These really are the last days!!!!
Devil’s Advocate.
Sorry if my mischievous comments to Micro Mock Engineer caused you any upset. It is a long ongoing story between us two….
I can give you Bush tea’s position on this matter very briefly… it is not dissimilar to GP’s.
Life was designed for a specific reason by a superhuman engineering genius who I refer to as BBE (Big Boss Engineer)
A man and woman were designed to come together to form a ‘whole’ family unit. Women are designed with specific characteristics and functions needed for the union while men were designed with different but complimentary attributes. Together they can have the collective requirements to be a perfect unit.
In our modern society, we have decided that men and women should be ‘equal’. We educate girls and boys in the same way, develop them in the same way and expect them to operate interchangeably in both roles….
…then we act all surprised when total chaos results!?!
What equality what?!?
BBE’s designs are so advanced, complex and innovative that in emergency situations, males CAN fill female roles and females can fill male roles, however it must be obvious that a large scale disregard for obvious design guidelines will have severe consequences.
Typically, men are pathetic at child rearing, and generally speaking, women are weak and indecisive leaders who make emotional (left brain) decisions. These are biological, design FACTS.
If as a society therefore, we create a situation where we support the promotion of females to positions of leadership – that is fine, but we should expect weak, emotional leadership, indecision, and consequent poor national (or corporate) performances.
If we place men to be responsible for raising our children, we should not be surprised if we end up with a generation of ‘monster’ teenagers and mixed up adults.
It is Bush tea’s position therefore, that the introduction of Co-education has been the critical issue that derailed this country from the grand path depicted in the memories of Ganong and Georgie Porgie. It has led to the chaos of today- with immoral, ‘thiefing’ leaders; with men way past crisis point – such that we need to bring in Chinese and Guyanese to build our country; and with women who are highly educated, but are unfulfilled, poor parents and poor leaders too…
Everyone looses…
There is a way that seems right to mankind, but the end thereof is the way of death and damnation…
‘Equality of the sexes’ is such a way…
It is no co-incidence that before co-education, Barbados had one of the best education plants in the WORLD. We exported HC types all over the world (like GP and them boys so…)
…now we even have to import labour, far less crooks like Veco and 3S etc… while our brilliant young men (potential GPs and Ganongs) drive ZRs and grow locks ….
…is this what you really want Devil’s Advocate?
Don’t you feel any pride in the fact that despite the odds, our women are achieving? Some of these women will be the mothers of sons who are more motivated and focussed. Instead of calling the young men ‘wimps’ and ‘sissies’ try building their confidence as men. The last generation was spoiled by irresponsible adults. The frustrating thing is that some of the same households that produce scholarship winning girls produce drop out boys, why? Girls are encouraged to focus and make sacrifices to meet her goals. Girls usually have responsibilty in the home while their brothers are not taught any life skills. Imagine that I went to University with young educated men who were so inept at taking care of themselves that they tried to get their girlfriends (who are also studying) to wash their clothes, to help them press, etc. Imagine the opinion the young women on campus have of these guys!!!
@ Bush Tea
Equal does not mean same. Girls and Boys must be socialised in the ways that benefit them. Why do you equate emotions with weakness? Why do you assume that women are biologically more emotional than men? Operating in interchangeable roles??? Where did I say that?Women have a different leadership style, it is as simple as that. Anyone who has studied biology realises that biology does not govern leadership ability nor does it influence the tendency to be emotional. Although men tend to bottle and try to control emotions (or pretent they don’t have them) both sexes experience intense emotions.
Men are not hopeless with children, we simply socialise them to be and, many men use it as an excuse for absence from their children’s life. We are living in a society where we acknowledge that men need to be part of families yet we socialise them to avoid childcare Why? Biology?Why can’t men be responsible for raising their sons?
@ Bush Tea
You seem to have a problem with locks wearers
So here is some mischief back at you!!
I went to a church recently to take part in a baptism and all the men who had turned up to baptise their children were’ locksmen’ and ‘plait hair men’. None of the babies brought forward were by clean shaven, ‘bald head’ (decent) men. These men were not ‘properly dressed’ but they came forward to present their children to the church.
The Pastor said, ‘Suffer the little children to come on to me’. ‘I will baptise any child brought to me’. How many of those young men do you think came back to the Pastor’s church? He welcomed them to seek the solace of his church if they ever needed it. I remember feeling shocked and pleased by this Pastor and I said. ‘There goes a TRUE man of God’
Over to you!!
@ Bush Tea
Yet more mischief!!
As to your design theory, what happens if the conditions under which the original design was implemented change? Don’t most sensible engineers ‘go back to the drawing board’ when face with a design problem? Are you sure that the BBE may not have decided that modifications to the design may be necessary under current conditions to ensure the future of his design???
Devil’s Advocate
I really do not want to argue with you or to try to change any beliefs that you have. I only attempted to explain my theory…
If you really understood biology, you must know that men and women are different by design, including the way that our very brains and minds work -truly a work of excellence in designing COMPLEMENTARY attributes.
I did not follow your logic when you say that boys and girls should be socialized differently – that is exactly my point. How does co-education achieve this?
How do I equate emotion with leadership? leadership calls for logical, calculated, un-emotional, decision -making. Not instincts and emotions… like your attachment to this idea that you are the same as a man…
Child raising calls for patience, tender compassion and emotional attachment….
******************************************
Don’t most sensible engineers ‘go back to the drawing board’ when face with a design problem? Are you sure that the BBE may not have decided that modifications to the design may be necessary under current conditions to ensure the future of his design???
******************************************
What design problem what!?!
You think that the fact that you do not like the design factors means that there is a ‘design problem’!?! HA HA HA….
There is no design problem, just appropriate consequences…. like the nation’s men walking around like unkempt animals while clean cut Chinese and Guyanese build our society…. and our ‘educated’ women leaders like you can’t even see the connection…
I have nothing but admiration for women who fill the breech and take up the roles vacated by men….. i am just able to see that is a most wasteful and inefficient approach to be working against the natural order of things….. somewhat like racing donkeys and putting thoroughbreds to work pulling carts…..
I think it might be interesting reading if some posters would investigate the leadership structures of the Akan people of West Africa. The Akan is the ancestral people of Black West Indians.
Devils Advocate
You asked
Why do you assume that women are biologically more emotional than men?
The fact is that women’s brains are wired differently
You wrote
Anyone who has studied biology realizes that biology does not influence the tendency to be emotional.
Actually this is not so Brains of women produce only about two-thirds as much serotonin as those of men (Nishizawa et al. 1997); this may explain their greater vulnerability to serotonin-related diseases like depression and obesity.
Serotonin plays an important role in influencing arousal, sensory perception, emotion, and higher cognitive functions. High-estrogen concentrations also contribute to depression by lowering serotonin levels in the brain
Why can’t men be responsible for raising their sons?
Some women wont let them!
Wired differently? Yes, but what does that mean with respect to the tendency to express emotion? All humans are emotional beings, that is what makes us human.
It was also once a biological ‘fact’ that black people had smaller brains than white people and that was why they were biologically inferior.
@Bush Tea
Where did you get this idea that I believe I am just like a man? I have given birth to three children!!!
Do you usually have difficulty with people ‘agreeing with you’. Shock of shocks! Ha Ha!
I believe that coeducation is a problem when female teachers are not taught how to treat boys. I am the mother of sons and I have seen appalling mistakes made by females who are clueless about boys. A female scout leader expected scouts to ‘hold hands’, in public. As expected, being small boys they did not keep it up. I said to her, ‘they will not hold hands’, to which she replied: ” The BROWNIES hold hands”. All I did was open my eyes, and shake my head. If I were in charge of those boys I would simply have told them “pair up but don’t let your partner get ahead of you”. I told this to my son and his partner and they walked side by side for the whole trip (boys tend to be more competitive by nature than girls). The scout mistress did not appreciate my ‘interference’, and she was quite sour for the rest of the trip. I had the childish urge to stick out my tongue!!
Let me follow your logic….. Serotonin is higher in men, serotonin controls arousal, sensory perception, emotion, and higher cognitive functions so if men have more serotonin than women it should mean they are hornier, more perceptive in a sensory way, more emotional and more ahem, cognitive than women?
Emotion is defined simply as ‘a strong feeling’ (look it up in the dictionary)
How does ‘biology’ influence ‘a strong feeling’
Oops, sorry about that, the last comment about serotonin was @ Georgie Porgie
Do you kiss the girls and make them cry?
Ha Ha!!
As a follow up to the Akan people’s posting. Qeen Mother Yaa Asantewaa is of the Akan. She was of the Ashanti. There is a statue of her in Ghana, she is a national hero renouned for her bravery in battle.
Read about her at
http://www.twi.bb/akan-tribes.html
It makes interesting reading!
Good Lord! What a clanger! I meant to type ‘renowned’ for her bravery in battle. It’s really long but her speach and her picture can’t be missed. Enjoy scrolling through!!
Devils Advocate
I Just reported what the medical rsearch about serotonin is.
No actually I have never ever met a girl who cried when kissed. That stuff about the original GP is certainly a myth! LOL.
But Devils Advocate if I should kiss you, you would go like this
O please do NOT kiss me!
O please do NOT kiss !
O please do NOT!
O please DO!
O PLEASE!
OOOOOOOOO!
C
LOL
Murder
All that steam would come out of you and you wont be arguing with me and BT no more! LOL
The present-day Akan are a stratified society, governed by chieftaincy. The hierarchy in the Akan political structure may be exemplified by the Asante system of government, comprising the King of Asante (Asantehene), the
Queenmother of Asante (Asantehemmaa), Commander of the Guards, Council of State, and Overseer of the King’s court. One important point with regard to Akan chieftaincy is that the King is nominated by the Queenmother, who is often considered as the owner of the state and special adviser to the King.
Thought the BU family might be interested in this letter to the Nation Editor today:
Wicked Bajan blogs
Date August 20, 2008EVERY YEAR my wife and I holiday in Toronto visiting our children and celebrating Dominion Day with a barbeque in Brampton among family and friends, most of whom are Bajan to the bone. This year, as usual, they wanted to hear the latest on politics – how the new Government was doing, what had become of the old lot, and so on. However, there was an overwhelming new interest that emerged during a day of passionate words and amazing disclosures.
At the epicentre of collective ire were two blogs (not Barbados Underground which is quite fair and balanced) carrying the most scurrilous, wicked and disrespectful stories about Barbados and some prominent Barbadians and unashamedly bending the truth out of shape while operating under the cloak of anonymity.
I was mandated in the interest of truth and fair play to draw public attention to the putrid and unpatriotic postings of these nameless, faceless quislings taking their 30 pieces of silver and shamelessly singing for their supper.
Tearing down our people
Who are these bloggers? Everyone wanted to know if these new “wretched of cyberspace” are really a gang of mercenaries being used by non-Barbadians to tear down our people and institutions telling the world that Barbados is poorly governed, poorly policed, violent, corrupt from top to bottom and without justice.
What is their agenda? Is it in any way related to a certain legal action in Toronto? Is that why documents have been manipulated and vital facts suppressed because to publish the truth would be an inconvenient embarrassment for the blogs and their proprietors?
And what action is being taken by the Government and the telecommunications agency to stop this rampant denigration and defamation of top black Barbadians? Are they going to be allowed to continue to lie and misrepresent our country in perpetuity on the Worldwide Web and scare away foreign investors? Can’t they be made to identify themselves as newspapers have to by law?
Sordid fabrications
Why should we not know the identity of these cowardly pariahs and pursue them through the courts? One friend produced copious copies of sordid fabrications and vile cartoons lampooning and demonising leading officials taken from one blog. If published in a mainstream Barbadian newspaper, these venomous and defamatory misrepresentations would surely lead to court and heavy damages.
Yet, the blogs in their irrepressible ignorance complain that they cover stories ignored by the responsible Press. As Barbadians with no axes to grind, my Torontonian friends’ unrelenting interest is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So I say to the blogs, your credibility is on the line and there are decent people committed to exposing your misrepresentations, sabotage of documents, transparent lies and vile defamations.
I trust that as they continue to swing their cudgels with vitriolic malice they never forget that the greatest friend of truth is time,her greatest enemy is prejudice and time is longer than twine. Anon!
– J. RANDOLPH ROBINSON
@ Georgie Porgie
I never argue sir! The only way all that kiss kiss stuff would happen is if you are a very dark man–like tar pitch – or a white man who drinks goat’s milk !! LOL
Hoadie get a bajan woman to live in a bus!!!
Goat’s milk seems to work wonders
Hoadie is BOSS!!
I hear his wife still giggles like a girl when he is around!!
I used to be in the debating club at Combermere School. Guess what I did?
Old habits die hard.
@David
Notice that the person made great effort to say NOT BU!!
BU is portrayed as balanced, let’s keep it that way!!
Devils Advocate
Off course I am black!
And you are supposed to be trembling in your boots at my threat! Not debating LOL
I no longer kiss girls, because the last time I did, the sugar levels were so high the girl went into diabetic ketoacidosis. LOL
Then I tried only kissing the top lips only, but then then the lack of sugar going to the bottom lips caused a short in the girls brain circuitary.
Devils Advocate
If you are a debater then you do argue. An arguement is a reasoned logical discussion designed to persuade. At least that I was taught.
Arguement is not quarreling- although some quarrels might well be good arguement!
The balance and interest in BU is in part due to the fact that David introduces a new topic or two daily.
Although all of the topics do not “fly” (with respect to the number of responses thereon) the diversity in the choices allows a different set of folk to opine on those topics that interest them most.
BU must be credited with presenting topics that entertain and more importantly educate its readers. The recent trend of BFP is to present topics in a manner that demeans Barbados as a whole or some targeted group (e.g Muslims) or some public figure (say the Chief Justice). BU does take issue with gays however but generally BU seeks to provoke as wide a cross section of viewpoints that help to uplift rather than to pull down.
BU’s other strength is that there is minimal censorship. BFP is very prone to banning posters who disgree with their position and they do not tolerate any suggestion that the USA may have engineered those events leading to war in Iraq and Afghanistan for example. Yet BFP allows a poster called GoUSA to call Barbadians repeatedly ignorant, filthy mongrels and stupid villagers and that Barbados is a “pissant little nation”!
Hi David. Congrats of being recognised as a blog minus the insularity et al. We can get over our point, regardless if we are right or wrong but we don’t have to insult or curse one another. That is why you are deemed fair and understanding. Please keep up the good work in informing Barbadians here and over away about issues assisting and affecting Barbadians.
David
Don’t know if mention was made that today’s Nation has a letter writer praising BU,as compared to the BFP – similar to what ‘STAY UP BU’ just posted.
@ Georgie Porgie
You don’t scare me you naughty person. Are you sure you are not really Richard Hoad?
Your last submission to me about sugar sounds like something he would say.
@ Georgie Porgie
I am not always an argumentative lass but I cannot resist looking for loose strands in debates and pulling on them until the whole thing unravels!! Some of my postings will be pure mischief, so beware!!
I never quarrel, it is childish and counter-productive.
No I am not Hoadie.
I just like to tease the girls , mek sport and talk BS sometimes.
I once told a girl I would kiss her and put her in hyper- osmolar glucose coma. She refused to even shake my hand afterwards, because she really thought she would get diabetes. Usaually the girls just laugh and tell me I am crazy.
The events over the past few days have been phenomenal. It has moved many in different ways.
Jamaica’s own ‘Bumpy Head Gal’ – Joan Andrea Hutchinson was so moved she wrote this poem: Usain Bolt And Mi
Usain mi dawlin, mi just want yuh fi know dat sake a yuh, mi marriagealmost mash up
di odder day, because a piece of jealousy teck myhusband.
Well wah never happen in a year happen in a day
Mi kyaan believe mi eyes
Ever since Usain Bolt win di Olympics 100 metres
Fi mi husband start exercise
Yuh tink a lickle talk mi a talk to him
Bout how him belly a get big
Mi tired fi tell him how him a get waggaty
An start to fayva pig
Mi spend mi money sign him up a gym
Steam vegetable gi him every day
Him suck him teet an say “Man must have guts”
And galang him merry way
But when Usain Bolt win di Olympic 100 metre gold
An mi start fi scream
“Usain Bolt mi love yuh, mi love yuh, mi love yuh
Yuh fulfill mi wildest dream”
Mi run up an dung inna di living room like mi mad
All liddung pon di floor
Mi say “Usain, a long time no man no excite mi so
Mi ago love yuh more and more”
Right now mi have picture of Usain Bolt pon every wall
And one beside mi bed
One pon mi t-shirt, two inna mi purse
And a Usain Bolt inna mi head
Usain Bolt full mi up wid so much pride
Mi doan even waan fi eat
And when mi talk bout how him body look good
Mi husband say mi sound like mi a cheat
Him mout long up and say mi have young bway nature
An a long time mi love mawga man
When mi tell him say Usain Bolt just meck mi feel good
Him say mi a behave like more dan fan
Him bex like bullfrog di odda morning
How mi gi him di breakfast cold
Sake a mi a watch di rerun a Usain a gi dem donkey lengthFi win di 100 metre gold
Dem show di race again when mi a cook di Satiday soup
Mi gi out “What a mawga man can run”
Mi dis hear “it come een like say sake a dis mawga man
Mi an mi Satiday soup a get bun”
Well Usain mi dawlin, dem say who bex lose
So mi say later fi him
But one ting mi know all of a sudden him start eat healty
And find himself a gym
And between mi an yuh Usain,
him proud a yuh big time
But mi dear, nuh watch no face
Yuh name write pon mi heart dat Satiday when yuh get di gold
Inna di Olympics 100 metre race
@ Georgie Porgie
Girls tend to like crazy boys especially witty ones. I can see why the poor girl would not shake your hand. It seems that ‘Tank’ has rubbed off on you. At Cawmere you would have been given the dreaded– “lines”:
“I will not practice verbal promiscuity in class”
Dats a good one Ms DA!
verbal promiscuity !
I hope you aint tek out a patent on dat. Cause I will use it in one of my speaches or lectures! LOL
I notice since I threaten you wid dem kisses dat ya cool down and behaving ya self doh. Diabetes frighten yuh neh?
I believe that when girls get out of hand, you must KISS them hard & make them HIGH! LOL
not mek them cry LOL
David. I just cannot believe that Cable & Wireless in Barbados has the audacity to show-off to the public of a hefty 91 million after tax profit. Instead of taxing the poor Barbadian public, couldn’t he have taxed C&W instead? $10 million less wouldn’t affect the company’s bottom line.
Why would you want to tax the productive sectors of the society to give to the non-productive sector. What kind of 70s Robin Hood economics is that?
Doesnt C&W provide 100s of jobs and reinvests its profits in the telcoms infrastructure of the region?
Since when is profit a bad thing!
Can you believed this? Check this out and tell me what you all think? I went to JB’S Supermarket last Wednesday, to purschase a small Good Start baby formula, net wieght 12 oz [340 g]. It was priced at $ 20. 99. last Thusday I also decided to go to Tri-mart Haggat Hall , to purschase the same brand milk and the same size. Well it also had the same price tag. So I decide to go that same morning to that popular poor people’s choice in supermarket. Guess what? I purschased 2 of the same brand formula, the same 12 oz size, for $21.88, 89 cents more than the price of one from JB’S and Trimart! Tell me what is going on here? why are these big chain supermarkets expoilting us like that? Consumers, tell me who has the power? And why do’t we use it? tell me why?
@Tell Me Why……
C&W will always make profits.I dont think it is bragging as it has to be disclosed anyhow.
$91million after tax is actually a loss if you compare some of the previous years.
The amount they will be paying out soon to the workers will be staggering so it is good that they made a profit…..this way the guys will be payed.
What a surprise! ……..
and such an amazing coincidence.
The Bush administration has just discovered that Hezbollah has a base in Venezuela.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008143469_vene28.html
How strange that these “terrorists” only appear in oil rich states.
The never ending War on Terror opens a new front.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.