Afrotopia

The Black Tomorrow

"...the map of the new world is in the imagination..."
-Robin D.G. Kelley, Freedom Dreams

In the year 2169, when you pick up the device of the day and peruse the news, you are met with headlines forecasting a world population of over ten billion and record-breaking sales of electric vehicles. Articles like “The slow death of the carbon energy era” and “Society and the hybrid generation” catch your eye, but it is the news of the first successful human colony on Saturn’s moon Titan that truly captures your attention. As you click through the accompanying images, you discover that the first person on Titan is a young black woman, hailing from Xaymaca, formerly known as Jamaica. This revelation strikes you deeply, as you look out the window and realize you are not even in Jamaica, but rather in Afrotopia, a newly-formed state in Africa that lives up to its name as an African Utopia, phonetically similar to Ethiopia. Yes, it is real. The future is Black.

In Afrotopia, the future is black and African, where the continent informs and expands those identities. Afrofuturism imagines a world where identities are reconnected with our ancient deities and archetypes, where borders and boundaries between our physical , spiritual and metaphysical worlds are blurred, and where there is room for a plethora of forms of existence. Afrofuturism offers a way of understanding the world that does not rely on western philosophical frameworks, but rather on an organic and evolving understanding of identity. 

Yet, some how, such a noble idea and ideal.... the notion of imagining and re-imaging the African continent is often met with difficulty and derision, mocks and jeers, thanks to Western indoctrination and brainwashing that has instilled stubborn clichés and pseudo-certainties in our collective consciousness. Racism has ravaged history and warped our understanding of our Motherland, perpetuating myths and lies about its state of being. Even during the dawn of independence in the 1960s, Afro-pessimistic ideas painted Africa as a continent that was “badly off” and “adrift.” In the midst of the AIDS pandemic, some even advocated for the extinction of life on the continent.

But we must emancipate ourselves from the mental slavery that racism and the West’s psyche have imposed on us. It is through imagination that we will liberate ourselves from these mental shackles. That is the mission of what today is dubbed the Afrofuturist, and Afrofuturism dear reader, is about imagining a future where black people survive, but it is also a way of reclaiming the past and the present, and re-imagining them in a way that centers blackness. It is a way of questioning and subverting dominant narratives and power structures that have historically excluded black people. Afrofuturism provides a space to explore the complexities of identity, culture, and history through a lens that is not limited by Western ideas of progress and civilization.

Afrofuturism carries with it a flashy aesthetic flair that is now significantly impacting pop culture; it is a space that envisions the future of Black lives beyond the constraints of conventional science fiction, and things like Marvel's Black Panther and Wakanda Forever are barely scratching the tip of the iceberg that is Afrofuturism. Science fiction provides a platform to explore the future in all of its potential utopian and dystopian outcomes, but the genre often relegates Black people to secondary characters who quickly perish, without delving into how race might exist in the future.

This is an ironic approach, given that the same genre depicts superheroes, aliens, robots, and even post-racial white people in situations that Black people have lived for centuries. Forced labor, false imprisonment, involuntary biological testing, and compulsory sterilization may sound like dystopian fiction, but they are all very real and traumatic experiences among members of the African diaspora. Simply being Black and alive is already an Afrofiction. For those of us from communities with historic collective trauma, we must understand that each of us is already science fiction walking around on two legs. Our ancestors dreamed us up and then bent reality to create us. So when you revisit and re-read my opening paragraph, know that it is both a reality, but yet to be.

There is a stark disconnect between science fiction and Black people, but fortunately, the global Black imagination is expansive, and Afrofuturism has emerged as an all-encompassing term that encompasses an art form, a practice, and a methodology that allows Black people to see themselves in the future, despite their distressing past and present. Members of this movement, think up a wide range of visions for what a Black future could look like and be. Afrofuturist art and politics provide a gateway to another galaxy where Blackness survives and a means of expressing the urgency of real Black freedom. Blackness in the future is alive, with access to technology, knowledge, and power. It is Blackness that can make real what is currently only a vision of a life-sustaining world for Black peoples.

What might this Afrofuturistic freedom look like? Perhaps it can be found in the Egyptian-inspired headpieces and clothing worn by Sun during his musical performances or his cult film, Space Is the Place; or, closer to home, we might find it in a bulletproof black male character like Luke Cage whose superpower is being immune to public will to end black lives. Perhaps it is Bogle and Tommy Lee Sparta like "Dancehall Gothica," maybe it is akin to Makonnen Blake-Hannahs Space Age Rasta or the ambient reggae of Easy Star All-Stars. Or, perhaps it is insisting on a tomorrow for a people whose past has been written out.

Blackness in the future is alive, with access to technology, knowledge, and power. That blackness then can make real what today is only a vision of a life-sustaining world for black peoples. Imagine a black planet, Planet Melanin. Afrofuturism offers a “highly intersectional” way of looking at possible futures or alternate realities through a black cultural lens. It is non-linear and fluid; it uses the black imagination to consider mysticism, metaphysics, identity and liberation; and, despite offering black folks a way to see ourselves in a better future, Afrofuturism blends the future, the past and the present. The world of Afrofuturism is a world of endless possibilities, where technology, art, and culture are intertwined and constantly evolving. It is a world where black people are not just surviving but thriving, where our creativity and resilience are celebrated, and where we are free to imagine and create a future that is truly ours.

In the end, Afrofuturism is a call to action, a reminder that the future is not predetermined, and that we have the power to shape it. It is a way of imagining a world that is just, equitable, and inclusive, and working towards making that world a reality. So let us embrace the power of Afrofuturism, and together, let us imagine a future that is truly black and free.

 

 #tech #culture #politics #environment #health #education #finance #art #entertainment #sports #science #business #travel #lifestyle #food #fashion #beauty #relationships #spirituality

Dear Paradise II: Another Love Letter to My Community

As long as I breathe, I hope. As long as I breathe I shall fight for the future, that radiant future, in which man, strong and beautiful, will become master of the drifting stream of his history and will direct it towards the boundless horizons of beauty, joy and happiness!
-Leon Trotsky

Dear Family, friends, community members, associates one and all,

You may be a parent, teacher, police officer, young person, community activist, or someone angered by what you see wrong in Jamaica, Mobay and Paradise. I would like to invite you into a space of uncompromised honesty. Let us engage each other in conversation, not primarily as scholars wanting to defend a theory, or as politicians seeking to win votes or advance a public policy agenda, or even as activists fighting for a cause, but instead, just as human beings trying to understand, as clearly as possible, our situation and condition at this turbulent moment in history.

As activists or community member I am sure your anger is sparked by gun violence, youth unemployment, classism, social justice or inequality — or you simply don’t understand why some people are upset — you are not alone. Like many, you might feel helpless, thinking, “I could never make a real difference or lasting change.” But you’d be wrong. Humans are such a complex species. We could not figure out the mind of a human, no matter how hard we tried. Psychology touches on some of the behavioral and thought processes that are experienced by a human, but Psychology will never be completely factual because the human brain is far too complicated.



We want the world to be a happy and just place, maybe it will or won’t be so. But you must know that change comes from parents and teachers who instill the power of critical thinking in children and teens. It comes from leaders who build relationships between diverse people and organizations. It comes from everyday people who think deeply about problems and solutions. How does this happen? We cannot begin to make effective change in our communities until we recognize how we are intricately connected to the people and issues we want to change.

Community is like family; and like all families, we may not always get along or see eye-to-eye. But just like my daughter likes to say, ‘family sticks together and helps one another.” Community is about people who care about one another and are willing to be united for the betterment of the greater good.

Now the other day a community member, one Teacher P/QP picked my brain with a question or more like a quote he had read, it went like this “Of all the follies in which man indulges there is none greater than the folly of thinking one can change the world!” He said he shared it because I was one of the few people who could fathom it in the immediate environment. I wondered if it was that he thought that my activities trying to better the community were in vain. I think he expected me to contemplate and give him a response. The quote did blow me away for a few days.

But a few days later the universe it seems gave me the answer. I don’t remember what I was watching on Youtube but some speaker had said, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled, is to offer you something you already have. He would have you believe you are nothing and insignificant and unable to affect your destiny or impact the world without his help. But therein is the lie, for from the moment you enter the world it is already fundamentally changed, your presence has already impacted lives, for you life has altered your mother and father, the spaces you inhabit.

Now to be honest I haven’t shared the answer in person with Teacher P but ironically I found our dialogue mirrored in an episode of Star Trek… yeah I am a trekkie… especially seeing one of the characters was called Q, but the conversation went like this:

Q:
Hear this, Picard, and reflect: "All the galaxy is a stage."... "Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Q:
Perhaps maybe a little, uh, Hamlet?

Captain Jean-Luc Picard:
Oh, I know Hamlet. And what he might say with irony, I say with conviction: "What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form, in moving, how express and admirable! In action, how like an angel! In apprehension, how like a god!"

Q:
Surely, you don't see your species like that, do you?

Captain Jean-Luc Picard:
I see us one day becoming that, Q. Is it that which concerns you?

I put all this to say that, granted much is wrong with the community I am truly grateful for stilling having a space where discuss my love relationship with the community. I believe when we lift others we rise together. Through discourse, discussion and debate. It is no coincidence Paradise has a spot called debate corner, it is not for the faint of heart. More than ever we must remember to help others. We are all where we are because someone helped us along our journey. I wanted to share a letter of thanks to the community for all you’ve done and meant to me. When all is said and done, I hope I will have done more than I said. As I remain optimistic and realistic in this gloomy and slow times, I close with the following:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Who I Am!

“De pain and the fight, the hate and the lies… Pain and heartbreak, supm inna it weh mi love, all a mi life experiences build me up as thug.”
Alkaline (Juggernaut)

When the valley couldn't hold me, they throw me in the river, Thinking I would drown, but man, ah, good swimmer, whoa, When the river didn't drown me, they throw me in the fire, But the fire just cool, I could never burn, oh
Major Lazer (Believer)

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.
Proverbs 27:17 (Bible)

My journey to me starts in 1919… why because it is where my mind has a definitive anchor in history. That is the day Dorothy M. Thompson was born, my mother’s mother, I would spend 33 years of my life imbibing her life and that of her children and grandchildren. When I say imbibe her life experiences, imagine what it was like for me as a child in a pitch black room at nights with your granny’s voice recanting her life experiences, in the pitch black when you can’t see your own hand so you feel disconnected from your body. The black room become your own mindscape and that voice and those experiences become stitched in and meld with your own, when it is as though that voice inhabits your psyche now till this present moment… then my life can seem at times to start 1919… in the midst of history and milestones.

Understand I was with Dorothy in Rock River Clarendon, when she went to vestry, when John took her to the UNIA, when she ate Milly mango in Diamond, when she met her husband Allan Thompson, when they came to Montego Bay, from Gravel Lane to Tate Street… when she met Howard Cooke, when she became the PNP matriarch, when she worked at WoolWorth, till she got her tuck shop up at Cornwall Regional Hospital, when she became the pillar of the community in Paradise Acres. Through all her pains and heartbreak, joys and suffering… what I didn’t glean in the dark room I would live to see in action myself.

I am my parents… I am my father, when you see me being an entrepreneur… no matter how I may fail or flounder, it is an instinct that comes from having imbibed his life and am still imbibing it. Everytime, I draw I am my father, for the gift came from him, and everytime my daughter or her classmates, or children in the community look at things I draw or paint, when they look at me as some hero, it's because my father drew me out of a thousand school projects and was my hero. And even though I haven’t become a millionaire just yet, every dollar earned from that talent, is what he gave me in a manner of speaking. Plus so much more. For I was with him when he grew up in Four Paths in Clarendon, catching water in the early mornings before dawn, with his brother. I was with him going to Glenmuir, I was with him when he came to Montego Bay, when he met my mother, when he wooed her, when he married her, when he sold insurance, when he became an entrepreneur, when he made his life and forged his own path.

I am my mother… who I inherited social activism from. I am her quiet nature, I am her silent strength… the fortitude it takes to go through long suffering and go the distance. Yannick is a hebrew name that means, the grace of God, and if there is any grace in me I am sure it came through her. She taught me children and family over career… not through speech but her choices and actions, and I have seen much value in it. When I write poetry it is the amalgamation of my parents… their love affair with the English language, her social sensitivities and keen sense of emotional observation, his concubines… a green websters dictionary with a tree on it, Reader’s Digest, Time Magazine and National Geographic.

I am my community which manage to teach me in the 80’s that it takes a village to raise a child. For it was as simple as this, “all wah mi do and don’t do, dem tell mi granny.” So now I will forever fight to return the community to that type of communal love. For I am also the community’s victims of that lost love… I am Gully, I am Delano, I am Little Dread, I am Goosey, I am Sticky Bean, I am Baboo, I am Warface, I am Marley, I am Andrew Bailey, I am Joab, I am Zuggy, I am Jooky, I am Stumpy, I am Sweaty, I am Stubba, I am Goodfy Jeffrey, I am Umpa, I am Jigs, I am Wiz/Alkaline, I am Delly, I am Kerris, I am Shorty, I am Hulk, I am Jevaughn James, I am Danny, I am Warrick, I am so many more fallen soldiers. I am the best of my community, I am E. T. Webster, I am Tappa, I am Jimmy Cliff, I am Cecil Donaldson, I am the Youth, I am the Senior Citizen, I am the community heroes like Venise and Tash… I am I-crus, I am the elder, the mechanic, the shoe repair man, the upholster, the shopkeeper, the selector, the Juta Driver, the artisan, the labourer, the mason, the carpenter.

I am my teachers, I am Mr. Mcpherson, I am Co-Hall, I am Ms. Gordon, I am Ms. Nelson, I am Mr. Barnes at Cornwall, I am Mr. Miller, Rev. Myers, Mr. Maddans, Mr. Haughton, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Clarke, Ms Daze/Wilson and Reverton Bailey. I am Aggrey Brown, I am Roxanne Burton, I am Earl McKenzie, I am Tunde Bewaji, I am Dr. Bamikole, I am Jalaani Niaah...

I am more than a slim natty in a 5’11 frame. I am Pan Africanism, I am Rastafari, I am Socialism, I am African Spirituality, I am Afrofuturism, I am tomorrow, I am that which makes you uncomfortable, I am science, I am arts, I am metaphysics, I am human, I am supernatural, I am God, I am man, I am community, I am football, I am basketball, I am cricket, I am mistakes, I am failures, I am success, I am unstoppable, I am unbreakable, I am indomitable and my name is Yannick Nesta Pessoa.

Pot Holes: Filling in the Gaps

Infrastructure investments lead to jobs. And quality of life starts with a good job.
John Hickenlooper 

When I am driving my car down the street, I try not to go down the potholes.
Philip Green

The potholes in the roads are a problem, the political ones, the metaphorical ones, but I'm talking about the literal ones now… they are one of if not the biggest headache we have right now on the road. It seems like every year we complain that potholes seem worse than they have ever been. But this year, they really do seem worse than they ever have been. I haven't seen any part of the city, or peripheral town or village that is immune to pothole pox, and the rains of the last few months has really made for brutal rides on many many roads. It seems that the busier they are, the worse they are, particularly because the city has been cheap with their paving budgets. Even though Jamaicans depend on this infrastructure to go about their daily lives in safety, our mayor has been relatively quiet on the need to revitalize the city’s roads, bridges, sewers, dams, and water treatment plants.

I am not saying we need an ambitious and expensive plan to modernize their city’s infrastructure, however, a competitive city simply cannot have sewers backing-up into basements and streets flooding every time it rains. The savvy voters and taxpayers in Jamaica today are looking to get the biggest bang for their buck when it comes to the cost of government. That includes the cost of building and repairing streets. For that reason alone, our municipality should require bids for both asphalt and concrete pavements. And those bids should include a life cycle cost analysis for road construction or repair projects. Doing so helps them determine whether using asphalt or concrete materials is the more cost-effective, sustainable investment.

Alternatives 

A possible solution could be, using old vehicle tires as a long term solution for patching the number of potholes on roads across the city and possibly the country could easily be piloted in Montego Bay. The process of using rubberized asphalt to pave roads has been working well in the US and Canada. This process can fix both the stress and damages caused by the poor quality of the roads and cut down on the large quantities of old tires. Rubberized asphalt is made from asphalt concrete and mixed with crumb rubber from recycled tires. The city can look into at taking our old tires, which is another headache to us, and turn them into rubber the steel and the fluff from the tire itself it can pave the roads. The roads become softer and you wouldn’t skid or slide on the roads. Maintenance solution waste removal solution, safety solution, financial solution… all rolled into one. It can work. We can take our tires and turn them into crumb rubber and pave the roads with them. There is so much more use for old tires. It is for our municipality, our city to decide the way forward, not follow the tides of time as usual and get left behind.

Experts claim the road requires less maintenance and still allows for drainage, while tyre recyclers claim the technique will also save money because the new material is thinner than standard roads. Rubber roads were first built in the 1960s in the US, where today there are 20,000 miles of road made of recycled tyres. Rubber roads are also popular in China, Brazil, Spain and Germany.
Another solution that came to me is tied to social enterprise. Wikipedia defines social enterprise as an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being—this may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for external shareholders. So what do potholes have to do with social enterprise? Well I have been thinking… why doesn’t the municipality hire the men who already go around patching the roads informally as a side hustle to officially operate as road maintenance personnel. I think it ought to be fairly easy for the municipality to employ them give them a minimum wage stipend, negotiate with the chamber of commerce or the hardware businesses directly to provide them with propatch asphalt and cement to help alleviate a road crisis, at the same time encouraging motorists to donate to the cause by tipping the road patchers. The social benefit is the road patchers receive official pay and employ, the road is not as bad for motorists and commuters, improved safety, a good public relations look for the municipality. Maybe the plan could be tweaked in some places but you get the picture we need to be more innovative about the road that lies ahead, it is filled with ruts and potholes, to fix them and navigate them require a new outlook.

Future Change 

Our city needs an intensified island-wide road works programme. You would think that with all of the technological advancements we have seen in our lifetime, someone would have figured out a better way to fix damaged roads. There is a ton of money to be made, and I'm sure the insurance companies and municipalities that pay out claims for damaged vehicles would be happy to see it. Of course, the municipal corporation could spend more money on routine maintenance and paving that would prevent a lot of these problems, but that ship has obviously sailed. I can only hope that one day someone in public office might begin to take responsibility for genuinely solving this problem, as they say nowadays “own it”. If not and we continue to dither, delay and propose inadequate measures , we will leave a bigger problem for Montego Bay’s children.

About the author: Yannick Nesta Pessoa B.A. is Jamaica’s first blogger, a Social/Community Activist and Law Student at Utech Western Jamaica. Follow on Twitter at @yahnyk. Reply to yannickpessoa@gmail.com

Comics, E-books, Audio Books and the New Literary Era! - PART 1

The Literary World I Entered

I don't know but I have to do this post... as an avid comic reader in Jamaica since the 80's, when my mother first introduced me to Archie comics... I quickly became disillusioned for it seemed perpetual that Archie would forever pursue Veronica whom I disdain rather than Betty who I preferred... Jughead would never get fat, and Reggie would forever be a bad-mind fr-enemy! Then a friend of mine or a co-worker of my mother Woodrowe Brown and my sister Tanya, introduced me and my brother to Asterix, so for awhile I had the Gaul to defy Caesar with Asterix and Obelix while sip on a brew from Getafix... then the summers became filed with those big Garfield comic magazines, some how a lazy conniving feline craving lasagna never charmed me long, then my cousin Camara brought forth Calvin and Hobbes, I fell in love with that comic... Calvin's perception of the world mirrored my own!

My adventures with Superheroes started before reading however, and the earliest parts of the eighties were spent reaching home by 3 o' clock and changing off the signature uniforms of St. James Prep. and Mt. Alvernia Prep, then waiting in front of the T.V. watching the rainbow thingy, with the black bar at the bottom, yep keenly watching the little rainbow square pixels of the cathode ray tube till JBC signed on and it was time for the evening cartoons.

Enter Transformers, Thunder Cats, G.I. Joe (for some reason I hated it) Mask (this too I hated) He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Silver Hawks, Jase and the Wheel Warriors, Galaxy Ranger, Spider-man & his Amazing Friends, Superman in many many many incarnations... yep the corridors of many a school I attended would be filled with booming chants like Mumra's 'Ancient spirits if evil, transform this decayed form to Mum-RAAAAAH, the ever living' and 'Moon Star of Limbo... give me the mighty, the menace, the muscle... of... MONSTAAAAR.' I remember one day at Cornwall in Bio Class, 9 grade... I'm probably 14, and we all full of testosterone and pretending to be little men, fascinated with the words Vagina or the vulgar vernaculars... days spent imaging female teachers in lurid fantasies...

So it surprises me one day in Bio class, we are doing an ecological study, at a time an age when eco means simply recycle and don't litter... so the teacher asks some questions but we on top of it more than usual so she was from Nigeria and asked in her African accent how come we had all the answers for a change, and for some reason either myself or someone beside me started singing "Captain Planet he my hero..." and the whole class breaks out into chorus... "GONNA bring pollution down to zero..." all the way through to "Earth... Fire... Wind... Water... Heart... GOOO PLANET!!!" So for all the testosterone and bravado and force-riped-ness... we were still boys watching cartoons and thinking about Super Heroes. But for the most part it never ceased to amaze me that every boy in class instead comics were for kids, worse a girl my age's opinion of comics was that it was for immature dolts.

 

I was never a literary connoisseur, the books I read were all for school... Except for a summer where I was bribed into reading Enid Blyton's "The Greedy Goblin and other stories" blaaaaah... Boring but I waded and ploughed through it. 

Those days English books and cartoons seemed dull and dreary... Grays and dark blues and boredom. Stuff like Curious George and Little Blue... The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe television series. Lots of scary claymation! But back to the books. I never read much literature... Give me the Astronomy books, Daddy's old National Geographic and Time Magazines, he and I spent of my early life watching Leonard Nimoy's "In Search Of" documentary series... he had some Conan but I never got the joy of Savages and naked women at that stage of life, as girl loving as I was... I'd rather have looked at the lingerie models in the back of Mommy's Cosmopolitan and read about the 6 to 12 new sex tips the editorial team had discovered each month. Dad also had Reader's Digests and Louis L'Amour... But those never got me either, so like I said my journey with books was more about reading Astronomy books and grasping the next Monday night episode of Star Trek the Next Generation on JBC. I also had a thing with a series of books called Tell Me Why...

I remember bookshelves like this, especially my cousin Camara's... full of Enid Blyton!

My boon in Superhero Comic Books sailed off with an entrance in to a Pharmacy at the bottom of Union Street, named Jamaica Pharmacy or someting to that effect, in their my brother purchased a Superman story arc called "Panic in the Sky" and it was a great intro to the plethora of DC comic superheroes, but I had purchased another hero, it was Spider-man Amazing Tales, which I think printed 70's re-run of old Amazing Spider-man comics. I had hopped into Spidey's world while Ron Frenz illustrated it, and Spider-man had just returned from Secret Wars in central park in an alien costume he didn't comprehend... he was going to college(school) he was working at the Bugle, he had a social life with lots of hiccups... and I was forever stuck in the web of North American re-branding of Anansi as Peter Parker. I also got my hands on Flash, Wally West's run as The Fastest Man Alive, and I jumped on right as they had been looking at his youth origins in a series of Year One stories. I was struck by that comic and it's lightning and Wally West's coming of age story... at the right kinds of time in life...Literature for me really began in High School... prior to that it was "Reading Books" in Prep School.

Those final days of prep school and forays into comics would see my vocabulary expanding, my grasp of science spreading... as I scrambled to the dictionary to understand what "Red Skull meant when he said Captain America as 'UBIQUITOUS'" or to encyclopedia to understand what Spider-man meant when they discovered his suit was a "Symbiote", or to ask science adept people like Woodrowe Brown to explain how Flash vibrated through walls and what atoms and molecules were and there different states etc... Ubiquitous I wouldn't meet until 8th grade Lit at Cornwall, Symbiote I wouldn't meet till 9th grade biology, atoms and molecules came with 9th grade chemistry and physics, but the science behind Wally West and his through wall molecule trick wouldn't be till 10 or 11 grade. Imagine... comics encoding all that science in me prior to high school. Comics contributed to those 80's and 90's averages and grades at the good old CC! Yep those days were some Wonder Years... not unlike the television series of the same name.

My official debut in literature came at the bothersome stage of life called puberty, as I entered first form or as I knew it then... the 7th GRADE... with insecurity and testosterone roiling in combo. It was at this time I met Sprat Morrison... The Young Warriors, Three Finger Jack Treasure. Shane, The Chrysalids, The Pearl, Green Days by the River, The Wooing of Bepo Tate, A Cow called Boy, A Brighter Sun...



A Brighter Sun is the apotheosis of a Caribbean bildungsroman, a quintessential coming of age story. What I loved about this book was that it was about a young couple... trying to forge a life, in what was considered in my time as TWEEN years... yup Tiger and Urmilla were tweens trying to forge a family and the book was littered with all the sexual tensions of teen life and the wonder years of sensual and sexual discovery... granted it was an undertone of sorts. What is so philosophically great about it is the social reality illustrated in the novel and how it lovingly examines sections of working-class life like a microscope to a microcosm, its an empathic and human interest fiction of Trinidadian life, even Caribbean life to an extent.

Tom Sawyers and Huck Finn weren't bad, but I hated Tom Sawyers for his attitude towards Black people, so Sprat Morrison and the adventures of a young boy living in Papine, a suburb of Kingston, was great refrain. It is widely studied in Caribbean schools and deservedly so.

TO BE CONT'D...

The C.U.P. of Life

The Montegonian Proposal 

The C.U.P. of Life 

"My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will." Matthew 26:39

"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over."
Psalms 23

"Life is, Sheer passion , You have to fill, The cup with love, In order to live, You have to fight/struggle, A heart to win."
Ricky Martin- English Translation of “La Copa de la Vida”

“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?”
Kahlil Gibran “At the third cup, wine drinks the man”
Hokekyo Sho

 I have a proposition for my future MP, my councillor, my community. A CUP… what kind of cup you might ask! Well the Community Upliftment Program. Well it is the propositional brainchild of the Montegonian no doubt, but what it needs is political will, community spirit and probably some financing.

An Argument for Community Development

Welcome to a 21st century in which many cities, in many countries, link the revitalization of the central business district and renovation and improvement of houses or districts so that it conforms to middle-class taste of residential neighbourhoods to earlier community development initiatives. In this day and age it is undoubtable that we need policies based construction and more on renovation and investment, and today these new kinds of policies are an integral part of many local governments worldwide, often combined with small and big business incentives.

Community development seeks to give power to individuals and groups of people by providing these groups with the skills, proficiency and expertise they require to make and cause change in their own communities. These skills are often focused around building political power through the formation of large social groups working for a common plan. Community developers have to understand both how to work with individuals and how to change and elevate communities' positions within the context of larger social institutions and society.

Essentialy community development is the process of developing active and sustainable communities based on social justice and mutual respect. It is about influencing power structures to remove the barriers that prevent people from participating in the issues that affect their lives. Community Development expresses values of fairness, equality, accountability, opportunity, choice, participation, mutuality, reciprocity and continuous learning. Educating, enabling and empowering are at the core of Community Development.

Several angles can be taken to initiate community development including: Community economic development, Community capacity building, Social capital formation, Political participatory development, Ecologically sustainable development, Asset-based community development, Faith-based community development.

The proposed CUP, community upliftment program, would be a two pronged approach to developing communities, one, on the macro level and the other being the micro level. This is to say that they need to address issues that affect the community as whole and their position in the bigger scheme and order of things, and next to address the community on an individual and family level, the level of familiarity which exists in the common community family. Cup I believe needs to be and is designed to address the peculiarities of Montegonian families and communities.

CUP: The Macro Plan

1. Economic Opportunity - including job creation within the community and throughout the region, entrepreneurial initiatives, small business expansion, and training for jobs that offer upward mobility. Training that includes life skills training, things like “making technology work for you” “some office procedure” “home economics: budgeting” “shopkeeping math and accounting” “some fundamental nutrition” “Spanish: lite or beginners or simply basic conversation” “Computer training that offers more than just word processing but, teaches that and offers optional diversification, like intro to digital music, or graphic design, or music engineering, and the range of other directions computer can take you.”

2. Sustainable Community Development - to advance the creation of livable and vibrant communities through comprehensive approaches that coordinate economic (FUND RAISERS- new and innovative ones, not ticket sale or conventional dance), physical, environmental (gardens, parks and community monuments), community, and human development ( help families through hurdles like education and home making and developing);

3. Community-Based Partnerships - involving participation of all segments of the community, including the political and governmental leadership, community groups, health and social service groups, environmental groups, religious organizations, the private and nonprofit sectors, centers of learning, other community institutions, concerned citizens and low-income residents. We need to move away from the constant one shot solo projects and find ways to incorporate everybody who is doing something in what we are doing;

4. Strategic Vision for Change - which identifies what the community will become and develops a strategic map for revitalization.

CUP: The Micro Approach

1. Community Week – It is full time we initiated a system where each community has a week for itself. A week of festivity and commemoration of their existence and history. There can be a memories day, where everybody carries out their old pictures, video footage, any big dance that made it to DVD etc, if you have cell phone clips or whatever, to be displayed and everybody can reminisce, and this way the generations can mix and mingle and pass on stories of yesteryear etc. There can be a big Sunday dinner, a Friday dance, a memorial for all those passed. I wouldn’t be averse to a Church service day where most people go to church and commune or whatever and Muslim similarly and a Rasta event etc.

2. Change for change – In order to finance things like back to school and kiddies treats etc, set up a bar and shopkeeper program where people contribute change in order to secure a set amount of exercise books or pencils and things like that for generation next.

3. Orchard and Garden Program –A system to access idle lands in areas to be planted up with fruit trees and such, to ease the burdens of GCT, save us from dry goods and diabetes, nutrition needs, and rescue the little air and ozone we have left.

4. Naming and Mapping – The proper naming and mapping out of communities, and naming of streets, so that people can actually feel like they live somewhere, instead of in hell with names like hmmm dead man alley, Afghanistan, Bagdad, Gaza, Tel Aviv, Vietnam, Blood Lane, Piss Lane, Corn Corner and you get the picture. We need to resolve the psychological impact of feeling like you don’t live anywhere, especially when you and a million people share the same address, which is usually the most popular main road in your community.

5. Sports Outlets- Do I need to explain how critical sports are? Well hmmm other than finding things to do for idle hands before the devil, well it hones natural talent, potential financial rewards, keeps young minds away from guns, avenues to release sexual energy instead of making unwanted babies etc.

Well that is my proposition folks, maybe someone actually uses it.

yannickpessoa@yahoo.com

Open Source and the City!

  
What is Open Source? 

Open-source software (OSS) is computer software with its source code made available with a license in which the copyright holder supplies the rights to study, change and distribute the software to anyone and for any reason or function. Open-source software is very oftentimes developed in a public, collaborative manner. Open-source software is the most striking example of open-source development and often compared to (technically defined) user-generated content or (legally defined) open-content movements.

A report by the Standish Group (from 2008) states that adoption of open-source software models has resulted in savings of about $60 billion per year to consumers.

In production and development, open source as a development model promotes a universal access via a free license to a product's design or blueprint, and universal redistribution of that design or blueprint, including subsequent improvements to it by anyone. Researchers view open source as a specific case of the greater pattern of Open Collaboration, "any system of innovation or production that relies on goal-oriented yet loosely coordinated participants, who interact to create a product (or service) of economic value, which they make available to contributors and non-contributors alike".

The open-source model is based on a more decentralized model of production, in contrast with more centralized models of development such as those typically used in commercial software companies.

A main principle of open-source software development is peer production by collaboration, with the end-product, source code, "blueprints", and documentation available at no cost to the public. The open source movement in software began as a response to the limitations of closed proprietary code, and it is now spreading across different fields. This model is also used for the development of open-source-appropriate technologies, solar photovoltaic technology and open-source drug discovery.

There is an accelerating interest in and use of Open-Source Software worldwide. Local governments are changing. Forward-thinking municipalities are embracing technology to make our cities better for everyone. Innovative government staff are sharing resources, best practices, and collaborating on common problems. Jamaica an its municipalities need to provide a broad range of resources, programs and services to support and advance civic innovation. Open Source Software becomes the leading information technology day by day and there are open source alternatives to most of the commercial softwares...

I use Linux Mint 17! So why can't the government do it?

So why is Government in general, and the St. James municipality in particular not looking into Open Source? It's time that Jamaican government IT policy goes as far as expressing a formal preference to use open source!

How can you apply the concepts of open source to a living, breathing city?

An open source city is a blend of open culture, open government policies, and economic development.

Five characteristics of an open source city

1. Fostering a culture of citizen participation
2. Having an effective open government policy
3. Having an effective open data initiative
4. Promoting open source user groups and conferences
5. Being a hub for innovation and open source businesses

Citizen participation: Probably one of the most difficult components of an open source city is to foster a culture of citizen participation. Having citizen champions around certain causes can really help boost citizen participation and engagement.

Open government policy and open data: Policy is another key component of an open source city. 

User groups and conferences: Participation comes in another form with user groups and conferences—like-minded people gathering around their passions. Hosting these conferences and supporting user groups will boost your open source city credibility.

Economic development: Finally, having an economic development strategy that includes open source companies can help foster innovation and create jobs. More and more cities are also seeing the advantages of having an open data policy tied to their startup community. Cities that can combine their open data policy with their economic development strategy can give a real boost to startups and other businesses. Being a hub for open source companies and a catalyst for open source startups can have a positive impact on the city's bottom line. More importantly, this feeds back in to culture and participation.
 
Municipalities and Open Source

As a Linux User I keep myself abreast by reading Linux Format! I found this interesting article in the April 2014

 edition.

Munich’s switch to open-source software has been successfully completed, with the vast majority of the public administration’s users now running its own version of Linux, city officials said Thursday.
In one of the premier open-source software deployments in Europe, the city migrated from Windows NT to LiMux, its own Linux distribution. LiMux incorporates a fully open-source desktop infrastructure. The city also decided to use the Open Document Format (ODF) as a standard, instead of proprietary options.
Ten years after the decision to switch, the LiMux project will now go into regular operation, the Munich City council said in a document published on its website.
As of November last year, the city saved more than €11.7 million (US$16.1 million) because of the switch. 

READ MORE AT: PCworld article "Switch to open source successfully completed in the city of Munich

Why should other cities do this?

Other cities should do this for many reasons such as:

• Proving to its citizen-bosses that it is doing its job and working hard in response to their needs.
• Opening up data and processes because, you never know, those citizen-bosses may be able to do something cool with it or make great suggestions.
• Opening up gives citizens a sense of ownership and welcome.  They are more likely to be engaged and satisfied if they feel ownership and pride in that ownership.

Benefits of Open Source to Montego Bay

Community Participation – Taking it to the streets

• Citizen-led communities
• Connection between youth-development programs and open government community
• Connection entrepreneurial community and open government community
• Importance of broadband access for any of this to be useful

I believe in the critical role of open-source software to create the applications and infrastructure necessary to support electronic medical records and other government-funded technology projects. Open-source software has already resulted in dramatic cost reductions in many technology areas.

Open-source software brings transparency to software development. There are no “black boxes” in open-source software and therefore no need to guess what is going on “behind the scenes.” Ultimately, this means a better product for everyone, because there is visibility at every level of the application, from the user interface to the data implementation. Furthermore, open-source software provides for platform independence, which makes quick deployments that benefit our citizens much easier and realistic.

The open-source industry is changing the world of software development in many of the ways many politicians have promised to change Jamaican politics. The values of open source are hope, change, and openness. I sincerely hope that Montego Bay and the St. James Parish Council if not the entire Jamaican government, will make the use of open-source software a key component of every new technology initiative it is apart of.

The open source characteristics of collaboration, transparency, and participation are shaping municipalities world wide as we brand our city as a city for the creative classes we must also give it the open source city brand. 

It's time that Jamaican government's IT policy goes as far as expressing a formal preference to use open source!

WATCH THESE VIDEOS TO GET UPTO SPEED ON LINUX AND OPEN SOURCE!!!