Summer Vacation Over
Decision time again in regards to the new school year, summer vacations are over and the children are out of school for the summer and as parents, we are faced with the task of finding money for back to school expenses which is escalating everyday. Not only does one have to worry about these additional expenses, but one has to also worry about the safety of our children as well. This is not even a political thing. It is not a JLP or PNP issue.

Jamaican Style Money Management
Let’s look at some old-time Jamaican sayings that can help us to understand the basic principles of sound money management.

Honoring Our Olympians
I continue to read, with excitement, the outpouring of accolades, and the national pride that is being experienced as a result of the stellar performance of the Jamaica contingent to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. With the unprecedented number of medals won, and the records set.

Weathering the Weather by American Retiree in Jamaica
With Jamaica located in the tropics, most people tend to think of the island's weather as constant balmy breezes, and blazing sun.  While this is true most of the time, we do have our changing weather patterns, like rainy season.

Jamaican Movie Review: What Goes Around, A Movie By Steve "Tehut-Nine" McAlpin
What Goes Around is a bold movie that follows the romantic  relationships of two brothers. It takes us through their triumphs and failures. The tangled webs they weave with the women they love, like or just 'check for'.

Book Review: Olga - A Daughter's Tale
Olga - A Daughter's Tale is based on the true story of a kind, naive and gentle girl who was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. One of eleven children from a close-knit coloured Catholic family, she came to London in 1939 to live with a malevolent, alcoholic aunt intending to study dance and stay for only six months.

Wild and Loose in Jamaica
Abandoned animals are found throughout Jamaica.  These dogs and cats roam from place to place looking for whatever food they can find.  It isn't unusual to hear dogs fighting over choice morsels throughout the day while cats seem to confine their confrontations to the evening and overnight periods.

Dealing with the Power Crazy people in the organisation
The workplace is where you spend most of your waking hours and as such the time spent should not only be productive but enjoyable.  There are persons however who dread going to work not because of the high stress nature of the job but because they have to interact with individuals at the workplace whose agenda it is to make your life a living hell.

The Other Woman – Who Is She?
She has been vilified as the vixen, home wrecker, hussy and a whore. She has been told that she has no shame, no class, unhappy little tramp, seducer of the poor family man and other degrading names too numerous to mention. Who is she?

The Color of Ice- A Canadian Serenade: Jamaican Book Review
After his father’s death, Eric Taylor is left to fend for himself on a small farm in the mountains of Jamaica. He decides to seek his fortune abroad, and chooses Toronto as his new home. It is a decision he immediately regrets. Alone and half-frozen, he longs for the sunshine and sensuality of his homeland.

Harsh Crime Fighting Policies Keep the Peace in My Little Corner of the World
This little corner of Florida is very quiet. I am confident that no groups of rowdy youths will come trooping down my street this evening. It is highly unlikely that robbers will break into my home or vandalize my car. I will not be accosted when I go to the supermarket. I have no fear that I will be car-jacked as I was in Jamaica. How does this part of Florida achieve such a level of calm? And why is Jamaica in such turmoil?

Driving in Jamaica - An American Retiree in Jamaica
 Driving in Jamaica isn't for the faint of heart.  Much can be said for the cultural differences between this Third World country and that of my native America.  The art of driving is just as different.  Most of my tourist friends shudder at the thought of getting behind the wheel of a rental car here.  The bulk of their fears is largely that of driving on the left side of the road.  In Jamaica, left is right or should I say correct. 

No Yamaye Taíno Heroes in Jamaica – The Jamaican Coat of Arms Debate
During a recent stay in my island home of Jamaica a local television announcer posed a question about the island’s Coat of Arms. The query was, “Should Jamaica change its Coat of Arms?” One interviewee said, “The Coat of Arms should have black people on it.” The theory was that the island’s Coat of Arms should have images that reflect the island’s African Jamaican majority.

Our Olympians, Our Ambassadors
It is great to see that crime has taken a back seat to the wonderful performance that our athletic ambassadors are doing in the Olympics. The athletes are performing and the world is responding and taking notice.

Relationship not going anywhere except in circles
Hold up your hand if any of the following scenarios best describes your situation. Scenario 1 - You have been with man for ten years (or more) and you have a child or children with him but he has never indicated to you that he intends to marry you and when you bring up the topic he gets upset and is quite abusive. Scenario 2 - You are in a relationship but you and your partner have very little in common and you both engage in more verbal exchanges rather than loving discourse. Scenario 3 - The relationship you are in involves sex, sex and nothing but sex.

How to be Vulnerable
Fear of the unknown creates a rigid, tight-fisted hold on our lives.   Not knowing what may be on the other side of the wall is very unnerving. It is easier to be content and comfortable with the known than to put ourselves at risk of feeling discomfort with the unknown.   There are several possibilities that cause us as individuals to fear vulnerability.

Interview with MaryKay Mullally
Jamaican Mary Kay Mullally is one of the 5 winners in the ABC News and Prevention Magazine Picture of Health Contest. After going across the US looking for women over 40 who inspire others to make healthy choices she was chosen as one of the winner. There was a grassroots effort in the Jamaican community to vote for her online. We discuss this effort and how she got involved in this contest.

Book Review - The Sun Always Shines Above the Clouds
The Sun Always Shines Above the Clouds is the autobiography of Claudette Smith’s life growing up in the Caribbean Island of Jamaica. Claudette, who has always been a private individual, has unveiled her life growing up in Jamaica from the tender age of seven to her departure to the United States of America at the age of twenty-seven.

Jamaicans need to carpool to ease gas burden
Relatively speaking, the time has now come for better dialogue in regards to modes of transportation and travel patterns, in Jamaica. The formidable task to encourage transportation behavioral patterns is emerging.

What Has Happened to the Jamaica I Remember?
There was undoubtedly social injustice in the Jamaica I remember. The rich enjoyed a far different lifestyle from the poor. And it seemed most of the rich had light skins, while most of the poor had dark skins. Money was scarce for nearly all of us, and luxuries were few. But, mostly, we got along with each other, and crime was much less prevalent than it is today.