Growing Up Like A Jamaican - De Time Is Shawt But I'm Grateful for De VisitOn November 2008 Stafford Llewelyn Samuels, my last living grandparent, passed away. I miss our talks on the veranda and the sound of his deep baritone voice thickly laced in patois as he recounted stories from his past, barked out orders and cracked jokes.
Growing Up Like A Jamaican - Missing My GrandmaMy maternal grandmother Lucy Olivier Bailey Samuels - we Jamaicans can come up with some fantastic names, eh? - would have turned 101 this month and coincidentally this is the 10th anniversary of her passing. It's hard to get to know the heart and soul of someone when they live far away especially when your only means of communication is letter writing.
Under the Mango Tree"Under the Mango Tree" is the Jamaicans.com 2009 Short Story Contest Winner. Congrats to the writer, Bandanna.
Growing Up Like A Jamaican - Too Busy Ah Follow FashionIs it me or has personal style gotten out of hand? I can understand self expression but the line between what's appropriate for school, at home or at work have been completely blurred. What I fear is that once it's time for young adults to go out in the real world and support themselves they will not want understand why - from 9 to 5 - they have to tailor their outfits to fit company code.
Growing Up Like A Jamaican - What to do when you don't have electricityWhen I tell people that my maternal grandparent’s home was not wired for electricity until 1997 their jaws often drop open. They want to know what did we do for light and didn’t we get bored without TV? Well, during the day we used daylight and at night we used lanterns.
Growing Up Like A Jamaican - Remembering GrandpaThis month my Grandpa Stafford would’ve turned 95 years old. He was such a strong and wonderful man. I miss him being here physically because that means no more long talks on the veranda or nights under the stars discussing everything under the stars but his ethereal presence is hard to deny.
Growing Up Like A Jamaican - Happy AnniversaryBack in ’96 I had an overwhelming need to know as much about my grandparents as possible. I think at that time I was afraid that they would either pass on or forget their history. Although my grandmother didn’t remember a lot about the past my grandfather had a mind like a steel trap. I asked him about how he and grandma met and this is the letter I got in reply.
