Our chefs and bartenders are preparing for a medal sweep at the annual Taste of the Caribbean Competition carded for June 26-30 in Miami.  The competition is presented by the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA).   Chefs and bartenders from the region will take centre stage to compete for the Caribbean’s top culinary honours.

Meet the team who will be representing Trinidad and Tobago – Making the CUTT.

When 3Canal opened the Big Black Box (BBB) on Murray Street, I saw it as a risky experiment and give them all my blessings. I have used the space, limed in the space, ducked in at random times and it is all good. I have seen young people who are fishing to connect with the positive vibe and I have felt inspired.

My eyebrows raised again recently when 3Canal abandoned Queen’s Hall and staged their Carnival performances at their own space. This experiment is successful from my user perspective and I do hope that the dollars also make sense.

Here is an example of how access to physical space can create a movement. If we are committed to social change we have to provide an enabling environment. At the root of such enabling environments is access to physical spaces.

We have an abundance of inward looking NGO/Social Sector organizations who in many instances underperform. A critical contributing factor to their under performance is lack of access to physical spaces for meetings, rehearsals and social exchange. In the not too distant past, people congregated at places like Casuals Club, Jaycees Headquarters, Soroptimist International of Port of Spain, RAFA Club etc. What happened in these spaces was creative expression, mentoring and opportunities for reflection. The current stillness of these spaces is waiting to be transformed into places of fire, inflamed by the creativity of our young people.

The organic growth of BBB has deep roots in the 22 year history of activism by 3Canal. Their activism is of a different kind, it speaks to the tradition of Carnival and protest. It speaks to the freedom and catharsis which the Jouvert brings.

3Canal is an excellent example of making lemonade from lemons. Best wishes to you as you continue to toil in the interest of the arts. I appreciate you and the energy you bring.

What is the underlying motive behind this advertisement by the JCC? Has the JCC been sued, threatened or otherwise? And isn’t it a fact that he did not appear before the Commission of Enquiry?   Why do this 14 weeks later?
There is more in this mortar than the pestle.
Given the noise being made by Mr. Sturge, I anticipate that the bits and pieces will continue to unravel.

PS: Before you publish observe these rules: Rule 1 –  Proof Read!  Rule 2 – Proof Read!  Rule 3 – Proof Read!

Whether you think it is a blessing or a curse, the current world oil crisis presents us with an opportunity to change the service paradigm in Trinidad and Tobago. Street vendors, car park attendants, taxi drivers, police officers, all .. we have an opportunity to secure our future by embracing tourism as our way out of this crisis but the road out will be long and arduous.  A recent New York Daily News article encouraged it’s readers to “Choose Trinidad for an eclectic alternative to the typical, laid-back Caribbean vacation”.

That article and several others continue to invite the world to visit us.  But what’s next when people actually select Trinidad and Tobago as their  destination.  Will they be met with empty cubicles at Immigration because some random officer decided that his/her recovery from last night’s fete was more important than turning up for his/her assigned shift.  Will the visitor be met by taxi drivers who walk a thin line between inducement and harassment?  Will the visitor who chooses to drive be totally confused by our disregard for the traffic laws?

The atmosphere which greets the visitor will be determined by the decisions we make as individuals.  As a collective, the time has come for us to take a stand for T&T and that means doing the right thing every time.  We can’t change the past but we can create the future by making our individual contribution to improving our country.

Siegert Square … Listening to Peter Minshall’s narration …
Thanks Minsh!

 

I just love how our vocabulary keeps expanding. Digging up in young people business I stumbled across this word “fleek” so I did what any 60 year old would do and started my research.  Here’s what I found at Dictionary.com:

“The best example of a word recently born out of social media has to be “fleek,” which is generally preceded by “on” to create the now popular slang term known as “on fleek.” The phrase emanated from a six-second Vine video posted by Peaches Monroee, otherwise known IRL (“In real life,” another new addition to Dictionary.com’s list of words and phrases) as Kayla Newman. The 17-year-old, excited after having her eyebrows done for the first time, made the now famous statement, “We in this b—-, gonna get crunk. Eyebrows on fleek, da f–.”

Kayla says the word just came to her, that it was something she never heard before, and she is widely credited with its creation. After her Vine went viral, pop star Ariana Grande did a lighthearted spoof of the video, which introduced the term to even more viewers, who in turn started referencing the hashtag #onfleek as a substitute for “on point,” especially when referencing physical appearance.

In fact, even though Dictionary.com’s official definition reads “flawlessly styled, groomed, etc.,” the usage of the term now actually goes beyond describing a person’s personal appearance and extends to anything from the quality of a performance to a person’s general state of mind.

http://www.complex.com/music/2014/11/what-is-fleek