Uncategorized

Duality

by

I wrote what’s below back in July — Alton Sterling, the police officers shot in New Orleans, Philandro Castille. I wrote it because it was really bugging me. I wrote it and put it away. It was more like therapy and I felt just fine after I hit “save.” Then Colin Kaepernick. Last weekend, I … Read more

Is it too late to fix the newsroom?

by

Most journalists I know, especially those currently in the game, are multi-taskers, to say the least. I can’t think of anyone I know in a newsroom with only one job. Many people feel stretched thin and yet, they love the job so much that they find it difficult to walk away. Most of us have … Read more

The photography challenge. (?)

by

I’ve been in Lakeland for nearly a year now, and this place is unlike any other place I’ve lived. Right now, I’m renting a house that’s next door to a farm. On the other side of that farm is a six-lane highway. On a given morning, I can hear cows lowing, the hum of traffic … Read more

Truth, justice and the Barbados way

by

Like everyone else in the world, I got caught up in “Serial” when it debuted in late 2014 and quickly disappeared down the rabbit hole of the Adnan Syed case. When “Serial” was over, I was thinking there had to be more, that there had to be more to know. And there was — if … Read more

Double take? Double stare, perhaps?

by

There has been some light chatter lately about the casting for the upcoming biopic about Nina Simone. OK, no. People are legit mad about this. It surrounds the fact that Zoe Saldana in no way resembles the singer/activist. This is a concept that is rather unprecedented in Hollywood, right? Hiring an actor who doesn’t look … Read more

Spotlight wins some Oscars

by

Yes, yes. Once again, the Oscars took on the ‘I have a black friend’ approach and came off as awkward as ever. Chris Rock’s opening was masterful, but wow, did the lack of diversity get poured on thick for the hour I watched. Finally, I crossed my fingers for Leonardo DiCaprio and watched The Big … Read more

In dreams

by

When I was younger, I used to have dreams about sitting on the beach, and watching a giant wave from the ocean come in and overtake me. It wasn’t a regular dream — just every now and again. I’d wake up knowing I was scared in the dream, but also thinking that the water was … Read more

Why Thursdays.

by

Back in the day, for several hundred days, I was the editor for three community newspapers and wrote a weekly column for a daily newspaper. That meant that everything I did that week came out on Thursday. It was the one day of the week I could take at least half a breath — and it was the day when it hit the fan. If I wasn’t getting calls about the column, then someone was accusing us of having personal vendettas against high-school kids because his kid’s photo wasn’t in the paper. Despite all that, Thursdays were actually kind of fun.