tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-174745952012-02-03T08:57:08.202-05:00A testimonial of travels across country, city and village borders. Vignettes on culture, music and our ever changing, post-colonial world.Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.comBlogger411100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-48843619513422455402008-09-03T10:43:00.012-04:002009-04-18T15:22:00.480-04:00

The smell of September is in the air here in Belize. It's a fascinating month because Belize City, usually so sleepy, is exploding with action - all month long. Red white and blue streamers, flags, and ribbons adorn the houses of the prominent, political, and well-off families.On September 6, the first public parade will travel along the streets of Belize City. I'm looking forward joining a steel

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com91tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-29786454281246363732008-06-25T09:23:00.004-04:002008-09-30T19:43:37.950-04:00

Belize is once again brimming with excitement over an interesting turn in the ongoing cases against Belize Telemedia Limited, which the public is heralding as a victory in international law protecting the sovereignty of the small country Belize. This time, the battle concerns the Government's demand that BTL pay a steadily growing amount of back taxes, now assessed at over $10.2 Million dollars,

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-67893916954668198122008-06-08T23:03:00.005-04:002008-09-03T12:30:13.359-04:00

There should be an expression, "Up Hope's Creek." That's what it felt like when I visited the village of Hope Creek, in the South of Belize, with 13 Productions on a documentary film assignment. We spoke with Mr. Senteno, a villager who had lived in Hope Creek for so long that he named the place (for a bridge that ran across the creek to the back of the town.) He showed us the water marks up to

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-67789493705054684602008-05-13T22:14:00.034-04:002008-11-15T03:42:22.392-05:00

The Zinc Fence let out its top dogs this week. The owners of KREM radio (known as the South Side Belize City station "baka da zinc fence") were called into court in a little-known litigation that has been boiling between the owners of the upstart media company and the owners of a company called Sagis. Both sides presented their last arguments in a case between KREM owned by Evan X Hyde and his

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-88800395213142372882008-04-29T17:34:00.016-04:002008-07-04T20:32:27.501-04:00

I just discovered that Lafayette, Louisiana, a small city in the heart of Lafayette parish, has some of the best-tasting, well-blended food in all of the Americas. I arrived there with the Garifuna Collective, and tasted the food and the warmth of the place. By the morning, I’d fallen heart, belly, and soul in love with Lafayette.Perhaps it was because the place reminded me so much of New Orleans

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-63629293169264572272008-02-10T23:19:00.009-05:002008-11-15T03:42:22.817-05:00

Life goes on in Belize the morning after the general election. On Euphrates Street, students are emptying out from school for lunch in their uniforms, though red flags wave through the streets as cars hired by the UDP drive by every once and a while.At about one am last night when the last ballots were being rounded up, the television stations began to announce a resounding victory by the UDP

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-6158695847158505782008-02-04T22:28:00.000-05:002008-11-15T03:42:23.494-05:00

It's the Monday after j'ouvert Sunday and my first pilgrimage to Trini Carnival. There is one proud, persistent stripe of yellow paint still stuck to my left calf, and I am wondering, will people think I haven't bathed since Saturday? Will I maybe even get some brownie points for my filthiness? In this insane party atmosphere, who knows. Tomorrow, I'll be staying on the sidelines, not buying a

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-29293288108733504102008-01-29T19:03:00.002-05:002008-11-15T03:42:23.705-05:00

For those of us who have been close to the work and music of Andy Palacio, heading down to Barranco, the small Garifuna village where he was raised, felt like a homecoming. In reality, it was nothing short of an invasion. We descended on Barranco, a village of some 200 inhabitants, not in the hundreds, but in the thousands. The scene reminded me of stories of the grand Belizean independence

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-41144054582541149752008-01-23T11:05:00.001-05:002008-02-10T12:17:14.542-05:00

A replay of Melissa Block's interview is available now on NPR,Other Tributes Received TodayHi Everyone,My words are inadequate to express my feelings about the shocking loss of Andy Palacio. He meant a lot to me, and I know he meant much more to the international Garifuna community. But this is what I can say.Please, let's do what we can to forward his mission.---AaronRemembering Andy Palacio

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-91440331562079095242008-01-20T09:59:00.001-05:002008-11-15T03:42:24.081-05:00

Friends,With a heavy heart, I wanted share this news of the passing of Andy Palacio, a brilliant songwriter, articulate advocate, and performer who touched hundreds of thousands of lives around the world during his lifetime. As Andy told me in Vermont last August, the Garifuna elders have spoken their verdict that Andy had already accomplished his work and mission on this earth. This morning, I

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-34608611246802567602007-09-06T11:53:00.000-04:002008-11-15T03:42:24.227-05:00

Did you know that last year Washington stopped American banks and credit card companies from processing payments to online gambling businesses outside the country? I didn't know this until I heard a story on NPR the other day about how the U.S. restrictions are pitting our goliath gaming industry against the small, Caribbean nation of Antigua. The island is a formerly tourist-driven economy, like

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-21127704543658610872007-08-22T17:31:00.001-04:002008-11-15T03:42:24.369-05:00

As the death toll mounts in Peru from earthquake which devastated the Southern province of Ica on August 15 and the days after, 100,000 people, including women and young children, are still without shelter. The catastrophe brings to mind familiar images from coastal communities around the world: Katrina, the South Indian farmers exposed by last year's monsoons, the Tsunami. It is the first time

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-30646485897503319672007-08-13T10:38:00.000-04:002008-11-15T03:42:24.836-05:00

I went to Wingate Park in Brooklyn yesterday, curious, more than anything, about whether young Jamaican pop star Sean Kingston had anything in him besides a pop frenzy induced big head. He didn't. Sean's performance of Beautiful for the crowd (over 10,000) was about the worst thing I've ever seen live at any concert, paid or free. Shouted rather than sang, and couldn't even remember the lyrics to

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-6449322465300159422007-06-27T10:41:00.001-04:002008-05-02T01:10:17.615-04:00

I attended the Conference on the Caribbean in Washington last week (I spent most of my time in the Diaspora Conference on June 20), and I can tell you that there was no lack of enthusiasm about a united future for the Caribbean across regional and international borders. But the consensus of whose with who I spoke with - journalists, businessmen and diplomats from Belize, Trinidad, and St. Lucia -

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-50287180720859454382007-03-22T11:50:00.000-04:002008-11-15T03:42:25.159-05:00

In incredible news this morning the new defense minister Robert Gates is calling for the close of the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center. Yet another strike against the administration's war policies - from the Walter Reade scandal, to the torture scandals, to the recent court cases condemning the detention of Iraqi-Americans in custody in Iraq.Meanwhile, on Larry King, Barack Obama called for a

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1169827368648227432007-01-26T10:51:00.000-05:002008-01-20T13:09:30.097-05:00

Another sad incident of what from now on I'll just refer to as the "Fiya Bun" phenomenon just took place in Trinidad. It's the kind of incident that, short of the gay victim being brutally beaten and hospitalized like the CBS reporter visiting St. Maartin earlier this year, just won't make major headlines.Global Voices picked up a post on the incident from Jessica Joseph, a Trinidadian blogger.

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1169070045702748852007-01-17T16:39:00.000-05:002007-02-27T11:53:20.972-05:00

Just back from yet another trip to Belize, and although I almost slipped on the packed down snow that came down on my mother's doorstep, it feels like I'm on solid ground. Maybe it's in part because my trip to Belize felt more real and grounded than any other trip I've taken. I felt myself finally delving into the issues and places that have somewhat eluded me till now.I traveled with cameraman/

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1162929941981171682006-11-07T14:59:00.000-05:002007-01-26T14:34:50.400-05:00

This morning Panama was made a temporary member of the security council of the United Nations. This morning I'm also listening to my "Una Decada," the one fabulous CD I own by Panamanian salsero Ruben Blades, an inspiring mix of salsa and son with rustic touches of accordian and violin arrangements made for a Broadway stage. (Today, Ruben, a passionate nationalist who once ran for president, is

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1159625671528660742006-09-30T08:49:00.001-04:002006-10-17T09:39:30.393-04:00

Afro-Latino women are descending on the United Nations this weekend for a conference on topics ranging from domestic violence and AIDS in the Latin American disapora to economic development for Latino women of African descent. I attended one of the talks and for that short time took part in the gathering of black women activists, educators and other participants from countries such as Honduras,

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1146151712221859732006-09-16T09:36:00.000-04:002008-11-15T03:42:25.785-05:00

On Monday, I headed to Eastern Parkway for my usual walking jaunt at the Labor Day Parade. I took my camera along and elbowed my shots between the line of cameramen. At one irresistible moment, I dived into the crowd to join the Belizean float for Festibel, one of the many organizations that works all summer, planning and costume making, to represent their Caribbean country on the Parkway.For the

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1156399524908344922006-08-24T01:17:00.000-04:002006-09-18T23:32:22.476-04:00

I touched down in Los Angeles early Saturday morning for a punta rock concert to be held late Saturday night, at the Coral Reef Hall, on Western Avenue, in South L.A. Mohobub Flores was playing this gig, and I knew I'd meet a couple of local young punta rock artists there. I met my friend Felene at a Garifuna wedding reception on Manchester Ave and after a quick dance with her father, we drove

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1154979898978333432006-08-07T14:22:00.000-04:002006-08-11T12:20:52.720-04:00

Yesterday as I was sitting in a cafe on Vanderbilt Ave in Brooklyn I saw two or three locals sporting green-black-and-yellow colors on their backs, or flags waving from the windows of their cars. I wondered what all the fuss was about until I remembered that it was Jamaican Independence Day. Later at the Canal Room, I joined a crowd of a couple hundred for Independence Day Reminisce, with

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1155052361834040532006-07-31T11:51:00.000-04:002006-08-24T01:11:42.023-04:00

As I was taking a personal moment of silence to reflect on what's going on in Lebanon and the shock that we all feel, it dawned on me that silence is the last thing we need right now in the face the human rights abuses being committed throughout the Middle East. A couple of days ago, the New York Times frontpage showed a moving image of two Israeli soldiers who'd made it back across the border.

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1152632726928975642006-07-11T11:20:00.000-04:002006-09-19T23:03:37.590-04:00

Did you see the article about the Tin Tin documentary in the New York Times today? Actually, the film is about Herge, Tin Tin's Belgian creator, a journalist who created the comics about a young, adventurous, traveling reporter, and wrote them in the 1930's and 1940's. The documentary, by Anders Østergaard, is showing on PBS's acclaimed, independent POV series. I'll post my review

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1152635356936064832006-06-24T12:29:00.000-04:002006-11-06T19:17:41.860-05:00

Another evening of good vibes in the summer in NYC. I made it to the Summerstage Performance of the Refugee All Stars, a six-member, multi-piece reggae and highlife band that was formed out of the refugee camps during the years of civil war in Sierra Leone and have now returned home. Summerstage also screened The Refugee All Stars, a documentary about the Refugee All Stars by two talented

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1149538785882696552006-06-15T16:16:00.001-04:002008-03-15T16:17:25.584-04:00

Recently, President Bush and the family morals marshals finally brandished their sharpest lance - a proposed amendment to ban gay marriage. Around the same time, an article ran in Times Magazine by Tim Padgett about homophobia in the Caribbean. In the article, Padgett unapologetically critiques dance hall artists like Buju Banton for their role in creating a climate of violence against gays in

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1149361051258597352006-06-03T14:55:00.001-04:002007-03-02T11:46:00.263-05:00

Last night at the United Nations I was lucky enough to be a witness to one of those New York City moments where power and prestige shake hands with the possibility of change. At Dag Hammerstein yesterday, I attending a converging of celebrities – not the usual United Nations suspects – for an extravaganza in support of the fight against HIV and AIDS.I was surprised to find such a heartfelt and

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1149176548214166832006-06-01T11:42:00.000-04:002006-06-19T10:04:39.326-04:00

Mexico is not the only Central Americn country dramatically affected by the United States' proximity to their border. As Congress and the Mexican and Chicano community debate Bush's guest worker bill, the effects of immigration policy are being felt in the Hondurenian immigrant community.Yesterday, permits expired for about 75,000 Hondurans and 4,000 Nicaraguans who entered the country under the

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1148478499832606092006-05-24T09:47:00.000-04:002006-06-18T19:03:51.640-04:00

Summer in New York is a Caravan of Music. For Summer 2006, I'll update this blog entry every time I attend another smoking summer show. Here's the first - an annual Garifuna music event, held in celebration of Mother's Day out in East NY a couple of weeks ago. I went along with photoblogger Richard Loussaint. Great vibes! My short write up is in the Black Star News.

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1146672310878778192006-05-04T12:05:00.000-04:002006-06-18T19:20:51.396-04:00

A shout of thanks to my friend Ferentz, who posted this insightful blog post (The Nightshift Chronicles: Smoke Signals Part Deux) on the recent upheavals around immigration policy, and about the struggles of undocumented Garifuna people living in the South Bronx. Ferentz shares a New York times article about an immigration sham going on in the Garifuna community, another narratuve of the lives

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1146411491053579732006-05-01T11:37:00.000-04:002006-06-03T13:26:04.943-04:00

There is a man from Belize who believes in the power of artists to organize, and by doing so, to take control of their own destiny. At the time of this writing, Joe Guerrero is in La Ceiba, Honduras, talking to artists and officials about the importance of developing copyright laws and a music licensing scheme that bring in revenue in countries like Belize, Honduras and Guatemala. Guerrero

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1146285560620660252006-04-28T23:51:00.000-04:002007-01-30T13:26:48.513-05:00

"One good thing about music....When it hits, you feel no pain." -Bob MarleyThis week, National Geographic launched a world music websiteWhen I saw the site, I scrolled through samples of paranda, afrobeat and soukous, gleeful that I could transform myself into a global D.J. of African Diaspora rhythms, using nothing more than my laptop. But when I finished scrolling I realized

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1144036593916053602006-03-30T23:29:00.000-05:002006-05-02T23:08:06.256-04:00

This week in Belize City, I attended Music Week, an annual event organized by the Music Industry Association of Belize. MIAB is doing what it can to reach out to promote and offer technical assistance to local musicians, though it's clear more support is needed. The highlight of the week's events was the presence of a mobile studio built into the back of a delivery van and fitted with soundproof

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1140373602636176322006-02-19T12:43:00.002-05:002006-05-02T23:33:55.703-04:00

If you're reading this, you probably have some interest in copyright law and intellectual property, seemingly mundane topics that I tend to gravitate towards being a writer and lawyer. My interest has had a global twist since I traveled to Jamaica in 2004 to research a story on the plight of Jamaican artists. Free Market Reggae"The Lawyer's Sleep Tonight" is breaking news on a story I've been

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1139888800894961722006-02-13T22:24:00.000-05:002006-07-13T10:45:01.170-04:00

I've been back in New York for over two months now. Still, I'm traveling in my mind. I'm remembering the Black Indian Museum, which I discovered with a friend from New Orleans a couple of years ago in a converted Victorian house in a residential neighborhood, several miles from the main Bourbon Street stretch. When the old caretaker showed us in, I felt like a little girl stumbling upon a doll

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1136573648279808692006-01-06T13:32:00.000-05:002006-04-26T09:53:04.160-04:00

New Years' this year was at a friend's place in Harlem. A friend of mine and his girlfriend, who is also a friend of mine got toether with old college classmates at his place on 125th Street. We had little in common except that since graduating from college, we've been drifting in and out of New York every couple of years. Sitting in front of the TV with my gin 'n tonic, I thought about how we "

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1135535078303976532005-12-25T11:44:00.000-05:002006-07-13T16:56:31.296-04:00

It's Christmas everyone - cheers! Hope you're with friends and family I'm at home, in my BK apartment, on a Christmas so laidback that the 500 square feet of my living room was somehow more than enough. My mom, brother, aunt and cousins came over and we ate the usual - a turkey seasoned with a good old fashioned red spice paste we call ricado, stuffed with sausage, scallions, etc and cooked on

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1132677809006598072005-11-22T13:54:00.000-05:002006-05-24T16:47:25.870-04:00

I'm still on cloud nine from my trip South. Not that it was a pretty one - the road was rough and the rain came down like buckets on the first morning. It cleared up enough for us to get a glimpse of one georgeous sunset on the road from Dangriga to Hopkins village, where I sat in the Ranger and watched some boys play basketball until the sun went down. After sunset we gathered strength over

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1132639349348644952005-11-17T00:34:00.000-05:002006-05-02T23:38:58.563-04:00

I've been on the road like a madwoman on this trip. From one end of Belize to another, even over the border into Guatemala to Tikal (finally, for the first time) and Antigua (with a friend, for a wedding).Weeks one and two I spent navigating the potholes and mudslides from this hurricane season in a Geo Tracker (stick shift, with no power steering) that I borrowed from a friend. I was fortunate

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1129255254667631472005-10-13T21:56:00.000-04:002007-03-02T15:22:37.441-05:00

“It's a good thing you're Jamaican,” Foly told me at Asiko's last show at Gureje. “None of the girls we auditioned sound right singing in pidgin.”Belizean – not Jamaican - get it right, Foly, I thought. But it was an honest mistake. Most Belizeans speak an English that’s not far off from Jamaican patois. My grandfather's father migrated from Jamaica to Belize sometime in the late 1800s. Like most

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17474595.post-1128484223692509912005-10-05T02:45:00.000-04:002006-04-26T09:53:45.936-04:00

It's my first day of blogging! Will you humor my inner Leo? I'm thinking I should have a blogging alias -- something a step up from a screen name, but a step down from a nom de plume. George Sand had one. Even Dr. Suess. Can't I?But as I'm writing this I'm realizing a couple of things. First of all, I'm one of the few people who actually likes my real name. It's a Shona name from Southern

Nyashazashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11835552467337240893noreply@blogger.com5