“Any man can be a father, but it takes a special person to be a dad”, goes an adage, a poignant reminder that merely fathering a child does not make one a father in the real sense. It is about shouldering responsibilities and caring and nurturing...
More than a few There’s an evolutionary theory in society that has many wondering if you are going extinct. But in many spaces, we see your need and significance. Not for a woman’s or your kid’s currency but an active contributor in your family...
The day his boss looked over at the TV screen and gave a forlorn nod at the plunging red lines of the stock market, my husband could feel the lay-off coming. It was a gut punch when it hit our family, like millions of others. But we didn’t have...
For the 2020 Father’s Day edition of Meeting Ground, we present poets from New Zealand and Jamaica sharing poems on fatherhood. We celebrate fathers in their many manifestations. Happy reading from the curators, Ann-Margaret (Jamaica) and Shane (...
When I left Jamaica for a two-month creative residency in Bali, Indonesia, little did I know that I would be getting far more than I bargained for. The residency, arranged through a Jamaican-Balinese collaborative programme, Esirom Sama Sama, was...
In June 1986, I had to meet two friends at the Montego Bay airport to drive them to Negril. I left Kingston on Saturday morning for Montego Bay in light rain to meet the afternoon flight. The rain remained light but steady for the entire journey...
“As the only black student in my first year of medical school,” recalled Chika Oriuwa, “I found it difficult to confront the inherent isolation and otherness. However, reclaiming my narrative is what enabled me to thrive in this environment.”...
This is a piece of history that one has to traverse on a long, winding and rocky road to reach. The road takes a path that was chiselled out on the face of the mountain by slaves. Nestled in the lush mountainous expanse of north-eastern Clarendon...
Scrawled or masterfully crafted on walls and roads are messages of hope and warning. Street art is getting inspiration from the coronavirus pandemic gripping the globe, offering some comic relief, wit, and beauty in a world where people are cut...
In the two poems below, the personas are in isolation, but that doesn’t stop the creativity bred from their pandemic observations. – Ann-Margaret Lim (Meeting Ground coordinator) April 2020 My iPhone keeps me company. Plays music for me, shows...
The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented crisis in journalism that could decimate media organisations around the world. The future of journalism – and its survival – could lie in artificial intelligence (AI). AI...
Tumbling down The walls cave in tight The bricks shift their place In one sudden gaze The day has changed to night, The stars shimmer in the sky The ground shimmys to the right All that’s in front of me dazzles in my sight My vision breaks...
With all schools closed due to COVID-19 and students staying home, education experts are encouraging parents and guardians to provide the necessary support to ensure that children feel safe, loved, and supported. “Families are handling the pressure...
Despite schools being shuttered due to the coronavirus pandemic, learning continues for tens of thousands of Jamaican students who are benefiting from free access to e-learning platform EduFocal. EduFocal, which prepares students from grades four...
Below, poets from across the world share their pandemic experiences and observations. Edward Baugh’s poem is a gift and a wish for us all. – Ann-Margaret Lim The Plague that first night thrushes woke...
The House of Issa is inviting eligible female students to apply for the Elias A. Issa Scholarship. The House of Issa established the Issa Scholarship for Jamaican men and women in 1938. At the behest of Elias Issa, the scholarship was set up “to...
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme,” so said Mark Twain. As the world passes through this unprecedented phase in history, we are not sure what is rhyming or what has gone terribly out of tune, but as ever, resilience, hope, and...
Cowrie shells are a group of sea snails that range in size from small to large. These shells are famous the world over, with the most popular species of this shell known as the money cowrie or Monetaria moneta. The money cowrie are double-sided,...
On this Teachers’ Day, I fondly remember Fraulein Daphne Adams, my first German teacher who influenced my love for languages and who transitioned recently in Jamaica. Miss Adams was first and foremost an excellent, no-nonsense teacher of modern...
I should have begun from Monday, but she was really sick on Monday. Today, she looks so bright. She’s beginning to forget things. I wish I could stay longer to help her. She eats when I sit with her. I’m glad when she eats. I learnt her middle name...
Written from, different angles and spaces, the poems below testify to the great force of motherhood, which nurtures, strengthens, and manifests love. Happy Mother’s Day – Ann-Margaret Lim Words My mother loved words. Not necessarily in...
