D-WORDSLAYER

I can vaguely remember a book I read during my secondary level literature class called ‘School’s Out’. I cannot recall the author but I remember the plot was one which involved the most unlikely careless people in the role of teachers. That book shed light on what happens when the education system fails children and the community. At the time I thought it was a funny satirical story about our West Indian education system which was not at all like that. Now, I think I have found an institution and society which resembles that type of attitude and embodies the dysfunction it exposed many years ago. School may be out for some, at least locally, where a lawless society is created, not from poverty and illiterate criminals, but from intellectuals who lack the discipline and commitment to be better examples. I am not sure this should be committed to paper, but it is troubling when faced with a facade which is a disgrace to an education system. The bully Bullies are breed. They are g...

A small thought can lead to the profound… This morning  while sharing some thoughts on my childhood with two of my children, I looked at myself in the mirror. I have a pair of glasses which I consider ‘googlers’. These spectacles are not my favorite, but they have the most features. I could not find my sunshades and resorted to their photo-grade feature of darkening with the sun. Thus began this whimsical conversation as I asked, “How did Google decide on the name google,  I wonder if they were thinking of googlers?” My son and daughter looked at me mystified and wary of how I would respond to this rhetorical question? I have this strange habit when I’m thinking to ask and answer questions all at once. Then of course a historical moment of reminiscing, brought forth the following; “When I was at school we called some spectacles ‘googlers’. Googlers were the type of frames and lenses which brill...

Last week Saturday 14th November,we were gripped with aftermath of horror fear and many emotions of grief and disbelief. Terrorists attacking the day before in Paris, France rocked me, and I felt the brevity of my mortality. It is a week now, and while I watched the news, and followed the response from France and its allies, I wonder what it feels like to the child. The feeling of safety and awe of this great life they live. Their normal, can be many things based on where they reside. For us, our kids or grand-kids and our neighbors young ones may be looking at the television and wondering about the shows on cable or local channels. The questions that may play in their little unpolluted minds and innocent hearts if aware, is why? Why is there hate? Why do they want to hurt the people? Who will stop them? Where is the love? For the child life is simple and they can be impressionable at an early age. They are holding iPads and mobile phones before they can speak, and the nanny ...