Thoughts of a minibus traveller

  Painting  "Take the brush  and put something on the canvas" Nigel Niix Butler from Nine Nations advised us. "Just start.." as he applied different colours and layers on one side of the large canvas.  Alvina Naughton from The Village Nook explained why she liked doing abstract art as she moved her brush on the opposite side of the large canvas which was in the middle of a group of about 10 people Sun cooling as we like to say in Guyana.  My hands start moving with brush and so even as mind trying to work out what to paint.  I mess up a few leaves doing leaf print - you have to use the back of the leaf as Alvina advised, and a thin layer of paint.. but I thought I know everything.. and so we start on our small canvases and then move to the big canvas.  Canvas which has some lines , but blank otherwise. The way we sitting down around the big canvas, I imagine this could be like a puja,.. a large havan. Alvina and Nigel as the pandits, and the canvas a...

L - image from Nigel Niix Butler; R- Image from Dominic Fernandes   Mouth..  Dominic Fernandes showed the man the Pledge by Men to End Violence against Women and Girls . The man said 'I don't do dem things.. me mout aint got cover, if I see any man being like duh I would holler pun he'.  Hot Thursday afternoon, first groundings since December 2024. Books laid out on an old freezer left near avenue, or owned by a cool down vendor. Hot dog stand opposite in front of the GRA building. Sherlina Nageer, Dominic Fernandes, Nigel Niix Butler and I  started on the Camp Street Avenue.   Sherlina leading on the discussions about access to safe abortion  . Dominic, Nigel and I engaging men about the pledge to end violence and about questioning ways of being a man generally.  Nigel set up two stools and started painting when we moved to the nice cool spot at Camp and Robb Street.  Groundings now evolving - Rodney; books and gaff;, books, poems and gaff; ...

Image derived from OpenClipart Hot sun  3pm and sun hot bad on the railway line outside CARICOM headquarters.    There is a gathering , a protest, to call on CARICOM leaders to break diplomatic ties with genocidal Israel if they really serious about ceasefire on Gaza. No trees for shade, lots of concrete and glass and some token plants. I imagine this is what heat must be like in the Middle East. There is breeze here, but the tent - tents can also be hot as well. Israel has uprooted olive trees in Palestin e as part of the genocide. (In Guyana, though DDL has tied bundle with the genocidal Government to do agriculture ) The Government of Guyana has started destruction of a Samaan tree in my area which has provided shade for people. Tree apparently standing in the way of progress and development, and near to community land being invaded by private sector interests without objection from the Government.   Guyanese for Gaza  British traveller waves the Palestinian...

Sharad Navratri 2023 .  A prominent young Guyanese Pandit is clear. He asks those protesting Israel's response to the Hamas terrorist attack on Israeli citizens - "what about the other side, those who were raped, beaten and murderd, no one is talking about them" Never ending problem as terrorists who describe themselves as Muslim or Islamist have attacked others who are not, including Hindus, so people invoke the 'selective outrage'. Many from Guyana who protested the Israeli response during Sharad Navratra 2023 in Guyana condemned Hamas.  Some like me stayed far from the janjhat in the Middle East. Out of my sphere of control. A Guyanese Muslim woman agreed with me.. the Middle East is complex, hundreds of years of living together and living apart, with layers of religion and other divisive structures. And friends turn enemies and then turn friends  (Hamas and Israel, against the PLA) again and so on Not our problem.  We have other problems   Sharad Navratri 20...

Extracts from "The Dream of the Monkey Pot Tree(2025)" by Cosmata Lindie (L); and "Laced in Victory (2025)" by Maharani Jhillu (R)    ( Moray House Trust is hosting 'Beyond the boundary: what is art?" until Sat 20th Sept, 2025 11am to 2pm each day )    Monkey Pot and Mandala  There is cricket playing on the phone on the desk. The cricket fan explains that 'Warriors playing '. I had no idea really since I don't follow cricket but I like to watch people watch cricket.  Moray House Trust is hosting a second exhibition related to cricket. They  sent bats and balls this year 'throughout the land' and invited artists to create pieces. The exhibition invokes the writings of CLR James.  The pieces are all fascinating, with different representations of cricket's importance to Guyana. The exhibition has artists from different backgrounds, located in different parts of the country. I could imagine that some of them voted differently in the rec...

  Acid Attacks in the week of PPP/C Victory  Someone inside a white car threw acid on Nirmala Sukraj and Jilicia Leitch at midday on the Wednesday of Guyana Elections 2025.  In April 2025, two people threw acid on pupils and teachers of Chateau Margot Primary School as they walked home. Politicians and the ERC and other condemned and visited the students. There are no reports yet of any condemnation of the recent acid attack or visible support to the survivors. The throwers of acid in April 2025, like the killers of Adrianna Young, have not been found.  Three acid attacks on women and girls in a year.   Bullets in the week of PPP/C Victory  On the night GECOM declared victory for the PPP/C, someone on a bike shot Lolita  Callender. outside her home. The shooter was waiting on a bike for her,. Another man shot and killed Gavin Major on the Thursday after elections when the PPP/C supporters were confident of victory. Other men have shot and killed ...