Thoughts of a minibus traveller

Photo from Sherlina Nageer The man who sold dog food came and offered a bag to lay the books on for people to pick up and read. This was the second Groundings - Lina came with Rumi, Audre Lorde and bell hooks.. I came with the same bell hooks to swap. The books were laid out in a tight corner because the police outpost had moved and the barricades seemed to be close to the edge of the passage for the minibuses and cars. Two men came up , one had not heard about Audre Lorde. Many others passed. We had the free books sign. One man passed.. and then turned back and came and picked up the book of short stories. A girl took the colourful diary with the quotations after reading one or two of them aloud. The Sun was Hot. Another man picked up another book and one of the leaflets about 'Coming Out'. We had intentions to have people talk about what we were reading but that was a busy corner where people do not stop to talk.. in fact as we realised, there are few places in Guy...

Some people are planting butter nut squash and when the crop is out, you can get them to buy at reasonable prices. Butternut squash is a bit different from pumpkin. The texture is dryer and it tastes sweeter. The farmer from Anns Grove had a basket on Hinck Street. He was selling two for five hundred or one for three hundred. I took out two hundred dollar bills and ask for one and he found a good sized one. Ingredients Butternut squash - chopped up small Oil to chunkay some whole geera, ginger, garlic, onion Wiri pepper, eschallot, cinnamon, nutmeg Tomato (yep I try a ting hey.. ) Method 1. Heat oil in the pan/carahee. Fry jeera a bit until you get a nice smell.. don't burn it. Throw in chopped garlic, onions, ginger and stir a bit. 2. Throw in the squash in the pan and stir up and cover. Butternut Squash does not 'spring' much water so you might need to give it a bit to help steam it down. Keep on low heat or it will burn, though some of the bun bun does add...

(Sherlina Nageer writes about the Black Friday Groundings on the anniversary of Walter Rodney's death . The event was on Friday 13 June, 2014 in Georgetown, Guyana ) Fri 13 dawn just like any odda day. Lotta rah rah in newspaper and on FB about common entrance results. Most telling thing to me though was the paucity of public school students in the top 10/20. Acknowledge the fact that such tests are crap and not a proper way to measure or predict anything about 99.9% of all children, but note that education now has a pricetag on it. Pondering also the meaning of success. Lots of chatter on FB, from people who mostly don’t live in GT but planning on returning soon soon to change things. I can’t wait for that to happen. Left the virtual world to go work in my lil town yard garden. Got some tomato, thick leaf calaloo, sweet peppers, okro, and karila coming up, and space that’s going to be filled with parsley, thick leaf thyme, and shallot next week. Something so soothing...

Sign which was on bag which was used to lay out the books The rain was drizzling but I keep my fingers cross dat it was drizzling.  I see de police outpost and den i see a lady stooping down and ketching a pee not far from de place where Lina and me plan fuh do we Groundings. A man holler at de  lady to move just as she was fixing she clothes and she holler "Arite ah done, ah done" and she gone before we were about to start. We had de option of de Demico Shed where I see Lina buy a Malta and it sound like a nice idea, but I had this desire after seeing the lady peeing to also go and be mad right out there. Instead of peeing in the wind though, I was going to read/spit in the wind. Breeze was nice. Weather was nice. No rain, no hot sun. We take out books and sign and so. Lina put her malta bottle down on the ground while she stand up with Rodney books in hand like how Jehovah Witnesses stand up with Awake! and Watchtower magazines. A man pick up the bottle an...

Two text messages from two women I love dearly and a phone call for work. One text message about a big pot of soup (are there any small pots of soup?) on a stove and offer of company, another about going because I complain that she does not go out enough. But I said no.. and felt bad about it but difficult to explain that while I want to be friendly and useful and helpful , I also need to chill down..to get back some kind of control.  Many changes as plans seem to have gone awry. Another meeting went ahead though even though I did not feel like it because the Universe has found a way to connect me back with an organisation from which I had a divorce .. and even as I was useful I kept worrying that I would be making mistakes and my competence would be questioned and I remember the horror of the past even as I try to be useful. And another conversation to help another organisation from which I had divorced with me saying 'please keep this anonymous' - and I know I should...

You sit in the workshop in the nice Church and you hear them talking about Depression and how it is important to think positive thoughts and pray and hang out with positive people and listen to good music and you kind of smirk and say.. Lord.. who will tell these nice people that there is a bit more to dealing with mental wellness. But there is no energy really to tell because a lot of energy is consumed in walking and moving and functioning on basic tasks.  There is a kind of sensitivity where the shifts in the environment seem to amplify - the idea that a job you thought would be finished is pending the client's response. the white pile of sand opposite which is blowing into the house and laying all over and the owners of the house live in nice air conditioned places further up the road..  the inability to focus and concentrate which means that planning for wellness is not going the way it should and that trying to monitor the diet is happening at a time when you crave...

Part of Lotus in the time of the Arab Spring taken from the catalogue The woman working in the gallery said she likes the military pictures because she used to be in the military. Another woman said she would not go to the exhibition because the work has too much energy and angst which she thinks is reflective of the artist's life. Some people think the work is beautiful and wonder why the little red spots of blood and so on are on the beautiful paintings of the rainforest. There is an exhibition of selected works of Bernadette Persaud at the National Gallery - " As New and As Old " . My favourite pieces of art are Birth of  Lotus and the Lotus in July.. what the hell do I know about art.. nothing really except that I remember walking into Castellani House way back in 1994 or 1995 to a Guyana which was supposed to be full of Cheddi Jagan and promise and hope and Birth of a Lotus was positioned at the top of the staircase in Burnham's house - the Residence.  ...

So after a few months of mental health management which involved too much sugar and too much comfort food generally, the clothes starting to be tight and the pants and belt leaving a brand on the belly when the belt is at the mark where it used to be slack. So while it is easier to say to hell with it and just reach for more comfort food .. the thought of having to do something with the clothes which I have owned for an average of 10 years or so got me in a minibus thinking arite.. you can't run any more and long walking wrecks your knees. So.. soup.. a few weeks of soup until there are no belt brands left on the belly. With no thought of what this soup will be,  walking through the market and thinking of what I have never had before..  this is what went in :- Ingredients $200 bhajee $200 pumpkin $100 celery 2 lb sweet potato 1 pint channa wiri wiri pepper ginger (though freshly grated ginger and a bit of lime juice on any soup does wuk good) whole geera,on...