Why Write, Why Blog?

Why I Write

I write in memory of my Grandad who recently passed away and my Grandma who struggles to cope with his absence. I write because they are simple people of humble beginnings who have worked hard to put their children and Grandchildren in a better place. And that is what Jamaican and Caribbean life is all about. I write because they remember a world in which gas prices were low, people were kind and children behaved. And maybe that world really did exist. But it certainly is not Caribbean reality today.

Why I Blog

I have wanted to do this for a very long time. Put out into the universe my thoughts on Caribbean reality through the lens of law. I love the law. I love what it forces us to think up and work toward and protect against. I however feel that the Caribbean, and especially my home Jamaica, is being shaped by external forces without us giving much thought to the direction WE would like to take. Without making conscious steps to shape and craft a future that we can be proud of.

Why I Write

I write because I have been given an excellent education by some of the finest schools in the region and it is my job to use that wisely. For every girl or boy who never got a chance to, I write to ensure that perhaps their children can. I struggle with the privilege that comes from a middle class in Jamaica that shrinks daily and the opportunities that God has given me to do what I love. But I do this because I cannot imagine Jamaica in 50 years being prosperous without the cadre of young professionals that this great country has produced not stepping up and playing their part in advancing the welfare of Jamaica first, then the whole human race.

Why I Blog

I think the Caribbean is filled with brilliant minds who do brilliant things without writing them down for future generations. We don't have a culture of writing every little thing and it harms us. The victors get to make history and we have willfully given up a chance to even comment on it. I don't believe that the first time a phenomenon is studied here, it should be done by a white man/woman from "foreign" talking about how quaint "island life" is. We have reached the stage of our development where we can take over that work now.

Why I Write

I write to clarify my thoughts on certain matters I see in Jamaica and in the wider Caribbean. Definitions of the Caribbean are muddy and complex and there are several schools of thought. I write to show that no matter what we feel, there is an interdependence in this region that defies any attempt to narrow how we all connect. I write to make sure that people are told what is going on. That governments are held accountable. That other young professionals can clarify their own thoughts on Jamaican and Caribbean life. I write so that I can have a voice in an increasingly repressive atmosphere where you have to look behind you before you speak and look into the shadows before you write.

Why I Blog

I blog to make sure we don't forget. This is a public record of all the things that make the Caribbean beautiful. And all the things that we need to improve.

I WRITE AND I BLOG BECAUSE I HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO HELP MY PEOPLE, MY COUNTRY, MY REGION, ONE WORD AT A TIME.

Join me on this journey.