The Story Here

Note: I originally wrote this as a Facebook post in 2016. It has been lightly edited and updated for the present day. Sometimes someone does something for you that isn't a big deal to them but has a lasting impact on you. I was reminded of this some years back when I mentioned to my husband that I truly got into journalism because of Antoinette Connell. Over 20 years ago, I was a teenaged newspaper intern as I wrote about in my origin story on this blog. Reporters were kind but busy and didn't really have time to bother with interns. I accompanied them to assignments and then got lost when they got back to the newsroom and had to write against deadline. Mostly I'd hang out at the fax machine with the other interns hoping for a press release to come in so I could 'storify it' and get a story of sorts into the paper. It's a skill which came in handier than I would have ever guessed when I transitioned into a career in communications but I digress. One day, on th...

TW: This blog post mentions cases involving sexual assault and police-involved deaths. We've all seen it before - a story captures the attention and interest of the public, even though it may well be a story we've seen or heard before - sometimes countless times. 

So it's been a while for sure! The story here is... that we're ramping up for the busiest time of year for us at work , where we get to showcase our work, research and impact through events and of course...storytelling. So if you realize I'm quiet here, feel free to check me over on the other side. :) In between now and my previous post, we also had a whole volcano explode in the neighbouring island of St. Vincent (remember I'd alluded to the increased activity there in my New Year's Eve post?) , coating the north of that island and all of my country in toxic volcanic ash, closing airports and creating massive disruption, especially for the community residents living nearest to the volcano. As I type, cleaning crews are outside of my home cleaning up the ash, the final steps in what has been a weeks-long clean up effort. One thing about the 2020s - this decade is full of stories! That is a segue to my post - the next part in my 5 Ws and H of Storytelling series an...

  About six weeks ago, I was laying in my bed, doom-scrolling through the comments on the Instagram accounts of local news houses and distraught. My country was about to start rolling out its COVID-19 vaccination programme and the comments were filled with skepticism, hesitancy and outright hostility to the idea of getting vaccinated. Every dangerous and and unevidenced conspiracy about vaccination was circulating in the comments section, with a trail of likes and co-signing comments in their wake.  For someone like me who believes in the science behind vaccines and has seen the historical evidence of how my country's very efficient public immunization programme has improved our public health, this was far from encouraging. Taken against the background of a second surge of COVID-19 in the country, this feeling that the populace was very hesitant to vaccinate, meant that my mood was morose. ' We're going to be stuck inside forever. ' ' My daughter's childhood i...

Note: Portions of this were originally posted as an article in Islandista Magazine, a Caribbean women's publication I edited and published between 2008 to 2018. Significant modifications have been made to update it. "My $i$tren!!! My hitta!!! I know I tell you thi$ all the time, but Money cud neva buy what you give me!! Our friend$hip will alway$ be family! " Thus read part of the raunchy, riotous and deeply heartfelt birthday message which Barbadian superstar Rihanna posted on Instagram back in 2014 in tribute to her long-time best friend Melissa Forde . The post celebrated a friendship that stretches back decades to their days as schoolgirls at Barbados' Combermere School and which has stood the test of time and mind-boggling, world-wide fame. The two women's enduring bond illustrates the power of female friendship, a point Rihanna referred to in her Instagram tribute when she expressed her gratitude, saying: "I will never take for granted the day you ...