Bloggeraid

-by Cynthia

This is one of the biggest holiday weekends in the US - Thanksgiving, it is a time when families gather to celebrate each other, to give thanks and to enjoy a feast.

It is now 2-days shy of my book, My Caribbean Cookbook: Tastes Like Home being released and the book is about food and how that ties me to my family and the places I call home.

I received...
An invitation this week from Ivy to join Bloggeraid, a grouping created to unite in alleviating hunger. I thought how fitting and timely this is - that with Thanksgiving and my book being about food - that we should pause: to be thankful that we have and to make a commitment to helping those who do not have

I invite...
All my fellow foodie friends - bloggers and non-bloggers to join in this worthy cause, there are many things you can do and some are as simple as creating awareness, however, for a full range of things that we can do and more about it, click here and let Valli tell you. Joining is easy, here is the link.

I was happy this year to offer my support, advice and encouragement from afar when a good friend of mine Kavitha all the way in Africa wanted to set up a soup kitchen. These are the kind of things we can do and get involved in, even if it is to donate or volunteer.

I encourage...
You to join Bloggeraid today, wear the logo on your blog and do whatever you can to promote and aid in the alleviation of hunger. Let's not just talk about food, let's do something about it. For more details and to join, click here.

A true sign of hospitality

... when someone's 404 error page keeps you entertained.

an angry exchange

a relationship ad

feeling truly lost

some linguistic training

cocktail recipes.




an admonishment

some security insights

3 haikus and a drink

My favourite:
The ramblings of a manic depressive web server.

- bee

Plugged in and connected

-by Cynthia

I have a cell phone.

These are my reasons for having a cell phone:

1. I live in another country away from my family and thought that it would be a good way for them to get in touch with me in case of an emergency and vice versa.
   
2. There are still many places in Barbados that I am unfamiliar with and have gotten lost a couple of times, so the cell phone has been useful in terms of contacting friends, colleagues and acquaintances when the need for directions arises.
   
3. I have also found the cell phone to be useful on those rare occasions when I am running late and caught in traffic to alert others that I’m on my but I’m running a little behind time - so these are the three main reasons how, why and when I use my cell phone.
   

I have noticed...

every day when I step out of the house, all around me, everyone seems to be plugged in, linked in and programmed. Whether they are walking, running, driving, or sitting, that little machine in their hands is active, it’s connected. As soon as the plane lands, as soon as the final curtain closes, as soon as the lights are turned on, they whip out their devices some flip them open others just press a button and in no time, they are connected, the cell phone pressed to their ear. It’s almost as if they are afraid of their own thoughts and therefore need to plug in to be kept alive.

Here are some questions that perhaps you can answer for me:

• Whatever happened to making firm plans and arrangements to meet at a certain place at a certain time and then following through and arriving without having to call to say that you’re leaving the house, you’re now getting into the car, now backing out of your driveway, and that you’re on X, Y or Z Street heading your way?
  
• Whatever happened to sitting down to eat in a restaurant without first checking your mobile device? What happened to having a conversation while waiting for your drinks or meal to arrive instead of using the opportunity to check your messages?
  
• Whatever happened to discussing or laughing about the movie or play you just saw, particularly with the person with whom you experienced it, instead of having that discussion with someone else at the other end of your cell phone?
  
• Whatever happened to paying attention to a customer and not have them wait as their transaction gets interrupted because your cell phone beeps, vibrates or rings?
  

I have many, many more questions but I’ll stop here.

I know...

we live in an age where technology is it. I am saddened that mobile devices have replaced some of us and sometimes the only way we can communicate with each other or get through to each other is if we too are linked in, hooked up and connected.

I treasure...

and value my alone time. I like people not having access to me 24 x 7. I like to think I have a life outside of my electronic gadgets, that I can find time to observe people as they pass by, watch the trees as the car drives by, feel the warmth of the sun and sometimes just sit and day dream. I hope that no matter how busy I am that these things will remain true for me.

Who cares about Race?

by bee

Well, these folks do. The ones the Republican campaign so aptly refers to as the "base". The Joe six-packs and Soccer Moms who just emerged from a McCain-Palin Town Hall meeting.



As one YouTube commentator pointed out,

I am starting to miss the days when people like this just went around calling people n**ga, putting on white hoods and burning crosses on my people's front lawns. At least then their racism was out in the open. Now in Barack's case, the words n**ga and coon have been replaced with Terrorist.

I would have a lot more respect for these people if they just came out and admitted that they don't want a black man as president.

Stanford poll researchers say Obama could lose 2.5 points of his two-digit lead to racism as some people simply refuse to vote for a biracial man.

Some things never change.

Pointing Fingers

I heard...
While at a conference this week that tertiary-level institutions across the region (Caribbean) that train journalists are not doing a good enough job to meet the needs of the media houses and by extension the market. There were no ifs or buts about where to lay blame and point the finger.

As someone who not only practiced in this field for years but also teach in it, I strongly objected.

For far too long, media houses and the same "senior" journalists that get up at these forums to lament, cry-down and express their frustrations at the quality of our graduates do nothing to aid in the mentorship and further on-the-job training that is necessary for one to excel in this field. Everything and somethings cannot be taught in a classroom. Journalism is not exclusively learnt it a classroom, it is something lived and experienced.

As a side issue, you will notice that I put quotation marks at the word senior and this is because many of these so-called senior journalists love to boast about their years of experience but for a lot of them it is one-year of experience that is repeated for 20 and more years!!! They have not learnt or grown!

For years there have been calls for media houses to set up in-house training for young journalists and to also facilitate external training opportunities to aid in the education and growth of the profession. Apart from the in-house training, many of the seasoned and experienced journalists (note I did not say senior) seem unwilling to mentor young journalists. Yet, they join their "senior" colleagues in pointing the finger.

I am sick...
Of people not willing to accept responsibility for their own inadequacies and shortcomings. It is so much easier to blame others and point the finger.

I know...
For a fact that the unwillingness to provide further training and mentorship is out of fear, fear that the newbie is going to outshine them, fear that the newbie could replace them, fear that the newbie can teach them something, fear that they can learn something.

I am...
Not saying that our programmes are flawless but we do our best always to provide students with the necessary tools to go out into the world of work. We all have to do our part, we teach, students have to be willing to learn and employers have to be willing to step up and do their part to ensure that we have quality employees in the work place.

Women Who Hate Women

by bee

i read . . .

how Sarah Palin, as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, oversaw a municipal police department that charged rape victims the money (between $300 and $1200) for "rape kits" to collect forensic evidence to convict their attackers. This was overturned in 2000 by Alaska Governor Tony Knowles who pointed out that if someone robs your home, the police department does not and should not charge victims for collecting fingerprints or other evidence. One town vociferously objected to this - Wasilla.

Palin went on to become governor of Alaska and has endorsed legislation and cash incentives of $400,000 so far for the aerial hunting of wolves so that hunters like herself do not have to compete with other predators for moose. About 800 wolves have thus been killed so far.

i see . . .

a woman who clearly hates her ilk. I also see it in "dowry deaths" in India where daughters-in-law are set aflame in "kitchen accidents" that are almost always instigated by the mother-in-law.

Most of all, I see it when McCain's support among white women has gone up by 20 points after he picked Palin. They like her soccer mom jokes and "she's just like us". Are they claiming that they all hate women too? Especially those who were stupid enough to get raped?

i wonder . . .

why women are so hostile to other women.

Here's an interesting article on the subject.

Women compete socially on an uneven playing field.

the criteria for winning is usually set by others and the results are subjective and intangible. Women are usually judged by characteristics that they have little control over; something that they did not create, and that exist outside of themselves such as their physical appearance. Her success is based on subjective, biased, external validation by others. She can’t see how to beat her rival because her rival is in no more control of the outcome than she is. How can you really be more beautiful than another woman, when the decision is nothing more than someone else’s opinion of beauty?

They pick out other women who they perceive to be lower than themselves in the social hierarchy in terms of age, looks, assets, and rationalise to themselves why these people deserve an inferior status. It's like the schoolyard bully who asserts power by who he or she perceives to be the weakest in the playground. In the case of many women, especially those who subscribe to the "cult of nice", there's a sea of resentment simmering below the surface.

They have got to let it out without "rocking the boat", so it manifests itself in passive-aggressive games, whiny guilt-tripping, and "girl bullying". All these strategies are aimed at feeling powerful while concealing your rage from society at large by putting other women unlike themselves "in their place".

A woman’s perception of self-worth is validated outside of her self from others and this affects her internal psychological concept of her own value as a human being. Women compete indirectly with other women because they have not learned how to recognize and channel their internal desires, feelings and goals into physical, tangible realities. Once women learn that they can not control or live vicariously through their children or the man in their life; they will stop hating each other and focus on their individual unique gifts, talents and assets.

i remember . . .

an instance where a woman walked up to my heavily pregnant friend in an Indian grocery store in California and asked her if she was having a boy or a girl. My fried said, "girl", and the stranger said, "I'm so sorry."

Hating on fellow women is a worldwide phenomenon. And many women make no bones about it.

In an effort to come to some semblance of a conclusion regarding women’s respect for women, I asked exactly 42 women the following question: “If you could only have one child, would you have a boy or a girl? And why?” 37 women said they’d rather have a boy. 23 of those women offered this little nugget as the reason why: “Girls are bitches.”

The top five reasons they gave for wanting a boy child:

1. Women are bitchy.
2. Women are emotional.
3. Women get pregnant.
4. Life is just easier for men.
5. They are no cute baby clothes for girls.

No kidding!!! Who needs men to pull women down when we have each other?

Counting our blessings

-by Cynthia

It is now 9.19 p.m. on Friday, September, 12 as I sit to write this post. My thoughts and prayers are with all those currently waiting for the full impact of Ike. I weep for my fellow Caribbean people in Cuba and especially Haiti that have been ravaged by the Atlantic Weather systems so far. The frightening thing is that the season is not over.

I pause...
To say a prayer for the people of Bihar, my heart broke each night as I watched their plight on the news. I was so incensed when I read this headline: Flood Victims face caste discrimination. I need a moment to pause because I am so pissing mad and outraged!!!

Lately...
I've been sad about the world. There is so much hate, so much violence, so much mischief, so many disasters and corruption. And then it seems as if mother natures is taking aim at us... yes, yes, I know that a lot of it is our own fault and yes I know that there's a lot of love, peace and happiness too in this world. Like the title of this post says, I have been counting my blessings. But sometimes, don't you find yourself wondering what is this all about? This world? This life?