Happy Independence Day Trinidad and Tobago !!!!!

Forty-eight years ago my home, Trinidad and Tobago gained Independence from the United Kingdom. I love my country dearly, there really is no place like home and I'm grateful for all the people that have helped to make it the multicultural paradise that it is. In a few hours I'm going to attend our Independence Day parade and then later tonight we'll all be going out for fireworks. Ahh these are the things that I miss when I'm away from home.

Did I mention that Trinidad is also an excellent place to be a writer? Our tiny island boasts two Nobel prize winning Trinidadian authors, V.S. Naipaul and Derek Walcott within the last two decades. Naipaul won in 2001 and Walcott in 1992. I'm more familiar with Naipaul's work, in fact I'm a huge fan of Naipaul's work. When I returned home earlier this year I re-read a few of his novels to get myself out of my post New York funk. My mom thinks I could be the next Naipaul, hahaha I wish.

Happy Birthday Mummy !!!!

Today's my mum's birthday. The older I get the more I value her and the time that I spend with her. Her sayings that annoyed me as a teenager are now the things that I long to hear and living away from home for so long has reminded how comforting her presence can be. Of course we still fight, we probably always will. She drives me crazy sometimes, I mean last week she corrected the way I was boiling water. Seriously. Water. How can you boil water wrong? These are the things that stir up fantasies of putting her in a retirement home. I tease her about it all the time, but she knows I never will because she's the best, the only, my mum.

Don't Forget

(Photo: UNICEF)

Please don't forget the millions of people displaced by floods in Pakistan. The aid efforts currently underway in Pakistan are in desperate need of funding. Click here to donate through UNICEF.

More Ground Zero Talk

(Photo: ABC News)

Yesterday I posted about the clash over the Ground Zero mosque. Well here's another perspective from Akbar S. Ahmed a former Pakistani ambassador for the UK. My previous post was largely my non-American, non-Muslim understanding of the American Muslim v.s. American non-Muslim position. Ahmed has opened up yet another corner of the debate to non-American Muslims.

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I was a communication major as an an undergrad and I live for this kind of rich, complicated dialogue with multiple conflicting voices. I live for it because I firmly believe that a multiplicity of voices offers a multiplicity of solutions. Not surprisingly, I think that the best part of this article comes at the end when Ahmed gives his entirely new suggestion for the solution to the problem. He suggests that the property be sold and proceeds be donated to the victims of flooding in Pakistan.

I'll bet the house that this will never happen. This controversy has grown beyond the bricks and mortar of a building and taken on its new meaning and symbolism. This is not a real estate dispute. This a clash of religion and culture. Selling the building would be the equivalent of dispelling these two weighty principles that it has come to symbolize. Definitely not gonna happen, but still good food for thought.

Read the entire article here.

The Ground Zero Mosque

(Photo: Time Magazine)

I just finished reading an NY Mag article on the proposed mosque to be located near the site where the World Trade Center once stood. The owner of the building, Sharif El-Gamal, stated that he did not regret the uproar over the location of the mosque "because there was a conversation that had to be had, and now we’re having it.”

I get it. I get that this is an issue that needs to be aired and I am happy that it's out there in the public dialogue rather than festering under the surface. I just don't understand the logic behind the minds of the people who cannot separate a religion and the peaceful followers of said religion from the criminals who exploit it. It's so upsetting and so disheartening to see that this level of narrow mindedness does not only exist but is rampant. This article from Time Magazine shows just how rampant this pattern of thinking is. The magazine conducted a poll and found that 61% do not want a mosque within close proximity of Ground zero.

Read the full NY Mag article here.

NY Times and 20-Somethings

Here's an article from the NY Times about 20 somethings (me) who left home (me) didn't make it on their own (me) and moved back home (me) and who generally take a lot longer to become an adult in the financially-dependent-home-owning-baby-making sense of the word. It's reassuring that other people are having identical experiences and in large enough numbers to make me a statistic as opposed to a loser or worse a failure. I also feel a little better because this probably would not have been my story if the United States were not in the midst of an economic depression when I graduated from college. Also, in a strange way, I'm grateful for the tough experiences that I've had since graduating. Losing everything has a way of making you realize what's really important. I spent most of my life feeling embarrassed about being smart and being a bookworm. That will never happen again. I'm so much more appreciative of what I have and I'm more sure of my goals and interests than I've ever been. Now I know that when I do go back to school it won't be for want of better options. It will be because I want to pursue a field of study that I'm genuinely interested in. I've taken to referring to the last year as my "lost year" but when I think of how much I've matured in the last twelve months it's clear that it wasn't wasted at all.

Happy World Humanitarian Day!

(Photo: United Nations)

Today is World Humanitarian Day. Round of applause to all the humanitarian aid workers across the world who are working for the good of humanity and a prayer for those who have lost their lives doing so.

In recognition of this day and what it stands for I'd like to shine some blogger light on the humanitarian crisis that currently taking hold of Pakistan.

(Photo: AP)

Particularly heavy rains have lead to devastating floods which have lead to loss of life, economic losses and the displacement of millions. International aid has been slow and without it Pakistan has no chance of recovery. Please click here to donate through UNICEF.