Soulful Sundays: Count Ossie & The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari
Legendary master drummer Count Ossie is credited with infusing African drumming and chanting in [caption id="attachment_7656" align="alignright" width="156" caption="Count Ossie"][/caption] reggae music. In the early 1960s, he backed The Folkes Brothers on their ground breaking hit, Oh Carolina. Born Oswald Williams in 1926 in St. Thomas, Count Ossie grew up in a Rasta community where he learned hand drumming and vocal chanting. In the 1950s, he formed the Count Ossie Group, which later developed into the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari (MRR)…
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Weekly Photo Challenge: Waiting
According to some statistics, we spend about an hour a day waiting. We wait for traffic lights and in line at the grocery store, the movie, the airport and at the doctor's office. We wait for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, Easter and other holidays. We wait for vacations and for our children to grow up. Some of us wait for retirement. We spend so much time waiting, some of us have developed ways to manage our wait times. We read, talk…
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Sucked in by Spirit Airline’s Cheap Fare
It was the fare that convinced me. $274 round trip Montego Bay to New York. With fees, the total cost of $366 was just within my budget. I typed in my credit card information and a few minutes later, I had my confirmation via email. I was thrilled. I arrived at the ticket counter with two suitcases – one half-full, the other empty -- and put them on the scale. Even though I'm a light packer, I breathed a sigh…
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Travel Photo Thursday: Cuba’s Classic Cars
As I watched a Godfather marathon on television recently, my eyes locked onto the Mercury Montclair Michael Corleone drove while he was in Havana. I thought of the cars I saw while I was there and wondered what the recent announcement that the government is planning to allow Cubans to buy and sell their cars and homes would mean. Would Cubans exchange their iconic cars for much needed foreign currency? Would the government even allow them to? In a CNN…
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A Visit to Roaring River
I grew up in a community close to Roaring River in the parish of Westmoreland but discovered its underground cave when I was in high school. Back then, it was a local secret. Now, it's a well-known tourist attraction called Roaring River Park. For long as I can remember, Roaring River has been known as a very close-knit community. Many of the residents have lived there for generations; some are even related. Visitors go because of the series of limestone caves,…
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We’re Celebrating!
Today, InsideJourneys, is celebrating its first anniversary. A year ago, I wrote my first post. Since then, I've written many more and most importantly, made several friends, who stop by everyday. It's been a fun year. Thanks for your support and encouragement. So pull up a chair and have a slice of this delicious cake. No, I didn't bake this one but I can tell you it's great. [caption id="attachment_7581" align="aligncenter" width="548" caption="InsideJourneys' 1st Blogoversary"][/caption]
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Stories from the Road
“Are you African?” The security guard asked as I waited for my cousin and her husband at the hardware [caption id="attachment_7574" align="alignright" width="285" caption="My African dress"][/caption] store. I hesitated for a moment not quite sure what to say. My eyes searched her face for a clue to what prompted the question that hung heavily in the air, separating us. We are both black, and therefore African, but I couldn’t tell what that meant to her. Nothing about her round, pleasant…
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Soulful Sundays: The Folkes Brothers
For a long time, I had no idea who The Folkes Brothers were but I knew every beat, every drum lick of their 1960s hit song, Oh Carolina. It was the song that once you heard it at a party, you knew two things: it was late (or early morning, depending on your point of view), and it was time to go home. I'm really not sure how it got that designation. [caption id="attachment_7567" align="aligncenter" width="523" caption="Oh Carolina, The Folkes…
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Weekly Photo Challenge: Family
What is a family? According to the dictionary, family for humans, is a group of people who are affiliated by blood, affinity or co-residence. Some years ago, as I walked to the subway, a guy began walking beside me. He plied me with the usual questions then asked if I had a family. Of course, I said. I forget now what else I said only his response, which was something to the effect that my parents weren't my family, they…
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Wildflowers of Jamaica: Spanish Needle
I've become fascinated by the variety of flowers, including wildflowers, that grow in Jamaica. When I asked about this one and heard that it was the Spanish Needle, I thought of a poem I learned years ago in school. [caption id="attachment_7545" align="aligncenter" width="572" caption="Spanish Needle"][/caption] The poem, The Spanish Needle, was written by Jamaican poet, Claude McKay, who certainly thought a lot of the lowly wildflower. McKay was born in 1889 and moved to the U.S. in 1912, where he…
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