John Maxwell, R.I.P.

John Maxwell, one of Jamaica's most respected journalists, and an adolescent hero of mine has died. He was 76 years old. 


It was  just a short time ago that Mr. Maxwell had retired from the Jamaica Observer, and in this time of Wiki Leaks and other journalistic scandals, his ethics, wisdom, and courage are surely needed. For if we had more writers like Mr. Maxwell, who was devoted to the discipline of journalism, then, I think, we would be able to make more informed choices.


I have written about John Maxwell several times on this blog, but I think this section from my post The Top Ten Things Every Writer Should Know says it best about Mr. Maxwell's commitment to writing:

“We are delegates of the people…We are …the sensory organs of the body politic….the body politic's immune system… heralding, detecting malignant intrusions...In the circulatory system of the body politic, we are the white corpuscles and the T-cells.”

“Ethical journalism is a human right: that people are entitled to the truth and that journalists are not entitled to tell lies or mislead.”

Walk good, John!


Photo Source: http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=blog/129


http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/John-Maxwell-is-dead
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20101204/lead/lead5.html

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For more of John's insights, please visit Maxwell's House: http://johnmaxwellshouse.blogspot.com/


This site presents a collection of columns by John Maxwell, a veteran Jamaican journalist and commentator who has covered Caribbean and international affairs for more than 40 years for the Jamaica Gleaner, the BBC, and the Jamaica Sunday Herald. He is currently a columnist for The Jamaica Observer.

In 1999 Maxwell single-handedly thwarted the Jamaican government's efforts to build houses at Hope, the nation's oldest and best known botanical gardens. His campaigning earned him the region's richest journalism prize in the 2000 Sandals Resort's annual Environmental Journalism Competition. He is also the author of How to Make Our Own News: A Primer for Environmentalists and Journalists.

All columns are copyright © John Maxwell.

Rex Nettleford, 1933-2010

PROFESSOR REX NETTLEFORD, Vice Chancellor Emeritus of the Unversity of the Wset Indies, died at 8 o'clock tonight in a Washington hospital. He was one day short of his 77th birthday

May he rest in Peace.

~John Maxwell

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Mr. Nettleford’s death is a tremendous loss for Jamaica and the Caribbean. As a social critic, his insights have had a profound impact on the political and social development of Jamaica, and it should be remembered that Mr. Nettleford was one of the first to recognize the importance and impact of Rastafari in Jamaica and the Caribbean.

But it is in the arts that he will be missed.  As a founder on the NDTC, Mr. Nettleford was instrumental in demonstrating the connection between the spiritual practices of the folk and the aspirations of Jamaicans. At the recent Caribbean American Book and Art Fair in Miami, Derek Walcott described Mr. Nettleford as the “ideal reader” of his work and lauded him for his contribution to the arts, especially in the field of dance.

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Related Posts:

Backyard Labrish
National Gallery of Jamaica
Blogworld

Carib World News

Climate Change and Jamaica: Blog Action Day

One of the persistent myths that should have been shattered by the discoveries of Copernicus, Galileo, and Darwin is that humans have a special place in the universe and that we were somehow separate from the rest of life on the planet. Nothing could have been further from the truth. In fact, our knowledge about the cosmic accident that created an evolutionary niche for mammals to flourish should have made us more appreciative of the fragility of life and the beauty that surrounds us--especially those of us from island nations like Jamaica.

Now it may just be a case of national pride (I grew up in post-Independence Jamaica), but I think Jamaica is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Many Jamaicans would agree with me. And I also know some non-Jamaicans who would also agree with me.

The sad fact, however, is that sometimes we don’t act as if we live in a place of beauty, even when we receive warnings from scientists such as Anthony R. D. Porter about our environment:

the pace at which the ice sheets and glaciers are melting is downright scary to frightening…If the predictions being made are correct, then all of us in Jamaica and the Caribbean need to heed the warnings….We also need to set up a scientifically driven early warning and watchdog system to check and monitor the effects of rising sea levels, caused by increasing temperatures due to the increasing levels of carbon dioxide gas (CO2) being released into the atmosphere by the human race.

As John Maxwell has observed, geologists are not usually “alarmists”: “Geologists don’t usually do that, accustomed as they are to thinking in millions of years, aeons, epochs, and periods with Greek names like Triassic and Cenozoic.”

The implications of the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere are the resultant climate change are grave. According to Mr. Porter:

If a 10-ft rise should occur, then Port Royal, the Cays, Palisadoes Road, and Norman Manley Airport.

In short, planetary meltdown will result in economic, physical and social chaos, and human tragedy will be unprecedented in Jamaica's history, as every aspect of life will be affected - communications, fishing, food supplies, health, insurance, industry, power generation (if we still depend on oil), transportation, and so on.

Even now sections of the existing road surface are almost covered at high tide. Elsewhere in the island, all coastal sections less than 10 feet in height above the high tide mark will be inundated by the sea, including sections of coastal highways, beaches, hotels and other buildings, low-lying swamps, mangroves, Black River Morass, Negril Morass, and the Montego Bay International airport, to name a few: groundwater tables will rise, and weather patterns will change.

The evidence of climate change is already evident in island nations such as the Maldives. If as 350.org reports: “A warmer sea will translate into higher water levels, through thermal expansion of the ocean and storm surges. It will also damage coral, on which the islands depend for fishing and tourism,” then, the need for action is imminent. As Aminath Shauna, Deputy Undersecretary of President Mohamed Nasheed, has stated publicly: "Climate change is no joke for us: rising and warming seas pose an existential threat to the Maldives.”

Now while the problem of global climate change may seem insurmountable, I’ve always believed in the words of Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

But we need to be vigilant. Mr. Porter continues:

We need to stay informed. And we need to ensure that any and all proposed development projects be carefully scrutinised, assessed and evaluated (especially those planned in coastal regions) by all concerned, be they architects, bankers, contractors, developers, engineers, or politicians, because global changes are occurring that we in Jamaica have little control over. It is a scary prospect, indeed!

Blog Action Day and similar events are some of the ways that we can stay informed about this issue. Change has happened in the past when we as a species have banded together and raised our consciousness about a threat. Out of that matrix, solutions have been generated and we have reaped the benefits. Some of these solutions have already appeared in organizations such as Urban Paradise, which is making a difference in places like Haiti.

 

Blog Action Day is only a first step. For if we do occupy a special place in the universe, it is because of our self-consciousness—the awareness of our mortality. This alone should propel us because it is only by our collective action that InI will save ourselves.

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Related articles by Zemanta

• Blog Action Day: October 15, 2009 (geoffreyphilp.blogspot.com)
• Climate change accelerating - UNEP (telegraph.co.uk)
• The Caribbean and Global Warming (repeating islands)
• Vote for Haiti (Repeating Islands)
• New Wave Campaigning for Climate Change (ted.com)
• Ocean and Climate Change (rolph's journal) 
• Dr Payet sees melting of Arctic icecap at first hand (rolph's journal)
• Blog Action Day: Revenge of the Seas (labrishjamaica.blogspot.com)
  

“Wòch nan Soley: The Denial of the Right to Water in Haiti.”

The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ), Partners In Health (PIH), the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center (RFK Center), and Zanmi Lasante, have issued a report on the water situation in Haiti: “Wòch nan Soley: The Denial of the Right to Water in Haiti.” 

As the journalist John Maxwell stated on Sunday, June 29, 2008 in the Jamaica Observer: "Read it and weep with rage."

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Trouble on the Horizon

With the downturn in the US economy and the concomitant effects on Jamaican/Caribbean life, John Maxwell offers a few solutions to the crisis.

clipped from www.jamaicaobserver.com We need to start NOW distributing seeds and slips - peas, beans, corn, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, sweet peppers, carrots, coco, tannia, dasheen, yampi, and other easily grown backyard crops with high nutritional value. We will need to persuade large landowners, in their own survival interest, to disgorge some of the enormous acreages which they don't use and don't need. Right off the bat the government needs to ban all conversion of farmland into non-farm uses and, as the British did in the Second World War, require all landowners to devote at least 10 per cent of their land to food production. This will guarantee more food, increased employment and reduced praedial larceny.

Earth Day 2008

Today is Earth Day, a time to pause and think about the environment and the impact that we are having on our ecosystem. Because of its natural beauty and hospitable climate, the thought of changing some time-tested practices are the last things that some Jamaicans would consider. But John Maxwell in The Jamaica Observer (4/20/2008) issues some dire warnings:

We need to embark on a programme of sustainable development in which the people make the decisions, or at least have the major say in the making of the decisions about what is going to happen to their country.

. We need to plan about how we are going to protect the enormous areas of land and the huge numbers of people at risk from global warming, sea-level rise and saline intrusion.

. We need to build dikes to protect Portmore and other large population centres from storm surge and later, sea level rise. If we are wise and humane, these projects will employ a large number of people instead of bulldozers and put money where it is needed, into the base of the society

John Maxwell has proven time and time again to be prescient about many of the problems we now face. Let's hope his warnings are heeded, and we will have a change in consciousness to realize that we are the eyes, ears, mouth...of our islands and the larger one in an ocean of blue.

1Love

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Mileposts & Caribbean Writers

I’m feelin’ Irie.

And for good reason. In December this blog will be two years old and since I started measuring visitor stats on April 6, 2006, this blog has had over 50,000 visitors. I never thought I’d get this far from those early days when only Rethabile, Stephen, Madbull, Professor Zero, and Anonymous were my only readers.

With the passing of the 50,000 visitor mark, I’ve also been reflecting on how well I’ve lived up to the mission of the blog: to provide readers with information about my writing and the work of contemporary Caribbean and South Florida writers.

Before I go any further (and especially since we are heading into the Thanksgiving season), give thanks to the readers and subscribers who have blessed these pages with their interest. I must also thank those readers who have bought copies of my books either directly from Lulu or from my online bookstore.

Give thanks also to the writers who have shared their stories and who continue to expand our understanding of life in South Florida and the Caribbean.

And, finally, give thanks to the many bloggers who have linked to this site and for increasing the visibility of this blog.

But to the matter at hand and the mission of the blog.

I started re-reading a post, “It’s All About Love” where I created a list of the Caribbean writers that I intended to showcase. Some were famous and some were still relatively unknown. Although I’ve covered many of the writers, I am reminded of the motto of my alma mater: “Fervet opus in campis.”

Then, I began thinking about a post by Nicholas Laughlin over at Caribbean Beat, “The West Indian canon?” which was considering “a Caribbean equivalent of the French Bibliotheque de la Pleiade or the Library of America--a uniform series of definitive editions of our major literary works, edited by experts and produced to the highest physical standards.”

It could be done, Nicholas. It could be done. We need to preserve our literature. For what else is literature but memory and promise: who we thought we have been and what we imagine ourselves to be.

Here’s a starting point for a list of writers from Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Commonwealth of Dominica, Haiti, Cuba, Martinique, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the most of the Caribbean:

A Few Caribbean Authors (Poets & Fiction Writers)

A.J. Seymour

A.L. Hendriks

Abdhur Rahman Hopkinson

Achy Obejas

Adisa Andwele (AJA)

Adrian Castro

Afua Cooper

Aida Cartagena Portalatin

Aimé Cesaire

AJ Seymour

Albert Gomes

Albert Helman

Aldo Alvarez

Alecia McKenzie

Alejo Carpentier

Alfred Mendes

Amryl Johnson

Ana Lydia Vega

Andre Alexis

Andrea Elizabeth Shaw

Andrea Levy

Andrew Jefferson-Miles

Andrew Salkey

Andy Taitt

Angela Barry

Annalee Davis

Anson Gonzalez

Anthony C. Winkler

Anthony Kellman

Anthony McNeill

Anton Nimblett

Antonio Benitez Rojo

Arnold Harrichand Itwaru

Assotto Saint

Astrid Roemer

Audre Lorde

Austin Clarke

Barbara Ferland

Basil McFarlane

Belkis Cuza Male

Beryl Gilroy

Brenda Flanagan

Brian Chan

Bruce St. John

C.L.R. James

Carl Jackson

Carolina Hospital

Caryl Phillips

Cecil Gray

Cecil Gray

Celia Alvarez

Cherie Jones

Chiqui Vicioso

Christine Craig

Churaumanie Bissundyal

Claire Harris

Claude McKay

Claudia Rankine

Clem Seecharan

Clyde Hosein

Colin Channer

Colin Robinson

Cynthia James

Cyril Dabydeen

Dale Bisnauth

Danielle Legros Georges

Dany Laferriere

David Chanderbali

David Dabydeen

Dawad Phillip

Deborah Jack

Delores Gauntlett

Denis Williams

Denise deCaires Narain

Denise Harris

Dennis Craig

Dennis Scott

Derek Walcott

Dionne Brand

Donna Weir-Soley

E. A. Markham

E. Mc.G. `Shake' Keane

E.A. Markham

E.M. Roach

Earl Long

Earl Lovelace

Earl McKenzie

Edgar Cairo

Edgar Mittelholzer

Edgardo Sanabria Santaliz

Edouard Glissant

Edward Baugh

Edward Lucie-Smith

Edwidge Danticat

Elaine “Jamaica Kincaid” Potter

Elisa Albo

Elizabeth Nunez

Eric Roach

Eric Walrond

Erna Brodber

Eunice Heath Tate

Faizal Deen

Faustin Charles

Felix Morriseau-Leroy

Frank Collymore

Frank Hercules

Frank Martinus Arion

Frantz Fanon

Fred D’Aguiar

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Garfield Ellis

Garth St. Omer

Geoffrey Drayton

Geoffrey Philp

George Campbell

George Lamming

Gloria Escoffery

Gloria Wekker

Grace Nichols

Guillermo Cabrera Infante

Gustavo Perez-Firmat

Guy Tirolien

Gwyneth Wood

H. Nigel Thomas

H.A. Vaughan

H.D. Carberry

Harischandra Khemraj

Harold "Sonny" Ladoo

Harold M. Telemaque

Hazel Campbell

Hazel Simmons-Mcdonald

Heather Royes

Heberto Padilla

Helen Klonaris

Hollis “Chalkdust” Liverpool

Honor Ford Smith

Howard A. Fergus

Howard Pitterson

Hubert Harrison

Ian Bethell Bennett

Ian Craig

Ian McDonald

Ismith Khan

Jacqueline Bishop

Jacques Roumain

James Berry

James Christopher Aboud

James Ferguson

Jan Carew

Jan Shinebourne

Jane Bryce

Jane King

Janet Jagan

Jean `Binta' Breeze

Jean Brierre

Jean Goulbourne

Jean Rhys

Jeanette Miller

Jennifer Rahim

Jesus Cos Causse

Jesús J. Barquet

Jit Narain

Joanne Hyppolite

Joel Benjamin

John Agard

John Figueroa

John Hearne

John La Rose

John Lyons

John Robert Lee

John Stewart

John Wickham

Jos Knight

José Alcántara Almánzar

Jose Marmol

Joseph Polius

Juan Bosch

Juanita Ramos

Judaman Seecoomar

Judith Ortiz Cofer

Julia Alvarez

Julia De Burgos

June Henfrey

Junot Diaz

Kamau Brathwaite

Karen King-Aribisala

Kei Miller

Kendel Hippolyte

Kevin Baldeosingh

Kevin Everod Quashie

Kevyn Arthur

Kim Robinson-Walcott

Kwame Dawes

Lakshmi Persaud

Lakshmi Persaud

Lasana M. Sekou

Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes

Lawrence Scott

Lawson Williams

Laxmi Kallicharan

Lelawatee Manoo-Rahming

Lennox Honychurch

Leon Laleau

Leonardo Padura Fuentes

Leone Ross

Leon-Gontran Damas

Lillian Allen

Linton Kwesi Johnson

Lionel Seepaul

Lloyd Brown

Lloyd Searwar

Lorna Goodison

Louis Simpson

Louise Bennett

Lourdes Casal

Luis Pales Matos

Lydia Cabrera

Lynne Macedo

Lynton Kwesi Johnson

M.G. Smith

Mabel Rodríguez Cuesta

Maggie Harris

Mahadai Das

Makeda Silvera

Malachi Smith

Malik

Marc Matthews

Marcia Douglas

Marcus Garvey

Margaret Cezair-Thompson

Margaret Gill

Maria Arrillaga

Marie-Elena John

Marie-Therese Colimon

Marilene Phipps

Marilyn Bobes

Marina Ama Omovale Maxwell

Marina Salandy-Brown

Marion Bethel

Marisella Veiga

Mark De Brito

Mark Mathews

Mark McWatt

Marlene Nourbese Philip

Marlon James

Martin Carter

Martin Espada

Marva McClean

Maryse Conde

Matthew Young

Mbala

McDonald Dixon

Meiling Jin

Mercedes Cros Sandoval

Merle Collins

Mervyn Morris

Mervyn Taylor

Michael Anthony

Michael Ekweueme Thelwell

Michael Gilkes

Michelle Cliff

Mikey Smith

Milton Williams

Mirlande Jean-Gilles

Mirta Yanez

Moses Nagamootoo

Mustapha Matura

Mutabaruka

Myriam Chancy

Myriam Warner-Vieyra

N.D. Williams

Nalo Hopkinson

Nancy Morejon

Naomi Ayala

Narmala Shewcharan

Neil Bissondath

Neville Dawes

Niala Maharaj

Nicolas Guillen

Nydia Ecury

Obediah Michael Smith

Ochy Curiel

Oku Onuora (Orlando Wong)

Olive Senior

Oonya Kempadoo

Opal Palmer Adisa

Orlando Patterson

Oscar Dathorne

Pam Mordecai

Patricia Powell

Patrick Chamoiseau

Patrick Sylvain

Paul Keens Douglas

Paule Marshall

Pauline Melville

Pedro de Jesús

Pedro Mir

Pedro Perez Sarduy

Peggy Carr

Peter Kempadoo

Philip Nanton

Philip Sherlock

Phyllis Shand Allfrey

Polly Pattullo

R. Erica Doyle

Rabindranath Maharaj

Rachel Manley

Rajandaye Ramkissoon-Chen

Ralph de Boissière

Ralph Thompson

Ramabai Espinet

Rane Arroyo

Rawle Frederick

Raymond Ramcharitar

Reina Maria Rodríguez

Reinaldo Arenas

René Depestre

Rene Philoctete

Ricardo Keens Douglas

Ricardo Pau-Llosa

Richard Blanco

Rinaldo Walcott

Rob Leyshon

Robert Antoni

Robert Edison Sandiford

Roberto Fernandez Retamar

Robin Dobru

Roger Mais

Roi Kwabena

Rooplall Monar

Rosa Cuthbert Guy

Rosamond S. King

Rosario Ferre

Roslyn Carrington

Roy Heath

Rupert Roopnaraine

Ruth Behar

Ryhaan Shah

Saint-John Perse

Sam Selvon

Sandra Castillo

Sasenarine Persaud

Seepersad Shiva Naipaul

Shake Keane

Shani Mootoo

Shara McCallum

Sharlow Mohammed

Sharon Leach

Simon Lee

Stacey Anne Chin

Stanley Greaves

Sylvia Wynter

Tato Laviera

Tessa McWatt

Thea Doelwijt

Thomas Glave

Timothy S. Chin

Tobias Buckell

Tony Hall

Trefossa

Una Marston

Vahni Capildeo

Velma Pollard

Vera Bell

Verene Shepherd

Victor Questel

Virgil Suarez

Virgilio Piñera

Vishnu Gosine

Vivian Virtue

VS Naipaul

VS Reid

Wayne Brown

Wesley E. A. Crichlow

Willi Chen

Wilson Harris

Yvonne Weekes

Zee Edgell

Zoila Ellis

Other resources:

Caribbean Literature

DMOZ: Caribbean Literature

Russ Filman’s Caribbean Literature

Caribbean Review of Books

Peepal Tree Books: Author Search

The Caribbean Writer

Caribbean Tales

The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories

The Oxford Book of Caribbean Verse

Stories from Blue Latitudes: Caribbean Women Writers at Home and Abroad

Her True-True Name (Caribbean Writers Series)

Iron Balloons: Hit Fiction from Jamaica's Calabash Writer's Workshop

The Faber Book of Contemporary Caribbean Short Stories

Talk Yuh Talk

Natural Mysticism: Towards a New Reggae Aesthetic

Caribbean Review of Books

Name Your Top Ten Caribbean Novels

Our Caribbean A Gathering of Lesbian and Gay Writing from the Antilles

Caribbean Dispatches: Beyond the Tourist Dream

Fifty Caribbean Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook

New World Adams: Interviews with West Indian Writers

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Related Post: Top Ten Caribbean Novels

Caribbean authors

Caribbean writers

Caribbean

Wrap-up of We Media Conference

One of my big regrets this week (you couldn't tell by the photo, right?) was not being able to attend more of the sessions at the We Media Conference at the University of Miami. The panels covered some very interesting topics, but a recurrent one was the emergence of blogs in the media. Although there are some who view blogs with disdain, they should be reminded that freedom of the press is a human right as John Maxwell states in his column today:

“Freedom of the press does not belong to the press, as many imagine. Freedom of the press is a human right derived from the freedom of expression guaranteed supposedly in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and documents such as the Jamaican and Trinidad Constitution. Freedom of the press, being a human right, cannot belong to corporations.”

On the positive side, I did meet (as opposed to meeting/reading online), Georgia Popplewell (Global Voices and Caribbean Free Radio), Alice Backer (Global Voices and kiskeyAcity ), Lisa Stone, (BlogHer), Melissa, Luis Carlos, and Oso.

Georgia has posted photos (the picture of me is from the set) of the Conference on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgiap/sets/72157594525075779/

Alice has written about the Conference:

http://kiskeyacity.blogspot.com/2007/02/we-media-miami-session-on-internet.html

Here are my three photos after the conference:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51858402@N00/sets/72157594529598403/

Next time, around I hope that I’ll be able to attend more of the sessions, but Black History Month is never the shortest month of the year for me.

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Tags: we media