The Signifyin' Woman (Charmaine Valere)

In exuberant lavish bountiful profuse abundant tribute to Janet Jagan

As the tributes for Janet Jagan get more and more superfluous--history would describe her as the greatest woman who has ever walked the soil of Guyana!!!--this Stabroek News piece on Jagdeo's attempts to control the media seems a rather apt way to put the portrayal of a prominent political figure in Guyana in perspective.

And from this end, The New York Times describes Janet Jagan as a Chicago native who led Guyana, and recalls the role of the US in Guyana's politics during the 1950s and 1960s, one of Jagan's notable periods of activism in Guyana.

Rest in Peace Janet Jagan.

A shape-shifting journeyman returns home

The subject (the shape shifter) in a sense has two (or more) separate bodies that he can freely switch between...[A wiki-edited definition].

A cousin of mine who was born in Guyana, and who spent much of his life living and traveling back and forth and between three countries in three continents recently ended his journeying in Guyana where he was buried. 

In his lifetime he'd had to change and adjust to the demands of his adopted homes, and even to the changed and changing conditions in the Guyana he once knew.  His final return to Guyana a few days ago was the end of a journey, which not only brought him (his remains in actuality) back home physically, but also was the symbolic closing of the circle for him--a circle of love, of redemption. 

We, family members and friends who'd journeyed from all parts of the world to participate in the final celebration of his life in Guyana, had all been witnesses to, causes of, affected by (in varying ways) the triumphs and disasters that had marked my cousin's shape-shifting life.  And for a few days in Guyana we gathered, shed tears, and marveled at it all.

Since (as some of you have noted) I've had Guyana's politics and some politicians on my mind recently, I have to mention a particular moment in the funeral on Saturday.  Among all the remarkable tributes given by family members and friends was one given by a politician--a shape-shifting character in his own right--whose ideologies and attachments have seen him journey from academia to politics, and from one political party to another.  He spoke on behalf of the members of a club in which he and my cousin had shared membership, and he gave a witty definition of the ethos of the club and made it analogous to the definition of a true Guyanese. 

Among other things he talked about hard work, loyal fraternity, and the right to criticize Guyana.  What made the speech most memorable for me was when he said my cousin (despite his years away from Guyana) had regained or earned (not sure which) the character of a true Guyanese.  Somehow I thought that particular speech would have been the one to resonate most with my cousin.  I can't be certain of course.  I just have this feeling that it would have.  

Guidelines for a professional looking short story submission

Not picking.  Well, not reeeaaally.  Anyway, here are some guidelines for how to make your story submission to the competition look professional.  And rest assured, you can use them for short story submissions elsewhere as well.  They work for most journals.  (Don't worry, it's not scholarly and densely written; it's quite a fun read.)

Signifyin' Guyana on Sunday: Run woman run!

Mrs. Z you are either a woman of very loose character or a lunatic.  If I grant you this divorce, where you going to get the money from to take care of these seven children?

The sneering magistrate, a determined Mrs. Z, her seven children, and a few interested lookers-on were in a courtroom in Georgetown, Guyana sometime in the early 1950s.  Mrs. Z was determined to get the papers that would finally say she was no longer the wife of Peter Z, and was therefore no longer entitled to the beatings, the curses...no longer entitled to his maulings in the bedroom. 

So she stood, 5' 2'' erect, head held high, and took the magistrate's scolding.  She vowed it was the last time she would take anything she didn't want from a man.

But of course it didn't end there.  Peter Z spat on the divorce papers and continued to treat her (though she and her children had left the home he'd built and moved in with kind neighbors) as if she were still his wife.  He sat on the neighbor's bridge every evening and cursed her, and twice he accosted her in the market and beat her bloody.

When he finally threatened to kill the neighbor and his entire family, Mrs. Z knew she had to do something else.  So under the cover of night, she and her children fled to relatives on the East Coast of Demerara, and then eventually to Canada. 

Mrs Z told that story to her granddaughter shortly before she died several years ago.  She had read that women in Guyana were going to be protected against domestic violence.  Laws against such abuses were finally in the works.  And she said (even though she'd lived outside of Guyana for much longer than she had been married to Mr. Z) it was the first time in her life she felt truly free to tell her story of abuse in Guyana. 

Some amazing stuff that.

I wonder what she would think had she lived to read the confusing language uttered these days by those who profess to be caretakers of the initial laws against domestic violence in Guyana?  I wonder what would have happened to her and her children if that neighbor had refused to take her in, and instead told her to go "make up back" with her husband?

Every now and then (usually when a woman is killed or on the occasion of some international attention to women's issues) Guyana's Human Services Minister, Priya Manickchand will give lip service to issues concerning domestic violence.  Her most recent was the following:

Human Services Minister Priya Manickchand says that domestic violence will continue to be a major issue in Guyana and is not likely to go away if women fail to report threats or “the slightest attack against them” because of how dire the consequences could be.

The entire issue of violence against women will remain a tremendous challenge if women do not adopt a pro-active approach, Manickchand said, underscoring the need for greater awareness and to some extent, personal responsibility.

Manickchand spoke of a lack of reporting in the attacks suffered by women during an interview with Stabroek News on Saturday and called for survivors of violent attacks to approach the police. She noted that men are attacking women and reports are not being made referring to it as “a serious issue and one which must be addressed”.

The minister made no specific reference about attacks that have gone unreported, but prior to the brutal murder allegedly at the hands of her former reputed husband, Savitrie Arjune of Herstelling had been attacked by the man but failed to report the incident.  According to relatives, she was slashed in the side but no police report was made.  Full article here.

Big questions for Manickchand: What have you (as Minister of Human Services) done to make it easier and safe for women to come forward and report incidents of abuse?  Where are the follow-up statistics and reports on any program or initiatives you created to encourage police officers and entire communities to take strong actions against domestic violence?  What specifically constitutes domestic violence?  And what specific punishment would be meted out to domestic violence offenders?

Based on the first two stories in Trinidad Noir...

...I'd say they immediately present several conditions (mostly of the heart) which lead to crimes of many types.  From a mix of the stereotypical and the unpredictable in Lisa Allen-Agostini's "Pot Luck," where woman-wrangling, weed-smoking, weed-dealing "Rastas" battle to their deaths, to two lonely women who commit a surprising crime in Kevin Baldeosingh's "Rape," the first two stories in Trinidad Noir set a torrid pace for what I hope will be a satisfying read.

Win a copy of Trinidad Noir:

If you'd like to win a copy of the collection to judge for yourself, simply be the first to name five Caribbean short story writers and at least one of each writer's short story works featured here on signifyinguyana.

(Hmmm...This isn't as easy as it looks.)

 

UPDATE

An interested follower of this blog submitted the following list of Caribbean short story writers and their works featured here since I started this blog, and has won a copy of Trinidad Noir.  Congratulations and thanks for reading me, my friend!

ruel johnson - april
mark mcwatt - sky
deryck bernard - big joe
ian mcdonald - pot o'rice horowitz's house of solace
elizabeth walcott-hacksaw - here

Anyone else interested in reading this latest collection of stories by seasoned and new short story writers from Trinidad can purchase a copy here for $12.44.

And drop me a line or comment on any post if you have anything to say about the collection. 

Thanks.

Is it okay to take a break?

During the past week I've had a death in the family, I've been battling another family bout of the flu, and I've just been too exhausted to read or write.  I wonder is it okay for me to take a break for two weeks or so?  Would anybody miss me? 

I look around at other blogs and I notice some people take months off at a time--granted they've been around long enough to take a hiatus every now and then.  But I notice others who started after me does be teking looonng breaks from I don't know what. Brass and Ruel come to mind.  But maybe them boys got nuff work to do around Guyana.  I hear jobs plentiful down there as long as you ain't looking for work at CLICO.

But then what would I do if I didn't blog for two weeks?  I'm not an everyday blogger, but when I'm not blogging I'm more likely than not spending hours researching and reading in preparation for blogging.  So what would I do with those hours if I took a break for two weeks or so?  

I could spend time with my mother and sisters.  They complain that I don't.  Would be nice to catch up with them.  I could go play in the park with my kids.  They'd love that.  I could spend more time pleasing my husband.  But wait.  Isn't that one of the reasons why I started blogging in the first place?  I thought it would please him immensely if I found something to do other than nag him.  Stupid me.  That worked for the first month or so.  Now he complains that I spend too much time on the computer and not enough time inging.  Go figure.

The truth is, I can't stay away.  Even when I get too tired and I don't fulfill a promise to post on a particular day (don't know why I keep insisting on doing that), I feel guilty and get right back to it.

And yeah I tell myself there's plenty of time to sit and chat with family and play in the park with my children, and I'll just replenish my husband's stock of porn that he thinks he's hiding from me.  And I'll mourn my loved one's passing as I write way into the wee hours of the morning. 

But I know I'm only kidding myself.  So I have to take a break soon.  Really soon.

"Expect to be intrigued. Expect to be entertained. But don't expect to understand Trinidad."

So say Trinidad Noir editors Lisa Allen-Agostini, and Jeanne Mason of their ground-breaking collection of stories, which "trail the country's criminals, her prostitutes, her officious bureaucrats, her police, her ordinary citizens."

More from the Introduction to Trinidad Noir:

Paradoxes in Paradise

People think they know the Caribbean, the white-sandy-beaches-rum-and-Coca-Cola-smiling-natives-waving-palms Caribbean--you know the one.  And sure, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago has sun, sea, beaches, the whole tourist schtick.  But this southernmost country in the Caribbean archipelago is filled with paradoxes.  She isn't always the idyllic tropical dream.  Far from it.  Sometimes she's a nightmare.

. . . .

It's ironic that this volume is the first noir collection to come out of this country because, in a sense, Trinidad was founded on crime.  Christopher Columbus's arrival in 1498 was the start of a criminal enterprise of epic proportions: it began with the theft of the island from its indigenous Carib people, then their genocide, followed by African slavery and the importation of indentured labor to man the obscenely lucrative cocoa, sugar, and coffee plantations of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  Today, Trinidad's political climate of excess and corruption is buoyed by an economy bloated with oil and natural gas monies and by an element of society afloat in drugs and guns.  There's fodder enough here for ten volumes of Trinidad Noir.

. . . .

This collection includes stories by some of today's more acclaimed Caribbean writers, and for such a small country, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago has an impressive literary legacy . . . Although Trinidad has big-city aspirations in her two main urban areas of Port-of-Spain, the capital, and San Fernando, there is still plenty of country life in her cane-farming central plains, her southern swamps, and her coastal fishing villages. Set in the various parts of the country, these stories reflect the island in all her contradictions.  As you turn the pages, you will experience a nation like no other.  See for yourself, but bear in mind: there's nothing a Trini won't do for you, and there's nothing a Trini won't do to you.

Lisa Allen-Agostini & Jeanne Mason (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad -- May 2008)

[More on Trinidad Noir and on how you can win a copy of the collection on Friday.]

Signifyin' Guyana on Sunday: For and against the nameless, faceless blogger

I wonder if he had been blogging under his own name (his real, birth-given name, that is) would he have linked to the blurry picture of naked men (one supposedly identified as a journalist in Guyana) apparently engaged in some sexual activity?  My guess? Most likely not.  After looking at the picture, any blogger wishing to avoid a lawsuit with his or her name attached would have kept that picture far away from his or her blog.  But that particular anonymous blogger did not.  Sure he later on tried to redeem himself by saying the picture was probably the work of government scourges in retaliation for an exposé the journalist was working on.  But the damage was already done.

Wouldn't the blogger have been more effective had he waited, done some work, and then posted the second story only?  The cover of anonymity allowed a rush to judgement I believe would not have occurred if the blogger had to face the possibility of a lawsuit attached to his real name.

That incident alone would make rather compelling cases for and against legitimizing the anonymous blogger who claims his or her work exposing governmental wrong doings in some countries could be hazardous to one's life and well being.  The blogger's initial act: heinous.  The blogger's second act: some redemption for the first act, but more importantly, it presented plausible evidence of a malevolent government or government supporters at work.  After all, this is the same country whose leader, President Jagdeo, either initiated or sanctioned the banning of a journalist (still in effect) from the Office of the President and State House claiming his reports were totally biased against the government. 

So as much as some of us may be appalled at some of the actions of anonymous bloggers in Guyana, paradoxically a clear case for the necessity of the anonymous blogger is being made in Guyana.

Last Thursday, two weeks or so after the CLICO story broke in Guyana, the Commissioner of Insurance and Judicial Manager, Maria van Beek, and Finance Minister, Ashni Singh gave inconsistent statements on the condition of the company and left many questions unanswered.  Yet, they both repeated the assurance made earlier by the President of Guyana that no policyholder will suffer financial losses.

Now in the past the anonymous blogger played a key role in giving insider scoops, and persistently asking follow-up questions which many sought to have answered.  All this was done in front of an expanding world-wide audience of readers.  Given the possibilities for retaliation, how much probing and following up you think the mainstream media in Guyana will attempt?

In addition to the wonderful storytelling bloggers, I see a need for bloggers who will responsibly take on the role of political watchdogs in Guyana, and not behave in ways that would cause them to scatter like roaches when the lights go on.

Meanwhile, here in America where bloggers are a dime a dozen, and have been both reviled and revered, it appears as if it will be up to legislators to decide whether or not we will be regarded as serious media.  I'm hopeful though.  Our current President used the internet (bloggers included) to run a successful presidential campaign, and I don't imagine he'll push any legislation that would exclude bloggers from any media rights. 

They'd better get it right there on Capitol Hill cause I could just see the grimy faces of the evil deniers of human rights in their shameful little pockets of the world looking on with glee.

Before I go any further...

I feel it's necessary for me to declare a few things:

--I'm not a journalist (no surprise to real journalists, I'm sure); I just pretend to be one here.  The closest I ever came to being a journalist is as a college undergrad where I started out in the Journalism program.  But, when I was given a beat in a dangerous urban area, I beat the hell out of there and changed to Literature.

--My recent posts on Guyana are not in an attempt to support any oppositional political group or party in Guyana.  Though I am related to members of an oppositional political party in Guyana, I am not a supporter of any political party in Guyana.  I have no aspirations to hold political office in Guyana myself.  On the contrary, my recent posts on Guyana (particularly on the CLICO goings on) come as a result of having read the initial news on it, and then becoming fascinated with all the fallout from it.  As a litblogger with a strong focus on creative writing, I can't imagine a better plot for fiction.  But it's real, and riveting.  Hence my chief interest. 

--Of course I have been paying more direct attention to the news in Guyana because of my concerns about the recent Living Guyana story.  I confess Living Guyana was the filter through which I read and processed much of the news from Guyana.  I also confess I often didn't bother to read the stories on my own.  In Living Guyana's absence I've felt the need to do so, and as I said, I can't imagine better stories than the details of the ones I'm reading.  What makes them additionally compelling is that they are stories of reality in Guyana. 

--I'm still a litblogger with a strong interest in fiction.  And I'm still committed to creating a valid space here for and about the works of Guyanese writers in Guyana and outside of Guyana, as well as the works of other Caribbean writers.  And funny enough, as I try to focus on the fiction and find time to read the newspapers and other sources of non-fiction, the lines seem to get blurrier and blurrier between them.  But, maybe I just need to pay my optometrist a visit for a new prescription.

Sorting out the mumbo jumbo

First, my sincere apologies to Stabroek News.  I just read their report on yesterday's statements by Insurance Commissioner/Judicial Manager of CLICO (Guyana) Maria van Beek, and Finance Minister Ashni Singh, and I applaud Stabroek News' efforts to write a coherent piece on what those two had to say about the condition of CLICO (Guyana). 

But, unlike Stabroek News and some other media in Guyana who (I believe) genuinely seek to tell it like they hear it without sounding like puppets and fools, and without stepping on huge, ugly, Presidential corns, I don't have to play nice.  It appears the two of them (van Beek and Singh) were on full spin cycle yesterday.

(More later)