We does real like bacchanal in dis Trinidad and Tobago yes. If is not one ting is a nex and dis week wasn't no different at all! Yuh has to feel dat is all part ah de development ah de Nation as we move forward to dat magical year 2020 when all tings go fix, and all tings go wuk, and it ent go have no more killing, and shooting and robbing.

Mih neighbour did call me last week and say dat she did have some news to tell me, well yuh know I reach dey faster dan dem yute could download a nex ringtone for dey phone! I say she have some serious news, yuh know dis woman want to tell me dat how Wendy pregnant and how de baby fadder from Jamaica. I had was to steups and arks eef she ent have nutten to do whole dat but mine people business and spread story. Chuts man, I well feel I was getting de inside story on who set all dem bomb in Port of Spain last year. Yes, allyuh forget about dat too!

Well I run back home because I did leave de pot on de stove and I call mih macomere to say tanks fuh de dasheen and I get de same story about Wendy, but dis time I get de rest ah de story. Is den I realise what cause all de fuss in de papers.

Well it clear to me dat we all have a lot to learn from dis exercise.
Let me get it out from de front. It have long years dat Caribbean woman bringing up dey chile deyself wid out no fadder to cause dem no trouble.
I ent talking about all dem littel gyul who making baby for a 'community leader'. I mean big woman who decide dat dey ent want no man in dey life, dey taking care ah dey own stories.

How much ah we grow up more in we Grannie house dan wid we parents? So is long time de 'traditional' nuclear family did get reject in de Caribbean. Dem University jefes could talk all dey talk about job migration, and about the disenfranchisement of de black man, and de diaspora and all kinda ting, but we does all know at de end of de day dat is a setta strong Caribbean woman who mek dey own decision fuh dey life.

So is when Wendy stand up and tell de Nation dat some man breed she, is what business dat is of we own? She is a big woman and she could do what she want. Doh get me wrong, ah does love Wendy like all de ress ah we, but she baby ent go change de price I does pay for hops bread. So I go join wid allyuh and wish Miss Fiitzwilliam and she pickney health and happiness.

All kinda people running dey mout since she make she announcement. Ellis jump up and say dat 'right is right, and wrong is wrong'. De Catholic Church announce dat dey will have to institute guidelines for speakers at their schools in future. De papers full ah letters saying she have no morals, and others saying drat she is ah big woman and have ah right to do what she want.

De problem really is dat she chose to make the announcement to a Catholic Girls' School. A place where young virgins are taught de right and correct ways to behave and live according to de word of Our Lord. Or so de Church would have you believe. Now I is de first to agree dat she pick de wrong place to talk she talk, because she did know what de reaction was going to be. Perhaps she did want to spark some controversy in de fuss place and dat is why she did pick de school. I feel dat she couldn't find a nex place and she wasn't calling no press conference to announce dat she now have big belly to show.

So now dat we put aside dat she cause a setta hasekara, we have to really understand why de people and dem vex. She tell dem dat she ent feel marriage was right fuh she, and she gone ahead and decide to have a baby and feel dat de baby go have a proper fadder after all. Dat ent no problem, but de Church had was to feel a how, because all dem teachers telling dem young girl to keep deyself pure fuh dey husband.

But Wendy also say dat she is a Catholic, and she doh agree wid all dat de Church saying. Doh forget dat is what get Galileo in trouble in de first place. De Church wasn't vex wid him for saying dat de world was round, dey was vex because he did refuse to back down when dey tell him what to do. Is long years de Church out ah step wid people. As society develops so must any Church. It had a time when de Church didn't even want people to read de Bible, dat is how tings was kept straight, because yuh had was to accept whatever de fadder Priest did say as Gospel (excuse de little pun).

What dis does do is bring out de problem we does have in dis country when it come to sex and gender issues. Because if dem holier dan thou people who want to crucify Wendy feel dat half dey little virgins ent having sex already den dey had better wise up soon. One of de big problems with big people talking is dat dey generally doh listen to chirren. And is because dey not listening dat de policy makers and de advisors, and de newspaper columnists doh understand dat when ah 14 year old tell you dat dey is a virgin and dat dey not having sex it does mean something completely different to what you feel dey saying.

De parent in dey forties today who did feel dat blowjob was some ting dat yuh does only get from a certain kinda girl ent go believe how casual it is to today's teenager. In fact teenagers proudly proclaim being virgins when the only thing dat dey haven't done is penetration.
Today teenagers have different rules and attitudes.

All dat mean is dat we as a Nation still keeping we self in de dark and trying to hold on to attitudes dat did evaporate 20 years ago. We have to stop picking on some woman who decide to have a child, and ask why more and more of we youths find it necessary to pick up a gun.

And when everything blow over as usual some joker bong to arks is why Wendy baby fadder is a Jamaican, and eef Trini man not good enough, and all ah dat in de week dat de Caricom Single market start to allow freedom of movement for labour - unless is labour pains yuh mean!
 

BACKCHAT: Issue 04

Good day Tantie

Keep up the good work. It’s one of the few good print stuff coming out of T&T these days. In terms of managing your money I think we should be following some governments like in New Zealand where, I read, are pushing people to mange their money better through community programmes, schools etc. Websites such as www.sorted.org.nz <http://www.sorted.org.nz/> help in given a structure for managing personal finance. The ministry of Community Affairs and Ministry of Finance should be pushing this sort of thinking. Also I read two articles in the Guardian about living on a budget which was quite good.
In Vietnam they use the banana flower to make a good tasting salad. One POB teacher in T&T I knew suggested using the white part of the watermelon to cook. Maximise income he said.

If you are planning to start a political party (which I’ll support) please have an updated website with a plan of action not what the others have even the new parties. Criticizing and not suggesting what to do!!

Anyhow enjoy the Carnival for those of us out here that cannot.

//Oman