Thinking of going home. I am Legend, Marley and Garvey.

So here I am on a lazy Sunday afternoon just relaxing and trying to get my blog up and going. The stated purpose of this blog is really a statement of intention as to what I would like do once I get home. Yep… that’s right I’m not home yet. I’m Washington D.C. mulling over my choices – Japan versus Jamaica. Each has its pros and cons to be sure, but as of now I’m leaning heavily towards going home.

It’s been about 6 years since I’ve really lived in Jamaica. I came here for graduate school and have continued to stay since that time. It’s hard making up mind to go home when you hear such depressing news about crime, employment and prices. My sister, living in Jamaica says there are serial killers everywhere but I don’t think she really gets the idea of the difficult choice. Nonetheless, she may be right. I miss my home, family, friends and easy lifestyle of Jamaica. Jamaica is home I’m tired of the struggles of making my way in the US. We’ll see how this goes and I’ll keep you updated on my thoughts as the process develops.


On another note I just watched I am Legend yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed the many Marley references. It was a good movie, but the music and story of Bob Marley made it that much more enjoyable. It was particularly interesting to hear the reference to the famous Smile Jamaica Peace Concert and the determination of the Legend, Bob Marley, to carry out his mission to be an advocate for peace even in the face of the most difficult circumstances. It was equally heartbreaking to be reminded that this piece of Jamaican history may be lost forever to thievery, inefficiency and poor government regulation as we recently learned that the original recordings of the musical masters, Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, were removed from the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation Archives. Garvey said that “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots” and we are now literally losing our history. Shocked at this news crawling across the bottom of the CNN screen I tuned into Wilmot “Mutty” Perkins on Power106 expecting an avalanche of outraged callers. I was instead greeted by an uncaring silence on the issue. Really? Really! No one cares? How long can this tree survive?

Anyways, I felt proud leaving the movie theatre singing out the words of Redemption Song. At least someone appreciates great history.