An update on 18 Degrees North. Just over two months ago, Zahra Burton received a legal threat from Prime Minister Andrew Holness related to an episode of the investigative news program that looked at his property holdings and tax situation.

Yesterday, Burton happily reported the following:

BREAKING:18 Degrees North is happy to report that a judge today has discharged the injunction that had been granted against the rebroadcast of our Season 3 Premiere on Andrew Holness. We are now free to rebroadcast the episode. That decision to rebroadcast will be made jointly between TVJ and Global Reporters for the Caribbean. Thanks to all our viewers for your encouraging words and your support. Thanks a ton to Caribbean Dreams who gave us financial support when we really needed it. Thanks to our newest sponsor as well, Jamaica National Building Society.

Apparently people were upset about Tyga’s video shoot for 1 of 1 in Jamaica. One writer called it “poverty tourism”. Others were irked that he did not use a “local” girl in the video, as opposed to the white (American-born, Pakistani and German) model he cast as the lead female.

Some thoughts:

1. There are white Jamaicans. Many of them.
2. Is it really such a prestigious, life-changing, beneficial honor to be cast in a Tyga video?
3. Is it really such an honor to be cast in a video as an objectified female, almost clothes-free, no less, with no agency and no voice?
4. What is an authentic Jamaican? Who gets to decide?
5. Is Tyga only half authentic, as his father is Jamaican, thus he is not free to cast white foreign women, as opposed to casting Jamaicans?
6. If he had cast a “local” Jamaican girl, should she have been from the “ghetto,” the middle class, or uptown (a rich, usually light-skinned girl)?
7. If he had cast a “local” Jamaican girl, how would she have benefitted from participating? What would she have been paid? Who would be most deserving of the honor (refer to #6)?

Tyga also apparently said Jamaica is “like the ghetto back home, only more undeveloped.” This is true. In some parts, it is perhaps worse than the ghetto. In other regions, it resembles Beverly Hills. This dichotomy is present in Jamaica, just like most other countries in the world.

All these questions raise the issue of cultural appropriation and authenticity. As usual, there are more questions than answers and I am not so qualified to answer, only to ask. I do know, however, that it is a mediocre song, at best, and not worth all the fuss.

Tropical Storm Earl is upon us but so far it is just a few rumbles of thunder and some raindrops. The authorities seem prepared, however, opening emergency preparedness centers and warning people of possible power outages and to stock up on supplies and for pregnant women and the elderly to remain close to medical centers in the case of flooding.

People seemed to listen, as Mega Mart (the only supermarket open on yesterday’s holiday) was packed. We got out of there, mercifully, pretty quickly, as we had the baby with us. We did not want to be stuck without diapers! Let’s hope the storm stays mild.

Uh oh, poor Beenie Man. The dancehall artist has come down with the Zika virus and was denied a Visa to Canada. He was supposed to perform at a reggae festival. How did the Canadian authorities know he was ill? Perhaps the Instagram picture he posted?

In his own words:

Jah know…dah week ya deal wid me a way!!
⚠ No visa fi mi Canada show (I apologize again to my fans in case you haven’t seen the press release) ⚠ Zika Virus hol’ mi
⚠ The same Zika mosquito gi mi dengue. 😠
Blood test, injections, pills. Wi a hol firm still. Selassie a guide I n I right through so once mi have life me a give thanks. #Unstoppable

In the last election, then-candidate Andrew Holness promised an income tax break. Well, it has now come to fruition for at least one young man. His hilarious response has gone viral. Check it out and here’s the link to the story:

Dear The Most Hon. Andrew Holness,

This is a heartfelt expression of gratitude for the tax break. In all honesty Mr. PM, this is not a tax break, this is a tax smash – a tax mash up. Mr. PM when I saw my pay cheque yesterday, I hummed a sweet song to the heavens. I feel like a new creation; a brand new man. I borrow from Tanto Blacks in proclaiming that I’m rich, real rich!

Mr. PM, up until Monday of this week, I’d spend conservatively but now that I’m a wealthy man, money is the least of my concerns.

This morning on my way to work I saw a $100 bill floating about on the ground. Mr. PM, you believe seh mi step pass di money like any piece a garbage? If this was last week I’d take a mad man to court just to prove that the money was mine.

With this wealth Mr. PM, I will no longer commute to work via route taxis. Weh frowsy car and sardine behavior a guh? Strictly Gadge Pro until I buy the Range Rover this weekend.

With this wealth I will not have plantain and bread and bush tea for breakfast ever again. Nope. Mr. PM, right now I’m on my way to Cafe Blue for some eggs & bacon with pancake and a cup of Cappuccino.

Mi nah lie Mr. PM, mi feel like mi need fi open a small loan company – me alone cannot enjoy di prosperity. Or maybe I should reach out to Butch Stewart and let him know I’m interested in buying some shares in Sandals? I don’t know.

Mr. PM there are so many plans I have for this wealth but I can’t write it all here. What’s your schedule like this weekend? Now that I’m in the big leagues I think we should catch up over golfing at Half Moon Resort; or maybe we can go visit President Obama and we all have a drink – you decide.

Oh by the way Mr. PM, if you selling yuh house, mek mi know.

Regards,
Kingsley Morgan
Taxbreakonaire

Apparently Usain Bolt’s arrival in Rio for the Olympics is tabloid-worthy news.

Jidenna’s new video, shot in JA

I never tire of this view from my front door, nor the sound the fronds make in the wind.

When I was a girl, I would disappear with a stack of lined paper and a sharpened pencil. I would write for hours, stories picked fresh from my imagination. I recently found the binder full of these stories. It is maroon, and I apparently used a stencil and a silver marker to write ‘KATE’S STORIES’ and ‘TOP SECRET’ on the cover. Dozens and dozens of stories I had written, and I know there were dozens more. Those were just the ones I kept. Fanciful, wildly imaginative and complex stories. I was so proud of them and I know they served as a dependable escape from a not-so-secure home.

I know I am not alone in my love of writing. However, I’m pretty sure  most girls and boys now don’t write stories with paper and pencil anymore. I don’t even do that. Our thoughts now pour out onto a computer screen, easily erased, easily altered. It changes the entire creative process. Your commitment to a thought and a sentence is less stringent now, as you can just press the backspace key. A good eraser back then used to be the key to successfully writing a story for me, although I seem to have used footnotes as well.

In any case, I was pondering my stories, along with a conversation I had with a twenty-something friend. I asked her if she was on WhatsApp or if she went on Facebook or Twitter anymore to talk to her friends. “No,” she said, laughing. “So how do you talk to your friends then?” I asked.

“Snapchat,”she said, and I’m pretty sure she is not an anomaly. For those who don’t know, Snapchat is a form of social media in which you share a picture or short video. Words are optional and it disappears within 24 hours. You can “chat” to your friends privately this way.

So young people now rarely write messages to one another anymore via text, email etc, let alone actually take the physical action of writing.

And Facebook, perhaps still the most influential form of social media (with 1.65 billion users globally, compared to WhatsApp with 1 billion, Instagram with 400 million, Twitter with 320 and SnapChat with 200 million), sees that this is the future. In a recent discussion, founder Mark Zuckerberg indicates his focus going forward is video and “augmented reality.” In other words, video is set to become the main form of communication. Pictures will replace words.

The written word, in this reality, is unnecessary. What kind of world will that create? What will happen to the process of having a thought, becoming aware of it, translating it to how it applies to the real world, rendering it appropriate to be communicated and understood? Writing is so much a part of this process, of communication. So what happens in a world in which nobody writes anymore and we only use pictures? It’s hard to see.