Her Excellency President of T&T Her Excellency Paula Mae Weeks presents the National Medal for the Development of Women,Gold ( Journalism/Development of Women) to Dt Kris Rampersad |
Today would have been my Pa’s 104th birthday. He
passed on just after I began my first degree at the university. He might have been proud to see me receive the Medal for the Development of Women, gold, for Journalism and Development of Women through a career he delivered me onto; or my graduation with a bachelors, first class honours; or doctorate, and the acclaim as the first sitting journalist/editor to have done so, along with all else that is listed in my CV as accomplishments or accolades.
Or he may have simply reiterated as he often did, 'commonsense comes before booksense' and 'help who you can, when you can,' without any great show of emotion.
Pa, who had brought me to Port of Spain for my first job interview, not only gave me the window on the bus on our four-hour journey there, but also provided the first window to the world outside the village in having me accompany him to sell the produce we grew at the San Fernando market. The amiable, affable, people, character and experiences of the market from when I was just over five years old, would mark on me what I believed to e the national character, and feed the first columns of the Discover Trinidad and Tobago series, that blossommed into the television series Cross Country and more recently, my third book, LiTTscapes - Landscapes of Ficton series which spotlights 'MarketScapes" as one of the defining arenas of nationabuilding.
Pa remained seated in
the lobby of the Guardian, as I am whisked away. I
left him looking as if it was he who was to be interviewed, in his
characteristic guarabara shirt jack, holding his mark of style - his dark brown
Homburg felt hat, slightly indented at the top; its one and a half inch ribbon
running along its circumference near the brim; its inside lined with Satin that
felt cool on the head as I would find out when I sneaked try-ons. Pa wore it as
any stately leader might, though he may not have known that it was the style of
hat which the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, often wore, made
famous by British King Edward VII, the son of Queen Victoria.
Nor would he have known, sitting there casually, that he was
handing me over to a new world, a new life, nor that it would earn him a one-paragraph
acknowledgement of his passing in the upper editorial pages five years later, Journalist Loses Dad.
I am not related to any of the already famed Rampersads who were then in public life, I would have to tell those who enquired. Rampersad was in fact his first name, which was a practice adopted in Trinidad by some families, rather than passing on last names. Born in the year of the first World War, he carved his own
path, giving dignity to every undertaking, whether it was as a market vendor, as
cash crop gardener or in his valiant attempts at carpentry and making odd
things around the house, with the saw and jackplane he bought himself, having
worked, too, as a forester that gave him the head cold that will claim him. And
he kept us grounded with his insistence that ‘commonsense comes before
booksense’ and never let us forget that!
By the time he watched me disappear up through the doors and
up the stairs from the Guardian
lobby, he had already set the foundation. It was the glimpse of Trinidad and
its people to which he exposed me in those days as a preteen that I accompanied
him to the San Fernando market, that shaped my impression of who and what we
are as a people. He passed to me his ease among men, women and children of any
age, class, colour, ethnicity and religion. Their returned respect and camaraderie
with him, gave him the stature of what I envisioned any leader to be.
In his shirt jack and Homburg, he was ‘the Sheriff’ as his
friends and the villagers called him. At home in his merino he was storyteller extraordinaire.
Night after night we would huddle on Ma’s bed listening as he unraveled
fantastic tales pulled from his boundless and prolific imagination as I good find
no written, no oral recounts of them.
If Ma shaped my spirit; Pa shaped my social being. The
dedication in my first book read, To Ma
and Pa: Ma for the gift of Spiritedness; Pa for the legacy of his imagination.
There are many resonances to that
influence.
Our journey had begun in the wee hours of what he called
‘foreday morning’, through the territories of his stickfighting, sugar cane
planting, market gardening and vending, and then some (More in upcoming biography, LIFE! Holeheartedly.
Remembering him, I share two earlier excerpts that captures
part of Pa’s, and others like his, unrecognized contribution to our times:
Jus Call Me Cooligan: Bois and Bacchanal in Meh Blood https://goo.gl/yTrR9q
My Discoverie- Columbus lost and found https://goo.gl/ixGu7y
See also:
The Walk of Excellence: a life in 60 seconds to receive the National Award for the Development of Women: https://goo.gl/wk4pBx
What My Mother told me: https://goo.gl/CxBJrr
More related links below
If by Rudyyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can think, and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And, which is more, you’ll be a Man, my son!
Related
Links:
The Walk of Excellence: a life in 60
seconds to receive the National Award for the Development of Women: https://goo.gl/wk4pBx
What My Mother told me: https://goo.gl/CxBJrr
The Funeral Scores. Sir Vidia Naipaul
final farewell in a fanfare of Naipaulian fictive irony https://goo.gl/NQibgR
My Collision with Stephen Hawkins: https://goo.gl/Fx47Ak
Authors
Tete-aTete Dr Kris Rampersad and Sir VS Naipaul https://goo.gl/gU11Jv
TheMagic and Realism of gabrial
Garcia Marquez RIP https://goo.gl/s7y2oc
Earth Quake Earthquake
One LiTTle bookshop:
LiTTscapes and the Nobel Laureate https://goo.gl/cpvr2T
Prophesy
A.Bourdain and Aboud. Port of Spain and Lebanon : https://goo.gl/zwtyWq
Devil’s WoodYard,
Earthquake Aug 2018 https://goo.gl/myXCAQ
Gender Bender Mia Mottley takes political helm in Barbados
https://goo.gl/xL3DEd
Murder and the Museum: http//goo.gl/FHs3Fr
my-discoverie-columbus-lost-and-found https://goo.gl/ixGu7y
Pat-bishops-last-struggle-killings https://goo.gl/tQUySt
Them-red-house-bones
Murder and the
Museum http//goo.gl/FHs3Fr
The Triumph of Gollum in the Land of Shut Up Suicide of the
Fellowship of Partnerships Book 11. A Sequel Futuring the Agenda Forward https://goo.gl/HU3rp3
Celebrating Jamettry The Sacred and the Sacriligious
Yo Ho ho and a bottle of rumhttps://goo.gl/TvXOHU
Changing the World with Ideas goo.gl/Pa6jAk
Lagahoo-tribute-to-independent-spirits
Nationhood in contestation with globalisation: http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2017/08/nationhood-in-contestation-with.html https://goo.gl/KWdUtx
Nationhood in contestation with globalisation: http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2017/08/nationhood-in-contestation-with.html https://goo.gl/KWdUtx
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2017/08/creating-revolution-through-knowledge.html
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2015/08/a-world-inspired-littscapes-turns-3.html https://goo.gl/J1EFn5
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com
/from-beirut-to-port-of-spain-how-west.html
The-price-of-passion-awards-and-rewards
Exploring a World Through MultiCultural Lenses
https://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2017/07/dr-kris-rampersad-exploring-world.html
my-date-with-narendra-modi-dat-merkel
affair
Things-that-make-me-go-steups-stars
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/2016/12/things-that-make-me-go-steups-stars.html
The Walcott Files
LiTTscapes for Littribute to the Antilles
A LiTTribute at UNESCO
Inscription by UNESCO of Poems
Small only in Size UNESCO Executive Board told
World in a Fishbowl
A Musical Heritage walk UNESCO Creative Cities
LiTTscapes for Littribute to the Antilles
A LiTTribute at UNESCO
Inscription by UNESCO of Poems
Small only in Size UNESCO Executive Board told
World in a Fishbowl
A Musical Heritage walk UNESCO Creative Cities
Murder She Wrote: Death Written in
Stone in Dana Seetahal Assassination
Creating Centres of Peace in Trinidad and Tobago
The Price of Independence:#DanaSeetahalAssassination
Conceive. Achieve. Believe
Demokrissy: Wave a flag for a party rag...Choosing the Emperor's ...
Oct 20, 2013 Choosing the Emperor's New Troops. The dilemma of choice. Voting is supposed to be an exercise in thoughtful, studied choice. Local government is the foundation for good governance so even if one wants to reform the ... http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Demokrissy - Blogger
Apr 07, 2013 Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Towards Constitutional Reform in T&T. So we've had the rounds of consultations on Constitutional Reform? Are we any wiser? Do we have a sense of direction that will drive ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2
Apr 30, 2013 Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2....http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
See Also:
Demokrissy: Winds of Political Change - Dawn of T&T's Arab Spring
Jul 30, 2013 Wherever these breezes have passed, they have left in their wake wide ranging social and political changes: one the one hand toppling long time leaders with rising decibels from previously suppressed peoples demanding a ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Reform, Conform, Perform or None of the Above cross ...
Oct 25, 2013 Some 50 percent did not vote. The local government elections results lends further proof of the discussion began in Clash of Political Cultures: Cultural Diversity and Minority Politics in Trinidad and Tobago in Through The ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Sounds of a party - a political party
Oct 14, 2013 They are announcing some political meeting or the other; and begging for my vote, and meh road still aint fix though I hear all parts getting box drains and thing, so I vex. So peeps, you know I am a sceptic so help me decide. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian
Jun 15, 2010 T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian · T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian. Posted by Kris Rampersad at 8:20 AM · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Related:
Demokrissy: To vote, just how we party … Towards culturally ...
Apr 30, 2010 'How we vote is not how we party.' At 'all inclusive' fetes and other forums, we nod in inebriated wisdom to calypsonian David Rudder's elucidation of the paradoxical political vs. social realities of Trinidad and Tobago. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: DEADLOCK: Sign of things to come
Oct 29, 2013 An indication that unless we devise innovative ways to address representation of our diversity, we will find ourselves in various forms of deadlock at the polls that throw us into a spiral of political tug of war albeit with not just ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: The human face of constitutional reform
Oct 16, 2013 Sheilah was clearly and sharply articulating the deficiencies in governmesaw her: a tinymite elderly woman, gracefully wrinkled, deeply over with concerns about political and institutional stagnation but brimming over with ... http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Trini politics is d best
Oct 21, 2013 Ain't Trini politics d BEST! Nobody fighting because they lose. All parties claiming victory, all voting citizens won! That's what make we Carnival d best street party in the world. Everyone are winners because we all like ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age - Demokrissy
Jan 09, 2012 New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. Posted by Kris Rampersad ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: T&T politics: A new direction? - Caribbean360 Oct 01, 2010 http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Oct 20, 2013 Choosing the Emperor's New Troops. The dilemma of choice. Voting is supposed to be an exercise in thoughtful, studied choice. Local government is the foundation for good governance so even if one wants to reform the ... http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Creating Centres of Peace in Trinidad and Tobago
The Price of Independence:#DanaSeetahalAssassination
Conceive. Achieve. Believe
Demokrissy: Wave a flag for a party rag...Choosing the Emperor's ...
Oct 20, 2013 Choosing the Emperor's New Troops. The dilemma of choice. Voting is supposed to be an exercise in thoughtful, studied choice. Local government is the foundation for good governance so even if one wants to reform the ... http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Demokrissy - Blogger
Apr 07, 2013 Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Towards Constitutional Reform in T&T. So we've had the rounds of consultations on Constitutional Reform? Are we any wiser? Do we have a sense of direction that will drive ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2
Apr 30, 2013 Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2....http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
See Also:
Demokrissy: Winds of Political Change - Dawn of T&T's Arab Spring
Jul 30, 2013 Wherever these breezes have passed, they have left in their wake wide ranging social and political changes: one the one hand toppling long time leaders with rising decibels from previously suppressed peoples demanding a ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Reform, Conform, Perform or None of the Above cross ...
Oct 25, 2013 Some 50 percent did not vote. The local government elections results lends further proof of the discussion began in Clash of Political Cultures: Cultural Diversity and Minority Politics in Trinidad and Tobago in Through The ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Sounds of a party - a political party
Oct 14, 2013 They are announcing some political meeting or the other; and begging for my vote, and meh road still aint fix though I hear all parts getting box drains and thing, so I vex. So peeps, you know I am a sceptic so help me decide. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian
Jun 15, 2010 T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian · T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian. Posted by Kris Rampersad at 8:20 AM · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Related:
Demokrissy: To vote, just how we party … Towards culturally ...
Apr 30, 2010 'How we vote is not how we party.' At 'all inclusive' fetes and other forums, we nod in inebriated wisdom to calypsonian David Rudder's elucidation of the paradoxical political vs. social realities of Trinidad and Tobago. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: DEADLOCK: Sign of things to come
Oct 29, 2013 An indication that unless we devise innovative ways to address representation of our diversity, we will find ourselves in various forms of deadlock at the polls that throw us into a spiral of political tug of war albeit with not just ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: The human face of constitutional reform
Oct 16, 2013 Sheilah was clearly and sharply articulating the deficiencies in governmesaw her: a tinymite elderly woman, gracefully wrinkled, deeply over with concerns about political and institutional stagnation but brimming over with ... http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Trini politics is d best
Oct 21, 2013 Ain't Trini politics d BEST! Nobody fighting because they lose. All parties claiming victory, all voting citizens won! That's what make we Carnival d best street party in the world. Everyone are winners because we all like ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age - Demokrissy
Jan 09, 2012 New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. Posted by Kris Rampersad ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: T&T politics: A new direction? - Caribbean360 Oct 01, 2010 http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Oct 20, 2013 Choosing the Emperor's New Troops. The dilemma of choice. Voting is supposed to be an exercise in thoughtful, studied choice. Local government is the foundation for good governance so even if one wants to reform the ... http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Demokrissy - Blogger
Apr 07, 2013 Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Towards Constitutional Reform in T&T. So we've had the rounds of consultations on Constitutional Reform? Are we any wiser? Do we have a sense of direction that will drive ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2
Apr 30, 2013 Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2....http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
See Also:
Demokrissy: Winds of Political Change - Dawn of T&T's Arab Spring
Jul 30, 2013 Wherever these breezes have passed, they have left in their wake wide ranging social and political changes: one the one hand toppling long time leaders with rising decibels from previously suppressed peoples demanding a ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Reform, Conform, Perform or None of the Above cross ...
Oct 25, 2013 Some 50 percent did not vote. The local government elections results lends further proof of the discussion began in Clash of Political Cultures: Cultural Diversity and Minority Politics in Trinidad and Tobago in Through The ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Sounds of a party - a political party
Oct 14, 2013 They are announcing some political meeting or the other; and begging for my vote, and meh road still aint fix though I hear all parts getting box drains and thing, so I vex. So peeps, you know I am a sceptic so help me decide. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian
Jun 15, 2010 T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian · T&T Constitution the culprit | The Trinidad Guardian. Posted by Kris Rampersad at 8:20 AM · Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Related:
Demokrissy: To vote, just how we party … Towards culturally ...
Apr 30, 2010 'How we vote is not how we party.' At 'all inclusive' fetes and other forums, we nod in inebriated wisdom to calypsonian David Rudder's elucidation of the paradoxical political vs. social realities of Trinidad and Tobago. http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: DEADLOCK: Sign of things to come
Oct 29, 2013 An indication that unless we devise innovative ways to address representation of our diversity, we will find ourselves in various forms of deadlock at the polls that throw us into a spiral of political tug of war albeit with not just ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: The human face of constitutional reform
Oct 16, 2013 Sheilah was clearly and sharply articulating the deficiencies in governmesaw her: a tinymite elderly woman, gracefully wrinkled, deeply over with concerns about political and institutional stagnation but brimming over with ... http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Trini politics is d best
Oct 21, 2013 Ain't Trini politics d BEST! Nobody fighting because they lose. All parties claiming victory, all voting citizens won! That's what make we Carnival d best street party in the world. Everyone are winners because we all like ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age - Demokrissy
Jan 09, 2012 New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. New Media, New Civil Society, and Politics in a New Age | The Communication Initiative Network. Posted by Kris Rampersad ...http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: T&T politics: A new direction? - Caribbean360 Oct 01, 2010 http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Others: Demokrissy: Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 ...
Apr 07, 2013
Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Towards Constitutional Reform in T&T. So we've had the rounds of consultations on Constitutional Reform? Are we any wiser? Do we have a sense of direction that will drive ...
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2
Apr 30, 2013
Valuing Carnival The Emperor's New Tools#2.
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Wave a flag for a party rag...Choosing the Emperor's New ...
Oct 20, 2013
Choosing the Emperor's New Troops. The dilemma of choice. Voting is supposed to be an ... Old Casked Rum: The Emperor's New Tools#1 - Towards Constitutional Reform in T&T. Posted by Kris Rampersad at 10:36 AM ...
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Carnivalising the Constitution People Power ...
Feb 26, 2014
This Demokrissy series, The Emperor's New Tools, continues and builds on the analysis of evolution in our governance, begun in the introduction to my book, Through the Political Glass Ceiling (2010): The Clash of Political ...
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Envisioning outside-the-island-box ... - Demokrissy - Blogger
Feb 10, 2014
This Demokrissy series, The Emperor's New Tools, continues and builds on the analysis of evolution in our governance, begun in the introduction to my book, Through the Political Glass Ceiling (2010): The Clash of Political ...
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Futuring the Post-2015 UNESCO Agenda
Apr 22, 2014
It is placing increasing pressure for erasure of barriers of geography, age, ethnicity, gender, cultures and other sectoral interests, and in utilising the tools placed at our disposal to access our accumulate knowledge and technologies towards eroding these superficial barriers. In this context, we believe that the work of UNESCO remains significant and relevant and that UNESCO is indeed the institution best positioned to consolidate the ..... The Emperor's New Tools ...
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
Demokrissy: Cutting edge journalism
Jun 15, 2010
The Emperor's New Tools. Loading... AddThis. Bookmark and Share. Loading... Follow by Email. About Me. My Photo · Kris Rampersad. Media, Cultural and Literary Consultant, Facilitator, Educator and Practitioner. View my ...
http://kris-rampersad.blogspot.com/
@BJP4India #BJP @Priyankachopra #PriyankaChopra#merkel
@EmmanuelMacron #EmmanuelMcrona #JohnTrudeau @travelchannel @usatoday
@BBCWorld @BBCWorldHaveYourSay @TEDtalks @TEDNews +britishcouncil@engageats.co.uk @britishmuseum, @britishcouncil,
@britishlibrary, @Royal_Gov_UK, @justintrudeau, @helenclarkeUNDP, +Google for Nonprofits @googleartsandculture,
@econculture, @commonculture, @writersdigest, @nytimes, +PBS NewsHour +Breaking News +BBC News +news@news.ideastap.com +info@takingitglobal.org +Open Society Foundations @richardbranson,
@billgates, @melaniegates, @gatesfoundation, +G Singh, @clintonfdn, @WJClibrary,
@clintonglobal, @librarycongress @google, @googleresearch @yahoo,
@yahoonews, @yahoomovies, @ABC, @CNN, @REUTERS, @ABC, +Kamla Persad-Bissessar , +Prakash Ramadhar, +John van Tiggelen,
@FoxNews, @UKinCaribbean,
@WBCaribbean, @TheEconomist, @wef, @economictimes, @business, @businessinsider,
@wsjbusiness, @wsj womenshealth, @wsjmag, @people,
@fortunemagazine, @ellemagazine, @oprah, @O_magazine,
@OWNTV, @oprahbooklist, @voguemagazine, @twitterwomen, @womenintheworld,
@UN_Women, @womenatforbes, @womensmediacentre @womensenews,
x
No comments:
Post a Comment
B4 U Say It: Is It True? Is It Kind? Is It Necessary? Rights reserved to delete inappropriate and offensive comments or solicitations.