The Oath and the Open Door
Joy opens with a ritual. A chicken, blood, a young woman swearing an oath before she crosses the water. I kept asking: is it the belief that traps her, or the circumstances?
What It Means to Be From Somewhere
A personal reflection on Caribbean diaspora identity, exploring what it means to carry home across distance, memory, and generations.
The Light Here Is Different
When you spend 30 years moving for professional reasons, you develop a kind of useful detachment. You get very good at being open. You get good at choosing a place that's calm, planting yourself deliberately, and deciding this is the new home where you will let things slow down enough to be seen.
What the CAPTCHA Knows
A Dutch short film about failing a robot test won this year's Oscar. Twenty-two minutes. And somewhere in it, I found myself thinking about grief and what we're really asking when we demand that someone never die.
The Boy Who Read the Letters
Twenty-nine minutes. No famous names. No marketing budget worth mentioning. And yet The Letter Reader does something most feature films spend two hours trying and failing to do. It makes you feel the weight of a single piece of paper.
Filmmakers I Know Whose Movies I Can't Find
I know filmmakers personally. I've watched their work. And I still cannot reliably find their films or share them with people who need to see them.
Caste, Grief, and the Audacity of Origin
Ava DuVernay asked a question I haven't been able to shake: you'll sit through three hours of Oppenheimer building a bomb. Will you sit through two hours of a Black woman writing a book?
26 is Not My Name - A Statue Speaks of Theft, Return, and the Search for Home
Suppose a statue could feel, think, and talk about its life journey. It would tell us that it is more than a number; it is a symbol of culture and memory, and it is important to teach and protect the future of the people it represents. Why steal it from its home? Suppose someone steals your memory.
The Quiet Poison in Our Groceries
The U.S. just approved new pesticides containing PFAS—“forever chemicals” tied to cancers and immune problems. Europe is moving toward a full ban. Travelers and Caribbean nations are caught in the middle. Here’s what you need to know, and how to protect yourself.
“Are you still enjoying it?” The weighted question behind choosing Portugal as home
People ask me the same thing again and again: “Are you still enjoying Portugal?” It sounds polite. It’s really about identity, control, and the script we were taught to live by. I moved in my 50s and wrote a workbook so others could do it too. Here’s what the question means, why it persists.
Aveiro in 3 Days: Portugal’s Little Venice, Without the Crowds
Escape the bustle of Lisbon and find calm in Aveiro—Portugal’s canal-laced gem with quiet charm, colorful boats, and pasteis de nata (egg pastries) worth the detour. Here’s your perfect 3-day itinerary, from sun-soaked beaches to baroque cathedrals.
Thrones, Crowns, and Stones: Africa’s Hidden Masterpieces Underground - Part 4
From Yoruba crowns to Zimbabwean stone sculptures, Luba maternity figures to Kongo nkisi power objects, Africa’s masterpieces await beneath a Portuguese winery.