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.
A personal reflection on Caribbean diaspora identity, exploring what it means to carry home across distance, memory, and generations.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
From Yoruba crowns to Zimbabwean stone sculptures, Luba maternity figures to Kongo nkisi power objects, Africa’s masterpieces await beneath a Portuguese winery.
Dogon funeral masks, Punu white-faced dancers, and Kongo nkisi figures: in the Aliança Underground Museum, Africa’s spirits live on in silence beneath Portuguese wine cellars.
In the underground chambers of the Aliança Museum, Africa speaks through terracotta guardians from Niger, Fang masks from Gabon, Nkisi power figures from Congo, and Yoruba crowns from Nigeria—objects without labels, yet alive with meaning.
Beneath the wine barrels of Sangalhos, Portugal, lies a secret: the Aliança Underground Museum. Its African collection—terracottas from Niger, ivory carvings from Congo, and masks from Gabon—sits largely unlabeled, yet speaks volumes about civilizations too often silenced.
Hoje, explico minha viagem quando decidir de mudar-me para outro país depois de quase dez anos em Atlanta. Li dos meus altos e baixos e como regular-me.
Want to experience a destination like a local? Learn how to find genuine, immersive travel experiences that go beyond tourist traps.