archives of october, 2001

the archives contain old posts from the home page.

13 october 2001
the anthrax cases in florida didn't really worry me, but i am able to say that i am scared, now that a woman in manhattan, new york has been found to be contaminated with the substance. i currently reside in queens, new york, and i am very worried.

it would be impossible for me to deliver to you the latest news about all this, so i won't even try. besides, it's very hard NOT to know about the latest news in our times. replaced by the new, the news is inconstant. i suggest you visit reputable news sites, such as cnn.com, bbc news or abc news, to name a few.

here is an article from cnn.com, "10 things you need to know about anthrax", because knowledge IS power.

this fear i feel is a new type. i am a hopeless pessimist, so every time i cough, or feel a little headache, i think the extreme worst. it is different being here, in america, while these things transpire. in opposition to the security that guyana holds, it being a nation that is comparatively peaceful, one feels insecure and like a foot soldier in the war.

i -- like MANY guyanese, at home and abroad -- do feel that there was some good in this. most people say more or less the same thing, that this'll give america a taste of reality, that it will show them what they have and how they take it all for granted, not knowing that it is all attained at the expense of every poor person on this earth.

but we all have that survival instinct, which would make a suicidal man fight an attacker, defending the life he craves to end.

to guyanese in guyana: don't take guyana for granted.

to guyanese in america: don't take anything for granted.

i hope you are reading this at night because the quote is suited to that wonderful time of the 24-hour cycle, when nothing is flawed, possibilities have no limits, and when the world is comfortable and full of love.

in bed my real love has always been the sleep that rescued me by allowing me to dream.

luigi pirandello (1867–1936)

29 october 2001
i received this email from a visitor of this site. this person was one of the few who felt as i do about guyanese-americans. this person holds the same beliefs as i do. we both feel that a guyanese should not give up on his country but use whatever america can offer to better guyana. i am here not to "build a life" or enjoy "the great land of freedom", i am here because the least america owes the people upon who they were built is a sub-standard education. i am going to use whatever it is i have when i am finished here to participate in the emancipation and improvement of my country guyana. if we don't get up and do something, things won't change.

I respect your ability to transfer your thoughts onto a website. My father is Guyanese born and lives in the U.S. I agree with most of your radical ideas of the complacency of Guyanese-Americans. I'd like to extend that argument to say it includes immigrants from other third-world countries as well so it is not restricted to Guyanese-Americans.
I am dismayed that my father's tales of Guyanas were merely fantastic revisions of the truth. My belief is that he, and the rest of his family were truly concerned with what happens in Guyana they would involve themselves in changing the dynamics that exist, particularly poverty. However they have been seduced by the red, white, and blue, quickly asssimiliated to American Carribbean life that glorifies food and music and forgets violence and poverty
I've become more interested in Guyana as I study the political motivation for ethnic conflict. As I learn more, I realize how disadvantaged women, particularly indigenous (Amerindian) women in Guyana.
I'd offer a suggestion for your site. Perhaps you can include ways that Guyanese-Americans can maintain their connection to their country that is more involved than simply reading newspapers etc. For instance I am establishing contact with a Guyanese woman (outside my family) who mobilizes her resources for women in Guyana. My hope is to eventually go to Guyana and engage in establishing a greater woman's consciousness to empower women.
I think the more people feel engaged in their culture, the more they feel responsibile to help change. Unfortunately many Guyanese disengaged themselves from Guyana the minute they stepped onto a plane.
Signed,
Visitor to Your Site

It is not easy to escape mentally from a concrete situation, to refuse its ideology while continuing to live with its actual relationships.

-Albert Memmi author of The Colonizer and the Colonized