Sometimes we don’t know what we have when we have it. After the release of my album, One Day Soon, I experienced one of the longest and lowest periods of depression in my life thus far. I suffered it mostly alone in my apartment during a cold, grey winter in Toronto. Most people I know […]
Category Archives: Writing
My Father, Manhood & Masculinity
I woke up this morning on my last full day in Capetown thinking predominantly of the impact that my father has had on my life. The older I get the more I realize how much my father has affected every aspect of my life, my thoughts, my feelings, my actions and even my expectations of […]
Little Things_ Feb 23, 2012
“I went to a funeral this morning. After my cousin and I drove back from the cemetery I was sitting in the living room of a family members house with an old Trinidadian woman who sat on a chair across from me and rested her cane on the foot stool between us. She asked what […]
A Dream_ Nov 17, 2011
Those that know me (or have known me) as a friend know that I can have vivid and specific dreams sometimes. I’ve made a habit in the last few years of telling people who are close to me the details of my dreams. I try when possible to tell people who are in my dreams […]
Carnival & Caribana_ Some Context
I usually don’t go to Caribana in Toronto (Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival.. my bad Scotia.. sigh). it’s not because I have any particular issue with Caribana and I won’t deny it’s importance and influence in the culture I was born into (both of my parents were born and raised in Trinidad) but I would rather observe […]
THE MIXTAPE TRADITION
Originally published February, 2010 The mixtape, combined with the internet, is an exciting phenomenon to me: partially because it enables artists like myself to get music out directly to people who may have the opportunity to listen, but also because I see it as the continuation of tradition. This might sound a little odd […]
HATE & THE QUAKE
Originally published January, 2010 I was sent the below article by a professor of mine who taught me in a class called Cultures of Resistance when I was at York University. This issue of Haiti has been bothering me since the quake happened. It makes me upset that people aren’t thinking more critically about all […]
THE ASSUMPTION OF CHRISTMAS
Originally published December, 2009 I do not celebrate Christmas. Not because I have any issue with Christmas per se but because I am not a Christian. I think Christmas is a kind-of assumed cultural norm in the western world that is often not thought about critically. When I say this to people the response I […]
MICHAEL JACKSON_ MASKS & MADNESS
Originally published June 2009 Michael Jackson passed only a few hours ago. I find it strange how i feel because i haven’t been connected to this man in any way for years. I haven’t listened to the songs that I grew up listening too in years either, but today going through my old Jackson 5 […]
THE CULTURE OF ENTITLEMENT
Originally published April, 2009 Wrote this in an email to a white male friend of mine this morning and thought i would like to share it… it was a response to a white male attending a ‘all female’ gathering for a girl program in Nairobi, Kenya… posted it on my blog too… i think this […]