Jamaican Gal

Jamaica, 55th Anniversary of Independence, Jamaican Things, History, Recollection

Rosalind Juliet Mitchell could become one of the great heroines of modern fiction. She is a Jamaican Lolita and a Caribbean cross between Huck Finn and Liza Doolittle. Dirt poor, hungry, bright-eyed and determined, she clings to her one distant hope a Glenn Webber, an aging, uncertain American tourist. He is Humbert with a conscience, forced comically to confront one moral dilemma after another in an effort to comprehend a culture very different from his own. In this hilarious, erotic, heart-rending romp, we move from a bloody jungle killing to a Kingston beauty pageant, meeting on the way a supporting cast that includes a voodoo witch, a hip-hop dancer, an ebullient taxi driver, a sly Rasta-man, a ruthless voyeur, a stoned plant lady, a corrupt detective, a quirky pageant coach, some wild Jamaican strippers and an assortment of mountain peasants. Have you been to Jamaica, mon? Climbed the falls? Now immerse yourself in this tropical odyssey of struggle and triumph, and meet one of the most memorable heroines in modern imaginative literature.

As a nation, we should preserve our social memory by honoring those who paved the way for us to exist, recognizing those who etched their indelible mark on our lives, and remembering those who went to the great beyond before us as expressed in the Salute to the Dearly Departed segment (People); our regions, areas, and territories; our locales, hotspots, and hangouts and places we love to visit and events we constantly attend in (Places), and the happenings and the things that we cherish to death - items, commodities, artifacts, and products (Things). So dear readers, enjoy the mind "triggers" and heart-wrenching "diggers" you will find in this book honouring the 55th year of celebrating Jamaica's independence and the tantalizing trip down memory lane with this unofficial reference/resource guide by your side. You will recollect who is who (people), where is where (places), and what is what (things) in both the Jamaican and the Diaspora/Global context.

A fictional account of the years the movie star Errol Flynn spent on Navy Island, off the coast of Jamaica, tells of his affair with a young teenager and May, their love child.

Reggae's influence can be heard in the popular music of nations in a variety of continents. In Dubwise, Klive Walker takes a fresh look at Bob Marley's global impact, specifically his legacy in the Caribbean diaspora. While considering Marley's status as an international reggae icon, Walker also discusses the vital contributions to reggae culture authored by other important Jamaican innovators such as poet Louise Bennett, hand drummer Oswald ''Count Ossie'' Williams, jazz saxophonist Joe Harriott, ska trombonist Don Drummond and singer Dennis Brown.

Compelling Confessions: The Politics of Personal Disclosure is a collection of essays whose shared purpose is to offer an accessible interdisciplinary exploration of the social dynamics behind confessional discourse. As various contributors to this collection demonstrate, confession is ubiquitous in contemporary culture, not only within psychological or therapeutic frameworks or literary analysis, but also in internet discussion groups, in the criminal justice system, in political rhetoric, in so-called 'reality' and interview-style television programming, in writing pedagogy and, increasingly, in the testimonial strain observable in contemporary scholarship. Yet, 'telling one's story' raises questions, not only about authorial intent or authenticity, but also about the pressures disclosure can impose upon its audiences. Far less ubiquitous than confessions themselves, as these contributors suggest, are the critical tools that general audiences might employ in order to better evaluate the rhetoric of personal disclosure. It is, in fact, the shortage of such tools – responses and procedures that could be stated plainly and implemented by any reader or viewer – that Compelling Confessions sets out to address.