Sports serve society by providing vivid examples of excellence – George FWill Friday last was Sports Day at QC and in true QC fashion; it was a day chock-full with activities, competitive bantering and tensions running high. It was also my last ever Sports Day as a student of Queen’s College. Must all good things come to an end? The weeks leading up to Sports Day were beyond hectic: we usually put a lot of preparation into being absolutely ready for Sports Day. But having “march practice” daily at lunch…
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Who knew?
Two Wednesdays ago, my parents took my brother and me to the Indian Science and Technology Fair and I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t at all what I expected it to be. I mean, whoever expects to spend an afternoon gushing over science and exclaiming over their physics textbook coming alive!? Not me. I usually moan about being ‘sick and tired’ of hearing how great Newton was. The fellow was like ‘pot salt’ – he poked his nose in every branch of physics! But, the exhibition was really cool. No…
Read MoreSeptember angst!
“Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime” -Adlai Stevenson As the few students doing history know, a good chunk of the curriculum concerns our Indigenous people. And well, that’s a good thing, because the theme for Amerindian Heritage Month, ‘Embracing Our Identity, Celebrating our Culture’ – is exactly what we should all be doing as Guyanese. Not too coincidentally, this month is also “Education Month”, which was probably chosen because September marks the beginning of the school year. Two weeks…
Read MoreWhy 16 subjects?
I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning to sail my ship –Aeschylus Whenever CSEC results are released, there are always those students who write a seemingly ridiculous number of subjects. While most applaud those kids for constantly raising the bar and pushing the envelope, there are some who think the kids are just overdoing it by writing too much. Well if the truth be told, some of us actually write all of those subjects because every one of those subjects means something to us. The CSEC level is the…
Read MorePlaying the Lottery
As another school year rolls around, thoughts wander (and wonder) as to whether there aren’t any shortcuts to a cushy job in the future. Or at least one that’ll guarantee a Ferrari!! Hey, if you’re going to dream, you might as well dream big. In the world around us, there’re a lot of dreamers. Millions of people buy lottery tickets religiously. The lottery is one of the few ‘sure things’ in the business world. Some of those people probably buy tickets every day, hoping it’ll be their lucky day. And…
Read MoreBreak the Silence
“One in three women may suffer from abuse and violence in her lifetime. This is an appalling human rights violation, yet it remains one of the invisible and under-recognised pandemics of our time. Violence against women is an appalling human rights violation. But it is not inevitable. We can put a stop to this.” –Nicole Kidman Last Monday my family and I attended ‘The International Youth Conference against the Contagion of Violence’ hosted by CADVA. The forum, organised by two overseas Guyanese women, set me thinking about a host of…
Read MoreThief!
“On my first day in New York, a guy asked me if I knew where Central Park was. When I told him I didn’t, he said, ‘Do you mind if I mug you here?’” Paul Merton In life, there are always those things you read or hear about, but they never become quite real until you experience them for yourself. I was always aware that things like robberies, chain- snatching and muggings happened everyday but I guess somehow my mind processed it as just something that happened in newspapers; something…
Read MoreA new (bolder) Bond girl
“Feminism is, at its core, very simple: the belief that men and woman should have equal opportunity for self expression” –Sonja KFoss During the holidays I (and my brother) pig out on movies: we don’t look at any regular TV programming. We’ve been going through the spy genre, of which our favourite is Jason Bourne. Over the years, beginning in the 1960’ s there’ve been many actors portraying James Bond – the iconic and quintessential modern spy, the ultimate ‘ manly’ man with women swooning at his slightest glance. Each…
Read MoreOlympics!
“I didn’t set out to beat the world; I just set out to do my absolute best.” – Al Oerter, first athlete to win four gold medals at four successive Olympiads Whooo! The Olympics have started! With a pretty spectacular, albeit lengthy, Opening Ceremony including the ‘Queen’ parachuting into the stadium with James Bond, I guess we can say the Olympics are shaping up to be another world beater. The Olympics have come a far way from what it was in Ancient Greece when only male Greek nationals could’ve participated.…
Read MoreOur generation
Most days, we just live our lives, following the same routine, meeting the same people, holding the same beliefs and worldviews. But then every once in a while, something happens that shakes things up. It could be a good event that restores your faith in humanity. Or it could be something so horrendous that it makes you clutch and claw at your face and wish that you didn’t live on this planet. And unfortunately, there has been a lot of the latter types of events occurring, with the recent shoot-out…
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