I wish I didn’t feel the need to dig up these articles every time we hold elections in the #caymanislands — but here we are again!

Voting day approaches in the #caymanislands and I once again find myself dusting off and posting some of the same thought pieces that I did when we last went to the polls. The number of names coming to me with “Dr.” on them has doubled in four years and I’m feeling more critical of this practice than ever. I’m currently drowning in literature reviews and a bibliography list that approaches 150 citations. The attrition…

There are surprisingly few powerful women in recorded history whose names have endured. Of her peers, few have suffered from such scrutiny, been as discussed or so often maligned as has Hillary Rodham Clinton. While What Happened, Clinton’s memoir of her campaign and loss documents much of that scrutiny, the epigraph for Curtis Sittenfeld's Rodham could very well read What Might Have Happened.

Alternative history is roughly defined as a sub-genre of speculative fiction in which the story is one of alternatives, possibilities, and retells events other than as they happened historically. It’s also more commonly employed than you might…

If you’re looking for a great holiday gift or something to read yourself, look no further than The Caribbean Writer, Volume 34. It includes a stellar review of Monique Roffey’s latest novel. The Mermaid of Black Conch was recently shortlisted for the Costa Book Award and the Goldsmith’s Prize.

Volume 34 also includes new work by Jamaican writer and scholar Alecia McKenzie. If you haven’t read Sweetheart, I highly recommend it too.

Oh, and there are also two pieces in there by yours truly, both based in Grand Cayman. See what I did there?

The Insidious Mastery of The House of Yes

If there’s one film in the festival canon of the past twenty-five years that possibly deserves its place on the list of misunderstood masterworks, it’s Mark Waters’ arthouse hit, The House of Yes. The 1997 film was a surprise draw at Sundance that year, and justifiably so. “Take it from one who knows.”

On the Phone with Tech Support

I wrote this exactly five years ago after going grey on hold to the local phone company and a frustrating conversation with an agent. If you’ve ever lived on a small island, the price of telecommunications can often feel inversely proportionate to the reliability and quality of the service that you actually get. I’m posting it all these years later after a particularly frustrating weekend without broadband or mobile service. Five years later, nothing has changed.

LIME: Thank you for calling LIME. My name is Sassy. How can I help you tonight?
ME: My broadband…

7:00 Rise early. Breakfast plus 20mg of Ritalin, washed down with triple espresso.

7:08 Commit to writing a thousand words today

7:10 Bathroom. BRB…

7:15 Check thermostat to ensure that it’s at an optimal temperature for a day of writing. It needs to be cool enough to ensure I don’t break out in a sweat but not so chilly that I need to break for a blanket. And God forbid it’s too warm. That might promote a nap. Settle on 77 degrees Fahrenheit.

7:16 Wonder how much 77 degrees Fahrenheit is in Celcius. Break for research.

7:40 25 degrees Celcius…

Many Spoilers Ahead: The Secret History

“There are such things as ghosts. People everywhere have always known that. And we believe in them every bit as much as Homer did. Only now, we call them by different names. Memory. The unconscious.”

It’s been two decades since I read Donna Tartt’s The Secret History for the first time and it still haunts my subconscious, if not regularly, then occasionally about this time of night when most other people are fast asleep. It’s a debut that is so masterfully structured and beautifully written that I get jealous when I think that something so unforgettable could be written by…

Connoisseur:- a specialist of a given field whose opinion is valued; especially in one of the fine arts, or in matters of taste

So you’re thinking of collecting art. You want to see what the cognoscente have been talking about. You’re so eager that you are already seeing sculptures in the garden and water lilies over every hearth. The only problem is you don’t know nearly enough about art. What to do, what to do? Is there time for a quick course at your community college? Can you run out an…