This is a great week to begin my journey with this blog collective. It is a week of firsts. This is my first experience “blogging” and this Thursday, Jamaicans will be inaugurating our first ever female Prime Minister- the Honorable Portia Simpson Miller. In the same vein as Liberia and Chile, they have decided that “Since men have gotten us into this mess, let’s see if a woman can get us out of it.” Now, Jamaica is an interesting climate of matrifocality and chauvinism, which means that while more women than men earn the money that supports the households, most men still feel comfortable expecting their every desire and opinion to be taken as law. So, are Jamaican men scared about this shift in power? Yes… but they are more than kind of intrigued by this female politician that is known to be Bible-quoting, baby-kissing, and just the right amount of feisty. In many ways, it is her matronly persona that won over even the most sexist of men, who will always have a soft space in their heart for their mamas.
Electoral races are not the only places where ground- breaking Jamaicans are coming in first. We just participated in the Commonwealth Games, which is where all of England’s old colonies compete athletically in what could be deemed a mini-Olympics. Now, the existence of these games is highly problematic in 2006. The idea of the Queen of England sitting in an aerial seat, looking down on “her subjects” throwing javelins, jumping through hoops (gymnastics), and running around in circles, is slightly too Medieval for me. But no one seems to mind and 53 countries competed. Jamaica won the 7th highest number of medals, mainly by sweeping all the track events, and it has been a great source of pride for all here. And this is so different from how I experience patriotism in America. For one, almost every Jamaican followed the games, as if they personally knew every athlete competing, and with every medal won there was a public swell of pride. It exemplified for me how people here believe that they belong to something bigger than themselves. It is a first for me to experience such national unity and pride.
Really? Weren't you there when the Reggae boys went to the World Cup? That was huge!
Posted by: mad bull | April 02, 2006 at 07:19 AM