JAMAICA KINCAID

            

 "Do you ever try to understand why people like me cannot get over the past, cannot forgive and cannot forget? There is the Barclay’s Bank. The Barclay brothers are dead. The human beings they traded, the human beings who to them were only commodities, are dead. . . . So do you see the queer thing about people like me? Sometimes we hold your retribución."

          -In the second section of A Small Place, Kincaid indicts the British colonial system and, by extension, the entire enterprise of European colonialism. She condemns the early capitalist system that traded in humans, turning them into a commodity no different from sugar or rum. The Barclay Brothers illustrate how historical acts of exploitation are never really over, despite our desire to pretend otherwise. After making their fortunes in the slave trade, the Barclays went into banking, and the financial institution they set up continues to operate worldwide. Ironically, Barclay’s Bank is the major banking company on Antigua, issuing loans and managing the meager funds of the descendents of the very slaves who were the source of the Barclay fortune. The Barclays are, in a sense, still profiting from those they exploited long after their deaths, which suggests the unending ramifications of actions that seem safely ensconced in history. Kincaid “cannot forgive and cannot forget,” because there is no way to undo the injustice of slavery, and, in a way, the injustice continues. The Barclays are beyond punishment, and their victims are beyond help. Kincaid can only keep the thought of them alive as a sort of “retribution.”

TOURIST FOR A DAY

            This is an experienced I did with my high school friends. I didn't have the opportunity to do a new one right now due to that I had to work the whole weekend. But this internal tourism trip was made at summer . My high school mates and me always plan a trip since we graduated from High School and this summer our trip was to the Cueva de las Golondrinas, in Manati, Puerto Rico. I had never been there before and none of them either so it was a real adventure. We first got lost finding the cave and when we finally thought we got there, we found out we had to go through a place which seemed like a forest, it was full of trees, grass and plants. When we got out of that forest we found two paths, left and right. We didn't know if we were taking the correct way to the cave, but we took the left side and in a few minutes we found a beautiful beach.  We put down our things, rested a while and then went into the beach it was nice, we were alone, we had the beach for ourselves. About two hours later a couple of tourtist who were not from Puerto Rico arrived to the beach. We talked a while with them and then unbelievable they told us that was not the Cueva de las Golondrinas that it was to the other side. So packed our stuff again and went back to take the right side of the two paths we had seen.  We found the path again  and in that side we had to cross a source or water and there was the cave.  We were amazed to discover that there was a beach right near the cave, and when we got closer we found out it was a nudist beach and it was not crowded but there were a few people.  

               After leaving the cave we made stops in different  places to eat. This was an amazing experience. First of all, we had never done an internal trip to a place none of us had visited before.  Being with my high school friends and boyfriend was awesome, he got along very well with my friends and this ment a lot to me. As of today I'm still surprised to know that most of us puertorricans don't do internal tourism and are missing of visiting our own beautiful sites.  This is definetly something we will do again some other time.

Gods Will

Me in Kindergarden

There was once a little girl who was born on July 21, 1994 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She was the second child and had a brother who was only one year and half when she was born. Her mother named her Miosottis that was her mothers name too. Her grandfather had a heart surgery done before she was born, but the surgery was a very extended and delicate one so the doctors planned the second part for June, but it was prolonged, because her grandfather wanted to wait until his daughter gave birth to the girl which he always said that was going to be born with light color eyes, brownish skin and curly hair, and when he saw her for the first time he said “Just as I said she was going to be”.  Unfortunately, he didn’t have the opportunity to have that second surgery and passed away two months later and she doesn’t have memories of him, just the stories her mom, grandmother and relatives say.  

When she was almost two years old her mother started teaching her and her brother how to write their names, numbers, colors, letters and prepared them for when they had to go to school. Miosottis took ballet and assisted to volleyball clinics, to learn how to interact with other kids. The first school she went to was St. Mary's School and then from kindergarten through twelfth grade she went to Espiritu Santo School. She had great memories of her elementary, junior and high school. She was in most of the clubs that were in school, and participated in the Talent Shows, dancing since seventh grade. Also belonged to the volleyball team since fourth grade until she graduated from high school. She was selected the treasurer from the board of her class since 6th grade until 11th grade, but in her senior year she ran for the treasurer of the Student Council, and she made it. This opportunity made her more communicative with the teachers, parents and students from different grades. She always had such an active life and her parents always backed her up in everything, specially her father.

my brother and me when we were little

This girl had a perfect life until the year 2007, when her father was diagnosed with hepatitis in his liver. She was only thirteen years old and this marked her life. She couldn’t count on her dad most of the time any more, he was always sick. His feet were always swollen, what ever he ate made him nauseous and with an upset stomach. He had to stop working and his attitude with his wife and children changed completely, while the condition kept progressing. It was necessary a liver transplant as soon as possible but since he had to stop working, it was difficult for the family to move somewhere else and try to cure the father, because in Puerto Rico this surgery was not done. Her mother found a job and took the responsibility of the house. The family suffered for three years the changes in the household, economically, the problems in the family, due to her fathers attitude and her brother got rebel. But her mother cried every night and prayed to God to help her and her family to get through those difficult moments. And finally in 2010 God heard her prayers. The father’s doctor got him an opportunity to go to Memphis, Tennessee to get a liver transplant. In December 2010, Carlos received his liver transplant and Miosottis received the news while she was in a Family Day in school and the priest said it through the speaker. She started crying and her brother too and thanked God for that big miracle, because he was running out of time and he could have died. That they was a great day, but the best day was when he return back to Puerto Rico and saw him totally different that when he left. It like he had life again. He was totally a new person physically and emotionally even though he had to continue drinking for life a medication, which avoids any rejection of the new liver.  

With my Mom and Dad

Now that she is in college she still has and active life, studying and have three jobs. Now she is coursing her fourth year of college in the University of Puerto Rico and is preparing herself to have her dream come true at being someday a Pharmacist. She is doing a Bachelor in Interdisciplinary Studies and then planning to do a Master in Pharmacy in the Medical Science Campus. With Gods help and her dedication and effort this will happen soon.