CARICOM Heads meet with Mr. ObamaWell, the 5th Summit of the Americas is over and it remains to be seen what benefits are to be derived from it. However, I, and I am sure, most would agree that, to paraphrase U.S. President Obama, it all depends on the actions of the member countries rather than just their words. This certainly has been the bugbear of international agreements of all kinds for many years. Many countries sign on to laudatory and grandiose statements, resolutions, protocols, an... Read Full Story

The 5th Summit of the Americas is now underway in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (the first Summit was held in Miami, in 1994). The theme of the Fifth Summit of the Americas, is "Securing Our Citizens' Future by Promoting Human Prosperity, Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability."In line with this theme, the 5th Summit of the Americas Web site states “The focus of the Fifth Summit will be on human prosperity, energy security, climate change and sustainable developme... Read Full Story

"People perpetuate themselves through the images they create."Errol Sitahal, Tony Hall from And the Dish Ran Away With the SpoonWith the recent closure of Gayelle TV’s News Department one wonders if there is any more fallout to come with respect to local media. This conjecture is by no means to cast any mal yeux (pronounced locally as: mal-jo) i.e. bad or evil eye, upon the local media fraternity but is simply made within the context of the current global economic downturn, which, o... Read Full Story

"If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to protect them and to promote their common welfare - all else is lost."Barack ObamaArguably, it can seem understandable from a government perspective, that when people do talk and write, complaining about all things government, that it seems as if such people are all anti-government. But governments, just like any other organisation or individual, are not perfect and must be able to accept and learn fr... Read Full Story

Unfortunately, sometimes I believe I should have a blog just dedicated to crime as this is truly the recurrent issue for Trinidad and Tobago. Crime just seems to have a life of its own which continues virtually unabated and woefully unaddressed. Surely there are a host of other problems we face and need to tackle but crime is the one-true issue that keeps gnawing –no- chomping away, at whatever sense of basic civility and hope we have for our country. It has been so long that we have been end... Read Full Story

The arts, the economy, creativity, libraries. For the grammarians: please grant your indulgence for the opening fragment usage here as it is only used as a point of illustration. This is because although this list may seem like a disconnected lot, conversely, its components can be seen as pieces of a larger picture in relation to information and development.This disconnectedness is parallel in terms of the divisions we usually employ relative to human intelligence abilities and spheres of kno... Read Full Story

“Whenever the people are well-informed they can be trusted with their own government.”Thomas Jefferson With the campaign season becoming more intense with the presidential election just weeks away, many people surely have become more interested and aware of the ‘issues’ as presented in the news media. Many have become more anxious about their own pressing needs and who they see as the best candidate to address them and some also become more patriotic, dutifully weighing who they see would lea... Read Full Story

After an all-too long layoff I am glad to say that my postings have resumed. To put things briefly, I just had a lot ‘going on’ and at one time was perhaps far too anxious about blogging for blogging sake. Needless to say The LibVocate is now back. Stay tuned!! Read Full Story

Now that we are in the month of October, the Christmas preparation in Trinidad and Tobago begins as this month brings the start of the Parang season. For the wider ‘Net audience, parang is a local word derived from the Spanish parranda, meaning 'to make merry' or 'to party.' Parang is a Hispanic styled music played in Trinidad and Tobago around Christmas time. Traditionally, the themes of this musical genre centered on the nativity but over the years these have come to includ... Read Full Story

Look at the image on the left. By now surely you don't have to "guess whose back?" Well “OMG!” as we would now say in the texting lexicon, I can’t believe I let so much time pass by. It’s disastrous for me to say the least but let’s just say I had ‘other things’ going on and that sometimes I can be too much of a perfectionist afraid of just blogging for blogging sake.I am back and will strive harder to keep this blog going from here on. I am glad of the little following I had pi... Read Full Story