My first detailed post from my trip to India is reserved for my favourite outing… a visit to Sanchi, a World Heritage Site. The only other Heritage sites I had been to are ones in London and our very own Nelson’s Dockyard in Antigua.
Bhopal is a beautiful city with amazing scenery and is said to be one of India’s greenest cities. Bhopal is also home to 10 lakes and is aptly tagged as “The City of Lakes”. In this post, I’ll recap with words and images my picture perfect day trip to Bhopal’s Upper Lake.
Back in 2022, I secured an amazing Scholarship opportunity from the Indian Government to spend two weeks in the country learning about Women Empowerment, Policy and Vocational Training. I had the most amazing time and met amazing women who I still keep in touch with to this day. This post is an introduction, obviously, but over a series of post I will be unpacking how I spent my life changing two weeks in India
How Long Has It Been? Too Long! The last time I published anything on this blog was three years ago and in that time so much about me has changed. I feel as though I’ve let this Cotton Tree grow unwatered. I suppose I should take this as an opportunity to reacquaint myself with this space and reintroduce myself. It truly has been awhile.
A lot of toxic behaviours in relationships are deeply rooted in patriarchal thinking. The sense of entitlement men develop in these relationships as well as the desire to take more than necessary from men acting on the “instinct” to provide. Patriarchy has tipped the advantaged far into the male corner certainly but women also use the patriarchy and have developed “trash” tendencies because of it. Men and women are both toxic and “trash” and this has led to a very unhealthy relationship dynamic.
How Long Has It Been? Too Long! The last time I published anything on this blog was three years ago and in that time so much about me has changed. I feel as though I’ve let this Cotton Tree grow unwatered. I suppose I should take this as an opportunity to reacquaint myself with this space and reintroduce myself. It truly has been awhile.
Dear Annetta,
At age 7, you told yourself that you wanted to be a Lawyer when you grew up without fully understanding what the career path meant and without having a full grasp on the concept of Law & Order. The year was 2004 and you had seen the robe and wig of your Mother’s partner Norris Scholar hanging around his home and had become fascinated with this idea. Unlike most children however, you did not change career aspirations after this or sift through several options. You had made a firm choice that this was in fact what you wanted for yourself. There have been many persons who had asked you why you didn’t study another discipline or asked if you were pressured to study law… You knew what they did not. This was entirely your choice.
Just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it does not exist. Just because you’ve never experienced something doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. Black People have been living under an oppression system and have been terrorized long before the murder of George Floyd. It is exhausting. This is a rant.
A lot of toxic behaviours in relationships are deeply rooted in patriarchal thinking. The sense of entitlement men develop in these relationships as well as the desire to take more than necessary from men acting on the “instinct” to provide. Patriarchy has tipped the advantaged far into the male corner certainly but women also use the patriarchy and have developed “trash” tendencies because of it. Men and women are both toxic and “trash” and this has led to a very unhealthy relationship dynamic.
My relationship and understanding of blackness now is a lot different from what is used to be before I left Antigua. The lens through which I view race has changed drastically as I now understand how privileged it is to navigate blackness in a predominately black space. I saw some tweets today that got my mind thinking about my relationship with blackness as well as the complex nature of race. There’s a lot to unpack.
On March 27th 2020, I lost a mentor to COVID19. The pandemic is real and Antiguans need to take things seriously. However, taking things seriously and descending into a panic are two very different things and panic is not the response that we need. We need to avoid crowding, stay at home, and follow the rules in order to avoid increasing the risk of infection.
