Monthly Archives: November 2009

Hateful Rumors

Posted on November 30, 2009 by | 2 Comments
La Flor Panameña Bakery, an icon
in Calidonia, is still there, as ever, a
cultural fixture a few steps down from
my old primary school.

As I walked out of school I was already formulating what I was going to tell my grandmother and my aunts at home as to why I had been suspended from school on the very first day of classes. Feeling really bad at how easy it was becoming for me to get pegged at school as a troublemaker for God knows what childhood prank I felt sure that I wouldn’t escape a whipping from youngest Aunt who was ever ready to mistreat me at the slightest provocation. Continue reading →

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Calidonia, Silver People of Panama, West Indian Panamanians

Tagged , , ,

A Hard Year

Posted on November 27, 2009 by | Leave a comment
Black girls as much as Black boys,
had to deal with depression as it was
very widespread amongst Westindian
adolescents. Image

By the end of 1950 I was almost sure to be graduating from my sixth grade class at Escuela Pedro J. Sosa. And yet, I felt peculiarly imprisoned, in stir, as a prison-like attitude dominated my thoughts. My teachers had a lot to do with these feelings as they were pretty hard faced and indiscreet about openly rejecting the Westindian youngsters like me. Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Silver People of Panama, West Indian Panamanians

Tagged , ,

The Art of Failing to Communicate

Posted on November 25, 2009 by | Leave a comment
Early marriages of our forefathers
had great and hopeful beginnings.

My focus on the male-female angle of life’s issues was far from clear for me. In fact, the issues were inevitably clouded by race and, the more I questioned the faulty communication between black men and women amongst the Westindians of Panama, the more questions cropped up. Although I couldn’t know it then the communication problem between the sexes would remain a key issue even amongst my acquaintances with United States Blacks later when I’d eventually immigrate. Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in West Indian Panamanians

Tagged , ,

Having “Cojones”

Posted on November 20, 2009 by | 4 Comments

Angry couple.

The serious lack of communication
between men and women still exists
today and it is probably more marked
even with all the access to clinical help.
Image.

Still a frustrated teenage writer living in country of little or no communication between people, above all, men and women, I was emerging during a time when manhood meant having cojones or balls, something synonymous with valor. Having cojones, as part of my identity as a Spanish man, signified having sexual prowess and something more than just being able to procreate other miserable human beings. I would have to admit, in fact, that by then I had begun to harbor the same backward notions of what a real man should be as the rest of my compatriots, male and female, even when I was using restraint in my relationships with girls. Continue reading →

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Silver People of Panama, West Indian Panamanians

Tagged , , ,

The Setup

Posted on November 15, 2009 by | Leave a comment
Image

As yet I had steered clear of being too involved with my classmates who were constantly trying to court me away from my reveries. I had good reason for this attitude as I would inevitably get into trouble the minute I’d allow myself to get caught up in their shenanigans. Engrossed as I was one day in reading a novel I suddenly heard one of my old cronies calling me but, fearing involvement in whatever it was he was calling me for, I ignored him. The teacher, as usual, was not present in the classroom. Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in West Indian Panamanians

Tagged ,

1950

Posted on November 11, 2009 by | 2 Comments
This is the Salvation Army building that remains in Marañon
in Panama City today. It still bears the emblem and logo in Spanish that
reads “Ejercito de la Salvación.” The original building, however, was a two
floor structure, the top floor occupied by residents and the entire ground floor, facing
the street, was dedicated to the Church and its activities.

The year 1950 witnessed some significant changes on the surface of our troubled planet. While it was the year that the United States forces invaded North Korea by crossing the 38th Parallel, it was also the year in which the charming Peanuts comic strip was first published in seven leading newspapers in the United States. At the top of the music charts the world would be delighted by Fats Domino’s The Fat Man and Nat King Cole’s Mona Lisa, while in Latin America Cuba’s Perez Prado was beginning to take Mexico City and the world by storm with his new sound called “Mambo.” Continue reading →

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Church in Panama, West Indian Panamanians

Tagged , , ,