“Third year, B class,” I thought, overjoyed. I was now an “Abel Bravo man.” I remembered distinctly what my stepfather had told me and how he had expressed genuine interest in my well being giving words of support. At the time, any words of support was all I needed to continue. More than money or any school supplies, his words reached my very soul when I most needed the lift. Continue reading
Images like this one of one of Yellowstone National Park’s waterfalls calmed me with the hopes that I would some day travel and kept me buoyant until I started school in Abel Bravo. Image.
My mothers last baby,Victor, was acting peevish and would not be comforted which raised a warning flag for me that the child was at risk of dying. After all, it had happened once before in our family and it brought back memories of my mother’s past behavior of total neglect toward her babies before they even reached their first year of life. It was a chilling throw back for me at the time, and I feared for him as for myself since I knew her to be the kind of mother who had never been able to comfort her children no matter what their age. Continue reading
This is Mount Hope Cemetery in Colon, Republic of Panama.
After grandfather’s funeral my sister had also told me that grandfather had been sick for a long time walking around with urination problems and that he had not said anything to any of them. I thought I would never forget that day we buried him at Mount Hope Cemetery which, in Spanish, translates to Monte Esperanza. Continue reading
Posted in Colon
Tagged 1953, City-of-Colon-in-Panama, Marcella-Green, Mount Hope Cemetery, Seymour-Green
image thanks to ehow.co.uk
The last mental note of treachery was just one more to be added to the string of misery and of things happening to me in those days. But, I still maintained the hope that my mother wound let me stay a couple of days with her to make up for her abandoning me. By then I was also considering the last times I’d visited Colon which was my visit on Fifth of November the year before. Continue reading
Posted in Colon, Culture in Panama
Tagged 1953, Aunt-Ethel-Frances, Colon, Marcella-Green, Mount Hope Cemetery, Seymour-Green
Image of the old De Lesseps Park before it was destroyed to build the National Assembly building. Image thanks to our friends at www.czbrats.com
Now nestled among the other passengers traveling on the Chiva that night, through the dimly lit night, my eyes focused through the window at the now quiet Cinco de Mayo Town Square which was usually crowded and busy. I turned to see the International Hotel, the old Lesseps Park that saw me grow up, the restaurants at the corner and all the marquees of the night clubs for the first time. Continue reading
Posted in West Indian Panamanians
Tagged 1953, Calidonia, De Lesseps Park, family dysfunction
While resting there on the street alone, a girl whom I had recently met on the first floor of Magnolia came and sat next to me and I conversed with the child innocently. My Aunt Gwenie apparently picked me out of the crowd and started screaming my name,”Juni! Juni!” Continue reading
Posted in West Indian Panamanians
Tagged 1953, child-abuse, family dysfunction, Magnolia-building
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