The Mommy Track

In the States, in corporate life, there’s something called “The Mommy Track.” That’s the opposite of the fast track. The fast track is where you work weekends and insane hours every day for insanely high pay, make junior vice president by age 25, and by 36 you own shares in the company and are a partner, at least. You drive a great car, wear great clothes and possess enough pairs of shoes to stock your own modest DSW.

The Mommy Track is the opposite. It’s the track where you leave work at 3.30 pm on the dot every day so you get time to take the kids to football practice, ballet, piano, or whatever after school niceness they get up to. In my case, it’s pan, choir, track & field, SEA lessons, youth group, astronomy. You don’t work weekends, ever. That’s when you get to do laundry, house cleaning, go to the park or the zoo or cinema or wherever takes the children’s fancy. You don’t spend much money on your car, personal grooming, stylish clothes or the killer heels you saw in the mall. Instead, most of your income goes to paying for all the lessons, tutors, football tugs, guitar strings, children’s limes and parties, new jeans, glasses, etc etc ad infinitum.

If you’re lucky, like I have been, you get to work part-time, or even work from home.

I’m on the Mommy Track but good.

Being on the Mommy Track has its benefits. You get to actually see your children and play a meaningful role in their development. When they come home with good marks, you feel personally responsible for it, because it was you who took them up in spelling the night before they aced that test. You can shop for good food and actually cook it, and sit with your children to have a meal together on evenings. When I worked at a real, full-time job (this was years ago), my children saw me about two hours a day, and only one day on the weekend. Now they’re probably sick of me. I spend all day Saturday driving them around and on a good weekend I cook for three hours, producing the lavish Sunday Lunch which Rito Allen & Dolsie Ollivierre used to make every Sunday when I was a child. (Minus the custard pie and soursop drink, sorry!)

On the rare occasion I have something like a full-time job (as I have for the past few weeks, teaching two three-hour English classes a day, Monday-Thursday), I feel it in my bones. Narcoleptic that I am, I come home exhausted and sleep for three hours before I can even think about doing anything else. Cook? Ha. Chinese, roti and pizza are on speed dial on my phone. Laundry piles up tall as me, and there are strange looking dust bunnies under the couch. (I fear there will one day be an uprising–The Revenge of the Dust Bunnies…Coming Soon to an Apartment Near You!!!)

With any luck, I can soon return to the Mommy Track. The money sucks but if you measure life by your take home pay, you are poorer than you know.

The people and them place

My daughter Miss Thing is trying to go to the US to study for a baccalaureate at the UWC College in New Mexico. It’s an incredible opportunity: she would get to meet students from all over the world, undertake a rigorous academic programme, hike, ski, do community service and all kinds of other good stuff. The goals of the UWC are to increase sustainability and world peace by teaching young people from diverse parts of the world to think of the world as one world, with one goal–making that one world a better place.

Miss Thing was one of only six T&T students who were chosen by the local committee of the UWC to attend these colleges worldwide. Other students got to go to Wales, Costa Rica, Canada, Hong Kong… Same curriculum but different local experiences. In Hong Kong you make field trips to Tibet, for example; in New Mexico, you go to Mexico. Some of the places, including the US one, came with a partial scholarship.

The only teeny, tiny flaw in this grand plan is that you still need a US visa to attend the US college. And your getting a US visa is contingent on the mood of the interviewer at the Embassy when you get to his window. I’m not a big fan of the US, and my love of the Embassy in POS … Let’s not go there. Needless to say, this has not been a fun experience. Hopefully on our next attempt we bring all the documentary evidence they require to know that 1) we’ll pay our part and 2) she’ll come back to Trinidad & Tobago when she’s through. The interviewer did not even glance at the letter from UWC-TT saying they were paying part of the cost. All he wanted to know was that my bank balance (no other financial statement would do, just a BANK statement) showed that I had enough cash to cover the fees.

This experience once again reminds me why people have the relationship they do with the US and with US Embassies worldwide. Why can’t the officers there treat the citizens of the countries–in which those officers are guests–with humanity, dignity and respect? Lest you think I’m alone in my grouse, check out this video.

Time for local music quotas

Saw this report in the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian, in which PanTrinbago makes a call for radio stations to have quotas for local music. Lots and lots of people have made this request before. Maybe this time, new government and all, we’ll get what we want?

And while they’re at it, make some local TV quotas too! It’s insane for a TV producer to spend thousands of dollars on a programme only to have to BUY airtime from TV stations to air that show. TV stations should pay to air local shows. I feel stupid even having to say that. This back-to-front system helps nobody. Why do they air rubbish like The Cougar when perfectly good local TV languishes?

Blogging = Work

Who knew? Not I. I feel chastened by the relatively few mocking comments I’ve had about my volte-face since I announced I would begin blogging after swearing I never would. Years ago I decided blogs were navel-gazing rubbish, for the most part. (Perhaps it is not politically correct to say that…)

Since then I’ve encountered a lot of good blogs, blogs with wit, substance and great style. Did they change my mind about becoming a blogger? Nope. The real kick in the butt was that I no longer have a weekly column with the Guardian and I find myself itching to say things… and to have people say things back. Being a columnist spoiled me to some extent. Blogging is much more rigorous; I have to file? submit? publish? entries more often than I would have as a member of the print world.

There’s also nobody standing over my shoulder saying what I can and cannot write (not that Arthur Dash was that kind of editor, but you know what I mean). It’s heady, this freedom. I feel like running out and libelling somebody just for spite. But no, I’ll hold myself in check. My court clothes need cleaning since I did jury service the other day…

In the meanwhile, I’m plunging into the world of bloggers. Check my blogroll (what a word!) for a growing list of some of my favourites, and some blogs of my friends. This is a work in progress. My own blog here is also a work in progress and should become brighter and shinier as time goes by, if my sweet doux doux darling ex-husband (the senior branch of my tech support division) will oblige…

What do you think should go on it?

In other news, Karel Mc Intosh at Outlish Magazine sent me a note that one of her interview subjects mentioned Trinidad Noir in their interview. You can read the interview here.

Save President’s House

Press Release from Citizens for Conservation

President's House, part of which has collapsed.

Citizens for Conservation is dismayed that a decision to demolish and re-build The President’s House was made with no reference or input from the Project Architect or the existing consultant team of British Restoration Architects and Engineers, who know the building well and have already made recommendations regarding it’s restoration.

We understand that cost is an issue.

With all due respect…..Restoration Engineering is a SPECIFIC science, and solutions for retrofitting modern buildings DO NOT apply to 134 year old historic buildings in the same way. I am not aware that The Ministry of Works has any such engineering expertise. How then was this decision made? What were the reasons? How can you make such a decision with no expert advice? WHERE ARE THE RESTORATION EXPERTS to properly advise the Minister?

Daily we see how much considerable damage is done to the building fabric of historic Structures by well meaning engineers who apply modern solutions to the restoration of Historic Structures. Was the perceived “too high cost for restoration” based on modern solutions which do not apply to this type of building fabric?

Where is the scientific analysis that shows that the restoration will cost more than a new structure of similar size, style and detailing? Why can’t the collapsed areas be rebuilt with modern technology and the rest of the building restored as is done in other countries? At least something of the original will be kept. There are other solutions that should be explored by restoration experts.

Citizens for Conservation asks that the Minister of Works please defer any such drastic decisions until proper experts are called in.

One of the purposes of restoration is to preserve the building technology of a past era for the education of future Generations. Even if you build a new building in the same style…it DOES NOT qualify as historic. It is simply Disney World, and worth nothing as part of our Historic Architectural legacy.

The Government would do well to use this opportunity to champion the cause of Cultural Heritage and try to reverse the neglect of the last political regime, instead of putting the last nail in the coffin.

Enormous good will can be gained from properly informed intervention.

Citizens for Conservation.

Moving forward

Now that the deed is done and I’m Guardian-free, I feel a bit odd. This is the first time in over ten years that I’ve been disconnected from the Ansa McAl group and specifically the Guardian. No matter where I was, I always had them in the background, whether I was working on the Style Desk at the Washington Post, or holding a press conference for the Anthony Sabga Caribbean Awards. It was a tether and a shield and now… ? I don’t know how to feel.

What I do know is that The Allen Prize for Young Writers is going to need all my attention. Fund raising, planning, implementing, facilitating… I have a very strong team, thank God, but it’s still daunting to think we have to raise nearly TT $1 million in the next year just to function and do all the things we want to do for young people.

Shout out here to all my potential speakers! Start drinking honey and lime and get your voices in order. We will have plenty talking to do when the seminars start. First one is planned for October, then one a term thereafter… for the rest of my life. Sounds like a lot, innit…

…and I have three books to finish this year. I mustn’t forget myself in all this, right?

Las lap

I’ve been writing with the T&T Guardian since 1998, and writing a regular column there since maybe 2006. (Yes, you read it right…I’m not really sure how long it’s been. My record keeping sucks.)

This week marks the end of that relationship. From today I’m no longer a Guardian columnist or writer. I’m a former Guardian columnist and writer. Ha!

You can read it here.

As I explain in the column, I have moved on in order to administer The Allen Prize for Young Writers, the NGO I founded last year. I’ve been planning and plotting this move for a long time and I can’t wait. Yesterday I did a budget for the Prize and nearly fell through the floor at the amount of money we have to raise. But God is good and this is a worthy effort. I know I’ll get support–in fact, I already am getting support from the good people on my board and committees, and my friends and family.

So wish me well!

Trinidad Noir

Named one of the Best Books of 2008 by the Caribbean Review of Books

Trinidad Noir
edited by Lisa Allen-Agostini & Jeanne Mason

Mystery/Fiction Anthology | A Trade Paperback Original
ISBN-13: 978-1-933354-55-2 l 300 pages | $15.95

Published by Akashic Books as part of their award-winning Akashic Noir series, Trinidad Noir brings together the best writers in Trinidad & Tobago and an exciting genre.

Trinidad Noir features new stories by: Robert Antoni, Elizabeth Nunez, Lawrence Scott, Ramabai Espinet, Shani Mootoo, Kevin Baldeosingh, Vahni Capildeo, Willi Chen, Lisa Allen-Agostini, Rian Marie Extavour, Keith Jardim, Jaime Lee Loy, Darby Maloney, Reena Andrea Manickchand, Judith Theodore, Tiphanie Yanique, and others.

Akashic Noir was launched with the best-seller Brooklyn Noir. Each of the titles in the series features original noir stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book.

Trinidad Noir is the first book in the series to be set in the English-speaking Caribbean.

“Trinidad Noir delivers all the crime a reader expects from Akashic’s Noir Series: murder, kidnapping, rape, drugs, prostitution, theft, extortion, and more. Yet in fictionalizing crime in the real crime setting of Trinidad, acclaimed authors Lawrence Scott, Robert Antoni, Elizabeth Nunez, Ramabai Espinet, Keith Jardim, Tiphanie Yanique, Willi Chen, and others have created a decidedly literary noir collection,” says the Akashic Web site. “These authors’ quality characterizations, plots, and styles concurrently reveal the country’s darkness and its appeal with an unexpected and gratifying result: In their captivating and occasionally humorous stories, the Trinidad that emerges is as intriguing and contradictory as the island and its people. Trinidad Noir is as much a delightful crime romp as it is an expose of the seedy side of life.”

Co-editor Jeanne Mason is a freelance editor who also writes short stories and poetry. She has lived in Paris, France, where she edited medical articles for US and UK journals. She currently resides in Trinidad & Tobago.

The Chalice Project

New from Macmillan Caribbean!

The Chalice Project
By Lisa Allen-Agostini

ISBN: 9781405098991
Price: £4.44
Extent: 192pp
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: 03/10/2008
Format: 196 x 129mm

Twins Ada and Evan Bridgelal live in Trincity, Trinidad, with their father Steven, a scientist. They have never met their mother and are dying to know more about yer but Steven won’t come clean about their history.

Though they don’t know it, they have a special secret, one only their father can explain. When they enter secondary school and join rugby teams, strange things start happening to them and the mystery thickens.

The Chalice Project is a science fiction, action-adventure story for 10-15-year old readers. They’ll love the characters, the story and the setting. The book is written in bold, bright, descriptive language that engages the imagination and brings the tale to life. It is part of the Island Fiction series by Macmillan Caribbean.