Vinciman Ponders

“Hey, young world, the world is yours.” This lyric from Damian Marley’s song ‘ So a Child May Follow ‘ echoed in my mind during the 2019 graduation season. It’s a simple phrase, but it carries a powerful charge—especially for a generation stepping into a world shaped by multiculturalism, digital connectivity, and global possibility. Many of the students I teach, including my daughter, graduated from community college that year. Their lives are already glocal—rooted in local experience but shaped by global currents. My daughter, for example, carries the lived experience of being Vincentian, Jamaican, and American. She, like many in her generation, interacts with multiple cultures daily through social media, education, and community life. As someone who has spent nearly three decades working in higher education across three national contexts, I offer this message to graduates: Think intentionally in a glocal way. Sociologist George Ritzer defines glocalization as “the interpen...

From Taboo to Tourist Attraction It was the winter of 2019, and I was driving along Route 7 in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, when I noticed a long line of people braving the frigid cold outside a building. My first thought? It must be a new, wildly popular restaurant—perhaps one of those farm-to-table spots that draw weekenders from New York. But I was wrong. The crowd wasn’t waiting for artisanal soup or wood-fired pizza. They were queued up for a newly opened recreational cannabis dispensary. And the lines didn’t disappear after the novelty wore off—they persisted for months. That moment jolted me. As an educator committed to fostering societal consciousness, I realized I hadn’t been paying close attention to a significant shift unfolding in my own community. I knew that Massachusetts had legalized recreational marijuana in 2016, but I hadn’t tracked the rollout of dispensaries or considered the broader implications of this cultural transformation. Why Should Non-Users Car...

Recently, while waiting for a flight, I had a brief but thought-provoking conversation with an experienced trade unionist. We spoke about leadership—specifically, the prospects of a Caribbean opposition leader gaining political power in an upcoming election. His view was candid: the leader lacked the stature of a former opposition figure or the current prime minister, and therefore had limited chances of success. That comment stayed with me. It got me thinking: what matters more in political leadership—stature, as measured by past accomplishments, or the ability to articulate a compelling vision for the future? Of course, leadership is multifaceted. Charisma, integrity, communication skills, and strategic thinking all play a role. But in this moment, I’m interested in the tension between two qualities: the weight of a leader’s résumé and the power of their vision. Take Boris Johnson’s victory in the 2019 UK election. His success wasn’t just about his track record—it was about his...

Somewhere between New York City and Port of Spain, Trinidad—high above the clouds—I found myself reflecting on an exhibition I had seen a week earlier at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. It was titled When Home Won’t Let You Stay: Migration through Contemporary Art , and it lingered in my mind like a quiet echo. I began to think about the things people leave behind when they travel long distances, especially across borders. What do these traces represent? Travel, whether voluntary or forced, leaves behind more than footprints. It leaves stories—fragments of lives, moments of desperation, and glimpses of hope. Photographer Richard Misrach’s contribution to the ICA exhibition was a large grid of images taken between 2013 and 2015, documenting items left behind by migrants crossing from Mexico into the United States. These objects—discarded water bottles, shoes, prayer cards—speak volumes. They are silent witnesses to human struggle, resilience, and the painful choices made in...

I was walking along Yonge St in Toronto when I captured the scene of male construction workers beneath a poster of two female fashion models. The reverse image can be found in the world, i am sure of women construction workers being, as it were, overlooked by male fashion models, but it will be rare. The implied traditional gendered script by the photo is real and pervasive despite progress in gender equality. Yonge St., Toronto, 2019 - construction workers laying pipe outside of a  women's clothing store.