tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7120755123134887404.post8138778323937458482..comments2015-03-16T05:32:56.170-05:00Comments on A Common Fire: JamaicaGale Kennyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09051295784299114920noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7120755123134887404.post-50507524210228281292008-07-11T18:20:00.000-05:002008-07-11T18:20:00.000-05:00Comletely agree with you about the relativity of p...Comletely agree with you about the relativity of poverty in Jamaica. What are considered essentials for a "First-World" living condition? I just looked at the Bed Bath & Beyond advertisement and realize that these "things" are what is required to live a basic life in the West - they are not even luxury but dorm room things, like shower rack, etc. Who makes them? China, of course, who's figured out that its entry into the world scene so to speak begins by taking over the manufacturing of "first-world" necessities. Alas, we, in this life, cannot live without a thing to hang your towels, drawers to keep your documents, desk lamps, etc.Joyce Chenghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02352934552525664628noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7120755123134887404.post-6535077916973325232008-07-08T08:05:00.000-05:002008-07-08T08:05:00.000-05:00Ann and I had a chat about Jamaica as a "developin...Ann and I had a chat about Jamaica as a "developing country" and the problem with this newer pc political economy term. Jamaica's developing? Really? <BR/><BR/>My tour guide told me that her husband laughs when first-worlders comment on how many Jamaican's live beneath the international poverty line. He says, I have plenty to eat, so why am I poor? I suppose not having a phone line, a washing machine, etc. qualifies as needy in the minds of many in the first world.<BR/><BR/>Of course certain first-world advantages - health care (well, I suppose that's debatable in the US), clean water (hmm, that might be too), public safety - shouldn't be taken for granted in some kind of errant glorification of poverty. But being in rural Jamaica makes you rethink what items we in the first-world have come to see as essential. <BR/><BR/>That said, I had several somewhat poor Jamaicans tell me that I absolutely needed a cell phone that works while I was on the island, but I managed without!Gale Kennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09051295784299114920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7120755123134887404.post-31014147696642966012008-07-07T21:45:00.000-05:002008-07-07T21:45:00.000-05:00Thanks, Gale, for your pictures and explanations. ...Thanks, Gale, for your pictures and explanations. It is very interesting that the Indonesians have a similar joke about Java: anything you plant will grow. My aunt Lifen says the same about Taiwan, she said that she loved planting things as a child, such as peanuts, and watch them grow miraculously. What is disheartening is that all these fertile lands seem to be living with economic poverty. This shows that there is something about wealth that is imaginary. "Capital" is just number, isn't it, whereas a banana tree is a real banana tree.Joyce Chenghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02352934552525664628noreply@blogger.com