RKS Literature: A Jamaican Soldier Reflects on Food and Women (Andrea Levy)

“My mirror spoke to me. It said: ‘Man, women gonna fall at your feet’. In my uniform of blue-from the left, from the right, from behind-I looked like a god. And this uniform did not even fit me so well. But what is a little bagging on the waist and tightness under the arm when you are a gallant member of the British Royal Airforce? Put several thousand Jamaican men in uniform, coop them up while, Grand Old Duke of York Style, you march them to the top of the hill and then back down again, and they will think of nothing but women. But not this group I travelled with to America. Not Hubert, not Fulton, not James, not even me. Because every last one of us was too preoccupied with food. The only flesh we conjured was the sort you chewed and swallowed.”

Andrea Levy, “Small Island”, 2003.

RKS Literature: Coloreds Coming to England for Spectacles and Good Grins Courtesy of NHS

“For the teeth and glasses.”

That was the reason so many colored people were coming to this country, according to my next-door neighbour Mr Todd.

‘That National Health Service-it’s pulling them in, Mrs Bligh. Giving things away at our expense will keep them coming.’ He said. He might have had a point except, according to him, they were all cross-eyed and goofy before they got here.

“I don’t think so’ I said.

‘Oh yes’, he assured me. “But now of course, they’ve got spectacles and perfect grins.’

Andrea Levy, “Small Islands”, 2003.

RKS Literature: A Jamaican Thrilled at the Possibility to Move to 1948 England (Andrea Levy)

“But what aroused her more than anything else about this man was the thrill of knowing that he wanted to make a life for himself in England. She could see herself ringing the bell on that tall house. He wants to return to England soon. She would sail far away from this island, safe in the arms of her handsome RAF man, to a place where he told everyone walked on a blanket of gold.”

Andrea Levy, “Small Island”, 2003.

RKS Health: The Great Hernia Adventure: It’s Official Now: Welcome to the Hernia Club

Those people in the white coats have summoned you to award you membership in the Hernia Club. There are some 700,000 hernia repairs each year in the United States and 100,000 in the United Kingdom. There is not much exclusivity in the Hernia Club.

No ribbons. No gold stars. But most likely some bruising and surgical scars.

Some questions you may want to pose to the white coats particularly for hernia surgeons as general practitioners usually can only offer basic answers but if general practicioners are offering you referrals for specialized treatment they should offer some justification for that/those referrals i.e. informed choice by you is the key.

What exactly is my hernia type and why did it happen?

What is the short- and long-term prognosis?

How will I know if it worsens?

How severe/advanced is it?

I have certain pre-existing conditions so how will a hernia affect them?

What are the treatment options for it?

Is there no other option other than surgery?

If surgery is involved what type of surgery?

What is the recovery period for each surgery?

What is the experience of the surgeon?

Will hospitalization be required?

Can we take a wait and see position?

What type of hernia surgeries are available and what are the risks/side effects of each?

How will a hernia affect my lifestyle?

How can I manage my hernia in the interim?

Are any of the medications and supplements I am on exacerbating my hernia?

In a perfect world all your questions and many possible answers would be provided to you in some written or electronically accessible format. We do not live in a perfect world. Dr. Google calls. Particularly helpful is discussing your hernia with friends or colleagues who have graduated from the Hernia Club.

Note that a thorough physical hernia examination may reveal more than one hernia!

RKS Literature: The “Superiority” of White Women in 1948 Jamaica (Andrea Levy)

“I hungered to make those children regard me with as high an opinion as I had for the principal and tutors at my college. Those white women whose superiority encircled them like an aureole, could quieten any raucous gathering by just placing a finger to a lip. Their formal elocution, their eminent intelligence, their imperial demeanour demanded and received obedience from all that beheld them. As I prepared my lessons for the next day, I resolved to summon every tissue of purpose within me to command that class to look on me with respect.”

Andrea Levy, “Small Island”, 2003.

RKS Health: The Great Hernia Adventure: Jelly and the Ultrasound Roll

Your physician has diagnosed a hernia of sorts and there are several types and if its an inguinal hernia the next step in the journey will usually be an inguinal ultrasound. Move those underpants down, let the gel flow and the wand does its magic. No preparation No pain. No fuss. No loss of dignity. Thirty minutes you are done. You are rolling closer to your destiny.

An ultrasound report will be sent to the requesting physician and most likely you’ll be contacted by that physician’s office for a follow up appointment welcoming you to the hernia club.

RKS 2025 Film: “Super Happy Forever”: Perhaps Instead “Eternally Miserable”

In “Super Happy Forever”, a Japanese feature film, director Kohei Igarashi plays with your mind right off the bat with the film’s name. A cultish misnomer. A fantasy. The film is more a dive into unhappiness derived from wishful thinking. And temporally Igarashi plays with you but not me as I have the film down perfectly as you are about to read and realize me for the savvy critic I am. Are you gong to fall for that five-year gap stuff and her death?

The film starts, where it might well have ended if Igarashi wasn’t throwing red caps at your noggin. The quasi-schizophrenic Sano (Hiroshi Sano) and his friend Miyata (Yoshinori Yamamoto) are vacationing on the beautiful Izu Peninsula at a beachside resort hotel. In the hotel lobby they encounter frustrated perpetually giggly photographer Nagi (Nairu Yamamoto). Sano and Nagi make eye contact watching a hotel guest nodding off with her cell phone just about to hit the ground when she awakes grabbing it before it hits the floor. They introduce each other on a pleasure cruise off the coast, have lunch with Miyata and the three go clubbing.

Before entering the club Sano purchases a ratty red cap for Nagi a central part of the film.

After clubbing Nagi and Sano stop for instant noodles they consume on the sidewalk and it is clear they may have a deepening affinity for each other. Returning to the hotel on the same floor will either make a move toward further physical intimacy? Nope, agreeing instead to meet at 8:00 a.m. for breakfast. The breakfast never occurs and it is not entirely clear (love the mystery here) why except for an admission by Sano he feared Nagi no longer wanted him. No furtherance of a relationship.

Despondent Sano, once jolly, rapidly transforms into a moody regretful if not belligerent character searching for the symbol of his unrequited relationship with Nagi, the red cap. The relationship is dead and failing to recognize that Sano stubbornly searches for the red cap full of regret and dashed expectations. Nagi is little more than a legendary ghost on the pier. A wish of Sano escalated in his mind to mythical proportions. The five-year period is but a figment of his imagination increasing, at least logically, his misery.

If you are roaring with laughter at my interpretation smarty pants viewers answer me this question; Why would Sano wear the same t-shirt for 5 years? Gotcha!

And the Vietnamese chamber maid wearing the red cap. Sorry Sano…man were you deceived!

Of course, I am totally wrong but I had so much fun with the film. Hiroshi Sano plays a convincingly schizophrenic role as an enamoured chicken little then a miserable son of a bitch. The epitome of Super Miserable Most of The Time.

“Fun” is a weak word to be avoided by a literate film critic but I haven’t had as much fun with this film as I have had in a long time!

Catch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn_3H9K7fsY

In Canada opens in Montreal 13June2025.

RKS 2025 Film Rating 91/100.

RKS Literature: The American Evangelist Mr. Ryder Spreads More Than Just the Good Word in Jamaica


“So it was no one’s surprise that gossip about the Ryders followed close behind: in shops, under the shade of trees, on street corners, at the food tables, the busybodies discussed when they saw Mr Ryder where Mr Ryder should not have been. When a pretty woman produced a fair skin baby with a completely bald head, the men who sat with their dominoes sucked their teeth and whispered that Mr Ryder was spreading more than just his love of learning.”

Andrea Ryder, “Small Island”, 2004.

RKS Literature: The Twitching and Frothing Evangelists (Andrea Levy)

“The Ryders were evangelists and Mr Phillip had no time for evangelists.  He did not like the way that people moved by the spirit of the Lord threw themselves to the ground shaking and frothing at the mouth like beasts. He could not understand that, as the service came to a close, those same people could be seen politely shaking the preacher’s hand as they left the church. He said, “The spirit of the Lord cannot come and go in people so quickly.”

Andrea Levy, “Small Island”, 2004.

RKS Literature: “Little Miss High-class from Jamaica Arrives in 1948 London” (Andrea Levy)

“Man, this woman is a barb under my skin-she irritate me so I lose my temper. I tell her. “Yes, and you know what else, little Miss Stick-up-your-nose-air, you will have to wash your plate, your vegetable and your backside in that basin too. This room is where you will sleep, eat, cook, dress and write your mummy to tell her the Mother Country is so fine. And, little Miss High-class, one thing about England you don’t know yet because you just come off a boat. You are lucky.”

Andrea Levy, “Small Island”, 2004.