“I should have been going to dances, larking with men who had Clark Gable hair and whispered in my ear I was as pretty as an English rose. My legs should have been caressed in silk stockings, a pointed toe and a delicate heel on my shoe as I stepped from a car. I shouldContinue reading “RKS Literature: Butcher’s Daughter Stuck on the Farm in Rural England”
Category Archives: literature
RKS Literature: World War II Luck in England (Andrea Levy)
“Luck is a funny thing. To some only a large win of money at the pools is luck. Or finding a valuable jewel at your feet on a London street. That surely is luck. But during the war luck take another turn. The bomb that just miss you is luck. Only your leg blown offContinue reading “RKS Literature: World War II Luck in England (Andrea Levy)”
RKS Literature: Lynching Welcoming Party for Jamaican Soldiers in Virginian U.S. Army Base: A Warm American Welcome
“I soon realized we were lucky the American authorities did not let us off the camp in Virginia. We West Indians, thinking ourselves as good as any man, would have wandered unaware, greeting white people who would have swung us from the nearest tree for merely passing the time of day with them. And myContinue reading “RKS Literature: Lynching Welcoming Party for Jamaican Soldiers in Virginian U.S. Army Base: A Warm American Welcome”
RKS Literature: A Jamaican Contemplates Fighting a White Man’s War (Andrea Levy)
“Perhaps my cousin Elwood was right, ‘Man this is a white man’s war. Why you wanna lose your life for a white man? For Jamaica, yes. To have your own country, yes. That is worth a fight. To see black skin in the governor’s house doing more than just serving at the table and sweepingContinue reading “RKS Literature: A Jamaican Contemplates Fighting a White Man’s War (Andrea Levy)”
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 whenContinue reading “RKS Literature: A Jamaican Soldier Reflects on Food and Women (Andrea Levy)”
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 toContinue reading “RKS Literature: Coloreds Coming to England for Spectacles and Good Grins Courtesy of NHS”
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 inContinue reading “RKS Literature: A Jamaican Thrilled at the Possibility to Move to 1948 England (Andrea Levy)”
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 imperialContinue reading “RKS Literature: The “Superiority” of White Women in 1948 Jamaica (Andrea Levy)”
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 completelyContinue reading “RKS Literature: The American Evangelist Mr. Ryder Spreads More Than Just the Good Word in Jamaica”
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 peopleContinue reading “RKS Literature: The Twitching and Frothing Evangelists (Andrea Levy)”
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 