Ria Bacon: editor & writer

Linguist with wanderlust,
From the hills of New Guinea to the halls of the Sorbonne,
From the beaches of Bassam to the fields of Friesland,
From the catacombs of Rome to the Blue Mountains of Jamaica.
From the heather of the Veluwe to the dust of Dakar ...

Currently resident in the Land of Sea with a small tribe of kids and Mr B.

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Currently translating a manual on how to make a handpump. Background research takes ages but gives great feeling of learning something new.
2 weeks ago
@RiaBacon helloooo! i've been suffering from exactly the same problem.
2 weeks ago
@lucypepper Good to hear from you. Real life is getting in the way of my virtual self. Maybe I should outsource the overworked part.
2 weeks ago
Fat tax now! RT @AP In 20 years, some 42 percent of the U.S. population will be obese, new government report says: http://t.co/ImZK2ETt -EF
2 weeks ago
@RiaBacon i read that as: Fresh post... random outbreak. Need more sleep.
2 weeks ago

Stet in a cloud

Ria fotografia

Photo Galleries

Gallery One

Ria Galleria

Now hear dis!

FYI

Stet means "Let it stand" and is used by editors to indicate that the original text should be left untouched.

...in Arcadia ego is a pun on a painting by Poussin.

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Contact

Ria[dot]Bacon[at]gmail.com

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Me fadda dead (Part I)

Wednesday
Me fadda dead dis harftanoon. Or maybe dis mornin’, ah doan really know. Me sista she call me nah on me cell, say im was sick dis mornin an im tek a taxi to Kingston public ospital but ‘is eyes dem roll back all white in the taxi an im cyaan talk no more. De doctor dem aks im where it ‘urt an im point to ‘is ‘eart. And den im dead before dey can do anytin’.

Ah! Ah! Ah! When ah got de call ah couldn’t believe it. Ah staggered true de ‘ouse, me arms outstretch, graspin for sometin’ to grab onto, ah couldn’t see anytin’, ah was sobbin’ sooo ‘ard. Oh! Oh! Oh! me daughter she taught ah was laughin’. Ah got to de bartroom and sat on de toilet weepin’ wit’ me cellphone still to me ear.

Ah was goin’ to see im dis weekend … an now im go so quick an ah cyaan never see im again!

Thursday
Wit’ me sista we went to the ospital. Dem say cos me daddy die so quick dem doan know how he die so they haffi cut im before we can tek the body.

Friday
Nah dem goan cut im Tuesday.

An de funeral parlour dem want 80,000 dollah fe de burial. Dem tief dem! Me get 6,000 a week, me husban a likkle more. I doan know what we goan do …

Monday
Me own church woan church me daddy cos im not a member dere. Ah’m a member fe ten years at leas’ an dem woan church mi own fadda! An dem call demselve christian! Me neighbour she give me de number of a pastor who will church im, but me ‘fraid to call and aks ‘ow much im want fe de churchin.

Tuesday
Me haffi go fe see the cutting. Me aks me sistah go wit’ me but she too scare fe go.

…

Read Mi fadda dead (Part II)

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April 16th, 2006 | Tags: , , , | Category: Fnuky Kingston, Leaving this place
  • http://ban-sidhe.com/blog/ Mathieu

    Toutes mes sinceres condoleances :-(

  • Ria

    Thanks, Mathieu, but it’s a fictionalized version of a friend’s experience.

  • http://www.madbull4.net/weblog/ Mad Bull

    Actually, after reading it for a bit, I guessed that it wasn’t YOUR father… Life is rough, I guess. :(

    I hope the lady who is really going through this does gets through this hard time and that she will somehow be able to bury her father.

    Perhaps you should suggest the option of cremation. Thats the option my family took when my father died in 2003. No need to fatten the pockets of the mortuary owner, plenty other people will see to that.

    She probably needs her money more for her living relatives, her husband and herself anyway.

  • http://www.cmatheson.info/ charles

    The high cost of funerals….. just a fact of life in Jamaica :(

  • http://ban-sidhe.com/blog/ Mathieu

    ah, j’aime mieux ca!

  • http://www.aflickeringlight.com Waterhot

    That’s a wonderful rendition, Ria. Reading it through out aloud I can’t help but imitate the accent and lower my voice by several tones the way I feel compelled to do when I read Benjamin Zephaniah or Linton Kwesi Johnson lyrics. And strangely, the story is even more moving read that way.

  • Ria

    But no one spotted the literary borrowing at the beginning …

  • http://iang.livejournal.com iang

    you have a good ear for patois. you could write for the star which seems to be the only paper that publishes patois. anyways it is interesting to read your journal, i spent two years in kingston as a Peace Corps Volunteer. My wife worked in Grants Pen which was featured in your youtube video of your commute home.

  • WISugar

    Is Ja Patois your native tongue? It is so accurate.
    This churching business is a serious thing here.
    Cremation? Forget about it, this seems to be something only people who can afford an expensive funeral will do. The poorer you are, the more money you want to spend on a showy ‘send off’> Any one see the last Sunday Gleaner with the house and car mausoleums?

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