This time­ly col­lec­tion asks an am­bi­tious ques­tion: af­ter six decades of in­de­pen­dence, where ex­act­ly is Trinidad and To­ba­go—and what must we do next? Across 12 da­ta-rich chap­ters, lead­ing schol­ars and prac­ti­tion­ers sur­vey the na­tion’s en­er­gy sto­ry, so­cial sec­tors, eco­nom­ic struc­ture, and gov­er­nance, then out­line a pro­gramme for re­new­al. The re­sult is an ac­ces­si­ble, of­ten brac­ing stock-take that be­longs on the desks of pol­i­cy­mak­ers and en­gaged cit­i­zens alike.

Pro­fes­sor Hol­lis Liv­er­pool, bet­ter known as Chalk­dust the ca­lyp­son­ian—ORTT—de­scribes him­self as a “Black Pow­er Catholic”: ful­ly con­scious as an his­to­ri­an of the his­tor­i­cal wrongs of the Catholic Church against Black peo­ple, yet per­suad­ed by the good­ness and pow­er of the Sacra­ments of the faith.

If it’s one thing, the Bird­song Acad­e­my has set it­self some se­ri­ous­ly am­bi­tious goals. For in­stance, the pro­gramme for its Au­gust 15 Va­ca­tion Camp clos­ing con­cert, ref­er­ences “vi­sion and cul­tur­al in­no­va­tion” as a key DNA-lev­el fea­ture of the com­mu­ni­ty in which the acad­e­my re­sides, and a main man­date of the acad­e­my.

The Su­per­novas Pa­n­yard in Sur­rey Vil­lage is, un­de­ni­ably, one of the most beau­ti­ful mu­si­cal venues in the coun­try; set in the open air in the foothills of the North­ern Range and oc­cu­pied by a young steel­band that has nev­er set lim­its on its am­bi­tions.

Er­rol Ed­ward Ma­habir nev­er wa­vered in his com­mit­ment to the im­prove­ment of T&T. His faith in the na­tion re­mained stead­fast un­til his pass­ing ten years ago.

Shelly-Ann Coop­er has al­ways known who she is. Ground­ed in her iden­ti­ty and un­fazed by neg­a­tive re­marks about her ori­gins, she proud­ly cel­e­brates the place where she was born, raised, and still lives—a small com­mu­ni­ty on Trinidad’s west­ern coast.

T&T so­ca sen­sa­tion Yung Bred­da (Akhen­aton Lewis) says he is “hum­bled and ex­cit­ed” as his run­away hit, The Great­est Bend Over (Take It Easy), gets a fresh spin with a star-stud­ded remix fea­tur­ing US R&B/Pop pow­er­house Chlöe Bai­ley and Ghana­ian vi­ral star Moliy. The remix promis­es to take the an­them’s glob­al mo­men­tum to even high­er heights.

For 15-year-old Jay­da Ram­jat­tan, the en­vi­ron­ment is more than a cause—it’s a way of life. From act­ing and po­et­ry to pageantry and ac­tivism, her pas­sions all cir­cle back to one cen­tral theme: pro­tect­ing the earth.

Fash­ion and cul­tur­al ex­perts from T&T and Cana­da are join­ing forces to cel­e­brate Caribbean cre­ativ­i­ty, cul­ture, and sus­tain­able de­sign, with a spot­light on both lo­cal and in­ter­na­tion­al de­sign­ers.

Funky Fitz En­ter­tain­ment took things to new heights with their “Al­ti­tude: Di­a­monds in the Sky” par­ty at Ilya Rooftop, San Fer­nan­do, on Au­gust 1—and what a night it was!

In Oc­to­ber, Ivy Ma­habir will re­ceive the pres­ti­gious Life­time Achieve­ment Award from the Crick­et Hall of Fame in the Unit­ed States. She will be­come the ninth re­cip­i­ent of this ho­n­our—and the first woman, the first per­son from New Jer­sey, and the first Trinida­di­an to achieve such recog­ni­tion. For more than three decades, Ma­habir has ded­i­cat­ed her life to de­vel­op­ing crick­et in New Jer­sey, leav­ing an im­pact that has been wide and far-reach­ing.

Wood­brook Sec­ondary School’s e-alum­ni body is mak­ing an ur­gent ap­peal to alum­ni, fam­i­ly, friends, and well-wish­ers to help raise $475,000 for Class of 1981 alum­nus Kurt Ger­ard Charles, who re­quires emer­gency surgery on Au­gust 28.