Homosexuality in JA

Here is a video of Sabria Hector discussing the controversial topic of homosexuality in Jamaica.

The Untitled "Love" Project

The concept for The Untitled "Love" Project was born in April. The idea of broadcasting raw teenage opinion was very exciting to us, however we initially thought no one would take it seriously if we were to do it at this stage of our lives, being teenagers ourselves. It didn't take us long to get over that worry, and we decided to pursue our dream of bringing this idea to life. In July we met with Rraine to discuss our ideas and further our inspiration. Soon filming began and we were pleasantly surprised with what was captured. We hope this film will thus enlighten and restore hope to all viewers.


You can watch the film in the link below:¨

                                                          The Untitled Love Project


By: Rebecca Williams and Amber Pinkerton

How to be Braver than your Fears:

Often times we have a goal, a dream, a place where we want to get; but we are petrified by our fears. These fears tell us these stories and these validations as to why we “can’t” possibly achieve our dreams, yet these “stories” are far irrational than we believe. For example if somebody was trying to learn how to swim and they went to the swimming pool, they have to certainly jump in to learn how to swim, but they may become fearful of the water. Now at this point, the fears will start creating these stories in our head, such as things like “swimming isn’t that cool” or “Don’t do it, your going to get hurt!” We tell ourselves these stories because it’s our bodies’ natural way of coping with fear, just as pain is an indicator to our bodies; however these stories are created in the head and we must instead act with the heart. Making mistakes and failure along the way to our dreams is just part of the process; you don’t find the Zen on top of the mountain, you find it along the path to the top. Following your dreams isn’t as so much as about achieving them, but the person you become through the trials and tribulations you face. Often times these fears are blown out of proportions, the stories in our head tell us how terrible failing would be and how humiliating it would be, but the actual failure itself is hardly ever as bad as we tend to imagine it. Lastly, successful people don’t make the right decisions, they make the decisions right. They make the best decision that they can make formulated by their intuition, thoughts, and logic; then work their hearts out to make sure the resultant is one that they seek.

Namaste,
Forrest Curran

Purple Buddha (the website)
Purple Buddha (on facebook)
Purple Buddha (on twitter)
Instagram: Purplebuddhaproject

Forget Standards

Makeup upon hair done upon outfit upon selfie
selfie, selfie, selfies everywhere
Posing
trying to look your best
to impress someone who you hope will come and make you feel the best
Constantly advertising yourself
improving to achieve a standard
filters, extensions, expensive jewelry, oh god anything you can to fulfill whatever gap you feel you have
We're all guilty of going that extra mile, once, twice, maybe every single time

Can we ever feel good as we are? Can we ever be accepted for feeling good as we are?
We stress "be yourself" but also "look your best"
Who's best? Yours? Clearly not mine.
How rare has it become to just do your thing and feel fine?
We're barely given the chance to breathe with all the opinions being shoved down our throats
What about us? How I feel about me?
Why is it so hard to mentally erase the standards I'm always being reminded to be?
Why can't I remember the last time I wasn't in any way trying to impress?
What has happened to natural beauty and loving yourself?
or have we too become industrialized, like the world around us?

You, reading this right now, b re a t h e.
Forget for a moment about all the things you feel the need to be, and let your shoulders sag in relief
You are
as you are
and there is beauty in that.

I know in about one minute you'll slowly go back to living up to some supposed standard but please remember, you were made to smile
and that's so much easier to do once you forget about them

By: Rraine Hanson, photo by: Victoria Bucknor

So Below

The sun was high, and so were we
we felt ourselves in every stone and tree
the universe was at chaotic peace
and every I upgraded to we-s
every egotistical illusion dissipated
the sun, earth, and us were never realized to be so intimately related

The sun was high, above the ocean deep
lulling our sorrows into desperate sleep
fire blazing in the skies, and fire blazing in our hearts
fire nourishing the blunt, the same fire tearing us apart
we are consumed by our desires, in reality shall manifest
but what about the kid whose reality is warped, everything he detests
he's always high, so begins to feel HELL kinda low

then we belt out to the heavens everything we now know:
it's all a dream, the only reality is perception
fuck an elitist media and their beautiful deception
and our experience of the other blesses us with this world for the taking
and if woe is ME, and it feels like shit, it's cause shit is the real "ME", so in love with faking

The sun was high; as in heaven, on earth
I felt true love, by feeling US and feeling what life was really worth
The dirt was beneath me, and the past was behind
We were in the astral plane with a lighter and more green to grind
The high of which we speak, drugs aren't a prerequisite seed
all is necessary is a clear mind, free your soul and let the energy bleed

The sun was high but now the sun is descending
back to Vaishvaanara, but our minds keep ascending
If the entire world was to feel this, they'd dispose of every gun
Logic worked overtime to see barriers, but in that moment there was absolutely none.

By: Shaq Palmer

Land of the Free?

So I'm an artist. I can draw, I like photography and all that jazz, but really I like to paint. I don't just pull random things out of my head, and not every one of my pictures have a deeper meaning. Sometimes I just see a picture I like and recreate it, changing a few things. However I have done a few paintings that really mean something. Lately, I've been feeling patriotic - seeing as i'm leaving soon - but torn too: I love America, but I love Jamaica too. So I recently painted a picture that kind of reflects this. I was searching the net for nice graffiti about America and saw a picture of a girl painted on a wall. I had already done a painting about Jamaica and had been meaning for quite some time to do one about America. I figured, well this is good, I'll just turn her hair into the American flag. While I was doodling the basis for my picture however, I messed up her mouth and, taking the easy way out, I put a bandanna over it. I thought it was a great idea, but it didn't really work because you see Americans do have freedom of speech. So I switched it to her eyes, because Americans can be blind to the things around them. They chant over and over their anthem, their pledges, they see America as the place everyone wants to live. They see but they don't see. This saddens me greatly; Americans have a fire in their heart as multicolored and bright as the hair of the girl in my painting, but many are blinded by their love for their country. A lot of people think America is this great and wonderful country, and don't get me wrong, I love it, but it's not everything. When I came to Jamaica I thought that 3 whole years here would be hard, and I’d miss the US everyday and unbearably . However, the question eventually became not how soon can we move back to the US, but instead, how much longer can I stay here. Everyone is so desperate to go to the big places, to move to Canada, or America, and they don't appreciate this little, beautiful, amazing island they live on - full of violence I know, but still wonderful. Don't be in such a rush to leave, don't move through life with your blinders on. Don't see a country, hear what people have to say, and believe what is seen. The foreign places aren't where you should strive to go, life in these places isn't fun and games and a variety of stores for shopping. Seeing is believing, so make sure your country, your society, even your friends and family haven't got you blindfolded.

By: Allegra Martschenko

Bob.

Many people wonder what it is. What what is? -----------------------

That. Something. What pushes a man over the edge? Causes him to collapse under the pressure of society. Are they the mad ones? Or are we? Who decides what is sane? Who decides right from wrong? Picture this. A man named Bob. Bob is an average forty something family guy. He has two children, John and Kate, with his wife Maria. Bob works at an accounting firm, he is the CFO. He goes to work everyday just like the last and the one after (or was it before?). All the same. So one day, Bob comes home, goes into his room and blows his fucking brains out. See all of us are Bob. All of us are on the verge of falling apart in this facade of a society we live in. No. You. Yes, you. Me? Who? All of us? No one. Infinity. None of it matters. We are here now. DO YOU WANT TO DIE LIKE BOB? Of course not, well, maybe not. The point is, there is no point. Visualize the point and observe it while it collapses upon itself as you come to realize there was never a point to begin with. All that was there, was possibility. The possibility of everything and nothing. The possibility of a tangent universe intertwined with our own. The possibility of a single string connecting everything. The possibility of no possibility. No possibility? How can that be? BECAUSE it is incorrect grammar to begin a sentence with because. The thing is, the significance (or lack thereof) of yourself, as an individual being is astounding. Really, you do not matter. Then again, nothing does, but if it did, would you? Could you not have done it? What are we waiting for? WHY is it that we think things must get better? What once was is no longer, so do not look towards the future with nostalgia, there is nothing there for you. THAT IS, unless you create it. We are on a sphere. Well, not exactly. The Earth’s rotation causes it to bulge a bit around the equator. This somewhat spherically shaped object is about 2,195,019,000,000,000,000,000 bigger than you. This earth is revolving around a ball of flaming gas 1,300,000 times bigger than itself. This is happening in a galaxy that is 9,460,730,472,580,800,000 km wide in a universe unfathomably larger that fucktuples in size every second. As I said previously, we are terribly insignificant and our lives meaningless. Yet fear not, because meaninglessness is beautiful, pointlessness sows the seeds of euphoria upon which we can forge a blissful existence, the only one we have. Remember Bob? Bob grew weary on his travels along the yellow brick road, and that’s fine for Bob. Who its not fine for, is us. It may be true that good and bad are social constructs created to control the masses, however, it is undeniable that positivity inspires itself. It is a spark, which could ignite a forest fire that would kill thousands of animals and no doubt leave more than a few people homeless. Better metaphors have been used, but the message is understood (hopefully) that positivity creates positivity creates positivity. And though we don’t matter in the scheme of things, we might as well use our meaningless existences the best we can, right? So, GET UP OFF YOUR MOTHERFUCKING ASS AND GO DO SOMETHING THAT WILL BENEFIT SOCIETY YOU SELFISH SMALL MINDED PIECE OF SHIT WHO LIES IN THE BOWELS OF THE HUMAN CONDITION make a change.

By : Joshua Meeks

Life

Ever have a feeling in your chest?
Ever never use a condom?
Ever lie to someone you love?
Ever been down and watch the sun rise?
Ever not see that demon, but you feel him?
Ever dress up, so you won't be looked down at?
Ever have a dream be a nightmare?
Ever sit alone in classroom 115 with 200 other people?
Ever eat just because you knew you should?
Ever run forty miles a week for three years, just to get away?
Ever feel fully empty?
Ever break something to make yourself, feel better?
Ever hurt yourself on accident?
Ever hurt yourself on someone else?
Ever breathe deep and smile, laugh, run, tell a joke, party, kiss, hug, hold, smell good, give to charity, hold the door open, help, reach out, or love?
If so, you're alive. Don't waste an opportunity to create something good with your life.

By: Semaj Chaffee

Truth Of A Capitalist World

Now what is it like to live in a world, where everyone seems so unaware of what’s really going on; a world where mass killings are transformed into mere capsules of news? Everything seems so bland and so tasteless, the daily goings of life, and in the grand scheme of things what are we but one insignificant human being. But this defeatist mentality is pointless, as I believe that we as humans have been given the most empowering effort of hope. Through hard labour one can always bear fruits, which literally translates through great effort comes great reward. Recently I have been going back and forth through repeating paradigm shifts, the grandiose ideals of socialism and the sweet pleasures of capitalism. I remember when I first read Karl Marx’s the communist manifesto; every page seemed to call to me, I was so enthralled by the books ideas. Reminiscent of Ginny Weasley reading Tom Riddle’s diary, every page seemed to whisper to me. Each page was like a new secret, and with each new secret, my eyes became ever more crimsoned red while staring at the evils of capitalism. Everywhere I saw excess, and everything became unfair. Almost every BlackBerry message I sent to any poor girl I talked to was plagued, with all my thoughts on how evil society was and how unfair things were. I had an argument for everything and everyone, and truthfully it was a god dammed good one. Whenever people ask how can you like socialism and, “how would you feel if you worked hard to become a doctor and a bum was to earn the same money as you?”. I simply replied with either the conservative answer “socialism would be perfect if there were infinite supplies” or if it’s a closer less judgmental friend maybe I would try to battle them in witty conversation to defeat their pre-programmed anti-socialist brains set up by Reagan and Thatcher in the 1980's. The true belief of socialism, the core that is at the foundation of all its values, is the belief that we as people all are equal, therefore should be afforded with equal chance and opportunity to live and be happy.  Now how can I say it’s fair that due to the luck of me being born into a family who happens to be financially blessed, I am getting an education? Many people simply do not have the same opportunities as I am blessed with. Now based on this perception of this world I began to develop the buy-back theory based on a family’s economic clout. Think about it as a poker game except some people have to try much harder to succeed. For example if you are from a poor family and you end up going to primary school where the teachers aren't of the highest quality, you will have to put in a lot more effort than a child in prep school in order to maintain the same standard of work.The thing is if you mess up you fail, and your whole life is sent on a downward spiral into a seemingly endless poverty trap that your children and your children’s children will be trapped in for seemingly ever. This sounds grim but it’s true. While on the other hand if you were in prep school and started to slip up mommy or daddy would simply send you to extras. These extras can be seen as a buy back: literally buying back your chance at success. Depending on the economic clout of your family this can be done a seemingly endless amount of times. From paying private tutors, to paying full tuition at college to getting your job at your parents business, this is all buy-back. But this voice that I speak in seems condescending, it almost seems like I’m telling you if you’re poor you will remain poor.  The sad thing is, this is mostly true. In the rare occasion you see that boy or girl who will defeat all adversity and become successful. In the rare case you see that boy who will sit under the street light just in order to study, because his parents can’t afford light. In the rare case you will see a girl who always finds herself at the public library borrowing books, because her parents can’t afford them. Most people simply cannot live up to the amount of effort required to succeed in life from the current situations they are in. While our parents can genuinely promise us success, as long as we play our simple part in getting to school on time and doing homework. That is the first thing I noticed wrong with capitalism.

Words to live by:

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