Marie Claire
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Investigating deep-rooted beauty ideals in Jamaica
Rebekah Kebede
- US Consulate to Shanghai, Office of Provincial Relations at U.S. Department of State
Kingston, New York
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Covers:
Climate, Energy, Environment, Social justice, Caribbean, Jamaica, Food, Travel
Freelance journo writing for @Reuters, @TR_Foundation & others; social media wallflower. More frequently at instagram.com/reb.keb/
Rebekah Kebede’s Journalist Portfolio
View as a gridJamaican beaches lure tourists but calls to also make locals welcome
Reuters
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KINGSTON, Jamaica (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - One recent holiday, a carload of Jamaicans went in search of a beach to have a picnic. On an island with nearly 800 km (500 miles) of coastline, they did not think it would be hard. But it was nearly impossible.
Does Electrifying Mosquitoes Protect People From Disease?
The Atlantic
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Maybe a little, but that's not why bug zappers are so popular. An Object Lesson. Once I brought my zapper home, I spent some quality time happily waving my new magic wand at every flying insect. I was a convert. I wondered about the effectiveness.
Jamaica’s Labour Party Promised ‘Prosperity for All.’ Can It Deliver?
World Politics Review
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A year ago, Jamaican voters, tired of years of severe austerity measures, unexpectedly ushered in a new government. The left-leaning People’s National Party (PNP), which had held power for much of the past 25 years, was widely predicted to win. Instead, the conservative Jamaican Labour Party (JLP) won by a slim margin, buoyed by a campaign platform of “prosperity for all,” in part through a promised tax break for a large swath of lower-income workers.
Iconic Jamaican beach vanishing as pollution, climate change take a toll
trust.org
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Pollution and warmer temperatures have killed reefs off the shore of Hellshire Beach, allowing waves to pound it and wash away the sand.
Fighting for sex assault victims, Jamaican activist accused of crossing legal line
trust.org
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Women's rights activist arrested after she is accused of naming alleged sexual predators on social media.
Fighting for sex assault victims, Jamaican activist accused of crossing legal line
Reuters
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When Jamaican police made an arrest last week under the nation's cyber crime laws, the identity of the suspect took many by surprise - a women's rights activist accused of publicly naming alleged sexual predators on social media.
A #lifeinleggings: Caribbean women's movement fights sex assaults, harassment
news.trust.org
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"For too long, we have been too quiet. We can't keep doing things the same way and expect the different results."
FEATURE-Jamaican LGBTQ youths escape persecution in city storm drains
trust.org
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"Every day, it's life or death"
Kaci was always what she calls a "girlie boy." Growing up in her grandmother's house in Kingston, Jamaica, that was not a problem. But when her grandmother died and her uncle became her guardian, being a "girlie boy" meant trouble.
Jamaican women harassed as they "wait in vain" for justice on police shootings - report
trust.org
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By Rebekah Kebede KINGSTON, Nov 25 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Jamaican women bear the brunt of a "culture of fear" intended to intimidate families and stop them seeking justice for thousands of extrajudicial police killings on the Caribbean island, according to a report from a human rights group.
Activists call on Obama to pardon Marcus Garvey before he leaves office
Quartz
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Martin Luther King called Marcus Garvey the first man "to give millions of Negroes a sense of dignity and destiny." His philosophy of black self-determination influenced black leaders from Nelson Mandela to Jomo Kenyatta to Malcolm X. At a time when lynchings still occurred, Garvey was a firebrand who turned soapbox speeches on a Harlem...
Collards vs. Kale: Why Only One Supergreen Is a Superstar
nationalgeographic.com
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Ira Wallace knows people think collard greens aren't sexy. "It's your grandmother's food-it's not so exciting and classy," says Wallace, co-owner of the cooperative Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. That's why, when doing cooking demonstrations, she doesn't initially reveal that it's the ingredient of her wildly popular "Brazilian greens."
Poisoning the In-laws - Breakfast in Jamaica
Extra Crispy
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As I watched my in-laws pile food onto their plates, I imagined the possible headline the next day: "Fatal brunch: U.S. woman poisons in-laws." The story of how I had accidentally murdered my husband's parents would, of course, be paired with an unflattering mugshot.
Who Owns Kale?
nationalgeographic.com
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Kale is the “it” green, over all things lettuce, collard, and calloo. It even has its own hashtag: #kaleyeah! But why?
A Man Booker prize author is working on an African 'Game of Thrones' inspired by ancient empires
Quartz
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Treasure Beach, Jamaica For the last year and a half novelist Marlon James has been sifting through "boring" academic history books, doing research on African kingdoms, from the Benin Empire to the Solomonic dynasty, for his next book, dubbed the "African Game of Thrones." James became the first Jamaican to win the Man Booker Prize last year and said he considers himself a big fan and student of African literature. James' brief mention of his new project, Black Leopard, Red Wolf, late last year sparked tons of interest. Apparently, there are lots of Afrophile "Game of Thrones" fans.
Sometimes Paradise Goes Unpaved - Roads & Kingdoms
roadsandkingdoms.com
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We had assumed for years that Winnifred was dead. Fenced off, manicured, paved over. It couldn't be helped. That's the way of the world, we said. The little guy always loses.
More to Jamaica than 'anti-gay Gestapos': Man Booker winner Marlon James
Reuters
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TREASURE BEACH, Jamaica Living as a closeted gay man in Jamaica drove novelist Marlon James to such despair that he once wrote he knew he had to leave "in a plane or a coffin." He left, on a plane for the United States, seemingly confirming Time magazine's 2006 headline that the Caribbean island was "The Most Homophobic Place on Earth." Back for the Calabash International Literary Festival, which features poets, novelists and writers from across the globe, the 2015 Man Booker Prize winner said his own story was actually more complicated.
In the Caribbean, crossing borders by land and sea for safe abortions
trust.org
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While abortion is legal in countries such as Guyana, Cuba, Barbados and the Caribbean Netherlands, it is illegal or highly restricted in other areas
An Ethiopian prince's visit to Jamaica relives the birth of Rastafarianism
Quartz
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Kingston, Jamaica It was a rainy April day in 1966 when Emperor Haile Selassie came to Jamaica. As his plane landed, the rain stopped, and the tarmac was mobbed with people. The crowd shoved security forces out of the way, and official protocol had to be scrapped. Inside the plane, the Emperor waited for half an hour, surprised and overwhelmed by the enthusiastic welcome. That visit 50 years ago is the stuff of legend, retold again and again. For Rastafarians, it was a visit from a man they consider divine. For newly independent Jamaica it was the visit of an African king.
Former Jamaican 'Gangster' Says Literacy May Be the Best Way to Fight Crime
GOOD
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This story is part of an ongoing campaign called the Alphabet of Illiteracy. By using letters themselves-the foundation of reading and writing- Project Literacy examines the ways illiteracy underpins some of the greatest challenges facing the world today. Below, we explore the letter B for "bloodshed." Growing up in Bob Marley's Trench Town neighborhood, David Chang always knew what he wanted to be when he grew up. "I wanted to become a badman. That was my dream," Chang says. And he did, although his career as a "badman" (Jamaican slang for "gangster") was short-lived.
Jamaica slow to put women in positions of political power, UN report says
trust.org
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By Rebekah Kebede KINGSTON, Jamaica, March 9 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Jamaican women are largely cut off from positions of political power and need affirmative action as well as commitment from political parties to boost opportunities and train women for leadership, according to a United Nations report. Despite having had some prominent women leaders such as former Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller, the Caribbean island falls short of its own target of having women in 30 percent of decision-making positions, said the report by the U.N. Development Program (UNDP). Women make up just 20 percent of Jamaica's cabinet ministers, senators and mayors, it said.
Jamaicans hope to ease grip of violence by ending gender stereotypes
trust.org
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KINGSTON, March 7 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Be tough. Don't have feelings. Be a man and fight! Such are the messages drilled into Jamaican boys at an early age that have helped push the island nation's murder rate up 20 percent last year to a five-year high, according to a campaign trying to stem the violence by fighting gender stereotypes. The campaign, the Next GENDERation Initiative, aims to reach and teach young people living in the nation that is gripped by violent crime that has frustrated its economic development.
Jamaican opposition winning photo-finish general election, provisional results show
Reuters
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KINGSTON Provisional results showed Jamaica's opposition party narrowly winning a general election on Thursday, with promises of jobs and hefty tax cuts that appealed to voters weary of the current government's IMF-mandated austerity measures. The Jamaican Labour Party won or was ahead in 34 of 63 parliamentary seats with almost all the votes counted, the electoral commission website showed. Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller's People's National Party had been predicted to win, but polls had tightened in the last week. The PNP took 29 parliamentary seats, the provisional results showed. (Reporting by Rebekah Kebede; Editing by Bernard Orr)