Ward 21
Johnny Banter,Youthlink Writer

Jamaicans are 'special'; we belong to a ward by ourselves. It doesn't matter if I'm at school, on the road or holding some imaginary meditation, it's really not hard to see why we belong in number Twenty-One.

Fashion over ... sanity

The average daily temperature in Jamaica is about 20-plus degrees Celsius, right? We've seen scarves being worn in the daylight, sunglasses at night and those overbearing UGG boots that women like to wear at parties. I tolerate those trends, more or less. However, I'd like to think that there is a limit. On my way home one day, I happened upon a robust, buxom woman clad in a long, 'mink' coat. Of course, I thought (and still think) that it was faux, but the point is, why would someone choose to wear something like that in this climate?

I wonder if she knows that fake fur coat plus 12 o'clock sun equals irritable woman with chafed body parts and horrid body odour.

What it takes to be a 'champion'

Let's be honest, the average high school athlete has a facile intellect. To be fair, I'm more so speaking about the ones who do athletics and play football. From their perspective, the academically inclined are just exceedingly arrogant nerds who can't help but show them up in class/exams. Of course, the 'nerds' question their purpose in the classroom, believing they exist solely to contribute to the statistics which demonstrate the failure in the education system.

Many of us don't recognise the sacrifices these students have to make in their pursuit of ... whatever it is that they're looking for. Raise your hand if you're willing to spend four hours every day after school (plus weekends and holidays) on the field, in the sun, doing work for umpteen months, during which time your complexion will be toned down a couple notches, acne will become your best friend yet the probability that you'll be winning your event isn't that high.

Textbook teachers

I expect my teacher to be well-informed on whatever topic he/she is teaching me. I also expect said teacher to bring something to the class that is different than what is already in the text. Apparently, I expect too much. The cunning educator thinks she's smart, you know. She photocopies what is in the textbook and regurgitates the information in class, yet they accuse us of plagiarism. I'd prefer if she told us to read page 101 instead of having us waste pen ink. What's worse is that she gives us notes from Wikipedia as well.