The Jamaican Jewish Cemeteries Preservation Fund (JJCPF) launched its database of Jewish burial grounds in Jamaica today. Volunteers conducted extensive cataloguing of the sites across the island between 2008 and 2017. They recorded 33 burial locations including synagogue-purchased cemeteries, family burial grounds, those that were sold and no longer exist, and plot markers which were part of an interment ground that is now on residential property.

I was fortunate enough to meet up with the volunteers during some of their annual trips, and wrote about it.I felt quite inspired by the Jewish volunteers’ dedication and their sheer enjoyment of the work, which was nevertheless quite taxing. They were mostly from New York (some with Jamaican heritage) and other parts of the United States, as well as from Jamaica. It was a fascinating experience for me, personally.

In case you missed it…

For those interested in helping to begin this project, I have finally finished the third draft of DoBetter, formerly known as BabyAcres, or Baby Floors, and am out of spoons. So, I am requesting volunteers to help with the work of providing feedback for this book, and preparing to send it out into the world, as yours, Intrepid Volunteers.

I’m still posting the rough draft sections on Wednesdays as a reminder and rallying point, until someone offers to build a site or portal for the set of communities to be built around this project. I offer Do Better as a starting point for guidelines over the next 70 years, with the understanding that the project must be shaped by those who come after me. Thus Do Better, while written by my hand, must be released into other hands to continue the journey. I prepare…

I detest the fact that try the harder I try, the worse it gets

Nothing changes, not really

People come, then people go away

This is how my world works anyway

***

These people that feign sincerity

Only feed the deep mistrust I have within me

Life is like a chessboard, formations galore

People using me, flattening me to the floor

***

They wonder why I don’t want to try

Why I fear to make my move

Who do YOU think YOU are?

Judge, Jury, Executioner?

***

What do I want? What do I need?

Someone who is an umbrella in a rainstorm

A shoulder to cry on

One that could bring peace and calm

By merely holding you, welcomed sedation

***

Learning to let go and finally realize:

Vulnerability is strength, my friends

So —Try Try Again!