Dr. Herma Meade Thompson / Dr. Indiana Robinson
Indiana: As an adult, I have always collected Jamaican proverbs from as far back as I can remember and I thought it was time to issue a book of my collection but with a twist. My book is titled, A Collection of Animal-Inspired Jamaican Proverbs and Social Commentary, Infused with Songs and Artists. Of course, the twist is that it requires readers to fill in the animal blanks while enjoying a trip down memory lane with Jamaican songs related to the proverbs along with the name of the artist. The trip down memory lane for me was less challenging than it could have been because of my love for listening to old reggae music and I have a spouse in the reggae musical fraternity.Herma: I have a fascination with any utterance or literary device that requires some 'working out' to get the full understanding or deeper meaning in the message being conveyed. Metaphors, fables, and apologies fall into this category, but proverbs are a favorite because they are shorter and often more striking in its effect. A proverb can sum up a situation so succinctly and so effectively, that no lengthy explanations or discourse is necessary. It is no wonder then that proverbs have been used in popular songs in Jamaica and other islands in the Caribbean. If however you also know your Jamaican songs from mento days to ska, rocksteady, and now reggae and all its many forms, you will do not just ok, but great. Let me not stop here. If you know the artists who recorded the songs, you will be in the best position to excel at this game! You might be curious as to why we focused the book on animal proverbs only. My interest grew out of working on my 20-plus children’s book series Also, we as a collaborative always had an interest in proverbs as evidenced by two proverb-inspired social commentary books honoring the Pioneers’ Reggae Group for dedicating 50 years to the Jamaican musical fraternity. The books are entitled: First Book of Proverbs and Social Commentary in and of the Songs and Second Book of Proverbs and Social Commentary in and of the Songs. In these two publications, not only did we expound on the Pioneers’ songs embedded with proverbs; but we also added related proverbs based on the context of the songs.You can see readers, we managed to combine the two efforts, proverbs and music, into this one activity to confound your mind and get you going crazy in figuring out these puzzles. Enough of the chatter! Let’s get this ball rolling and start those blanks-a-filling.
