Whitney Houston is Dead
Whitney Houston the female black pop star of the 80’s and 90’s is dead. Already blog posts have gone up and statements of condolences sent and all the words of grief now hang in the Universe. And I had thought that my fingers would not type a word in memory of the iconic diva until I found out what killed her (because I like to be the person who walks away from a mess if I did not create it). But this morning the social media networks and the shops and the street boom boxes are blaring out the sound of the vocal queen. And I am moved too to grieve. I grew up in Jamaica where the songs of pop culture reign in dancehalls as loudly as the songs from our own industry. And I remember being a child in a bus singing on top of my voice Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All”. It still holds memories for me. I thought I could sing because of this song. As a young footballer and poet I sang “One Moment in Time” to myself at night, and still whisper it as I strive to my own level of greatness...