the world according to channie

De ring did get wan big, black stone that fix into it. People seh dat if you gat problem and you look in de stone, you does know wah fuh do. The stone does be like TV. But nah everybady can see ting in de ring, though. The pandit who own dis ring seh dat […]

Stories – wild and scary, funny and astonishing, sad and tearful – abound in the rural villages of my country. They are calculated to scare, to warn, to teach, and to entertain, and even to mock those who fall from grace. In these villages where are no libraries, no cinemas, no screens, the people find […]

My daughter’s friend, V. is a wise young woman and a pragmatist. She never hesitates to tell her friend what she thinks. One of her favorite aphorisms to her dear friend is… “Ting fuh cry, you ah laff.” or as we Guyanese might put it…. “Why some people stay suh?” I does think bout this […]

I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think. Rumi Too often, we allow ourselves to be seduced by societal norms and laws which circumscribe the ways in which we define ourselves. I am a doctor, engineer, professor….I am the mother/ wife/ daughter / friend of…..mostly someone […]

Two poems to celebrate beauty of trees, and the oldest living thing on the planet- a Douglas Fir. It is strangeStanding hereBeneath the whispering treesFar away from the haunts of men.Tell me, trees!What are you whispering?When I am deadI shall come and lieBeneath your fallen leaves…But tell me, trees!What are you whispering?They shall bury meBeneath […]

Maybe you have heard the story of the bird who tried to put out a flame. If you haven’t, then listen as I tell it to you now. The king, Nimrod, had set a huge fire and thrown the Prophet Abraham into the flames to kill him in punishment for his faith. A bird perched […]

(Light upon light) A Prayer for Guidance For my children and their children, and for my siblings and their children and grand children “Allahu nur us samah wati wal ardh” (Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth.)“Our Lord, You are Light.Your face is Light. Your hijaab is Light.Your throne is Light.You are […]

This essay is dedicated to a group of very special students of mine. 12/28/2020 A few days ago, I received this email from someone who is now a retired CPA living in New York and who had been my student in the high school, where I taught many, many (nearly 50) years ago. I had […]

“ SO YOU THINK YOU’RE RETIRED….?” HA! On a bright Monday morning years ago, I received an email from my friend Ellie. The message read, “Four years, three months and five days to go…”. Ellie had begun her countdown to retirement, to that coveted place which said NO WORK, no getting up at 5:00 a.m. […]

The word “ family” denotes a group of people who share the same bonds in the same home. While the greater number of members of this group may share the same genetic codes, there will be others in the group who have been added through circumstances – marriage and adoption. It is in this setting […]