No, not Elizabeth Two! I’m referring to Queen Macoomeh, a Toronto-based Trinidadian writer and well-known [to Caribbean people] internet personality.
I became familiar with Queen Macoomeh from her posts at the SpiceIslander Talkshop. Her posts are witty and funny, yet many are very thought-provoking and truthful to the core, particularly pertaining to West Indians in the diaspora. Today I came across a link to QM’s website, Commess University – which ” is not a ivy league university eh? It more resemble a solo an roti wid slight pepper university”. The word commess, of course, is a regionally recognised word meaning “confusion or controversy”, or better yet “cow mess”. (Yeah, we Caribbean people are ALWAYS scatologically incorrect)
The misson statement of Commess University is defined as:
De purpose of Commess University© is to promote understanding of de Caribbean, expressly Trinidad and Tobago and de people. All yuh hatta read dis site and bookmark it and come back offen. All yuh hatta laugh buh yuh hatta tink too. Yuh hatta realize is not only wine and gallery we good for. Yuh hatta know it have some Caribbean people who ha’ more talent in dey lil finger dan some’ah dem big pappie stars. Yuh hatta know my people sweet too bad even in between we commess. We heart in de right place and doh mine we islands small, we have a place for everybody.
All yuh go fine out what is like being an ‘away Trini’.
Emphasis mine. I love it!
A little Googling then revealed that Queen Macoomeh – aka Nathalie Taghaboni – wrote* a regular column in the Share Newspaper, a publication serving the Caribbean and Black Canadian communities in Canada. (* I say wrote because I can’t verify if Share is still in operation). QM writes in West Indian dialect, which serves to heighten the passion and sharpen the satire of her ‘tories. She’ll make you laugh out loud while shaking your head – especially as she serves up the incongruity of the Caribbean way of “being” as it relates to the North American lifestyle.
At the urging of her fans, QM took a selection of her columns and published them in 2007 as Tales from Icebox Land. Tales was an instant bestseller and as it turns out it will not be reprinted so the books are now a collector’s item; QM is considering publishing a second book however.
You can check out Queen Macoomeh’s stories, some dating back to 2002, at the Mauvais Lange faculty of Commess University. Enjoy!
Technorati Tags: queen macoomeh, caribbean author, caribbean humor
Hi there! YingYang here, live and direct from Grenada. I'm a thirtysomething, moderate-liberal, working single mother. I'm a web, TV & pop culture addict, and a passionate Caribbeanista.
the Share magazine still around