Episodes

  • TropicZonePodcast -GoingHomeDiaries- Episode Two- Herman Francis

    TropicZonePodcast -GoingHomeDiaries- Episode Two- Herman Francis
    Jan 1 2024
    Welcome to Season Two of the TropicZone Podcast. This is your host. Andrew Skerritt. This season on TropicZone features the Going Home Diaries, a series capturing a return visit to Montserrat. It features interviews with individuals who either live on their native island or those who have sought their fortunes abroad. Unlike John Agee, we believe we can go home again. At the same time, like author Jamaica Kincaid, we acknowledge that the person who returns is not the same person who left.
    During this series, we will hear from Desmond Micey Riley lives in London and owns and operates a farm in East Africa.
    Educator and calypsonian Herman Frances who founded the Small Beginnings Youth Symphony Orchestra on Montserrat.

    Dr. Graham Ryan, director of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory

    We will also hear from Sonia Charles, who uses her skill and knowledge as a medical professional in service of the health of the women of Montserrat. Even though she lives thousands of miles from home, she is a fighter against breast cancer and a champion of mammograms for Montserrat women.

    Our interview subjects include Victor Lewis, who calls himself an architect of entertainment. He is a co-founder of Caribbean One Television Network as well as the owner of VICRAE Inc., a management and production company that develops emerging and established artists. He has worked with the Legendary Third World Band.

    Playwright and poet William Bubbles Galloway, whose prose and dialogue are inspired by the richness of the culture of the land of his birth and the geography of the mountains that surround him. This is the tropicZone, Season Two, The Going Home Diaries, voices of a Native land.
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    27 mins
  • TropicZone-Season2- The Going Home Diaries: Desmond Micey Rile

    TropicZone-Season2- The Going Home Diaries: Desmond Micey Rile
    Jan 1 2024
    Welcome to Season Two of the TropicZone Podcast. This is your host. Andrew Skerritt. This season on TropicZone features the Going Home Diaries, a series capturing a return visit to Montserrat.
    It features interviews with individuals who either live on their native island or those who have sought their fortunes abroad. Unlike John Agee, we believe we can go home again. At the same time, like author Jamaica Kincaid, we acknowledge that the person who returns is not the same person who left.
    Desmond Micey Riley, who lives in London and owns and operates a farm in East Africa. During this series, we will hear from educator and calypsonian Herman Frances who founded a children’s orchestra on Montserrat.

    Dr. Graham Ryan, director of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, talks about the phenomenon that reshaped his life and the entire island.

    We will also hear from Sonia Charles, who uses her skill and knowledge as a medical professional in service of the health of the women of Montserrat. Although she lives thousands of miles from her childhood home, Sonia Charles is a fighter against breast cancer and a champion of mammograms for Montserrat women.

    Our interview subjects include Victor Lewis, who calls himself an architect of entertainment. He is a co-founder of Caribbean One Television Network as well as the owner of VICRAE Inc., a management and production company that develops emerging and established artists. He has worked with the Legendary band, Third World. Playwright and poet William Bubbles Galloway, whose prose and dialogue are inspired by the richness of the culture of the land of his birth and the geography of the mountains that surround him. This is the tropicZone, Season Two, The Going Home Diaries, voices of a Native land.
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    25 mins
  • BlackVotingMatters

    BlackVotingMatters
    Jun 21 2023
    This week as we celebrate Juneteenth, we are being reminded that Black voting matters. Our guest is Alethea Bonello, deputy field director of Black Voters Matter Fund discussing why it is important for Blacks and other underrepresented groups need to be educated about voting so that they elect individuals who are on their side. For more information visit
    WEBSITE: www.blackvotersmatterfund.org
    facebook.com/blackvotersmtr
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    24 mins
  • TropicZonePodcastEpisodeJayChristie

    TropicZonePodcastEpisodeJayChristie
    Mar 11 2023
    Episode 4 of the TropicZone Podcast features an interview with Florida A&M University School of Journalism & Graphic Communications alum Jay Christie author of the comic book, "Stink Bomb Man and the Brain Kids."

    The TropicZone is a podcast of arts and culture across the African Diaspora. Come and travel with us.
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    27 mins
  • TropicZoneEpisoode3SamsonMulugeta

    TropicZoneEpisoode3SamsonMulugeta
    Jan 22 2023
    Today many African Americans, Black British, and Caribbean people are exploring their African homeland. They are embracing the continent in increasing numbers.
    Samson Mulugeta knows Africa very well. A native of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, he worked as a foreign correspondent in 45 African countries. He lived in South Africa for more than a decade. Samson joins TheTropicZone to discuss six African countries you should visit, the topic of a recent article in the Grio.
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    34 mins
  • TropicZoneEpisode2EdwinMartinTalksAboutACricketLegend

    TropicZoneEpisode2EdwinMartinTalksAboutACricketLegend
    Jan 10 2023
    On this episode of the TropicZone, journalist and author Edwin L. Martin remembers talented former West Indian cricketer Alford Corriette, who died in Brooklyn at age 74.
    Corriette played the game when cricket was still king in the Caribbean. His exploits with a bat and ball were legendary. But at the peak of his powers, he quit the game, left his native Montserrat for America, and was rarely seen in public again. He was revered for his talents and his accomplishments. News of his death flashed across social media and message groups.
    Martin also discusses his series Terror in Town Hill, his retelling of a 1972 murder that shook the island and left the streets empty after nightfall.
    Next on the TropicZone, we will remember the Rosewood Massacre.
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    37 mins
  • TropicZoneDebutPodcast_mixdown

    TropicZoneDebutPodcast_mixdown
    Jan 1 2023
    On the debut episode of The TropicZone podcast, we hear from Dr. Clarice Barnes, an educator, cultural activist, and curator on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. Dr. Barnes is the host of Under the Tamarind Tree, a series of interviews that has been running for more than 18 years. Dr. Barnes speaks about her work and what motivates her to activism.
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    26 mins