2026 Update

Another year trying to be creative in the madness

Hello my friends,

Happy Sunday

It has been almost a year since I last posted an update. Honestly, living between three worlds, it has been hard to process the destabilization of the world as I know it. To me, it feels as if 2018 was the last year of anything that seemed normal.

I started with this platform when it was first launched and was excited to find a space where it was just about writing and learning how to write. And then, like anything digital, the goals of the platform quickly shifted and became very political and more Twitter-like. Now it has become more Instagram - like and at one point last year it did not become a safe space from unwanted negative comments from people I did not know. This change didn’t sit well with me, and I found it a distraction from just pure writing. It was confusing, and I felt shallow just writing about what I thought were frivolous things- living a soft life in Italy.

Over the past year, I decided to focus on what I thought I could control. Istarted a non profit the Caribbean Aquaculture Hub - a consortium of Caribbean and International Aquacutlrure Scientists working together to increase the awareness of Blue Foods and Aquaculture for Caribbean Region. I work with young scientists and women aquaculturists who want to learn more and contribute to food security and marine conservarion in the Caribbean. Please check out our website to learn more

https://www.caribbeanaquaculturehub.com/

I also have another Substack created for this community. If you are interested please subscribe to learn more

I definitely cannot control what I see happening in America. After all, I chose to leave it. In early 2020, during COVID, while still living in New Jersey, I felt the hostility towards science, blackness, and immigrants. I am all three, and I took it as a personal attack. I became scared for myself and my family. It was difficult to live in a country that did not want or value what I had to offer. So we decided to move to Italy to be closer to my husband’s family and our community of friends that we have known for years. I also wanted to raise a child in an environment that did not constantly remind us about race. In my mid 50s, I wanted to live my next years in an environment that was kind and stress-free at the same time, contributing towards something that can make my community better.

Living in the quiet of a hilltop village, I found a peace and clarity that opened up space for innovation and creativity. Without the excessive anger ( and I had a lot of it) that I carried from America, releasing it in the kindness and silence of nature, I found mental space to be more productive. In the last 2 years, I found more productivity and discipline to focus than I had ever found. In 2023, I self-published my first book, which is a collection of poems and essays that tell the journey from wanting to leave Jamaica - the country of my birth - for the American Dream. Twenty years later, wanting to leave it and found a new home in Italy, which provided the dream that I needed.

If you are new here, you can see more about my life in Italy on this website and on my WordPress blog. I have done interviews and contributed to guest sites in the last 5 years.

I am back with new insights and clarity on how to use this platform. I have now come to terms with writing about the soft side of life - I think we all need to save space for it in our lives, especially if you are not directly in the line of fire. It is not to be unaware of the realities, but also to show another side of the world and life. This year, I will be posting more on writing and learning how to be a better writer. It’s an art which has helped me to communicate the feelings and thoughts that I experience living between three worlds- The Caribbean, USA and Italy.

I have taken up oil painting, and I have been making ceramics for the last 4 years. Both forms of art are immense stress relievers. I will be sharing with you my progress.

I would love to hear from you, so please feel free to drop me kind comments or send me a message. I will be utilizing this platform in its Notes space (which is similar to Twitter) to share photos and video clips (similar to Instagram). Since I don’t utilize Twitter and Instagram publicly, I have adapted by doing all these forms of communication on Substack.

Please feel free to share this newsletter with friends and family, especially if you are Jamaican living in the Diaspora and want to learn more about living in Italy.

Have a great week

Juli