It was 1986, Police Academy 3 was at the Carib Theatre, Janet Jackson's "what have you done for me lately" was everywhere, In Kingston Brigadier Jerry's "Jamaica, Jamaica" was playing on every dancehall sound system, and our cousin Rosie had turned Big 9 upside down.

It was 1986 Calabar had just won Boys Champs, Beres Hammond's 'Groovy little thing' was playing on every sound system, 'we are the world'won a Grammy , the Haley's comet made an appearance and my family changed forever.

It was 1986 , Sophia George's hit song Girlie, girlie was playing on all radio stations, Ray Charles was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of fame and I witnessed The Challenger disaster.

It was 1986, Pretty in Pink was in movie theaters, there was a flood that killed over 40 people in Jamaica, Aruba got its independence from Curacao and I found out what the word Lesbian means

#Jamaica

#Kingston

#LGBTQ

It was 1985 The color Purple was in movie theaters, Sukiyaki was being played by all Jamaican DJs, Jamaica stopped observing daylight savings time and tragedy struck in the Big 9 community yet again.

It was 1985 , Roy Rayon had won the song contest again, Big 9 was gurgling with the news Ava had her baby and Rock Hudson had died.

The cutlass has had a long history in Jamaica from the days of the Bucaneers to the days when sugar was king. There are 6 names for cutlass in Jamaica, and in the summer of 1985 in Big 9, I learned everything I needed to know about the cutlass.

It was 1985, The Last Dragon was in movie theatres, Big 9 had new tenants, and my best friend wasn't talking to me.