The Conversation Tree is both physical and philosophical. The physical is the tree itself, which has given its name to the road from which it originates at the intersection of the Rupert Craig Highway. It was reputedly first planted by Napleton William King in 1876 to celebrate the birth of his son Napleton Walter.
As far as the philosophical goes: I am very familiar by practice, with uniquely Guyanese/Caribbean habit of getting together on the spur of the moment to gyaff about momentous and not so momentous events, sometime for hours on end; sometimes convivial, sometimes rancorous, but always entertaining. And that loosely, is the intention of The Conversation Tree.
Creative opinion is more necessary now than ever before. With the explosion of information technology, views and information are being exchanged so rapidly and issues are attaining such complexity, that it is of growing importance that sensible and rational opinion should be made available and should prevail. This is only possible if a variety of views and a range of opinion are available.
In sharing views, opinions might be created, or changed, perspectives might develop, or be altered and citizens might be persuaded into creative activity. While I am not holding out such lofty ambitions for this modest effort, I am hoping that readers will find something here that will interest or challenge them or that they may begin to look at an issue with a different perspective.
One can never omit the pleasure that reading and writing induces. It is both elevating and enervating, not only to write a good article, but to read one. This blog is dedicated also to the pleasure of writers and readers, hoping that they would write or read something that would lighten their day.
I was born ten minutes walk from the Conversation Tree at the Bel Air Public Road on the East Coast of Demerara. The late Ms. Dorothy ‘Bunny’ King suggested that the name may have come about as a result of the villagers practice of gathering there to chat from time to time. Whether true or not I hope the conversations here are as productive as the joy I remember by merely being around the Conversation Tree in my youth.