Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to Strictly Facts, a guide to Caribbean history and culture, hosted by me, alexandria Miller. Strictly Facts teaches the history, politics and activism of the Caribbean and connects these themes to contemporary music and popular culture. Waquan Strictly Facts family, we are back for another year of the show. I am so excited to not only be celebrating a new year, but also five years of my Baby. Strictly Facts, a guide to Caribbean history and culture, next week. As well as the many things we have in store for this year, we have some long awaited episodes to share and so much more in store for this year. We have some long-awaited episodes to share and so much more in store. My word for the year is discipline, which means over here on the production side of Strictly Facts, we had a ton up to take, so that's something to definitely be on the lookout for. Best of all, as I hope you could tell, in our last few episodes of 2024, we'll be taking a deeper dive into the arts and addition.

Speaker 1: 1:08

We are amplifying the stories and histories that exist between the lines. You may know the saying history is written by the victors and, simply put, that phrase has a lot about power, positionality and who has typically had the ability to tell our stories. Historically, that has often meant people who don't look like us or don't consider the myriad of factors one must really take into account when writing history. Well, this next year of Strictly Facts is all about sharing the histories between the lines. You may be wondering what do I mean between the lines? You may be wondering what do I mean. Of course, we're continuing to share and discuss Caribbean history and current events, especially as they relate to our evolution and growth and development. Additionally, though, there are always stories within stories. For instance, a story many of us are familiar with through our national pride and even, maybe even, in your schools, is of our, you know, individual Caribbean nations' independence movements, but you might not have known, prior to even maybe listening to Strictly Facts, that before many of the particularly Anglophone Caribbean nations became independent, there existed the West Indian Federation, the Anglophone Caribbean's short-lived attempt at creating a political union that existed from the late 50s to the early 60s. So these are precisely the stories within the stories that we're focusing on this year.

Speaker 1: 2:40

So, with this focus, this next year of Strictly Facts isn't just about telling the stories that exist between the lines, but also sharing the things that have largely been overlooked or omitted from broader publications. Sharing these histories offers us new treasures that are not only crucial to our understanding of where we come from individually, but also helps us forge greater alliances amongst ourselves, who are quite literally all over the globe. There's just so much we don't know, and that little space in between the lines can kick open the door. So, as I said, this year is all about reading between the lines, and I welcome any of our listeners who may have their own between the lines stories to send us an email or DM and share your story with the Strictly Facts family. We also have a bunch of milestones coming up this year, including our 100th episode and so much more.

Speaker 1: 3:39

So, as always, stay tuned, subscribe to the show, follow us on social media, share with a friend and a friend and another friend, leave a comment and continue to be a part of this growing thing we've got going. I am so grateful to have you be a part of the family and looking forward to sharing with you in 2025. Till next time, little more, and happy new year.