Global Voices Online

Arubagirl, Trinidadian blogger Elspeth at Now is Wow and Lynn Sweeting from the Bahamas all recognize Earth Day.

Aruba is the first Caribbean territory to officially acknowledge gay marriage, reports gay news blog. The move follows a three-year legal battle with Dutch authorities that began when a lesbian couple tried to register their marriage on the island. And Vivir Latino says that Puerto Rico may be considering the same move: “Wouldn't it be a hugely powerful statement if Puerto Rico, who is subject to US laws, were to pass the measure and prove once and again how it truely is its own nation with a clear concept of the diversity that is the Puerto Rican people?”

Arubagirl gets nostalgic about La Linda , which, to her, represented the glorious disorganization of the Aruban shopping experience: “If one would want an old-fashioned kitchen appliance, La Linda would have it. If you need ponytail holders in obscure colors, La Linda would have it.”

Drug addicts, known in Aruba as “chollers”, are wreaking havoc in Oranjestad. Arubagirl recounts the most recent incident and wonders “who the real threat to society here is: the choller who slashed tires because he was denied something or the businessman waving a gun because he thought that the man in front of him was going to pull a knife.”

ArubaGirl posts some pictures of Aruba's National Park Arikok.

A passage in a book about Suriname received as a Christmas present resonates strongly with ArubaGirl: “While things in Aruba aren't nearly as bad as they were during that time in Suriname, I could particularly identify myself with that passage. It seems like here in Aruba, the government just take actions, willy nilly the protests of the people. Yes, I know they were voted in power, but surely that doesn't mean that all of us just have to sit back and be quiet, does it?”

The behaviour of parliamentarians quells any political aspirations Arubagirl may have been nurturing…

On being nominated Time Magazine's Person of the Year, Arubagirl writes: “Blogging isn't going to replace mainstream media anytime soon. What it is doing right now, and that is hugely important, is keeping it honest. In check. Technology has caused great, great evil in the world. But this? Computers / Internet / blogging? Is a good thing.”

Arubagirl was all geared up for a national strike against a 3% sales tax that the government is planning to introduce, but it all came to nought.