01052018 weekend

Friday, January 5, 2018

books society culture film fashion travel gardening puzzles

Weekend

‘SAIL AWAY’ STYLE Page 12

Captain of his fate Von Trap’s unique sound of music Interview, pgs 4&5 since i’ve had ALIV its considerably less expensive and the service has been remarkable - Basil Christie

Special Olympics Chairman / Friends of the Blood Bank

bealiv.com

02 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, January 5, 2018

music

Rap, R&B superstars close out 2017

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson@tribunemedia.net

T

HE 2017 year of entertainment ended on a hectic but high note for two local promotion companies that came together to present the hottest rap stars of

the moment.

Fresh Entertainment and StarForce Promotions closed out the year with the chart-topping trio Migos for a Boxing Day performance at the Nassau Beach Soccer Stadium.

Hundreds of the fans filled the stadium to hear the “Bad and Boujee” rappers perform an hour-long set list featuring some of the group’s newer hits like “Fight Night” and “I Get the Bag”.

Concert-goers commented that Migos brought a high-energy vibe and fire to the stage.

“It was definitely worth it. I was in the front to the stage and that was an awesome experience. I think they had to perform just about every song,” one fan told Tribune Weekend.

And while producing a concert of such magnitude was challenging, especially given that the production team was short-staffed, the event exceeded expectations, according to Africa Allah, public relations officer for Fresh Entertainment.

“The Migos concert was amazing, even though Junkanoo ended up being changed to the same night. Some of the attendees who had tickets for Migos also had tickets for Junkanoo, but the venue was still packed.

We had to make a few adjustments to ensure things were done the way it was necessary, but all in all the event was great,” she said.

In the week leading up to Christmas, Fresh Entertainment sought to bring back 90s R&B with their presentation of K-Ci & JoJo in concert with Keith Sweat.

The event featured the award-winning music icons who took audiences back to the good ole days during their performance at the Baha Mar Convention Centre.

“The K-Ci & JoJo event was a beautiful experience. I think sometimes we tend to count those older artists out, but they gave us 110 per cent. Zamar also put on an excellent production and it was an excellent expedient for everyone,” said Africa.

Migos’ Offset, Quavo and Takeoff, as well as K-Ci & JoJo and Keith Sweat helped Bahamians celebrate the end of the year with the right tunes.

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Friday, January 5, 2018

Inside Weekend

My perfect Bahamian weekend Aldrin King Contractor, landscaper Q: Saturday breakfast or Sunday lunch?

Interview 4-5 Ava Turnquest talks to emerging rap artist Captain Von Trap about the importance of individualism

Entertainment 7 ‘Carnival Unite’ fete jump-starts the festival season, plus Jazz at Jacaranda starts up for 2018

Culture 8 - 9 Celebrating 80 years, the Sisters of St Martin’s emphasise that their doors are open to all

Film 10 - 11 The Golden Globes kick off awards season this Sunday

Fashion 12 - 13 Designer duo Cardell McClam and Christopher John present “Sail Away”, plus new shoe brand Bahems puts its best foot forward

Society 14 - 15 A champagne extravaganza at Sapodilla

Books 17 The latest page-turners reviewed

Podcasts 18 Stephen Hunt gives us the best listens of 2017

Gardening 19

Jack Hardy says its time to gird your loins and get busy

Travel 20 Miami has a new attraction: Versace’s mansion is now a boutique hotel

Literary Lives 21 - 24 The poet who raged against the dying of the light

Forgotten Facts 25 Paul C Aranha on the often forgotten Cay Sal Bank

Puzzles 26

Animals 27 BHS readies ‘Golden Potcake’ certificate for supporters, plus Pet of the Week

Cover Photo | Djenabe “Sélavi” Edouard

“The day doesn’t matter to me. I’m just more an early morning person, so the quicker I get my nutrition in, the sooner I can start work.”

Q: Wine, rum, cocktail or Kalik?

“Rum, of course... let’s cut to the chase and get the party started!”

Q: Beach or sofa?

“Beach. I like nature and the ocean especially.

It puts me in a relaxed state of mind.”

Q: What is the one thing that you can’t live without?

“Can’t live without my children.

Everything I do is for them.”

Q: Weekend away, where would you go and why?

“Cat Island. Although I was born in New Providence I have always called Cat Island home. Except for a few small changes, it’s still the same place I have loved since a little boy. It’s the best kept secret!”

Things 2 Do this weekend Friday • The Regional Commission on Marijuana Town Hall Meeting

Time: 6pm Venue: Holy Trinity Activity Centre

The Regional Commission, established by CARICOM Heads of Government, will hold a number of focus groups with youth, faith-based organisations and special interests groups to gather public opinion on the decriminalisation of marijuana. The general public is invited to attend.

Saturday

• Farm to Table: Pop-Up Market

Time: 8am – 1pm Venue: Bushntings, #5 Delancey Street

Start the new year right with locally grown produce.

• Home Run Derby in Paradise

Time: 12noon Venue: Montagu Beach

Watch Bahamian professional

baseball players compete to be the ‘Home Run King’.

• Karaoke Saturday

Time: 11am - 2pm Venue: Southern Comfort Lounge, Carmichael Road Try your hand at singing your favourite tunes.

• Heist 2018

Time: 4pm -10pm Venue: Fort Charlotte

Sunset from the Fort – it’s the first step for the year on the Ice Box Challenge world tour. Featuring international DJs Lord Hype, Trevlyn The Voice, and RiggoSuave the StageGod, tickets for the event are available from www.iceboxent.com.

Sunday

• 50th anniversary of Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat Bahamas

Time: 6am - 10pm Venue: Sivananda Yoga Retreat, Paradise Island

Celebrate the birth of the ashram and honour its rich history as

a gathering place for spiritual practice, conversation, and exchange and the teachings of yoga and Vedanta. There will be ceremonial pujas, sharing of stories, enlightening presentations and inspiring performances.

• Adventist Health Professionals Prayer Breakfast

Time: 7am Venue: Seventh Day Adventist Church Nevis Way, Elizabeth Estates

The theme is “The Transforming Power of Forgiveness” and the speaker is Dr Alphaeus Allick, the associate clinical director of the ER at Doctors Hospital.

• ‘Sail Away’ Fashion Showcase

Time: 6.15pm Venue: British Colonial Hilton SEE PAGE 12

• Jazz at Jacaranda

Time: 6.30pm Venue: Jacaranda House, Parliament Street SEE PAGE 7

04 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, January 5, 2018

interview The rise of individualism can be seen in all facets of Bahamian culture, as millennials carve out their niche in a previously impenetrable landscape. Ava Turnquest sits down with local artist Captain Von Trap who has found a way to promote individualism through embracing his community.

Captain Von Trap

I

t’s a quiet evening somewhere near the waterfront on East Bay Street when rap artist Captain Von Trap unfurls himself from a padded office chair and suggests we take a walk to get some snacks from a nearby gas station. We’d been at his childhood home-turned-studio going over some clips of his feature in an upcoming documentary by Playback Media’s Carrington Campbell.

At 6’2”, his lanky frame bobs under the glow of old street lamps, moving at a gait that resembles a train pulling into a station, or colloquially, a 16A. It’s this restlessness, a self-described kineticism, that signifies a different kind of potential for stardom which is apparent whenever Trap steps in front of the lens or on a stage.

Managed by Sagini Inc, Trap closed out 2017 with a blitz of shows, from a homegrown, intimate session with his “spirit sister” Sélavi at the Underground Bistro, to an opening spot for the international chart-topping trio Migos on Boxing Day at the National Beach Soccer Stadium.

If you’re wondering whether Captain Von Trap’s name is just a tribute to a subgenre of hip hop called trap music, or a nod to the iconic “Sound of Music” family, then you’d be both right and wrong depending on the day. It’s all kinetic, he said.

But more importantly, it’s still very much about a fight to simply create without stigma for the young artist.

“I can’t help it, that’s just how I feel,” he tells fellow artist Bodine Johnson at a taped radio session earlier that day when she asked him why he’s always so moody.

PHOTO/TERRANCE COLEBROOK

“You don’t like that sometimes you’d be happy and then you really think about it you get discouraged?” he responded, “I get angry sometimes.”

These vibes or irony and cynicism extend to his music, and permeate the accompanying visual content. It’s the culmination of a life steeped in self-discovery and acceptance, but juxtaposed with an unforgiving environment.

Speaking about her response to his almost “asthmatic” flow, Bodine said it’s very polarising. “(People) either love it or they hate it, and I loved it... It was definitely different. I’d never heard someone prior

to that do something like that. It’s a representation of what music can be, hip hop done right,” she said.

Bodine, an established artist and performer with strong roots in the local entertainment industry, was referring to a 2016 show at Platinum Lounge called “We the Wave”. It was one of the first times Trap performed “Out Da Water”, a Bahamian trap ballad produced by InaggeBeatz that served as a foot in the door for his mercurial, highly experimental style of hip hop.

“That was an early on thing I had going on,” Trap tells Bodine during his interview on the Listening Party

at Island FM. In the small space his demeanour is surprisingly sensitive and respectful, but his energy is still very much a 16a pulling into Bay Street at the cusp of 5pm traffic.

“When I first recorded the song (”Out Da Water”), a bunch of other Bahamian artists would compliment me on it and then others would make fun of me, and then a few months after people were starting to use the flow,” he said.

“So I was like, ‘I gotta do something different; dudes done on that’. So that’s just one of (my flows). It caught people’s attention, I didn’t wanna do

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Friday, January 5, 2018

anything else but that from the outset.

Just like, ‘Hey look over here for a second I’m doing this; OK it’s weird, it’s new, it’s different, now I’m gonna show you what I wanna show you.”

Trap credits his heavy use of colloquial terms and relatable content with the interest he has garnered on the local music scene. His diction, an interesting contrast to his vernacular, he says comes from a string of English teachers that nurtured his intellect and helped him develop as both a Bahamian artist and a young man. Honourable mentions are extended to Ms Seymour at D W Davis and Paul Taylor at R N Bailey, who he said helped him navigate growing up in a tough neighbourhood with a passion for art, fashion and music.

“Both my parents worked in hotels and my dad used to be a poolside emcee,” he tells Bodine, “that was where he was in his life when we were growing up. He would always bring all types of different music home and we would always be listening to different stuff. Me and my older sister like Phil Collins and UB40 and Gloria Estefan.

A lot of different stuff, Lauryn Hill...I remember her first album. As a child it’s very weird and it has you in a different head space listening to a vast array of music from a young age early on. It kinda like shapes your mind differently.”

His favourite artist – not rapper, he stressed – is Kid Cudi, who he said played an integral part in his recovery from depression and self-harm.

He talks a lot about how he’s had to fight for his individuality, particularly his fashion choice of wearing skinny jeans. He is far from humble about his impact on urban men’s fashion in the Bahamas, which has blossomed into a symbiotic relationship with the brand YNGDGRT$.

“Most of the guys had single mothers growing up and they would always encourage us to walk home together to be safe,” he explains to me on the walk back to his studio along East Bay Street.

He slows up a bit to show me the spot where he got a gun pulled on him for the first time, a casual reminder that violent crime is the norm that inner-city residents navigate on a daily basis.

“But a lot of them, they would like take part in bad sh*t. Like I would be there while they was robbing n*gg*s; they would go in (the store) and shoplift a lot, and because I wanted to be safe walking home I would stay with them. Don’t call me a watchman, but I was with them because all us grow up

Captain Von Trap opens for the superstar rap trio Migos on Boxing Day. Photo/Edward Lowe together and I was just trying to get home safe, but it taught me a lot watching it,” he said.

Back at the studio and musing about how he remains hyper-critical, he continued: “I think that’s where my mother’s personality flourishes in me, because she’s very humble and an introvert. She’s also a very spiritual woman, so things like biblical qualities were instilled in me from I was born.

Sometimes I feel a sense of guilt being what I grew to become, but I know it’s for a greater good. (My mother) was the one that would always push me to be greater, but also to remind me to be grounded, to be spiritual, to be aware of where you came from.

“My father is an extrovert, and although I didn’t spend much time around him as a kid, I find his qualities and his personality manifested in me. You can put my daddy in a room with anybody, the prime minister, and he can hold a conversation, and that just started to come out of me naturally in recent years because in school I was always really shy and to myself, but a little bit of the class clown, too.”

While the energy he brings is unmistakably authentic, you can thank his collective – a group of creatives he surrounds himself with – for his striking signature imagery. They go by ALMG nowadays, formerly Almighty, but in

(PHOTO/DJENABE “SÉLAVI” EDOUARD)

first incarnation it was the Clan of the Kushanai or CTOK. Over the years they’ve all sharpened their talents as creative outsiders committed to pursuing, pushing, obliterating and creating culture. Individualism is their religion, but community support is their church.

It allows them to be insulated from negative criticism seeking to derail their progress and in turn push their creative limits without fear of judgement.

“I wouldn’t even say it’s a union, it’s much more than that,” said TRexx, Trap’s main producer and sound engineer. “I’d say we’re a family.”

“I rate him,” said Bahamian hiphop/rap artist and entrepreneur RAPP Quelle, former owner of Volume Music Bar. It’s a solid commendation.

“I think he’s talented. We have a really good group of talented people.

It’s almost ridiculous how much talented people we have here. The reality at the end of the day is the way value shifts around music, it’s still a very small circle, and to break into that circle from an island off the coast of America...but it’s a lot easier now. The questions before would be where I could get a dope beat or a music video, now we’ve all taken on parts of the creative process, how to handle business,” said RAPP. “Being this way,” explained Trap, “it’s good and bad”.

“It forces you to keep going and breaking mental barriers for people, too. You get crucified for it, but then the doors get kicked open. I don’t really care about the credit,” said Trap.

“As long as it’s a better environment for the kids coming after us...there’s always kids coming after you. We can never really be ‘it’. We may be the facilitators of some sh*t, but if another generation get to grow up without that (bullying) happening to them... I think about how much time it cost me as a kid to get here. You know when you really wanna sneeze really bad, but you can’t because you’re in a crowded room and you’re holding it in because you think people will judge you and there’s so pressure and you waste so much time?

If I could grow up in a pool where I was just always accepted for who I was, I feel like I would have been further, so if another generation cannot have to deal with that, I’m good; my job is done.”

Fans wanting to stay up-to-date with Trap’s endeavours can check him out on social media via his handles “Vontrapreneur” on Instagram; “CaptainVonTrap” on Twitter, and “Von Trap” on Facebook, SoundCloud and YouTube.

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Friday, January 5, 2018

entertainment

Carnival lovers unite!

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson@tribunemedia.net

Q

UICK out of the blocks in 2018, Fresh Entertainment Bahamas is kicking off the Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival season early with its ‘Carnival Unite’ fete next Tuesday.

Not deterred by the uncertainty surrounding the privatisation talks of the festival, Fresh Entertainment is inviting all soca lovers to get ready and amped for the carnival season.

The fete is purposely being held on January 9, the night before the Majority Rule holiday, so “people have no excuse to not come and party,” said organisers. The party event will be held at Smugglers Square downtown beginning at 7pm. “ ‘Carnival Unite’ is our annual Bahamas carnival take-off. This this will be our fourth year and usually we do it on the beach. This year we are doing it at Smugglers Square because it gives us the ability to introduce some new elements,” said Africa Allah of Fresh Entertainment.

Those elements include foam, water and beads as this year’s ‘Carnival Unite’ will take on a New Orleans-inspired Mardi Gras theme.

“We want people to come dress to party and be ready for anything. We can party as late as we want because the holiday is the next day,” she said. “We are inviting all carnival bands and all carnival chasers to come out to this event.”

Its connection to a large number of people in the carnival industry allows Fresh Entertainment to provide its guests with some of the newest soca hits that have not yet been played on the radio or at other events.

“That is one of the good things about this event. This year, Trinidad Carnival kicks off earlier, so that propels and sort of dictates the soca music scene. This time around we will introduce a lot of songs because we are privy to a lot of music that won’t be available to the general public. We will be unveiling some new records that have made it mainstream as yet,” she said.

As Bahamians gears up for carnival season, Africa said there is a lot for revellers to experience with Fresh Entertainment, which will be revealing is series of events in the upcoming months.

There will be foam, water and beads at next Tuesday’s Mardi Gras inspired party event.

Smooth and mellow into 2018

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Writer acadet@tribunemedia.net

THE monthly series ‘Jazz at Jacaranda’ will officially kick off its 2018 run this Sunday, providing jazz enthusiasts with an opportunity to relax around the pool while enjoying the music of talented Bahamian artists.

The event, which will take place every first Sunday of the month at Jacaranda House on Parliament Street from 6.30pm to 8.30 pm, has over the years become a highly anticipated celebration of jazz.

Highlights will include Tino Richardson on the alto saxophone, Kevin Dean on drums, The Jazz Cats, Adrian D’Aguilar, and various guest artists.

“We have been doing it for nearly seven years, featuring local Bahamian jazz artists and also allowing young up-and-coming musicians to have a platform from which they can gain experience, playing and singing in front of audiences,” said Patricia Oakes Leigh-Wood, Jazz at Jacaranda founder.

“It is exciting to come this far because. I think we have helped a lot of musicians over the years. Some have gone on to college, namely Anuschka Wright; she went to Concordia University in Montreal and studied jazz singing. She started singing here when she was 16 and is now a graduate.”

The idea for the event series, Patricia said, came from the fact there seemed to be a lack of venues where Bahamian musicians, especially jazz aficionados, could play regularly.

“I had a perfect stage right across my pool and a wonderful setting for the audience to sit around the pool, enjoying a glass of wine under the stars. It is out-of-doors, the house was built in 1840, so it is a very historic house with a wonderful old garden.

It is also very reminiscent of old Nassau,” said Patricia.

While many may not be as familiar with the genre as they are with others, she said Bahamians in general are very receptive to jazz music.

“There are a lot of jazz musicians here on the island, and they need as much support as they can get because they are really talented,” she said.

Patricia also hosts an annual jazz festival in Eleuthera called ‘Eleuthera All That Jazz’. This year the event will be held in Governor’s Harbour, April 11 - 15.

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Friday, January 5, 2018

culture ST Martin’s Convent on Nassau Street. (PHOTO/SHAWN HANNA)

A sacred duty As the Sisters of St Martin’s Monastery celebrate 80 years of service, they tell Felicity Ingraham that they wish for the public to become more engaged in their outreach programmes and that their doors are always open, even to women in their 40s.

H

ow many times have you passed the St Martin Monastery on Nassau Street, wondered what goes on in there, but drove straight past? Most Bahamians can attest to this. All the while, the Benedictine Sisters of St Martin’s Monastery have open arms for the public. The sisters are now celebrating 80 years as a group of ardent service to God, church and country.

Mass begins at 6.30am on weekdays and 8am on weekends.

A lovely chapel awaits devotees seeking quiet, solace, comfort, and the perfect place for prayer.

The monastery even has a retreat that includes a meeting room and

THE Sisters of St Martin Monestary. Sister Cecilia is in the front row, second from right, wearing the black habit.

well-appointed bedrooms that can be rented at $75 per night including breakfast.

The public can even consider helping on a more intimate level by becoming oblates. Oblates are members of the public (some of them women who wanted to join a convent but were discouraged) who observe the laws of St Benedict in their homes and in their lives. They meet at St Martin’s on the fourth Sunday of every month and participate in events throughout the month to assist in the various outreach programmes the sisters are involved in.

Now in their 80th year, the sisters are appealing for more

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A SHRINE for two-year-old Aidan Roger Dupuch Carron.

THE CHAPEL at St Martin’s

women to join them and experience the fulfilment that they have every day of their lives having surrendered to their maker. A woman who has never been married and has no children up to age 45 can apply to join the sisters. Oftentimes, the sisters say, people think that a nun starts as a young girl, and that’s it.

But in 2018, they want to make it clear that even in your 40s you can consider completely changing the course of your life to one of service to God. Sister Cecilia sat down with Tribune Weekend to make the appeal for women to come in and have a chat with the sisters to understand more about their way of life. Her journey began at the age of 16, and she was consecrated for her new path in life on September 15, 1952. Growing up in Harbour Island, Sister Cecilia was heavily influenced by the Sisters of Charity who taught her and showed her so much love during her childhood. Her mother taught at St Benedict’s school and her own Catholic education also led to a very religious life. At the time, she had never seen any sisters of colour and this helped inspire her to become one.

As a girl, Sister Cecilia always knew she wanted to become a nun or a nurse.

Initially, her sister attempted to become a nun. During her physical, her X-ray

was mixed up with another patient.

That switched X-ray said that her sister was bound to be paralysed. For this reason, she was not accepted. As fate would have it, her sister became the nurse, giving years of service at Princess Margaret Hospital before moving to Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, where she resides to this day.

“I love working with young people, the elderly, the sick,” said Sister Cecilia, now 81.

The Sisters of St Martin’s Convent have been of true service to the Bahamas in education, as countless Bahamians can point to the impact that these women of God have made in their lives. Sister Agatha is to be thanked for the influential role she played in the development of this reporter – she served as a source of inspiration and encouragement in my life for the years I spent at St Augustine’s College.

There, Sister Eileen also made a major impact in my life, but she has moved on the the US to continue her great work.

Sister Cecilia has served as a teacher at various Catholic schools for decades, including St Francis Xavier and St Thomas More, as well as teaching in Bimini, Grand Bahama and the US. She served as director of St Joseph’s adult day care centre for 14 years

“People think that a nun starts as a young girl, and that’s it.

But in 2018, (the Sisters of St Martin’s) want to make it clear that even in your 40s you can consider completely changing the course of your life to one of service to God.”

before the institution closed its doors late last year. She loves to sing and has done so for the Sacred Heart church choir, and singing at church services, funerals and other events.

“It’s been a joy, very fulfilling – something I don’t regret,” she said.

During the visit, Sister Cecilia took me to a shrine she has set up for twoyear-old Aidan Roger Dupuch Carron, son of Mr and Mrs Robert Dupuch Carron, who will be put to rest today.

The shrine was lit when Aidan first began receiving treatment for leukaemia in Baltimore, Maryland, and remains lit even now. Sister Cecilia has a close relationship with the Dupuch and Carron families, and has placed the blessed Mother St Mary with the children near Aidan’s photo and prays for his soul.

From 1937 to now, many sisters have led the charge, including Sister Maria Rahming (1919-2007); Sister Elizabeth Marita Claridge (1917 - 1999); Sister Theresa Mary Symonette (1918 - 2002); Sister Marie Agnes Rolle (1917-1970); Sister Rosella Harvey (1915 - 1992); Sister Veronica Burrows (1917 - 1999); Sister Margaret Thompson (1925 2005); Sister Mary Patricia Russell (1938 - 1994); and Sister Maedene Russell (1940 - 1995).

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film “The Shape of Water”

Golden Globes turn to old faves and fresh faces THE 2018 awards officially kicks off this Sunday with the 75th annual Golden Globes. Hosted by Seth Myers and aired live on NBC, this milestone year for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s award show features its most eclectic list of nominees to date.

G

uillermo del Toro’s Cold War-era fairytale “The Shape of Water” swims away with a leading seven Golden Globes nominations and the HBO drama “Big Little Lies” boasts six nods. But nobody made landing a Globe nomination look easier than Christopher Plummer.

Just two weeks after shooting his scenes in Ridley Scott’s “All the Money in the World,” Plummer was nominated for best supporting actor — a nod that was once considered a possibility for the actor he replaced, Kevin Spacey. An unfinished version of the film was screened last week for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which puts on the Globes.

The nomination for Plummer — which was joined by nods for Scott’s directing and Michelle Williams as best actress — was just the latest, and most last-minute, twist in an awards season that has been rocked by the industry’s continuing sexual harassment scandals.

As the most prominent platform yet in Hollywood’s awards

season to confront the postHarvey Weinstein landscape, the Globes seem eager to turn the page not just in its love for “All the Money in the World” but by shunning previous favorites like “House of Cards” and “Transparent.” The latter remains in limbo following sexual harassment allegations against star Jeffrey Tambor, charges that he has denied.

Instead, the Globes lavished nominations on some tried-andtrue favorites — Meryl Streep scored her 31st Globe nod — and some new faces, like the 21-year-old breakthrough of “Call Me By Your Name,” Timothee Chalamet.

In what’s has been a wideopen Oscar race so far, several films followed closely behind “The Shape of Water,” including Steven Spielberg’s Pentagon Papers drama “The Post,” with six nominations, including best actress for Streep and best actor for Tom Hanks. Martin McDonagh’s revenge drama “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” also got a major boost in the nominations, with six nods, including best actress for Frances

McDormand and supporting actor for Sam Rockwell.

Along with “The Shape of Water,” ‘‘Three Billboards” and “The Post,” the nominees for best drama were the tender young romance “Call Me By Your Name” (which also landed a nod for Armie Hammer) and Christopher Nolan’s World War II epic “Dunkirk.”

But setting itself apart from the pack was the monster fable “The Shape of Water,” which stars Sally Hawkins as a mute cleaning woman who falls in love with a captive amphibious creature. No film was more widely celebrated by the press association, including nods for del Toro’s directing and Alexandre Desplat’s sumptuous score.

The best picture comedy or musical category was led by a handful of Oscar favourites — Greta Gerwig’s mother-daughter tale “Lady Bird,” Jordan Peele’s horror sensation “Get Out” — as well as several wildcards: James Franco’s comedy “The Disaster Artist,” about the making of “The Room”; the upcoming musical “The Greatest Showman”; and the Tonya Harding

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“Get Out”

“Dunkirk” comic-drama “I, Tonya.” The stars of all five, including Margot Robbie (”I, Tonya”) and Franco, also landed acting nominations.

Despite considerable backlash, “Get Out” ended up on the comedy side of the Globes after being submitted that way by Universal Pictures.

Though some predicted and feared an acting field lacking diversity, the nominees were fairly inclusive. Among the 30 film acting nominees were Denzel Washington (”Roman J Israel, Esq”), Mary J. Blige (”Mudbound”), Hong Chau (”Downsizing”) and Octavia Spencer (”The Shape of Water”).

Oprah Winfrey to receive Cecil B DeMille Award at Globes OPRAH Winfrey will receive the Cecil B DeMille Award at Sunday’s Golden Globes.

Morgan Freeman made the announcement for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association during its broadcast of the “Golden Globe 75th Anniversary Special” last month.

HFPA President Meher Tatna called Winfrey “one of the most respected and admired figures today” and “one of the most influential

women of our time” in a statement Wednesday.

“For generations, Oprah has celebrated strong female characters on and off screen, and has been a role model for women and young girls for decades. Holding titles such as chairman, CEO, and founder, Oprah is one of the most influential women of our time, and this honour is well deserved, especially in this

But if the Globes hoped to present a group of nominations that looked beyond the likes of Weinstein — so long a dominant force at its annual awards — they failed in one notable category. As the press association and the Academy Awards have historically done, it nominated five men for best director.

Many have hoped for a different story in a year where a parade of sexual harassment scandals has laid bare Hollywood’s gender imbalances. But contenders like Gerwig (whose film garnered four nominations, including nods for star Saoirse Ronan, supporting actress Laurie Metcalf and Gerwig’s screenplay), Patty Jenkins (”Wonder Woman”) and Dee Rees (”Mudbound”) were overlooked for a group of Spielberg, del Toro, Nolan, McDonagh and Scott.

Apart from the success of “All the Money in the World,” the biggest surprise was the complete omission of the romantic comedy “The Big Sick,” penned by real-life couple Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V Gordon. Another Oscar underdog, “The Florida Project,” emerged with only one nomination, for Willem Dafoe’s supporting performance as the manager of a low-rent motel.

In the television categories, the Emmy-winning “Big Little Lies” earned a host of acting nods (Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Alexander Skarsgard, Laura Dern) as well as best limited series.

HBO, which recently announced a second season for “Big Little Lies,” led 75th anniversary year of the Golden Globe Awards.”

Chosen by the HFPA Board of Directors, the Cecil B deMille Award is given annually to a talented individual for outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment. The tradition started in 1952, when the honour went to Cecil B deMille himself. Recent recipients include Meryl Streep (2017), Denzel Washington (2016) and George Clooney (2015).

In a recent conversation with the HFPA, Winfrey talked about looking back at her career and where she is at this stage of her journey: “I don’t know anything that is not fun. Well actually, it’s a very simple life except lived on a very large scale. Now, it’s about enjoying the view from this space and finding joy and great

TV networks with 12 nominations overall; Netflix followed with nine nods.

FX’s Bette Davis and Joan Crawford chronicle “Feud: Bette and Joan” landed four nominations, including nods for Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon. Amazon’s just-debuted “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” scored two nods, including best comedy series. Also with multiple nominations were Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” and NBC’s “This Is Us.” HBO’s “Game of Thrones” received a nod for best drama series, but nothing for its cast.

Geoffrey Rush was nominated for best performance by a lead actor in a limited series or TV movie for his Albert Einstein in Nat Geo’s “Genius.”

The Globes haven’t traditionally predicted the Oscars, but they did last January. The Globes two best-picture winners — “Moonlight” and “La La Land” — both ultimately ended up on the stage for the final award of the Oscars, with “Moonlight” emerging victorious only after the infamous envelope flub. The press association, which has worked in recent years to curtail its reputation for odd choices, is composed of about 90 freelance international journalists.

Jake Coyle AP Film Writer

pleasure in this career that you have built. And just now choosing what you want to do, what fits in this particular moment, what feels like this is how I truly want to express myself now. And I do believe that every human being here is here on Earth to live up to the altruistic expression of themselves as a human being.”

LOS ANGELES Associated Press

(Photo by Harpo Inc/Ruve Afanador)

Friday, January 5, 2018

12 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, January 5, 2018

fashion

Sail away in style for a good cause

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson@tribunemedia.net

T

Designers Cardell McClam and Christopher John

HE successful Bahamian designer team of Cardell McClam and Christopher John is starting the new year with a strong desire to give back to the local community.

To this end, the duo decided to donate part proceeds from this Sunday’s fashion showcase to support the work of REACH, an organisation that works tirelessly to raise awareness of autism in the country.

The fashion event, entitled “Sail Away”, will feature The Sailor Boy 2018/19 collections for the Bahamas’ leading full-figured fashion label Cardellicious as well as the Cardell McClam brand.

The show takes place at the British Colonial Hilton this Sunday under the theme “A Toast to Fashion’s Give Back”. Doors to the event open at 6.15 pm and the show begins at 7.45pm.

Throughout the night there will be performances by guest artists including Rappquelle, Patrice Murell, Julien Believe and Chase Fernander.

“Before the year started I just knew that we would be giving back this year.

And it just happens to bring us into supporting REACH because it is a great cause,” said Cardell.

This show represents the first time that both the Cardellicious and the Cardell McClam brands are being showcased together in one event. The Cardellicious collection will feature full-figured pieces in a wide variety of colours while the Cardell McClam designs will feature men’s wear for the 2018/19 season.

For these collections, Cardell said, he drew inspiration from Isak Dinesen’s 1942 story ‘‘The Sailor-Boy’s Tale”.

The fairy tale is set in Norway and follows the young sailor Simon who saves a falcon which has gotten tangled in the ropes of the main mast of a ship. Later in the story, as the sailor has to evade capture for accidentally killing a Russian sailor he befriended, it turns out the falcon is really a woman (who sometimes transforms into a bird) and she is now in turn saving him.

“The sailor gets into an altercation and kills a fellow sailor in the name of

“... in the show you will see (women) standing up against violence and the cruelty they have faced over the years. They are saying, ‘This is our day for equality and to be treated fairly’.” love. The lady helps him get way because she was the bird that he saved. Of course that is something very magical and that really touched me,” Mr McClam told Tribune Weekend.

“We will be emphasis the romanticism of that story in in the Cardellicious collection with a conscious and whimsical appeal. Then the Cardell McClam collection will embody that dark place in the story Comfortable pieces that are suited for a day out to sea will also be showcased.”

Cardell is also addressing women’s rights with his newest show.

“The women are far more militant in the collection. So in the show you will see them standing up against violence and the cruelty they have faced over the years. They are saying, ‘This is our day for equality and to be treated fairly’. So ‘Sail Away’ is confidence and that ability to relax in who you are and find your place in the world in the midst of the seas,” he said.

After this show, Cardell said he will turn his attention to the New York Full Figured Fashion week in June, provided they are given confirmation to participate.

Last year, the Cardellicious collection was featured in the event and as a result he said the brand’s visibility was boosted on a global scale.

The Tribune | Weekend | 13

Friday, January 5, 2018

fashion

‘Sole’ out

“The Bahamas inspires me and sparks my creativity. If other entrepreneurs in the making are able to draw inspiration from Bahems that’s rewarding for me.”

Bahems Footwear celebrates debut at Island House

A

ll Nathan Arnett wanted for Christmas was to have his new shoe line, Bahems, sell out when it debuted on December 23 The Island House. And looks like he got his wish.

“Christmas is the time to make dreams come true,” said Mr Arnett, a marketing executive who spent two years perfecting his Bahamas designed, people inspired, espadrille style footwear.

“Bahems was created for the everyday person,” the 27-year-old noted. “The Bahamas inspires me and sparks my creativity. If other entrepreneurs in the making are able to draw inspiration from Bahems that’s rewarding for me.”

The canvas shoes feature a pig leather insole with memory foam underneath, perfect for those wanting to step forward in stylish comfort for $60 or less, he added.

Mr Arnett, the junior national record holder in the 400 metre hurdle, knows a thing or two about the perfect stride.

The athlete’s running gait won him two scholarships, the second to Mississippi State University where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in marketing management. Now, Mr Arnett is looking to score with his new shoe line.

“As much as people love fashion, they also prize comfort and durability. Bahems is the perfect addition to any wardrobe.

It’s ideal for laid-back Saturday attire for men or for the ladies who want to ditch the heels once

The Briland Pink Sands canvas shoe

Hibiscus canvas shoes

The Royal Camo canvas shoe in office, or while in transit, for something comfier,” he said.

At The Island House Christmas event, Bahems unveiled five of the brand’s eight shoes – Unity One, Inspire, Hibiscus, Briland Pink Sands and Royal Camo.

Other designs will be revealed this year.

Sizes range from six to 11 for women and from sizes seven to 13 for men.

Although presently manufactured abroad, Mr Arnett is working to have the waterproof footwear made locally.

“Presently, buyers can order online and we’ll deliver to them.

The ultimate goal, however, is to grow from a local business to an international brand. Our launch moves us one step closer to that reality,” he said.

The “Inspire” design

16 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, January 5, 2018

celebrity With Karin Herig and Alesha Cadet

FAIL

HIT

FAIL

HIT

HIT

Alfre Woodard ”The Lion King”

Diane Lane ”Justice League” Karin says: “This is very demure and elegant. Nothing too exciting, but it’s nice. The slit in the navy blue blouse gives the outfit a little ‘oomph’ and I like the big floral pattern. However, I still think it’s a teensy bit too old for Diane.”

Alesha says: “It’s a straightforward, ‘let’s play it safe’, elegant ensemble. The deep cut adds a little spice I guess, she looks nice. Yellow and navy blue always make for a good combo.”

Samira Wiley ”The Handmaid’s Tale”

Andra Day, singer

Karin says: “These must be her comfy flip-flops she forgot to switch out for her pumps.

As for the dress; it’s wearing her, not the other way around.

It almost looks like it’s trying to swallow her whole.”

Alesha says: “The dress is fine I guess, but my goodness, those sandals have to go.

There is no way it was OK to wear them at a red carpet event with a somewhat formal dress.”

Amber Tamblyn ”Inside Amy Schumer”

Karin says: “I know dressing in Hollywood when you’re above a size 4 is difficult, but there has to be something better than this (mature) Elizabeth Taylor robe. The whole look just depresses me.

What’s the fun in dressing up like this for a star-studded event?”

Alesha says: “No, no and no to everything. I mean, did the theme have anything to do with tea party or church service, because that is all I am getting from the looks on the red carpet.”

Karin says: “Just fabulous!

Finally! An actual stylish look on the red carpet. It’s such a simple black jumpsuit, but it fits her so beautifully she doesn’t even need any accessories. She just glows all on her own. Love the V-neckline and the flared sleeves!”

Alesha says: “I absolutely love it. You cannot go wrong with black and this jumpsuit is simply gorgeous on Samira.

Oh and the red lip is bomb. com”

Karin says: “Andra seems to be toning down her drag queen-inspired look somewhat and is serving us elegant retro rockabilly. I’m still not loving her signature poufy hair, though. The dress is very simple, which it has to be, given her accessories, but the red looks amazing on her.”

Alesha says: “Minus the hair, dramatic makeup, earrings, and stockings, I actually like this look. The dress and coat fit very well together and she looks nice in them.”

PHOTOS/EVAN AGOSTINI/INVISION/AP

The Weekend Fashion Report 11th Annual CNN Heroes Tribute

The Tribune | Weekend | 17

Friday, January 5, 2018

books

review

D

Robert Crais’ ‘The Wanted’ is rewarding page-turner

evon Connor is beside herself with worry.

Her teenage son, Tyson, keeps showing up with things that neither of them could possibly afford: New clothes from Barney’s.

High-end electronics. What appears to be a genuine Rolex. And his explanations are ludicrous.

Fearing that he might be dealing drugs, she hires private detective Elvis Cole to look into it. It doesn’t take Cole long to discover that the situation is much worse. Tyson is part of a three-person teenage gang that’s been breaking into homes in rich neighborhoods around Los Angeles.

So begins “The Wanted,” the latest in Robert Crais’ series of

cleverly plotted, stylishly written private-eye novels featuring Cole and his fearsome, taciturn partner Joe Pike.

When Tyson and his friends go on the run, Cole finds himself in a riveting race against time. The police, of course, are seeking the gang, too. But so are two quirky, highly resourceful thugs who prove to be the most interesting characters in the tale. The teens, it seems, have unknowingly stolen a laptop containing a powerful criminal’s darkest secret, and the thugs will stop at nothing to track it down.

As the bodies pile up, and the yarn approaches its climax, the reader begins to wonder if Cole and Pike may finally have met their match.

Carl Riggins, a rude, fat, friendless geek with bad skin who grudgingly helps Cole with his case, is the book’s lone false note-— a character who conforms to every tired stereotype of a teenage computer hacker.

But this is a quibble, because the end result is another rewarding page-turner by one of the most reliable storytellers in modern crime fiction. ___ Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including “The Dread Line.”

BRUCE DESILVA Associated Press

THIS cover image released

by G.P. Putnam’s Sons shows “The Wanted,” a novel

by Robert Crais.

(G.P. Putnam’s Sons via AP)

Crime drama ‘False Witness’: Killed on 21st birthday ON her 21st birthday, Deborah Holt got an eye-popping gift — a new Mercedes — from her well-off, older boyfriend. She didn’t get to enjoy it for long.

The next day her nude body, wrapped in sheets, is found at the gates of a cemetery.

In “False Witness,” Andrew Grant’s third crime thriller featuring police Detective Cooper Devereaux, Deborah’s lurid killing sets in motion a whodunit that’s given a sudden twist when a second victim’s body is found. Like Deborah, she is nude, wrapped in sheets and just turned 21.

The top 10 audiobooks on Audible.com Audible.com best-sellers for week ending December 29:

Fiction 1. Artemis by Andy Weir, narrated by Rosario Dawson 2. Mean Streak by Sandra Brown, narrated by Jonathan Davis

Grant’s police procedural — more plodding than pulsating — unfolds against the backdrop of two subplots: Can Devereaux sort out the truth of his father’s criminal history? And will the mother of his young daughter let Devereaux back in her arms despite his possibly worrisome DNA? As in the first two Devereaux thrillers — “False Positive” and “False Friend” — the action in “False Witness” unfolds in Birmingham, Alabama, the Deep South state’s most populous city and not the Birmingham in England where Grant was born and raised.

3. The Island of Dr Moreau by H G Wells, narrated by Simon Prebble 4. The Christmas Train by David Baldacci, narrated by Tim Matheson 5. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, narrated by Wil Wheaton 6. The Alice Network by Kate Quinn, narrated by Saskia Maarleveld 7. Origin BY Dan Brown, narrated by Paul Michael 8. The Poet by Michael Connelly, narrated by Buck Schirner 9. Year One by Nora Roberts, narrated

by Julia Whelan

In “False Witness,” Grant has a good feel for character types and certain locales in his adopted Birmingham. He also writes some fine lines, such as his description of the former steel-mill city’s Sloss Furnaces: “The chimneys are still visible ... as are the tops of the rust-red silos that Devereaux used to imagine being parts of a demented giant’s chemistry set.”

But the narrative is mostly a standardfare crime novel and its two miniplots about Devereaux’s personal life tend to KENDAL WEAVER Associated Press

10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J K Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale

Nonfiction 1. The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish, narrated by the author 2. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson, narrated by Roger Wayne 3. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford, narrated by Jonathan Davis and the author

4. Building a Better Vocabulary by The Great Courses, narrated by Professor Kevin Flanigan 5. Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly, narrated by Robin Miles 6. Deviate: The Science of Seeing Differently by Beau Lotto, narrated by the author 7. Unf*ck Yourself by Gary John Bishop, narrated by the author 8. The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone, narrated by the author 9. You Gotta Get Bigger Dreams by Alan Cumming, narrated by the author 10. The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss, narrated by Ray Porter

18 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, January 5, 2018

podcasts

The best listens of 2017

By STEPHEN HUNT shunt@tribunemedia.net

A

s the new year begins, it’s time to look back over the very best of the past year – and in the podcasting world, there have been a lot of great shows to check out.

With some tough decisions made, then, here are my top five podcasts that I reviewed in 2017.

Ear Hustle Ear Hustle is a show that gives the microphone to prisoners at San Quentin prison. The show I reviewed talks about the SHU, the security housing unit – though the one featured in this show is not at San Quentin but at Pelican Bay State Prison in Northern California, “Solitary”. It talks to four prisoners who have spent prolonged periods in solitary confinement – and it’s a world away from the one we know.

“It’s the hole, the dungeon, the box,” as co-host Antwan Williams says.

“Your mind can trick you into adjusting to the immediate conditions,” says Williams – a prisoner himself – and you can hear that in the conversations with other prisoners. There’s a mix of bravado and fear, and you can hear how hard the experience is in the voices of those being interviewed.

This really is a brilliant podcast – it’s only half an hour or so in length but it packs a lot in there and really opens your eyes to a world we perhaps choose not to look at. It certainly makes you wonder about the life behind bars of those closer to home.

Website: https://www.earhustlesq. com/

The Vanished A show looking squarely at the issue of missing people – and it’s a powerful, painful show to listen to. The episode I listened to focused on the case of Mimi Lewis, who was just 14 years old when she disappeared from her home in Kosciusko, Mississippi. She was later found dead, and those are just the bare facts of a story that touches on a host of issues of law enforcement, child protection – even the language we use – that end up stacked against the young

people who find themselves in impossible situations.

The show features a long discussion with Sandye Roberts, of Halos Investigations. Roberts highlights the risks that children face, increasingly. From websites that trade in children’s bodies to smugglers that turn towards trafficking in people rather than drugs because they can sell people’s bodies more than once, it’s a horrific, harrowing tale – and it’s one that’s all too common, as common as the chat software on the games that children play.

Website: www.thevanishedpodcast. com

Modern Love I’ve reviewed Modern Love before – it’s an excellent show – but by chance a remarkably fitting companion piece to S-Town was the show I reviewed featuring a reading by actress Laura Dern of a piece by Rhonda Mawhood Lee. She reads about a pastor speaking to her parishioner, a 78-year-old man who had fallen in love with a 28-yearold man – to the shocked reaction of his church.

The show includes reaction to the piece – but one of the concerns is again that, unfortunately, the story comes after the fact. Ned passes away. So is his story someone else’s to tell? Ought we to be discussing, no matter how compassionately, their sex lives, their loves?

It fits into the same territory as the discussion of McLemore above – and while I have no answers to the questions it raises, it is beautifully done and thoughtfully executed.

Modern Love is very well worth a listen – even when it raises awkward questions.

Website: http://www.wbur.org/ modernlove

Faculty of Horror One of my favourite podcasts is Pseudopod – a podcast giving readings of horror stories. It was one of my podcasts of the year last year and a regular listen for me. So when they gave a shout out to Faculty of Horror, it had to go on my review list – and I’m awfully glad to find them.

Faculty of Horror is hosted by Andrea Subissati and Alexandra West,

who analyse a host of horror movies across the episodes they’ve recorded.

The first show I encountered focused on rape revenge movies such as ‘I Spit On Your Grave’.

I was somewhat wary of trusting a show I’d never listened to before to cover such movies in a non-exploitative way – heck, such movies themselves don’t really do that – so I chickened out and listened to the previous episode, an in-depth study of the brilliant movie ‘The Descent’.

The hosts are incredibly knowledgeable. The analysis is great, taking in everything from the set design through to feminist readings of the film.

Geek that I am, I thought I knew just about everything there was to know about this movie, but the hosts went far beyond what I thought I knew. They are engaging, the production is excellent, the analysis is on an academic level and... well, I probably shouldn’t have chickened out on that first show, right?

Website: http://www.facultyofhorror.com

The Tribune | Weekend | 19

Friday, January 5, 2018

gardening January is the time to plant pole beans

A busy season It’s a new year and it’s time to gird our loins and face the most productive period of our vegetable growing season, says Jack Hardy.

W

hatever we are growing now must be continued by successive sowing. Glut, then famine should play no part in the garden.

The best way to calculate our new year crops is to note how long each veggie takes to mature from seed. Most of our vegetables are 90- or 120day producers, three or four months. A trip to our local nursery can provide seedlings that cut a month off our waiting time. A few seedlings will provide encouragement while the seeds take their own sweet time.

Keep tomatoes and cabbages coming by planting new crops every month. Peppers have a much longer production schedule but you may still wish to grow more to replace any that fall by the wayside due to disease. Another patch of carrots or beets will certainly be useful. Most herbs are perennials or biennials but cilantro/coriander needs monthly sowings to remain productive.

If you have not planted onions then now is the time to start. This is also the best time of year to start Irish potatoes from single-eyed sections of sprouting spuds from the produce section of your favourite supermarket.

By the time you read this I will have planted seeds for eggplant (aubergine) because the temperature will be considerably higher by the time they reach their fruiting stage, which should last through the summer months. This formula also works well for fennel.

90-day crops such as garden peas, lettuce, greens, cucumbers and squashes will be productive by Eastertime if sown now.

January is a great time to plant pole beans and Malabar spinach. Pole beans are far more productive than bush beans and the harvesting time lasts much longer. A tepee frame of three or four poles will give support to a sowing of eight to ten seeds, plenty enough for the average family. Malabar spinach can be grown in a large container

set beside a chain link fence or given netting to climb on.

Our winter flowers should be at their prime now, particularly the ever popular petunias, impatiens, portulacca and geraniums. A start can be made in the next few weeks on the summer favourites, New Guinea impatiens for low sunlight areas, marigolds, vinca, zinnias and tithonia. January is a good time to plant bulbs and rhizomes. They may seem expensive but we must remember they flower every year and also propagate new plants without much attention from us.

January is the month we pick the last of our carambolas, until July rolls around.

I will miss my carambolas. I have become used to sautéing half-inch stars in butter to accompany many meals – even egg and bacon breakfast.

They are great dropped into pancakes while the first side is browning. Raw stars are in every green salad, and also served in a small dish to set beside the cheese board selection along with grapes.

Carambolas and most fruiting shrubs are susceptible to scale insect invasions and this month is the ideal time to treat them. Once the last fruits have been harvested the affected trees should be sprayed with dormant oil mixed to the bottle’s specifications. Repeat the process three weeks later, ensuring on both occasions you choose a dull and cloudy day to prevent burning of the leaves. Inspect all your fruit shrubs and trees for signs of scale insects, particularly snow scale on the lower part of the trunk facing north. All scale insects are debilitating; snow scale is lethal.

Flowering shrubs and trees – and particularly roses - are easier to deal with by using a systemic system. Just spray and the leaves will absorb the insecticide and poison all scale invaders. Do not use a systemic on fruit trees for the obvious reason that you do not want residual insecticides in your fruits.

Practically all fruit trees are dormant during January, with the notable exception of mango. Spray your mango trees with a recommended fungicide using a long-throw sprayer. Repeat a month later. This will help eradicate anthracnose, a disease that produces black spots on the skin of mangoes and causes them to rot. But think carefully before you take this step.

Most back yard mango trees have their fruit consumed when freshly ripe. If that is the case with your mangoes then spraying will be unnecessary. If you intend to keep your mangoes for a while, or are selling them, then spraying with a fungicide would be a good idea.

Many fruit trees bear best on new growth and this is particularly true of the Annonas – sugar apple and soursop.

With annonas you should prune away about one-third of every branch and this will guarantee a heavy harvest in the summer. If you find the task tiresome keep thinking of soursop ice cream for encouragement.

Let us not forget our mainstay fruit, the humble banana. Whenever you barbecue add the cold ashes to the ground around your banana trees. If you can find potassium as 0-0-50 and phosphorus as 0-50-0 you should use them as your booster fertilizer and omit nitrogen altogether. Always remember that bananas love water and cannot get enough.

January is an ideal time to fertilize flowering shrubs. So many shrubs such as hibiscus and oleander do so well on a meagre diet that we often forget to look after them as well as we should. It is a fact that healthy well-fed plants resist insect predation so look upon feeding them as a preventative measure.

January is a busy month.

Let’s get cracking!

• For questions and comments, e-mail hardy1342@ yahoo.com

20 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, January 5, 2018

travel Tourists pose for photographs and read a restaurant menu in front of The Villa Casa Casuarina, a boutique hotel that once was the home of fashion designer Gianni Versace

The swimming pool at The Villa Casa Casuarina AP PHOTOS/JENNIFER KAY

Versace’s former mansion now a luxury hotel in Miami Beach

V

iewers intrigued by the Gianni Versace murder case featured in the new season of “American Crime Story” can retrace the fashion designer’s steps at his former mansion in South Beach.

Tourists stop on its stone front steps every day to pose for pictures where Versace was fatally shot by serial killer Andrew Cunanan in 1997. There’s more to the Mediterranean-style mansion than Versace’s death, however.

Now a boutique hotel, The Villa Casa Casuarina, Versace’s former home still reflects his glamorous designs and opulent lifestyle. Visitors can swim in the pool he lined with 24-karat gold tiles, sleep on doubleking-sized beds so large they require custom-made sheets, gaze at the ocean from his rooftop observatory and dine in a gourmet restaurant established in his former dining room.

A resident artist maintains the mosaics and frescos that Versace had made

for the property, including designs showcasing his signature snake-haired Medusa head, said Chauncey Copeland, the hotel’s general manager.

“We actually have preserved what Versace created here and just augmented it with some modern touches for the convenience of our hotel guests and restaurant patrons,” Copeland said.

Versace spent $33 million renovating the three-story building he purchased in 1992. It was originally an apartment complex built in 1930 by Standard Oil heir Alden Freeman. After Versace’s death, his family sold the property. The Villa Casa Casuarina now is part of the Victor Hotels group, which acquired the mansion at a 2013 auction for $41.5 million.

The opportunity to sleep in Versace’s former bedroom stands out among other luxury hotel experiences, even in glitzy South Beach, said Joey Cargill, of Manila, the Philippines, a

Reynaldo Ramirez, Victor Hotels director of sales, waits in the sitting room of the Signature Suite at The Villa Casa Casuarina.

hotel guest relaxing in the pool just after Christmas.

“It’s just the history, and Versace was an artist, and I kind of consider myself a little bit of an artist. Maybe I can grasp a little bit of that, in a different fashion,” Cargill said.

To live like Versace is to live large, transforming the most ordinary things into outrageous memories. “I can’t even hit all sides of the bed, it’s so big. I just take a corner of it,” Cargill said.

“The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” premieres January 17 on FX. The cast and crew spent about a month filming at the hotel, Copeland said. “It’s really striking just how accurate they are,” he said.

JENNIFER KAY Associated Press

The Tribune | Weekend | 21

Friday, January 5, 2018

literary lives – dylan thomas

The poet who raged against the dying light Sir Christopher Ondaatje remembers the young Welshman who became widely popular in his lifetime but acquired a reputation as a roistering, drunken and doomed poet.

“F

or Dylan (Thomas), teetering on the rim of a volcano was the only way he knew to escape the demands of his creative life. Poète Maudit, he ignited the fugitive present, using alcohol as fuel. Despite his increasing fame, he remained forever prey to disorder and a fear that his sources of inspiration would dry up. ‘Isn’t life awful ... I can’t finish a poem, or begin a story, I chew my nails down to my shoulders, pick three-legged horses with beautiful names, take my feet for grey walks, moulder in Brown’s, go to bed as though to an office, read with envy of old lonely women who swig disinfectant by the pint, think about money, dismiss it as dirt, think about dirt ...’ “

– Francesca Premoli-Droulers, Writers’ Houses

Dylan Marlais Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales on October 27, 1914.

He was not a good student, leaving school when he was 16 and working for a brief time as a journalist in Wales.

Some of his poems were published while he was still a teenager. However, it was the publication of “Light breaks where no sun shines” in 1934 that grasped the attention of the literary world.

While in London, Thomas met Caitlin Macnamara, a young Irish dancer in The Wheatsheaf pub. She had run away from home intent on a dancing career.

They were introduced by Augustus John, the artist, and was at the time his mistress. Thomas and Macnamara were married in 1937. Their relationship, defined by alcoholism, was mutually destructive and their early married years were tormented by poverty. They settled in the tiny Welsh fishing village of Laugharne.

“Some, like myself, just came one day, for the day, and never left; got off the bus, and forgot to get on again.”

Dylan (pronounced ‘Dull-an’ in Welsh during his early years) Thomas had first arrived in Laugharne in 1934 with a friend and was immediately charmed by its peaceful atmosphere – a place of quiet, deserted lanes enlivened by the comforting presence of seven pubs and the rhythmic lapping of the visiting sea. In 1938, he returned to Laugharne with his young wife – the beautiful blonde and sensual Caitlin.

They stayed with the writer Richard Hughes at Castle House, a large Victorian mansion near Laugharne Castle, for several weeks in a gazebo overlooking the sea, and it was here that he started writing “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog” – an autobiographical account of his young life in Swansea fused with youthful reminiscences of London, and the fresh discovery of Laugharne.

Dylan Thomas (1914 - 1953) Thomas was already the author of two published works of poetry. His first volume “18 Poems” was published in December 1934 by Fortune Press.

It was critically acclaimed by the literary world, including Edith Sitwell and Edwin Muir. His next collection, “Twenty-five Poems”, was published by J M Dent in 1936 and was also received well, but neither book produced much revenue. Thomas was constantly short of money and borrowed from friends.

He was also drinking heavily.

After staying for weeks with the tolerant writer Hughes in Castle House the couple moved to a cottage in Laugharne and then to a larger house Sea View overlooking the estuary. The villagers soon grew used to the impecunious young Bohemian couple and their careless life. Their first child, Llewelyn Edouard, was born on January 30, 1939, but hounded by creditors, Thomas and his wife were forced to leave Sea View and moved in with Caitlin’s family – in Blashford, England.

During the war years which followed they were constantly moving from one

house to another, depending entirely on the generosity of friends. Thomas and his young family lived on meagre fees from writing and reviewing, sometimes writing scripts for the British Broadcasting Corporation. Classified Grade III because of a lung disorder, it meant that he would be among the last to be called up for war service.

In May 1941, Thomas and Caitlin left their young son with Caitlin’s mother in Blashford and moved to London where he hoped to find work. He was hired by Strand Films which provided some regular income. Caitlin gave birth to a daughter, Aeronwy, in London.

They lived in a rundown Chelsea studio consisting of a large single room with a curtain separating the kitchen.

Thomas began an affair with Pamela Glendower – a London-Welsh draper’s daughter with literary ambitions. It was one of many he would have during his marriage.

In 1944, with the threat of flying bombs in London, they moved to

Continued on page 22

22 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, January 5, 2018

Continued from page 21 Llangain in Wales, and then to New Quay in Cardiganshire. There, he sketched the radio piece “Quite Early One Morning” which eventually blossomed into “Under Milk Wood”.

Although the BBC turned down “Quite Early One Morning” for their national broadcasts, Thomas made over a hundred broadcasts for the BBC between 1945 and 1948 – not only for his poetry but also for his discussions and critiques. “Death and Entrances” was published in 1946, and Thomas began reading for BBC Radio’s Book of Verse. He had an uneasy relationship with BBC Radio, mainly because of his drinking, but his rich sonorous voice became well known on the radio.

It was not until 1949 that Thomas and Caitland moved back to Laugharne, and to the Boat House purchased for them at a cost of £2,500 by Margaret Taylor – the wife of the historian A J P Taylor. Thomas also bought a garage a hundred yards from the Boat House on a large cliff ledge, which he turned into his writing studio. He rented Pelican House, opposite Brown’s Hotel, his regular drinking destination, where his parents lived until 1953 when his father died. Caitlin gave birth to their third child, a boy named Colm Garan Hart, on July 25, 1949.

It was in the Boat House in Dylan Thomas with his family: children Aeronwy, Colm and Llewelyn, mother Florence, and wife Caitlin Macnamara Laugharne that Dylan Thomas spent Thomas his last turbulent years. His was not a drinking, and continuing his nevernormal family life, but one governed by ending conversation with the hotel alcohol and frustrated creativity. proprietress Ivy Williams who held him

spellbound with countless stories of “Each day since coming to this place local dramas – forbidden and passionI love and where I want to live and ate – fuelling the Thomas imagination where I can work and where I have – some to be re-born in the characters started work (my own) already I have of “Under Milk Wood” (1953). Crazed been saying to my contemptible self. with ambition, Thomas would wend his This is it: the place, the house, the way back to the Boat House to amaze workroom, the time.” his wife Caitlin with a deluge of inco herent words and ideas scheduled for Dylan Thomas wrote “Over Sir his solitary afternoon of creativity.

John’s Hill” in his garage next to the Later in the day Thomas would again Boat House in Laugharne: make his way again to Brown’s Hotel “Over Sir John’s hill, and Caitlin would follow.

The hawk on fire hangs still;

In a hoisted cloud, at drop of dusk, “I had to go with him or not see he pulls to his claws him.” – Caitlin Thomas And gallows, up the rays of his eyes

the small bird of the bay.”

When Thomas and Caitlin returned,

usually much the worse for wear, they He worked in a harness surrounded were usually accompanied by an audiby half-empty bottles of beer, books ence of fellow-boozers until night and photographs. He worked alone, closed in on another curtain-call of undisturbed for many hours before Dylan Thomas married Caitlin Macnamara in 1937 making his way to Brown’s Hotel, frenzied dissipation.

The Tribune | Weekend | 23

Friday, January 5, 2018

The Thomas family home from 1949 – The Boat House in Laugharne, Wales In 1950, John Malcolm Brinnin, the American poet and literary critic, invited Dylan Thomas to undertake a lucrative three-month tour of the United States. The plan was to travel to all the arts centres and campuses.

Thomas welcomed this as the answer to all his prayers – to get the recognition that he craved and also to put an end to their financial difficulties. The tour began at the Kaufmann Auditorium of the Poetry Centre in New York with an audience of over a thousand.

It extended to 40 venues, and Thomas seduced literally thousands of students with his magic verse and readings. He nearly always travelled inebriated from university to university, and from woman to woman. He seemed to go out of his way to shock people, usually drinking before performances. But the adulation was enormous.

“Nobody ever needed encouragement less, and he was drowned in it.”

– Caitlin Thomas

On his return to Laugharne, Thomas found that his idyllic personal haven had exploded. Caitlin was incensed with continuous reports of drunken infidelities. He began working on “In the White Giant’s Thigh”, but Caitlin, after a bitter row, threw the manuscript out of the Boat House window – only

The commonly held view has been that Dylan Thomas drank himself to death, however, this narrative is being increasingly questioned.

to recover it before the tide came in.

Eventually, he read the poem on the BBC Third Programme:

Who once were a bloom of wayside brides in the hawed house And heard the lewd, wooed field flow to the coming frost, The scurrying, furred small friars squeal in the dowse Of day, in the thistle aisles, till the white owl crossed.

Thomas started again to work on “Under Milk Wood”, but there was still financial difficulty and he hoped for another trip to the United States.

However, wealthy patrons, including Margaret Taylor, were not keen that Thomas take on another self-destructive journey. Instead, she bought 54 Delancey Street in Camden Town, urging him to get steady work in London. Thomas and Caitlin moved into the basement flat, which he was to describe as his “London house of horror”. He did not return there after his 1952 tour of America.

The second 1952 trip to the United States was taken with Caitlin, who travelled with him as she did not want a repetition of his earlier womanising experiences. They drank heavily but he still managed to make 46 engagements despite gout and lung problems. It was an intensive and exhausting schedule. One of his works recorded during the trip was “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” which became his most popular prose work in America.

In April 1953, Dylan Thomas made a third journey, alone, to the United States. These foreign trips had become the soul of ambition for him, and during this third visit he performed “Under Milk Wood” – a “work in progress” – for the first time at Harvard University on May 3. A week later the work was performed again with a full cast at the Poetry Centre in New York. He was still editing and re-writing the script only a few hours before the evening performance. John Brinnin and his assistant Liz Reitell had to lock Thomas in a room so that he would finish his editing in time for the evening show. The play was a resounding success and Thomas spent the last 10 days of the tour in New York with Reitell, with whom he was having an affair.

He fractured his arm falling down some stairs when drunk. Reitell’s doctor

Continued on page 24

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Friday, January 5, 2018

Continued from page 23 Milton Feltenstein had to put his arm in plaster before he returned home.

Back in Laugharne Thomas continued to work on “Under Milk Wood”.

When he finished it, he sent the final manuscript to Douglas Cleverdon of the BBC on October 15, 1953, after which he embarked on a fourth and final tour of poetry reading in the United States, again organised by John Brinnin.

Unlike his earlier trips, he was not as keen to make the journey and complained of chest trouble and breathing difficulty. His health was deteriorating fast and he needed an inhaler to help his breathing condition. He flew to New York on October 19 1953. Liz Reitell met him at Idlewild Airport and was horrified to see the ghastly pale and frail man – just a shadow of his normal confident self. Despite this, Thomas insisted on going to bed with her and checked into The Chelsea Hotel. The next day he went to another rehearsal of “Under Milk Wood” in New York before going with Reitell to the White Horse Tavern, and then back again to The Chelsea Hotel. Feeling unwell, Thomas spent the afternoon sleeping.

Reitell gave him some phenobarbitone tablets to help him sleep and spent the night with him. Two days later, before more performances of “Under Milk Wood”, Reitell took Thomas again to her doctor Feltenstein who gave him Benzedrine injections – enough to get him through two performances. He then collapsed.

A few days later Dylan Thomas went to his 39th birthday party but had to leave after an hour to go back to his hotel. He managed, however, to take part in a “Poetry and the Film” recording the next day. On November 2, Thomas spent most of the day in bed drinking and went out again to The White Horse pub nearby at 2am. The next morning he cancelled appointments and instead went drinking with Liz Reitell, but cut this short to return to his hotel. He was having more trouble breathing. Dr Feltenstein came to see him and administered the steroid ACTH by injection and then 32.4 milligrammes of morphine sulphate, which had a bad effect on his breathing. At midnight, Thomas was worse.

An ambulance was called and he was taken to the emergency department of St Vincent’s Hospital. He was comatose when he arrived and his admission form noted that he was suffering from

The poster for the 1972 film version of Thomas’ radio play “Under Milk Wood”, starring Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Peter O’Toole.

Dylan Thomas, known for his rich sonorous voice, made over a hundred broadcasts for the BBC between 1945 and 1948. “acute encephalopathy damage to the brain by alcohol”.

Caitlin Thomas flew to New York the next day and was taken to the hospital.

Her first words were, “Is the bloody man dead yet?” She was allowed to see him the next morning for 40 minutes, following which, in a drunken tirade, she attacked John Brinnin, threatened to kill him, and had to be put in a straitjacket and committed to the River Crest Detox Centre on Long Island.

Dylan Thomas died at noon the following day on November 9, 1953. He never awakened from his coma.

“Dylan Thomas could not give up his American tours, for they had become the breath of life to him, even as they precipitated his collapse, in a demonic cocktail of alcohol, sex, Benzedrine and success ... He was not yet forty. Caitlin mourned for her lost love and her vanished poet, fleeting the Boat House at Laugharne, and the horror of the past.”

– Francesca Premoli-Droulers, Writer’s Houses

Thomas died in New York before the BBC could record “Under Milk Wood”. Richard Burton starred in the first broadcast in 1954, and was joined

by Elizabeth Taylor in a subsequent film. The Dylan Thomas legacy was cemented with John Brinnin’s 1955 biography, “Dylan Thomas in America”, which painted a gruesome picture of him as a drunk and a philanderer.

Later biographies were critical of Brinnin’s view and claimed that Brinnin, Reitell and Feltenstein were culpable, self-serving, and spurred Thomas to his death. Dr Feltenstein’s role was especially criticised for the high dose of morphine that he gave Thomas instead of admitting him to hospital.

“And death shall have no dominion Dead men naked they shall be one With the man in the wind and the west moon;

When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone, They shall have stars at elbow and foot; Though they go made they shall be sane Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again Though lovers be lost love shall not; And death shall have no dominion.”

– Dylan Thomas, Twenty-five Poems

Dylan Thomas’s body was brought back to Wales and buried in the village graveyard at Laugharne. His coffin was carried by six friends from the village. Caitlin walked beside the coffin without her customary hat. She died in 1994 and was buried next to her husband. Their Boat House home in Laugharne is now a museum run by the Carmarthenshire County Council.

NEXT WEEK: The ‘Migrant Mother’ of documentary photography

• Sir Christopher Ondaatje is the author of “The Last Colonial”. He acknowledges that he has quoted liberally from Wikipedia; Francesca Premoli-Droulers: Writer’s Houses; Caitlin Thomas: My Life with Dylan Thomas, Double Drink Story; and David N Thomas: Fatal Neglect: Who Killed Dylan Thomas?

The Tribune | Weekend | 25

Friday, January 5, 2018

history

Mapping the march of time Forgotten facts Paul C Aranha

M

y last article of 2017 talked about the Cay Sal Bank, the oft-overlooked westernmost portion of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, much nearer to Cuba than to Nassau.

A welcome gift that I found under my family’s Christmas tree was s delightful hardcover book called “A History of the Bahamas Through Maps”, written

by Todd T Turrell. Since I like maps and books about the Bahamas, it was like getting two gifts from Santa.

Among everything else, the author includes a lot of information about the Cay Sal area plus a number of interesting, but oft-forgotten facts, such as: • 1861, August 3 – HMS Driver, a six-gun, wooden paddle sloop that had, in 1847, completed the first circumnavigation of the world by a steamship, was wrecked on Mayaguana – but six guns were not enough to sate the appetite of King Neptune’s and on • 1861 December 13 – The 101-gun HMS Conqueror, Britain’s first screwdriven warship, was wrecked on the

This weekend in world history

January 5

• 1875 – Charles Garnier’s new opera house opens in Paris; it is the site where Gaston Leroux’s “Phantom of the Opera” is born.

• 1914 – Henry Ford astounds the world as he announces that he will pay a minimum wage of $5 a day and will share with employees $10 million in the previous year’s profits.

• 1933 – Construction starts on what will become one of America’s most famous landmarks: the Golden Gate

An illustration from Todd T Turrell’s “A History of the Bahamas Through Maps” Sumner Point Reef, off Port Nelson, Rum Cay, because of a 20-mile error in navigation. All 1,400 aboard survived to tell the tale. The captain, fearing that his crew (most of whom could not swim, in those days) would drink themselves insensible, once it became obvious the ship was lost, ordered all ale, wine, and spirit casks to be broken

and their contents ditched. He then had the crew unload everything they could salvage, and set about making a camp on the island. The captain remained on board, with one midshipman and ten seamen, until the ship broke up. Then all of them, less the boat parties, were marooned on Rum Cay, but were rescued soon after.

Louis Daguerre

What’s left of the wreck lies in some 30 feet of water off Rum Cay. • 1900-1993 – Marion Barbara Carstairs was born in England. Her father was a British army officer. Her American mother was a daughter of a founder of the Standard Oil Company.

From childhood, her family called her Joe. Later, the press called her Betty.

Big Whale Cay was her private island, where she built a splendid mansion and gave work to most of the inhabitants of the Berry Islands and of northern Andros, around places like Mastic Point and Nicholls Town. Reports of her army and marching band are exaggerated but she was a philanthropist and there’s no disputing that she was a “character”. For more, read “The Queen of Whale Cay” by Kate Summerscale.

• 1980, May 10 – Just under six weeks after the creation of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, four Defence Force marines were killed when MiG fighter jets of the Cuban air force sunk the 103-foot HMBS Flamingo near Duncan Town, Ragged Island.

Flamingo had intercepted two Cuban fishing boats and arrested their crews, for illegally fishing in Bahamian waters, some 500 yards north of Cay Santo Domingo, a small Bahamian island, about 30 miles south of Duncan Town.

Bridge. When completed in 1937, the Golden Gate has a 4,200-foot-long suspension span.

January 6

• 1838 – Samuel Morse’s revolutionary telegraph system is demonstrated for the first time at the Speedwell Iron Works in New Jersey.

• 1941 – President Franklin Roosevelt gives his “4 Freedoms” speech (freedom of speech and worship; freedom from want and fear) during the US State of Union address.

• 1994 – Olympic hopeful Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed on the back of her knee at a Detroit ice rink according to a plan hatched by fellow skater

Tonya Harding’s bodyguard and ex-husband.

January 7 • 1714 – The first typewriter is patented by Englishman Henry Mill (built years later).

The waterworks engineer described it as a “machine for transcribing letters”.

• 1789 – America’s first presidential election is held.

Voters cast ballots to choose state electors; only white men who owned property were allowed to vote. As expected, George Washington wins the election.

• 1839 – Louis Daguerre makes the first announcement of his invention of a photographic system at the Académie des Sciences in Paris.

26 | The Tribune | Weekend

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The Tribune | Weekend | 27

Friday, January 5, 2018

animals

BHS plans ‘Golden Potcake’ certificate for supporters

T

hey say new year, new dreams, new hopes and new success. That is certainly what we at the Bahamas Humane Society are hoping to achieve. Every year, as I have mentioned in previous articles, we grow a little bigger, add another vet, or more staff or more space. Every year we need more money and have to find inventive ways of coming up with that money.

Fundraising is an ongoing concern at our shelter, as it is for many other very worthy causes in this country. Alas, we tend to all go to the same people for donations, prizes, table sales, raffle ticket sales, and much more. I am sure if the 10 largest charities in the Bahamas compared their donor list for 2017 you would see the same names popping up on many of the lists.

In 2018, the BHS wants to create a certificate that will be given to businesses who support and contribute to the Society, whether it be cash donations, supplies, prizes or in kind. There are many businesses that are extremely supportive and I believe that our members would like to reward them or frequent them more often, if they knew who the generous supporters were. So we plan to create a ‘Golden Potcake’ recognition certificate that people and businesses can proudly display in their shops, offices, storefront windows, or on their vehicles. The actual fine-tuning of this recognition programming still needs to be done and suggestions are, as always, welcome. In England there are shops that show off proudly that they are by “Royal Appointment” to some member of the royal family or another. This is what I would like to see the Golden Potcake to be.

PET OF THE WEEK

Jovial Jesse

By The Bahamas Humane Society

“G

ood morning all and welcome to the first Pet of the Week of 2018! My name is Jesse, and I’m delighted to be the first spokesdog for the Bahamas Humane Society this year. You might think I look a bit familiar but you might be confusing me with my sister, Whitey, who was Pet of the Week a few weeks ago. My sister and I are still at the shelter looking for a home for the new year. I’m a boy, a little over one year old, and I’d love to get to know you, go for some long walks, maybe splash about at the beach for a bit. Was your New Year resolution dogrelated? If so, come check me out! I might be the one you’re looking for! Adoption hours are 11am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, and 10 am to 4pm on Saturday, or you can call 323-5138 for more information. If you’d like to take a look at me and some of the other adoption dogs, you can see photos of some of us at the Adoption Dogs album at the BHS Facebook page. See you at the BHS soon!”

For instance, we just had a very successful raffle; the first prize was $10,000 worth of groceries kindly and generously donated by Super Value.

We could never have raised the money we did in the raffle without the support and kindness of the Super Value family of stores. I am happy to say that there are many other businesses that go well above and beyond expectations, and we are so very grateful to them all.

This is also the month that we are soliciting nominations for the B-Humane awards. We now have four categories that require nominations. A BHumane award to a Nassau resident, B-Humane award to an Out-Island resident, the International B-Humane award to somebody living outside of the Bahamas who assists us greatly, and the Corporate B-Humane award.

Nominations close midnight January 31. If you have somebody in mind for any of these categories you are asked to submit, in writing, the name of your

PATRICIA VAZQUEZ

Animal matters Kim Aranha

nominee and the reason why you are nominating them. A panel of chosen judges will decide on the merits of each nomination and the honoree will be informed at the beginning of February.

Recognition is extremely important, not that recognition is why people support us, but nevertheless, it is right to thank people for going above and beyond. Many times when you honour an individual for generosity and support, that gesture might encourage another person to act the same way. Kindness can be a bit like a snowball, starting as a small speck it picks up volume on the way, and soon people are looking to join in and be part of a successful movement.

If you know of anybody, a friend or a business who you know has been a wonderful animal supporter, rescuer or caregiver, we actively encourage you to contact us at: bahamashumanesocietymembership@gmail.com

I also solicit those of you with knowledge of businesses who you feel should receive the Golden Potcake certificate. We do not wish to miss anyone, or leave anybody out. Again please submit the reason with your name.

We have New Year resolutions like everybody else, some easier to honour than others. Some of our dreams are way out there. Some of our goals are within our grasp with the help and support from the public and private sector.

More members in 2018 is essential, as I have been known to mention, more than once, lately.

If you are not familiar with our shelter and you are interested in knowing what we actually do, we invite you to pop by and say hello. If there is an available staff member we could be delighted to show you around…you just might get hooked!

28 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, January 5, 2018