04072017 weekend

Friday, April 7, 2017

art books entertainment film fashion music gardening puzzles

Weekend

pink octopus Food, page 7

Natural nuptials Going green for the reception Weddings, pages 14&15

02 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, April 7, 2017

life through a lens

‘A New Day’ dawns for couples

B

PHOTOS/MALIK SMITH

RIDES and grooms walked away from the 29th annual Bahamas Bridal Show with a number of prizes that will not only help them plan the wedding of the dreams, but also jump-start the new life they hope to embark on together.

Hosted by Buttons Formal Wear under the theme ‘A New Day’, the bridal show lived up to its reputation as a one-stop shop for couples, catering to all their wedding needs – from food

to decorations, photography to flowers.

Fifty wedding and home suppliers filled the ballroom at the Meliá Nassau Beach with displays of their products and services.

And the luckiest couples left the show with the big prizes, including $15,000 from Arawak Homes, honeymoon getaways, wedding bands, gowns, tuxedos, a wedding planning service and more. The fashion segment of the event also showcased the latest trends in formal and bridal wear.

Have you taken a selection of photographs that might make a Life through a lens feature page? If so please submit it to weekend@ tribunemedia.net for consideration

• SEE PAGE 14/15 for the latest in wedding décor trends from the Bridal Show.

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Friday, April 7, 2017

Inside Weekend Interview

4-5 Cara Hunt talks to educator and filmmaker Moya Thompson about her passing her passion on to the next generation

Food 7 The new Pink Octopus restaurant whips up dishes with locally grown ingredients Art 8 - 9 Transforming Spaces 2017 is a hit with first-timers and veterans

Entertainment 11 - 13 Enjoy an ‘Xclusive’ night on the town aboard Nassau’s new party bus, plus Avvy and Jack Nasty team up for a new album, and festival-goers enjoy their just desserts at Sweeet Fest

Weddings 14 Buttons’ Bridal Show lays the reception table in style

Books 17 Latest releases reviewed

Design your lifestyle 18 Victoria Sarne on the bittersweet nature of nostalgia Gardening 19 Jack Hardy on what seeds to plant for the coming summer months

Film 20 In ‘Colossal’, rom-com meets monster feature, plus excitement for ‘Wonder Woman’

Literary Lives 21 - 24 Sir Christopher Ondaatje explores the paradox of Emily Dickinson Forgotten Facts 25 Paul Aranha recalls a time of pistols and swords Puzzles

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Animals 27 Kim Aranha pays tribute to her kingly potcake, Chief, plus the Pet of the Week Cover photo | Malik Smith

My perfect Bahamian weekend Shandera Sands Cosmetologist

Q: Beach or sofa?

“I would rather the beach. Just to get out and get some fresh air, spread a towel on the sand and going for a swim is detoxing.”

“I enjoy a glass of red wine after a long day to unwind.”

Q: Wine, Kalik, rum or a cocktail?

“I’m a wine kind of girl.

I enjoy a glass of red wine after a long day to unwind.”

Q: What could you not do without?

“I cannot and refuse to live or die without Christ, for he is the centre of my joy.”

Q: Saturday breakfast or Sunday brunch?

“I would say Sunday brunch, because after an exciting spirit-filled service, I need to go home relax and have my Sunday brunch. I hardly eat breakfast on Saturday.”

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

“If I could get a weekend away I would go to Abaco. It is so beautiful. I love it.”

Things 2 Do this weekend Friday

Proceeds in aid of charity.

• Wine, Cheese & Food Sampling Charity Event Time: 5.30pm - 7.30pm Venue: Solomon’s Fresh Market, Old Fort Bay For a donation of $15, enjoy a gourmet selection of wines and cheeses. All funds raised benefit the autism activist organisation REACH Bahamas.

• ‘Run Dirty’ – Bahama Health Mud Run Time: 6am Venue: Fort Charlotte Mud warriors get down and dirty for the Bahama Health Mud Run. For more information and to register, visit www.BahamaHealth.com/RunDirty.

• Icon of the Islands’ All White Party Time: 9pm Venue: The Pier Rock with the grown and sexy and enjoy entertainment by New York’s DJ Norie, Miami’ Black Chiney, DJ Tank and DJ Kiddo. Tickets are $20 for general admission and $100 for VIP. Icon of the Islands is a Caribbeanwide music competition and reality show.

Saturday • Sunrise Breakfast Fete Time: 4am - 12noon (6am j’ouvert fete) Venue: Fort Charlotte Join Rotary Nassau Sunrise for its sunrise party, Caribbean Sweat Fitness with Comby and music by The Rhythm Band. Tickets are $50 and include drinks and breakfast.

• Easter at Harbour Bay Time: 2pm - 4pm Venue: Harbour Bay Shopping Plaza Bring the family to see the Easter Bunny. There will also be coupon giveaways from participating stores.

• BREEF ‘Islands in the Stream’ Ball Time: 7pm Venue: Sapodilla Estate, West Bay Street The Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF) invites you to attend a ball which will also launch of a new wine and celebrates a return to Hemingway’s islands, when fish were plentiful and adventure filled the night.

• 17th Annual Cacique Awards Time: 7.30pm Venue: Baha Mar Convention Centre The awards celebrate the best and brightest in the country’s hospitality industry. The ceremony, themed ‘The Business of Tourism’, features 18

local and five international categories.

This year, officials have added a special award: the Willfred “Willie Love” Knowles Tourism Ambassador Award.

• Icon of the Islands Kick-off Concert featuring Destra and Tarrus Riley Time: 8pm Venue: Thomas A Robinson Stadium The ‘Queen of Bacchanal’ Destra performs alongside international reggae sensation Tarrus Riley.

Enjoy special performances by Dean Fraser & The BlackSoil Band, DJ Norie from New York, Black Chiney out of Miami, and the 242’s very own Grammy Award winner Rik Carey, as well as Lady E and DJ Tank. Tickets are $50 for general $50 admission, $100 for VIP, and $250 for platinum tickets.

Icon of the Islands is a Caribbeanwide music competition and reality show.

Sunday • Stand Out Hair and Makeup Expo Time: 2pm - 8pm (continues on Monday) Venue: Meliá Nassau Beach Resort Featuring international stylist Melvin Foster and others, the expo features classes, demonstrations and products for all hair types and styles – relaxed, natural, dyed and more. Tickets are $40.

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Friday, April 7, 2017

interview She has seen what it takes to make a major blockbuster, has experience in writing and producing her own TV shows and films, but right now Moya Thompson is focused on passing on her passion for movie and theatre to the next generation. She tells Cara Hunt about her summer film camp for students and how she wishes the Bahamas had a school just for the performing arts.

Moya Thompson

M

oya Thompson is about to start editing a sitcom that she wrote called ‘It Takes A Village’. The eightepisode series originally aired in 2013 on Cable 12, but Moya is hoping it can be re-released and entertain a new audience.

“It’s a sitcom about a multi-generational family and the different personalities of each of the children – a son who is a player, a married daughter who is estranged from her husband,

a vegan earth-centric daughter and another daughter considered the ‘star’ of the family because she is away at college until she returns home unexpectedly. It really takes on a theme that life is indeed a village,” she said.

Moya is also toying with the idea of another series, this one centred around employees at a major resort.

Regardless of what the future holds, the educator, writer and filmmaker told Tribune Weekend that her passion for the performing arts will never die.

Moya first got a taste of being in the

spotlight as a youngster in church when she discovered a passion that would eventually led to a career in film and theatre.

“I did spelling bees in school, but I never really took part in elementary school plays. But at my church, St Paul’s in Fox Hill, there was always something going on,” the “For example, when I was growing up Fox Hill Day was a big deal and so our church would always do special programmes that I would take part in.”

Her love of performing really took

off when she became a member of the Bahamas National Youth Choir.

Through the choir, she not only got to travel around the world representing her country, but she also learned the discipline required if one wants to be successful in the performing arts.

“I think it was when I joined the choir that I realised that this is something that I really wanted to do. It was a lot of work with all the practicing and the performing, and you had to be disciplined in getting to practice on time and knowing the material. If you

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Friday, April 7, 2017

know Cleophas Adderley (National Youth Choir director), he is a perfectionist and he demands the best, but in spite of all that I just loved it and I knew that this was something that I wanted to do. Being in the choir taught me a lot about how you present yourself on the stage and the dedication it requires.”

The Bahamas Faith Ministry also played a huge role in developing her love of drama.

“They had a very vibrant youth ministry with Youth Against Violence and Youth Alive, and I would perform at some of their events and I just loved it.”

Additionally, while at the College of the Bahamas, Moya joined the drama group and the choir, which also fostered her love of performing.

Despite her love of acting, however, Moya chose to pursue a career in education.

“At the time a lot of my friends were going into education and the government had just launched a programme where they were encouraging persons to become teachers, and assisting them with their tuition. So I went into education, which was also a natural fit for me because I had been always been around children in the various drama events I was in and had worked with them in summer camps,” she said.

After completing her associate degree in education, Moya decided to head to the United Stated to complete her bachelor’s degree.

“I had always wanted to go off to school and I was still very much interested in drama, and so my intention was to finish my education degree and minor in arts. I was accepted and went to Colombia College in Chicago, which is a performing based school,” she said.

However, she hit a small snag that slightly changed her education goals.

“The school wouldn’t accept the majority of my education credits and so I figured that rather than repeat a lot of the work over, I would follow my heart and I majored in film which in my mind would have been a good asset to have in education.”

Moya returned home after a little more than a year due to financial and personal reasons, a decision that she says she still regrets.

She started teaching upon her return home, but also did not neglect her first love. Moya formed her own production company, C2, and her first production was a play called ‘Das A Vibe’.

“It was a stage play about the dangers of drugs, sex and gang affilia-

Photo/Terrel W. Carey

tion for young people. The play had a number of film components that served as flashbacks for the three main characters who had died,” she said.

Then came Moya’s first short film, which was called ‘Full Circle: Food For Thought’. It was shot by the Bahamas Independent Filmmakers Guild and premiered at Celi Moss’ Bahamas Film Festival in 2010.

“It won the short film award that night at a Ladies’ Night tribute to Vivica Watkins. The competition was between myself, Jenny Cyril and Margueax Dillet (now Blackmon).”

Moya’s acting credits include appearances in the award-winning ‘Rain’

by Maria Govan, ‘Windjammers’ by acclaimed local filmmaker Kareem Mortimer and Ric Von Maur, and more recently, in ‘Cargo’, another film by Mr Mortimer.

Her stage credits include appearing in the popular improv troupe ‘Da

“I really wish that we had a fine arts/ drama high school that students can attend, because I know when I was in school that was not offered and it was what interested me.”

Spot’, in an opera called ‘Our Boys’, directed by Winston Saunders; ‘You Can Lead A Horse To Water’ written

by Winston Saunders and directed by Philip Burrows at CARIFESTA, and

in ‘The Melancholy of Susanna’ written by Travis Cartwright-Carroll and directed by Mrs Bethel last February.

Additionally, along the way, she participated in a number of film workshops.

“I was a part in a screenwriter’s workshop put on by Kent Minnis’ Bahfari Films, with screenwriter Gregory Allen Howard, who wrote ‘Remember the Titans’ and also the first script for ‘Ali’.

“In 2011, I did an acting workshop with Roger Guenveur Smith, through Leslie Vanderpool’s Bahamas International Film Festival. Roger is famous from a lot of the early Spike Lee movies,” said Moya.

“In 2014, I had the opportunity to visit the ‘Ride Along 2’ set in Atlanta Georgia and observe the goings-on behind the scenes of a big budget set.

I got a chance to meet and talk to (producer) Will Packer and met Kevin Hart, Ice Cube, Tika Sumpter, among others.

“This initiative – for which I paid my own way – was through the efforts of the Bahamas Consul General for the southern US area, Randy Rolle.”

And even as she continued her career in the classmates, Moya remained committed to educating young people on film and acting.

“In 2014, I did an in-school programme at T A Thompson (grades seven and eight), and also one at Woodcock Primary, grade five. This was my own initiative that I spearheaded. I shot a film with the grade eight group from T A Thompson later that year when they had moved up to grade nine.”

She also created her own summer film camp called FilMAD, which stands for ‘Film, Movement, Art and Drama’.

The camp is for kids and teens between the ages of five and 17.

“The camp combines my love of children and education,” she explained. It has been in operation for the past several years.

“The children learn about the process from formulating and writing an idea and script, how to act, how to actually produce a short film, how to shoot it, light it, edit it, and we have done music videos with Bahamian celebrities like Bodine Johnson, Ternille Burrows and Sammi Starr.”

She hopes the camp will foster a love of the arts in Bahamian youth.

“It’s what I wish I had in school. I really wish that we had a fine arts/drama high school that students can attend, because I know when I was in school that was not offered and it was what interested me,” she said.

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food Photos/Terrel W Carey/Pink Octopus

Pan-seared grouper with blood oranges, grapefruit and roasted beets.

Butternut squash with horseradish cream and local herbs.

Pink Octopus pulling in the customers

By CARA HUNT cbrennen@tribunemedia.net

N

assau’s newest restaurant, Pink Octopus, may have been opened doors less than two months ago, but already it is charming patrons with its artistic and colourful dining room, casual yet elegant table settings, and unique menu offerings.

The restaurant officially opened to the public on February 16 in a renovated space on West Bay Street, just outside of the Sun Fun Resort.

The chef, Israel-born Gal Kotzer, has been in the Bahamas for eight years after culinary stints in New York and Jamaica.

He has worked at the Atlantis and One&Only Ocean Club resorts, before branching off on his own. He is excited to offer guests at the Pink Octopus a contemporary take on locally grown food.

“I won’t say that I cook a certain type of food, instead what I want to do is offer my guests good quality food. So I tend to take what is available locally and in high quality, and create dishes based on what we have. The

Roasted garlic beets with sea salt capers, mint and red beet powder

Grilled octopus

flavours on the menu are distinct yet simple, but beautifully presented,” he explained.

The menu offers a wide array of small plate options, ranging from stone crab claws to sheep tongue tacos (probably the restaurant’s most popular dish), cauliflower steak, cured lemon chimichurri, queen snapper fillet, and of course, grilled octopus.

Pink Octopus’s menu is also inspired by Chef Gal’s philosophy of honouring the earth. The restaurant works closely with local farms, the Green Leaf Farms and Field to Fork, to offer seasonal and fresh menu items.

“I wanted to create a restaurant where people are excited about every dish on the menu, mostly the vegetables,” said Chef Gal. “In most places people look the other way when they see broccolini, because it’s just green. Here, I want them to fall in love with every bite of the broccolini. And so what we have are vegetable dishes that really stand out on their own as opposed to just being a side dish.

The vegetables here are really their own main course.”

Wally Montesino, co-owner

and general manager, added: “This is an incredible time to join the Bahamian restaurant industry. People are cautious about where they spend their money, so there is a drive to offer the best of everything: the best tasting food, using the freshest ingredients in the most beautiful way possible.”

That experience also includes hand-painted design details throughout the restaurant – all created by Chef Gal. Originally, a designer in Israel, he used his artistic flair to ensure that the space features as much of his signature input as the menu does.

Yolanda Contreas, the executive assistant to the general manager, is the final part of the management trio.

“In fact, we named the space Pink Octopus because the octopus has three hearts, which represent each of us, and then the pink just represents me,” she explained.

The perfect complement to the food is Pink Octopus’ cocktail menu. Each drink is distinct, and the bartender garnishes each one with fresh herbs from the patio garden.

In case guests can’t make it out west for lunch or dinner, there is always Sunday brunch.

The menu for brunch is mixture of traditional favourites as well as intriguing novelties. Pink Octopus is open for lunch Tuesday through Saturday from 11am to 3pm, and for dinner Tuesday through Saturday from 5pm to 10.30pm.

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Friday, April 7, 2017

art

Transforming the perception of Bahamian art

By CARA HUNT cbrennen@tribunemedia.net

A

rt enthusiasts were treated to an eclectic and stunning array of local art by more than 40 artists at six different galleries last weekend as the 13th annual Transforming Spaces event toured around Nassau.

This year’s bus tour included stops at the D’Aguilar Art Foundation, Doongalik Studios Art Gallery, Hillside House, the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas, New Providence Art & Antiques, and the Popopstudios International Centre for Visual Arts.

At each stop, patrons were able to visit and chat with the artists before viewing their work and enjoying light refreshments.

Transforming Spaces was created in 2004 as a way to showcase the best in contemporary Bahamian visual art, essentially by a creating a single, easy experience to enjoy local artwork at several venues all in one morning or afternoon.

The format has been extremely successful and has been enjoyed by faithful followers who attend the event every year and new patrons who are able to discover the country’s artistic gems for the very first time.

Coffi Johnson was a first-timer on the tour and said she had an amazing time and is already looking forward to next year’s event.

“I was invited by a friend to come along and really I had no idea what to expect. What I discovered throughout the day is that I genuinely did not know that some of these spaces existed or if I had heard of them.

I did not know exactly where they were located. For example, I can’t tell you how many times I have passed the D’Aguilar Foundation and just didn’t know what was in there,” Mrs

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PHOTOS/TERREL W CAREY

Transforming Spaces 2017 showcased more than 40 artists at six galleries around Nassau.

Johnson said.

“But now that I have been exposed to them, I want to revisit and spend a bit more time there. It also really opened my eyes to just how talented our Bahamian artists are and just gave me a deeper appreciation for our culture as a result of today.”

Meanwhile, Maelynn Seymour-Major took her 10th Transforming Spaces tour and said she was just as enamoured this time around as she was on her first visit.

“What I love about Transforming Spaces is that it is a very interactive experience. From the volunteers who ride the bus with you, to the curators and artists who are on hand to discuss the art with you, it just feels very personal and friendly,” she said.

“You truly feel like you are a specially invited guests in each of the spaces.

And having someone who can put the work into context for you really adds to the experience.”

At the National Art Gallery, patrons saw Edrin’s Symonette’s exhibition entitled ‘Residues of a Colonial Past’. Originally installed in the garden of the gallery, it was recently taken up and reinstalled inside.

Tour participants also saw a number of pieces in the permanent collection which all centered around the theme ‘Revisiting an Eye for the Tropics’, which through works by nearly 20 artists shows how the visual representation of the nation as a tropical tourism nation has been shaped.

On the tour I took, following the visit to the National Art Gallery it was only a quick hop to the D’Aguilar Art Foundation, where director Saskia D’Aguilar was passionate about presenting the current exhibition, ‘The Art of Losing’.

Mrs D’Aguilar is the daughter-inlaw of the late Vincent D’Aguilar, a promoter and prominent supporter of Bahamian art. Upon his death, he had acquired almost 1,000 art pieces, all of which formed the initial collection of the foundation.

‘The Art of Losing’ was inspired by the Pulitzer Prize-winning poem of the same name by Elizabeth Bishop.

The exhibit features work that is inspired by loss at various levels – from the mundane such as a chandelier made of simple lost items like as car keys, cell phones and buttons, to the loss of time and places, as well as the devastating grief experienced when losing a loved one.

“Saskia D’Aguilar curated an

amazing show that focused on lost things. It was my favourite experience this year – 90 per cent because of her curation and storytelling. It was so personal and touching,” said Ms Seymour-Major.

At Popopstudious, patrons first saw a display by New Providence Art and Antiques which included original drawings for the Genesis Junkanoo group by Allan P Wallace and Rick Albury, and photos by Kevin Cooper of Junkanoo Paparazzi.

The tour of this gallery was given by Jay Koment, president of Transforming Spaces.

Next up was a visit to the Popopstudios’ main gallery to view an exhibit by the art students of the St Andrew’s and Lyford Cay International Schools, as well as some of the drawings of artists in residence, including Kendal Hanna and others who work out of the space.

From there, patrons were whisked away to Hillside House for an exhibition called ‘The Light of Faith Reformation of the Cross’. These works

by Antonius Roberts are meant to inspire hope in all forms.

Other artists who also were on hand to showcase their work were Chantel E Y Bethel, whose piece ‘Hooked’ focused on overcoming addiction; jewellery maker Q Kimetria Pratt, who recently completed her first copper sculpture, and June Collie, who is the current artist-in-residence at the space.

The final stop of my tour was Doongalik Studios, where 11 artists ‘flipped the script’ on traditional art display for a showcase called ‘Inside/Outside Naturally’.

“We took items that would normally be displayed inside and placed them outside, and things outside where displayed inside,” explained Pamela Burnside, manager of Doongalik Studios.

Wood turners Robin Hardy, Jeremy Delancy and David McGorrin exhibited inside, while eight artists had their art displayed amongst the garden outside. They included Dwight Ferguson with a multimedia installation; Del Foxton with handmade paper art; Imogene Walkine with a ceramic hanging installation; floral artist Omar Williams; Alistair Stevenson with a ceramic installation; straw artist Beverly Taylor, multimedia artist Candis Marshall, and master sculptor Antonius Roberts, who designed a live installation of his ‘Sacred Spaces’ in the garden.

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Friday, April 7, 2017

In the swim with the Bahamas Ready to make a big splash Why BTC’s support is crucial in hosting this week’s Carifta swimming championships

T

HREE years ago, the Bahamas Swimming Federation engaged in a four-year contractual agreement with the Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) for the sponsorship of their national junior programme.

The deal has enabled the Bahamas to be in a position to host the XXXII Carifta Swimming Championships over the next 10 days in Nassau, the fourth time it has staged the event.

The championships start with the Water Polo competition from today to Sunday at the Betty Kelly Swim Complex and finish with the Open Water Swim competition at Long Wharf on April 19. The swimming competition will take place from April 14 to 18 at the Betty Kelly Complex.

Bahamas Swimming Federation

S GOOD SPORT

programme BTC’s sponsorship veral major se also encompasses sau in the as N in ts en ev sports : forthcoming weeks and water polo Carifta swimming il 7-19) pr championships (A rifta track Ca at as m ha Ba Team ships (April on pi and field cham 15-17 in Curacao) (April 21-22) IAAF World Relays World Cup FIFA Beach Soccer (April 27-May 7)

The Bahamas Carifta Swimming team is benefitting from BTC’s sponsorship president Algernon Cargill says they could not have hosted it this year without the commitment from BTC and the Government.

“We were concerned that swimming was not getting the kind of corporate support from the Bahamas, given our successes at the Carifta, CISC and even the CAC and Commonwealth Games,” said Mr Cargill, who orchestrated the deal with BTC in his first year at the helm.

“So we approached BTC with a multiyear agreement and we were able to negotiate a four-year agreement for the Bahamas Swimming Federation.”

The deal, which will expire in 2018, saw BTC pump a total of $90,000 to help the federation defray its expenses towards hosting this year’s Carifta Championships.

The budget for hosting the championships is over $600,000, including hotel accommodations and transportation for more than 550 athletes and officials from the 25 competing countries.

The BSF received $40,000 for the first two years in taking the national team to Barbados in 2015 and again to Martinique last year. Next year, Mr Cargill said the BSF anticipates an increase to $50,000.

“We are receiving well over $250,000 from BTC that they have guaranteed to the BSF for four years,” he pointed out. “We’re excited about this arrangement because it takes away from us having to raise funds for Carifta, while we have to raise funds for

CCCAN and CISC.” Mr Cargill said that when one views swimming’s level of success, it is on par or surpasses what other sports have achieved.

“BTC understood and the contract has been very beneficial to us and to them,” he stressed. “It’s cash support, it takes away the burden of us having to raise funds because corporate Bahamas doesn’t always support swimming.”

M

r Cargill is eager to stress that swimming is a sport for all. He said the federation continues to cater to all Bahamians and is working to dispel the impression formed by some that it is a sport for more privileged Bahamians.

“We have people from every eco-social status in the Bahamas, but it’s just that we

have this erroneous perception and while we do get support from many facets in our community, the BTC support is by far the largest corporate sponsorship that we have and we ever had.”

One of the drawbacks that the BSF has encountered in hosting the Carifta Championships is that the room rates are triple those in the other Caribbean islands.

“So because we have an enormous debt to cover, the sponsorship from BTC and what we are expecting to get from the Bahamas Government, we hope to cover our expenses.

“We were asked by the Bahamas Government to host Carifta. We would not have been hosting Carifta if we had to raise the funding. It would have meant that we would have had a debt of over $400,000 to cover the expenses for Carifta.”

BRENT STUBBS

In the swim with the Bahamas

BTC is the title sponsor of Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival in Grand Bahama (April 28-29) and Nassau (May 4-6)

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entertainment PHOTO/TERREL W CAREY

Party on the bus

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Writer acadet@tribunemedia.net

T

hinking outside of the box is a must for an entrepreneur who hopes to be successful. And it’s something that Kyle Brown does very well.

The 27-year-old took a leap of faith last June when he branched out on his own and started his party bus company, the Xclusive Party Bus. “I always saw a few other party busses on the road, but I said I wanted to do one bigger and provide a live deejay and make it more hype. I wanted to beat the competition. When I finally got on the road, everyone started to hit me up with compliments saying the bus is exclusive,” he told Tribune Weekend.

His love for Junkanoo and costume building made it easy for Kyle to be creative with the product. The interior of the bus is black and tan vinyl; there are wooden floors, two 50-inch flat screen television sets, a live DJ set, surround sound, LED lighting, and of course a bar.

“My first option was actually a sporting

Kyle Brown’s Xclusive Party Bus rolls into town. lounge, until I sat down with another party bus owner and told him what I wanted to do. He did a breakdown down for me of the profit and benefits of a party bus. I thought about it and became motivated. I said, I can actually own this bus and don’t have to worry about much. My overall goal is to bring the first bus over here with a bathroom inside. I want to have the biggest party bus on the road with an upstairs high rise and everything,” said Kyle.

Bahamas and TCI come together on new album

He said the most popular events hosted on the Xclusive Party Bus are birthday and bachelorette parties.

Although the bus comes with its own staff, Kyle sometimes enjoys working as the bartender.

If there are a lot of ladies, they like full service to make sure they don’t have to be moving around a lot.

They just want to have a great time, so I create speciality drinks, and the music is on point also. People say things like, ‘It is a safe environment’, PHOTO/TERREL W CAREY

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson@tribunemedia.net BAHAMIAN songwriter/performer Avvy and Turks and Caicos star Jack Nasty brought the party to Radio House last week to celebrate the release of their new joint album.

Complete with confetti, celebrations got underway at 100 Jamz, where the two music artists joined radio personality J J McKenzie to chat about the new project called ‘The Dirty South’ Experiment’.

The two artists, who agree that they share similar values and beliefs when it comes to music, connected at a carnival event last year and later decided to

Bahamian songwriter/performer Avvy with one of the Turks and Caicos Islands’ most prominent music artists, Jack Nasty, at Radio House. produce music together.

“We talked, got connected, we crossreferenced, we exchanged music, and the album just sprang from there,” said Avvy.

The Bahamian artist said he had to step out of his comfort zone for this album, which features a combination of rake n’ scrape and soca tunes.

“Soca is a new genre for me and I was testing the waters. It was a new experience for me and I actually loved it,” he said.

What is also significant about the album, added Jack Nasty, is the fact that it merges two cultures and two musical backgrounds.

“For me, the album is big. A lot of

and they don’t have to worry about no altercations and problems because everyone knows each other and come together as a group for enjoyment,” he said.

Kyle believes party busses are becoming popular because of the safety and privacy aspect.

“For a lot of persons, they feel as if it is not safe to go out on the town to sporting lounges because of the crime. On the bus they feel comfortable,” he said.

people do not know that the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos share a history together. Avvy and myself share the same DNA. We are the same people and we are bringing two cultures together, even though we do not like to talk about it much. At the end of the day we are all one people. And this album will set the stage and show that people can come and work together,” he said.

Avvy has been on the local music scene for a decade now and is still known for his first single, “Roach on My Bread”. Ever since his debut, people have come to expect inventive storytelling from his lyrics. His songs blend the sounds of ‘old time’ Bahamian music with the new. Meanwhile, Jack Nasty is the Turks and Caicos Islands’ most well-known music stars. He has performed with Beenie Man, Ashanti, Shaggy, Beres Hammond, Ludacris, Gregory Isaacs and many more.

‘The Dirty South Experiment’ was released last Thursday and features 10 new tracks. It is available at Audio Plus and Quality Home Centre, the iTunes store and Google Play.

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entertainment

One sweet day Fort Charlotte is turned into ‘dessert central’

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Writer acadet@tribunemedia.net

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HE sweetest event on Nassau’s social calender took over Fort Charlotte last weekend, with scores of vendors offering the best there is when it comes to cakes, cupcakes, ice creams and more.

The Sweeet Fest – yes, that’s ‘sweet’ with three e’s – was launched in 2014 when two like-minded marketing executives, Keiani Worrell and Khashan Poitier, decided to create an event to promote the culinary arts and small to medium businesses that specialise in desserts.

They achieve this not only with the festival itself, but also through media exposure before, during and after the event, promising to expand the customer base of each participating business.

On display last Saturday were Bahamian favourites such as the popular guava duff, benny cakes, coconut and apple tarts and rum raisin duff.

Newer additions included cake pops, apple dumplings, Oreo crumble, mango and coconut sorbets, daiquiris, and even gluten-free treats.

“The event allows Bahamian entrepreneurs, particularly bakers, pastry chefs and others that are in the mixology business, to showcase their craft, products and talent,” Khashan told Tribune Weekend.

“Keiani and I are both foodies, and we saw a growing market for at-home businesses that cater to desserts. Being at home you may not have the marketing dollars to know how to truly expand your clientele. We thought of a platform for those persons. And unlike other festivals that you see in the country, when you pay your vendor fee for this festival, it also includes media exposure via radio stations and social

Festival-goers enjoy a sweet day out at Fort Charlotte last Saturday.

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PHOTOS: TERREL W. CAREY/TRIBUNE STAFF

Friday, April 7, 2017

media.”

She said Sweeet Fest was also designed as a fun and entertaining event for Bahamians, particularly families. They wanted to created an atmosphere where persons are welcomed to forget about their everyday woes and fully indulge in their sweet tooth.

“There are adult and kids desserts. This allows parents to sit back and relax while their kids are having fun for themselves. I would also like to think that events like this build health family environments,” said Khashan.

Even though the festival took a hiatus since launching in 2014, Khashan said they have already received inquiries from persons in Abaco and Grand Bahama for future events on those islands.

“Once we have a more solid footing we will expand. Starting a business can be kind of a daunting task and we are hoping that our festival and festivals like ours encourage them further,” she said.

“Our main focus, as mentioned, is to always support local entrepreneurs and encourage them to keep on going.”

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Friday, April 7, 2017

celebrity The Weekend Fashion Report CinemaCon 2017

With Karin Herig and Cara Hunt

HIT

SPLIT

SPLIT

FAIL

Jessica Chastain “The Zoo Keeper’s Wife”

Naomi Watts “The Book of Henry”

Charlize Theron “The Fate of the Furious”

Katherine Heigl “Unforgettable”

Karin says: “We see far too few polka dots on the red carpet and in life.

This is a cute dress, but of course very casual, maybe too much so. As is her hairstyle. But I do love bright yellow pumps.”

Cara says: “I’ve been in a ‘dotty’ mood lately (have my eye on a polka dot bag), so I am feeling the print of this dress. I am still trying to figure out how I feel about the side ruffle, and are those flowers on it? The design itself is a tad stale, but she gets points for her very sunny and bright pumps to help make the outfit pop.”

Karin says: “Oh, look, it’s an old negligée that’s been reworked with some leftover lace. It’s frumpy, uninspired and just plain ugly. And somehow it manages to make her look overdressed for this event. It’s the opposite of sexy. The black platform sandals just seal the deal.”

Cara says: “It’s like a sexy, bedazzled nightgown. It’s a bit different from what we usually see and I have to say that I like it. There is just enough black in it and I really like how sparkly and fabulous her necklace is.”

Karin says: “Maybe when you’ve got oodles of money and access to all of the world’s stylists, you just feel like dressing in ugly get-ups on purpose. Maybe it makes you feel like you’re doing something fresh and rebellious. Anyway, that’s the only reason I can come up with for this floral monstrosity (just look at those sleeves!).”

Cara says: “This is fun and cute. The print is a bit loud, but it still works because there is not that much of it.

It looks stylish and comfortable, all at the same time. I even like the little bow at the neck that makes the outfit look retro.”

Karin says: “This at least looks like a sensible ensemble. But it’s just a bit too much ‘office matron’ and not enough ‘stylish actress’. It’s all right, but that’s about it. I’m not a fan of tie neck blouses at the best of times. Just too mumsy or too 80s corporate. The colours are not great on her either.”

Cara says: “I am not feeling this ‘office tries (and fails) to meet red carpet’ look she has been sporting lately. It’s a bit dowdy and the colours look drab together. This is a no for me if only because she really needs a better stylist who can spruce her up a bit.”

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Friday, April 7, 2017

books

‘The Outsider’ by Anthony Franze is a satisfying mystery

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law student seeking employment after graduation lands in a conspiracy inside the US Supreme Court in “The Outsider,” Anthony Franze’s latest legal thriller.

Grayson Hernandez gets a job with the court, but it’s in the mailroom. He listens to the various clerks discuss the cases and dreams of one day being in their company as an equal. One evening while heading home, he witnesses a mugging in the parking garage and intervenes. He ends up stopping the attack and saving the victim, who happens to be the Chief Justice of the United States. As a thank you, the head of the Supreme Court appoints him as a law clerk.

His happiness is short-lived, however, when FBI Special Agent Emma Milstein approaches him and asks for help. The case she’s investigating involves murder that may be connected to the Supreme Court. She wants him to be an informant, and he reluctantly agrees.

As he secretly begins investigating his fellow law clerks and the justices, he soon realizes that everything seems to be pointing at him being the one the FBI is seeking.

Descriptions of the law and how the Supreme Court operates are engaging, and Franze knows how to showcase the ins and outs of that world without diving into too much legalese.

Readers unfamiliar with elements of the justice system will still find this a satisfying mystery. It’s like a mix of John Grisham and Scott Turow alongside the inner workings of the court system. Toss it all together and the end result is this winning novel.

JEFF AYERS Associated Press

Minotaur via AP

Small town must face hard past in Watts’ debut novel It’s been 17 years since JJ Ferguson left his hometown of Pinewood, North Carolina.

Now that he’s returned – with a Gatsbyesque plan to build his dream home atop Brushy Mountain and reunite with his high school sweetheart, Ava – everyone is watching.

While JJ builds, Ava tries desperately to have a baby with her tired, distant husband, Henry. Ava’s mother, Sylvia, busies herself in the affairs of anyone who will listen, including her daughter, sister, husband and even a prisoner who’s recently begun calling her.

With JJ back in the picture, both women are forced to examine their lives in a new light in Stephanie Powell Watts’ debut novel, “No One Is Coming to Save Us.” The story takes place against a postintegration small town America Ecco via AP backdrop. While some townsfolk look forward to better days ahead, most are simply exhausted, especially when they compare their own situation with JJ’s and his newfound wealth.

With an omniscient narrative, the author slips readers into the thoughts of the frustrated mistress staring out the window of her trailer, the wrinkled man with his eyes closed on the couch, the boy with no money wiping his face in the hot sun.

Watts drip-feeds readers a deliberate plot thick with dialogue and substance. A phrase, which on one page seems innocuous, reveals weighty truths down the road, and what first appears like disjointed lives bouncing off one another turns out to be relationships tethered together by history and heartache.

Not all is weighed down, though. Conversations between Sylvia and her sassy-mouthed sister, Lana, provide brilliantly crafted, well-timed hilarity interspersed amid the surrounding despair.

The characters will draw you in, one tired sigh at a time. From their perspective, we’re given a story about what happens when the past refuses to remain where we’ve buried it.

CHRISTINA LEBETTER Associated Press

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Friday, April 7, 2017

design your lifestyle

Nostalgia Victoria Sarne continues her examination of life-changing moments and daily challenges.

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ostalgia can be sweet or bitter, sweetly bitter or bittersweet. In fact, the perfect word and description for this strangely unsettling emotion is the Welsh word ‘Hiraeth’, meaning homesickness for a home to which you cannot return; a home which maybe never was – the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past.

So here I am in a Canadian cottage country by the Trent waterway in Ontario at the end of March, beginning of April.

It is cold but sunny; good enough to sit out in the garden wearing a snow jacket.

When I lived in Toronto decades ago, I used to rush outside at the first hint of sunshine, no matter how cold, to sit and indulge in wishful thinking that I might soon be able to get out and start planting in the garden. All in vain of course because if you’re mad or impatient enough (as I sometimes was) and start digging, there is an almost 100 per cent chance of more frost or one last dump of snow to ruin everything.

Although I am enjoying this brief benediction of grudging warmth, I still think this is the saddest time of the year when the garden looks lifeless; no green grass, no flowers and no leaves nor buds opening on the trees; definitely no burgeoning until May. The landscape has not yet recovered from being smothered by snow and ice, particularly up here further north of

the big city where despite the sun there is still a film of snowy ice on ponds or floating in the river.

Meanwhile, daffodils, blossoms and that most beautiful of trees, the magnolia, are dancing in my blood. My nostalgia for my English home is always related to the countryside, to gardens and flowers and to birdsong. Sweetly bitter that I am here and not there at my favourite time of the year; poignant and fragrantly happy memories.

But if this country, which was my second home for many years, cannot deliver me Spring, it gives me compensations. For instance, as I am houseand dog-sitting for a friend up here, I am enjoying the particular flavour of small-town Canada away from the noise and bustle of the city.

People seem to talk and think differently than their urban counterparts in Toronto, not necessarily a bad thing, just different. I very much doubt they order their coffees or their meals online before arriving anywhere. They are not in such a rush to be going nowhere in particular, and although there is a Tim Hortons here, that ubiquitous Canadian coffee house, the queues at the drive-in are long and slow.

I watched with amusement today as a lady and her daughter came into the

“...daffodils, blossoms and that most beautiful of trees, the magnolia, are dancing in my blood.” small diner where I was having a quick lunch to reserve a table for dinner. This involved a complete survey of the room and an apparently complicated, lengthy discussion with the waitress before settling on a specific table no different than any of the others, no view, no special position in the room; all of the negotiation being undertaken with a serious amount of gravity as if ordering a table at the Ritz.

Victoria Sarne The finishing touch was the chalk board on the wall nearby with a list of the house beers: Iron Shirt, Moose Head, Triceratops Triple, Rock Cut, Antigravity, and my favourite, Barking Squirrel!

I am taking a leap of faith and assuming that the names are not descriptive of the ingredients. Serious food – or drink – for thought; or perhaps not.

• Victoria Sarne, formerly a wedding and event planner in Nassau, is happy to stay in touch with readers from the Bahamas and welcomes comments and questions. E-mail her at vixanwriter@ mac.com, call 437-992-9093, or visit www.lifelineswritingservice.com.

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Friday, April 7, 2017

gardening

April Temperatures are heating up, and Jack Hardy advises on what seeds to plant for the coming summer months.

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here are two seminal months in the Bahamian calendar, April and October.

Briefly put, temperature and humidity will be much higher after April and much lower after October. In human terms, the airconditioning goes on in April and off in October. We are heading towards warm nights that will not allow tomato plants to set fruits so those growing in the garden now are the last of the growing year. The seasons turn inexorably and we must adapt.

Some of our presently established vegetables are warm weather lovers and with a little help will last through the summer. Sweet and hot peppers are in this category but they will have more chance of survival if grown in pots rather than left in a garden plot in full sun. A three- or four-gallon pot will suffice for most peppers and from May to October they can be placed so they receive shade during the hottest hours of the day. Sweet peppers tend to be scalded by direct sun and it is a shame to lose a fruit just as it reaches maturity.

Once a plant is in a pot it becomes far more dependent on you than when

in the ground. Watering in the summer months should be daily, even when it rains. Heavy rain adds little to the pot’s moisture because plants act like umbrellas. Daily watering means replacing nutrients that are inevitably washed out. Use a time-release fertilizer as your mainstay but also add phosphorus and magnesium in small amounts to assist the plant’s health. A weekly spray with Miracle-Gro or some other liquid fertilizer would be appreciated. If you treat your citrus trees with a minor nutrients, do a detour and include the soil of your summer vegetables on at least one occasion.

Eggplants are even tougher than peppers when it comes to dealing with heat and their roots are even more extensive. The best bet might be to establish your summer eggplants in pots right now, even if you have to start from seed. The same is true of peppers.

If you feel your peppers are too big to transplant then buy some seedlings or start new plants in pots from seed.

Banana and Cubanelle are good candidates because both can be eaten and enjoyed before they ripen to red.

Between now and summer is bean time. You do not have to go to your nursery for most bean seeds; they are on the shelves of your grocery store.

Black beans, black-eyed peas, pinto beans, lima beans, cannellini beans – all these can be grown from store packages. I recently bought a packet of Mexican mayocoba beans ($12!) that I fell in love with at first consumption.

They have a lovely creamy texture when boiled for a couple of hours and

I am looking forward to using them in a killer chili. And, of course, I have planted some.

The most elegant of the summer-hardy crops is known as snake, asparagus, yard-long or just long bean. It is a prolific producer and can be picked at 10” to replace French filet beans or allowed to grow to 16” to be a snap bean substitute. I have that wrong. Snake beans are far superior in taste to snap beans so must be considered an alternative rather than a substitute.

I usually start my snake beans in May but decided to plant earlier this year.

Snake beans grow from heavy vines that need solid support. If you do not have a fence or trellis you can use three or four eight-foot fibre poles to make a tepee, binding them six inches from the top with duct tape. I find that the production from eight seeds is plenty for the average family. I am growing mine in a 15-gallon container.

Okra is the traditional summer vegetable but not everybody likes it. It has a slimy texture that contributes well to okra soup but causes others to gag.

Okra, like snap beans, comes in bush and tall forms. If you are a serious okra lover you will prefer the higher productivity of tall plants while those of us who just need a meal or two will plant a few bush seeds. If you do not like okra normally you may still enjoy pickled okra, a treat in the southern states of the US. It is a delicacy made with young and tender okra fingers.

Most greens will become bitter in summer temperatures but collards can take the heat and remain sweet. The

Between now and summer is bean time.

sole member of the cabbage family able to grow in summer is famed for being prepared with smoked ham hocks, smoked turkey necks, and smoked anything else, with a lot of fat added. It is definitely not a meal that appears on many diet sheets. The creative gardener/chef can use olive oil or schmaltz, and smoked chicken breasts, for a less decadent presentation. Pick your collard greens young and often.

Watermelons and summer go together. They prefer sandy soil but often produce well in less than optimum conditions. Keep the vines well watered until the fruits are of a good size. Even watermelons can be scorched by the sun so be prepared to shelter your fruits under a cardboard box or drape toweling over them.

Summer is not the best time of year to grow corn but if you plant some in April you should have some success.

Summertime is insect time and insects love the sweetness of all parts of the corn crop. Corn is a heavy feeder and the plot should be very well fertilized before planting seeds a foot apart in blocks. Deep soil watering is essential.

After all this advice I must offer you the alternative: grow nothing and take time off. Or if you have half a dozen growing areas, use just one or two.

Cover the rest in clear plastic and you will have no further weeding to do in the summer. There will be plenty elsewhere in the garden…

• For questions and comments e-mail j.hardy@coralwave.com.

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Friday, April 7, 2017

film ria (Anne Hathaway) is an unemployed New York writer who spends her nights drinking before making apologetic early morning returns to her boyfriend’s (Dan Stevens) luxury apartment. The moretogether Tim, in the film’s opening scene, has had enough. “I can’t deal with you in that state,” he says. He packs her bags.

Gloria retreats to her small-town home, crashing at her family’s now empty house, and the movie starts taking the shape you’d expect it to. Gloria runs into an old friend, Oscar (Jason Sudeikis), who cheerfully hires her as a waitress at his bar. Gloria, again, doesn’t make it to bed until the sun is up, spending nights drinking with Oscar and his pals (Tim Blake Nelson, Austin Stowell).

The mess Gloria — alcoholic and inconsiderate — makes turns out to harm not just those around her, but thousands of fleeing Koreans. She wakes to see news reports of a monster attack in Seoul. Later, she realises with horror that the monster has her mannerisms (a particular way of scratching its head) and there’s a strange coincidence between its regular appearances (always at 8.05 am) and whenever Gloria steps onto a nearby playground.

To say more would risk spoiling the primary pleasure of “Colossal”: watching Vigalondo juggle his outlandish premise with twists both realistic and implausible.

There’s a thrill to riding along with a movie that plays it straight-faced before so readily jumping into the absurd.

But it’s a cheap thrill. “Colossal” sags under its high concept; its metaphors, not monsters, run amok.

JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer

review

In ‘Colossal,’ the inner monsters are literal colossal running time: 110 mins

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he Spanish director Nacho Vigalondo makes funny, fantastical, Frankensteinlike films that playfully combine small-scale with big-concept.

“Colossal,” his second Englishlanguage feature and biggest production yet, fuses a traditional rom-com plot — big-city girl returns to her hometown — with a far more monstrous genre: the kaiju film. It’s a tantalising prospect.

Who among us hasn’t wondered what if Sally had met Godzilla instead of Harry? Would “Sex and the City” not have been improved had Mothra been on the loose?

In truth, “Colossal” is a more sly manipulation and inversion of genre. Glo-

‘Wonder Woman’ wows, Affleck makes appearance at CinemaCon Wonder Woman is here to save the world, and, possibly the future of Warner Bros.

DC Comics universe.

New footage featuring actress Gal Gadot’s lassowielding superhero stole the show Wednesday night at CinemaCon, which also featured some peeks at “Aquaman” and “Justice League.”

It also marked Ben Affleck’s first public appearance since acknowledging he’d recently completed rehab for alcohol addiction.

The “Batman” star didn’t say anything, but just stood alongside his “Justice League” director Zack Snyder and co-stars Henry Cavill, Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller.

But it was Wonder Woman’s show, even though Gadot wasn’t in Las Vegas. The sepia-soaked extended clips highlighted the World War I espionage thrills as Diana/ Wonder Woman adjusts to life with mortals.

Co-star Chris Pine, who plays an American soldier,

said the Patty Jenkins-directed film had a “Casablanca” feel.

Even the new “Justice League” footage spotlighted Gadot’s Wonder Woman as she breaks into Affleck’s supposedly secured bat cave with ease and informs the caped crusader that they would need to assemble to defeat a threat.

“Wonder Woman” hits theaters June 2 and “Justice League” bows November 17.

LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and Chris Pine as Steve Trevor.

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Friday, April 7, 2017

literary lives emily dickinson

I’m nobody! The poet of paradox Sir Christopher Ondaatje looks at the strange, creative life of the American poet who lived mostly as a recluse

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oyce Carol Oates, the prolific award-winning American biographer and author, describes Emily Dickinson as “the most paradoxical of poets: the very poet of paradox”.

She writes: “By way of voluminous biographical material, not to mention the extraordinary intimacy of her poetry, it would seem that we know everything about her; yet the common experience of reading her work, particularly if the poems are read sequentially, is that we come away seeming to know nothing. We would recognise her inimitable voice anywhere – in the ‘prose’ of her letters no less than in her poetry – yet it is a voice of the most deliberate, the most teasing anonymity.

‘I’m nobody!’ is a proclamation to be interpreted in the most literal of ways. Like no other poet before her and like very few after her...Dickinson exposes her heart’s most subtle secrets; she confesses the very sentiments that, in society, would have embarrassed her dog (to paraphrase a remark of Dickinson’s to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, explaining her aversion for the company of most people, whose prattle of ‘hallowed things’ offended her).

Yet who is this ‘I’ at the centre of

Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886) as a teenager in 1847.

“Scholars speculated that she suffered from agoraphobia and epilepsy. Her behaviour began to change, and she did not leave the house unless it was absolutely necessary, and only spoke to visitors from the other side of her door and was rarely seen except dressed only in white.”

experience? In her astonishing body of 1,775 poems Dickinson records what is surely one of the most meticulous examinations of the phenomenon of human ‘consciousness’ ever undertaken.”

Emily Dickinson was born into a prominent but not wealthy family in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1830. Her paternal grandfather, Samuel Dickinson, almost single-handedly founded Amherst College. Her father, Edward Dickinson, was treasurer of Amherst College for almost 40 years. He served numerous terms as a State Legislator, and represented the Hampshire district in the United States Congress.

Continued on page 22

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Continued from page 21 Emily Dickinson, and her young sister Lavinia, attended Amherst Academy, but after seven years Emily left to attend Mount Holyoke Female Seminary for a few months before returning to her family’s house, a large mansion on Amherst’s main street.

The house, which overlooked Amherst’s burial ground, became the focus of Dickinson family life for almost a century. Many of Dickinson’s later poems dealt with themes of death and immortality. Deeply influenced by the religious revival that occurred in Amherst in 1845, she stopped her church-going in 1852, writing: “Some keep the Sabbath going to Church – I keep it staying at home.” She occupied herself with baking and other household activities.

When she was 18, Dickinson met the young attorney Benjamin Franklin Newton, although the relationship was not romantic.

“Emily was more interested in her poems than in any man,” Mabel Loomis Todd, editor of ‘Poems’ by Emily Dickinson, 1890, said.

Newton became one of a number of older men who had a strong influence on her literary life. He introduced her to William Wordsworth and gave her Ralph Waldo Emerson’s first book of collected poems. Newton was probably the first person to believe in Dickinson’s poetic abilities.

It is possible that her 1862 poem referred to him:

The Emily Dickinson Museum is a historic house museum consisting of two houses: the Dickinson Homestead and the Evergreens.

Some of my friends are gone, and some are sleeping - the churchyard sleep ...

I will try not to say any more My rebellious thoughts are many and the friend I love and trust in has much to forgive.”

Another of Emily Dickinson’s close relationships was with Susan Gilbert, who eventually married her brother Austin in 1856 – not a happy marriage.

She was to write over 300 letters to Susan Gilbert, many demanding affection and revealing fears of unrequited admiration.

In 1855, Emily Dickinson, with her mother and sister, travelled to Washington while her father was in Congress, and then to Philadelphia where she met Charles Wadsworth, the famous Minister of The Arch Street Presbyterian Church. Another influential relationship followed, even though he moved to San Francisco in 1862. (“My Philadelphia. My Clergyman, My dearest earthly friend.”)

“I went to school, but in the manner of the phrase had no education.

When a little girl, I had a friend who taught me immortality but venturing too near, himself he never returned.”

Dickinson was not only familiar with the Bible, but also well read with the poets Shakespeare, Milton, Byron, Shelley, Goethe, Browning, Tennyson, Longfellow, Bryant and Emerson. Referring to Shakespeare she wrote: “Why clasp any hand but this?

Why is any other book needed?”

In 1850, the young Principal of Amherst College, Leonard Humphrey, another of Dickinson’s influential literary “masters” died of brain congestion: “I am selfish too because I am feeling lonely,

A page from one of Em ily Dickinson’s fascicle bo oks.

The Dickinson children (Emily on the left), circa 1840.

Returning to Amherst, and with her mother chronically ill until she died in 1882, Emily dealt with her increasing domestic responsibilities and began withdrawing further and further from the outside world.

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Friday, April 7, 2017

Dickinson’s confidant, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, would go on to edit and publish her poetry after her death with the help of Mary Loomis Todd.

I enclose my name, asking you, if you please , Sir to tell me what is true?

That you will not betray me - it is needless to ask, Since Honor is its own pawn.

A recently recovered daguerreotype which experts say could be of a grownup Emily Dickinson (left) and her friend Kate Scott Turner in circa 1859.

This withdrawal would be her lasting legacy although, far from being a total recluse, she frequently saw a number of Amherst friends and maintained friendly relationships with several distinguished literary men including Samuel Bowles, owner and editor of the Springfield Republican, and Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a literary critic, abolitionist and ex-Minister, who wrote a lead article for The Atlantic Monthly urging ambitious writers to “charge your style with life”. This practical advice spurred Dickinson to write the

following letter: Mr Higginson, Are you too deeply occupied to say if my Verse is alive?

The Mind is so near, itself - it cannot see, distinctly - and I have none to ask Should you think it breathed - and had you the leisure to tell me, I should feel quick gratitude If I make the mistake - that you dared to tell me would give me sincerer honor - toward you.

This letter was unsigned, but she enclosed a card with her name and also four of her poems, thus indicating that she understandably did have ambitions to be published. Thus started a correspondence that might have led to publication but confusingly did not.

“If fame had belonged to me, I could not escape her; If she did not, the longest day Would pass me on the chase …

My barefoot rank is better.”

“I had no portrait, now, but am small, like the Wren, and my Hair is bold, like the chestnut Bur and my eyes like the Sherry in the glass that the Guest leaves would this do just as well?”

Dickinson also stressed her solitary nature, and valued Higginson’s advice, signing her letters “Your gnome” and “Your scholar”. It is obvious that with encouragement Dickinson would certainly have published.

The late 1850s and early 1860s brought the most intense writing in Dickinson’s life. By 1865, she had almost entirely withdrawn from social life. Scholars are ambiguous as to the reason, speculating that she suffered from agoraphobia and epilepsy. Her behaviour began to change, and she did not leave the house unless it was absolutely necessary, and only spoke to visitors from the other side of her door and was rarely seen except dressed only in white. She acquired notoriety, and few if anyone saw her in person during the last 15 years of her life. She was expressive only with surviving notes and letters.

Continued on page 24

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Continued from page 23 Mr Higginson urged her to come to Boston in 1868. She declined, instead suggesting that he come to Amherst.

It was not until he did that they met, and he later referred to her in the most detailed and vivid account of her on record: “... a little plain woman with two smoothed bands of reddish hair ... in a very plain and exquisitely clean white piqué and blue net worsted shawl. (I never was) with anyone who drained my nerve power so much. Without touching her, she drew from me. I am glad not to live near her.”

On June 16, 1874, her father died of a stroke. When the simple funeral was held in Amherst, Emily stayed in her room with the door slightly ajar. She refused too to go to the memorial service. A year later Emily’s mother also had a stroke which left her practically paralysed, with increasing physical demands.

She died in 1882.

Soon after this Dickinson developed another close relationship with the widower Otis Phillips Lord, an elderly Massachussetts judge. They shared literary interests and wrote many letters to each other, very few of which survived. After being critically ill for many years Judge Lord died in March 1884. Charles Wadsworth, the Minister from Philadelphia, had also died two years before this in 1882.

In the early 1880s, Austin Dickinson, estranged from his wife, fell in love with Mabel Loomis Todd, a former Amherst College faculty wife. She never met Emily Dickinson but was to have an increasingly powerful role in the eventual publication of her works.

Surrounded by death and family disconnections, Emily found her reclusive world disrupted. She wrote: “The Dyings have been too deep for me, and before I could raise my Heart from one, another has come.”

Increasingly depressed, she was confined to her bed for several months following weeks of ill health. On May 15, 1886, Emily Dickinson died of Bright’s disease. She was 55. Laid in a white coffin she was carried, at her request, through fields of buttercups for burial in the family plot at West Cemetery on Triangle Street in Amherst.

Then began the strange and dramatic aftermath of Dickinson’s literary life.

Though it was known that Emily Dickinson had written poems during

The cover of the first edition of ‘Poems’, published in 1890. her life, less than 20 were published during her lifetime. The astonishing discovery by Lavinia of the enormous cache of 1,775 poems – some scribbled on scraps of paper – was startling.

During her last troubled years Dickinson had stopped organising and editing her poems, and she extracted a promise from her younger sister that she would destroy all her papers. Lavinia Dickinson kept this promise, but her sister had left no instructions about the 40 notebooks and loose sheets found together in a locked chest.

Recognising the value of the poems, Lavinia became obsessed to see the poems published, and turned first to Austin Dickinson’s wife, and then to Mabel Loomis Todd for help.

A bitter feud ensued which prevented Emily Dickinson’s complete works being published for more than 50 years.

Curiously, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, the editor of Atlantic Monthly, who must surely go down in history as the man who failed to recognise the genius of Dickinson while she was alive, was instrumental, following the goading of Mabel Loomis Todd, in getting the poems into print. He had criticised the more than 100 poems Dickinson had sent him while she was alive, following which she had simply recoiled from any further ambition to see her works published.

The first volume, edited jointly by Mabel Loomis Todd and T W Higginson, appeared in November, 1890.

This first volume was a critical and financial success and was followed by a second, in 1891, and a third, in 1896.

Between 1914 and 1945 nearly 12 competing new editions of Dickinson’s poetry were published, and the first scholarly publication appeared in 1955, with a new three-volume set edited by Thomas H Johnson, who attempted to present the poems as Dickinson had left them in her manuscripts.

In 1981 ‘The Manuscript Books of Emily Dickinson’ was published in their original order for the first time, although scholars later criticised the publication for deviating from the style and layout of Dickinson’s notebooks.

Nevertheless, the surge of posthumous publications gave Emily Dickinson’s poetry enormous public exposure.

She is now considered a powerful and influential figure in American culture, and is taught in American literature and poetry classes in the United States from Middle School to College. Several schools have been established in her name.

Joyce Carol Oates, who has written extensively on Dickinson, reminds us that she wrote as many letters as poems.

“The letters are as elliptical, rich in imagery, and as teasingly coy as the poems ... Dickinson discovered, in adolescence, her distinctive voice, and the energies out of which she writes both poetry and prose, are inclined to be romantically adolescent and rebellious at once self-effacing and self declaring.

The air of deprivation that typifies the angrier of the poems is really selfdeprivation, though attributed to other sources. Hunger - literal? Sexual?

A hunger for the many attributes of freedom and power? Literary fame is perhaps not the goal, but it seems to have been a subject to which Dickinson has given some thought: ‘Fame of Myself, to justify All other Plaudits be Superfluous - An Incense Beyond Necessity Fame of Myself to lack - Although My Name be else Supreme This were an Honor honorless A futile Diadem - ’ “In that magical experience so famously described by Dickinson herself to her would-be mentor T W Higginson she wrote:

“During her last troubled years Emily Dickinson had stopped organising and editing her poems, and she extracted a promise from her younger sister, Lavinia, that she would destroy all her papers.”

‘If I read a book (and) it makes my body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry.

If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.

These are the only way I know it.

Is there any other way?’

“Dickinson is one of the very few poets whose works repay countless reading through a lifetime.” Oates concludes: “I am continually discovering poems I’d believe I knew, seeing them in a different light, from a different perspective. Her work, if it endures at all, can only endure as W H Auden said, ‘in the guts of living’.”

NEXT WEEK: The brilliant British double agent who defected to Russia • Sir Christopher Ondaatje is an adventurer and writer resident in the Bahamas. A Sri Lankan-born Canadian-Englishman, he is the author of several books, including “The Last Colonial”.

The Tribune | Weekend | 25

Friday, April 7, 2017

history

“Duel in the Sun” Forgotten facts Paul C Aranha

S

word-fighting makes me think of Errol Flynn and Hollywood, not of little Nassau, but there was a time when duelling was not beyond the realm of possibility. At least, that’s what Peter Henry Bruce said.

Bruce arrived in Nassau on April 5, 1741, and moved into a house that had been vacated by a naval officer, who had been transferred to Jamaica nine months before his lease was up. It was one of the nicer houses in the town, with a garden and a large grove of orange trees. The annual rent was £20.

Comfortably housed, he set about his jobs - to repair Fort Nassau and to build Fort Montagu.

Commenting that there were no inhabitants on any of the other islands, excepting Eleuthera and Harbour Island, Bruce went on to say “my greatest difficulty was the want of masons, of whom there was not one in the place ... which obliged me to commission some from the northern colonies; but all I could get were two bricklayers from Philadelphia, who knew nothing of masonry, so that I had the trouble of teaching them, and some of the soldiers, to form, cut, and lay stones.”

He discovered that there were no wheeled carriages on the island and stones would have to be carried to the site on the heads of workmen, who were not strong enough to carry them.

Whatever labourers could be hired locally had to be fed, with provisions that were not available on the island, so he was obliged to send to New York for those.

Bruce had declined Governor Tinker’s invitation to join John Snow and Lieutenant Stuart as a member of Tinker’s Council, but accepted to serve as a member of the Assembly and, when one of the inhabitants, who had arrived from Havana, “assured us that the Spaniards were fitting out two men-of-war and three large galleys” to attack Nassau, the Assembly ordered all vessels and boats to bring a sufficient quantity of stones, of proper sizes for erecting the fort, plus a number of mas-

The magazine still stands over the entrance but the barracks no longer exist

“Peter Bruce was surprised to see Lt Stuart riding past his house, armed with sword and pistols.

When Bruce asked what he was doing, Lt Stuart asked if Bruce had forgotten the challenge he had given the night before” tic trees for palissades. After that, work got underway “with the utmost dispatch and diligence”.

Today’s readers may not be surprised

by Bruce’s next comment. “At the delivery of the before mentioned materials by the inhabitants, it was hinted to me, by way of friendly advice, to state the same to the government’s account, as that could not be looked on as a breach of trust, but as I was determined not to enter into any unlawful schemes, I rejected the proposal.”

The outcome of this was a heated dispute between Lt Stuart and Bruce, at the weekly club meeting in a local tavern, from which the Governor withdrew hastily, followed by Bruce, who went home.

Next morning, Bruce was surprised to see Lt Stuart riding past his house, armed with sword and pistols. When Bruce asked what he was doing, Lt Stuart asked if Bruce had forgotten the challenge he had given the night before.

Bruce could remember no such

John Montresor’s plan of Fort Montagu and Bladen’s Battery

thing, but offered to dress “and attend him wherever he pleased”. Lt Stuart replied that, since Bruce did not remember giving him a challenge, he had nothing to say, as he did not intend to have any quarrel with him. Wishing Bruce a good morning, Lt Stuart went home.

About three hours later, as Bruce was walking along the bay, and was opposite the Governor’s windows, Lt Stuart knocked Bruce down. On recovering, Bruce hit him with such a blow that it laid Lt Stuart’s cheek open, from his ear to his mouth.

Judge Rowland, and several others who had been witnesses to Lt Stuart’s treacherous insult, came and parted the antagonists, who were both arrested.

Bruce remained a prisoner for a fortnight, while the Governor did nothing about the case, but Bruce saw Tinker with Lt Stuart, who seemed, to Bruce, to be only kept prisoner “by way of a blind”.

Without Bruce’s being on site to

show the men what to do, work on the forts came to a stop, causing an outcry among the inhabitants, so Tinker sent for Bruce and proposed an accommodation with Lt Stuart, who had offered to acknowledge his fault, and ask Bruce’s pardon, in public. But this was not enough for Bruce, who stated that he no longer felt safe and “would be obliged either to leave the island, or put a stop to the works, until further orders from England”.

Because of the threat of a Spanish invasion, once the Governor assured Bruce that he would control Lt Stuart, work on the forts was resumed “with the utmost of diligence, but never without my sword and pistols thereby, to prevent my being attacked again”.

Fort Montagu and the adjacent BIaden’s Battery were finished before the end of July, 1742, and Peter Henry Bruce left Nassau on January 5, 1743.

• Comments and responses to islandairman@gmail.com

from

26 | The Tribune | Weekend 5 nights

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PLAY MORE CR

The Tribune | Weekend | 27

Friday, April 7, 2017

animals

Hail the Chief – A birthday tribute to a king

T

he first time I saw Chief he was but a small little pup in the arms of my youngest son. Like right out of the movies, my child said, “So can we keep him Mom?” We had agreed to go and “see” the go. Has anybody on earth just looked at a puppy and come back emptyhanded? Certainly it is a phenomenon that has never occurred in the Aranha household.

In short order this sturdy little four-legged man worked his way into everybody’s heart, including our Swiss Bouvier Bernois and our potcake family.

He would lie on his back in my lap and fall asleep almost instantly if I stroked his chest and tummy. And all these precious years later, he still does, but far too big for laps.

Chief grew very quickly. Protective to a fault, he would patrol the yard frequently, feeling it his duty to alert us if there was so much as a car passing several hundred yards away. The years have not reduced that skill.

This month this amazing potcake turns 11 years old.

Rescued by Rosie Kemp on Blake Road along with three siblings, Chief has forgotten his humble beginnings. I frequently refer to him as “the king”, a title he has earned with grace and style.

Clearly the head of the household, Chief surveys all around him with a regal demeanor and an understanding that rivals any human.

His eyesight is still as keen as it was when a pup. If he sees somebody cleaning a boat across the canal, he sits on our bed looking out the window, voicing his displeasure, first with a rumble, then with a bark, if the offending human is silly enough to remain.

Zealous Zack

By The Bahamas Humane Society

PET OF THE WEEK

“G

’day! My name’s Zack and I’m here to introduce myself as Pet of the Week. I’ve been at the Bahamas Humane Society for several months now. While they take great care of me, I find it very stressful in a shelter environment, and this is affecting my skin, so I may not look my best when you first meet me. Trust me, in a home environment with lots of TLC, I’ll be fine!

“I’m a year-and-a-half old and get along with children and most other dogs. I’m not too sure about cats though, so it’s probably best if my new home has none of those. Are you looking for a friendly young companion? I’d be happy to come home with you! You can meet me at the shelter during adoption hours or call 323-5138 for more information. I am looking forward to making your acquaintance!”

Adoption hours are 11am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, and 10am to 4pm on Saturday.

“Oh, and before I forget, I’m part of the Big Dog Adoption Special that

PATRICIA VAZQUEZ

Animal matters Kim Aranha

has been extended to April 15. You can adopt me for a mere $10. Great deal, right? See you soon!”

• Pull out those hippy outfits!

The BHS Flower Power Party is back on Saturday, April 29, at the Nassau Yacht Club. The fun starts at 7pm. Prizes will be awarded for the best costumes. Tickets are $75 and are available at the shelter. Have a rocking good time and support the animals while doing so.

Potcake Chief recently celebrated his 11th birthday Quite the wisest dog in the world, we will sit together and watch TV (I gave up my armchair to him several years ago). He sits between me and my husband, eyes closed (but I simply know that he is watching), and every

now then reaching out a paw for confirmation that we are still there.

Every day that Chiefie is in our lives is a bonus and a privilege. Every time I see him run across the yard I realise how blessed we are to still have this

older gentleman in our lives.

One sign of old age is that Chiefie no longer gets up early in the morning. If there is to be a 5am wake-up requested by another member of the pack, Chiefie merely raises his head, stretches out in his bed, looks as if the others have gone quite mad, and goes back to sleep.

He sleeps in his bed, right up against my side. After going for his morning walk (at a civilised hour) he then jumps up on our bed and will happily go back to sleep.

Having been brought up by a Bouvier Bernois, Chief learned the art of “speaking” to communicate. Bernese are very vocal dogs, and Chief picked up at a young age that if you want your human to do something, you ask. If that doesn’t work, you stand in front of them and yell (THAT works).

If we happen to be eating his favourite food – steak – he is so demanding and makes such a racket, that we have to trick him into a spin in the garden with the others whilst we eat.

Demanding, loyal, regal, wise, protective, handsome, brave, bossy ….this is my boy, my friend, my pal, my fur-baby, who has shared so many good days, bad times, fears, and joys.

His fur has absorbed tears and kisses, patiently supporting and loving his humans. He is the best snuggler on earth (on his terms), a friend to my boys growing up, and always there when he is needed.

As I write this, his birthday tribute, he is lying on his sofa in my study. It’s an old couch I would have quite possibly retired years ago had it not been for Chiefie.

If another dog has the temerity to climb up on his couch, Chief handles it the way he learned to – he simply stands there and “yells” as loudly as possible until I come and make the other dog move. Sometimes, just sometimes, he will consent to share with his Labrador “brother” Buddy.

Bestowing this honour only on the next in pecking order.

No family could be luckier than we were to have stumbled on this gem of a dog. No purebred with millions of certificates could replace his handsome face, the pure joy he shows when we come home, the happy tail wag when we walk in to a room where he is...we are blessed.

Happy 11th birthday to my sunbathing protector, my TV-watching bud, my heart – the king, my Chiefie.

Long may you reign!

28 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, April 7, 2017