05152020 WEEKEND

Friday, May 15, 2020

Weekend

art books entertainment film fashion crafts history puzzles animals JUNKANOO CONTEST Pages 14 & 15

Beating the Blues

New book urges positive thinking

pg 07

02 | The Tribune | Weekend

photography

A Rose-Coloured Lens

B

eauty is all around us in the Bahamas, on land and in the sea. But many of us are too busy with everyday life to pause and really see and enjoy the astonishing sights that surround us. Veteran photographer ROLAND ROSE captures both the ordinary and extraordinary and puts it in frame for us so we can see our environment in a new light.

Some of the many fruit that grow here, most are edible, but some are not.

(From top left clockwise) Passion fruit, gold coconut, star fruit, banana, thatch palm, and at centre, guava.

Friday, May 15, 2020

The Tribune | Weekend | 03

Friday, May 15, 2020

Inside Weekend

MY PERFECT BAHAMIAN QUARANTINE LESLEY PINDER Wedding and event planner Q: What items are you stocking up on?

2 Photography The fruit of our labours

4-5 Interview

Krystal Rahming tells of lupus battle

7 Books

Radio personality overcomes struggles

8-9 Art

Keeping straw tradition alive

10 Gardening

“A little of this, that and a bit of too much. Wine of course; farm fresh vegetables, flour, yeast (a hot commodity) and assorted meats (pork, conch, lamb and chicken). Homemade bread rolls, tacos and other fun foods. One of my dearest friends makes sure that I have a snack care package every weekend.

This includes Oreo cookies, Oh Henry, Blow Pops and Snickers.”

Q: What shows or movies will you be bingewatching?

“The Food Network.”

Q: If you could choose to be quarantined with a celebrity, who would it be?

12 Community

“Darius Williams of ‘Darius Cooks’. He is a fun guy who enjoys cooking; he likes ‘different’, and so do I. When in the mood or motivated to do so, I am at my best in the kitchen. From food prep, then cooking and the finale...plating. I am visual. While on lockdown, I’m learning new stuff, hanging out and having a good time.”

13 Crafts

Q: What do you miss most having to practice social distancing?

You’ve planted – what now?

11 Food

Food truck weathers storm Heart to heart with CHAMPS The scent of candles

“I miss hanging out with friends and family. I’m a

wedding and event planner (Lesley Pinder Wedding & Events) with my office set-up at home, so in my downtime or on weekends, I prefer to be out and about. I miss my freedom. This past weekend was a bit of a challenge for me as I celebrated my 50 plus one birthday. This curfew was torture for me. I had to create my own fireworks to keep my mood alive.”

Q: If you had to be stuck somewhere other than your house, where would it be?

“Probably with my cousin Jess, if her amenities were not on lockdown - pool, clubhouse, tennis court, et cetera.”

14-15 Community

Junkanoo creativity in lockdown

16 Fashion

Quarantine style

17 Entertainment

Podcast takes aim at shame

18 Books

New releases this week

19 Entertainment

What we’re watching on Netflix

20 Film

Movie reveals Capone’s last year

21 Gaming

Video games to boost your mood

22 History

Ted Pyfrom and swimming

23-25 Literary Lives Irving Berlin

26 Puzzles 27 Animals

Safe gardening at home

28 Entertainment

THIS WEEKEND IN HISTORY May 15

•In 1930, registered nurse Ellen Church, the first airline stewardess, went on duty aboard an Oakland-toChicago flight operated

by Boeing Air Transport, a forerunner of United Airlines.

•In 1963, Weight Watchers was incorporated in New York.

• In 1988, the Soviet Union began the process of withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, more than eight years after Soviet forces entered the country.

Today’s birthdays: Musiciancomposer and Nassau resident Mike Oldfield is 67. Actor Lee Horsley is 65. Football Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith is 51.Tennis player Andy Murray is 33.

May 16

• In 1770, Marie Antoinette, age 14, married the future King Louis XVI of France, who was 15. They were both guillotined in 1793 during the ‘Reign of Terror’, a period of the French Revolution.

• In 1920, Joan of Arc was canonized by Pope Benedict XV. • In 1966, China launched the Cultural Revolution, a radical as well as deadly reform movement aimed at purging the country of “counter-revolutionaries.”

Today’s birthdays: Actor Pierce Brosnan is 67. Actress Debra Winger is 65. Singer Janet Jackson is 54. Actor David Boreanaz (“Bones”) is 51. Political correspondent Tucker Carlson is 51. Actress Tori Spelling is 47. Actress Megan Fox is 34.

May 17

• In 1536, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer declared the marriage of

England’s King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn invalid after she failed to produce a male heir; Boleyn, already condemned for high treason, was executed two days later.

• In1792, the New York Stock Exchange had its beginnings as a group of brokers met under a tree on Wall Street and signed the Buttonwood Agreement.

• In 1973, a special committee convened by the US Senate began its televised hearings into the Watergate scandal.

Today’s birthdays: Boxing Hall of Famer Sugar Ray Leonard is 64. Actor-comedian Bob Saget is 64. Singer Enya is 59. Actor-comedian Craig Ferguson is 58. Singer Jordan Knight (NKOTB) is 50. Dancerchoreographer Derek Hough is 35. Actor Tahj Mowry is 34.

- The Associated Press

04 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, May 15, 2020

interview

Krystal Rahming For Lupus Awareness Month, Cara Hunt talks to Krystal Rahming who has been battling the unpredictable autoimmune disease since 2017. The chef and mother-of-five talks about juggling her job and family life during episodes of excruciating pain.

W

hen Krystal Rahming was diagnosed with lupus three years ago, she knew that her life was about to change forever.

Unlike many who are unfamiliar with the painful autoimmune disease, Krystal had had several family members also diagnosed with it, so she knew what awaited her.

Lupus is a systemic autoimmune disease that occurs when your body’s immune system attacks your own tissues and organs. Inflammation caused by lupus can affect many different body systems — including your joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart and lungs. It can be life-threatening.

Over 90 percent of people with lupus are women between the ages of 15 and 45. Historically, lupus caused people to die young, primarily from kidney failure.

For Krystal the confirmation that she was suffering with lupus was both a relief and terrifying prospect.

“I was diagnosed in 2017. I had been feeling very ill for a while, feeling sore and tired, and I started blacking out and several things weren’t right. I went to the States to get a second opinion.

They looked at my medical history and my family connections. I did the ANA test (the antinuclear antibody test, used as a primary test to help evaluate a person for autoimmune disorders that affect many tissues and organs throughout the body and is most often used as one of the test to help diagnose systemic lupus erythematosus).

“It was a relief to finally know what was wrong with me,” she said. “But at the same time, it was terrifying. I have five children. My youngest was just a baby and I was so scared, because just knowing about lupus and that there is no cure and what could happen. I just kept saying that I don’t want to die, I want to be there for my kids

and I want to see them grow up. It was so scary, because I just did not know what to expect or what the future would bring.”

Since her diagnosis, her life has been filled with the pain typically associated with lupus.

The disease can cause a variety of symptoms, including: achy joints, unexplained fever, swollen joints, prolonged or extreme fatigue, ankle swelling and fluid accumulation, pain in the chest and a butterfly shaped facial rash.

Krystal has had multiple flare-ups over the past two years which have tested her both physically and emotionally.

“I am a chef and it can be difficult when I am sick to have to stand on my feet all day.

Particularly in the morning, because I wake up and I am so stiff. Sometimes my skin breaks out and I get blisters and they can be very painful. With lupus you never know when you will have a flare and you never know how long you may be sick,” she said.

The nature of her work often means that she cannot just give in to her flare-ups and return to bed, especially when she has a function that she is obligated to provide cater.

“Fortunately, I do have a staff that can help me and my husband Dremeco is also a chef so he can help me as well, but if it is a private smaller function that I am doing alone, then I just have to push through and get it done.

I have no choice because I have to provide for my family, so I push through and then afterwards I crash and sometimes that’s me for days,” she said.

The unpredictable nature of the disease is one of the hardest challenges.

“I can be up one down and completely down the next day, and so it is hard to plan. When I am feeling OK, I try to make the most of it and have fun and enjoy life.”

“It was a relief to finally know what was wrong with me,” she said.

“But at the same time, it was terrifying.

I have five children...

I just kept saying that I don’t want to die, I want to be there for my kids and I want to see them grow up.”

And that is also the message that she most wants people to take away from her story.

“You may see a person with lupus out and about and they may look well, but just because a person may not ‘look sick’ does not mean that they are not suffering. I hope that lupus gets more attention and is recognised for the illness that it is, the way other diseases such as breast cancer, sickle cell disease and diabetes are acknowledged, and that people understand the struggles that our lupus warriors face,” she said.

Krystal added that while she would love for scientists to find a cure some day, she accepts that it may not come in her lifetime.

“But in the meantime, I wish that they could find more ways to effectively manage the symptoms of lupus, because a lot of the medicines that are prescribed now, they can cause other things to go wrong...perhaps (we could get) more natural options,” she said.

For now, Krystal says she is incredibly blessed.

“I have to say that I have the best husband in the world, because when I have flares, I can’t really do anything for myself and he has to do everything for me and for the kids, and he is at all my doctors’ appointments. Whatever I need, he is always there.”

She also thanks God for her children and extended family every day, “My children are always looking after me. My eldest son is in college in Canada and he hates to hear when I am sick. Whenever he hears I have a flare, he wants to come home to take care of me and he checks on me every day,” she said.

“My only daughter, who is 11, is my biggest supporter. She is always telling me, ‘Mommy, you got this. Mommy, you will be OK’.”

Support is essential for people struggling with Lupus. And Krystal is thankful for the local Lupus 242 organisation, which she said is an excellent support system.

“It’s a relief to be among a group of ladies who know what I am going through. They know one minute you can be fine and then the next you can be down and crying. I can talk and vent to them. They have truly been there for me and I am so glad I got to know them,” she said.

Friday, May 15, 2020

The Tribune | Weekend |05

“You may see a person with lupus out and about and they may look well, but just because a person may not ‘look sick’ does not mean that they are not suffering. I hope that lupus gets more attention and is recognised for the illness that it is...”

KRYSTAL and her family.

06 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, May 15, 2020

The Tribune | Weekend | 07

Friday, May 15, 2020

books

Speak positively!

Local radio personality shares the secret to overcoming struggles

By JEFFARAH GIBSON | Tribune Features Writer | jgibson@tribunemedia.net

H

AUTHOR Antonia Lightbourne

ER triumph over rejection, her mastery of low selfesteem and her battle with depression are all chronicled by radio personality Antonia Lightbourne in her new book.

Antonia wants others who may be struggling like she once did to free themselves from their negative trains of thought and do as the title of her book suggests: “Dare to Declare”.

Antonia, a radio host on Joy 101.9, said the launch of this new book gives her feeling of sheer excitement as she has been working on getting it published it since 2014. Now that the book is finally finished and out there, she believes the wisdom she imparts through its pages will help anyone who is facing struggles in their life.

“As a teenager I struggled heavily with rejection, low self-esteem and depression, so I went along with whatever people said about me and began to frame my entire life around those things,” she told Tribune Weekend.

“I think one of the biggest lies is that words do not hurt. I am sure many of us can think of a moment where someone said something to us and that stung for a long time, and in many cases we build the rest of our lives around that which was said. While words do have the power to cripple you if you let them, they also have the power to catapult you and change your life. It is so important that we understand how vital our words are.”

When she understood the power of her words, Antonia began talking different.

“One thing I have come to understand is that our self-talk is so important. This book is dedicated to every young lady that desires to see change in her life.

There is so much that we can unlock in our lives when we choose to speak positively. We do not have to speak what is right before us, but we can declare whatever it is we desire to see in our lives.

Antonia, a youth and purpose advocate, said she has encountered a number of young people whose words do more harm than good. Many of them are also told negative things by those around them, further compounding the self-identity and esteem issue that is

common among young Bahamians today.

“Although there are some painful things that may have happened in the past, it does not have to dictate the rest of their lives.

A lot of times we allow what happened in the past to determine what we feel can happen in our future,” she said.

Antonia hopes those who read her book gain valuable knowledge from it, to use in the betterment of their lives.

“I want young girls to know that they are not defined by what someone else has to say about them, but by what God says about them. Their language should be reflective of what God says. Also, I want them to understand how valuable their voice is. Their voice is a gift and therefore they can use it to declare life concerning their purpose and the promises of God,” she said.

“The overall message is to change your language so that you can change your life. Your words dictate your world.”

08 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, May 15, 2020

art

Mother-daughter duo reveal hidden treasures Keeping the dying straw tradition alive

By ALESHA CADET | Tribune Features Writer | acadet@tribunemedia.net

S

OMETHING as simple as a palm tree blowing in the wind is enough to inspire Nykeemar Durham to create new designs for her modern take on a Bahamian staple: the straw bag.

Nykeemar works with her mother, Alice Mather, to bring the famous Bahamian straw bag into the 21st century. And it’s not hard to come up with creative ideas which attract the attention of not only locals, but also visitors and even celebrities like US TV personality Brooke Burke and famous social media influencers.

“When my creative juices are flowing I can spend hours on the first piece...from drafting the design to deciding what’s the best item to put the new design on and to hand-sewing it strand by strand. Then when I’m all done, I’m my hardest critic as I sit just looking at it and thinking, ‘Am I done? How can I make it look better? How will my customers feel about it?’...

Once your doing something that makes you happy it’s the best thing ever,” said Nykeemar.

“My mom, Alice Mather, would love for me to say I got all my talents from her, and she is right though, but I hate to admit it.”

Nykeemar is a third-generation artisan. Her grandmother, from who she still draws inspiration today, was a straw vendor in the 1970s.

“She died when I was three years old so I never had the opportunity to learn from her, but because I’m a visual learner, from the photographs I’ve seen and what I already know, I can recreate her designs, hoping I’ve done them justice, making them my own and trendy,’ she said.

Armed with the spirit and creativity of her grandmother, Nykeemar has now joined her mother’s business, A and A Hidden Treasures, in Harbour Island.

“My mom sews the bags and clutches, and I decorate. And because we have some returning guests year after year it keeps pushing me to do better and be better as a creative artisan. The business is doing better than it has in the years past. We are still growing and learning.

And people from all over the world want a product from A and A Hidden Treasures, which makes me proud,” she said.

Nykeemar said she initially joined forces with her mother to save some money to go back to college. She felt like the only way to be successful was to have a college degree.

“But boy, was wrong; dead wrong. And being involved in the business opened my eyes to so much and changed my views on my own life and my own path for success. Because I’ve learned that college isn’t the only way to success. But doing what you love is. Following your instincts and trusting in God,” she said.

Today, Nykeemar said she is focused on keeping grandmother’s legacy alive; to keep a dying craft alive. And for that, the current lockdown has turned out to be blessing in disguise.

“I want to teach other people about the craft so they can appreciate their history and the journey from then to now. I’m so thankful for this quarantine, more than you know. During this time I was able to restock the store for whenever we are open for business again, create a portfolio and samples for new designs that I would introduce in the next upcoming season, and rest a bit. But most importantly, this quarantine gave me a lot of time to think about how I can change the business structure going forward, so that I can still be making money in the event something like this ever happens again. So the business website will soon be up and functional, where guests from around the world can shop online at their own leisure and I can still be in business whether the borders are opened or closed,” she said.

As the business is open all year round, Nykeemar said they want to offer bags for each season. During the Fall and Winter, products are focused on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and home decor that includes items like place mats, napkin rings, ornaments, paper waste baskets and lampshades.

During the Spring and Summer months, the products reflect themes like spring break and includes items like straw hats, clutches,

The Tribune | Weekend | 09

Friday, May 15, 2020

TV personality Brooke Burke shows off her A and A Hidden Treasures custom bag

bamboo handle handbags, kids character purses, and more.

“During the Summer months our services also include one-on-one sessions where each guest can create their own handmade bag or souvenir. All my clients make me smile in some capacity or another.

And we all have such a good time in store. Most of my returning guests try to challenge me also to create something for them that I’ve never done before, and even bring designs for me recreate,” said Nykeemar.

Some of her most memorable experiences are meeting with high-profile guests, famous YouTubers and Instagram influencers, “who I don’t know, but they know so much about me.”

“They not only support but promote the business for free. I get exposure to their thousands of followers from around the world and it’s genuine,” said Nykeemar.

In an era where many things are made abroad, Nykeemar sad Bahamians are often surprised to learn that she creates all of her products herself, and are even more surprised that she is doing it by hand.

For those that need more convincing, I give them a tour of our workspace and a history lesson, and then they become believers. One particular lady encouraged me to never give up regardless of whether I make money or not; to never sell myself short for the sake of making a sale because the right person will come and pay more. And lastly, to remember to smile, as it will show through your work. In this time of social distancing I also hope that I can complete a large portfolio of my creations and of my mother’s to pass down to future generations.

The business already offers drop-off services on Harbour Island and as as far as to The Cove, Eleuthera, so I’d like to expand that as well,” she said.

“This is now the time we didn’t have and needed, to pour ourselves into our craft without distractions to create masterpieces. I encourage persons to be creative and plan avenues and opportunities to allow our business to prosper...and that’s not just for creatives, but all entrepreneurs.

You have to remain focused.”

To check out Nykeemar and Alice’s straw bags, visit A and A Hidden Treasures on Facebook, and on Instagram @ aandahiddentreasures, or e-mail at strawbagsbyalice@hotmail.com.

10 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, May 15, 2020

gardening

What now?

S

O YOU’VE got your late crops in pots or in the ground by now, or maybe you’re still working on seeding or cuttings. This week has brought the first signs of Summer weather, and that can lead to some disappointments when dealing with soft, tender young plants, and not only from the heat and humidity.

The rain and wind can have a detrimental and damaging effect on young shoots and seedlings. If the rain is heavy, it can tear up baby seedlings, and the wind can blow things around and tear up tender leaves. Windbreaks are very useful to create calm spots in a garden (see last week’s topic of using native plants and they’re efficacy in creating windbreaks, especially near the shoreline or a windy hilltop site). Shade cloth is useful to help breakup heavy rains, or maybe you’ll need to move some of your small tender material in under some cover if they’re still movable, if the weather is not so favourable. For those plants already in the ground, be aware of flooding, hopefully you’ve got well drained soils!

Now that we have received our first solid rain of the season here in New Providence, things are about to go gangbusters. If you look closely enough, you can almost watch plants growing at this time of year. This brings many

TYPICAL bougainvillea leaf colour

beautiful new branches, leaves and flowers. It also brings the “weeds” out, as well as the bugs.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that there are certain pests that will be showing up at this time of year - leaf miner, mealybug, aphids, white fly, just to name a few. These can all be very troublesome. Snails, slugs and caterpillars are also on a roll right now and very active. There are very effective preventative methods to reduce they’re impact, for example, spraying neem oil, insecticidal soap (NOT dish detergent) or horticultural oil every two or three weeks can save lots of work in having to rectify an infestation.

For mollusks (snails and slugs) an application of Sluggo (NOT the highly toxic and very poisonous ‘blue stuff’) can help keep them at bay. For Lepidoptera (caterpillars) a spray of Bacillus thuringensis or Spinosad (which is also effective against spider mites, leaf miners and many others) and is highly effective and not toxic to anything other than the targeted pest(s).

Scout your garden, keep your eyes peeled for signs of chewed leaves, stems, or shoots. It is important to know which pest or pests are active before attempting to treat. If you’re seeking assistance at a garden center, photos can go a long way to help determine the exact issue or problem.

It is also a great time of year to do some

A CHLOROTIC tomato leaf.

pruning. Thin out the middle of trees to allow increased airflow as the winds tend to increase through the summer. It is better to prepare by taking out weak branches than to have to clean up and correct wind damage later on. Do not top your trees! This can create weaker joints and branching which then leads to more breakage in winds.

Pruning of shrubs is very effective during May. They’ll grow in very quickly and produce increased branching and flowering. Remember to stake tomatoes, cucumber, beans, or other climbing veggies to increase they’re strength and wind resistance. Now is also a perfect time to fertilize plants that are showing signs of deficiencies. Again, if you’re seeking assistance, photos can be a big help in figuring out the exact problem or issue. Your slice of paradise should be greening up nicely with the rain.

To sum things up this week: Keep your eyes open for signs of pest damage. Selectively pull weeds in areas where they may create competition to desirable crops. Scout for signs of nutrient deficiencies. Thin trees from the middle, not the top, and prune your shrubs. If you are still planting tender vegetables, it is highly recommended to seek out a bit of shade, as the direct sun is often too much for them at this time of year.

• Adam Boorman is the nursery manager at the Fox Hill Nursery. For questions and comments, e-mail foxhillnursery@gmail.com.

The Tribune | Weekend | 11

Friday, May 15, 2020

food

Food truck owner weathers the storm to deliver on a dream

By JEFFARAH GIBSON | Tribune Features Writer | jgibson@tribunemedia.net

A

NY business owner can probably attest to the grit and perseverance it takes to see their ideas materialise. And for many, the road to entrepreneurship is filled with bumps, detours and delays. That was the experience for former banker Lolita Chandler, whose dream of launching a food truck business was almost thwarted by the devastating Hurricane Dorian that ripped through Abaco and Grand Bahama. However, remaining steadfast, Mrs Chandler celebrated the opening of her food truck last week in Abaco.

After all she went through, weathering a storm that wrought never before seen devastation in the Bahamas last September, it was a joyous moment when she announced Chandler’s Tasty Treats was open for business, serving sandwiches, burgers, wraps and desserts from her food truck.

Mrs Chandler put her plan to venture into the food and beverage industry into motion two years ago. And it all started with the purchase of the truck.

After leaving the banking sector in 2018, primarily due to be diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, Mrs Chandler said she thought to relax for a while, to allow her body to heal.

“I was extremely tired,” she said. “My son Ricardo, a chef at Baker’s Bay at the time, would come to visit me and talk about his schedule and how he felt slighted at times. So I decided to go online and search for a food trailer that would meet all the requirements and that would be a seamless transition. I knew once the trailer was purchased, my sister Ruby and I had the perfect location and access. Some of the things that I considered at the time was that it would not be in a location to compete with anyone else, neither would we be offering the same things everybody else was selling.”

The truck arrived in Abaco the second week in May last year. However, in between getting the food truck and applying for the proper licences, Dorian happened.

“I recall pleading the blood of Jesus over the trailer the day before the hurricane,” she said.

Mrs Chandler weathered the storm with her sister Ruby. Her husband had decided to remain at the home they shared.

“The sounds were howling. I could hear objects hitting the roof, then the sheet rock began

falling, we had to hold the French doors with a rope for a long time while my nephew-in-law was holding the front door to stop the rain, wind and debris from coming into the house. Then the window in one of the bedrooms downstairs shattered, so the sofa had to be placed in the doorway because the door busted from the frame. Upstairs the roof was exposed due to a tornado, so the northeastern side of the house almost collapsed. We then began singing during the storm and it appeared that the winds were not has loud as before. Thank God. When the eye of the storm passed over we were able to take a first look outside. There was water everywhere. In some cases I could only see the foundation of houses remaining and in other

cases without roofs, doors, or windows.”

Thankfully, her husband and family, and even the food truck, were safe.

“There is power in the name of Jesus because I know that the rope that was tied around the trailer and the fig tree did not preserve the trailer,” she said.

Mrs Chandler and her relatives settled in Fort Lauderdale for three months before returning home.

The devastation of Dorian did not discourage her from her plans to operate a food truck. She went ahead, doing all that was necessary to make her dream a reality.

“I first applied for my business licence in August 2019, received it for three months.

Then reapplied in December 2019; the whole process was rather seamless,” she said.

“Most of my non-perishable supplies were purchased while I was in Florida and the perishable goods obtained locally. Given that my sister and nieces are currently in the hospitality business, getting established was relatively easy.”

Mrs Chandler was introduced to the hospitality industry during her teenage years. Her father owned and operated a restaurant across from the Marsh Harbour airport terminal in the 1970s to 1999 where she worked on weekends.

“And my sister Greta now operates a snack place in the Leonard M Thompson International Airport facility,” she said.

“My goals are to provide the best sandwiches that we can and to offer, excellent customer service to every customer, every time. Perhaps, for the sake of my family who I love dearly and who are quite involved, I would love to see a permanent structure on the property in the future. I wish to thank my God, my family, friends, and the two Hurricane Dorian volunteers for making this a reality,” she said.

12 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, May 15, 2020

community

Girls empowerment group CHAMPS celebrates 10 years with tonight’s virtual event

By JEFFARAH GIBSON | Tribune Features Writer | jgibson@tribunemedia.net

I

N recognition of its 10-year anniversary, the CHAMPS girl’s group is hosting a virtual conference featuring an intimate heart-to-heart discussion.

Over the last decade, CHAMPS – which stands for ‘Chosen Honoured Appointed Motivated Positive Sisters - has worked to help people find their purpose in life and ways to serve the community, whether from in their own homes, at church or at school.

Tonight’s virtual event, “Designed in His Image II”, will be streamed on Zoom beginning at 7.30pm. Everyone is invited to be part of the conversation.

Founder Samita Ferguson said CHAMPS is used to hosting its events at venues like the Cheesecake Haven, Starbucks, the Harbourside Café, or at the Church of God of Prophecy Love Centre, so hosting a conference online will be a new experience for them.

“Last year conference, ‘Designed in His Image I’ was two-fold. Rather than just hosting a workshop, I was led to host a night of encouragement via word and talent.

The workshop was one that was handson, and one of teaching. Due to COVID-19, ‘Design in His Image II’ was forced to take on a different spin,” said Mrs Ferguson.

“As a result of the demands of social distancing and self-isolation, I was prompted to take the virtual spin and host a one-night, heart-to-heart session via Zoom. I believe our message will still be (conveyed) in this format, affording the listeners to hear from young women who are determined to make it despite past struggles, young women who have overcome, and their stories are ones of success and triumph.”

The virtual event features guest speakers Chef Greshann Francis, Natassia Alleyne, Glenise Johnson, Tamia Shearer, and Antonia Lightbourne.

“CHAMPS believes in featuring young women and older women who are established, whether in business or the arts; women who can share of their life experience and how giving up was not an option in their life. I believe when young women can see that tenacity and drive in those who are making it, it will empower them to be determined not to give up,” said Mrs Ferguson.

She said CHAMPS will continue to “fight the fight of hope, peace and love, but in

MEMBERS of the CHAMPS organisation a more tangible way” during this time.

“As for the future, CHAMPS will be evangelical based, empowering young women to have a voice, empowering young women to know that being different is cool, empowering young women to remember that their present circumstances do not depict their future outcome once their paradigm is aligned to positive thinking,” she said.

Mrs Ferguson said she is proud of the journey the organisation has travelled over the past decade.

“Ten years ago, I embarked on a journey to use a platform to encourage young women to know that they can survive any of life’s challenges and be the best kingdom builders empowered to serve holistically. I thank God for the encouragement of my late mother, Dr Helen Louise Alleyne Taylor, who encouraged me to never lose sight of my purpose, and in one of her last words to me prior to her departing this world on April 11, 2020 (she) revisited the purpose and (told me) to stay the course,” she said.

The Tribune | Weekend | 13

Friday, May 15, 2020

Crafts

Candles to please all the senses

By ALESHA CADET | Tribune Features Writer | acadet@tribunemedia.net

C

ANDLES that look good enough to eat have been a huge trend on sites like Pinterest and Etsy, and even with big retailers in recent years.

Bahamian crafter Shaundell Major embraced this trend last November and has since been creating her unique “handmade-with-love” candles, both the traditional variety and ones with a “twist”.

Her candle designs are inspired by various pastries and beverages, and not only do they look good, they smell delicious as well.

This relatively new trend has turned candles from just a source of light and relaxation, to something that pleases all the senses.

Shaundell, who is the owner of The Candle Pastry Pub, said she discovered candle-making when she was looking for a new way to relieve stress and anxiety.

“I have never really told many people this, but burning candles was one of my coping methods from seeing how (Hurricane) Dorian affected Abaco, and how it impacted so many persons’ lives negatively. I was one of many who was given the honour of providing a service to Abaco immediately after the hurricane,” she told Tribune Weekend.

“I started researching different types of candles, only to discover a world of unique candles. I told my mother, ‘I am going to start making candles’. She instantly started praying over my business, even though the business didn’t even exist as yet. In her mind, it did. I did not have any business management background, furthermore no candle-making experience. I turned a hobby into being an entrepreneur. The Candle Pastry Pub began shortly thereafter.”

But Shaundell couldn’t have done it without the help and support of her family.

“Honestly, The Candle Pastry Pub would not be what is today without the help of my parents, brothers and nephews. I have to say, they all became quick learners, whether it was melting wax on the portable stove, making a trip to the local store for last-minute orders,

driving to the airport or mailboat to ship orders to the Family islands, or even packing the vehicles to partake in pop-up events. They all play a vital role in my business, especially my mother,” she said.

Shaundell said she has also learned valuable life lessons along the way.

“Becoming a creative business owner allowed me really to learn the value of money, management, and teamwork. With God, preparation, persistence, patience and no fear of failure, this was nothing short of amazing,” she said.

Like many small business owners, Shaundell has felt the impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic and has at times become discouraged, but she is determined to soldier on.

“I had to encourage and remind myself that bad things do not last forever. No matter what I’m faced with, God has never left my side,” she told Tribune Weekend.

BAHAMIAN crafter Shaundell Major

“What I like most about being an entrepreneur, especially during a time like this, is that every day I am faced with a new challenge, big and small. Thankfully, there were great many persons requesting to order candles during the country’s lockdown.”

Shaundell is continuing to hone her candle-making skills and learning new methods to diversify her product.

“We are staying focused by taking online candle-making courses.

The Candle Pastry Pub is also using this time to network and inspire fellow makers. Every setback has a major comeback, and our main goal during this time is to develop and create new handmade scented candles. Doing this will allow us to financially position ourself to acquire a storefront and develop a manufacturing set-up,” she said.

However, she still misses

the one-on-one interactions with her customers.

“Being at pop-up events allows my mother and I to witness the reactions and expressions of (people) when they reach our tent or booth. Our most memorable client experience thus far was a lady approaching our booth….She quickly said, ‘Why do you have your cupcakes opened up?

They are not on a plate nor do they have covering over them.’ I smiled and said, ‘Good day, these cupcakes are scented candles. Would you like to smell one?’ Her facial expression was priceless as she reached out to smell a cupcake candle.”

The Candle Pastry Pub currently operates as a home-based business that offers delivery services.

The candles are manufactured in her parents’ kitchen, and are hardened and cured in the dining room, with the packaging and shipping preparation done in the family’s living room.

“Each member of my team assists in whatever way possible.

This requires vision. When I educate myself, my team learns as well. Power is gained by sharing knowledge, not hoarding it. So we grow as one.

When visitors show up they describe us as a ‘home-based factory’. Our services are available for special events including weddings, showers, birthdays, and anniversaries. In the near future we look forward to expanding our brand into bath and body products,” said Shaundell.

16 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, May 15, 2020

fashion

Quarantine style Buyers ditch PJs for elevated loungewear

FASHION Nova’s loungewear sets are extremely popular with influencers

MIAMI (AP) — When Los Angeles-based fashion blogger Jacey Duprie finally emerged from days in sweats, changing into black jeans, an ankle-length camel sweater and Gucci loafers, she counted it as one of those “very big victories that used to be small victories.”

Since people have spent weeks stuck in isolation, their bodies molded into beds and couches with little to delineate weekends from

weekdays, a fashion trend is emerging. Loungewear is comfy, everyday clothing with just a bit of refinement.

Unfussy and minimal, but pulled together enough for a video conference call with your boss.

The trend has tapped into something deeper, revealing that even the slightest effort at putting together “an outfit” during quarantine can provide a mental boost and a sense of normalcy.

Loungewear had been quietly seeping into mainstream fashion even before the coronavirus outbreak’s stay-at-home orders.

It is similar to athleisurewear, but takes casual comfort up a notch beyond platform sneakers, athletic Ts and oversize hoodies. It’s less about sporty separates and yoga pants. Think relaxed tailoring, slouchy trousers, soft, silky fabrics, cropped sweatshirts with something special like a puffed sleeve or floral embroidery, or drawstring tassels on baggy linen pants.

“People are getting a little more creative with how they’re interpreting loungewear,” said Goop fashion director Ali Pew. “They want to feel pulled together.”

The Goop wellness empire, run by Gwyneth Paltrow, recently advertised a “stay home” sale that was heavy on flowy, maxi dresses in fun prints by Ulla Johnson and Natalie Martin, cozy jumpsuits with a bit of flair, and lots of wide-leg culottes.

“It’s something you would traditionally wear on vacation at the beach, but now it translates to something that’s easy to wear around the house or on an afternoon walk,” said Pew. Trendy online retailer ASOS said sales of its not-so basic tracksuits in premium fabrics, special washes and with elevated sleeve details are up 200 percent compared to

the same time last year. The brand’s $35 oversize joggers have sold out in five colours.

Cardigans — in bright colours and neutrals — are also having a moment, according to a company spokesman.

At the luxury online retailer Net-a-Porter, lingerie and loungewear had the largest sales increase worldwide of any category besides beauty products. Track pants were again a key driver, up more than 1,300 percent compared to last year, the company said.

Matching sweatsuits, especially monochromatic muted colours like nudes and blush, are trending, as well as tie dye and utility trends like dressy sweatpants with pockets — a new take on cargo pants.

“The customer is not just buying these for practical use, but also for the purpose of looking on trend, whether it be for social media or just because they want to feel cute in the house,” said Krista Corrigan, analyst forthe retail data company Edited.

And it’s not just basics.

Couture designers, too, are taking cues from stylish couch potatoes.

Christy Rilling, who has designed gowns for Michelle Obama and Jennifer Lawrence, created “Stay Home Robes” using silky remnants from couture gowns. The $1,280 gold, patterned robe made from the lining of the Narciso Rodriguez dress that Obama wore to the 2016 State of the Union address sold out, along with several others, she said.

Beyond fashion, the trend reflects a sense that daily routines once taken for granted, like getting dressed, also serve an emotional purpose.

A psychological shift occurs when we change clothes, said Damsel in Dior blogger Duprie.

“It’s kind of like dress for the job you want. In this case, it’s dress for the mood you

ASOS’ $35 oversize joggers have sold out in five colours

want to have all day,” she said. “Even if you only have a few minutes to spare in the morning ... having that one thing that is a constant in your life can really offer stability and consistency in a very unstable environment.”

KELLI KENNEDY Associated Press

The Tribune | Weekend | 17

Friday, May 15, 2020

entertainment

Jameela Jamil hosts anti-shame podcast LOS ANGELES (AP) — Reese Witherspoon says she still feels marginalised in corporate boardrooms dominated by men. Demi Lovato describes living in a “mental prison” and battling an eating disorder that was triggered by extreme bullying in middle school.

Those are just some of the frank conversations on Jameela Jamil’s podcast, “I Weigh with Jameela Jamil,” which takes aim at shame in all its forms.

On the weekly podcast, which premiered April 2, the actress and activist speaks candidly about her own shame, struggles with body image, a suicide attempt when she was 26 and how she’s coping with quarantine (“I smell,” she admitted, laughing). Her guests also lay themselves bare, revealing deeply personal struggles and pain.

Lovato spoke with Jamil about learning to accept herself after an apparent drug overdose in 2018. “My body survived something insane, a near-death experience, and I’m here today,” the pop star said. “It’s OK for me to look in the mirror and be like, ‘I’m not where I want to be.’”

Jamil said she is not after headlines or trying to “get” her guests. She just wants listeners to know they’re not alone and shouldn’t be ashamed. Of anything.

“This is happening even to the happiest, most together and successful perfect people on Earth,” the 34-year-old London native and “The Good Place” star said recently from her home in Los Angeles. “You shouldn’t feel bad about your struggle if the most privileged people on the planet are going through similar things.”

The podcast comes two years after Jamil began the “I Weigh” movement, sparked after she stumbled across online photos labelling female celebrities with their weights.

Outraged, Jamil tweeted what she weighed not in terms of pounds but in terms of worth, like her relationships and successes, kicking off a slew of similar responses from women sick of being reduced to a number on a scale.

Jamil dives deep with her guests. Witherspoon teared up while speaking of women’s seemingly never-ending struggle for equality and respect, Billy Porter opened up about the painful experiences in his childhood that led to mental health struggles, and Beanie Feldstein talks about how she’s perfectly happy being, in her word, “chubby.”

“It shocks me how open they are,” Jamil said.

“And it makes me feel a lot of love towards them.

And I think in particular, there’s something about this moment where people want to connect with one another and empathise with one another.”

Jamil thinks her guests open up to her partly because of how much she herself shares and for how outspoken she’s been about taboo subjects in Hollywood. She regularly takes aim at the broader media landscape and how women are judged or pitted against one another.

She calls out celebrities and influencers for promoting unhealthy diet products, including the Kardashians, Amber Rose and Cardi B. And she’s fought to protect minors from seeing such advertisements on social media.

Jamil says her activism has cost her financially and sometimes emotionally but that she has no plans to slow down.

“All that matters is that I get through to kids to make them feel less ashamed of their mental illness and less ashamed of the way they look. And I inform them of all of the lies that they have been told,” she said. “That’s all I’m interested in. This isn’t my popularity contest.”

ACTIVIST and actress Jameela Jamil. (Photo/Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File) Feldstein, known for her roles in “Lady Bird” and “Booksmart,” said she admires Jamil’s bravery.

“She’s so beautifully open and I really admire that in her,” said Feldstein, who was the first guest on Jamil’s podcast. “She’s really just a powerhouse in that she’s unrelentingly open and she has such a beautiful energy.”

Jamil isn’t just interviewing celebrities on the podcast. Her second guest was former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who discussed the health impact of loneliness.

Upcoming guests include feminist icon Gloria Steinem, #MeToo movement founder Tarana Burke and novelist Roxane Gay. As for her other dream guests? At the top of Jamil’s list are Tom Hanks (“almighty unproblematic fave”), Whoopi Goldberg (she’s “always been my idol”) and Angelina Jolie, who Jamil describes as a role model.

“There’s something about seeing someone incredibly famous, incredibly loved and celebrated open up about their vulnerabilities and their struggles,” Jamil said. “It demystifies it and destigmatises it, and it reaches more people because of the size of their platform and star.”

AMANDA LEE MYERS Associated Press

Kevin Hart and Nick Jonas to help out show ‘Regular Heroes’ NEW YORK (AP) — The new Amazon series about everyday people who are making an impact in the fight against the coronavirus is getting an assist of its own — from Kevin Hart and Nick Jonas.

The comedian and musician will both make special guest appearances on the eight-episode docuseries “Regular Heroes,” offering encouragement and donations.

The series premiered on Amazon Prime Video on May 8 and new

episodes will be available every Friday through June 26. Alicia Keys was part of the premiere episode.

Friday’s episode will feature a New York City deli owner, a science teacher in Washington, D.C., and a New Jersey zookeeper. Future episodes will feature a reverend in Los Angeles, a truck operator in Virginia and a medic in New York.

MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer

NICK Jonas (left) and Kevin Hart. (AP Photo)

18 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, May 15, 2020

books

New page-turners this week • This Is How I Lied by Heather Gudenkauf (mystery/thriller) Twenty-five years ago, the body of 16-yearold Eve Knox was found in the caves near her home in small-town Grotto, Iowa—discovered by her best friend, Maggie, and her sister, Nola.

There were a handful of suspects, including her boyfriend, Nick, but without sufficient evidence the case ultimately went cold.

For decades Maggie was haunted by Eve’s death and that horrible night. Now a detective in Grotto, and seven months pregnant, she is thrust back into the past when a new piece of evidence surfaces and the case is reopened.

As Maggie investigates and reexamines the clues, secrets about what really happened begin to emerge. But someone in town knows more than they’re letting on, and they’ll stop at nothing to keep the truth buried deep.

• Letters from Montmartre

by Nicolas Barreau (romance) Julien Azouly, the famous French writer

of beautiful romance novels, has stopped believing in love. When his beloved wife, Hélène, dies at the age of thirty-three, leaving him alone to raise their young son, Arthur, he is so devastated that he loses faith in the happier side of life—and along with that his ability to write.

But Hélène was clever. Before her death, she made her husband promise to write her thirty-three letters, one for each year of her life. Six months after the funeral, Julien finds himself standing in the most famous cemetery in Paris, the painful first letter in his hand. Little does he know that something strange—and wonderful—is about to happen.

An ode to love, Paris, and joie de vivre, Love Letters from Montmartre brings the reader down narrow streets, past the cosy red bistro on Rue Gabrielle, and all the way to Montmartre cemetery with its beautiful stone angels, where we will discover the truth we all hope to find: that love is real, that miracles can happen and that—most of all— it’s never too late to rediscover your dreams.

Empathetic and wise, this is the deeply profound yet very human story of a man who finds love just when he thinks all is lost.

• The Fascinators by Andrew Eliopulos (young adult) Living in a small town where magic is frowned upon, Sam needs his friends James and Delia— and their time together in their school’s magic club—to see him through to graduation.

But as soon as senior year starts, little cracks in their group begin to show. Sam may or may not be in love with James. Delia is growing more frustrated with their amateur magic club. And James reveals that he got mixed up with some sketchy magickers over the summer, putting a target on all their backs.

With so many fault lines threatening to derail his hopes for the year, Sam is forced to face the fact that the very love of magic that brought his group together is now tearing them apart—and there are some problems that no amount of magic can fix.

The Tribune | Weekend | 19

Friday, May 15, 2020

entertainment FIRST Fight

Top 10 Netflix . The Last Dance (series; 2 ten episodes) Bordertown (series; movies 8.three seasons) A and shows . Blindspot (series; five 5seasons) in the Bahamas 3. Fist Fight (film; 1h 31m) the Night (series; 9.sixIntoepisodes) on his own mission for justice. Starring Bruce Willis and directed by Eli Roth.

A docuseries that gives a definitive account of Michael Jordan’s career and the 1990’s Chicago Bulls, packed with unaired footage from the 1997-98 season.

With Bahamians practicing social distancing, working from home, and the kiddies stuck in the house, it’s time to turn to Netflix for some entertainment.

Here are the top 10 movies and shows Bahamians are watching this week:

Death Wish (film; 1h 1.47m)

Dr Paul Kersey is an experienced trauma surgeon, a man who has spent his life saving lives. After an attack on his family, Paul embarks

When one school teacher unwittingly causes another teacher’s dismissal, he is challenged to an after-school fight. Starring Ice Cube, Charlie Day and Tracy Morgan.

Dead to Me (series; 4.two seasons)

A series about a powerful friendship that blossoms between a tightly wound widow and a free spirit with a shocking secret. Starring Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini.

World” in order to spice things up with his wife and reconnect with his sons. Starring Ed Helms, Christina Applegate and Chris Hemsworth.

DEATH Wish

A mysterious tattooed woman is found naked inside a travel bag in Times Square by the FBI. She has no recollection of her own past or identity. But her tattoos contain clues to crimes they will have to solve.

Becoming (documen6.tary; 1h 29m)

Join America’s former first lady Michelle Obama in an intimate documentary looking at her life, hopes and connection with others during her 2019 book tour for ‘Becoming.’

7. Vacation (film; 1h 38m) Rusty Griswold takes his own family on a road trip to “Walley

quirky police detective in Finland delves into his mind palace to solve despicable crimes all the while trying to keep his family together. If Sherlock was based in Finland this would be it.

When a mysterious cosmic disaster strikes Earth, survivors on an overnight flight from Brussles race to find refuge and escape the sun’s rays.

Space Jam (film; 1h 10.27m)

In a desperate attempt to win a basketball match and earn their freedom, the Looney Tunes seek the aid of retired basketball champion Michael Jordan. Also starring Bill Murray.

20 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, May 15, 2020

film

KYLE MacLachlan (‘Twin Peaks’) as Capone’s physician.

(Photos/Alan Markfield/Vertical Entertainment via AP)

Review:

A grotesque, inglorious look at Capone’s last year capone | 103 minutes

A

l Capone lived out his final years on a grand estate in Palm Island, Florida, with his wife, Mae, by his side and grandchildren running around the property. It sounds like a pretty nice end for the notorious Chicago gangster, until you realize that he spent those post Alcatraz years suffering from declining health, dementia and the long-term effects of a syphilis infection from when he was just a teenager that went untreated. Also?

He was likely broke. Then he died of a heart attack on January 25, 1947. He was only 48.

It’s this chapter that gets the focus in “ Capone,” a hallucinatory and messy (in all respects) film starring Tom Hardy as the once great crime boss who is now hardly

recognizable to himself or his family and in a state of rapid decline. With ashen skin, blood-red eyes and a voice that is so raspy as to be almost unintelligible, Hardy’s Capone looks like a drawing of a comic book gangster that’s gone too far.

“Fonse” (the name Al is not to be uttered on the property) totters around his well-groomed and cliché Floridian mansion in an open robe with a cigar (and, later, a carrot) hanging out of his mouth. When he’s not shouting at his wife (Linda Cardellini) or gardeners, he can often be found with a thousand-yard stare which either means he’s about to go into a flashback sequence or is soiling himself — he does both quite frequently. His decay is cartoonish, as though all of his past sins are oozing out of his brain and body. They are laid out just as chaotically and unpleasantly in “Capone” for audiences to make sense of.

“Capone” is the work of filmmaker Josh Trank, who, you may recall, is the blockbuster wunderkind who became a bit of a pariah in under four years. His film “Chronicle” made him, at 27, a precious box office superstar who earned comparisons to Spielberg and Cameron. But his decline started before he could make good on the assumption that he was the next big thing. He was then hired, and fired, from a Star Wars film. But perhaps his most infamous moment was when he distanced himself from his expensive “Fantastic Four” reboot a day before it opened (and bombed) with a tweet implying that studio interference ruined his once great film.

Although we’ll never get to see what he might have done left to his own devices with “Fantastic Four,” for better or worse “Capone” is fully a Josh Trank product. He wrote, edited and directed. And although “Capone” has interesting elements and a strong style, it is also deeply flawed and a bit of a slog to get through.

Hardy’s go-forbroke performance is certainly jawdropping, but not exactly effective in drawing you in to care about his story or his regrets. There are threads that are introduced with little resolve: The possible $10 million that he’s hidden and lost, the FBI agent TOM Hardy (a compelling Jack (‘Venom’, ‘The Lowden) who has Dark Knight to convince his own Rises’) as Al boss that Capone is Capone. worth continuing to investigate, and the out-of-wedlock son that keeps calling and appearing to him. The supporting cast is wasted (it’s not just Cardellini). Matt Dillon pops up for a bit. And Kyle MacLachlan plays the physician who suggests the family give him a carrot instead of a cigar, since he won’t notice anyway. It’s also numbingly violent.

Al Capone’s last year could make for an interesting film, but there is little poetry or transcendence in “Capone,” and nothing even remotely close to the quietly devastating third act of “The Irishman.” Although maybe Trank wanted something more garish and horrifying and surreal for Capone, like a carrot cigar, a droopy diaper and a golden Tommy Gun. At the very least, it’s hard to look away.

“Capone” is available to rent on iTunes and on Amazon Prime.

LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer

The Tribune | Weekend | 21

Friday, May 15, 2020

gaming

Four video games to boost your mood (THE CONVERSATION) - In her book How Games Move Us (2016), computer games researcher Katherine Isbister writes that her friends and colleagues believe that gaming might numb people’s emotions.

Given the possible connection between games and violence, it may be understandable that they think this, but Isbister disagrees with them. She writes that “games can actually play a powerful role in creating empathy and other strong, positive emotional experiences”.

Huizinga argued that fun was something beyond rational capacities, something universal to humans and other animals alike. This was not to discount fun as irrelevant but to establish its importance among our emotional capacities.

As such, there’s never been a better time to log in to Epic Games’ Fortnite. Although a competitive shooting game at heart, Fortnite distances itself from similar games through its cartoon-like aesthetic that can be felt in its gameplay as well as its visual design. The game welcomes up to 100 players to indulge in the childlike play of building box forts and throwing snowballs together, all while dressed as a pink llama. The game’s devotion to fun has amassed over 250 million players so far.

Designers want players to laugh, cry and extend empathy to the other characters and players within digital games. So whether you are looking for a welcome distraction or a mood boost, here are four games to try.

1. Kind Words

Ziba Scott’s Kind Words (Lo Fi Chill Beats to Write To) may seem like an odd game. All it involves is players writing and receiving encouraging letters in a cosy room that cocoons them in the relaxing sounds of of “lo fi chill beats”.

It takes its inspiration from the YouTube sensation lo fi hip hop radio - beats to relax/ study to. A combination of chill electronic music that is looped over animation, the channel has a surprisingly active live chat that has become a space for heartfelt confession.

Kind Words expands on the spirit of the YouTube stream by allowing players to write a letter about something worrying them and read responses from an anonymous community. While it may be tempting to dismiss this game because of its simplicity, the exchange of messages may have an important role to play. In How Games Move Us, Katherine Isbister relates this type of communication to a note left by a parent in a child’s lunchbox – a small but heartfelt attempt to reach out.

4. Euro TrucÍk Simulator

2. Going Under

According to the game designer Dan Cook, humour in games is difficult due to the conflicting nature of video games and comedy. While comedy comes from unexpected violations of the expected, video games rely on the predictable to be playable.

Broadly speaking, even excellent comedic writing is doomed when placed within the context of a video game because the required repetition of a game means that players will come to expect what was once the unexpected. However, comedy and punk-culture scholar Krista Bonello contends that comedy in games can be successful when it comes from exploiting the player’s experience of (and nostalgia for) previous games.

In that vein, the game Going Under succeeds by twisting the familiar setting of the actionadventure into the world of crumbling startups. Instead of searching for buried treasure in mystical ruins, players must instead explore the remnants of failed tech companies and strip the buildings of assets. Perhaps most comically of all, we are expected to do this for free, because we’re only interns.

3. Fortnite

When life is as dark as it is right now, it’s important to remember the importance of “fun”. Johan Huizinga, a Dutch historian and cultural theorist, first wrote about the idea of fun in 1938, saying: “The fun of playing resists all analysis, all logical interpretation. As a concept, it cannot be reduced to any other mental category.”

Finally, I’d like to suggest to anyone who just needs to relax – or to embrace, as we call it in game theory, abnegation.

Popularised by the paper Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics, abnegation is generally thought of as a synonym for that feeling of “zoning out” we can experience when playing games.

Euro Truck Simulator, an almost entirely pointless game, asks players to engage in the long, thankless job of driving a shipping truck through simulations of mainland Europe. In providing players with a straightforward goal and some simple but hard to master controls, some players can find themselves sucked into the game for hours at a time.

• This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. Read the original article here: https:// theconversation.com.

Conor Mckeown King’s College London

22 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, May 15, 2020

history

Ted Pyfrom’s homemade swimming goggles

By PAUL C ARANHA | Forgotten facts

W

orld War II brought a lot of changes to Nassau, some good, others not so much.

One thing that was very different was the presence of the Royal Air Force and other military units. Airplanes flying around was something that Bahamians were not used to seeing, but we adapted.

There were lots of planes, and unfortunately, numerous crashes. I remember plodding my way through the pine barrens to see the remains of crashed planes, looking for a ‘treasure’. But we always got there too late, all the ‘good stuff’ had already been ‘liberated’.

The rewards of scavenging were very visible around town. What I remember best is the plexiglass jewellery made from the windows of a crashed plane. Rings made from this plexiglass were very popular.

This brings me to a memo written by my friend, Eugene Pyfrom (one of the founders of Cavalier Construction Company), because it might explain how Gene’s father, ‘Ted’ Pyfrom (1906-1963), was able to obtain the rubber he needed to make diving masks, or ‘goggles’.

Ted was working at the airfields, operating heavy equipment and got to know many RAF personnel. It seems that he also got to know frogmen of the Sea Reconnaissance Team who used Salt Cay/Treasure Island (now Blue Lagoon Island) to perfect their underwater demolition skills.

Ted, like many Bahamians, was used to swimming and skin-diving - without specialised equipment - but the face masks used by these frogmen penetrated the water and gave the human eye a clear picture of everything that was there. Ted wanted one of these masks, but such equipment was not on sale in the Bahamian shops.

Not one to admit defeat, Ted decided to

make his own and he began by cutting a six-inch circular sheet of glass, after which came the challenging task of designing and producing the rubber portion.

It was wartime and rubber was difficult to come by, particularly rubber flexible and strong enough for what Ted wanted. Certain that somewhere such rubber existed, Ted searched until he discovered the very thick inner tubes used for the landing gear of a heavy bomber.

It was both thick and flexible. The perfect choice, and Ted’s work had just begun. Perhaps there has been treasures on plane wrecks.

The rubber housing of his goggles had already been designed, but Ted had to find a way of cutting the rubber in the exact shape he needed. Step by step, the goggles took shape and the shaped material was glued together with rubber cement. Now it was time to fit the pieces together in a way that would not leak. Somehow, the rubber had to be secured to the glass. The answer was a narrow, circular band of thin copper, slightly smaller than the circumference to the glass, whose ends were bent out at 90° angles, allowing a small bolt and nut to pull the ends together and tighten the rubber to the glass.

Suddenly, Ted could see clearly underwater.

He could see all the creatures in the sea and realised how easy it would be to catch things that one could see clearly.

Gene told me, “We were so used to diving without masks that we used our new masks for years without even thinking about flippers and snorkels.”

But they did think about catching fish and Pyfrom produced metal spears, made from with pencil-thick, spring-steel rods taken from a box-spring bed. Ted would cut these rods into five-foot lengths, then sharpen their tips to a point and add a foldable barb – very much the design of modern-day spears – and the rest is history.

•For questions and comments, e-mail islandairman@gmail.com

The Tribune | Weekend | 23

Friday, May 15, 2020

literary lives Irving Berlin

An immigrant who defined the music of America Sir Christopher Ondaatje writes about the American composer and lyricist, widely considered to be the greatest songwriter in American history.

I

rving Berlin was born Israel Isidore Beilin on May 11, 1888 in the old Russian Empire.

His family came from the shtetl (small Jewish village) of Tolochin in today’s Belarus. He was one of eight children born to Moses and Lena Lipkin Beilin. His father, a cantor in a synagogue, moved his family to America in the late 19th century and arrived at Ellis Island in New York City on September 14, 1893. Young Israel Beilin was put into a pen with his brother and five sisters until immigration officials thought them fit enough to be let into the city. The Beilins were among thousands of other Jewish families emigrating to the United States, escaping poverty and brutal discrimination. The family lived briefly in a basement flat on Monroe Street before settling in a three-room tenement at 330 Cherry Street. The only work Beilin’s father could get was in a kosher meat market. He died when his son was 13 years old.

Young Irving became a newspaper boy selling The

IRVING Berlin was born Israel Isidore Beilin in 1888.

Evening Journal. His mother worked as a midwife, and his sisters got work wrapping cigars. Selling newspapers in the Bowery, Irving first heard American music coming from the bars and saloons. Fascinated, he imitated the songs he heard while selling papers. When he was 14, he left home and lived with other homeless boys in the Lower East Side. He learned to survive and sang songs for pennies on the street and in bars. Music was his only source of income. He learned his lessons well, became streetwise and was soon plugging songs at Tony Pastor’s Music Hall in Union Square. He taught himself to play the piano - only onefinger melodies - and when he was 18 wrote “Marie from Sunny Italy” which earned him 37 cents in royalties. A spelling mistake on the sheet music published his name as I. Berlin and Irving Berlin was born.

He got a job as a singing waiter at Pelham Café in Chinatown, and he was encouraged when the restaurant crowds applauded his creative adaptations. He sometimes inserted his own words into popular songs of the day and sometimes changed the tunes as well. Luckily for him, a staff scout, Max Winslow, working at Harry Von Tilzer Company, noticed Berlin’s singing and was so enthused with his talent that he raved about him to Von Tilzer, who hired Berlin.

In 1908, when Berlin was 20, he got another job at Jimmy Kelly’s in Union Square where he was able to collaborate with other ambitious young songwriters. They all stuck together and peddled their ideas on Tin Pan Alley. In 1911, Emma Carus, a contralto who was in the original 1907 cast of Ziegfeld Follies, introduced

“Alexander’s Ragtime Band”. It was his first world famous hit and he was allowed to perform himself at the Friars’ Frolic. Later that year he went on stage at Oscar Hammerstein’s vaudeville house – a huge opportunity for the young songwriter. Hundreds of his fellow street singers crowded into the hall to applaud.

He was an instant celebrity.

Time Magazine later commented that “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” was not so much a rag as a march mixing elements of “Swanee River” and Scott Joplin tunes. It was only after Berlin added words to his tune that it became a hit. Variety called it the musical sensation of the decade. It was sung by Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Al Jolson, and later Ray Charles.

There were over six different hit versions in the next 50 years.

Composer George Gershwin said

24 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, May 15, 2020

it was “the first real American musical work.

Berlin has shown us the way; it is now easier to attain our ideal.”

Now”. That same year, 1917, Berlin, now 30 years old, was drafted into the United States Army with the 152nd Depot Brigade at Camp Upton. However the powers in the US wanted him to continue to do what he knew best – write propaganda and patriotic tunes for the country. He composed “Yip Yip Yaphank” as a tribute to the US Army which included “Mandy” and “Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning” – which he performed himself. The show, which eventually was transferred to Broadway, earned $150,000 for an army camp centre. While in the army he also wrote “God Bless America”, but did not release it for another 20 years.

Stunned by his overnight popularity he saw his song become the feature of a film featuring Tyrone Power, Alice Faye and Don Ameche in 1938.

The tune sparked a national dance craze which swept Europe and even Russia.

BERLIN with film stars Alice Faye, Tyrone Power and Don Ameche singing chorus from his In 1914, Berlin world-famous hit “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (1938) wrote a review, “Watch Your BERLIN’s It too was an immediate Step”, which inter-faith success and sold a million starred Vernon marriage copies. The song also and Irene Castle. to heiress made Berlin realise that It was his first Ellen Mac- ragtime alone was not an complete score kay caused ideal style for romantic and his songs quite the expression. He changed, confidently stir. They wrote more love songs, and reflected were mar- composed “I Love a Piano” modernism, ried for 63 combining a love song liberation, years and with a ragtime melody. indulgence and had four leisure. “It was the children.

Berlin was a prolific first syncopated writer and wrote songs musical,” wrote that sometimes only Variety and lasted for a brief period included his of time and then faded “double” song away. He worked hard “Play a Simple and turned out songs Melody” where for all the different two songs with immigrant cultures different tunes arriving from Europe and lyrics are and around the world counterpointed – but he never left his loyal midtogether in the same song. Berlin American audience – including those from was only 26 years old when he was the South who still hankered for traditional hailed as the most talented lyric writer jazz themes. “When the Midnight Choo-Choo that America had ever known. leaves for Alabam” was one of the 1918 hits.

“My ambition is to reach the heart of the average American, not the highbrow nor the lowbrow but that vast intermediate crew which is the real soul of the country. The highbrow is warped, subnormal. My public is the real people.” - Irving Berlin With all his success, Berlin encountered real sadness in his private life. In 1912, he married Dorothy Goetz, the sister of his friend – the songwriter E Ray Goetz. Sadly, she contracted typhoid fever on their honeymoon in Havana, and died six months later. “When I Lost You” was the ballad he wrote to express his sadness.

“A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody” was written for Ziegfeld’s Follies of 1919, and became not only the musical’s lead song, but eventually Florenz Ziegfeld’s own theme song, and the title score of the 1936 film The Great Ziegfeld.

Audiences were amazed how in a single year Berlin’s style had changed from ragtime based ditties to stylish and sophisticated.

His style changed again in 1917 when America entered World War I. Along with other writers in Tin Pan Alley, Berlin now directed his songs to duty and support. One of these songs was “For Your Country and My Country”, and another, directed at immigrants, “Let’s All Be Americans

After the war Berlin returned to Tin Pan Alley and in 1921, with his partner Sam Harris, he built the Music Box Theatre and maintained an interest in the theatre for the rest of his long life. The theatre on 239 West 45th Street, New York, is the only Broadway theatre built to accommodate the songs of a songwriter. It featured Berlin’s “Music Box Revue” from 1921 to 1925, and “As Thousands Cheer” in 1933. One of the smaller Broadway theatres with a seating capacity of 984, the Music Box theatre was co-owned by Berlin’s estate and the Shubert Organisation until the latter assumed full ownership in 2007. The theatre still includes an exhibition devoted to Irving Berlin in the lobby.

By 1926 Berlin had written the scores to two Ziegfeld Follies and four Music Box Revues from 1921 – 1925. “Always”, “What’ll I Do?”, “Remember”, and “All Alone” were some of Berlin’s hits in these years. “What’ll I Do?” was a huge hit for Paul Whiteman’s band in 1924, and “Always” was written in 1925 when he fell in love with Ellin Mackay, the daughter of the socially prominent head of the Postal Telegraph Cable Company – who was bitterly against the marriage of his Catholic daughter to a Jewish immigrant from the Lower East Side. When they eloped in 1925, Clarence Mackay disowned and disinherited his daughter, but Berlin gave her the rights to “Always” as a wedding present, making her financially independent.

The marriage remained a love affair and they were inseparable until she died in July 1988 at the age of 85 after 63 years of marriage and four children. “Blue Skies” was written after their first daughter’s birth in 1926, and was performed by Al Jolson in the first feature sound film The Jazz Singer that same year.

“Marie” (1929) and “Say It Isn’t So” were Berlin hits for Rudy Vallée, and “I’ve got My Love to Keep Me Warm” was performed by Dick Powell in the 1937 film On The Avenue. But it was the final release of “God Bless America” in 1938, sung by Kate Smith, to mark the 20th anniversary of Armistice Day, celebrating the end of World War I, that caused a sensation ending nine years of Depression in the 1930s and a much needed burst of patriotism intertwined with religious faith. The song quickly became a second national anthem after America entered World War II a few years later. Over the years it earned millions for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, to whom Berlin

The Tribune | Weekend | 25

Friday, May 15, 2020

and it still has a plot to it. It’s sophisticated and very underrated.”

assigned all royalties. In 1954, Berlin received a special Congressional Gold Medal from President Dwight D Eisenhower for contributing the song. The song was played again on September 11, 2001 as US Senators and Congressmen stood on the Capitol steps and sang it after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre. Even today the song is sung when Americans are overcome by patriotism.

Most of Berlin’s works for Broadway were Revues, but he did write some books shows: The Cocoanuts (1929), Face the Music (1932) and Louisiana Purchase (1940). As Thousands Cheer (1933) was also a Revue but based on newspaper headlines including Easter Parade, Heat Wave, Harlem on My Mind and Supper Time sung by Ethel Waters.

“If one song can tell the whole tragic history of a race, ‘Supper Time’ was that song. In singing it I was telling my comfortable, well-fed, well-dressed listeners about my people ... those who had been slaves and those who were now downtrodden and oppressed.”

- Stephen Sondheim

Irving Berlin didn’t always have hits. Miss Liberty (1949) was a disappointment, but Call Me Madam (1950), starring Ethel Merman and based loosely on the Washington socialite Perle Mesta, was his second greatest success.

Berlin tried to write a musical about his friend Addison Mizner, and his con-artist brother Wilson.

Act I is in the Library of Congress – never produced. He also wrote Mr President (1962). President Kennedy did go to the premiere and the show did run for eight months – but it was not a successful play.

MANHATTAN’s Lower East Side in the early 1900s, where Berlin lived in a tenement when he wrote his first songs.

Irving Berlin died in his sleep at his 17 Beekman Place, New York on September 22, 1989 of a heart attack. He was 101 years old. His wife Ellin Mackay had predeceased him in July 1988. In a fitting tribute to her father Berlin’s daughter Mary Ellin Barrett said:

Ethel Waters

Irving Berlin was a passionately patriotic man, always incredibly grateful to the United States for allowing him to be American. He wrote many songs, assigning all profits to various government and other departments. All royalties for “Any Bonds Today” were given to the US Treasury Department; “Angels of Mercy” to the American Red Cross; “Arms for the Love of America” to the Army Ordnance Department; “I paid My Income Tax Today” to the US Treasury. When the United States joined World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941, Berlin composed a number of patriotic songs and a stage show “This is the Army”, taken to Broadway and then to military bases throughout the world. Berlin wrote over three dozen songs for the show which had a cast of over three hundred men. He gave all profits to the Army Emergency Relief Fund.

The play was eventually adapted into a movie in 1943 starring Joan Leslie and Ronald Reagan. Kate Smith sang “God Bless America”

Berlin officially announced his retirement in 1962. He was 74 years old, and spent his remaining years in New York, keeping a low profile, almost never appearing in public.

However, he continued to maintain control of his songs through his music publishing company.

BERLIN always supported the troops, writing musical comedies like “This is the Army” in 1942 and the song “God Bless America”, which went on to become the US’ second national anthem.

BERLIN at his first job with a music publisher, aged 18. in the film. The shows and movie raised more than $10 million for the Army, and Berlin was presented with the Medal of Merit

by President Harry S Truman.

When Jerome Kern, the hired composer for “Annie Get Your Gun” died suddenly, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II persuaded Berlin to step in.

Initially he refused, saying he knew nothing about “hillbilly music”, but the show ran for

1,147 performances and became his most successful score.

“There’s No Business Like Show Business” was one of the most dynamic tunes, as was “You Can’t Get a Man With a Gun”.

“What distinguishes Berlin is the brilliance of his lyrics. ‘You Can’t Get a Man With a Gun’ – that’s as good a comic song as has ever been written by anybody. You look at the jokes and how quickly they’re told,

“... He was a loving, if workaholic, family man who was basically an upbeat person, with down periods.

My parents seemed to understand the importance, particularly in childhood, of the special day, the same every year, the special stories, foods, and decorations and that special sense of wellbeing that accompanies a holiday.”

She did not comment on her mother’s lavish Christmas spending, but quoted her father as saying: “I gave up trying to get your mother to economise. It was just easier to make more money.”

NEXT WEEK: The singer and jazz pianist who became the first African-American to host an US television series.

•Sir Christopher Ondaatje is the author of The Last Colonial.

He acknowledges that he has quoted liberally from Wikipedia; Irving Berlin (1994) by Marcy Donelson, and The Irving Berlin Reader (2012) by Benjamin Sears.

Fearless;cup, 2 Tousle;27 22 Clear cover1 around 3 Edge; 4 Continue; mostly backwards (5) 5 Upkeep; 6 True; May Friday, 24 Another reason starts 11 Entrance; 13 Indicate; boy in crime 15(5) Impair; 17 Breach; 19 Loud; 21 Dupe.

27 Engineers greeting socialist who’s employed again (7) 28 Warrior with fear has lost a great number (7)

26 | The Tribune | Weekend

Guo t D i Bnr

Sudoku is a number-placing puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with several given numbers. The object is to place the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so the each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. The difficulty level of the Conceptis Sudoku increases from Monday to Sunday

● The Target uses words in the main body of Chambers 21st Century Dictionary (1999 edition)

HOW many words of four letters or more can you make from the letters shown here? in making a word, each letter may be used once only. Each must contain the centre letter and there must be at least one nine-letter word. no plurals or verb forms ending in “s”.

TODAY’S TARGET Good 18; very good 27; excellent 36 (or more). Solution tomorrow

Yesterday’s call 0907 181 2585 Sudoku Answer for today’s target solution *Calls cost 80p per minute plus your telephone company’s network access charge.

BATTLESHIPS CRYPTIC PUZZLE Down 1 A hot line arranged for the opera (8) 2 Such a mad rush will make a message unintelligible (8) 3 Attack the copper with acid (4) 5 He has taking ways (12) 6 Growth seen when ship’s bottom is turned over (4) 7 A scarf entwined gives trouble (6) 8 Songbird with little relation to others (6) 11 A question of double identity? (5,2,5) 15 Soldier and worker combine in a big way (5) 16 Urge a new debate (5) 18 Cinerama developed in the States (8) 19 Sources of reports commonly regarded as crazy (8) 21 She provides father with a meal out (6) 22 The number increases in emergencies (6) 26 Long pointless story (4) 27 An electric wire to act as a conductor (4)

Across 1 How to march on foot (6) 4 Some winter sportsmen take them up (3,5) 9 Cyril’s transposing songs (6) 10 He wasn’t at all pleased when his wife went to Paris (8) 12 One is entitled to b e called it (4) 13 Sound of fire in the channel (5) 14 Tariff one finds in hired transport (4) 17 Not conducted publicly as a film will be (4,2,6) 20 Dream I’m in sun perhaps in this? (6,6) 23 Gives voice to songs (4) 24 One outcome of hard work? (5) 25 He’s amongst the richest men in the land (4) 28 Note a hundred still in a trance (8) 29 Free delivery? (6) 30 Drink from the basin (8) 31 He was a very fair man (6)

1

2

3

4

9

5

6

7

8

18

19

10 11

12

13

14

15

16

17

20 21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

Yesterday’s Easy Solution Across: 1 Defoe, 4 Recruit, 8 Flu, 9 Seven seas, 10 Cistern, 11 Entry, 13 Trophy, 15 Kernel, 18 Seedy, 19 Abstain, 21 Two-timing, 23 Let, 24 Pretend, 25 Tonic.

Down: 1 Deficit, 2 Fourscore, 3 Ensue, 4 Ravine, 5 Concede, 6 Use, 7 Tasty, 12 Ten-gallon, 14 Haywire, 16 Lunatic, 17 Varied, 18 Set-up, 20 Sight, 22 One.

Yesterday’s Cryptic Solution Across: 1 Appal, 4 Collect, 8 Con, 9 Character, 10 Athlete, 11 Abyss, 13 Courts, 15 Terror, 18 Cream, 19 Utensil, 21 Monologue, 23 Ice, 24 Allergy, 25 Takes.

Down: 1 Archaic, 2 Penthouse, 3 Lucre, 4 Crater, 5 Leakage, 6 Eft, 7 Terms, 12 Yardstick, 14 Tumbler, 16 Reliefs, 17 Hungry, 18 Comma, 20 Erect, 22 Nil.

EASY PUZZLE

Across 1 Largest Mediterranean island (6) 4 Expression of approval (4,4) 9 Arrival (6) 10 Conclusive trial (4,4) 12 Unctuous (4) 13 Subsequently (5) 14 Engage in argument (4) 17 Recant (3,4,5) 20 Awkward situation (6,2,4) 23 Leave out (4) 24 Clear savoury jelly (5) 25 Sudden shock (4) 28 Intolerantly authoritative (8) 29 Spanish dictator 1939-75 (6) 30 Make impossible (8) 31 Ill humour (6)

Down 1 Naval strength (3,5) 2 Politeness (8) 3 Connection (4) 5 Comprehensive reference book (12) 6 Discourteous (4) 7 Immune (6) 8 Incisive reply (6) 11 Malcontent (12) 15 Deduce (5) 16 Improve spiritually (5) 18 Excessive force (8) 19 Decisive confrontation (8) 21 An armed robbery (4-2) 22 Undivided (6) 26 Lament persistently (4) 27 Firm hold (4)

FIND where the fleet of ships shown is hidden in the grid. The numbers to the right of and below the grid indicate how many of the squares in that row are filled in with ships or parts of ships. The ships do not touch each other, even diagonally. Some squares have been filled in to start you off.

Solution tomorrow 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9 10

A

2

B

2

C

4

D

0

E

2

F

4

G

1

H

2

I

1

J

2 1

4

1

3

1

2

1

P E G G I N G

N W N E I D C

E C G N H D R

J A I Y O E O

15, 2020

S E I U R R S

R K G U S B S

C N P H E H C

I O J T B G O

THE ALPHABEATER

TARGET Best described as a number crossword, the task in Kakuro is to fill all of the empty squares, using numbers 1 to 9, so the sum of each horizontal block equals the number to its left, and the sum of each vertical block equals the number on its top. No number may be used in the same block more than once. The difficulty level of the Conceptis Kakuro increases from Monday to Sunday.

J W O H S N G

3

1

1 x Battleship

3 x Destroyer

2 x cruiser

4 x submarine

3

cAntargEt you crack the Alphabeater? EachthE grid alpha Extra number represents a letter – or black square. across: Abnormal, altErcatE 090 As inacetate Alphapuzzle, every letter of the Quinsy, alphabetGherkin, Sew acre ALTERCATE carat (Deduc each ext Vo is used. you have to complete grid (clue), too! Were, care But caret cart carte cartel catertheDew Floral, Pilfer, Taxpay cere letters cereal and cert black claret squares use cattle the given below f down: Skullcap, Bru clatter crateiscreate the grid to clear start.cleat the grid ‘rotationally 090 Reserve, Dart, Galle creel eclat– elect erect lace it looks the symmetrical’ in other words, *Calls cos Develop, Lockjaw, lactate react tacetdown. your C te samelacerate if you turn therace page upside netwo tact talc tercel tercet trace tract Solution tomorrow treacle A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

26

18

29

40

33

38

31

1

25

40

17

32

22

5

12

16

28

12

33

33

6

40

39

4

6

31

10

40

24

12

8

7

23

35

26

29

33

37

29

20

7

34

40

18

10

19

5

37

8

30

32

25

16

29

8

4

38

2

35

34

12

17 Yesterday’s 2 7 40

20

9

28

36

32

28

Answer 4Kakuro 7 14 22 23

16

40

16

32

20

24

5

32

10

37

13

19

13

33

29

20

32

15

21

40

30

29

33

23

35

32

2

4

8

39

24

25

40

18

20

40

12

15

33

29

18

38

18

31

16

6

31

21

22

33

17

13

14

4 15

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30 31

32

33

34 35

BW

■ D

16

■

3

● Alternatively, for six Extra Letter clues to your text DXBEAT to 84901. Texts cost £1 plus your usual o

KEIJO 2 3

4

1

3

4

3

1

1

4

2

3

4

1

2

2

Pl

n d ap

The Tribune | Weekend | 27

Friday, May 15, 2020

animals

PET OF THE WEEK

Safe gardening at home Animal Matters | KIM ARANHA

T

HE year 2020 will be remembered for many reasons. Of course it will be remembered as the year of quarantine and lockdown, but also it will be remembered, certainly for many of us, as the year we tried to do something new and different to keep ourselves occupied.

Lots of us, including myself, have thrown ourselves into gardening. We are planting vegetable seeds with the objective of growing something edible. This is probably very ambitious, but is also highly commendable. We need to help the Bahamas become more self-sufficient.

I have chosen to grow my salads and vegetables in planters and pots. Easily contained, and can be moved when necessary. What I didn’t expect is that my potcakes like to try and eat the soil. This is really, really annoying. I couldn’t understand why the planter with the flower seeds had not sprouted until I saw my little darlings at work.

I plan to find some chicken wire to shape over the planter so sunlight will still benefit the seedlings but my naughty little four-footed gardeners will not be able to do any more damage.

Of course, this brings me to thinking about all the other new gardeners out there that own dogs. It is not just their desire to eat soil that we have to worry about, it is all the pesticides and powders and pellets we must beware of.

Many of the snail bait pellets can kill dogs. They are dreadfully poisonous. Many people have a cute little habit of serving up the bait on a plate in the garden and then the dog eats the whole lot in one sitting and has a very nasty reaction.

There are many safe garden products that you can use, but you absolutely must read the labels. Amanda Meyers, who runs the family business Fox Hill Nursery, and is on the BHS board, has lots of pet-safe garden products.

So I use her as my advisor-in-chief as to what products I can safely put in my garden.

I was going to list all the dangerous products that you absolutely must stay away from but then I got to thinking that perhaps it would become some kind of macabre guide for those who have murderous intent with stray dogs in the neighborhood, or the dog next door.

What we all need to remember is that most products that can kill your dog or cat are actually harmful to you, and please God do not let your kids near it either.

People get huffy with me when I say kids and pets in the same sentence and to that I say, “get real”. Your little human who is wandering around the garden barely able to string a few words together is just as likely to bend down and rub their hands through the soil, or pick up a snail

Photo by Linda Gill-Aranha

MONKEY at work in the nursery pellet. And where do the put it? Right in their sweet little mouths. That simple action could kill them. Not to mention what could happen if they get into the garden shed and start playing around with the array of poisons you may well have stored in there. “Not my kid”, I can hear it now! Well, I would not have ever taken that risk.

Rat poison is a very common and deadly poison for dogs, and over the years we at the shelter have seen hundreds of dogs die terrible deaths due to ingesting rat poison.

I am very fortunate that if my dogs come upon a dead rat, they do not attempt to eat it. They have more careful eating habits and are never really hungry, but many street dogs are not as picky.

Again I bring up the child who gets its hands on rat poison and then puts it little hands in their mouth.

Gardening is great fun, and can absolutely be conducted at zero risk to your pet if you take the trouble to do some research. I love going down to Fox Hill Nursery where you are greeted by a cheerful assortment of four-legged assistants, and the invaluable advice from Amanda Meyers who runs the lovely spacious and well-stocked nursery.

There is a marvelous “office cat”, Bella, whose initial job was to keep mice out, but she decided that life was far more gratifying sitting in the out tray in the office watching the humans work. She purrs up a storm and spends a lot of time sleeping.

The canines are plentiful and all very special. Roxy is the elderly lady who survived a very serous walking disability and still has a “wobble” about her. Monkey is invariably behind the counter, with big beautiful Ninja.

Pay them a visit, buy your safe products, and enjoy the friendly people and animals that you will find there.

California dreamin’

By The Bahamas Humane Society

H

ave you been dreaming of that perfect vacation?

Maybe on a California beach? Well, since you can’t go to the beach right now, how about bringing a little California home to you?

This lovely girl is about two years old. She’s super friendly with humans and dogs alike, but she’s finding the shelter environment stressful so her skin has broken out. She’ll need some soothing medical baths for a few weeks but should settle right in to her new home.

Do you need a little piece of California in your lockdown life?

Then give the Bahamas Humane Society a call and see if California is the match for you, at 323-5138 or 325-6742. California looks forward to meeting you!

•The BHS is Nassau’s oldest charity and as such we are feeling the pinch from the national shutdown.

While we are an essential service, our fundraisers and Thrift Shop are on hold until further notice, so we need your help more than ever. To make a donation, please contact Donna at b_humane@hotmail. com. Thank you in advance from the bottom of our hearts and warm fuzzy paws!

28 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, May 15, 2020

entertainment

Bahamians excited for Eurovision this weekend

By CARA HUNT | Tribune Features Writer | cbrennen@tribunemedia.net

E

UROVISION is a pop culture phenomenon that has excited people in Europe for decades, and now recent years, music lovers on this side of the pond as well. It has also attracted a loyal fanbase here in the Bahamas.

This weekend, the show, which has always been about connecting the continent of Europe, hopes to unite the world during the global COVID-19 pandemic. And since we’ll all be in lockdown on Saturday afternoon, it’s the perfect opportunity for both long-standing fans and ‘newbies’ to enjoy the contest.

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual international song competition which has been held every year since 1956. Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio. More than 50 countries, including the Eurovision-loving Australia, are eligible to participate. Each country then cast votes for their favourite country (they are not allowed to vote for themselves) to determine the winner.

It is one of the world’s longest running international television contests.

It is also one of the most watched nonsporting events, with audience numbers between 100 million and 600 million internationally. Famous past winners include Celine Dion in 1988 and of course ABBA in 1974.

So what does a European song contest

offer Bahamians? Well, local fans say the appeal of the show lies in its often over-the-top, corny performances and sometimes questionable talent.

Marcus tried to convey its attraction to Tribune Weekend: “It’s hard to explain the appeal of Eurovison. So many of the performances are awful, but everyone throws themselves into it with such fun, that it is irresistible. It’s cheesy, over-the-top and ridiculous, and it’s best enjoyed drunk.”

Meanwhile, Maria said: “I went to university in London and my friends and I would always make a party out of watching Eurovision. When I first saw it, I was like this is so crazy. Think the most bizarre version of American Idol with the weirdest costumes and stage acts, and the talent is dubious to say the least.

She added: “It is so bad, it’s fabulous. But to me, the best part are tweets from people watching the show. They will have you dying laughing. My friends and I are excited they are still having it (this year), even if it’s not the exact the same version as before. We are planning to have a virtual watch party. I am excited; it will break up the dreary weekend lockdown.”

Tia noted that she watched last year’s Eurovison for the first time and is amazed at how popular it is.

“I know people like to joke about how bad the songs are, but I thought that they had a

few good ones. I really enjoyed it,” she said.

This is the first year that the show cannot go on as scheduled, which is of course due to the rules of social distancing and travel restrictions in response to the coronavirus breakout.

However, organisers have decided to arrange the special “Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light” show, which will air in place of the usual grand finale.

Sietse Bakker, executive producer of what would have been the 65th Eurovision Song Contest, said: “We want to make a show that puts a spotlight not only on the 41 artists that were due to appear in Rotterdam, but also inspire those at home and connect people from across Europe and beyond in these difficult times. Of course, we will also honour those who are affected by the coronavirus crisis and those who work so hard to fight it. Let’s make this an unforgettable moment in Eurovision history!”

In addition to spotlighting the 41 songs of 2020, the unique production will include special performances from popular artists from Eurovision’s past. 2020’s artists will also join together, from their locations across Europe, in a unifying performance of 1997’s Eurovision winner “Love Shine A Light” by Katrina and The Waves.

The show airs on 3pm EST on Saturday and can be viewed online.