06222018 weekend

Friday, June 22, 2018

art books film fashion puzzles culture entertainment animals food

Weekend

HIDDEN HISTORY Page 9

Islands to icy lands Lawyer helps abused in Alaska pages 4 & 5 the choice is clear

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02 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, June 22, 2018

community

Fox Hill gets healthy and empowered

R

esidents of Fox Hill were provided with important information on everything from healthy lifestyles to gardening, education and more as the community’s Health and Empowered Committee hosted a special fair last Saturday

afternoon.

Held on the Fox Hill Parade and Freedom Park, the fair saw vendors set up booths to offer community members assistance in areas they required it in.

The University of the Bahamas and BTVI were present, and people were able to learn more about high school diplomas, college readiness and scholarship opportunities. Social Services, NEMA and the Red Cross were also on hand to provide valuable advice. Backyard Gardening Bahamas was in attendance to share tips and tricks for growing vegetables locally.

For health related questions and assistance, the Fox Hill Clinic, the National Drug Council, Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre and others were on site.

As patrons checked out the different vendor booths and what they had to offer, they were entertained by the Department of Corrections Pop Band and Choir, the Royal Bahamas Police Force Band, the Urban Renewal Band, St Anne’s Church Band, the Bahamas Harvest Church Dance Troupe, as well as by local church choirs.

PHOTOS/SHAWN HANNA

MP for Fox Hill Shonel Ferguson (center) enjoys the fair.

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Friday, June 22, 2018

Inside Weekend

My perfect Bahamian weekend Wendi Knight Recording artist

Q: Saturday breakfast or Sunday lunch?

Interview 4-5 Bahamian attorney R Christopher Knowles serves Alaska’s victims of sexual and domestic abuse

Art 7

The NAGB takes kids ‘Back to da Island’ for their summer camp

“I am much more of a Sunday lunch/ brunch type of girl. Bottomless mimosas are for Sunday fundays!”

Q: Wine, rum, cocktail or Kalik?

“Wine, wine wine! It is the drink of those that came before us, so who am I to break tradition?”

Q: Beach or sofa?

Culture 8 - 9, 18

Beach please!

A young artist gets noticed at the opening of the Craftsman’s Centre; Florida and Andros celebrate historic roots, and Dr Umar Johnson comes to Nassau

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

“I cannot live without my car! I need to be mobile at all times. Even beyond my cell phone, I need my car.”

Books 10 - 11

Q: Weekend away, where would you go?

Bahamian author Janice Mather has one of BuzzFeed’s ‘mustreads’ to devour by the pool, plus new releases reviewed

Film 12, 20 - 21 Local filmmakers invited to participate in Silicon Valley African Film Festival, plus dinosaurs and the resurrected rom-com genre take over the summer

Food 14 - 15 Sharing is caring at Baha Mar’s new Fi’lia by Michael Schwartz restaurant

Entertainment 17 Junkanoo revamped for July, plus ‘ComedyTain’ celebrates a marriage of art genres

Gardening 19 Jack Hardy on enjoying a fruitful summer

Literary Lives 22 - 24 Sir Christopher Ondaatje’s adventure tracking one of the world’s rarest animals

Forgotten Facts 25 The Isles of June and bootlegging

Puzzles 26

Animals 27 The truth about snakes, plus Pet of the Week

“I am headed to Exuma! It’s close, but a world away. Tranquility, sexiness, salty air and beautiful oceans...what more can you ask for.”

Things 2 Do this weekend Friday

• A Night For Couples Time: 7pm Venue: Sapodilla Estate This romantic evening of soft, soothing music and warm lighting begins offers a time of bonding for couples, with live entertainment, fire dance and a three-course meal. There will also be professional briefings on how to spice up the intimacy in your love life with certified relationship and intimacy coach Reva Dean. The event is for couples only. For more information, text 556-8191.

• Black Fridays presented by Xscape Lounge Time: 8pm Venue: Xscape Lounge, Madeira Street Black Fridays is all about chill vibes.

The one day that all of the ballers come out to relax and unwind in a “grown” environment. There will be bottle and bucket specials all night. The kitchen is also open.

• The Magic of Rob Lake Time: 8pm Venue: Atlantis Theatre Enjoy a live show by the American magician and illusionist known

for his original grand illusions and elaborate theatrical interactive performances. Rob Lake will be the artist-in-residence at Atlantis until August 19.

Saturday

• Summerfication Time: 10am Venue: Bahamas National Trust Retreat Summerfication is a new an exciting event at the BNT that will feature a BTC pop up shop, the coolest Summer buys, drinks, crafts, food and Bahamian entertainment. Admission: is $10 for adults; $5 for children and BTC team and BNT Members with ID.

• Kiwanis’ Steak-Out Time: 12noon - 6pm Venue: Xavier’s Lower School Hosted by the Kiwanis Club of Nassau AM, the fundraiser is in aid of community projects.

• Making Moves Ultimate Pop Up Shop, Sip & Sing Time: 2pm - 5pm Venue: Café Channing Noelle, Caves Village

Hear the soulful sounds of singer and psalmist Simmone and enjoy a leisurely shopping experience.

• Art Walk Time: 2pm - 10pm Enjoy art, crafts and music by Bahamian artisans. Sample locally grown and made products at the Marina Village, Atlantis.

• Eurhythmics Dance Studio presents “I Wanna Dance” Time: 7pm Venue: University of the Bahamas Theatre The showcase is a chance for students to display all of their hard work for the year, in all genres of dance. Tickets are available at the Eurhythmics Dance Studio, Rosetta Street, at a cost of $25 per person.

Sunday

• National Youth Choir Encore Concert Time: 6.30pm Venue: The Dundas Centre for the Performing Arts Back by popular demand, the National Youth Choir presents and encore performance of their 2018 concert. Tickets are $25.

04 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, June 22, 2018

interview After leaving his sun-drenched childhood and youth in the Bahamas behind, this young attorney set out for the northernmost state of the United States. Along the way, he made academic history and attracted the attention of President Barack Obama. He tells Cara Hunt about his passion for the legal profession and its ability to right terrible wrongs.

R Christopher Knowles

T

he difference in the climate of Alaska and the Bahamas may seem impossible to fathom, but for noted attorney R Christopher Knowles, who has called both places home, they are more similar than you would think.

“Other than the intense winters and the geography, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta is very similar to life in the Bahamas. Bethel is a city hub for the remote villages. Everything coming in here either has to be flown in or shipped,” the 30-year-old told Tribune Weekend.

So what prompted an island boy who attended both Kingsway Academy and Queen’s College to move from the Bahamas to Alaska? The answer, a chance to work with victims of sexual and domestic abuse.

“In my new role, I am the Assistant District Attorney in Bethel, Alaska. I am responsible for the prosecution of cases in the Yukon/Delta region and interior Alaska. There is significant trial work and the opportunity to travel to some of the 64 communities in the area.

There are 20 plus different languages spoken in this region. I came to Alaska to work with victims of domestic violence and sexual assault – the region has some of the highest rates in the country. Once I was here, I transitioned into my new role as ADA.” Christopher chose a law career as a way to make a difference after being mentored by a Belgium judge.

“I did a study-abroad programme in Belgium where I met and befriended a judge. We had long discussions about world politics and laws. He gave me the notion that real change can only be

“Other than the intense winters and the geography, the YukonKuskokwim Delta is very similar to life in the Bahamas...

Everything coming in here either has to be flown in or shipped.” made through law. He encouraged me to attend law school,” he explained.

Christopher took his advice, but amazingly also received an economic degree in the same week he got his law degree, a feat so rare that it gained the attention of then US President Barack Obama.

“I received a congratulatory letter from President Obama for graduating from Vermont Law School with a Juris Doctor Degree and from Johns Hopkins with a Masters of Science in

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Friday, June 22, 2018

“I did a study-abroad programme in Belgium where I met and befriended a judge...He gave me the notion that real change can only be made through law.”

Applied Economics in the same week.

These degrees were concurrent and not in consortium. Doing these programmes at the same time was against the advice of my law professors.”

Christopher continued to make a name for himself as a law intern.

“As a legal intern I was a member of the legal team that represented two brothers who were exonerated after serving over 31 years on death row,” he said.

According to media reports, Henry Lee McCollum and his half brother Leon Brown were 19 and 15 respectively when they were picked up by the police in Red Springs, a town of fewer than 4,000 people in the southern part of North Carolina, on the night of September 28, 1983. The officers were investigating the murder of Sabrina Buie, 11, who had been raped and suffocated with her underwear crammed down her throat; her body left in a soybean field.

After being questioned for five hours without counsel, the men, who were both intellectually disabled, separately admitted to the crime in the hopes that they could go home.

The men initially received death sentences for murder. After new trials

were ordered by the State Supreme Court, Mr McCollum was again sentenced to death, while Mr Brown was convicted only of rape, and his sentence was reduced to life. (In later years, the Supreme Court banned the death penalty for minors and the execution of the mentally disabled.)

The Centre for Death Penalty Litigation, a nonprofit legal group in North Carolina, took up the case.

The case against the men, always weak, fell apart after DNA evidence implicated another man whose possible involvement had been somehow overlooked by the authorities even though

he lived only a block from where the victim’s body was found, and he had admitted to committing a similar rape and murder around the same time.

Mr McCollum was 50 when he released after serving three decades on death row. Mr Brown was 46 and had been serving a life sentence.

As an intern, Christopher both assisted in freeing the two innocent men and got first-hand experience of the complexities of trial law and how it can impact the lives of people.

Christopher is the father of a nine-year-old son and is expecting his second son in September. His wife, Erin, is a doctor of physical therapy in Alaska. In his spare time, Christopher enjoys tennis and reading.

“My father had a tennis club on Paradise Island at the Pirate’s Cove Beach Resort (now Atlantis) where I spent much of my free time playing tennis. I still love tennis.”

He added that he has also always had a passion for antique books and reading.

“This love began when I was very young. My mother would often take my sister and me downtown to the beautiful and historic Nassau Public Library and Museum. It was my favourite place to spend time. I now collect antique books and am an avid reader.”

And on top of being a talented lawyer, playing tennis and collecting antique books, Christopher is also a licenced pilot.

06 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, June 22, 2018

section

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Friday, June 22, 2018

art

NAGB takes kids ‘Back To Da Island’

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Writer acadet@tribunemedia.net

T

his year, participants in the National Art Gallery’s Mixed Media Art Summer Camp will be going “Back To Da Island” as they explore indigenous Bahamian crafts and fine art.

From straw work and basket weaving to shell craft, wood carving and much more, the students will create art in what camp organisers describe as “traditional and not so traditional ways”.

It is definitely a gratifying feeling for organisers to be hosting the camp for a fourth year in a row.

Abby Smith, NAGB’s community outreach officer and camp coordinator, told Tribune Weekend there have been many kids impacted through the summer programme, so much so that the gallery has seen many of them return throughout the year for other seasonal activities.

“Knowing that we are able to impact so many children through our summer programme gives us an impetus to do more and provide more opportunities for our campers to shine. The summer camp was revamped in 2015 but was started a few years before. The motivation is to continue to to meet a need that our art curriculum does not cover during the school year,” said Ms Smith.

The NAGB Mixed Media Art Summer Camp aims to serve as an access point for all kids, ages five to 17, to art and its history. The goal is to provide a hands-on approach to educating campers from all communities about the significance of Bahamian art and how it impacts daily life, both culturally and socially. Additionally, the camp strives to inform prospective students on various career paths within the visual arts, presenting them with options for future educational and professional pursuits.

In effort to highlight the “Back To Da Island” theme, students will learn traditional craft making techniques and experiment with utilising those techniques in unusual ways, all while

learning about the stories from and the histories of the islands where these different crafts originated.

Their exploration of materials and techniques will pay homage to Bahamian crafts in their original form while pushing it into the realm of fine art; building a bridge between two equally important forms of creative expression.

“Each session paints a mural, which is a highlight for many of our participants. Also, beyond the arts projects, campers enjoy field trips – ‘Water Day’ and ‘House Games’. Houses are always named after accomplished Bahamian artists. To cap things off, there is an end-of-camp exhibition opening and exhibition that will run for a month, this year,” said Ms Smith.

She noted that the founding mandate of the NAGB called for three things: to promote Bahamian fine art, to educate the public on it, and also to preserve it.

Selected from its staged exhibitions, as well as from research, studio visits and collaborations with other collections and collectors, the NAGB’s aim is to form an archive for future generations to understand both the development of fine art in the Bahamas and that of a developing nation.

“The Mixed Media Art Summer Camp creatively imparts to campers the critical role art serves as a medium for cultural expression and as an archival resource, documenting historical changes in the country, region and world. (The camp) is a moment for kids of all ages to experience a wide range of art forms, all in an exciting, hands-on creative environment,” said Ms Smith.

“Additionally, it’s an opportunity for many of the kids and volunteers alike to make new friends, create happy and exciting memories, and to grow and improve skills in a variety of areas other than its main focus of art. Campers who are coming into an art camp, especially those who have had very little or no contact with visual arts in the school system, consider it a rewarding experience and many of them find themselves excelling during different lessons.”

The camp’s first session runs from June 25 to July 13; the second session from July 16 to August 3.

Kids ages five to 17 will learn about indigenous arts and crafts.

08 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, June 22, 2018

culture

12-year-artist shines at opening of new Craftman’s Centre

By FELICITY INGRAHAM

T

here’s a new cultural centre in town brimming with historical sentiments and future prospects. When former Senator and Miami Consul General Gladys Johnson-Sands opened the centre just this month, she had no idea something magical would happen on the very day of day, when young artist had a life-changing experience.

The Craftsman’s Business Entrepreneurial Development Centre welcomed its first guests, a group of educators from Miami, Florida, who were looking for native cultural experiences that they could learn from.

They were greeted by the first female speaker of the House of Assembly Italia Johnson, a living nation builder and Glady’s sister. She welcomed them to the new centre, which in the past had been the home of their late father’s printing press, Oscar Johnson.

Mr Johnson, a former Cat Island Member of Parliament, operated the Craftsman’s Press in the Farrington Road area just opposite the Persis Rodgers Home for the Aged for many years. There, he served customers with commercial printing for all occasions.

Italia showed the guests photos of her parents on the day after they were engaged. Her mother, Sylvia Johnson (nee Roberts) supported her husband throughout his political and business pursuits, and was a great philanthropist and matron of the Children’s Emergency Hostel.

After this historical interlude, guests were seated to watch a brief video, which highlighted the Bahamian way of life, and showed vivid images of the out islands, making all the viewers want to take trips to the various islands.

After the presentation, they were guided back to the main section of the building to have Rev Dr James Sweeting show them his display of native plants and his book which outlines

A display at the new Craftsman’s Business Entrepreneurial Development Centre

Sean Austin, 12, attracted the attention of Florida educators with his painting of Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis enjoying Junkanoo. some of the popular Bahamian bush medicines.

Then it was time to appreciate Bahamian art. Works from various local artists are on display throughout the centre, as well as many historical photos. There are also practical things to see and touch, such as Bahamian sponges, hand-woven baskets and lots of seashells.

But the young artist who was present to show his works in person was in for a big surprise, and his presentation turned the event from the inaugural tour for the centre into an experience that has transformed his life.

Twelve-year-old Sean Austin of the T G Glover Professional Development and Research School showed the visiting group one of his pieces. It was a painting of Prime Minister Hubert Minnis participating in Junkanoo.

Sean, along with his teacher Cicely Bodie, talked about their love for art and culture, and how he came to create the painting. Ms Bodie was so impressed by her student that she has been pushing him to show more and more people his artwork. That included taking him to meet the prime minister in person.

One educator in particular was moved by Sean’s story. Dr April

Thompson-Williams, principal of the Jose de Diego Middle School offered him the opportunity of a lifetime. At her school, there is an art wall where young people from around the world have had the opportunity to display their work. There is just one space left on the wall, and as if it were meant to be, the spot now belongs to a Bahamian student.

Dr Thompson-Williams made arrangements with Ms Bodie and Sean’s mother Olivia Austin for them to discuss the matter further. Sean will be able to travel to Miami, receive further training from art teachers at Jose de Diego, and create a piece that represents his country and himself.

Former Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Dr Daniel Johnson, brother of Gladys and Italia, was on hand to hear the announcement and was elated that Sean would be given such an amazing opportunity. He told those gathered that it is moments like these that he takes great pride in – moments when young Bahamians have an opportunity to shine for the world.

It seems the touring tourists chose the right place, because at the end off the tour, they were raving about the wonderful cultural experience they had.

With the Craftsman’s Business and Entrepreneurial Development Centre now open, there are opportunities for artists, craftpersons, entrepreneurs and more. The building houses a conference room and meeting room that can be rented, and the entire grounds can be transformed for events like parties, wedding receptions and art exhibits.

The Tribune | Weekend | 09

Friday, June 22, 2018

culture

A history rediscovered Florida festival celebrates ties between Andros and Maroon settlement

T

his July, the city of Bradenton in Florida will play host to a special festival next month which will celebrate the shared history of the Bahamas and the early 19th century community known as Angola in Manatee County.

According to one of the event’s organisers, Daphney Towns, the once forgotten Maroon community called Angola was located at the Manatee Mineral Spring. Maroons were Africans who had escaped from slavery in the Americas and mixed with the indigenous peoples, and formed independent settlements.

Following a slave raid in 1821, many of Angola’s residents fled across the ocean to the Bahamas – to Red Bays, Andros, to be specific, where descendants of this community still live to this day.

“Angola was located by archaeology and historical research undertaken through the efforts of several groups and universities,” said Ms Towns, of Oak Tree Community Outreach.

“Some descendants of Angola still reside in Red Bays, Andros Island, Bahamas, where the Angolans fled in 1821. At the Back to Angola Festival descendants from Red Bays will join local descendants, as well as others interested in this part of history, to celebrate their shared history and the peace and refuge that was found at the Manatee Mineral Spring and in Red Bays, Bahamas.”

Under the guidance of Dr Uzi Baram, Professor of Anthropology at New College and creator of the New College Public Archaeology lab, the

Professor Uzi Baram, second from right, and author Vickie Oldham, right, watch as archaeologists, students and volunteers look for evidence of a slave settlement known as Angola.

(AP PHOTO/STEVE NESIUS)

Daphney Towns of Oaktree Community Outreach (left) and Trudy Williams of Reflections of Manatee, festival organisers.

Angola community was documented along the Manatee River where the Manatee Mineral Spring Park exists today.

Dr Roslayn Howard, retired professor from University of Central Florida, researched the community and documented descendants living in Red Bays, Andros.

The history was brought to the media forefront by Vickie Oldham, who spearheaded “Looking for Angola”, a project dedicated to finding the location of Angola, a lost

community of freedom seekers known to be near the spring in Bradenton, Florida around the turn of the 19th century.

“Angola became a beacon of freedom when Florida was Spanish territory, it was far from American power yet well-placed for communication with agents of Britain or Spain,” said Ms Towns.

“It was destroyed in a massive slave raid in 1821, shortly after Florida became a US territory. Although over 300 individuals were captured

Daphney Towns visits Andros, where descendants from Florida’s Angola community still live today. and taken into slavery, many others escaped. Some relocated into the interior of Florida; others made their way to the British Bahamas. Braving the Atlantic Ocean, they reached Red Bays, Bahamas, where their descendants live today. We will celebrate these lives as we celebrate their freedom.”

Today, Manatee Mineral Springs Park may offically be recognised as one of the more than 600 recognised stops on the Underground Railroad – a network of secret routes and safe houses for escaped slaves seeking freedom with the aid of abolitionists and allies.

At the site a sign reads: “History Flows Through This Spring.”

At least 700 slaves are said to have escaped to Mineral Springs at one point, many of whom are believed to have fled Georgia, Alabama and north Florida.

“This little park, welcoming all those who worked so hard to bring this hidden history to the forefront of our news, once more proves its importance as it emerges as a ‘Gem of the City’, hosting this international festival and becoming the gateway to the City of Bradenton Riverwalk East End,” said Ms Towns.

The festival, taking place July 13 -15, will be held by Oak Tree Community Outreach, a Floridian not-for-profit corporation.

10 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, June 22, 2018

books

Review: Bahamian author delivers ‘must-read’ of the summer

By CARA HUNT cbrennen@tribunemedia.net

I

n her first novel, “Learning to Breathe”, Bahamian author Janice Lynn Mather tells a fascinating story of a young girl who struggles to find a safe place to call home. The tale is so compelling that it has grabbed the attention of both Barnes & Noble and the media website BuzzFeed.

In the novel, 16-year-old Indy is sent to Nassau from a Family Island to attend school and escape her mother’s reputation of promiscuity. However, her chance at a new beginning is threatened by domestic violence, an unwanted pregnancy, and the rejection

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of her family, that is until she finds her voice with the help of new friends at a yoga retreat.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the simple but lyrical way Ms Mather weaves her tale. There is a brutal honesty to the story which will fill you with emotion, and while you ache for the lead character, her strength will also inspire you.

“Learning to Breathe” is one of those books that you simply don’t want to put down.

I was tense the entire time I read it, but in a good way. I was also desperate for revenge and happy endings.

But just as in real life, “Learning to Breathe” is all about what happens when life does not mirror a fairy tale.

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It’s about the choices you have to make to be able to look at yourself in the mirror. It is as much a coming of age story as it is a social commentary on violence against women.

And while the ending was more gentle than I wanted (yes, I wanted there to be some blood) it was a satisfying conclusion.

Already, “Learning to Breath” is receiving acclaim and garnering interest. Even before the final draft was finished, it was shortlisted for the Harper Collins/University of British Columbia Best New Fiction prize.

The prize was open to all students and alumni who have not yet published their first novel.

Ms Mather’s book is the result of more than a decade of rough drafts, rewrites and rejections until she was finally able to achieve the tone she wanted.

“My character is definitely fictional, and she and her experiences aren’t based on any specific person, but the challenges she deals with are real.

Over time, I’ve heard some incredible statistics regarding violence against women,” the author said.

“...I’ve heard some incredible statistics regarding violence against women. Some of the stories that crossed my path left me wanting to give a voice to that experience...”

“Some of the stories that crossed my path left me wanting to give a voice to that experience and to tell a story of how one person made her way through something that she should never have had to deal with.”

The book has been named one of BuzzFeed’s “27 Young Adult Books You’ll Want to Devour by the Pool This Summer” and has also been named one of Barnes & Noble Teen’s Most Anticipated Contemporaries of 2018.

Ms Mather grew up in the Bahamas before moving to Canada where she obtained her MFA from the University of British Colombia. She has been a collector of interesting jobs, a journalist conversationalist, performance poet and professional finger-wagger. She currently lives in Vancouver, where she can be found hunched over her computer, growing vegetables, playing at the beach, reading in the sun and grumbling at the rain.

“Learning to Breathe” will be available on June 26 locally at the Logos Bookstore and from online book sellers.

The Tribune | Weekend | 11

Friday, June 22, 2018

books

‘The Captives’ is a solid thriller with unusual twists

T

eenage obsessions often fade as one grows up.

But psychologist Frank Lundquist never got over his fixation on his high school crush, Miranda Greene — his preoccupation with her only receded into the back of his mind. Until, that is, once golden girl Miranda shows up as an inmate at the Milford Basin Correctional Facility where Frank is now a counsellor.

Author Debra Jo Immergut’s subtle precision — without stooping to cliches or the obvious — shows how Frank and Miranda are captives of their past, present and future. Immergut’s debut novel is a fascinating psychological look at two damaged people as well as being a solid thriller with unusual, and believable, twists.

As a teen, Frank stalked Miranda, watching her intently during class, spying on her when she changed in the locker room for track and following her every moment.

Frank, the son of a famous psychiatrist, went on to have a successful, thriving practice until his work imploded and his marriage ended. Now he is a counselor at the Milford Basin Correctional Facility that houses women prisoners. Miranda was a popular top student and athlete, the daughter of a wealthy oneterm congressman. Now she is serving a 52-year sentence for second-degree murder.

Frank immediately recognises Miranda when she becomes his patient. While he knows that ethically he should refer her to another counsellor, he often has proved himself to be morally challenged. Their sessions allow Frank to continue his fantasies while Miranda has a secret reason to continue counselling.

Although she admits Frank “lit up some dusty corridors of memory,” Miranda has no idea who he is. How these sessions change both — and lead to inescapable consequences — propels “The Captives” to its surprising finale.

“The Captives” richly explores each person’s background, in which the truth was far from the reality presented to the world, and how they came to their current situations. Frank’s respected father used him and his brother, Clyde, now a drug addict, as subjects of his research to predict success in children. Miranda’s parents’ marriage was disintegrating because of infidelities and a family tragedy; her father was hemorrhaging money with his subsequent failed campaign.

Immergut also navigates an intense look at the myriad personalities of Mirada’s fellow inmates, exploring the different reasons that landed these women in prison.

Magazine editor and writing professor Immergut’s first published work was the critically acclaimed short fiction collection, “Private Property,” published in 1992. “The Captives” is her first full-length novel, allowing Immergut to again showcase her considerable talents.

ECCO VIA AP

‘The Darwin Variant’ is engaging novel WHEN scientists calculate that a comet will impact Earth, chaos reigns, but the worst is yet to come in Kenneth Johnson’s sci-fi thriller, “The Darwin Variant.”

The vast cast of characters ranges from scientists to high-school students, and all of them have a stake in the worldchanging possibilities if the celestial body strikes Earth. Each character tells his or her individual story, providing depth in all of the players in this scenario.

When calculations and some hightech weaponry provide a solution to the dilemma, the world cheers as the comet breaks up. Except for some small pieces,

the damage is visibly minimal. Unfortunately, a mysterious virus was encased inside the cold ice, and when this strange life form encounters the Earth’s atmosphere, it thrives. A young high-school couple is the first to discover the strange substance. They become aggressive and ruthless at the expense of others. Soon animals start exhibiting signs of excessive violence, and plants exposed to this virus are invaded and overrun by a new genetic code. It quickly moves past isolation, and if the slow permutation isn’t stopped, everyone will become infected.

Johnson takes the scenario of fear of collision with a rogue object from space

and turns it on its head by making things worse after everything seems resolved.

This approach turns the narrative into a contemporary version of the paranoid classic film “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and a dose of the propaganda film from World War II “Triumph of the Will” by alluding to the seeds of a new master race. Fans of Johnson will also see echoes of “V,” his television show from the 1980s.

Johnson has written another engaging novel.

JEFF AYERS Associated Press

PHOTO/47NORTH VIA AP

12 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, June 22, 2018

film

Bahamian culture through the lens Local filmmakers get chance to shine at California festival

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Writer acadet@tribunemedia.net

L

ocal filmmakers will have the opportunity to snag the spotlight at one of California’s most respected film festivals this Fall, thanks to the efforts of the Bahamas Artist Movement (BAM).

The Bahamas has been chosen as the Caribbean spotlight country for the ninth annual Silicon Valley African Film Festival (SVAFF), which each year draws hundreds of out-of-state and international guests.

To be selected by SVAFF means Bahamian filmmakers will have the chance to both tell their story and present their culture to the movers and shakers in the industry.

BAM, who is coordinating the official response to SVAFF, is now asking for film and documentary submissions for the festival, which will be held in San Jose at the Historic Hoover Theatre, October 5-7.

The prestigious festival focuses on highlighting the talents of the African diaspora, of which the Caribbean makes up a significant part.

“This year’s spotlight focus is on the Bahamas specifically, and so Bahamian films and media will be prominent throughout the entire festival,” said Ronald Sutherland, teacher and organiser at BAM. “There is also space for workshops on Bahamian culture, visual artwork and craft to be held, as well as a bit of our history to be displayed in performance and art. A six-hour time slot is reserved on the festival’s Sunday date, dedicated to all Bahamian media. You

Actor Danny Glover (centre), BAM advisory board member, attends the eighth annual Silicon Valley African Film Festival.

can expect many media houses such as Netflix to be represented, and all connected sponsors will enjoy perks on the ground, as well as visibility in news media.”

With a submission deadline of June 30, for film and documentaries, Bahamians are asked to follow the theme of this year’s festival “Africa Through the African Lens.” Works should be original and personal to artists, telling the Caribbean story through what is considered their lens of truth. There are no restrictions on the length of films.

The film festival, said Mr Sutherland, provides an opportunity for international exposure to have Bahamian

talent celebrated both at the event itself and in the news media surrounding the event. He believes the networking opportunities for new talent will be manifold.

Having reviewed the films submitted so far, he said of the work: “We are truly a talented, vibrant bunch and it shows up in our media. It is rewarding being able to speak to high school kids and have them get excited about something that’s real for them as young filmmakers, actors and writers.”

BAM prides itself on being the first children’s theatre company of its kind in the Bahamas, connecting young people to performing art opportunities globally through training. The

company is also known to host various education centered events such as the Dream Project, a non-profit event designed to put the nation’s youth in the same room with the television and movie stars they look up to.

Giving advice to filmmakers wishing to participate in SVAFF, Mr Sutherland said they should ensure that they are proud of the work they have produced, its quality and its message, before hitting the submit button. He emphasised that it’s important to make an “awesome” first impression, as your film may not be viewed twice.

“We have set no limit to the number of submissions, however, we seek to select 10 films of varying specification; full-length feature, short film, music video, and more from the Bahamas, and 10 from our Caribbean neighbours.

We’ve received more than 20 submissions from the Bahamas region already, with less than 10 being full-length films.

SVAFF and BAM will select the final submissions and notify the entrants of their success,” said Mr Sutherland.

For more information, contact info@ bahamasartistmovement.com and/or visit the website svaff.org.

Additionally, this Summer BAM will host it’s Musical Theatre Summer Camp at the Carmichael Community and Business Centre, August 5 August 17. Call 601-5144 for queries.

The Tribune | Weekend | 13

Friday, June 22, 2018

celebrity

PART

With Karin Herig and Cara Hunt

FAIL

FAIL

SPLIT

SPLIT

Tiffany Haddish ”Girls Trip”

Halsey ”Alone”

Tommy Dorfman ”13 Reasons Why”

Karin says: “This is not flattering. As the show’s host she should have worn a show-stopper. This cheap looking silver foil dress just creates fat rolls where you don’t need them. And the slit it way too high. Tacky.”

Cara says: “Tiffany has been living her best life lately, but this dress has to go in the worst outfits worn pile. It’s just too cheap and tacky looking.”

Karin says: “Halsey really thought she was saying something with this red number. But to me it’s just a flimsy piece of silk haphazardly sewn together. Boring.”

Cara says: “I am over these try-tobe-sexy-but-end-up-sleazy red carpet dresses. This looks like a first fitting for a custom garment, not a finished, polished look.”

Zendaya ”Spider-Man: Homecoming” Karin says: “It’s an interesting and unique look, I’ll give her that. But poor Zendaya looks like she went to a taxidermist instead of a stylist...a taxidermist who makes lamp shades from animal skins.”

Cara says: “I actually like it a lot. It’s simple, sleek and really different, and I love her choice of pulled back hair and those earrings are fab.”

Karin says: “Ooh, I actually like this school girl meets formal suit look.

Talk about gender-bending. What still makes this look masculine are the socks and brogues, worn just like you would with a kilt.”

Cara says: “It makes a statement, but just what that statement is is open to interpretation. Personally, I think its too much, but hey, I’m not mad at him.”

• See page 16 for more MTV Movie Awards fashions

PHOTOS/JORDAN STRAUSS/INVISION/AP

The Weekend Fashion Report 2018 MTV Movie and TV Awards

I

16 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, June 22, 2018

celebrity

PART

With Karin Herig and Cara Hunt

SPLIT

FAIL

FAIL

HIT

Kim Kardashian

Zazie Beetz ”Atlanta”, “Deadpool 2”

Farrah Abraham ”Teen Mom”

Karin says: “There is a certain ‘girl power’ look that can work with military green dresses and comfy shoes...this is definitely not it. The dress is such an awful fit; it makes her look extra long-waisted. Also, I don’t understand those pleated flaps.”

Cara says: “This is just butt ugly.

The colour is a vomit green, the low neckline is not cute. And I hate that white trim thing going on, and the shoes just don’t work with the outfit.”

Karin says: “Exactly what Farrah – who was fired from MTV and just last week had yet another run-in with the law – is doing at the awards I have no idea. But here she is looking like the host of Vegas’ cheapest, saddest magic show.”

Cara says: “It’s just too easy to criticise people when they wear outfits that look like this. How many ways can you say ugly or hot mess?”

Keiynan Lonsdale ”Love, Simon”, “The Flash”

Karin says: “Kim has already been dragged all over the internet for those braids...so let’s concentrate on the essentials: The white two-piece is typical Kim (or rather Kanye); it’s fine, nothing too exciting. However, her face is starting to look like the Xenomorph alien.”

Cara says: “It’s not fabulous and it’s not hideous. It is sparkly but not cheap. The one thing I have noticed with Kim is that she always wears her shoes to cut off circulation.”

PHOTOS/JORDAN STRAUSS/INVISION/AP

The Weekend Fashion Report 2018 MTV Movie and TV Awards

II

Karin says: “And here we have another guy in a skirt. And what a look! This white and gold ensemble makes quite a statement. It looks like a futuristic wedding outfit meets Wakanda royal garb.”

Cara says: “Another ‘skirted’ statement. And if I had to chose I would go with this one over the other outfit. I like the colour combo and it does like really royal and intentional.”

The Tribune | Weekend | 17

Friday, June 22, 2018

entertainment

Junkanoo transformed for summer

By CARA HUNT cbrennen@tribunemedia.net

T

he Ministry of Tourism and Aviation is set to rebrand and relaunch it’s Summer Junkanoo Festival in grand style on June 28.

Events Manager Kendenique Campbell-Moss told Tribune Weekend that the launch is the first step in the government’s goal to revamp the annual festival.

“This year we have a new direction and energy for the Ministry of Tourism and Aviation. As a result we are redirecting our collective efforts for a spectacular signature event,” she said.

“This launch is going to be an extravaganza of culture, exciting activities and authentic experiences. We will have a number of dynamic cultural performances, and this year sponsorship from corporate Bahamas and from the community will ensure a greater involvement of both visitors and locals in Junkanoo Summer Festival.”

DJ Tank will provide the music for the event along with the Soulful Groovers Band, Blaudy and the Bluetooth Band. There will also be a major Junkanoo rush-out.

“We wanted to do something new and creative to get the juices flowing and ask a new crowd to come out. We want to dance and to dance again.

Word of mouth is extremely important

PHOTO/SHAWN HANNA

and this launch is going to propel us into a new era of Junkanoo Summer Festival. If we get together and make it a success, then it is a success for everyone,” said Mrs Campbell-Moss.

Da Rhythm band, who served as the house band during the recent taping of the “Live with Kelly and Ryan” at Atlantis, will be the featured band.

There will also be a bartending competition to determine the feature drink of the festival. It will be called “Da Riddum”.

The new Junkanoo Summer Festival will take place every Saturday evening

from July 2 to August 4 on Arawak Cay. “Each week a different era of Bahamian culture will be on display along with entertainment such as musical performances, culinary stalls, and daytime competitions such as pineapple, watermelon, roasted corn and pie eating competition, a kiddie corner with old fashioned kids games such as hop scotch, rounders marbles skipping, golf ladder, bicycle rims, volley ball, kite flying, scooter race, hand ball, golf ladder and magic man,” said Mrs Campbell-Moss.

Entertainment will also be provided by popular Bahamian bands and musicians such as the Lassie Doh Boys, Smith Foundation, Da Rhythm Band, Veronica Bishop, Elon Moxey, Sherwin Ferguson, the Neil Symonette Band, Ray Munnings, Duke Errol Strachan, Frankie Victory, Maitland Thompson and Quartz, Jason Burrows and Cool Survivors, the Legacy Band ,Paul Hanna, Tony Seymour, Jim Duncombe, Bodine, Lady E, Frankie Young, Ric Carey and Pricilla Rollins.

The themes for the summer include: • July 7 – Goombay, celebrated with fire dancers, the Obeah Man and Grammy, and the Dancer.

• July 14 – Le Cabaret and jazz will celebrate the period when the Las Vegas-style review was popular in the Bahamas.

• July 21 – The festival will celebrate nostalgia with a return to the 1970s and 80s nightclub era in the islands of the Bahamas.

• July 28 – A celebration of rake n’ scrape with Quadrille Dancers, the Island Woman, Lizzy Carry Basket, Brown Skin Gal Go Home and Mind the Baby, Kill the Roach, Better Woman Than You and Shot Gun Wedding.

• August 4 – Junkanoo will be front and centre, celebrating both old to new traditions.

New event to celebrate marriage of art genres NUBIAN Kween Entertainment will present a “fusion of the arts” to the Bahamian public when it hosts its “ComedyTain” on June 30.

The event is designed to showcases the unique marriage between various of styles and genres of art, for example comedy and drama, and poetry and music.

This will Nubian Kween’s inaugural event and will showcase a wide array of art genres, both from Bahamians and international artists.

Organisers hope “ComedyTain” will become an

annual event on the Bahamian entertainment circuit.

Additionally, Nubian Kween will host an art exhibition exclusively for young artists residing in the Bahamas.

“This exhibition will be geared at young talents who on a normal basis do not have an opportunity for their work to be showcased outside of their community,” said organisers.

Exhibitors at the event will be free to sell and retain 100 per cent of the revenue from their pieces.

Patrons of ComedyTain will be treated to performances by local and international artists, including Jamaica’s kings of dub poetry, Mutabaruka and Yasus Afari; Bahamian spoken word poets Princess Abdiel and Ubuntu and Cuban violinist Yanet Campbell.

Part proceeds from this event will be donated to the Jamaica Diaspora Association Bahamas, CommUNITY, the Princess Margaret Hospital’s wheelchair project, and the Alpha Boys Home (Jamaica) Music Room’s instruments project.

Dub poet Mutabaruka

Princess Abdiel PHOTO/TORRELL GLINTON

18 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, June 22, 2018

culture

‘Unapologetically African’ brings Dr Umar Johnson to the Bahamas

By FELICITY INGRAHAM

T

he popular and polarising Pan-Africanist Dr Umar Johnson will be visiting the Bahamas next weekend for a special event designed to encourage Bahamians to cherish their African roots as a part of understanding their true identity.

He will serve as the main speaker for “Unapologetically African” presented

by Afrikan Ebube, an event which will be held at the University of the Bahamas on Saturday, June 30, from 11am to 3pm.

Dr Johnson, a certified psychologist, has stated that he has “a profound love and compassion” for people of African descent, “particularly for boys and young men and for their well-being”.

In 2012, he wrote the book “PsychoAcademic Holocaust: The Special Education and ADHD Wars Against Black Boys”, which he hopes will be utilised to help solve a myriad of problems that seem to plague young men and boys of colour, including violence, attraction to gangs, and an inability to find their place in society.

Often dubbed “the Prince of Pan-Africanism”, Dr Johnson is a frequently requested scholar on subjects related to Pan-Africanism worldwide and will be travelling to the Bahamas to share his passion and purpose.

Afrikan Ebube (an Igbo tribe word for “glory”) was founded in late 2017

by Christopher Davis and Tamara Scavella, who designed the group to “promote unity, development, education, solutions and relief for African people locally and globally.”

The group said it is dedicated to highlighting and discussing real social issues affecting the lives of the Bahamian diaspora in a safe, tolerant environment.

“I am bringing (Dr Johnson) to shift the consciousness (in the Bahamas).

His profound knowledge and love for the African diaspora can be very beneficial to us; not only exposing harsh realities but giving solutions. He will

Christopher Davis, co-founder of Afrikan Ebube, at the Pompey Museum.

“It’s time for us to cement our rightful place in human history, and the Bahamas doesn’t need people like Christopher Columbus for that.”

Dr Umar Johnson

be speaking of events of historical and social significance in relevant areas,” said Mr Davis.

“The Peter Mowell Slave ship and its link to Congo Town, Fox Hill, is one of the only examples globally of people living in the same community being traced back through the Middle Passage to a specific region in Africa – a testament to Bahamian naval capabilities and a deeply entrenched culture of rescuing people from slavery. It’s time for us to cement our rightful place in human history, and the Bahamas doesn’t need people like Christopher Columbus for that.”

Mr Davis is also a beach soccer pioneer. He is one of two players to be named “Beach Soccer Champion” (Swiss league). He is also a historical researcher and storyteller who is one of a few formal teachers on modernday slavery in the region at the Pompey Museum, with a specialty in black Bahamian history.

Meanwhile, Ms Scavella is responsible for Afrikan Ebube’s community outreach and development arm and will host the “Unapologetically African” event. She is a well-known singer who goes under the stage name “Lyrics” and is also an actress as well as a health and fitness advisor.

“I am African not because I was born in Africa, but because Africa was born in me,” she told Tribune Weekend, adding that “this Kwame Nkurmah quote perfectly encompasses one of the many truths and values that Afrikan Ebube will be championing in our search for identity.”

She notes that Dr Johnson’s visit will serve as a catalyst for the launch of African Ebube. You can find them on Facebook under “AfrikanEbube” and “BrainFood242”.

Tickets for next Saturday’s event at the University of the Bahamas Performing Arts Centre are $20 in advance and are available at Ehren’s Grooming Centre (Mall at Marathon), Q Club on Mackey Street or by calling or WhatsApp at 462-5022/468-0667/431-6456.

You can also e-mail drumarjohnsonbahamas@gmail.com. Tickets at the door are $25.

The Tribune | Weekend | 19

Friday, June 22, 2018

gardening

A fruitful summer Yesterday marked the official start of summer, and Jack Hardy says now is peak fruitpicking and jam-making season.

A

lthough it has been summer-ish for quite a while, it is now officially summer and we all have the right to complain about the heat, the humidity, the rain, and the thunder and lightning – and the kids being home from school. Our solace is that summer is the prime fruiting season of the year with lots of tropical fruits available for our delectation.

Mango season seemed to start early this year, probably due to a warmer than usual winter and a wet spring. In my yard the yield will be very much smaller than usual, no doubt because I have temperamental trees that are still a few years away from being called mature. I will soon find out who my friends are.

Most mangoes are eaten out of hand.

If a cross is cut at the flower end of a bull or hairy mango the skin can be peeled down just like a banana. Do not underrate hairy mangoes. Their flavour is usually intense and the pulp can be enjoyed without dislodging the fibres.

Messy, yes, but sucking and chewing on a hairy mango is one of the delights of summer, especially one that has been refrigerated before peeling.

Mangoes are just one of the many summer fruits which can be used to make jam.

Named mangoes – mangolas, if you wish – are usually close to fibreless and are much larger than hairy mangoes.

They can be peeled, sliced, plated and eaten with a formal fork or spoon. This article is making me feel very hungry.

The traditional making of jam was a day-long process using bushels of fruit that were boiled for hours in giant pots and bottled under stringent hygienic conditions. The resultant jam would usually be safe and serviceable for a few years at room temperature. We are a little more impatient these days and jam with superior flavour can be made in less than half an hour if you have room to refrigerate or freeze the full jars.

Early July is the usual time for the main guava harvest and guava jam is a Bahamian specialty. Once the fruits have been peeled and the seeds removed using a food mill, the resultant pulp can be sweetened fairly lightly and boiled for just a few minutes before bottling. The skin and seeds contain pectin that helps the fruit set, so boil them up with a little water and add a little of the resultant juice to the fruit before cooking. If you only have yellow guavas instead of red, don’t worry. Yellow guava jam tastes the same as red.

The best containers to use are Bonne Maman jam jars. The wide lids are chequered red and are deliberately free of labelling. When you have emptied a jar of Bonne Maman jam it cries

out to be re-used. It would be a sin to throw it away.

Rambutan, longan, lychee – and later on guinep - are all fairly similar fruits that are delicious eaten out of hand. Lychee shells can be preserved in syrup.

Passion fruit – like guava – is best processed using a food mill. The resultant juice can be sweetened heavily to make syrup, or lightly to make a concentrated switcher base. By using Knox gelatin you can create passion fruit jelly, an adult form of Jello.

Soursop, sugar apple, atemoya and cherimoya are all lovely straight from the tree. All can be made into ice creams but soursop is the boss. Most ice creams benefit from vanilla flavouring but soursop ice cream tastes better without.

If you grow your own pineapples or obtain fresh ripe local fruit the only way to eat them is plain and unadulterated. Fresh pineapple is one of the great taste experiences.

Barbados cherry (Acerola) tends to provide several harvests through spring and summer. A bowlful of cherries can be boiled in sugar water and the juice strained into a pitcher. When the cherries are cool you can mash them with your fingers, add sugar and water, and bring to boiling point again. Strain into the same pitcher. You will be surprised at the amount of flavoursome juice you can obtain and it is loaded with vitamin C. In late summer the same technique

can be used to extract juice from hog plums (Yellow Mombin).

The first crop of carambola for the year is already holding on the tree.

Carambolas are best enjoyed when they turn amber but are still firm. For presentation the ends can be trimmed off and the edges of the flutes removed before either slicing the fruits into stars or cutting off the flutes for fruit sticks that resemble french fries that have gone to heaven. The sticks or stars can be lightly sautéed in butter or olive oil and used as a side with virtually meal.

Try adding thin stars to the bubbly side of pancakes before the final flip.

Many of our summer fruits can be turned into breakfast nectars when added to commercial apple juice.

Guavas have little in the way of juice but guava pulp sweetened and added to apple juice and then strained (heating optional) will liven up your taste buds.

Papaya is well known as a meat tenderiser. A slice of ripe fruit before or after a meat meal will do wonders for one’s digestion. This is particularly useful to the elderly.

By using some of these tips you can widen and extend the enjoyment of our wonderful summer fruits.

• Comments or queries? Contact Jack Hardy by e-mailing jacktribune242@ gmail.com

20 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, June 22, 2018

film

Romantic comedies rise again this summer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Summer is always full of action and superhero pics, but this year a once dormant yet utterly adored genre is coming back in a big way: the romantic comedy. After a 2017 without any from a major studio, this summer is proving to be a re-birth for this lost Hollywood staple with five notable releases, including “Crazy Rich Asians “ and a “Mamma Mia! “ sequel.

The reasons for the genre’s decline are many. A post-recession focus on international audiences, franchises and superheroes have helped to push rom-coms off the priority list for studios. Also, after a long and fruitful run in the late ‘80s through the 2000s, enthusiasm started to wane.

They had become stale. There were a few outliers, of course, like Amy Schumer’s “Trainwreck,” but the big studio rom-coms became derivative, lazy and dull.

“They didn’t reflect the way that society was changing. They were all about white, straight couples. They fell back on the conventions that define the genre,” said Erin Carlson, author of the book “I’ll Have What She’s Having: How Nora Ephron’s Three Iconic Films Saved the Romantic Comedy” and an upcoming book about the films of Meryl Streep. “People just got tired of them.”

A death, of sorts, was necessary for the genre to rise again with a new set of voices.

It didn’t hurt that “The Big Sick” made a splash at the box office and went on to get a screenwriting Oscar nomination — the kind of prestigious recognition rarely afforded to classic rom-coms that don’t have a “Silver Linings Playbook” edge.

“Crazy Rich Asians” “(’The Big Sick’) showed that people still want a good rom-com at the multiplex, but they want one that pushes the genre forward in new, interesting ways that reflect real life today, not tired tropes of yesterday,” Carlson said.

And indeed, the rom-coms of 2018 are continuing that forward movement. Earlier in the year there was Paramount’s “Book Club” and its focus on older women, 20th Century Fox’s “Love, Simon’s” gay, teen protagonist, and the bilingual “Overboard,” which has become the highest-grossing film for Pantelion Films.

“Set It Up,” a Netflix release, is perhaps the most throw-back of all the upcoming films. It is about people with actual jobs that consume their lives instead of playing a glamourous backdrop to whatever romantic exploits

“Set it Up” the movie dictates. Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell star as assistants who decide to set up their miserable and difficult bosses, played by Lucy Liu and Taye Diggs.

Netflix has also released a few other romantic comedies this year including “Ibiza,” ‘‘When We First Met” and “The Kissing Booth.”

It’s not just streaming platforms re-embracing the genre — the big studios are, too.

Universal has “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” coming July 20, with many of the original cast as well as Cher and Andy Garcia. And Warner Bros is releasing the adaptation of Kevin Kwan’s popular novel “Crazy Rich Asians” on August 15.

Nina Jacobson, who produced “Crazy Rich Asians,” saw an opportunity in the story about a Chinese-American

woman who travels to Singapore to meet her boyfriend’s parents to take audiences to a world they haven’t seen in a mainstream American movie, and also touch on universal themes.

The independent realm, which has been keeping romcoms alive for some time, also has a few boundary-pushing releases on the schedule, both about people in their early middle age finding love. The Sundance charmer “Juliet, Naked,” based on the Nick Hornby novel and starring Rose Byrne, Chris O’Dowd and Ethan Hawke, comes out August 17, followed by “Destination Wedding” on August 24, which boasts a ‘90s dream cast in Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves who star as single wedding guests.

If 2018 is the start of a new era of the romantic comedy, Carlson thinks that one day we may trace it back to “The Big Sick.” She compares it to how “Moonstruck,” which won three Oscars in 1988, helped get the genre out of the cynical “Annie Hall” phase and pave the way for “When Harry Met Sally” and all the classics that hit spawned.

“People have written the romantic comedy’s obituary over and over and over again,” Carlson said. “But the genre will always survive as long as it’s pushed forward in ways that reflect contemporary society. And it will also survive as long as love and relationships elude and fascinate us — that is, it will never go away.”

LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer

The Tribune | Weekend | 21

Friday, June 22, 2018

film

review

‘Jurassic World 2’ leans on nostalgia JURASSIC WORLD 2 RUNNING TIME: 128 MINS

Owen (Chris Pratt) meets the vicious T-Rex.

H

ere’s the good news: “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom “ is more fun than “Jurassic World.”

It’s not exactly a high bar, but still a welcome surprise. In the hands of a new director, J A Bayona, with Chris Pratt’s high-wattage charisma on full blast and a fair amount of self-aware humour intact, there are certainly worse ways to spend a couple hours in the air-conditioned multiplex this summer.

Mind you, this movie is pretty ridiculous and the script (from Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly) is not very clever — I found myself rolling my eyes almost as frequently as I found myself smiling with genuine delight.

“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” will not stand up to rigorous scrutiny, and yet, it’s kind of an enjoyable, preposterous and thrilling ride that ticks through nostalgia beats like a shopping list.

It’s a little sad how in this era of industrial franchise filmmaking a three year gap between films actually feels like quite a bit of time — or maybe it’s just a testament to how gruelling the past few years have been — but, hey, it did at least seem like the right time to check in with those dinosaurs again, although I worry that our emotional investment in Owen’s connection with a velociraptor has been vastly overestimated.

After a very solid, and scary, beginning, with pouring rain and genuine suspense as some scientists venture back into the defunct Jurassic World to retrieve a dinosaur bone, a helpful newscaster orients the audience with a

Jeff Goldblum returns as Dr Ian Malcolm. (Universal via AP) whole lot of exposition: It’s been three years since Jurassic World closed; $800 million in damages have been paid out; and, most importantly, a dormant volcano has come back to life on the island and is about to cause an “extinction level event” that will wipe out all the remaining dinosaurs.

The question of whether or not to let the dinos go extinct again has become a national debate and Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire is leading the charge to try to save the animals.

As a not-so-subtle nod to that other national debate about Claire’s choice of footwear in “Jurassic World,” our first shot of her is her feet in sky high heels (the hiking boots she wears later for all the action get their own loving close-up too).

Essentially, and this is where the contrivances start, a wealthy, dying man, Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), who is somehow connected to John Hammond, and his associate Eli Mills (Rafe Spall) pitch Claire on an expedition to stage their own Noah’s Ark with the dinos and transport as many species as possible to a sanctuary island. They need her to tap into the park’s security system, and also to convince Owen (Pratt) to come along and get close to the raptor Blue, his old pal who has become so anthropomorphize it’s actually surprising she doesn’t just start talking.

There are some more new characters added too: A skittish computer guy, Franklin (Justice Smith), and a doctor Zia (Daniella Pineda), who come along

on the journey for some comedic relief; a mercenary military guy (Ted Levine); and a cute dino-obsessed girl, Masie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon).

Perhaps the most unexpected thing about “Fallen Kingdom” is that the “escape from the volcano” plot is just the first set-piece. It’s all a precursor to the dinos coming to the mainland.

Life finds a way, and so do franchises that make ungodly amounts of money.

“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” gets away with its unoriginality for the most part, but this franchise’s desperation is starting to show. It’s time to evolve or go extinct.

LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer

22 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, June 22, 2018

literary lives

The riddle of Lewa Downs – Part I Sir Christopher Ondaatje relates his extraordinary experience tracking one of the world’s rarest animals – a black leopard –in the wilds of northern Kenya.

“C

an the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” (Jeremiah 13:23)

A black leopard is one of the rarest animals in the world, and one of the most difficult to see in the wild. It arises from an abnormal development of the dark pigment melanin, resulting in the animal’s coat being very dark or black. But despite its unusual darkness, the spots of the leopard can still be seen faintly on the coat, especially in bright sunlight. Melanism is hereditary, but it is not necessarily passed from one generation to the next, so that melanistic individuals occur in mixed litters.

It is widely believed that the black leopard is more vicious than its tawny counterpart, which might be due to the level of its acceptance in the litter, if a single black leopard cub has to fight harder for its place among its siblings.

In medieval times the creature was said to be friendly towards all animals except the dragon, which it lured to its fate by exuding a particularly sweet odour. Later it was a symbol of Christ, until its savage nature became more

Sir Christopher Ondaatje

widely known. Then the black leopard became a symbol of evil and hypocritical flattery.

Of course there are reports of black leopards being seen, and shot, in the jungles of southern India, particularly in the Kerala region and also in the Sinharaja rainforest of Sri Lanka.

In 1959, the south Indian writer and hunter Kenneth Anderson published a collection of jungle stories entitled “The Black Panther of Sivanipalli”.

Naturally, I have always wanted to see a black leopard for myself. Once, I received a telephone call from Kerala informing me that local herdsmen had trapped such a black beast, known locally as ‘the goat killer”, in a deep pit. However, the animal died before I could get there.

Then, in 1999, Nigel Winser of the Royal Geographic Society told me of the sighting of a black leopard on Lewa Downs in the northern foothills of Mount Kenya. The Lewa Ranch – 40,000 acres of private land owned by the Craig family – is an enormous conservation area designed to protect elephants and other African game from poaching and human encroachment.

The nearest town is Isiolo, beyond which is the vast and rugged expanse of northern Kenya that reaches right up to the Ethiopian border. Much of Lewa Downs is more than 6,500 feet in elevation, interspersed with deep river valleys and enormous outcroppings of rock.

Although I wanted to drop everything to go to Lewa, I was involved

The Tribune | Weekend | 23

Friday, June 22, 2018

in a film project in Sri Lanka, which required two gruelling weeks filming around the island’s ruined cities and in the Yala Game Reserve. The moment I returned to England, I immediately made plans to fly to Kenya to stay with the Craig family. In the meantime William Craig had arranged for a trio of game trackers to do some preparatory work, looking for any signs of the black leopard, such as pug marks or a kill, in an area of more than nine square miles around where it had been sighted.

I flew out of London’s Heathrow airport on the night of December 8, arrived in Nairobi early the following day, and transferred to a small six-seater Cessna plane that got me to Lewa in time for lunch. My three trackers, Mungai, Rikita and Alfred, were happy to see me but had no news of the leopard. Mungai, a member of the Kikuyu tribe, was dressed in ordinary safari fatigues, but Rikita and Alfred, both Maasai, wore their faded red cotton olgaresha cloaks slung over their shoulders. They were muscular, lean and beautiful, with long ochrestained hair carefully braided and gathered together, tied in a bunch and draped down their backs.

The trackers were enthusiastic about the search, but not at all confident of success. Leopards are secretive, elusive and difficult to see at the best of times, but in December, after the ‘short rains’, with the area much greener than usual, the task would be almost impossible, they feared.

Exhausted and jet-lagged, I decided to have a quick sleep. The next thing I knew, Mungai was awakening me at five in the afternoon. I showered, had a cup of strong Kenyan coffee, got my camera equipment together and set off for a reconnaissance in the longwheelbase Land Rover that was to be mine for the next eight days. The temperature was surprisingly cool for the equator, because of the altitude.

We coursed out away from the lodge towards the Lewa River, making our way through the marshes and yellow fever trees, and back around the far side of Cave Hill towards the Ngare Ndare forest. The circuit was about 18 miles on the rough Lewa Downs roads. We saw herds of elephant, the rare Grevy’s zebra, an occasional group of reticulated giraffe, a few white rhinoceros and one small herd of eland, but no cars – no lions, no cheetahs and definitely no sign of a leopard.

Night falls quickly in Africa and soon after six o’clock it was too dark to see, so we returned to the ranch,

Situated near the base of Mt Kenya – Africa’s second tallest mountain – Lewa Downs has been the Craig family home since the 1920s. Its Wilderness Lodge is one of Kenya’s oldest safari ventures and a sanctuary for the black rhino since the 1980s.

A Maasai warrior

planning to start again before dawn the next day. To be back in the scrub forests of East Africa was a wonderful feeling.

Mungai woke me the following morning at five out of a very deep sleep. Outdoors it was still very dark, and very cold. I was shivering when I hauled myself out of bed and put on my safari clothes. Making my way by flashlight through the scrub to the courtyard of the Lewa Ranch, I found Rikita and Alfred waiting in the back of the Land Rover. I piled in beside Mungai, who did the driving.

The morning wind howled around us in the open vehicle. Mungai crouched over the steering wheel and peered into the darkness. A hyena furtively crossed in front of us, eyes shining in our headlights. Occasionally we saw zebra moving towards the river. There was as yet no sign of sunrise, but we could see from the stars that the sky was cloudless.

Within half an hour we were crossing the plains at the foot of Cave Hill, and minutes later the morning light stretched across the eastern sky. Only the Land Rover’s engine disturbed the African morning. And then, as the sun’s golden ball crept over the horizon, faintly outlining Mount Kenya in the distance, came the morning chorus. Three crowned cranes perched high on a spreading umbrella acacia,

an African tawny eagle made its highpitched screech, a boubou emitted its plaintive call, and two ostriches strutted along the river road in front of us, oblivious to our mission. The bush was coming to life. I suppose my Maasai companions were entirely used to early mornings like this, but to me they are always spellbinding.

An hour later we stopped for coffee, when quite suddenly we heard an alarm call from an impala, and then the deep guttural sawing of a predator.

“Leopard”, guessed Mungai, listening with one ear cocked towards the caves about the plain. The sound came again.

We waited a few minutes, but heard nothing more and drove on.

I was certain we had heard a leopard and my two Maasai trackers agreed, particularly Rikita. But of course it was impossible to know what kind of leopard. I was certain the sound had come from high up on Cave Hill. We returned to the spot from where we first heard it, and listened again. Still nothing. “Listen”, I said, “If there is a chance it was the black leopard, we must surround the hill and hope that he shows himself. We have to gamble.”

I suggested that Rikita wait secluded and hidden in the long brown grass at the foot of Cave Hill, and that Alfred sat higher up on the western rim of

Continues on page 24

The Tribune | Weekend | 24

Friday, June 22, 2018

Continued on page 23 the hill. The Maasai, as I later learned, have incredible patience. The sun was high in the sky now, and I was asking them to expose themselves in the hot African sun for the greater part of the day. I gave my binoculars to Rikita, and the two Maasai youths silently slipped out of the Land Rover and across the plain to their lookout positions. These were about half a mile from where Mungai and I stationed ourselves on a hillock overlooking the entire south face of Cave Hill.

It was still only eight o’clock, and we prepared ourselves for a long, dry day.

Mungai, who has astonishing vision, never took his eyes off the face of the hill. Because I had given my binoculars to Rikita I was forced to use my 400mm telephoto lenses to range the hill from left to right, west to east. I was sure the best chance of seeing the black leopard was against the dried brown grass. We didn’t say much, realising that the plan was a futile one. But I was still hopeful.

It was tiring to look for a black dot on a brown hillside, especially after five hours of looking. Then I saw another Land Rover coursing its way across the river towards our hillock. At first I cursed it for disturbing our vigil, but soon realised it was Will Craig bringing up much-needed supplies of water and food. Will, though admiring our stamina, made no bones about the hopelessness of our quest.

An hour after Will’s departure Rikita appeared on our hillock. He held out his hand and showed us a single black hair. It could have been from any animal, and I suggested a zebra. But Rikita said this was impossible; zebras are far too lazy to climb up Cave Hill. He was convinced that it was the hair of a leopard and that we should continue our watch.

Three hours later we were still there. It was four o’clock and the heat of the day was ebbing a little. Rikita

A black panther is the melanistic colour variant of any big cat species. Black panthers in Asia and Africa are leopards, and those in the Americas are black jaguars. appeared again on the rise below us, hurrying. He spoke quickly to Mungai in Swahili and pointed to the back of Cave Hill. He claimed he had seen something moving in the long grass and that it might be a leopard. He wasn’t sure, but if it were a leopard then it might take advantage of the coolness to move out of the shade and protection of the grass to a higher position on the hill. Mungai continued to scan the face of the hill.

He was motionless, his eyes trained towards the eastern base of Cave Hill, towards the river, above the long dry brown grass of the plains.

Suddenly he spoke quietly to me: “Quick, quick. There, the leopard, moving. Get your camera. Take the glasses.

Look – above the acacia tree – to the left. Do you see it?

You’ll have to wait. I’ll tell you when it moves. There.

Now.” And then I saw it, just as Rikita had said, an indistinct black shape moving slowly across the face of Cave Hill.

Up the hill diagonally, and then out of sight again behind long grass.

“The Black Panther of Sivanipalli” is a collection of of jungle stories published in 1959 by South Indian writer and hunter Kenneth Anderson.

“OK”, said Mungai to Rikita. “You stay with Christopher; I’ll go and get Alfred, Don’t lose sight of the leopard. It’s getting dark, so

you’ll have to keep your eyes on him.”

And then Mungai drove off, returning with an exhausted, parched Alfred a few minutes

later. Rikita hadn’t taken his eyes off the place where the leopard was crouching.

Neither had I. And then we all saw the leopard again, looking at us across the divide between our hillock and Cave Hill. He lifted his black head above the grass and then lowered it again. Cautious – even furtive. A typical tawny leopard would have been quite invisible among the light brown tones of the scorched hill grass. But this was a black leopard – a rare privilege for us. We watched the cat for almost ten minutes, but there was not enough light to take any decent photographs.

And then the sky became dimmer still, and it was almost evening. Another night-time African world was stirring.

NEXT WEEK: The riddle of Lewa Downs is concluded.

• Sir Christopher Ondaatje is an adventurer and writer resident in the Bahamas. A Sri Lankan-born CanadianEnglishman, he is the author of several books, including “The Last Colonial”.

The Tribune | Weekend | 25

Friday, June 22, 2018

history

The Isles of June Forgotten facts Paul C Aranha

A

reader wanted to know how and when the Bahamas came to be called the Isles of June. Not knowing the answer, I decided it was time to find out, so I reread Major H Mac Lachlan Bell’s 1934 book “Bahamas: Isles of June”, and found that Bell quotes the Canadian poet Bliss Carman (1861-1929), who may have been the one who coined the name:

“With the flying fish before her and the white wake running aft – Her smoke wreath hanging idle without breeze enough for draft, She will travel fair and steady and, in the afternoon, Run down the floating palm tops where live the Isles of June.”

In response to my May 18 article about Frederick Street and the Lucerne Hotel, I got requests for more about the bootlegging era (1920 - 1933) and Bell has lots to say on the subject Less than 10 years after the end of Prohibition, Bell interviewed people who had been eye-witnesses to the events. He wrote that, “Nassau became

one of the strangest by-products of Prohibition. Its contrasts grew more and more vivid, as the years rolled along.

Before the rum-running era, there were no restaurants, no electric lighting, no sewers, no macadamized roadways. If you wanted to eat, you bought a can of salmon in one place and some hard tack in another and you sat on the pier and ate them. Automobiles became as plentiful as telephone numbers.”

Sir George Gamblin, who was an agent for Nassau’s only bank, the Royal Bank of Canada, told Bell of having $11 million in the bank’s vaults when a telegram from Cuba warned that hijackers were on their way to Nassau, intent on raiding the bank. Quickly, a barricade was erected around the building and a platoon of police (armed with rifles, bayonets and ammunition) stood guard for a week, scaring the bandits off. The

Paul Aranha’s my favourite postcard of America-bound liquor, piled high on one of Nassau’s docks. The two men in white hats and black suits appear to be wearing clerical collars. Might they be picking up a shipment of communion wine?

Archaeologists find ancient rock art in Egypt CAIRO (AP) — Egypt says archaeologists have unearthed 3,500-year-old rock art depicting bulls, donkeys and sheep in the Eastern Desert.

The Antiquities Ministry said the discovery in the Wadi Umm Tineidba, by an Egyptian- American mission from Yale University, includes at least three concentrations of rock art.

bank went on to make multi-millions for its services.

Many of the Bahamians who made great fortunes never sailed a ship nor sold a pint of booze to anyone in the United States. They did not have to, for buyers flooded their offices in Nassau, bought loads of liquor, loaded it onto chartered ships and sailed away.

Long-neglected churches were renovated with liquor money, charities were refinanced, and life in general took on a new splendour, bringing about a real estate boom. A casino opened and the elite of the American colony took a whirl at roulette. Directly or indirectly, everyone prospered.

Nothing like the Bootlegger’s’ Ball had ever been seen in Nassau. Held in the gardens of the Lucerne Hotel on a Sunday in July, it really started on Saturday afternoon, hit its stride on

Mission chief John Coleman Darnielen says the discovery provides evidence for the continuity and interaction of artistic styles of the Eastern Desert and Nile Valley.

Egypt hopes such discoveries will encourage tourism as it struggles to revive its economy after years of unrest.

Sunday evening and went on until 3am on Monday.

Solid improvements included the New Colonial Hotel (now the British Colonial Hilton) and the Montagu Beach Hotel, which has not survived.

Liquor had been illegal in America, but not in the Isles of June, only 60 miles off the coast of Florida. Prohibition had revived the waning economic life of the Bahamas and one commentator remarked: “You can’t lick the Bahamas. The harder they fall, the higher they bounce.” Hotelier Tom Lavelle summed it up to Bell in these words “Those days are done. We’ve got to go to work now.”

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

Excellent: 10 mins Yesterday’s solution: PiLoT, winGs (across or down)

26 | The Tribune | Weekend

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.

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

CRYPTIC PUZZLE Across 1 The crime of performing badly? (10) 6 The spectators’ entrance (4) 10 Allude, one way or the other (5) 11 Top gear when going into a corner? (6,3) 12 Mabel gets upset about one form of fertiliser (4,4) 13 Laity out abroad (5) 15 Regards the lot as OK perhaps (5,2) 17 It appears to produce fright or respect maybe (7) 19 Hire one possibly to be the female lead (7) 21 The only thing a defeated army can beat (7) 22 Reflective note (5) 24 It offers variable penalties (8) 27 Civilians may live such a life in war, strangely enough (9) 28 Be a forerunner of marriage? (5) 29 Point to a wood from the window (4) 30 Left-wing compilers of clues for dogs (3,7)

Down 1 Method is about right, but be cautious (4) 2 Obviously not in the pink (3-6) 3 Over-indulge in food or in egg flip (5) 4 A part that can’t be matched (7) 5 Perplex with a minus sign? (7) 7 Capital is required to get a new car on account (5) 8 Forms to be filled at a general election (5,5) 9 As an occupant, I’d resent being put out (8) 14 They tried to extract gold from St Michael’s (10) 16 Travelling companion? (8) 18 Number once representing the majority (6-3) 20 Clamp down in French army (7) 21 Variety of red rose seen in church (7) 23 One doesn’t have to have them (5) 25 Uniform the leader required for an occasion (5) 26 Like things to eat (4)

Yesterday’s Easy Solution Across: 1 Satanic, 5 Bible, 8 Of one mind, 9 Rig, 10 Port, 12 Outlying, 14 Cougar, 15 Poland, 17 Amicable, 18 Hemp, 21 Tie, 22 In reverse, 24 Clyde, 25 Collect.

Down: 1 Stoop, 2 Too, 3 Need, 4 Clique, 5 Bad blood, 6 Barricade, 7 Engaged, 11 Routinely, 13 Magazine, 14 Chaotic, 16 Cleric, 19 Pleat, 20 Oval, 23 Rue.

Yesterday’s Cryptic Solution Across: 1 Orphans, 5 Hotel, 8 Daredevil, 9 Emu, 10 Rued, 12 Animated, 14 Retail, 15 Lovely, 17 Gardenia, 18 Stye, 21 Opt, 22 Appointed, 24 Posed, 25 Eyebrow.

Down: 1 Order, 2 Par, 3 Aida, 5 Half-moon, 6 Treatment, 7 Laundry, 11 Enteritis, 13 Sixes and sevens, 14 Regroup, 16 Simple, 19 Endow, 20 Like, 23 Tar.

EASY PUZZLE

Across 1 By a wide margin (3,3,4) 6 Advanced in years (4) 10 Having quick mind (5) 11 Sticky (9) 12 Kept back (8) 13 Purport (5) 15 Now and then (2,5) 17 Ridiculous (7) 19 A varnish (7) 21 Viewed as a whole (7) 22 Religious pamphlet (5) 24 Sample test of opinion (8) 27 Serving to protect (9) 28 Permission to do (5) 29 U.S. university (4) 30 Colony (10)

Down 1 Unite by melting (4) 2 Practical (9) 3 To score (5) 4 North African capital (7) 5 Into parts (7) 7 Sound of disapproval (5) 8 Tactfully (10) 9 Aversion (8) 14 Decide to stop work (4,2,1,3) 16 Steadily increasing (8) 18 Sudden bright idea (9) 20 Interval of relief (7) 21 Loaded with wealth (7) 23 Very disagreeable (5) 25 Make detailed research (5) 26 For fear that (4)

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The Tribune | Weekend | 27

Friday, June 22, 2018

animals Animal matters Kim Aranha

The truth about snakes

A

nybody who enjoys cruising Head Knowles on Facebook probably came across the very lengthy thread that accompanied a video clip of a large snake writhing on the side of Tonique Williams Darling Highway. The snake was unusually big, tied up in knots. At first I thought it was probably constricting prey, but after watching it more than once it became more likely that it was an animal in pain after having been run over. There were tons of comments, many of them very interesting; different opinions of what was happening to the animal, and then there was a vast amount of people who just wanted to see the snake dead because it was a snake.

Why did nobody call the Bahamas Humane Society? Chapter and verse of the Bible was tossed out as just cause to kill, maim and eradicate this poor creature. Ignorant comments and sentiments such as “the only good snake is a dead snake abounded. One person stated that if you see a snake you must kill it because that means one less evil person on earth….like, really? What are you all talking about?

Lately there has been so much talk about snakes. The Brown Bahamian Racer (an indigenous resident of the Bahamas) has been causing his fair share of alarm because this dapper gentle, non-venomous snake knows how to rise up and challenge when afraid, rather like a mini cobra. He puts on a splendid display of posturing and most creatures are afraid of him and run, most of all humans.

The reaction to this harmless chap is quite priceless. I cannot help but feel that he is one of God’s best jokes and that the Lord looks down on earth and has a good laugh at how some people, big, strong. men, take off at the sight of a mild Brown Bahamian Racer .God laughs, that is, until some foolish person picks up a cutlass and goes after the snake and chops his head off. For what reason? I believe that

The Brown Bahamian Racer, like all indigenous snakes, is non-venomous. action makes God sad/ He must be so terribly disappointed in the inhabitants of the Bahama islands and their lack of compassion for all things animal, fully forgetting that man himself is actually an “animal”.

Now I can understand people being afraid of snakes. We do not understand them; they slither and have no legs. Somehow the mere fact that they slither makes them suspect. They have a strange way of climbing up a tree soundlessly, and coiling themselves around a branch that we cannot conceive, so we reject them and fear them. But does fearing mean you have to slash out and kill, or run over and

eradicate?

The immediate tendency to condemn these creatures is tragic. The Brown Bahamian Racer is an aggressive protector who will rise up and move back and forth with it’s hood extended, if challenged. It is not a cobra. The cobra is not indigenous to the Bahamas and is venomous; no snake in the Bahamas is venomous.

When I was a kid, most snakes I encountered were referred to as “chicken snakes” because they would eat chickens and eggs. The Bahamian snakes are of the constricting variety who squeeze their prey to death.

However, I keep coming back to

the irrational way that people behave when confronted by a snake. An ordinary, clear thinking human can be reduced to a jabbering mass in the presence of a three-foot snake who is more afraid than the human.

My fundamental question is the following: Is all this snake fever and hype caused because in the Bible some hypothetical snake handed Eve an apple (the forbidden fruit) and she took a bite? Are we going to blame every snake on earth for all the woes that we humans have created? What about apples? We willingly eat them and even preach that an apple a day will keep the doctor away. I do not see people taking to their heels when the see a stack of apples in the super market.

Yet look at all the trouble that single bite of the forbidden fruit caused!

Frankly, I think it is a crying shame that the people of the Bahamas have remained in the Dark Ages as far as understanding nature, preserving our natural resources, and showing compassion to other living creatures. We have reached a point where we show no compassion to each either.

I was kind of disappointed to go back to Head Knowles yesterday after I had written this article and found, as far as I can tell, that the entire snake thread had been removed. It was educational in so much as it showed us how much more there is to teach and how many people need to learn.

PET OF THE WEEK

Darling Dani

By The Bahamas Humane Society

“H

ello! My name is Dani, and I’m here today to introduce myself. I am an adoption dog at the Bahamas Humane Society. I am mostly potcake, and I’m about two years old. I have been here at the BHS for several months now. I can stay as long as needed since the BHS is a no-kill shelter, but I would really like to find a home of my own. Do you have a lovely fenced-in yard for me? I don’t mind if there’s another dog or two in it already (or you

could adopt two from the BHS), but I’d prefer there were no cats, please. I’d make a great family pet, loyal and protective. Like most potcakes, I’m very smart and would love to learn some new things from you (like walking on a leash, sitting, going to the beach, maybe even staying inside with you). Do you have the right place for me? If so, please come in to meet me, or call 323-5138. Remember to ask for Dani! Adoption hours are 11am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, and 10am to 4pm on Saturday. I look forward to making your acquaintance!”

(PHOTO/PATRICIA VAZQUEZ)

28 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, June 22, 2018

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