Friday, July 9, 2021
books interview music food gardening history puzzles animals
Weekend
Sweet Emily returns Page 07
Sweet dreams of the islands Legendary musician Dave Stewart aims to bring love back
pgs 04 +05
02 | The Tribune | Weekend
Friday, July 9, 2021
books
New books this week By CARA HUNT | Tribune Features Writer | cbrennen@tribunemedia.net
H
appy Independence weekend! And what better way to celebrate all things Bahamian than by enjoying a weekend curled up at home or on the beach reading some great works by homegrown authors. Well, to help you choose, here is a selection from a variety of genres to start your summer of Bahamian reading: • “Story of the Bahamas” by Paul Albury History buffs will enjoy this look into the country’s past by noted historian Paul Albury who was a very active member of the Bahamas Historical Society. The book traces the history of the Bahamas from early Lucayan times to the present
day when the Bahama Islands have achieved full nationhood and have become renowned as a major tourist centre. • “Backyard Gardening in the Bahamas and the Caribbean” by Cynthia H Ferguson This is a timely read given the increase in home gardening and the drive towards a more sustainable lifestyle due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The author draws on her childhood experiences growing up in Andros and farming with her mother while providing tips for readers to start their own gardens of Bahamian staples such as peas, cabbage, lettuce, peppers, onions and thyme. Bonus read: If you enjoy “Backyard Gardening”, consider another book by Cynthia Ferguson, “Life on
the Lumber Farm”, which takes a look at the history of Andros island. • “At the Shore” by Yasmine Glinton Get your summer poetry reading in with this collection of poemes. Yasmin uses her voice to reflect on the challenges she has faced as a Caribbean woman returning from a year abroad in England. She also tackles Bahamian folklore and her reflections on family life. • “Lusca and Other Fantastic Tales” by Patricia Glinton- Meicholas Discover a magical world of Bahamian folklore in this collection of stories by noted author Patricia Glinton-Meicholas. In addition to the title character Lusca, meet all sorts of creatures that go bump in the night.
• “Facing the Sun” by Janice Mather Four friends experience a summer of change in this novel that has been called “The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants meets the Education of Margot Sanchez.” There is Eve, the daughter everyone depends on; Faith who has many admirers except the one guy she can’t have; Kee Kee who suffers a horrible betrayal, and Nia who longs to escape her overprotective mother. This is a great read for sitting by the pool. Bonus read: “Learning to Breathe”, Janice Mather’s debut novel is heart-wrenching yet positive as it tells the story of a young Bahamian girl who faces the aftermath of abuse.
The Tribune | Weekend |03
Friday, July 9, 2021
Weekend
My Perfect Bahamian Weekend
Inside
Jerome Sawyer
Executive TV producer
Interview 4 – 5
Music legend Dave Stewart, formerly of the duo Eurythmics, has made the Bahamas his home and his releasing a new song in tribute to the nation’s people.
Puzzles 6 Food 7
‘Sweet Emily’ is back with a new song to encourage travel
Q: What are you bingewatching this weekend? “ ‘Bridgerton’. I keep hearing everyone talk about it, but I haven’t found the time to watch it. I’m a of ‘The Crown’ and I am told this will keep me just as intrigued.”
Food 8 - 9
Get ‘boujie’ for brunch with live art demonstrations and music
Books 10-11
A father-daughter duo pen a book of socially conscious poetry, plus an Andros educator combines reading and learning in fun new children’s book
Literary Lives 12 – 13
A once-in-a-lifetime voice is silenced too soon
Forgotten Facts 14
What exactly makes up the Caribbean?
Animals 15
A most unusual emotional support animal, plus Pet of the Week
8+9
Gardening 16
A colourful summer
Cover I Dave Stewart and Bahamian singer Dayonna
THIS WEEKEND IN HISTORY July 9
Q: What’s on the menu this weekend? This is Independence weekend, so all things Bahamian. I want all the Benny cakes, coconut cakes and peanut cakes I can stomach. I will be in search of fry fish, steam conch, crab and rice and as many unhealthy side orders as I can fit on a plate.” Q: Beach or sofa?
“Definitely the beach.” Q: If you had to quarantine with a celebrity, who would it be? “I don’t know if Queen Elizabeth II qualifies as a (celebrity), but she would be my first choice. I have so many questions.” Q: If you could take a COVID-free trip, where would you go and why? “I have never been skiing and recently I have been looking at ski resorts for my next vacation. I was told about this quaint town called Vail in Colorado. This would be my goto COVID-free spot.”
within the Commonwealth. •In 1900, the Commonwealth of Australia is established by an Act of British Parliament, uniting the separate colonies under a federal government.
•In1762, Catherine the Great (formerly the Prussian Princess Sophie von Anhalt-Zerbst) overthrows her husband and second cousin Peter III to become the empress of Russia. She stayed on the throne for 34 years.
July 10
•In 1877, the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club begins its first lawn tennis tournament at Wimbledon, which was at the time an outer-suburb of London. Twenty-one amateurs competed in the only event: the Gentlemen’s Singles tournament.
•In 1965, British rock band the Rolling Stones topped US charts for the first time with the now iconic single “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”.
•In 1962, the satellite Telstar is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, beaming live television from Europe to the United States; it was the start of a new age of electronic communications.
• In 1973, the Bahamas officially gains its independence from Britain
July 11
•In 1900, Charlotte Cooper beats Hélène Prévost to become the first female Olympic tennis champion and the first individual female Olympic champion in any sport. •In 1914, George Herman “Babe” Ruth plays in his first major league baseball game, as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. •In 1975, archaeologists unearth an army of 8,000 life-size clay figures created more than 2,000 years ago for the Emperor Qin Shi Huang to protect him in the afterlife. Today, it is known as the Terracotta Army.
CATHERINE the Great
04 | The Tribune | Weekend
Friday, July 9, 2021
interview
Dave Stewart The Eurythmics legend has some ‘Sweet Dreams’ for the Bahamas. In addition to building a music studio in Harbour Island, he tells Jeffarah Gibson about the imminent debut of a new song which will serve as a tribute to the nation and raise funds for local causes.
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rammy Award-winning musician Dave Stewart, who achieved global success alongside Annie Lennox as the British pop duo Eurythmics, now calls Harbour Island, Eleuthera, home. And as a way of paying tribute to the Bahamas, he has composed a special song. Stewart, a native of Sunderland, England, will be releasing “Love’s Coming Back” during a virtual event on Tuesday, July 13. The musician said he feels a deep connection with our island nation
and its people. He felt moved to write and produce the song as a gift to the Bahamas and the world. With warm vocals by a young Bahamian artist called Dayonna and an infectious hook, the inspirational song will be launched to a national and global audience during the event scheduled for 11am. There will also be a simulcast release across all Bahamian radio and television stations as well as several online music platforms, including Spotify, The Orchard and iTunes.
Bahamians at home and abroad are invited to participate in the launch event. A rallying anthem intended to raise the morale of the people of the Bahamas and the world, “Love’s Coming Back” will be used to raise funds in support of youth and environmental projects managed by the Briland Aid organisation and the Bahamas National Trust respectively. Dave has been travelling back and forth to the Bahamas over the years and recently became a resident. Then the pandemic hit.
“I started to notice that people were starting to lose a bit of hope due to COVID-19 and the lockdowns. People started to get despondent and filled with a lot of anxiety. So I tried to write a song that was uplifting and that gave people a feeling of positivity. Above all, love will always come back and it will rise above all,” he told Tribune Weekend. “For me what was special about it is that I live in the Bahamas, and I was on the island for 90 percent of the pandemic. I am friends with a lot
The Tribune | Weekend | 05
Friday, July 9, 2021
“I
started to notice that people were starting to lose a bit of hope due to COVID-19 and the lockdowns... So I tried to write a song that was uplifting and that gave people a feeling of positivity.”
of the local people, and I got a lot of local people involved in the song.” And this connection and love he shares with the people of Harbour Island is also reflected in the song and its accompanying video. “Local people are singing the chorus. It became a kind of healing process for me and the people involved in it. And then when we started to shoot the video for the song it started to feel quite joyful,” he said. Stewart, who is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist and composer, is always listening to his surroundings, looking for his next inspiration. He was able to remain productive and creative even during lockdown last year. “I kept myself entertained by creatively using my time, making music, recording an album and writings with different people remotely,” he said. Stewart’s work ethic and vision has allowed him to churn out hit after hit. He won Best British Producer at the 1986, 1987 and 1990 BRIT Awards. He produced or co-produced all of Eurythmics’ albums and, once the band became established, he also became a producer for other artists. In 1985, as well as producing Eurythmics’ hit album “Be Yourself Tonight”, Stewart co-produced the album “Southern Accents” for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, as well as co-writing several songs for the album, including the hit “Don’t Come Around Here No More”. The same year, he also produced the debut solo album by Feargal
EURYTHMICS reunited - Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart on stage together
DAVE Stewart meets Nelson Mandela
BEYONCE with Dave Stewart
Sharkey, formerly of the punk band The Undertones, which included the UK number one hit “A Good Heart”. Stewart went on to write and produce for a variety of other artists throughout the decades, working with an eclectic mix of international talent as a songwriter and producer. He has worked with the band that made “The Voice” star Gwen Stefani famous, No Doubt, co-writing “Underneath It All” (featuring Lady Saw) for their 2001 release “Rock Steady”, and “Sparkle” for their 2012 release “Push and Shove”. Beyond music, Stewart also became involved in the film industry in 1989, contributing to soundtrack scores for movies like
“Alfie”, “Charlotte’s Web”, “The Flintstones”, “Ever After”, “Lara Croft-Tomb Raider” and many more. He made his feature film directorial debut in 2000 with “Honest”, a black comedy set in Swinging London in the late 1960s featuring three members of the famous British girl group All Saints. Stewart is also the co-creator and executive producer of the 2012 ABC sitcom “Malibu Country” starring famed country singer Reba McEntire. Additionally, he created and executive produces the NBC unscripted series “Songland”, which gives new songwriters a chance to have their original compositions recorded by an established artist, with a single
released immediately following each episode. The series premiered in the summer of 2019 and averaged 5.1 million viewers per episode, the most for a new unscripted series that summer. Coincidently, the winner of the first season was an American-Bahamian songwriter, Tebby Burrows. Stewart’s vast experience in music, film, television, theatre and live events has earned him many awards and he is highly respected as a creative force. He was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and won the Music Producers Guild Outstanding Contribution to UK Music Award in 2015. Eurythmics were nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017. Adding to his already long list of accomplishments, Stewart is now building a studio compound on Harbour Island. “What is next for me is always a tricky question because I’m always doing a few things at once. I love my label, Bay Street Records, and while that is happening, I have also been writing a movie about my life as a young teenager. I have also written lots of music for it. It will be made into a movie and then it will be on stage as a musical,” he said. The premiere of “Love’s Coming Back” can be viewed on the website www.lovescomingback.com as well as on social media platforms YouTube, Instagram and Facebook @ lovescomingback.
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26 Sing about pub starting active period (7) 27 Reign left in regret (4) 28 Tire, tolerate queen being a campaigner (4-6)
06 | The Tribune | Weekend
Friday, July 9, 2021
Across: 1 Restarted, 7 Smears, 9 Sadness, 10 Emma, 12 For, 13 Enthral, 14 Van, 15 Toga, 17 Insight, 19 Delete, 20 Crosseyed. Down: 1 Reserved, 2 Exam, 3 Sid, 4 Amethysts, 5 Resort, 6 Errol, 8 Serrated, 11 Atones, 13 Eager, 16 Ghee, 18 Gay.
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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. Verb forms ending in s permitted. TODAY’S TARGET Good 23; very good 35; excellent 46 (or more). Solution on Monday
Yesterday’s call 0907 181 2585 Sudokufor Answer today’s target solution *Calls cost 80p per minute plus your telephone company’s network access charge.
BATTLESHIPS CRYPTIC PUZZLE Down 1 Fellow actor? (8) 2 He has the will to settle things (8) 3 Went on the right lines (4) 5 In sound condition though possibly highly strung (3,2,1,6) 6 Land in Paris (Le Bourget?) (4) 7 Is about to revolt but flags (6) 8 Being by herself Nelly is confused about love (6) 11 Individual non-member of a union (6,6) 15 Police prize (5) 16 Something growing in the wood (5) 18 King and priest apt to be dependable (8) 19 Figure how much property I’m coming into (8) 21 Made a pile (6) 22 Stop - I’m getting deep in trouble (6) 26 More cross (4) 27 Above the neck - in a glass of beer? (4)
Across 1 Short story writer has an attempt to produce verse (6) 4 It’s no rumour he’s in charge (8) 9 Business fixed in minutes (6) 10 Horse sadly lost nail (8) 12 Woman makes a mud pie (4) 13 Pity’s stirred by those influenced by drink (5) 14 In which someone takes his time (4) 17 A way to make complete provisions (12) 20 They are put to work by turns (12) 23 They’re given to those who beg for weapons we hear (4) 24 The flighty take to them (5) 25 French girl returns if encored (4) 28 Look smaller though unique (8) 29 Rabies breaks out in southern Europe (6) 30 Sauce required for formal dinner (8) 31 Stick a number in this space (6)
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Yesterday’s Easy Solution Across: 1 Copra, 4 Popular, 8 Lot, 9 Open-ended, 10 Retreat, 11 Angle, 13 Trifle, 15 Benign, 18 Waken, 19 At least, 21 In the pink, 23 Orb, 24 Ghostly, 25 Needy. Down: 1 Culprit, 2 Put at risk, 3 Above, 4 Pretty, 5 Presage, 6 Lid, 7 Ridge, 12 Go it alone, 14 Lenient, 16 Notably, 17 Pacify, 18 Wring, 20 Liken, 22 Too.
Yesterday’s Cryptic Solution Across: 1 Atlas, 4 Glasses, 8 Hit, 9 Piping hot, 10 Mileage, 11 Yearn, 13 Deduce, 15 Adored, 18 Angel, 19 Misdeal, 21 Protester, 23 Eel, 24 Larceny, 25 Match. Down: 1 Ashamed, 2 Little dog, 3 Sepia, 4 Gopher, 5 Annoyed, 6 Soh, 7 Sit-in, 12 Agreement, 14 College, 16 Delilah, 17 Smithy, 18 Appal, 20 Strum, 22 Oar.
EASY PUZZLE
Across 1 Second in command (6) 4 Sheath for sword (8) 9 Check truth of (6) 10 Much sought after (2,6) 12 Discard (4) 13 Funny (5) 14 Bluish-white metal (4) 17 Deeply involved (2,2,4,4) 20 Discoloured by bruising (5-3-4) 23 Authentic (4) 24 Lack of good sense (5) 25 Nuisance (4) 28 Disdain (8) 29 Deadly (6) 30 Certain to succeed (4-4) 31 Yield to another’s wish (6)
Down 1 International tennis trophy (5,3) 2 Spread through (8) 3 Slight quarrel (4) 5 By a significant amount (12) 6 Make beer (4) 7 Official Egyptian language (6) 8 Subtract (6) 11 Fall heavily (4,1,7) 15 Humble (5) 16 Shabby-looking (5) 18 A sound equity share (4,4) 19 In the mind (8) 21 Noisy quarrel (6) 22 Gather into storage (6) 26 Hard of hearing (4) 27 Nought (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 on Monday 1
2
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black squares: 3, 6, 8, 1 31, 32, 35, 37, 40. Across: Irrational, Numb Foresaw, Links, Glaze, Ab Assuage, Pagoda, Cubist Down: Knife, Tempo, Imm cAn you crack the Alphabeater?Reefs, eachApex, gridBath, Item, TArGeT Nervily, Shakily, Exist, Ze number represents a letter – or black square. MANHANDLe 0 adman ahem amen amend dame As in Alphapuzzle, every letter ofCroSS the alphabet DoubT( halma hame headman helm ea isdamn used. But you have to complete the grid too! Across: COLON lama lame lamed made maenad DoWN: VOICE use and black squares below male the manegiven manedletters MANHANDLE manna meadthe mealgrid meanis ‘rotationally the gridmanned to start. SuMMiT uP 0 medal meld mend name named symmetrical’ – in other words, it 96 looks *Ca andthe 93
THE ALPHABEAT
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.
A B D U C T M28S D S R C O N Q U E R
SMALL CroSSWorD
4
1
1 x Battleship
3 x Destroyer
2 x cruiser
4 x submarine
2
same if you turn the page upside down. Solution on Monday 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
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28 Yesterday’s 30 10 38 37
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10Kakuro 36 27Answer 24 34
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G P
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● Alternatively, for six Extra Letter clues to text DXBEAT to 84901. Texts cost £1 plus your u
KEIJO 2
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The Tribune | Weekend |07
Friday, July 9, 2021
music
‘Sweet Emily’ is back with a new anthem to inspire travel By ALESHA CADET | Tribune Features Writer | acadet@tribunemedia.net
S
INCE returning to the world of music, Emily Monique Williams, better known as “Sweet Emily”, has recorded almost 20 songs, including a number of collaborations. Her latest single, “Find a Way to My Heart”, for example, features the Mzansi African Singers, Herbert Swann Jr and Dillon “DMac” McKenzie. “Find a Way to My Heart”is a cover song written by the legendary Phil Collins, who originally was a singer/drummer for the band Genesis before becoming a multiple Grammy Award-winning composer and solo music artist. The inspiration to record the cover version came from Herbert Swann Jr, who presently resides in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos. “Mr Swann contacted me in the earlier part of 2021 with a view to do another song, but he also mentioned in our conversation that he always wanted to do this ‘Find a Way to my Heart’ song,” said Emily. “He sent me the song to listen to, and after I listened, I was inspired to do it as well because of the lyrical content. We both felt as if we could pitch this song as a tourism product, (through which) we would encourage persons to start travelling again.” For the past 16 months, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it, if not impossible, very challenging to people to travel like they were used to. Emily and her team believe in the potential of the song and the way in which it could inspire others. Accordingly, with the accompanying music video, they hope to take Junkanoo around the world. “We felt that this song and video could also assist both Herbert and I to catapult our musical careers beyond the borders of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos, while showcasing our beautiful shores to the world,” the singer said. “We were able to get sponsorship from family, friends and a few businesses in both Turks and the Bahamas, which enabled us to hire a videographer to do a video for the song.” Both the single and the video were released on July 1. Thursday, July 1, 2021. The song features the Mzansi African Singers, a choir from Soweto, South Africa; Herbert Swann Jr on lead and solo guitar, and Dillon “DMac” McKenzie, who produced and mastered the single. She is looking forward to worldwide feedback, especially from Africa. She also expects a great response from the people of Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas in particular. “We are aiming to get the video to go viral. We also plan to release a ‘Find a Way to My Heart’ challenge video to help push the song to the larger markets around the world. Also, I want people to
SWEET Emily
THE MZANSI African Singers know that Sweet Emily is really back after almost 20 years of sabbatical,” she said. “Many people still do not know that I am back in the field of entertainment, so this is also a comeback for me. We intentionally wanted to release the song around the Independence Day holiday because we know that many people still need to be inspired due to family members and friends they have lost as a result of COVID-19. We want to bring that patriotic spirit once again into the homes and lives of Bahamians in particular.” Emily recorded her first album entitled “Sweet Emily” in 1996, which made her into ‘The Bahamian Queen of Junkanoo’.
HERBERT SWANN, Jr At the time, she was the only female artist recording Junkanoo music. She then recorded her second Junkanoo album, “Queen of Junkanoo”, on which she collaborated with local music icon, the late Ronnie Butler. They came together for the famous duet “Look What Ya Do.” Over the years, Emily has been invited by many educational institutions, including the University of the Bahamas, Omega College and others, to speak about the music industry and to encourage the youth of our nation by reminding them of their great potential. “People look up to me in the business, and I see myself as a bridge between the more seasoned entertainers and the new and upcoming ones. I want to spend the next two or three years just meeting and getting to know more of the newer artists and entertainers. I also want to help mentor whomever is willing in the process, because many older entertainers have passed and they did not do a great job of properly bridging the cultural musical gap,” said Emily. Most of her new music can be found on iTunes and other streaming platforms like YouTube and Spotify. For the older and songs, fans can check out recordings on YouTube. “Some of my older songs I do not have the legal rights yet to distribute as a result of a copyright technicality, but hopefully I can soon get the rights to my older music sorted out so that I can place them on digital downloading sites for them to be purchased,” said Emily. Fans can also reach out to her on Facebook if they wish to purchase her songs.
10 | The Tribune | Weekend
Friday, July 9, 2021
books
Father-daughter duo releases book of social conscious poetry By JEFFARAH GIBSON | Tribune Features Writer | jgibson@tribunemedia.net
I
N a parent-child relationship, the parent is supposed to give the instructions while the child is supposed to follow them. But in the case of Jermaine Rolle and his 11-year-old daughter Ajanae the dynamics somewhat changed when they worked side-byside to put together a new book of poetry. Mr Rolle, who has authored several books and hosted a writing competition, joined forces with his daughter for “From the Depths Of A Rendezvous with Poetry”. Ajanae is 13 years old and drawn to various forms of artistic JERMAINE and Ajanae Rolle share a passion for writing expressions, whether it be music, writing or the visual arts. She is an honour roll student at Bahamas Academy and will be entering grade 11 in September. While she enjoys writing, “singing appears to be her true passion but her talent is limitless” said Mr Rolle. “Ajanae was my real inspiration for the book,” the proud father told Tribune Weekend. “She showed real interest in writing after my first book. Also, there was an experience she had in primary school where she wrote a short story as a class assignment which I thought was exceptional for her age. I told her I would consider publishing the story once she got the assignment back from her teacher. I remember the excitement I saw on her face vividly. She never got the assignment back, but I never forgot my commitment to get her published.” Ever since publishing his first book, “Cries of a Poetic Soul”, in 2015, Mr Rolle has been thinking of ideas for his next book. “The first book addressed romance and relationships, but I wanted the next book to tackle more societal issues,” he said. “In this book I wanted to give the readers some of the material that they enjoyed from the first book
and still incorporate new themes to demonstrate growth in both style and subject matter. ‘From the Depths Of’ covers the topics of relationships, gun violence, drugs, justice, single parenting, police brutality, politics, depression, death and cancer,” he said. As for her part, Ajanae penned poems based on the recommendations of her father. “She would always look to me for advice when she wrote anything, not so much for approval but for guidance,” he said. “One of the poems that’s included in the book called ‘Son of a Bottle’ and was written by her on a weekend when she felt bored. I told her to write something. She asked me to give her a topic. I gave her the topic of alcoholism and the rest was history. Within an hour she wrote the poem, and I was completely blown away. It was at that point I realised her potential and it solidified my idea to include her as a co-author. She doesn’t quite see how good her work is just yet and even though she is quite talented she is really humble and shy.” Ajanae enjoyed the experience of co-authoring a book with her dad. “I enjoyed the fact that I could watch the whole book being made with each individual poem. It was inspiring to see and read the poems and craft my own,”she said. The budding author said she hopes to write another book with her father in the near future. “I do hope to author another book with my Dad and also by myself, because I love writing. My solo book might be either a diary type book or a book with a hood main character. Either way it will be exciting and interesting.” “From the Depths Of - A Rendezvous with Poetry” is now available on Amazon as an e-book. Recently, the book was ranked as high as #3 in Caribbean and Latin American Literature. The paperback version will be available in bookstores soon. For more information, contact 242- 434-1365.
The Tribune | Weekend |11
Friday, July 9, 2021
books
Andros educator releases fun-filled children’s book
W
ho would have believed that getting children to read and learn life lessons would be so much fun? Setagainst the colourful backdrop of Andros—the land of crabs, bonefishing, blue holes, and 20lb rock iguanas, local teacher Princess Burrows has managed to pull the two elements - reading and learning - together in her new book, Letters to My Mother: Confessions from Engine #9. Mrs Burrows hopes she has authored a book that kids can relate to, especially those growing up in the islands. In Letters to My Mother, Baton Grey (affectionately called Engine #9) is a mischievous boy who is often led astray by his friends. If he’s not captaining a dinghy, being charged by a goat, or an accomplice to deflating the tyres of an ice cream truck, young Baton is having the time of his life engaging in his boyhood adventures. Manipulated by his eight pals who take great delight in leading him into mischief, Baton’s life takes a drastic turn when he loses one of his closest friends. He now sees life from a new perspective. Fellow educator, a French language teacher in New Providence, and author of Le Début Conversational French, Mickelle Pratt describesLetters to My Mother: Confessions of Engine #9 as “a compelling story of fun, family, bad choices, consequences, life lessons, growth, and change.” Ms Pratt said each chapter reminded her of sweet island life and gives a new generation a glimpse of how life was back in the day. Using it as an opportunity to share a story with her young son, who enjoyed the book as much as she did, Ms Pratt added: “It catches your attention and spikes your imagination.” As a mother, what stood out to her was that every chapter had a lesson to be learned. “This novel is a perfect example of how teens go through the motions and emotions of adolescence and peer pressure… learning and maturing every step of the way. It’s a must-read,” she said. Also a mother, the Letters to My Mother author understands the importance of having positive reading material that instils critical life lessons in a way young readers understand, relate to and enjoy. As a teacher for nearly 24 years, Ms Burrows has taught and inspired her students to write engaging stories in their little Love Hill settlement. “Children learn by example,” she said. “I can tell them to write, but when they see that I am joining them in writing, they realise that it is not
PRINCESS BURROWS, Author
PRINCESS BURROWS BOOK
relatable.” A school principal in Andros gifted copies of the books to her entire graduating class. “It’s a practical keepsake,” Ms Burrows said. “I believe it’s one of those books students will want to keep for their children.” Published by InspirePublishing.org, Letters to My Mother is available in Love Hill, Andros, at Tammy’s Groceries, DJ’s Buy 4 Less, and Chrispin’s General Store. You can also secure your copy on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle format or by contacting the author.
In the spotlight:
Island Queen by Vanessa Riley Born into slavery on the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat, Doll bought her freedom—and that of her sister and her mother—from her Irish planter father and built a legacy of wealth and power as an entrepreneur, merchant, hotelier, and planter that extended from the marketplaces and sugar plantations of Dominica and Barbados to a glittering luxury hotel in Demerara on the South American continent.
just foreigners who can write stories or books— they can too.” At her students’ suggestion, Ms Burrows compiled an assortment of her stories and had them published in book format. Although the book was written for children, adults are also enjoying it. Andros resident Shantell Riley said she read the book from cover to cover and enjoyed every page. “The messages are very timely, particularly for younger generations,” Ms Riley said. “I am grateful to the author for documenting the events, which are very
Vanessa Riley’s novel brings Doll to vivid life as she rises above the harsh realities of slavery and colonialism by working the system and
leveraging the competing attentions of the men in her life: a restless shipping merchant, Joseph Thomas; a wealthy planter hiding a secret, John Coseveldt Cells; and a roguish naval captain who will later become King William IV of England. From the bustling port cities of the West Indies to the forbidding drawing rooms of London’s elite, Island Queen is a sweeping epic of an adventurer and a survivor who answered to no one but herself as she rose to power and autonomy against all odds, defying rigid eighteenthcentury morality and the oppression of women as well as people of colour. It is an unforgettable portrait of a true larger-than-life woman who made her mark on history.
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Friday, July 9, 2021
history
A once-in-a-century voice silenced too soon
Sir Christopher Ondaatje writes about the tragic life of the American tenor, actor and Hollywood film star of the late 1940s and ‘50s. in four months, singing extracts from various operas. He then studied with Enrico Rosati for 15 months before embarking on an 86-stop concert tour of the United States, Canada and Mexico between July 1947 and May 1948 with bass George London and soprano Frances Yeend. Following his second appearance at Chicago’s Grant Park in July 1947, Claudia Cassidy in the Chicago Sunday Tribune praised Lanza’s “... superbly natural tenor. Though a multitude of fine points evade him, he possesses the things almost impossible to learn. He knows the accent that makes a lyric line reach its audience, and he knows why opera is music drama.”
“I sing from the heart ... as though my life depends on it, and if I ever stop doing that then I’ll stop living.” - Mario Lanza Mario Lanza was born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza on January 21, 1921, in Philadelphia. His mother, Maria Lanza, was from Tocco da Cassauria – a town in the province of Pescara in the region of Abruzzo in Italy. His father Antonio Cocozza was from Filignano, a town in the province of Isernia in the region of Molisse. By the time he was 16, his vocal talent had become obvious. He started out singing in the local YMCA Opera Company in Philadelphia, and before he was 20 he was discovered by the longtime principal Boston Symphony conductor Serge Koussevitzky, who, in 1942, provided young Cocozza with a full student scholarship to the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, Massachusetts. Koussevitzky told him: “Yours is a voice such as is heard once in a hundred years.” He made his opera debut as Fenton in Otto Nicolai’s English The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Berkshire Music Festival in Tanglewood on August 7, 1942, after studying with Boris Goldovsky and Leonard Bernstein. He adopted the stage name of Mario Lanza because it closely resembled his mother’s maiden name, Maria Lanza. His performance in Tanglewood won him critical acclaim. “The young twenty-one-year-old has few equals among tenors of the day in terms of quality, warmth and power.” - Noel Strauss The New York Times “A real find of the season was Mario Lanza ... He would have no difficulty one day being asked to join the Metropolitan Opera.” - Herbert Graf Opera News, October 5, 1942 Lanza sang in The Merry Wives of Windsor twice in Tanglewood, and also sang in Act III of Puccini’s La bohéme with Mexican soprano Irma González, baritone James Pease, and mezzosoprano Laura Castellano.
In April 1948, Lanza sang two performances as Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly for the New Orleans Opera Association conducted by Walter Herbert with stage director Armando Agnini. “Mario Lanza performed Lieutenant Pinkerton with considerable verve and dash. Rarely have we seen a more superbly romantic leading tenor. His exceptionally beautiful voice helps him immeasurably.” - Laurence Oden St. Louis News, 9 April 1948
Mario Lanza’s budding operatic career was halted in World War II when he was assigned to Special Services in the US Army Air Corps. He appeared in the wartime shows On the Beam and Winged Victory.
He was invited to return to New Orleans in 1949 as Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata, but by then Lanza was already deeply involved in the Hollywood machinery and never learned that key mid-Verdi tenor role. A concert at the Hollywood Bowl in August 1947 had brought Lanza to the attention of Louis B Mayer, who promptly signed him to a seven-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The contract stipulated that Lanza be committed to the film studio for six months, and the young tenor believed he could have time to combine his film career with that of his concert responsibilities. He made his first commercial recordings with RCA Victor, and his aria “Che gelida manina” from La bohéme was awarded the Operatic Recording of the Year by the US National Record Critics Association.
He resumed his singing career in September 1945 with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Peter Herman Adler, who was to become Lanza’s mentor. The following October he replaced Jan Peerce on the live CBS radio programme Great Moments in Music in which he appeared six times
Mario Lanza’s first two films, That Midnight Kiss (1949) and The Toast of New Orleans (1950), both opposite Kathryn Grayson, were huge commercial successes, and his recording of “Be My Love” from the latter film became the first to sell over three million records, earning him instant
MARIO Lanza “Irma González as Mimi, and Mario Lanza as Rodolfo were conspicuous by the beauty of their voices and the vividness of their characterizations.” - Jay C Rosenfeld Music critic The New York Times
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... He had the voice of the next Caruso – an unusual, very unusual quality ... a tenor with a baritone colour in the middle and lower registers ... A great musicality.” - Johnny Green Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer In 1951, Lanza portrayed The Great Caruso – MGM’s biggest success of the year. Almost simultaneously he was subjected to intense criticism by some music critics who had praised his earlier performances. However, Enrico Caruso Jr, the son of the great tenor, stepped in and praised Lanza, saying that he had been born with one of the dozen or so great tenor voices of the century, and an infallible musical instinct.
LANZA starred in two successful films with actress and soprano Kathryn Grayson
The following year, 1952, was a tough year for Lanza. He recorded all the songs for The Student Prince (1954), but was dismissed by MGM who stated that his weight problem made it impossible for him to fit into the Prince’s costumes. This was an unlikely excuse. Lanza was not overweight at the beginning of the film’s production. But he was temperamental. A far more likely reason is that he had a disagreement with the film’s director, Curtis Bernhardt, over Lanza’s interpretation of one of the film’s songs, and he simply walked off the set. MGM sided with the director and the film was eventually made with the English actor Edmund Purdom, who acted to Lanza’s recorded singing voice. Depressed by his dismissal which seriously undermined the young singer’s confidence, Lanza sought refuge in alcoholic binges and became an almost total recluse for the next year. Bad investment decisions by his former manager, and his lavish spending habits, left him close to bankruptcy and owing $250,000 in back taxes. He didn’t work in films again until 1955 in Serenade (1956) which was released by Warner Bros. Despite its strong musical score, including arias from Der Rosenkavalier, Fedora, L‘arlesiana, and Otello – which he sang with soprano Licia Albanese – the film was not as successful as his first films.
THE SONG ‘Be My Love’ made Lanza an instant music star fame. At MGM he worked closely with the conductor and composer Johnny Green. Twenty years later Green recalled that Lanza was very insecure about the way he had become successful – before establishing himself on the operatic stage. “Had Lanza already been a leading tenor, if not the leading tenor at the Metropolitan Opera, and come to Hollywood to make a picture, he would have had the security of having the Met as his home
“I had heard all sorts of stories about Mario Lanza. That his voice was too small for the stage, that he couldn’t learn a score, that he couldn’t sustain a full opera; in fact that he couldn’t even sing a full aria, that his recordings were made by splicing together various portions of an aria. None of it is true! He had the most beautiful; lirico spinto voice. It was a gorgeous, beautiful, powerful voice. I should know because I sang with so many tenors. He had everything ... the voice, the temperament, perfect diction ...” - Licia Albanese Lanza moved to Rome, Italy in May 1957, where he worked on the film Seven Hills of Rome. In November he gave a series of concerts starting with the Royal Variety Show at the London Palladium in front of Queen Elizabeth II. In the first half of 1958 he gave a total of 22 concerts in the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands,
France and Germany. Despite some annoying cancellations because of bad health, he continued to be in demand for concerts and some films, including For the First Time. He made a number of recordings for the Rome Opera House whose artistic director, Riccardo Vitale, offered Lanza his choice of operatic roles. He received the same offer from the San Carlo in Naples. However, Lanza’s health continued to decline, with high blood pressure and phlebitis. Overeating, crash dieting, and binge drinking compounded his problems. In April 1959, he was rushed to hospital with heart problems and pneumonia. In September he was admitted to the Valle Giulia clinic in Rome to undergo a controversial weight loss programme which required that its patients be kept immobile and sedated for prolonged periods. The following month, on October 7, Mario Lanza died of an apparent pulmonary embolism. He was only 38 years old. No autopsy was performed. His wife, Betty Lanza, flew back to Hollywood completely devastated. She died five months later of a drug overdose. Tragedy continued to strike Lanza’s family. In 1998, his daughter Coleen was hit by a car as she crossed the street. She spent two weeks in hospital in a coma from which she never recovered. His son Damien died on August 16, 2008, in California at the age of 55. Lanza’s surviving daughter, Ellisa Lanza Bregman, helps administer the family estate and has spoken openly of the family’s tragedies. Both tenors José Carrera and Plácido Domingo have paid tribute to Mario Lanza and have admitted that he inspired their love of opera and their determination to succeed as singers. His film The Great Caruso influenced numerous other opera stars including Joseph Calleja, Luciano Pavarotti and Vyacheslav Polozov. Opera historian Clyde McCants has stated that despite his short career, the opera singer who made the greatest impact on the world was Mario Lanza. I doubt if the world will ever see such a meteoric rise to fame and such a catastrophic and immediate end to a brilliant and short career. But for his weaknesses, he could have been at home in any opera house in the world. • Sir Christopher Ondaatje is the author of The Last Colonial. He acknowledges that he has quoted liberally from Wikipedia; Mario Lanza: A Biography (1991) by Derek Mannering; and Mario Lanza: An American Tragedy (2004) by Armando Cesari.
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Friday, July 9, 2021
history
PANAMA Canal
What is the Caribbean?
I
n my youth, BahaSpanish America mians were proud and it was natural that the Bahama that the sea on Islands were not in the two sides if the Caribbean. We the isthmus were preferred not to be called called the North West Indians and the South Sea (now the Sea Islands were a romantic Caribbean Sea) dream of friendly ‘native’ and the South Sea inhabitants. I never stopped (now the Pacific to wonder how those Ocean), which is faraway islands got their how the South name, until I read James A Sea Islands got Michener’s Caribbean. their name. I was relieved that In 1881, France Michener wrote, “The started to build Caribbean, nearly nineteen FORGOTTEN FACTS a canal through hundred miles wide from Panama to the Barbados to Yucatán, does Pacific, but not include … the Bahama Islands.” engineering problems, plus a very To the south, the Caribbean Sea high worker-mortality rate, brought is bordered by South and Central construction to a halt in 1894, until America, to the north by Cuba, the United States took over the proHaiti, the Dominican Republic and ject on May 4, 1904, and opened the Puerto Rico. canal on August 15, 1914. Panama, used as a land-bridge to The Canal is an artificial 82 shorten the journey between Spain km waterway that cuts across the and the Spanish colonies in South Isthmus of Panama, connecting America, became the centre of the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific
Ocean, and is a vital conduit for maritime trade. Around one million ships transit the canal each year. It is interesting to note that the Bahamas played a role in its construction, by providing stevedores and workers. Cargo ships from Europe would stop at Long Cay (Fortune Island) to pick up workers to unload the ships at Panama – then drop those workers off to their homes, on the return journey to Europe. Long Cay got the name Fortune Islands because people from all over our Bahama Islands travelled there to make their fortunes. A lesser-known fact about the Canal is that ships from Europe have to steer a westerly course on the way to Panama, where they make a left turn into the Canal and, when they emerge into the Pacific, they are east of where they were when they entered the Canal.
PAUL C ARANHA
THE PANAMA Canal under construction in 1907
• For questions and comments, please send an e-mail to islandairman@gmail.com
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Friday, July 9, 2021
animals JOIE Henney and his registered emotional support alligator named Wally in 2019. (Ty Lohr/ York Daily Record via AP)
Oh by gosh, by golly….
Wally!
W
Animal matters | KIM ARANHA
hatsApp is an amazing tool, amazingly annoying and amazingly useful and fun. I belong to all sorts of WhatsApp groups and when every member of the group feels compelled to say good morning and send an accompanying gif it can overload your phone and make more “pings” than a Russian submarine. On the other hand, it is a brilliant way to disseminate information and to share video clips of interest or that make you laugh. I received a video clip yesterday that I have watched several times already and really did feel compelled to share with some others. It was about Wally the emotional support alligator. The video starts with a grey-haired gentleman telling us that he lost three family members and two life-long friends during the short period of two weeks, and depression really set in. A friend of his rescued gators and found Wally when he was 14 months old. Wally is five feet in length and is now four years old. Even though he is a cold-blooded animal, Wally enjoys to snuggle and apparently, he has never bitten anything, never killed anything, and is just a very friendly and laid-back alligator. He is the only emotional support alligator in the world. He enjoys eating chicken wings and goes on ‘meet and greets’ with his owner. Wally’s human credits him with helping him through a dark period and
without Wally’s existence he would have been put on medication. It all sounds a bit crazy, doesn’t it? But if you Google search “Wally, the emotional support Alligator” you can see film clips of him and his owner. One cannot help but wonder how this extraordinary alligator and his devoted “Dad: will cope when Wally reaches his full potential size of 16 feet! In Surfside, Florida, dogs Charlie and Abbie are part of the Crisis Support Team giving emotional support to the first responders at the horrifically tragic site of the condo collapse on Miami Beach. Two weeks later they continue to recover bodies from the rubble and are still finding more dead every day. It is also worth reminding people that in the recovery operation the first responders depend greatly on assistance from other canines trained to find survivors deep in the rubble. Did you know that some rescue canines become depressed if they only find dead bodies? Their trainers have to stage rescues of living people to boost their morale. A healthy human has to hide under debris and the canine gets to “save” their life and then the dog is happy again. Charlie and Abbie have the daunting task of helping the brave responders handle the emotional toil of going back day after day for over 14 days looking for the dead buried deep under concrete and steel. Charlie and Abbie are part of the
first team of ten rescue dogs to become response canines in the innovative programme of the Miami Dade Fire Rescue. All the members of the team were rescued from shelters. Charlie is a retired greyhound and, like his fellow team members, has a calming influence that helps crews to avoid suffering from PTSD. The amazing therapeutic aide a dog can provide is unique. Therapy animals are gaining international recognition, hospitals all around the world welcome therapy animal care for their patients. Most of these therapy animals are dogs, I presume because of their nature and long history of being man’s best friend. Dogs are most certainly easier to move around with than an alligator, with all due respect to Wally. However, not to be forgotten are the therapy horses who visit hospitals. There are teams of mini horses who visit sick children. Literally thousands of children benefit from their gentle and caring visits, and there are also big, full-sized, horses too, who go to hospitals.
PET OF THE WEEK
Meet Midnight! By The Bahamas Humane Society
M
idnight is the last of her siblings to be adopted, and she’s waiting on you to give her her forever home. This young lady’s about three months old.
Midnight has a very sweet personality and is good with children and adults alike. She’d love to get out of this crate and into a home and she hopes you’ll be patient during the housebreaking process. She’s looking forward to finding out more about walks and gardens and beaches. Do you have the right space for Midnight? If so, give the Bahamas Humane Society a call at 3235138 to find out more! Mid-
night is eagerly awaiting you. • The BHS Thrift Shop is open. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 11am to 3pm and Saturday from 10am to 2pm. We sell gently used items to raise funds for the shelter. If you’d like to donate, we’d be grateful to accept your donation. If the shop is closed, please leave them in the main shelter. Thank you!
(Photo/Linda Gill-Aranha)
The bottom line is that therapy animals are on the rise. More and more pets are being groomed to provide humans with the reassurance and comfort that they frequently cannot get from another human. I was reading an article recently and one of the fire fighters in Florida was explaining how great it was to have emotional therapy dogs. One of the things he said was that if a human is comforting you, they most likely will ask how you are feeling, dogs don’t do that. Dogs don’t need to, they know how you feel, and they know what you need. A dog will sit by your side, put his head on your lap, sigh a big sigh, and just simply be there, for as long as you need him to be. It saddens me greatly that I do not see the Bahamas becoming a country that will embrace the emotional therapy animal. It will take a long time for people here to understand the benefit of comfort from a dog or any other emotional therapy animal.
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gardening
Summer colour
A
s we get into the depths of the summer heat, how do we keep our gardens bright and colourful through the hot and humid summer months, with minimal to no maintenance? Winter annuals will have either faded or be well into their decline (unless your Impatiens are growing in the shade), so, how about using perennials that tolerate the heat and humidity? Note: some info on the internet will classify many plants as annuals that are used locally as perennials, this is because they are annuals in cooler climates, but they are perennials in warmer climates, and most of what is written is from above a certain latitude that does not apply to our environs. The first one that I go to is Vinca (periwinkle, Catharanthus roseus). The original types of Vinca are strong, tolerant of heat and drought (these are the ones growing in the cracks of walls and sidewalks, mostly lavender in colour) and perform with little to no care or attention paid. Many different colours and cultivars have been created over the last couple of decades through hybridization and they can range from white to red, orange, and dark purple, some with coloured eyes some with bicoloured flowers. There are upright varieties (‘Cora XDR’, ‘Pacifica XP’) and there are varieties with a more trailing habit (‘Cora Cascade’). For years, we used to have issues with them not being strong, they would die back easily from rot caused by fungus, they would not do well in our rainy season. Thankfully, lots of breeding has taken place in the last decade plus, and many improvements have been made in the genetics
of the Vinca to make them much more tolerant of both rain and drought, also we improved our growing of them mostly through experimentation with different potting media mixes. Vinca do best for me when left to do their thing, too much attention from a hose or watering can, or if planted in a low spot that may gather sitting water in a good rain
and they will not be too happy. They love the full sun. Fast draining soil or planting media is a must, and a media that dries relatively quickly is beneficial as they do well in sandy soils, and they are quite tolerant of salty air. Another that I find very cheerful is Angelonia, it is a favourite of pollinators, veggie and fruit gardeners can put it to use. Angelonia, like Vinca, can seed themselves in the planted area if they are in favorable conditions. Angelonia have a higher tolerance for water when in the ground than in pots, I find that they like to dry more when in containers than when in the ground or in a raised bed. Angelonia have been one of the few performers in the summer heat and they show good strength and resilience to heat, drought, and over -saturation. This plant can act more like a plant somewhere between an annual and a biennial as
the original plant tends to last around 18 months, sometimes a bit more. By that time, it would have proven to be in favorable conditions and would have most likely seeded several times over by that point, at that stage it is hard to even notice that the original plant had declined. Angelonia was another one that was a bit finicky for the first several years of my growing experience, but after finally figuring out a suitable potting media, and with a trimming of seeds once or twice, these plants can stand out in the full sun, part shade, or even a light full shade. They are tolerant of poor, compacted soils, and sandy soils, but salt tolerance is untested, and I would be interested to know if anyone has grown them near the salt water with any success. There are other options that are reliable: Gaillardia, Gazania, Pentas and others. These are all some colourful flowering plants that
not only look great through the year, as they handle the persistent heat and humidity of our summer months, but they also bring the pollinators and provide snacks for the birds, the bees, and many other beneficial insects! Balance and harmony are what a complete garden is about, and I wish you luck and I also hope that you have a tree or three around to help shade and cool your property or dwelling! Trees are proven to cool the ground, concrete and tarmac. Plant more trees, and get some hardy flowering perennials in the yard to brighten things up even if ya stuck in the A/C! As always, I wish you happy gardening. • Adam Boorman is the nursery manager at the Fox Hill Nursery. You can contact him with any questions you may have, or topics you would like to see discussed, at gardening242@gmail. com.