07172020 WEEKEND

Friday, July 17, 2020

Weekend

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photography

A Rose-Coloured Lens

The demise of the Bahamian sloop

B

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

The sloop has been a mainstay of maritime Bahamas; the means of transport and trade for most of the Out Islands. Once lining Woodes Rogers Walk by the hundreds, they are now sailing into the sunset. The sloop built for racing at Montagu, the work boat made famous by the Family Island regattas, is one more iconic image that is slowly disappearing.

Friday, July 17, 2020

The Tribune | Weekend | 03

Friday, July 17, 2020

Inside Weekend Interview 4 - 5

From a small island nation to California’s Silicon Valley. College student Tyrese Coakley has landed a dream internship to help internet uses with online security

Music 7 - 8

Travis Bodie follows the sweet sounds of the saxophone down a viable career path, plus Ian McQuay and Lady E bring people ‘Closer’ with new single

Fashion 9

GiGi Hanna wants Bahamian women to be bold and unapologetic about their wardrobe choices

Gardening 10

How to ‘grow out of zone’

Television 11

Netflix’s Baby-Sitters Club reboot: hit or miss?

Entertainment 12

2020 Youth Alive event brings international Christian hip hop and electronic dance artist V Rose to the Bahamas

Celebrity 13

Bahamian drag queen Anastarzia Anaquway pursues dream in Canada

Art 14 - 15, 20-21

From Atlantis’ pottery studio to making painted canvas pillows at home: Erica Lightbourn finds new ways to spark creativity, plus kids explore the real ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, invasive species, in art competition

Books 16 - 17

Bahamian best-selling author returns with a new cosy mystery, plus this week’s new page-turners

Forgotten Facts 22

The rugged people of Ragged Island

Literary Lives 23 - 25

The forgotten author of one of the 20th century’s most influential novels

Puzzles 26

Animal Matters 27

Farewell to a good friend, plus Pet of Week

Cover | Shawn Hanna

MY PERFECT BAHAMIAN WEEKEND Jerad A Darville Community activist Q: What is the first thing you did after the weekend lockdown was lifted?

“Take my kids to play baseball.

I missed the baseball field and being able to coach again.”

Q: What item or service could you not live without if another lockdown were to occur?

“If lockdown occurred again I could not live without my airconditioning. The climate is becoming extreme with the heat.

I have come to the realisation that air-conditioning is not a luxury in the Bahamas but a necessity.”

Q: What lessons did you learn during lockdown?

“I learned the importance of having proper money management. I always thought to save for a rainy day, but COVID-19 showed me

THIS WEEKEND IN HISTORY July 17

• In 1717, George Frideric Handel’s “Water Music” was first performed by an orchestra during a boating party on the River Thames (tehmz), with the musicians on one barge, and King George I listening from another.

• In 1862, during the Civil War, Congress approved the Second Confiscation Act, which declared that all slaves taking refuge behind Union lines were to be set free.

• In 1918, Russia’s Czar Nicholas II and his family – his wife Empress Alexandra and their five children: Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei – were executed by the Bolsheviks. The bodies were taken to the Koptyaki forest outside Yekaterinburg where they were stripped and mutilated.

Today’s birthdays: Actor Donald

those rainy days could sometimes turn into months. Also, the importance of having a strong family system, because without the ability to lean on family I don’t know how my immediate family would have made it through.”

Q: How has COVID-19 affected your plans for 2020?

“COVID-19 has set back business, travel and finances. It’s hard with all of the rule changes to actually make plans with the fear of being in violation or stuck someplace I don’t want to be the next morning.

At this point I am just waiting it out until everything seems to become under control.”

Q: If you could travel to one place for a coronavirus-free vacation this Summer, where would it be and why?

“It would have to be North Andros. I love the atmosphere there, especially touring BAMSI and experiencing a glimpse of where our country is headed in terms of agriculture and becoming self-sustainable. Andros is the Garden of Eden. Everything you can imagine to do in nature is there.”

Sutherland is 85. Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, is 73. Actor David Hasselhoff is 68. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is 66. Television producer Mark Burnett is 60.

Diesel is 53. Actress Elsa Pataky (“The Fast and the Furious” films) is 44. Actress Kristen Bell is 40.

Actress Priyanka Chopra is 38.

• In 1964, nearly a week of rioting erupted in New York’s Harlem neighbourhood following the fatal police shooting of a Black teenager, James Powell, two days earlier.

• In 1969, Senator Ted Kennedy left a party on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha’s Vineyard with Mary Jo Kopechne, 28; some time later, Kennedy’s car went off a bridge into the water. Kennedy was able to escape, but Kopechne drowned.

• In 1986, the world got its first look at the wreckage of the RMS Titanic resting on the ocean floor as videotape of the British luxury liner, which sank in 1912, was released by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Today’s birthdays: Actor James Brolin is 80. Talk show host-actress Wendy Williams is 56. Actor Vin

• In 1961, TWA became the first airline to begin showing regularly scheduled in-flight movies as it presented “By Love Possessed” to first-class passengers on a flight from New York to Los Angeles.

• In 1969, Apollo 11 and its astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins, went into orbit around the moon.

• In July 19, 1993, President Bill Clinton announced a policy allowing homosexuals to serve in the US military under a compromise dubbed “don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue.”

Today’s birthdays: Rock musician Brian May (Queen) is 73. Actor Anthony Edwards (”ER”) is 58. Actor Benedict Cumberbatch is 44. AActor Jared Padalecki (”Supernatural”) is 38.

– The Associated Press

July 18

July 19

04 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 17, 2020

interview

Tyrese Coakley From a small island nation to Silicon Valley. This college student has scored an internship with an exciting start-up looking to enhance online security for internet uses. The Business major tells Cara Hunt how in addition to his work at this new California company, he is is also developing a resource to help school children fill in any gaps they may have in their traditional education.

I

t was a virtual business class in high school that propelled Bahamian-born Tyrese Coakley down a new and exciting career path.

And now the third-year old college student has landed an internship with a company that may help internet users have a greater degree of privacy as they navigate the worldwide web.

Tyrese was seven years old when he moved from the Bahamas to Bermuda with his mother.

While in high school, he was very interested in debate and speech and seriously considered a career in law.

However, taking a virtual business class his second year in high school made him switch focus.

“The goal of the class was to show what it would be like to run a business and then I did marketing and fell in love with it and knew that is what I wanted to do.”

Tyrese was able to make several valuable connections through his marketing studies, which eventually led to him getting a lucrative internship at the Bacardi company in Bermuda and at a local travel company.

Following his graduation from high school, Tyrese moved to Canada to attend university.

“I am a third year Business student, majoring in Marketing at the University of New Brunswick,” he said.

His networking skills paid off in a major way. Thanks to one of his contacts, he heard about and was able to land an internship with The @Company.

The @ Company is a Silicon Valley start-up centered around digital privacy. They launched a two-month internship at the start of last month and Tyrese is one of 18 interns (six of whom reside in Bermuda) hired from around the world for the virtual internship.

“I actually learned about the internship from one of the people who I had worked with at the travel booking company who said that I had stood out to her. This internship is the most important thing career wise that has happened to me,” he explained.

“This is my first formal marketing role and is really me getting my foot in the door. It is one thing to say that you want to do XYZ, but another thing to actually be able to say that you are doing it and have it reflected on your resume.”

Tyrese is the current Marketing and Business Development intern for The @ Company.

“I’ve had the opportunity thus far to work very closely with the founders on a competitive analysis project, looking at possible competition and potential partners in our market,” he said.

Friday, July 17, 2020

“In addition to this, I’m also assisting with the development of the investor material used to pitch for company funding. Being a part of this start-up process already has proven to be an extremely educational and beneficial experience for me and I hope to continue learning and growing alongside the other great interns. I plan to use the skills I’ve developed to further my career in marketing.”

As part of his internship, Tyrese is assisting the company with privacy and protection for internet users.

“Often when you are online and you search for something like say ‘basketballs’ you then see that you are getting ads for basketballs, because advertisers have access to your data. So the company builds apps and software that would your permission before that happens.”

The internship was always scheduled to be a virtual, even before the COVID-19 pandemic caused many employers to go that route.

“According to CEO Barbara Tallent, ‘We want our interns to learn and grow, but we want to learn and grow too. As a company that believes in the power of people we wanted to bring together a team of people with diverse backgrounds and experiences.’ “ Tyrese said that he has had no problems with the work thus far.

“It doesn’t feel like we are working far away from one another; we feel like a connected team.”

Tyrese said the COVID-19 pandemic has definitely proven that it is possible for employees to work from home effectively.

“The data indicates that a lot of people enjoy working from home, they find it comforting and more relaxing, and in many cases they are actually able to be more productive because they have more control of their time.”

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Tyrese also has a personal project he is excited to launch: Nexus Bermuda. The purpose of the venture is to help college students fill gaps they may have had in their high school years, “I know that when I first started school that there were things that I felt were lacking or that I needed some refresher help in. For example, I knew when I was taking math in my first year we were doing matrixes and I need to get a refresher course,” she said.

“So that is the basically the idea of Nexus, it is an online support system to help studies in areas where they may have some deficiencies. I know that sometimes in schools, the teachers may have to rush over some topics due to time or maybe the student just doesn’t catch that particular lesson.”

Nexus Bermuda, created in 2019, is an organisation dedicated to supporting each student’s climb to their peak.

“Acting as a bridge in the gaps of the Bermuda education systems’ delivery to students, we will ensure students are fully nourished with plentiful educational opportunities and preparedness. Therefore working to prevent students from being unprepared for their transition from secondary to tertiary education (university).

We desire to contribute to the enhancement of students’ social, financial, and academic skills required at the university level,” he said.

“We will offer short support lessons, tutoring services, as well as job postings, accessible via the internet. Our highest resolve is to help students develop academic foundations and skills that are globally recognised, conveying the ability to perform optimally in their university career.”

06 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 17, 2020

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Friday, July 17, 2020

music

The sweet sound of the

sax

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson@tribunemedia.net

TRAVIS Bodie has found his calling in the sweet sounds of the saxophone

M

aking music has always been in Travis Bodie’s blood. When he was young he would use tree branches as drumsticks just to create some noise.

But he has long since left those sticks and branches behind and switched to a much more sophisticated instrument: the saxophone.

“Believe it or not the saxophone was not my first instrument. Initially, I played the drums,” he told Tribune Weekend.

But playing the saxophone has brought him the most success, and he said he now enjoys an amazingly and extraordinarily viable career as a musician.

“When I attended Doris Johnson High School my music teacher at that time, Aaron Neely, decided to create a band. However, he also decided that he chose what instrument everyone played and yes, you guessed it, he gave me a saxophone. Although I had no idea why or how to play it, I embraced what was forced on me. I learned it and fell in love with the saxophone,” he said.

The sound the saxophone produces and the unique the way it is designed – it is easy to mistake for a brass instrument but actually belongs in the woodwind family – is what inspired Travis’ fascination with the instrument that was developed in 1846 by the Belgian inventor and musician Adolphe Sax. “It is one of the most sleek and sexy instruments ever created. It (evokes) a level of oneness, comfort and peace in me when I am playing and performing,” he said.

And Travis has been able to share this feeling peace and comfort with audiences, having performed at many venues including private dinners at The Ocean Club, Palm Cay, weddings in Jacksonville, Florida, events at Baker’s Bay, Kamalame Cay and

numerous restaurants, both in Nassau and the Family Islands. He also delivered numerous “saxograms” at weddings, receptions, corporate parties and church functions.

His success with the saxophone led Travis to pursue a career as a musician full time, one of the best decisions he believes he has made. Playing the saxophone has been his only source of income for some time now.

In order to be a successful musician in the local market, Travis said it takes being committed, serious, and highly calculating about the steps one takes and how one presents their brand.

“Presentation is key in the musical industry as it can open and/or close doors for you.

In addition, you need to be consistent and disciplined in your craft. My goal is to always be relatable. If you have seen my videos you will see that I have recorded inspirational, reggae, love, soft rock, hip hop, and the list goes on,” he said.

And the months-long lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic has taught Travis to incorporate technology into how he presents his services.

“I appreciate technology and how we can apply it to our everyday lives, so with that being said, as our world began to change as a result of the pandemic, quite naturally we have to adapt the changes. Thus, I created virtual saxograms and an amazing way to record my sax covers called Cardio. It was my version of car and studio. Both platforms allowed my fans, clients and myself to adhere to the protocols of the emergency orders while still having the ability to work and create,” he said.

For more information about Travis Bodie, e-mail him at lovenotes242@gmail.com.

08 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 17, 2020

music

Ian McQuay and Lady E join forces to bring people closer together

I

n an effort to promote love and unity in these troubled times, Ian McQuay is releasing his new single “Closer”, which he was inspired to write during the COVID-19 lockdown.

He chose the title because he feels only by being closer to one another can we survive and thrive in these difficult circumstances.

“To me, reconciliation is important for any relationship whether it be a friendship, marriage, business partnership, or between co-workers. At some point there will be disagreements, but I think the solution to get past those is to find the good in your moments and come back together. This song encourages people to get back together, to get closer,” said McQuay.

Featuring the vivacious singer Lady E, the song promotes closeness on both a physical and an emotional level.

According to McQuay, his musical talents were fostered in church. He has always loved music, but it wasn’t until he competed in a local music competition that he decided to make it more than just a hobby.

“My first stint in the Music Master’s Competition, a segment of the inaugural Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival, was eye-opening,” said THE COVER art for the new single “Closer” McQuay. “It gave me a moment to solidify my place as a musician because I emerged as a finalist in the competition, being the only unknown Bahamian artist (to do so) at that time. Music Masters really encouraged me to make more music because my single was so well received and that really was a catalyst for this present moment.”

McQuay said in his view local music competitions play a critical role in helping budding artists to get discovered.

“Music competitions in this country are important, especially because making music on the whole can be a very expensive journey.

These competitions facilitate people that may not have the means to write and distribute and perfect their music. It gives them an opportunity to do so with the assistance of these competitions,” he said.

Further emphasising the need to promote indigenous Bahamian culture, McQuay said, “I believe that people who are pushing culture should be subsidised by other entities that understand its importance to our country. If we don’t procure and protect our culture it will be lost or drowned out by things that are not truly Bahamian.”

LADY E McQuay said he hopes his music will allow listeners to truly feel and embrace Bahamian culture.

IAN McQuay

“Bahamian music is something amazing and it can portray many different experiences. It can tell a story of love, togetherness, how people are upset one moment and happy the next – that’s what I want my music to embody, the unique Bahamian experience,” he said.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the local music industry, McQuay said his time in lockdown allowed him to let his creative juices to flow.

“Due to COVID-19, the music industry, like other aspects of the economy, has taken a serious hit.

“With the current (social distancing restrictions( in place there are not many events and homecomings or other places where you can perform. Nonetheless, it has given me an opportunity to continue writing. I have a lot of new songs, I have gained a lot of inspiration, and I’ve had a lot of time to reflect,” added McQuay.

Lady E said she collaborated with McQuay on this project because she appreciates the song’s message and its electrifying melody.

“People should eagerly anticipate the song and music video because it embodies the fact that though we are being told to physically distance ourselves, we still need to be close emotionally and communicate well with one another, despite obstacles that may arise,” she said.

McQuay said he has two more projects in the works.

“One with Dyson Knight. My next single produced by Rik Carey featuring Wendi is a remix of one of my songs called ‘Miss Me’. I’m really excited about that project.

More collaborations are in the making, but definitely since I’ve started a band I’m gonna spend some time after those singles focusing on my band and perfecting our sound,” he said.

For more information on “Closer” featuring Lady E, check out Ian Alleyne-McQuay on Facebook or @ianmcquay on Instagram.

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Friday, July 17, 2020

fashion

A wardrobe for the ‘unapologetic’ woman

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

A

GIGI Hanna

s beauty salons, nail parlours and retailers continue to open, Bahamian women are finally able to get some of that much missed pampering after the long months of curfews and weekend lockdowns.

Local entrepreneur Gillian “GiGi” Hanna is hedging her bets that fashion-forward Bahamian women will continue to invest in fashion and in themselves.

“I got into retail because I used to spend so much money buying clothes and all my friends would say for the amount of money you spend should open a store,” she told Tribune Weekend.

In November 2016, House of Hanna started as a home-based business to help women find the beauty in how they present themselves to the world.

While working a fulltime job in finance, GiGi spent her free time curating a fashion collection and growing a following for her brand on social media.

Last July, GiGi gave into the demand from her clients for a full retail experience.

And while she loved the idea, she admitted that establishing a physical retail space was pretty intimidating.

“It’s was a risky decision, even before COVID-19,” she said.

GiGi was forced to close the store temporarily in mid-March.

“Instead of focusing on the loss of income due to the store closure, I used the time to revamp the whole concept of what House of Hanna could offer to clients from a retail standpoint,” she said.

Now, with a new look for the shop, a shift to include online sales, and the addition of self-care

products, the boutique is poised for a relaunch in the second half of 2020.

GiGi wants her store to be more than just a place to find an outfit.

“I really am focused on customer service, because I want my customers to feel like family. I want to be a part of their lives year after year and bond with them as well as offer fashion advice,” she said.

“I want women to be unapologetic about the space that they take up in this world, be it at work, while on vacation, at a special event or simply connecting with friends and family.

Wherever they choose to show up, I want them to be confident in the style that they convey.”

GiGi’s clients range in age from their late 20s to 50s.

“They are women who are no longer interested in accumulating fast fashion but instead want to invest in signature pieces that reflect their own sense of style,” she said.

GiGi added that it is important that women take the time to look after themselves, particularly after the last few months.

“In addition to changing our look and selling items online, we have added a line of products for clients to indulge in self-care. If this year has taught us anything it’s that taking time to care for our mental and physical wellbeing is important,” she said.

“Women are the backbone of the home and we have to do so much to make sure that everyone is comfortable and eats dinner and that things run smoothly. So it is very important that women take time for self-care, even if it’s only for a few minutes.”

And she noted that it is even more important for women who may have lower incomes who feel they can’t afford it.

House of Hanna officially reopens this Saturday. The redesigned retail space on Rosetta Street now features a mural by local artist Angelika Wallace-Whitfield.

10 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 17, 2020

gardening

LAVENDER is extremely difficult, but in theory not impossible, to grow ‘out of zone’ here in the Bahamas

Growing out of zone

H

ello gardeners. I think there is one thing that is innate in all of us who have been bitten by the gardening bug is the propensity to experiment and to try to push boundaries in some way or another. “What do you mean, push boundaries,” you may ask. I will try to explain.

Let us take the gardener with a small space to work with for this first example. This person “must” have a fruit tree, but they do not have the garden space or a yard to plant one into the ground. Should this prohibit them from successfully growing a mango tree? You sure cannot tell them so, and I agree! A determined gardener will be like the Little Engine That Could: “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can,” they’ll say, and that determination can do some amazing things, such as to grow a fruiting mango tree in a container in a small space (bonsai, for example, but that is whole other story).

It is not as easy as it may sound, and at the same time it is easier than it may seem. It does take a large pot, several feet of space, choosing a suitable variety or cultivar, and using correct pruning, fertilizing, and watering practices, to begin with.

The larger the pot, the better the success rate. Pruning is essential, and not only the correct methods of pruning, but the correct timing on the pruning, coordinated with the correct timing on the nutrient programme (fertilizing, which is essential in container growing). The occasional root pruning may also be necessary, and with growing any plant, a sufficient amount and duration of sunlight is key. Citrus fruits, smaller growing mango, guava, many others can be very well grown in containers in small spaces. Do not let small spaces deter you from having a fruiting tree. Espalier is one of several methods that is used to keep fruit trees contained to a small space, whether container grown, or in the ground.

Another way that we as gardeners tend to push the boundaries is willing ourselves to grow plants out of their zone. The use of the word ‘zone’

relates to a chart of cold hardiness zones that was created in the US by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) to aid farmers, gardeners, and landscapers to determine what crops or plants to use in their region. While it is based upon the minimum (coldest) temperature to gauge the range, from 1 up to 13, with zone 1 being the extreme north to regions of Puerto Rico that never get below certain temperatures (zone 13).

Lucky for us we are between Florida and Puerto Rico, and this puts us between zones 11 in the north and 12 further south.

Lavender is a prime example of a plant that many of us attempt to grow ‘out of zone’. A couple of varieties of lavender exist that have been acclimated to the hotter regions of France and Spain, so why can it not grow well here, some may ask. It is as hot there as it is her. Yes, that may be, but lavender is acclimated to hot and arid conditions, not to hot and humid conditions. Lavender really dislike an abundance of water, in the air or the soil. Our air is dense with humidity much of the time, and while native to similar temperature zones in regard to heat, their native ranges get a lot cooler than we do, and between the cooler temperatures and the dry air, makes for favourable conditions (indoors in a bright light with dehumidifiers?). Most lavender are native to zones 5 to 9, with the Spanish variety being tolerant of only zone 7 to 9. When we try to grow lavender it gets stressed from our lack of cool evenings and the high humidity. This is all not to say that it cannot be done. I have failed several times at growing lavender (not just buying and reselling, but actually growing them from start to finish). Each and every time that I do not succeed at growing them I also learn something new in the process. Sometimes (and at the moment) I am almost at the point of saying, I am done with it, but I do not think I can let it go. It is one of those out-of-zone plants that I am determined to get right, at least once, just to say “yes, it can be done, let me show you!”

To wrap things up for now...growing plants that are adapted to our zone is usually relatively easy. The desire to grow more, and the desire to grow things that are rare, continues to push us as gardeners, to experiment and to push the boundaries as to what can be grown, and how. Whether it is growing a fruit tree in a container or growing plants that are not adapted to our climate, it may require a lot of time, patience and experimentation, but sometimes it can be done if one is determined enough to see it through, sometimes.

Happy gardening!

• Adam Boorman is the nursery manager at the Fox Hill Nursery. You can contact him with any questions that you may have, or suggestions for topics that you might like to see discussed, at gardening242@gmail.com

The Tribune | Weekend |11

Friday, July 17, 2020

television

Review: Netflix’s Baby-

Sitters Club promotes diversity, captures essence of original

By CARA HUNT Tribune Features Writer cbrennen@tribunemedia.net

A

whole new generation of tween girls is now being introduced to the immensely popular The Baby-Sitters Club thanks to Netflix’s reboot of the TV show based on the popular books

by Ann M Martin.

The series chronicles the adventures of a group of middle school girls who operate a successful baby-sitting business as they also navigate the challenges of growing up.

Like many of my fellow 90s’ teens who grew up along with Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, Dawn and Stacey, I was excited and a bit hesitant to see if the 2020 version would live up to the original.

So many of these reboots have missed the mark (yes, Riverdale, Bewitched and Sabrina The Teenage Witch, I am talking about you) and I hate when Hollywood messes with my childhood memories.

But after using the Independence Day holiday to binge-watch season one of the show, I feel like Netflix has done pretty good job in capturing the essence of the books. The actresses do a great job in bringing the girls to life and the show stays true to the original plot. I almost felt transported back to the 1990s as I got reacquainted with the familiar characters I’d grown to love in my youth.

There were many “blink or may miss them” references to the past – the clear neon phones the girls use to book jobs (bought on Etsy in this new version), posters of the actual book covers on the wall, the yellow plaid suit Claudia wears (an almost exact replica of the one Alicia Silverstone wore in “Clueless”). In the ultimate nod to 90s’ teen entertainment, Silverstone actually plays Kristy’s mom in the series. But make no mistake, this is definitely baby-sitting in the 2020s.

As the girls launch their business, they discuss the advantages of social media and Google Docs to attract clients, and fears that their info may be sold to the Russians and the need to dress “Ruth Bader Ginsberg smart” to help them pass math.

When they attend summer camp and realise that many of the extracurricular activities are out of

NETFLIX’s new Baby-Sitter’s Club financial reach of campers, they stage a sit-in complete with “Les Misérable” inspired barricades (it’s one of several Broadway mentions; one character has seen the original “Hamilton” cast three times because her dad is a producer in New York).

The girls rally around Stacy, who has been cyber-bullied because she is diabetic, and preach lessons in feminism that would make Hillary Clinton proud. “You should really try supporting women. When one of us succeeds, we all succeed,” one of the club members says.

Dawn’s aunt is also a witch ready to expand on the show’s feminist message. “Historically, the term ‘witch’ has been used to describe people, primarily women, who refuse to conform to society’s expectations of who they should be. We’ve got a lot of witches here,” she explains.

It is apparent that the writers tried to bring as much diversity to the cast as possible.

The club’s secretary, Mary Anne Spier, who was white and brunette in the original books and the first show, is now portrayed by Malia Baker, a mixed race actress who was born in Botswana.

Dawn Schafer, originally a blonde, blue-eyed transplant from California, has been recast as Latina now played by Xochitl Gomez.

Rounding out your cast are Kristy Thomas (Sophie Grace) and Stacy McGill (Shay Rudolph), who are still portrayed by white actresses, and Claudia Kishi, who was always Japanese- American, portrayed by Momona Tamada.

I especially loved seeing Momona’s portray of Claudia, who is one of my favourite characters.

Where the show loses points for me is in its attempt to tick every politically correct box.

Instead of weaving modern sensibilities into the show’s plots, the reboot can get a little preachy at times, particularly for a show about teen girls.

In one episode, Mary Anne takes the transgender girl she is looking after to the hospital.

Doctors refer to the child as “he/him”. Mary Anne tells them: “Bailey is not a boy and by treating her like one you are completely ignoring who she is.

You are making her feel insignificant and humiliated and that is not going to help her feel good, or safe or calm. From here on out, please recognise her for who she is.”

It’s a passionate speech. I just wonder if most 13-year-olds would be so eloquent. It’s also an episode that has conservatives blasting the reboot.

Dawn tells Mary Anne her parents divorced after her dad came out as is gay. Another of the club’s clients happen to be a lesbian couple.

However, instead of this information being woven into the storytelling and advancing the plot, we get impassioned speeches about these topics, only for them never to be mentioned again.

When Claudia’s grandmother has a stroke and her she experiences memory lapses to her youth when she and her family were forced to live in internment camps after Pearl Harbour, Claudia tells her sister she can’t believe people locked other people up like that. Her sister tells her, “I can’t believe they still do” – an obvious reference to the Trump administration’s current immigration policy.

Overall though it’s a good reboot which offers a modern twist on a classic favourite.

Season one of “The Baby-Sitters Club” is currently available on Netflix. It is in the top 10 of most watches shows and movies in Bahamas this week.

Babysitter's club

12 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 17, 2020

entertainment

Top Christian hip hop/ dance artist to perform in Nassau

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson@tribunemedia.net

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NTERNATIONAL Christian hip hop and R&B singer V Rose, considered to be one of the leading female artists in her genre, will share the stage with a host of Bahamian acts featured in this year’s Youth Alive series of events.

Those who may be feeling lost during this time are encouraged to attend the three-night event which aims to bring hope and inspiration to all.

Presented by the Emerge Youth Church, the youth arm of Bahamas Faith Ministries, the talks and concerts are scheduled for July 22-24.

Dr E Corey Rolle, better known as DJ Counsellor, and the Emerge Youth Church team have been planning this event since last November. It is being held under the theme “The Awakening: The Truth Exposed” and will take place at the Myles Munroe Diplomat Centre.

“We find it that a lot of persons live in a false reality as it pertains to life and we tend to try to fit God into our lives, when we should be trying to adjust and lining up our lives to God’s standards. The word says clearly Christ Jesus said: ‘Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free’,” said Dr Rolle.

The event will feature speakers and performances by a number of gospel musicians, including Karrington McKenzie, A’lethia, Solo, V-Mac, Najie Dun, DJ Godson and more.

Doors open at 6.30pm.

The event will also be aired on the Caribbean network Tempo and streamed on the church’s Facebook page.

Speakers for this year are Pastor Rosemary Bethel from Epic Church and Dr E Corey Rolle.

V Rose is an American Christian electronic dance music/Christian hip hop artist

NAJIE Dun

DR E Corey Rolle, aka DJ Counsellor

The international guest artist, and the R&B and pop singer V Rose, is one of the top female artists in Christian hip hop. The singer from Sacramento, California began her career at age 15 as part of a vocal group.

When the group parted ways, V Rose set out to create her own brand of pop and electronic dance music. Backed by her producer, DJ SPEC, she came up through the Christian hip hop scene as a feature vocalist on multiple “Flame tracks” and released two albums to critical acclaim. In 2015, V Rose signed with Inpop Records and is currently at work on a new album slated to be released this Fall.

V Rose’s performance, as well as those of the others artists, will be something to look forward to, said Dr Rolle.

“Our speakers, artists, and the approach to the theme...every year our goal is the understand the battle field you are heading to, and to feel the pulse of this generation as it pertains to strong holds and challenges,” he said.

“True change comes from repentance, which means a change of heart. Our goal is to bring truth to darkness. Like a farmer plants his seeds, then another waters them, our hope is all will get to know Jesus and not just to associate with him, but understand Christ truly desires us to be followers.”

People attending the event are asked to bring canned foods or monetary donations to assist those who have fallen on hard times because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For more information, e-mail enrolee.emergeyouthchurch@gmail.com.

DJ Godson

The Tribune | Weekend | 13

Friday, July 17, 2020

celebrity

A new star on the rise Bahamian drag queen withstands backlash in pursuit of success

ANASTARZIA Anaquway (Photo/ Canada’s Drag Race/Bell Media)

By CARA HUNT Tribune Features Writer cbrennen@tribunemedia.net

B

ahamian drag queen and asylum recipient Anastarzia Anaquway has survived the first two episodes of the Canadian reality show “Canada’s Drag Race”. He has also survived discrimination, death threats and multiple gun shots wounds.

But Anastarzia, whose real name is Jermaine Aranha, has proved resilient.

The show he is now competing on was inspired by the immensely popular “RuPaul’s Drag Race”. It follows a group of drag queens as they compete for a grand prize of $100,000, a year of hotel stays courtesy of the Hilton brand, and the title of Canada’s First Drag Superstar.

Jermaine Aranha, 37, who currently lives in East York, Toronto, picked his stage name because it’s a mix of name Anastasia (stylised with a Z) and the word star.

In an interview for the show, he said: “I came into this with a very competitive nature because that is what I do.

I am a pageant queen, I’m always competing. Sewing challenges, design challenges... that’s what I’m here for.

“After ‘Canada’s Drag Race’, oh baby, we’re celebrities now, we are international. This is major.”

“Having the ability to sew puts you at an advantage. My garments are fitted to a T. You know your body and you know how you want to look. My greatest asset is the fact that I am a self-sufficient queen.”

He added that what he loves most about the art of female impersonation is that at the end of the night “I get to take all this off and go back to being Jermaine.”

Anastarzia is the reigning Miss Black Continental and says from here on out the only way is up.

“After ‘Canada’s Drag Race’, oh baby, we’re celebrities now, we are

international. This is major,” he said.

Jermaine is no stranger to the stage and has been doing drag for the past 17 years. He has won more than 15 pageants, including Miss Canada International, Miss Gay Toronto, and he is the reigning Miss Black Continental at Large.

“Most times I see pretty drag, and that’s all we aspire to be.

Pretty drags. And then you come to Canada and you meet the bearded queens. You meet the club kids. You meet the showgirls.

You meet the fish queens. You meet the hairy queens. And now

in this competition, we have a drag clown. And, so Canada is sooooo interesting!”

Jermaine moved to Canada to seek asylum because of the harassment he said homosexuals and drag queens experience here in the Bahamas.

He claimed many of his friends were murdered as they left their homes and he himself was shot in the left arm, chest, and right kidney by two men standing in his driveway. Jermaine said he drove himself to the hospital and doctors doubted he would make it through the night.

After recovering from that ordeal, he claimed asylum in Canada.

“Being on Drag Race is the culmination of an amazing 17-year career,” he said. “It allows me to represent all the little black boys and girls in Third World countries like the Bahamas that have huge dreams but no resources to make them a reality.”

16 | The Tribune | Weekend

books

Inspiring blind protagonist returns in Bahamian author’s mystery series

By FAY KNOWLES

Friday, July 17, 2020

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he ability she’s not hinbeaches dered by it and can are open even unravel puzand the zling mysteries that sun is might otherwise shining. It’s time remain unsolved. I to find that perfect sat there in the car, page-turner to relax pressed the record with as you lay button on my cell back in your lounge phone and created chair. So it’s lucky the plot.” that Bahamian Lucille’s litbest-selling author tle Shih Tzu dog Tanya R Taylor has Vanilla (”Nilla” for just released the short) also stars in latest instalment of the series. her cozy mystery “The real series.

Vanilla, our pet, “Blind Fury” is has been such a the fourth part in wonderful source of the Lucille Pfiffer inspiration for me Cozy Mystery Sewhile writing these ries and the writer’s books. I’ve learned 31st published book so much from her overall. before and during The first book in the process,” said the Lucille Pfiffer Ms Taylor.

Cozy Mystery In “Blind Fury”, Series is “Blind Lucille Pfiffer sufBAHAMIAN author Tanya R Taylor Sight”, the second fers the unexpected “Blind Escape”, the blow of havand the third “Blind Justice”. The protagoing someone near and dear to her suddenly nist of the series is a blind woman and was disappear without a trace. Despite every inspired by an experience the author had effort by the Chadsworth police to locate her with her father. It’s a character which Ms missing loved one, they are met by a dead Taylor hopes will inspire readers who may end. Like Agatha Christie’s heroines and have their own challenges they have to Jessica Fletcher in “Murder, She Wrote”, overcome.

Lucille won’t sit idly by and hope the police “My Lucille Pfiffer series stars an elderly can solve the case; she will use her unique woman who is totally blind from the physical skills to make sure the case is solved. standpoint; thus she has to live with a disNext up for Ms Taylor’s list is the release ability that many of us are not familiar with. of “Happy Town: Where Dogs Rule (A However, via other means, which she keeps Cozy Conspiracy)”, which will be released in a secret for the most part, she’s able to see August. After that will be “Reunion From things around her. As the protagonist of this Hell (The Cornelius Saga Book 14)”, to be story, I show her strength in spite of her disreleased in November. ability; the willingness for her to not just foUpon it’s debut, “Blind Fury” was incus on her issues, but stand up for the sake of cluded on Amazon’s hot new releases list in and fight for those she loves,” said Ms Taylor. the US, Australia, Canada and the UK. The “I hope Lucille’s life offers inspiration and book was also in the top 100 in Amazon US, hope to everyone who has to face some sort Australia and UK. of challenge in their lives, so that in spite of Asked if she planned to write more books shortcomings, they too can make a difference in the Lucille Pfiffer Cozy Mystery Series, in their society, just as Lucille does.” the author said: “I’m not quite sure yet at Talking about how she came up with this point. I let the series lead me, but will idea for the Lucille Pfiffer series, the author have a better idea after I’ve completed the explained: “I guess the idea stemmed from next book.” the fact that my late father was dealing with Ms Taylor also writes the book series “Inglaucoma issues at the time and I was trying festation: A Small Town Nightmare”, “Real to find remedies to help improve his vision.

Illusions”, and the popular “The Cornelius It was something that was at the forefront Saga”. She writes in various genres includof my mind and it just so happened that one ing paranormal romance, fantasy, thrillers, day as I was outside in a parking lot waiting science-fiction, mystery and suspense. She is for my daughter, the idea popped into my the author of several No 1 best-sellers across head about this older lady being completely the various Amazon stores. blind, but yet being able to see what was For more information about Tanya R Taygoing on around her. She ultimately proves lor’s, visit her website, www.tanya-r-taylor. to everyone that even though she has a discom.

The Tribune | Weekend | 17

Friday, July 17, 2020

books

This week’s new page-turners • The All-Night Sun by Diana Zinna (literary fiction) Lauren Cress teaches writing at a small college outside of Washington, DC. In the classroom, she is poised, smart, and kind, well-liked by her students and colleagues. But in her personal life, Lauren is troubled and isolated, still grappling with the sudden death of her parents ten years earlier. She seems to exist at a remove from everyone around her until a new student joins her class: charming, magnetic Siri, who appears to be everything Lauren wishes she could be. They fall headlong into an all-consuming friendship that feels to Lauren like she is reclaiming her lost adolescence.

When Siri invites her along on a trip home to Sweden for the summer, Lauren impulsively accepts, intrigued by how Siri describes it: “Everything will be green, fresh, new, just thawing out.”

But once there, Lauren finds herself drawn to Siri’s enigmatic, brooding brother Magnus. Siri is resentful, and Lauren starts to see a new side of her friend: selfish, reckless, self-destructive, even cruel. On the last night of her trip, Lauren accompanies Siri and her friends on a seaside camping trip to celebrate Midsommar’s Eve, a night when no one sleeps, boundaries blur, and under the light of the unsetting sun, things take a dark turn.

• This Love Hurts by W Winters (romance) Some love stories are a slow burn. Others are quick to ignite, scorching and branding your very soul before you’ve taken that first breath. You’re never given a chance to run from it. That’s how I’d describe what happened to us. Everything around me blurred and all that existed were his lips, his touch… The chase and the heat between us became addictive. Our nights together were a distraction; one we craved to the point of letting the world crumble around us. We should have paid attention; we should have known that it would come to this. We both knew it couldn’t last, but that didn’t change what we desired most. All we wanted was each other.

• The Safe Place by Anna Downes (thriller/ mystery) Emily is a mess.

Emily Proudman just lost her acting agent, her job, and her apartment in one miserable day.

Emily is desperate.

Scott Denny, a successful and charismatic CEO, has a problem that neither his business acumen nor vast wealth can fix. Until he meets Emily.

Emily is perfect.

Scott offers Emily a summer job as a housekeeper on his remote, beautiful French estate.

Enchanted by his lovely wife Nina, and his eccentric young daughter, Aurelia, Emily falls headlong into this oasis of wine-soaked days by the pool.

But soon Emily realizes that Scott and Nina are hiding dangerous secrets, and if she doesn’t play along, the consequences could be deadly.

• All Up by J W Rinzler (historical fiction) The fantastic story of rocketeers, visionaries, and madmen, from Capitalists and Nazis in the West to Communists in the East, it’s the tale of Faustian anti-hero Wernher von Braun, solitary genius Robert Goddard, magical loner Jack Parsons, titanic Sergei Korolev, and the legendary trio of Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, and Neil Armstrong. A behind-the-scenes story of the first Space Age. Ranging from the murderous V-2 to the miraculous Saturn V, from cloak-and-dagger espionage and the blitzkrieg battles of World War II to the atomic deserts of Fort Bliss and the nail-biting missions launched at Cape Canaveral, All Up is an epic telling of the thrilling and true legends.

18 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 17, 2020

film

Tyra Banks waltzing in as new ‘Dancing With the Stars’ host LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tyra Banks will be showing off her moves as solo host of ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.”

The supermodel, actor and businesswoman who co-created “America’s Next Top Model” will replace longtime host Tom Bergeron and take on the role of executive producer, ABC said late Tuesday.

In a statement, Banks said she’s a fan of the contest’s approach of “fun mixed with raw emotion, seeing celebrities push past their comfort zones, the sizzling dance performances ... it’s always transported me to my days of turning it up 10 notches on the catwalk.”

Banks lauded Bergeron, host of the show since its 2005 debut, as having set “a powerful stage” and said she’s excited to continue the legacy.

Co-host Erin Andrews also is leaving the series, which is getting a “creative refresh” while honoring America’s affection for it, ABC said. Andrews was not expected to be replaced.

TYRA Banks (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP) When the show will get to unveil its new approach in season No 29 remains clouded by the pandemic-caused production halt affecting the return of most TV series.

The announcement that Banks is joining the show followed word Monday of Bergeron and Andrews’ exits. In a Twitter post, Bergeron called working on “Dancing With the Stars” an “incredible 15-year run and the most unexpected gift of my career.”

Last year, Bergeron drew attention when he expressed concern over the show’s decision to include former White House press secretary Sean Spicer among the contestants for last fall’s season.

Bergeron tweeted then that he had suggested to producers the new season be a “joyful respite from our exhausting political climate” and urged them to avoid “divisive bookings.”

ABC thanked the departing Bergeron for his “trademark wit and charm” that helped the show succeed and Andrews for her sense of humor.

Andrews originally competed as a contestant back in 2010 and returned as co-host in 2014.

Jimmy Fallon, ‘Tonight’ show return to studio, sans audience NEW YORK (AP) — The studio is largely empty, but Jimmy Fallon is out of his home and back to the “Tonight” show stage.

The NBC late-night host returned to NBC’s Rockefeller Center headquarters on Monday, saying he hoped he could provide his audience with a little more “normal” during the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’m here to show you that there is a light at the end of the tunnel if we keep each other safe,” Fallon said.

Fallon, along with other late-night hosts, have been working remotely the past few months of months. The coronavirus pandemic shutdown TV and film production in March for safety reasons.

New York has slowly been reopening as other parts of the country are now feeling the full effects of the epidemic.

He began his show with a filmed piece showing him “walking” to work, pulling down his mask so a Rockefeller Center security guard knew he was indeed an employee.

His backup band, the Roots, were in place.

Studio crew members wore face shields and masks.

Everyone there had tested negative for COVID19, he said. There was no audience.

Fallon was dressed more informally, with a sweater instead of a suit.

Top 10 Apple Movies (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File) “Normalcy, any type of normalcy, feels great,” he said. “So hopefully we can put a smile on your face an hour every night and let you sit back and relax while we try to bring you a little bit of normal.”

Guests, including New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Charlize Theron, weren’t in the studio as the celebrity interviews continued remotely.

Representatives for Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” with Trevor Noah both said plans were in the works to return to studios but put no timetable on it.

1.The Outpost 2.Trolls World Tour 3. Force of Nature 4. 1917 5. Relic 6.The Invisible Man (2020) 7. Impractical Jokers:The Movie 8. Saving Private Ryan 9. Irresistible (2020) 10. Little Women

– The Associated Press

The Tribune | Weekend | 19

Friday, July 17, 2020

entertainment THE OLD GUARD

1. The Old Guard Top 10 (film; 2h 5m) Netflix Desperados movies 5.(film; 1h 46m) and shows Nun (series; in the 2.10Warrior episodes) Bahamas . The Business

A covert team of immortal mercenaries are suddenly exposed and must now fight to keep their identity a secret just as an unexpected new member is discovered. Starring Charlize Theron and KiKi Layne.

With Bahamians still practicing social distancing, and many working from home with the kiddies stuck in the house, it’s time to turn to Netflix for some entertainment. Here are the top 10 movies and shows Bahamians are watching this week:

After waking up in a morgue, an orphaned teen discovers she now possesses superpowers as the chosen Halo Bearer for a secret sect of demon-hunting nuns.

American Assassin 3.(film; 1h 51m) After the death of his girlfriend at the hands of terrorists, Mitch Rapp is drawn into the world of counterterrorism, mentored by tough-as-nails former US Navy SEAL Stan Hurley. Starring Dylan O’Brien (”Teen Wolf”), Michael Keaton and Sanaa Lathan.

4

. Jane The Virgin (series; five seasons)

A young, devout Catholic woman discovers that she was accidentally artificially inseminated. Starring Gina Rodriguez. New episodes.

A panicked young woman, with her reluctant friends in tow, rushes to Mexico to try and delete a ranting email she sent to her new boyfriend.

6 of Drugs (docuseries; six episodes)

To understand the origins and true impact of the business of drugs, a former CIA analyst investigates the economics of six illicit substances.

The Baby-sitter’s 7.Club (series; 10 episodes) Based on the book series of the same name focusing on a group of young girls who start their own babysitting service.

. Forgetting 8 Sarah Marshall (film; 1h 51m)

Devastated Peter takes a Hawaiian vacation in order to deal with the recent break-up with his TV star girlfriend, Sarah. Little does he know, Sarah’s travelling to the same resort as her ex - and she’s bringing along her new boyfriend.

Starring Kristen Bell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand and Mila Kunis.

The Change-Up 9.(film; 1h 52m)

Dave is a married man with three kids and a loving wife, and Mitch is a single man who is at the prime of his sexual life. One fateful night while Mitch and Dave are peeing in a fountain, lightning strikes and they switch bodies. Starring Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman.

(series; 10.sixStateless episodes) Inspired by true events; a woman escaping a cult, a refugee fleeing with his family, a father trapped in a dead-end job, and a bureaucrat on the verge of a national scandal find their lives intertwined in an immigration detention centre.

20 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 17, 2020

art

‘Pirates

of the

Caribbean’

Students use art to put spotlight on harmful invasive species

S

tudents from around the Bahamas put the spotlight on invasive land and sea species in this year’s 20th Annual Marine Education Poster Competition hosted by Dolphin Encounters – Project BEACH on Blue Lagoon Island.

This year’s theme – Pirates of the Caribbean: Invasive Species in the Bahamas – encouraged students in kindergarten to grade 12 to learn about the tremendous impact of invasive species like lionfish, cane toads and casuarina trees on our seas and islands from these human-introduced pests and use art to offer their solutions for dealing with the problems.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down schools and businesses earlier this year, entries were submitted from students in New Providence, Abaco and Exuma.

The international judging panel of Amy Schulman, education supervisor at the Mirage, Las Vegas; Orla McDonnell, marine mammal specialist II at Dolphin Quest, Bermuda, and Tristian Pratt, education supervisor at Dolphin Experience, Grand Bahama, were challenged with choosing the category winners from an impressive selection of entries.

“The judges’ job was not easy at all as we had so many creative entries again this year,” said Annette Dempsey, director of Education and Staff Development on Blue Lagoon Island. “This annual competition enables young Bahamians an opportunity to learn about a very important issue that very recently has been highlighted in the news with the resurgence of cane toads in western New Providence and the removal of casuarinas along the northeastern coastline.”

First, second and third place prizes were up for grabs in each of four age-group categories as well as the Special Education category.

In the kindergarten through grade 2 category, the winners were: 1st place - Brooke Stewart (Xavier’s Lower School) 2nd place - Koen Stubbs (Xavier’s Lower School) 3rd place - Chloe Ellenwood (St Andrew’s International School)

ART by Brooke Stewart In the grades 3 – 5 category, the winners were: 1st place - Logan Stubbs (Xavier’s Lower School) 2nd place - D’Nyah Armbrister (St Francis & Joseph Primary)

In the grades 6 – 8 category, the winners were: 1st place - Jacob Malone (Agape Christian School, Abaco) 2nd place - Candace Bodie (St Francis & Joseph) 3rd place - Omari Stewart (St Augustine’s College).

ART by Naima Nixon

The Tribune | Weekend | 21

Friday, July 17, 2020

“This annual competition enables young Bahamians an opportunity to learn about a very important issue that very recently has been highlighted in the news with the resurgence of cane toads in western New Providence and the removal of casuarinas along the northeastern coastline.”

The sole winner in the Grades 9 – 12 Category was Naima Nixon (St Andrew’s Anglican School, Exuma).

In the Special Education Category, the winners were: 1st place - Anwar Seymour 2nd place - Samiya Joseph 3rd place - Sapphire Stirrup.

All three winners were fourth grade students at the Centre for the Deaf.

For the second year, Project BEACH was invited to enter Bahamian artwork in the International Festival of the Oceans Art Competition hosted by Delphinus in Mexico. Jordan Cash (Xavier’s Lower School) placed second in his age division and Jacob Malone placed with honourable mention in his age division in the international competition.

“We were especially excited to once again see our students’ work being recognised on an international level. Last year, Jacob’s entry placed second overall in the

ART by Jacob Malone

ART by Logan Stubbs

ART by Anwar Seymour

International Festival of the Ocean Arts Competition and many of the Bahamian entries were put on display at Cancun’s airport,” said Ms Dempsey.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting school and business closures, the competition was extended to include online submissions through the month of May. The pandemic also meant that this year there was no awards presentation ceremony.

National prizes for winning entries included passes to many of the activities on Blue Lagoon Island, including Swim with the

Dolphins, Sea Lion Encounter, Stingray Encounter, Beach Day, Segway Safari and private tours.

In order to recognise the importance teachers play in educating and encouraging students on these critical topics, Dolphin Encounters Project BEACH also awarded the teacher of each first place student two Blue Lagoon Island Beach Day passes.

To learn more about the Bahamas’ marine environment and the education programmes offered by Blue Lagoon Island, contact education@dolphinencounters.com.

22 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 17, 2020

history

THE FAMOUS sloop Courageous at Georgetown (Painting by Buster Hall/Collection of Paul and Kim Aranha)

BASED on the 1977 Yachtsman’s Guide to the Bahamas

The rugged people of Ragged Island Forgotten facts | Paul C Aranha

L

ong before the devastation wreaked by hurricane Irma in 2017, in a time when nobody could have imagined a 2,500-foot airstrip on Ragged Island, J Linton Rigg (1894-1981), long-term resident of Goat Cay, Exuma, and father of the Georgetown’s Out Island Regatta, sailed to Duncan Town, where he received a friendly welcome, described in his 1949 book “Bahama Islands.”

To get there, he navigated a long chain of islands known as the Jumentos Cays, places like Water Cay, Flamingo Cay, and others that I have highlighted on the map. He opens with the words

“Gimme a Ragged Island man and I can do dat job”. They are a rugged lot, and they have to be to live the kind of life they live at Ragged Island.

The island is bleak and windblown, surrounded by wide and rough reaches of open sea. The inner harbour is little more than a boat channel, through a shallow salt marsh, along which boats drawing about four feet can bump their way, by playing the three-foot tidal change. The settlement is “slightly fey and somewhat reminiscent of an Irish county village.”

When a hurricane blows the roof off a house, no one would think of putting a new roof on, or rebuilding the old house.

They let it stand and gradually fall to pieces, meanwhile building a new house right alongside the old. Consequently, half the town is in ruins and the other half contains some of the brightest, brand new homes you ever saw, backed right up against the ruins.

About death, Rigg wrote “. . . all respectable citizens belong to the United Burial Society, dues six shillings (about $1.50) a year for a man, who has fifteen or more in his family and, when one of the brood dies, it only costs the head of the family ten shillings (about $2), for a bang-up funeral, including wood for the coffin, nails, screws and grave-digging”.

On the day of death, a wake is held, lasting all night. The dead are buried within 24 hours, in a fine, walled cemetery, facing the sea.”

On the east side of the town Rigg saw some of the most extensive salt ponds, excepting Inagua, and the export of the salt is the community’s principal business.

Boats carrying salt sail out of here to all the seven seas. The deep-draft vessels load at Johnson Cay Cut, on the south side of Raccoon Cay, and one of the most

interesting sights is to see the women of the village carrying baskets of salt on their heads from the pans on the east side, up over the hill, to the docks, on the west side of the town.

Eugenie Lockhart, wife of Rigg’s good friend Captain Edward E Lockhart, is described as remarkably talented.

“This remarkable woman is the schoolteacher. She is the mother of eleven splendid children and, in between looking after them, she runs a grocery store, makes matting and hats for the Nassau market and (makes) sails for most of the Ragged Island boats.”

Retired Captain Horace Wilson is described as another outstanding figure, who “built, owned and skippered some of the fattest sailing vessels ever known anywhere in the islands.”All of this was some 70 years ago but the traditions are kept alive by men like Captain Emmett Munroe, whose name is synonymous with one of the most famous boats in the history of Bahamian sloop sailing – Courageous. The combination of Munroe/ Courageous is right up there with the best of them.

The original Courageous has won at virtually every stop on the regatta schedule – Abaco, Andros, Cat Island Eleuthera, Exuma, Harbour Island, Long Island, New Providence and San Salvador, and Munroe has been the skipper on all of the winning occasions, except in Exuma.

“I never won the Exuma Regatta, but Ivan Stuart won, in the original Courageous. I placed second a few times,” Munroe said in 2012.

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

The Tribune | Weekend | 23

Friday, July 17, 2020

literary lives – Djuna Barnes

Sir Christopher Ondaatje introduces the American artist, illustrator, journalist and writer best known for her novel “Nightwood” (1936) – a cult classic of modernist literature.

“D

DJUNA Barnes (1892-1982)

The forgotten author of one of the 20th century’s most influential novels

juna Barnes was born into a bohemian, free-thinking, sexually liberated family, the daughter of an artist, “Wald” Barnes, and Elizabeth Chappel, an English-born concert violinist. A convinced advocate of polygamy, Wald moved in his mistress during Djuna’s childhood. Barnes was brought up on the family farm in New York State, alongside a tribe of siblings and half siblings. The domestic environment was comfortably off, liberated, but irregular in the extreme. Djuna may, it is suspected, have suffered incestuous rape. Her early education certainly suffered.

Aged 17, she was coerced into marriage with the 52-yearold brother of her father’s mistress. The marriage lasted only a few weeks.” – John Sutherland, Lives of the Novelists, 2011

In 1913, Barnes began her career as a freelance journalist and illustrator for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. By early 1914 she was a highly sought feature reporter, interviewer and illustrator whose work appeared in the City’s leading newspapers and periodicals. Later, Barnes’ talent and connections with prominent Greenwich Village bohemians afforded her the opportunity to publish her prose, poems, illustrations, and one-act plays in both avant-garde literary journals and popular magazines, as well as an illustrated volume of poetry, “The Book of Repulsive Women” (1915).

“There’s something evil in me that loves evil and degradation – purity’s backside. That loves honesty with a horrid love; or why I have always gone seeking it at the liar’s door.” – Djuna Barnes

In 1921, Barnes received a lucrative commission from McCall’s magazine, which sent her to Paris – which was the centre of modernism in art and literature. She arrived in Paris with a letter of introduction to James Joyce, whom she interviewed for Vanity Fair. She billed him as “the man who is, at present, one of the more significant figures in literature.” However, her personal reaction to Ulysses was not quite so positive.

Barnes lived in Paris for the next ten years and interviewed her fellow expatriate writers and artists for US periodicals. She soon became a well-known figure on the local scene. Her reputation was enhanced largely on the strength of her story “A Night Among the Horses” which was published in The Little Review and reprinted in her 1923 collection “A Book”.

“None of us suffers as much as we should, or loves as much as we say. Love is the first lie; wisdom is the last.” – Djuna Barnes

24 | The Tribune | Weekend Barnes became part of the inner circle of the influential salon hostess Natalie Barney, who became a life-long friend and patron, as well as the central figure in Barnes’ satiric chronicle of Paris lesbian life “Ladies Almanack”. However, the most important relationship of Barnes’ years in Paris was with the artist Thelma Wood – a Kansas native who came to Paris to become a sculptor. Another close relationship was with the Dada artist Baroness Elsa von FreytagLoringhoven. From Paris, Barnes supported the Baroness in Berlin with money, clothing and magazines.

In 1928, Barnes published “Ryder” – a bawdy autobiographical first novel which exposed the story of her own polygamous household. No one expected this – but Barnes was always drawn to the unusual and grotesque. Curiously it became a New York Times bestseller which caught the publisher by surprise. A first edition of only 3,000 sold out very quickly, but by the time more copies were printed interest in the book had died.

However, Barnes had made enough out of the book’s advance to allow her in September 1927 to buy an apartment on Rue-Saint-Romain where she lived with Thelma Wood. They were neighbours of Mina Loy – a Greenwich Village friend of Barnes who featured in Barnes’ next book “Ladies Almanack” as Patience Scalpel, the sole heterosexual character who could not understand women and their ways. “Ladies Almanack” was privately printed under the pseudonym “A Lady of Fashion”. Copies of the book were sold on the streets of Paris by Barnes and her friends, and a few copies were smuggled into the United States to sell.

Barnes dedicated “Ryder” and “Ladies Almanack” to Thelma Wood, but 1928 was also the year that Barnes and Thelma Wood separated. It was relationship that Barnes had hoped would be monogamous, but Wood, who had an increasing dependency on alcohol, spent her nights cruising bars and restaurants looking for casual sex partners. Barnes herself would search the cafés for her also, winding up drunk and frustrated. The couple eventually separated over Wood’s involvement with the heiress Henriette McCrea Metcalf who would be scathingly portrayed in Barnes’ next book, “Nightwood” (1936) as Jenny Petheridge.

“I have been loved by something strange and it has forgotten me.” – Djuna Barnes

“Nightwood” was published in England in 1936 in an expensive edition by Faber and Faber, and in America in 1937 by Harcourt, Brace and Company – with an introduction by T S Eliot. Most of “Nightwood” was written in the summers of 1932 and 1933 while Barnes was staying at Hayford Hall, a country manor house in Devon rented by the wealthy art patron Peggy Guggenheim. Other guests at Hayford Hall included Antonia White, John Ferrar Holms, and the poet Emily Coleman.

Publisher after publisher rejected the outspoken manuscript, but Coleman gave it to T S Eliot, then one of the editors at Faber and Faber, who read it and accepted it. The book did not sell well

Friday, July 17, 2020

THE PARIS café society life: Barnes with fellow writer Solita Solano in 1922

DRAWING by Djuna Barnes, originally published in the New York Morning Telegraph Sunday Magazine, accompanying her article “How the Villagers Amuse Themselves”. either in England or in the United States – despite favourable reviews. Barnes only received £43 in her first English royalty cheques.

However, “Nightwood” made Barnes’ reputation as a writer. T S Eliot praised Barnes’ style as having “prose rhythm ... and the musical pattern

which is not that of verse, is so good a novel that only sensibilities trained on poetry can wholly appreciate it.” Dylan Thomas described “Nightwood” as “one of the three great prose books ever written by a woman”, and William Burroughs called it “one of the great books of the twentieth century.”

By 1937 Barnes, drinking heavily, was almost totally dependent on Peggy Guggenheim for financial support. She was ill, and in 1939 checked herself into a London hotel and tried to kill herself. In the end both Guggenheim and doctors grew impatient with her and sent her back to New York where she shared a single room with her mother – a miserable experience for her. In March 1940, her desperate family sent her to a sanatorium in upstate New York to dry out. In the sanatorium she set out to write “The Antiphon” – a biography of her family.

“There is no reason any longer why I should feel for them in any way but hate.” – Djuna Barnes, New York, 1940

She returned to New York City to stay with her mother again, but they quarrelled bitterly and she was thrown out on the street. For a while she stayed at Thelma Wood’s apartment while she was not in town, but in the end moved into a small apartment at 5 Patchin Place in Greenwich Village where she would spend the last 41 years of her life.

Throughout the 1940s Barnes continued to drink heavily. She wrote virtually nothing, had little money, and had to rely on small contributions from Peggy Guggenheim and Emily Coleman. In 1950, realising that her dependence on alcohol prevented her from continuing to work on her work, “The Antiphon”, she stopped drinking.

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Friday, July 17, 2020

BARNES posing beside the Patchin Place gate, was taken in 1962 by e e cummings’ wife, poet Marion Morehouse.

BARNES with Thelma Wood, whom she dedicated her novels “Ryder” and “Ladies Almanack” to

BARNES and Mina Loy – a Greenwich Village friend who featured in Barnes’ “Ladies Almanack” as Patience Scalpel, the sole heterosexual character in the book.

“I wrote ‘The Antiphon’ with clenched teeth, and I noted that my handwriting was as savage as a dagger.” – Djuna Barnes, 1958

Barnes’ verse-play “The Antiphon” (1958) is set in 1939 England. Jeremy Hobbs has brought his family together in their ruined ancestral home Burley Hall and is intent on creating a confrontation about the family’s past. Barnes’

THE ECCENTRIC Dada artist Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven brother Thurn, in a letter, accused her of writing “revenge for something long dead and to be forgotten”. Barnes, however, scribbled in the margin of his letter “Justice” and “Not dead”. The play, curiously, premiered in 1961 in Stockholm in a Swedish translation by Karl Ragnar Gierow and United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld.

During her final lonely reclusive years in Patchin Place, Greenwich Village, Barnes returned to writing poetry – only a few of which were published in her lifetime. She wrote continuously during the day and saw no one. Her last book, “Creatures in an Alphabet” (1982), is a collection of short rhyming poems that suggests a format for a children’s book but whose content makes it an unlikely and unsuitable subject for children.

“Looking down the barrel of your eye, I see the body of a bloody Cinderella looking back.” – Djuna Barnes

Barnes in her last years was intensely suspicious of anyone she did not know well. She refused to see Anais Nin – the diarist and a fan of her work – who wanted Barnes to participate in a journal on women’s writing. She would cross the street to avoid her. e e cummings, the American poet and playwright who lived across the street, would shout out of his window, “Are you still alive, Djuna?”

Bertha Harris, the feminist author of “Lover” (1976) put roses in her mailbox but never

managed to see her. And Carson McCullers, the American feminist who wrote “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter”, (1940) camped on her doorstep, but Barnes only shouted down, “Whoever is ringing this bell, please go the hell away.”

“I like my human experience served up with a little silence and restraint. Silence makes experience go further and, when it does die, gives it that dignity common to a thing one had touched and not ravished.” – Djuna Barnes, Nightwood

Barnes continued to work and write poetry in her final years despite severe health problems and arthritis so severe that she found it difficult even to sit at her typewriter and turn her desk lamp on.

Many of these poems were never finished.

“The unendurable is the beginning of the curve of joy.” – Djuna Barnes, Nightwood

She was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1961, and was awarded a senior fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1981. She died at her home in Greenwich Village on June 18, 1982, six days after her 90th birthday.

• Sir Christopher Ondaatje is the author of The Last Colonial. He acknowledges that he has quoted liberally from Wikipedia; Lives of the Novelists (2011) by John Sutherland; and Vivid and Repulsive as the Truth: The Early Works of Djuna Barnes (2016), edited by Katharine Maller.

C L I S Z T S H A D V K S S O R D D H G B G G O I E C C N D H T S Z L B S K D A Y K S V O

23 Outskirts.

21 Donated large hammer T J L W I T T down: 2 Oaf; 3(5) Tacit; 27 22 Enjoy something being a 4 Income; 5 Snooker; R F G R E M Friday, JulyHL 17, 2020 number (5) 6 Insuperable; T E A E H Y Penitence; 10 Familiarity; O A U B C W A 24 Long-winded7 conversation 11 Steadfast; 14 Shampoo; went on a year (5) 19 Frisk; 21 Net. S S N A U L M 16 Parrot;

27 Meant to improve, getting one large complaint (7) 28 Coventry City player in the shade (3-4)

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J E i K l A ArB

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

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

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

TODAY’S TARGET Good 20; very good 30; excellent 39 (or more). Solution tomorrow

Yesterday’s call 0907 181 2585 Sudoku Answer for today’s target solution

*Calls cost 80p per minute plus your telephone company’s network access charge.

BATTLESHIPS CRYPTIC PUZZLE Across 1 Look forward to an epic at it perhaps (10) 6 I’m going round in reverse in car (4) 10 Creature providing quiet on Noah’s boat (5) 11 Remind one that it’s time for church? (4,1,4) 12 Arch-supporter of comic policemen (8) 13 She gives a direction to the printer to erase (5) 15 It could make me a lord (7) 17 Bits and pieces left of no importance (7) 19 Let’s look first for some openings (7) 21 Change a singlet and sparkle (7) 22 Well-known to have made a record (5) 24 What Cinderella became after twelve (8) 27 Do such animals only live from day to day? (9) 28 A piece of paper can be made into these (5) 29 Keep them about you for emergencies (4) 30 It’s employed in the distribution of perfumery (5,5)

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Yesterday’s Easy Solution

Down 1 Primate embraces son in Across: 1 Several, 5 Means, 8 Out of turn, 9 Leo, 10 Fume, church recess (4) 12 Venomous, 14 Murmur, 2 Not altogether how 15 Career, 17 Besotted, 18 Tsar, 21 Use, 22 Be all ears, 24 Entry, an undergraduate is 25 Hearsay. working? (2,1,6) Down: 1 Spoof, 2 Vet, 3 Rife, 3 King Alfred’s spoils? (5) 4 Laurel, 5 Man-to-man, 6 All comers, 7 Sponsor, 11 Mare’s4 Work and play (7) nest, 13 Suitably, 14 Mob rule, 5 An outside line to ring (7) 16 Detach, 19 Risky, 20 Flea, 7 She was ruined by Ernie (5) 23 Ass. 8 Unhealthy antagonism? (3-7) 9 Japanese ceremonial departure (4-4) Yesterday’s Cryptic Solution 14 Instantly, but not Across: 1 Anthill, 5 Rondo, there and then (4,3,3) 8 In the soup, 9 Nod, 10 Edam, 12 Designer, 14 Better, 15 Behind, 16 It’s terrible how 17 Compacts, 18 Eyes, 21 Oft, Freud has got 22 Even money, 24 Tends, the lad upset (8) 25 Penance.

Down: 1 Abide, 2 Tot, 3 Item, 18 I would be the last to find 4 Looted, 5 Repaired, myself here (2,3,4) 6 Nonentity, 7 Ordered, 20 Cast in a very bad 11 Automaton, 13 Legatees, 14 Back out, 16 Streep, shape (7) 19 Style, 20 Amen, 23 Nun. 21 Aviation spirit (7) 23 Act it differently, not using words (5) 25 Almost rate as fools (5) 26 Check support (4) Down Across 1 To bungle (4) 1 In round numbers (4,2,4) 2 Say again (9) 6 7 8 6 Surrounded by (4) 3 Had (5) 9 10 Simulate (5) 4 Disappointment (3-4) 11 Word-finder (9) 5 Gracefully 12 Useless thin (7) personnel (8) 7 Lesson to be 13 Stringed 13 drawn (5) instrument (5) 8 Fraud (10) 15 Lack of inhibition (7) 9 Ludicrous (8) 18 17 Lie back (7) 14 Chilean city (10) 19 High-ranking ecclesiastic (7) 16 Theatrical (8) 21 Unsound 18 Under financially (7) assumed name (9) 22 Latin-American 25 dance (5) 20 To charm (7) 24 Old card game (8) 26 21 Flattering article (5-2) 27 Complex (9) 28 23 Subdued 28 To conduct (5) in tone (5) 29 Balance of 25 Originate (5) advantage (4) 26 Untidy state (4) 30 Astounding (10)

EASY PUZZLE

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.

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M V E H C A B C J I

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D R Z U U O W S U H

THE ALPHABEATE

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.

N D I U M H N K X K

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The Tribune | Weekend | 27

Friday, July 17, 2020

animals

PETER Graham in a recent photo with his latest adoption puppy, Sparky, from the Bahamas Humane Society.

The passing of a good friend

By KIM ARANHA | Animal Matters

E

veryone, upon passing away, leaves a hole in the lives of those who loved them and continue to love them, even years after they have gone.

But some people’s passing leaves a bigger chasm than others that stretches further and touches corners of all our existences; far-reaching, sometimes surprisingly so.

This week I write about a person I have known my entire life, a friend of my parents, a friend of mine, and a great lover of animals.

I speak of Peter D Graham. There have been many and will be more articles and tributes to Peter Graham, the lawyer, the politician, the philanthropist, the generous friend to the Long Islanders, the father, husband, family man… but today I wish to speak of the animal-loving,

kind soul who was a keen supporter of the Bahamas Humane Society.

As I told his family upon his passing, I have never known a world without the wisdom of Peter Graham in it. I have a photograph of me age two on a surfboard and Peter Graham holding the board steady so I wouldn’t fall off. His passing will leave a massive gap in the business community of the Bahamas and in my own personal life.

Many of you know that Peter’s pride and joy was his magnificent flock of whistling ducks down on his cay in Long Island. He delighted in their healthy growth and would take great pleasure watching them for long periods of time when on Hog Cay, but also with the help of a video cam set up on the island so that he could go on his computer to watch their antics at feeding time in the evenings. Peter Graham’s whistling duck flock was famous in bird circles.

I believe that it was on his island that he was the happiest.

Friends and family, animals, his Bahamas and the whistling ducks, such were the simple pleasures that filled this special man’s heart.

There were several special ducks who returned to Nassau for various reasons, the most recent was Miss Ariciella, who would sit and watch TV with Peter and his wife. Subsequently, the duck returned to Long Island and was successfully reintegrated into the flock.

His dog Murphy was the one I remember the best. I was involved with Murphy’s rescue.

Murphy very smartly wandered into the Graham Thompson (west) parking lot. It took one look at this poor dilapidated dog for Peter to want to help.

He brought him food, water and checked on him daily.

Finally he took Murphy to the vet and got him the assistance he needed and brought him home – an old, beat-up dog with a scar here and there from a previous hard life. Murphy was the apple of Peter’s eye.

We lived close by to each other and I would frequently see the two of them taking an evening

walk, a gentle stroll of mutual companionship and respect.

Nobody knew how old Murphy was, but he lived out his life in great comfort, surrounded by love, rescued by kindness.

Peter was an important man, an influential man, but he took the time to love animals.

He took the time to rescue Murphy and many others. And when Murphy died Peter was shattered.

He loved nature and he supported preserving the environment. Several times a year the Bahamas Humane Society would be the fortunate recipient of a gift to support our good works discreetly left in my mailbox. He wished no thanks, metaphorically waving away my gratitude and changing the subject.

In a world where people are harsh, unconcerned about the welfare of others, rough and flippant, it was heart-warming to see this quiet, unobtrusive kindness displayed by Peter Graham.

He never was one to seek recognition, nor did he wish it.

He was just quietly kind. His kindness did not stop with animals, however. His generosity towards individuals has been, and will be, documented by others so I will not venture into that part of his life.

At 93, his passing came as a surprise, even a shock. Some say how can anybody’s death at that age be a shock? Simple, Peter Graham was ageless. He still went to the office daily, he was still razor sharp, he was my friend and has been there to give me advice my entire life.

In fact, I believe he is the last of that very rare breed – those that were around as adults when I was born.

I will no longer pick up the phone and hear that immediately recognisable voice.

Nobody else will ever call me “girl” again.

I enjoy the mental picture of old Murphy, well again and puppyish, waiting impatiently for Peter’s arrival at the rainbow bridge and the happy reunion between the two of them.

SALLY with BHS staff member De’Andrea Kelly (Photo/Patricia Vazquez)

Seashore Sally

By THE BAHAMAS HUMANE SOCIETY

S

ally sells seashells by the seashore! This four-month-old Sally won’t be selling seashells, but she’d sure love to go check out the seashore with you now that our beaches are open again. It’s the perfect place for social distancing.

Sally gets along well with the other adoption pups at the Bahamas Humane Society and is very outgoing and friendly with humans, too.

She’s young and smart and looking forward to a good long life with you.

Come meet Sally and she’ll sell you on her finer points.

Adoption hours are 11am to 3pm or you can call 323-5138 for more information. Sally awaits your arrival!

• Our Thrift Shop is back!

Opening hours are Wednesday/ Thursday/Friday 11am to 3pm and Saturday 10am to 2pm. Bring a bag and be sure to wear your mask.

Donations gratefully accepted. All money raised goes to the BHS.

28 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 17, 2020