07202018 WEEKEND

Friday, July 20, 2018

art books entertainment gardening fashion puzzles astronomy food

Weekend

JERMIA’S BROADWAY DREAM Pages 4 & 5

Flipping out A safe haven for dolphins

pages 8 & 9

02 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 20, 2018

entertainment

New ‘WOW’ party series targets

the 30-something crowd

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson@tribunemedia.net

D

ESPERATE for more age-appropriate entertainment, the creators of WOW 242 have taken matters into their own hands and are now hosting a series of events tailored to party-goers in their 30s. It’s a demographic the events planning company feels is often overlooked.

“WOW was born from a conversation between a group of friends who felt starved of entertainment.

While there are different entertainment options there were none that made us feel like our needs were being met,” said Derrick Allahar of WOW 242.

“There was no entertainment for the middle 30s aged category that was affordable, safe and comfortable. Either places are too expensive or the environment isn’t within our comfort zones. During this conversation the opportunity presented itself for us to host an event at the Privé Ultra Lounge and the rest was history.”

WOW 242 launched as a production company just this month with the successful staging of its first event called “Listed”.

It’s next event, “Loose”, is scheduled for August 3 at the stylish Privé Ultra Lounge on Elizabeth Avenue and is touted as an event for grown folks who simply want to have fun.

“Each of our events will have its own concept, giving them their individual identities, but fun is our biggest focus for all our events. We also have some surprises for our patrons which will help them get ‘Loose’ on August 3,” said Derrick.

Given that its inaugural party had such a successful turnout, he said the company now hopes to make it part of future events.

“The promotion for this event was done through a personal network, so the highlight for us was being a part of that network of people who had the same interests which we do. We came out, we had fun, we made memories and we look forward to making more,” said Derrick.

For all future events, patrons who are registered as a WOW 242 community member through its website will be eligible for various offers.

“For example, all of our guests who were listed and attended our first event have been e-mailed a special offer for our next event,” he said.

For more information and to register, visit www. wow242.com.

The ‘grown and sexy’ crowd at WOW 242’ inaugural event.

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Friday, July 20, 2018

Inside Weekend

My perfect Bahamian weekend Clay “Qpid” Adderley Musician, entertainer Q: Saturday breakfast or Sunday lunch?

Interview 4-5 Seventeen-year-old opera singer Jermia Munroe talks about her dream to take Broadway by storm

Food 7 Rainbow’s end offers sweet treats

Environment 8-9 Meet the Atlantis dolphins

Astronomy 10 Take a look at some of the stunning entries in the Astronomy Photographer of the year contest

Health 11 Bahamagal Keto offers healthy diet and allergy-friendly tasty snacks

Entertainment 12 Junkanoo Summer Festival offers a taste of the islands

Fashion 13 Avid custom straw bags find a new purpose in old traditions

Fashion 14-15 Island attire by Vida Cayo

Gardening 19 Jack Hardy helps inexperienced gardeners create the perfect salad

Art 18 Dominic Cant takes on a different perspective

Film 20 Denzel Washington stars in Equalizer 2

Literary Lives 22 The mysterious shooting of a national hero

Forgotten Facts Paradise Lost?

Puzzles 26

Animals 27 A tribute to Nesta

Cover

Dolphins at Atlantis

“Breakfast is out of the question. I’m a night owl (most creatives are) and I go sleep as the sun rises 90 per cent of the week, so definitely Sunday lunch.”

Q: Beach or sofa?

“How about a sofa like couch on a beach? No, ah?”

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

“I think candy definitely. I’m a sweet mouth kinda guy and I don’t think I would survive without a dose of sugar.”

Q: Weekend away, where would you go?

“The world is so huge and travelling opens up your mind, but I would like to go Florida for the weekend ‘cause broke people go to Miami!”

Q: Wine, rum, cocktail or Kalik?

“My fav drink is Stoli, tonic water and slice of lime. Case closed.”

Things 2 Do this weekend Friday

• The Global E Commerce Opportunity: Are You Ready

Time: 9am Venue: Baha Mar Convention Centre

As part of continuing efforts to help you “Go Global”, DHL cordially invites you to this complimentary seminar.

We will have two speakers covering topics ranging from payments to logistics.

Cost is free and light refreshments will be served.

• DJ Sam Black at Privilege Pool Time: 1pm Venue: SLS Baha Mar Fresh from Miami Swim Week, Newmark models and DJ Sam Blacky make their Bahamas debut at Privilege Pool. RSVP: PrivilegeReservations@sbe.com

• Made in the Bahamas Street Party presented by Kalik Time: 6pm Venue: 700 Wine and Spirits Live performances by Scorch Conch Rake & Scrape Band, Dj Might Pencil.

Junkanoo Rush Out: Shell Saxon Superstar.

Domino Competition: win five games and get a free case.

• Movie Night Under the Stars Time: 8pm Venue: Philosophy Road and

Serenity Drive

Bring your significant other, family and friends to watch Black Panther under the stars at philosophy! Bring your blankets if you wish.

Free admission and Popcorn

• Star Time: Friday, and Saturday at 8pm,

Sunday at 4pm

Venue: University of the Bahamas Experience the drama, romances and adventures of a group of young people attending the first Bahamian Performing Arts High School of The Bahamas. STAR takes us on a journey of watching these young creatives fight for their dreams while trying to avoid the obstacles of sex, drugs, and jealousy getting in their way!

If you’ve ever had a dream and had to fight through the pain to make that dream a reality, STAR is the production for you.

Music by DJ Shutah, Dj Kannon, Dj Prodigy, Doughboy, Unruly Onetime and Ovadose Tickets $10 in advance or $15 at the gate

• Open Mic at the Crew Pub Time: 7.30pm Venue: The Crew Pub We are hosting our monthly Open Mic Night, July 21st! Sign up starts at 7.30pm; performers start at 8.30pm.

Come enjoy drinks. good food, and amazing talent.

Saturday

Sunday

• Bahamas Wife Carrying Contest Time: 10am Venue: Clifton Heritage Park Fellas, grab your lady and get ready for the ultimate team competition!

The first ever Bahamas Wife Carrying Contest! Carry your wife, sister, cousin or friend over a 400m obstacle course for the chance to win her weight in beer!

There is no need to be married to enter. However, all participants must be over 21. Females must weigh a minimum of 110 pounds and the Number 1 rule is “You must have fun”. Registration is $50.

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

•Dash for Darian - 5k and 10k Walk Time: 6am Venue: Arawak Cay Support a good cause. There will be a souse out following the walk turkey and chicken souse for $12 pastries and drinks will also be available.

•Lite Vibes - Open Air Day Party hosted by TRIZ Time: 2pm Venue: Antonius Roberts Studio

•Ova Due hosted by Island Boys Entertainment Time: 7pm Venue: Fort Charlotte Island Boyz present the Exclusive Premium Summer Event

and Gallery Hillside House Enjoy a relaxed all day party with food trucks. No cover, just lite vibes.

This is your new Sunday destination.

•The Mixer - Groom and Sexy Sunday Time: 7pm Venue: Balmoral Club THE MIXER is back at the The Balmoral Club, and you can expect the same grown and sexy vibes. Come Groove to TOP 40, Reggae and Hip Hop by the best DJ’s in town while sipping signature cocktails and enjoying bites by the club’s kitchen. $20 - 1st drink and valet included.

04 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 20, 2018

interview

Get ready - Miss Munroe’s got her sights on Broadway

By CARA HUNT cbrennen@tribunemedia.net

F

or 17-year-old Jermia Munroe life is a song. To be more precise it’s an operatic ballad she hopes will eventually land her on the Broadway stage Jermia recently received 1st place in the Clement Bethel National Arts Festival in the opera category and hopes she can help more Bahamian young people embrace this style of music.

The recent graduate of Cr Walker told Tribune Weekend about the role music has always played in her life.

“I have been singing since I was two and in my crib,” she said. “My mother Nova assisted me; she sings as well and so we would sing together.”

Jermia said that originally she would focus on love ballads, in particular the music of pop icon Whitney Houston.

“I would perform at various school functions growing up,” she added.

It was in ninth grade that she would be introduced to a new style of singing that would change her life.

“There was this group of people auditioning kids downtown and my aunt Janet took me and after they heard me sing they suggested that I try sing Ava Marie and I just felt really good singing it. I felt that I could really hit the notes and control the singing” said Jermia.

It was her first introduction to opera and she says she fell in love although her focus continued to remain with more pop style performances.

In the tenth grade she watched one of the performers on the hit show America’s Got Talent and was once again reminded that perhaps opera was where her heart should rest.

“She sang this song O Mio Babbino Caro. After I heard the song I became obsessed, I had to find it and learn it.

I had a very strong connection to the song. I was crying and I was very emotional because I thought that it was just

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so beautiful and angelic,” explained Jermia.

“I started watching opera performances on You Tube and teaching myself how to sing opera, trying to repeat what I had heard. But I knew that I wanted to be an opera singer.”

Jermia says that one of her favourite singers is Jackie Evancho who is just one year older than she is.

Jackie gained world wide attention at the age of ten when she finished 2nd in the fifth season of America’s Got Talent.

With the 2010 holiday release of her O Holy Night EP, Evancho became the best-selling debut artist of 2010, the youngest Top 10 debut artist in U.S. history and the youngest solo artist ever to go platinum in the U.S. In 2011, her first full-length album, Dream with Me debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, and she became the youngest Top 5 debut artist in UK history. Billboard ranked Jackie the top Classical Albums Artist for 2011. Later that year, she released a full-length holiday album, Heavenly Christmas, and became the youngest person ever to give a solo concert at Lincoln Centre in New York as part of her first concert tour.

In 2017, Evancho performed the U.S. national anthem at the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump and became the youngest person ever to perform a concert series at Café Carlyle.

“I love that she is my age,” said Jermia.

“I feel like if she can overcome everything to sing and be successful at such a young age then I can do it too.”

Jermia says she hopes to also inspire more young people to appreciate opera but so far the reaction has been mixed among her friends.

“At first when some of them heard me, they started laughing and mocked it, but when most of them took the time to really listen to it, they liked it. I want them to know that it is not as boring as they may think,” she said.

That desire to share her love of opera also inspired her desicison to enter the National Art Festival.

“I saw it as a way to put myself out there,” she said.

Jermia is headed to Northeastern Oklahoma A and M College in the fall where she intends to study Music Theatre.

“I always knew that I would major in music, I just didn’t realise that it would end up being music theatre,” she said.

“While I am there, I would like to become fluent in Italian, French and German and learn to sight sing which is the ability to read and sing music at first sight.

“I am very nervous about going,” she admitted, “because I don’t know what to expect and because I know that there will be students who have been singing longer than I have and who have had more formal training, but I am excited.

“Hopefully, I will be able to achieve my dream of being a Broadway and opera singer.”

06 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 20, 2018

section

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Friday, July 20, 2018

food

Rainbow’s end yields a sweet treasure

Candies and cookies by A Rainbow’s Delight

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Writer acadet@tribunemedia.net

L

EGEND has it that at the end of every rainbow there is a pot of gold. Here in the Bahamas, if you follow the Riley sisters’ A Rainbow’s Delight, what you find at the end are handcrafted sweets sure to delight the sweet tooth of every Bahamian.

A Rainbow’s Delight was launched last year by Vanessa and Audra Riley, offering a range of caramels, hard candies and assorted fruit lollipops.

Flavours include mango, tamarind, roasted pineapple, guava, Inagua sea salt, coconut, and more.

Also available through the mobile candy company are fruit flavoured dessert sauces, shortbread cookies made with local fruit, seasonal flavours like

eggnog and peppermint caramels, as well as chutneys.

“Persons love being able to taste their favourite local fruit flavours in the candies and the uniqueness of the product lies in being able to incorporate these flavours. For us it is still a learning experience in setting the business up to be what we envisioned, but we are confident of its success because of the products we have to offer. Both my sister and I have no candy-making experience, but do love candies,” Vanessa told Tribune Weekend.

With a background as a trained chef, as well as having her very own catering company, Vanessa said creating candies for their new company has given her the opportunity to explore her creativity.

The fact that they get to make a products with local ingredients which people seem to enjoy, she said is fantastic. She especially enjoys seeing

customers’ reactions when they taste the candies for the first time. After many years of perfecting the sauces, sweets, and chutneys just for family members and friends, Vanessa said the inspiration to take their efforts public came from God. Vanessa said Audra’s mother, Jennifer Riley, who recently passed away, always played an integral role in their lives, supporting and encouraging them to always use their gifts and talents.

“We have had opportunity to showcase our products at various events, for table favours, client gifts, authentic Bahamian candy bars, and incorporated in our line of gourmet gift baskets. However, we have most enjoyed the direct contact with persons experiencing the candies at the various festivals and markets we have participated in like the Tru Tru Bahamian Festival earlier this year, and just recently the BNT Summerfication

event, where we won a first place prize for most creative booth,” said Vanessa.

The goal for the sisters is to one day see A Rainbow’s Delight products to become the candies of choice for the local market, both here in Nassau and in the Family Islands. They would also love to have their products readily accessible in their very own retail space and from on online marketplace.

“Our candies and condiment lines are currently available in Solomon’s Fresh Market stores and we are aggressively working on establishing more partnerships for retail locations. In addition, we are seeking out creative avenues for marketing and getting more persons familiar with our candy company. We will be in attendance at the BCCEC Export Vendor Trade show in September and the BNT Art and Wine Festival in October,” said Vanessa.

08 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 20, 2018

environment

Dive into a dolphin tale

Atlantis boasts 16 births and other rehabilitation successes

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Writer acadet@tribunemedia.net

I

nitially created to provide a safe haven for 17 stranded dolphins in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Dolphin Cay at Atlantis is today one of the world’s largest open-air, man-made marine mammal habitats.

There are many sights that are guaranteed to catch the eye upon entering the 14-acre environment that includes an 11-acre lagoon complete with coves and sandy beaches. With seven connected residential pools, and programmes that range from a deep water swim, shallow water interaction, ‘hang time’, a marine adventure camp and more, people are often amazed to find out the experience offers much more than just the dolphins doing flips and performing tricks.

The marine habitat opened in 2007 after Hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf of Mexico and destroyed the Marine Life Oceanarium in Mississippi. The owner, Don Jacobs, was 80 years old at the time and did not want to rebuild Marine Life. According to reports, he did not want his company’s dolphins to be separated, so the entire group was sold to Atlantis, including the 40-something-year-old ‘matriarch’ dolphin called Jill.

Dolphin Cay has come a long way since then. It now offers a

state-of-the-art education centre, an animal rescue-rehabilitation hospital, an animal pharmacy, a quarantine, and a separate sea lion centre.

Under the supervision of Ryan Dean, Director of Marine Mammal Operations at Atlantis, Tribune Weekend went behind the scenes at Dolphin Cay. “Everything that we do with the dolphins here in the lagoon in terms of behaviours are things they would naturally do in the wild. We also have an open flow system, so all of the water

that comes through is actually sea water that we pump through,” he explained.

“But it is really about how we take care of them. A lot of people when they think about dolphins in captivity, they think it is really hard and strict and the dolphins have to do it or they don’t get fed, and this really is not the case. If the dolphins want to do this, they do it, if they don’t want to do it, they don’t do it, so we don’t force them.”

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Friday, July 20, 2018

Moreover, he said the team at Dolphin Cay makes certain that everything the dolphins would experience in the wild in terms of their social behaviour with each other, are things they allow them to do at Dolphin Cay. So for example, the mothers and calfs usually stay together until they are ready to go their separate ways.

“We have had 16 babies born since the year 2007 and with my experience of this I know that in environments where they are not content they won’t breed. The fact that on their own they are doing this, it shows us that they are really content and comfortable with where they are. Everybody knows how intelligent they are, but each of them have their own individual personalities and that’s the fun part,” said Mr Dean.

Some of the Atlantic bottlenose dolphins at Dolphin Cay are Hercules, Electra, Cosmo and Missi, whose mom was actually one of the original Katrina dolphins.

“I tell people, sometimes watching them and working with them, is kind of like watching the show ‘Days of Our Lives’. Because you have the little cliques that hang together and they are just bouncing off the walls all the time, and the babies are babies and kids are kids in any species; it doesn’t matter. And then you have the older animals that are doing their own thing who don’t want to be messed with before 11am,” said Mr Dean.

When it comes to Dolphin Cay’s rehabilitation and rescue efforts, Mr Dean said if there is any animal in the region of the Bahamas down to the Turks and Caicos Islands that is injured or looks like it is having issues, the team at Dolphin Cay are the ones who are called in to access the situation and take a look at the animal to see if they need to bring it in, rehabilitate it and release it.

“We have had a few success stories. The most recent was just a few months ago where we got a call about a manatee that was seen in Spanish Wells. When we got there, honestly that was the worst condition that I have seen a living manatee in. We didn’t know how successful it would be, but we did what we could and believe it or not, we were able to get the situation turned around. It was really malnourished, and in about three to four months we got it back to health and up to the weight that it needed to be. Soon after, we released it this year. We have had about six manatees rehabilitated,” he said.

In addition, Mr Dean had a touching story of a dolphin found on the island of Andros which was suffering from severe scoliosis.

“She was literally shaped like the letter ‘L’.

We didn’t think she would survive, and for the first few weeks we had to have trainers in the water with her because she couldn’t hold herself up to float. Rain or shine, we would take shifts just to hold her up just so we could get the opportunity to keep her. All of the experts we spoke to told us she wouldn’t live past a month, but she ended up living for five years,” he said.

Tribune writer Alesha Cadet has a one-onone encounter with one of Dolphin Cay’s residents

For Mr Dean, who has worked with marine mammals for 12 years, his career has been a fulfilling one.

No two days are the same; every day the dolphins are in a different mood and it takes a lot of effort to get the job done right, he said.

“A lot of people see the physical side of it that involves the pretty picture, but it takes a lot of mental work that persons don’t understand and realise because the dolphins are so smart. If you don’t try to stay ahead of them, they are going to stay ahead of you, so in order to be good at this field and keep them stimulated, you have to put in the work, but I enjoy it. Working with them and conditioning them to the different behaviours is really a connectthe-dots game. They are very intelligent animals, so once we are consistent and clear to get them to understand, they pick up on it pretty quickly,” said Mr Dean.

Every visit to Dolphin Cay supports the Atlantis Blue Project Foundation, which seeks to create and promote solutions for a wide range of marine conservation challenges, from coral reef degradation to marine species in decline.

10 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 20, 2018

astronomy

Aurora inspiringÂ

H

ere are a few of the stunning finalists of the 2018 Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest.

It is the largest international competition of its kind, annually showcasing phenomenal photography of the night sky and the universe taken from a global community of talented astrophotographers.

Each year, the winning photographers are displayed at an exhibition at the Royal Museum Greenwich in the UK.

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Friday, July 20, 2018

lifestyle

New keto diet desserts to satisfy the sweet tooth

By CARA HUNT cbrennen@tribunemedia.net

A

shley Noel knows first-hand the benefits of a new diet that has taken social media by storm. And to make this particular dieting process a bit sweeter, she is making her own dessert products for the Bahamian market.

After committing herself to eating ketogenically, Ashley was able to lose more than 100 pounds and has been inspired to create a new line of baked goods to help others on their road to weight loss and a healthier life.

The ketogenic diet, or keto for short, is a high-fat, adequate protein, lowcarbohydrate diet.

The basic premise behind eating ketogenically is that by eliminating carbohydrates and eating more fatty foods, the body will be forced to turn the fat into energy rather than absorb it, which attributes to weight gain. This is said to result in a quicker weight loss, which is also more sustainable.

“You can lose about 15 pounds in two weeks and then a few pounds each week,” Ashley explained to Tribune Weekend. “It is supposed to be a lifestyle change rather than a diet.”

One of the benefits of the keto diet, she added, is that it allows you to still enjoy flavourful food.

“When you think about it, fat is what makes your food taste good.

Think about how foods like pasta and rice and bread taste. They are a bit bland. It’s the things that you put on them like the butter and the cheese that makes them taste good and that is why the keto diet works,” said Ashley.

A typical keto-based day may include a breakfast of eggs and bacon, lunch can be any type of meat or hamburger sandwich with all the dressings, but not the bread or bun, and dinner can be spaghetti Bolognese using a meat sauce over zucchini or spaghetti squash rather than noodles.

One of the challenges to the keto diet can be dessert options, as you are trying to avoid carbohydrates and

Ashley Noel, founder of Bahama Gal Keto

“You can lose about 15 pounds in two weeks and then a few pounds each week. It is supposed to be a lifestyle change rather than a diet.”

sugary options. Enter Bahama Gal Keto.

“I realised that there was a need for desserts which followed the keto requirements, but there was also a need for desserts for persons who have gluten allergies or diabetes and just people who really wanted to indulge their sweet tooth in a healthy way,” said Ashley.

“I used to play around with dessert options and tried them out on my husband and my kids. And then in conversations you realise that people have a need for these items, either they can’t find them in local stores or if they do find it, it is super expensive.”

Ashley uses coconut or almond flour and a natural sugar substitute in her baked goods, which include chocolate chip cookies, raspberry cheese danishes, pound cake, cheese cakes, as well as hamburger buns and pizza crusts.

“I also try to introduce new items from time to time so there is something new to try on the menu,” she said.

Looking forward, Ashley says she hopes to be able to include meal preparation services in her menu so that she can provide keto and allergyfriendly meals to interested persons.

You can check out Bahama Gal Keto on social media.

12 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 20, 2018

entertainement

Junkanoo Summer Festival showcases new and innovative cuisine

T

he experience of an authentic taste of the islands of the Bahamas is a major highlight of the Junkanoo Summer Festival 2018, which takes place every Saturday this month and on August 4 at Arawak Cay. The array of culinary delights on sale at the festival include mouthwatering dishes like conch fritters, guava and tamarind wings, seafood duff, stuffed crabs and lobster, fried snapper, gyros, sweet treats and icy cool drinks.

According to Culinary Manager at the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Aviation (BMOTA) Deanne Gibson, there are over 40 vendors participating in this year’s festival.

“Every week you can come and you may not see the same vendors because they are on different rotations. We have some very different food this year. We have the favorites like the Batter Girls and Andros Crab-AGanza. It’s crab season so we have crab in many different ways. The creativity is really being seen in our food and beverage industry and so I am really excited about what we have to offer this year,” she said.

Among the vendors at the festival site are Gussie Mae Restaurant, Batter Girls, Dancing Cooks, Lil Laura’s Fresh Fruit Smoothies, Party All The Time, Talk of The Town, Island Flavor, Cotton Ice, Pigran, Mokomo Culinary Services, Sea Duffs and Ocean Foam

by Rock Oven, and Andros Crab-AGanza, just to name a few.

Ms Gibson said that prior to the festival, a seminar was held to ensure that only the most creative dishes are presented. “We are looking for Bahamian fusion. That real out-of-the-box item so that you can see the difference in the culture,” she noted.

Many of the vendors are happy to be a part of Junkanoo Summer Festival because they get exposure locally and internationally.

PHOTOS/KEMUEL STUBBS

Antoinette Glinton of the Batter Girls said the company’s following has grown tremendously because of Junkanoo Summer Festival.

“It is very beneficial for us and we have both local and international customers and we have returning international customers who come looking for the Batter Girls,” she said.

“Some of the things that they like are our conchy conch fritters, our shrimp fritters, cinnamon ice tea and

our Cajun lobster and shrimp baskets.

This is one of our main events and we intend to keep coming.”

Joan Lockhart-Culmer of Sea Duff and Ocean Foam by Rock Oven from Ragged Island agreed. She said her savoury seafood duffs have been getting a lot of attention.

“We never do things in a normal way. I decided that everyone else was doing a duff as a dessert and we are surrounded by a sea of wonderful things to eat like lobster, crab, conch and fish. Tourists and Bahamians are very interested and we have been bombarded with people wanting to share the entire loaves with their families,” said Ms Lockhart-Culmer.

“I’m hoping that it will take off and the loaves will get to the hotels, to visitors so that they can experience real, authentic Bahamian cuisine.”

Arementha Curry of Island Flavor is a first time vendor, but she said the

experience will keep her coming back to the festival.

“We wanted to be a part of the experience that would give people an opportunity to sample the Bahamas by the means of the items on the menu.

We have things like grilled fish straight out of waters in Exuma and the reception for that has been good. We will definitely be back,” she said.

In addition to the vendors, renowned chefs are also participating in culinary demonstrations. Over the last two weeks, Chefs Kevyn Pratt and Seanette Brice-Cooper have shown patrons how to make crab and coconut crusted conch cakes, respectively. Chef Mildred Evans has also demonstrated how to make potato and coconut breads.

For more information on Junkanoo Summer Festival, visit www.Bahamas. com/summerfestivals.

– Kendea Smith

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Friday, July 20, 2018

fashion

Finding a new purpose in an old tradition

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Writer acadet@tribunemedia.net

W

hile some may consider them an old hat, Al-Marie Smith is taking the traditional Bahamian straw bags, enhancing them, customising them, and using them to help her become a successful business owner.

AVID Custom Bags and Accessories is the name of her company, which she founded three years ago. Ms Smith said she enjoys trying new techniques and mediums, such as vinyl mixed with straw or cloth mixed with straw – all embellished with natural objects found right in someone’s backyard or around the home, items such as shells, grommets and other knick-knacks.

“I basically like to use any medium or texture that comes to mind in order to create a masterpiece. Another thing I like about the field that I’m in is that I like to collaborate with my customers. My customers sometimes come to me with an idea of how they want their bag, jewellery or even their bow tie to look, and I take pride in creating their dream accessory for them,” she said.

Becoming a business owner was not easy, said Ms Smith, especially as

Designs by AVID Custom Bags and Accessories she already had a full-time job, two children under the age of three to take care of and other responsibilities such as being the youth director at the Church of God of Prophecy and codirector of a local dance group called The Sonbeams. However, all the hard work as been worth it and she feels blessed to have made it this far.

Ms Smith attended classes by the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation to perfect her craft.

Through these sessions, she taught herself the art of jewellery making. Her skills were soon recognised by a friend who entrusted her to create jewellery

sets for a bridal party – an experience that launched her business.

The home-based AVID Custom Bags and Accessories features authentic Bahamian-made products such as straw bags, clutches, straw bow ties, straw cufflinks, portfolios and more.

“You have to constantly believe in yourself, think out of the box and invest in your craft, which is what I’m constantly doing. The most memorable client experience was when I was at the Queen’s College fair this year. A client was like, ‘I was waiting for you all to come out here’. And for me, that’s big, because it made me realise that my

hard work is paying off and persons are actually recognising my business,” she said.

Ms Smith said she is blessed to have had many individuals play an integral part in her life and business venture, including late Gertrude Turner fostered her love for sewing along with her mother Donna Delancy, and the late Jaqueline Sainville, a former art teacher who saw something in her she never knew she had. However, her biggest influences are her husband Berlin Smith, father Alkin Delancy, and children who push her to be the best she can be.

“I see AVID Custom Bags and Accessories continuing to create new affordable and quality products that people will love while being able to supply authentic Bahamian products around the world. My plan is to continue to get my name out there by attending various trade shows, hosting a pop up shop, collaborating with other young talented Bahamian entrepreneurs, creating quality work, and hopefully to get one or two of my products into a retail store,” said Ms Smith.

For more information, check out the brand on Facebook at AVID Custom Bags and Accessories or on Instagram at avidba, or call 432-6012.

16 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 20, 2018

celebrity With Karin Herig and Cara Hunt

FAIL

HIT

HIT

SPLIT

HIT

Meryl Streep

Amanda Seyfried

Cher

Thandie Newton

Lily James

Karin says: “Wow, the whole look is so unflattering. Can you even call that a dress? It just looks like a piece of blue fabric she belted together.

And those rhinestone shoes!

And that orange clutch!

Nothing here makes sense.”

Cara says: “I have to admit I read Karin’s comments before I saw the pic and had visions of horror dancing in my head, but this is really not that bad.

I mean, it is really bad, but I never hold Meryl to the same fashion standards as others.

It’s a pretty blue and at least the belt and shoes match.”

Karin says: “Now this I love.

It’s so elegant and sleek. A real chic and classy pantsuit.

I especially love the train thingie she’s got going one, complementing it with her hair worn to the other side to balance out the look. And the hint of cleavage keeps it the right amount of sexy.”

Cara says: “I do really like this. It’s a fun suit; it struck the right note of elegance and formality, but the roses, the length of the pants and the side train give it a playful and youthful edge. It’s a good choice.”

Karin says: “She looks like she took a dreamcatcher apart and draped with around her neck paired with some old black cloak she had lying around (although it looks better in other photos). But regardless, she’s Cher! So of course always fabulous. Pfft.”

Cara says: “Very dramatic and witch-like, but I do like it. Although it looks like it’s a hot outfit for these very, very hot summer days (yes, even in London where the premiere was held). Cher still looks fabulous and we love her.”

Karin says: “This is a sorta cute monochrome print dress.

It’s a bit underwhelming for a star-studded movie premiere.

It looks very much resort casual. However, I do love the length and the belted detail. I also like her braided updo.”

Cara says: “This is just a dress with faces. I guess the fabric is interesting, but it’s a lot of print and the dress is so shapeless and uninspiring.

One point for the cute shoes though. The rest, I can leave.”

Karin says: “She played Cinderella three years ago, but Lily is still dressing like a princess. This premiere seemed a bit more casual than others, so perhaps she’s a bit overdressed, but it’s still so pretty. It’s hard to see here, but the gown boasts a lovely print at the bottom of ruins in the woods.”

Cara says: “Love, love, love it! It is absolutely gorgeous.

She looks lovely. My favourite dress this week. Those shoes are super nice as well. I think Lilly always looks so cute in whatever she wears.”

PHOTOS BY VIANNEY LE CAER/INVISION/AP

The Weekend Fashion Report Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again’ Premiere

The Tribune | Weekend | 17

Friday, July 20, 2018

books Reviews

‘The Real Deal’ is flirty summer beach read

B

eing the only single person in the family is sometimes annoying. It’s worse when parents get involved, aggressively pushing every available guy in your direction. In “The Real Deal,” author Lauren Blakely adds a fun twist to this scenario by introducing an unexpected character into the mix.

April Hamilton is happy being a successful single woman. And she knows that having a date at her side at her family reunion will keep her nosey relatives off her case. So she hires a

professional escort to pose as her boyfriend for the weekend.

Theo Banks is an actor who discovered a sweet way to make money.

There are tons of women who need dates for various occasions and he can morph into anyone they want him to be. Playing the role of “fake boyfriend” isn’t his dream job, but one more highpaying gig will get him out of debt so he can stop running from his past.

April and Theo have been attracted to each other from the moment they met. When Theo insists they discuss important relationship details, like how they met, April effortlessly settles

into her role as the doting girlfriend.

Soon, not only is the family buying the intricate details of their lives, but April sometimes forgets that this is all a ruse.

Moreover, she finds herself wanting the stories to be real.

Theo feels the same way. He finds himself falling for April, but has no idea if she feels the same way. Is he picking up on flirtatious signals? Or is she just convincingly playing her part?

Told from the perspectives of both April and Theo, “The Real Deal” is a breezy beach read.

LINCEE RAY Associated Press

‘The Mere Wife’ explores ‘Beowulf’ in the suburbs MARIA Dahvana Headley’s new novel, “The Mere Wife,” is much more than a simple recasting of the ancient epic poem “Beowulf” in the suburbs. It’s “The Stepford Wives,” 9/11 and English class thrown into a lyrical blender, and it’s kind of glorious.

For those who forgot the poem immediately after high school, “Beowulf” is the Anglo-Saxon classic about a warrior who saves a kingdom first from the monster Grendel, then Grendel’s mother and then a dragon.

The top 10 books on Apple’s iBooks-US iBook charts for week ending July 8, 2018

already covered his heroics, so Headley cleverly reflects on his shortcomings. He’s no match for his wife’s ambitious mother, let alone Gren’s overprotective mom.

Gren and Dana threaten Willa’s routine, her low-carb diet and her tasteful decor. But are they really monsters? It’s hard to tell when everyone ends up covered in blood.

You don’t have to remember “Beowulf” to get what Headley is saying here: a monster lives in every mirror, and every enemy is someone else’s hero.

Headley, who also is working on a new translation of “Beowulf,” subverts the epic by exploring its good-versus-evil battle from the perspective of women who were largely left on the margins by the ancient bards.

Grendel’s mother even gets a name: Dana Mills, a former soldier from the wrong side of the tracks exiled to a mountain. When her son Gren crosses paths with the prince of a nearby gated community, she encounters a formidable foe in suburban ice queen Willa Herot.

The hero is supposed to be local police officer Ben Woolf. The bards

JENNIFER KAY Associated Press

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

. Spymaster by Brad Thor . The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand

. All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin . The President Is Missing by Bill Clinton & James Patterson

. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

. Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman . When Life Gives You Lululemons by Lauren Weisberger

. The Outsider by Stephen King

. Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton

By The Associated Press

. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F(asterisk)ck by Mark Manson

18 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 20, 2018

art

Capturing reality from a different perspective

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson@tribunemedia.net

D

OMINIC Cant’s journey as a visual artist started 15 years ago with him painting abstractions of water. Living in the Bahamas, he spent a lot of time in and around the ocean, which is initially where his fascination with H2O began.

For many years, Dominic studied photographs to help with his understanding of water’s complex visuals.

Until one day he realised he was “merely recreating the original art of water”. So he decided to move from painting water to photographing it.

Art is one of Dominic’s greatest joys, although he does not practice it full-time. In his day job, where he does marketing and property management for Governors Harbour Vacation Rentals, he loves being able to use his art in a practical and harmonious way with the environment. He says his art conveys the sense of peace and tranquillity that one gets living from in Eleuthera.

“Many mornings I wake up to the sight of dolphins passing by my window in Anchor Point and I almost forget to go to work. I find this the most conducive place for me to be continually inspired,” he told Tribune Weekend.

Dominic is among the many Bahamian artists who have created artwork which currently decorates the walls of the Grand Hyatt at Baha Mar. In this Q&A with Tribune Weekend, the photographer gives a little insight into his methods, his art on display in the Grand Hyatt lobby, and what it means to have people from all corners of the the world view his work.

Q: What form of art do you practice?

“I’m a fine art photographer who documents the art of water.”

Q: What do you love most about this form of art?

Photographer Dominic Cant

“My Joy”

“Orbs”

“Shelley” and low to find something special that nobody knew was there until it was captured. Giving way to my philosophy, ‘art is not something you create; it is something you discover.’

“Sealed with a Kiss” “Honestly, I love that I am not the creator. I capture the art in nature and choose those moments lost to time to share with the rest of the world.”

Q: Where is your work featured at the Grand Hyatt?

“Actually, I’m lucky enough to have many of my artworks on display in the public areas, such as in the elevators and restrooms. Guests will interact with my artwork on a daily basis. In the elevators, for example, they will

be immersed in the art and it will be a part of the experience as a whole.”

Q: What is the inspiration behind it your work?

“Working with water is as exciting as it is unpredictable. As its surface moves, its reflections change to distort reality. Much like an artist, it reshapes the world into an interpretation all onto itself. I can try influence the image to exactly what I want, only to be disappointed, or I can search high

Q: The Grand Hyatt offers a showcase for your art which can be viewed by people from all over the world.

How significant is this for you?

“I am excited for my artwork to be seen and interacted with on an international level. Art is an expression to be shared, and to be able to do so on such a level gives me a great sense of pride.

Personally, I love the moment when people go from the assumption of my art being an abstract painting to the realisation that it is reality from a new perspective.”

The Tribune | Weekend | 19

Friday, July 20, 2018

gardening

Green vs brown thumb Different kinds of lettuce can easily be grown in a pot.

Jack Hardy wants to help even the most inexperienced and inept gardeners to grow all the ingredients they need for a good salad.

O

ver the years I have encouraged many nongardeners to try growing their own vegetables. The biggest excuse was they did not have the time or space. Some said they tried once or twice but could never get anything to grow. The phrase they used was: I have a brown thumb.

It was the custom in Japan to refer to master bonsai growers as having a green thumb; they did their pruning of side shoots with their thumbnail and their nickname was literal. This led to calling a successful gardener in general a green thumber and the opposite was, of course, a brown thumber. Now that VAT has reached the “ouch” stage I want to encourage everyone to give gardening a try. Your wallet will thank you.

Start small and increase your production as you grow in confidence. I would suggest you start with lettuce and scallions in containers that allow you greater control of the growing process. We all use lettuce and onions.

Packages of fresh specialty lettuce and greens are expensive; onions are cheap but scallions cost close to a dollar for a bunch of half a dozen. You will have to wait until October to plant your lettuce seeds but scallions can be started now.

Choose your lettuce seeds bearing in mind that iceberg and romaine lettuce are quite tricky while loose-leaf lettuce like Simpson’s Black Seeded is prolific and the leaves grow back after being harvested. You could buy a lettuce mixture like mesclun but I prefer to keep to one variety in a single container.

When it comes to scallions or green onions buy seeds that promise large plants. There are several very good oriental varieties.

The best containers for growing lettuce and scallions are rectangular basins about two feet by three feet and

eight inches deep that are made from durable black plastic that does not turn brittle in the sun. These sell for about $10 in the hardware store and will last forever. You will need drainage holes, at least six to eight. You can use a drill to make the holes or heat up an old screwdriver on a propane burner and melt the hole. This is fun.

Now your soil. Buy a large bag of quality potting soil (that means the most expensive). Fill your two containers to a depth of five or six inches.

Water well and even the surface with your fingers. Scallions need to be planted 2 inches apart so make a grid of lines with your finger or gently press a milk crate into the soil to create a grid. Plant your scallion seeds ¼ to ½ inch deep at the intersection of lines.

Your gardening venture is now under way.

In four to six weeks your scallions will stand several inches tall. Now is the time to fertilize. Buy a one pound plastic bag of soluble or time-release fertilizer from your nursery or hardware store and sprinkle the granules lightly with your fingertips. Do not overdo fertilizing; just a little is fine.

Repeat every two months.

Scallions started in July can be cut or pulled starting in November. If you use a small sharp knife to cut a scallion halfway through its bulbous part just below ground level the plant will grow back.

Plant lettuce seeds ¼ inch deep and four inches apart. Your lettuce

started at the beginning of October will be usable by the end of November.

Leaves can be removed individually as the need arises but when it comes to cutting you should cut high and leave some greenery in place. Re-growth is rapid.

Now the math. A two by three feet container will give you 150 scallions or 32 lettuce plants. After the initial work, watering and weeding will take you two minutes every morning maximum.

Your total outlay for seeds, potting soil and containers will be well under $50.

Once you realise how easy it is to grow veggies you can expand. Buy a pot or two of cherry tomatoes from your nursery and plant them in a good soil area where they will receive plenty of sun and can be staked. Consider another container to grow greens or spinach. Do not feel bad about purchasing potted herbs like thyme, parsley and sage from your nursery because buying packets is wasteful when you only need two or three seeds.

Always re-plant your herbs in a bigger pot; always use good potting soil.

Do not buy gardening equipment unless you have to. A plastic coffee container that once held 3lbs is good enough for daily watering. Just fill it from the kitchen sink or an outside then use a small plastic party cup to gently water between your rows of seeds. Use your hands instead of a trowel. I know lady gardeners love to use gardening gloves because of their manicures but we men are made of sterner stuff. All dressed up for work but need to do a little tending to your soil? Keep a bar of soap in plastic wrap and scratch it with the fingernails and thumbnail of your working hand. When you have finished working in the soil, just rinse your hand under a faucet.

Clean to go.

One word of caution: soil. Do not mix garden soil in any of your containers or pots. All you will be doing is adding weed seeds and reducing the effectiveness of your potting mix.

• For queries and comments e-mail jacktribune242@gmail.com

20 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 20, 2018

film

review

Denzel Washington kills in ‘The Equalizer 2’ THE EQUALIZER 2 RUNNING TIME: 120 MINS

Y

ou won’t usually find Denzel Washington in a movie sequel. He just doesn’t do them. Something about not wanting to repeat himself. So there must be something special indeed for him to break his own rule for “The Equalizer 2.”

Fans of the first film will instantly know why Washington is drawn to the character of Robert McCall, a quiet middle-aged retired special-ops agent who fiercely believes in justice, likes to help others and dispenses the occasional lethal judgement for those deserving.

“We all have to pay for our sins,” he tells a group of very bad guys in the new, highly satisfying edition, before vowing to hunt each one dead. His only regret? He can kill them only once.

“The Equalizer 2 “ reconnects many of the people behind the 2014 debut alongside the always-vital Washington — Antoine Fuqua returns to direct, as does writer Richard Wenk, and actors Bill Pullman and Melissa Leo. McCall first appeared in the mid1980s on TV with Edward Woodward playing him as a bit of an English dandy. In the film series, Washington plays McCall as a tad obsessivecompulsive, but not consistently. He’s the kind of guy who brings his own tea bag to a restaurant in a neatly folded napkin and arranges the cutlery just so. But, when prompted, his vision suddenly becomes hyper-clear and he meticulously pre-plans every step in taking down a room of thugs, often

Denzel Washington stars as Robert McCall in ‘Equalizer 2’. without a gun. He’s like Monk crossed with Sherlock Holmes.

In the first film, a hooker with a heart of gold pulls McCall out of retirement when she is badly beaten by her pimp. By the end, McCall has blown up most of Boston’s waterfront, exposed a nest of corrupt local cops and systematically executed every member of a Russian gang, even going to Moscow to finish the job.

The second film takes place sometime later, with McCall now a Lyft driver, selectively helping people he encounters. He’s kind to old people (a Holocaust survivor, for extra depth) and little kids, who adore him. He mentors a troubled teen (Ashton Sanders), hoping to steer him away from drug dealing and toward art school.

Few people could pull off this cheesy sainthood like Washington, oozing charisma and self-assured masculinity.

When a group of smarmy, cocky Wall Street types abuse an intern during a coke-fueled party, Washington drives her to the hospital and then returns to wreak vengeance, slicing one dude with his own luxury credit card and then taunting his bleeding victims with “I expect a five-star rating.” It

takes him a scant 29 seconds to destroy the room full of rich snobs; he times it, naturally.

The film somewhat confusingly toggles through various initial threads before landing on the main one — someone crucial to McCall’s murky past is murdered in Brussels and that reveals a barrel of bad government apples. The film thus strays far from its roots as a vehicle for McCall to be the avenging angel for a needy stranger.

But we get to see McCall solve the crime from his Boston apartment by putting himself in the crime scene like an episode of “Crossing Jordan” and then avenge the death. Oh, there’s also a hurricane crashing up the East coast, timed for the climax, a little over the top if we’re being honest.

Fuqua is a lyrical director who directed Washington to an Oscar in “Training Day.” He’s not afraid to spend time in the still darkness with McCall and likes to focus on small moody elements, like rain hitting the gutters. But he can also deliver red meat: A sequence in which McCall fights off a passenger in the back seat of his car is a mini-masterpiece of taut, sinewy direction.

Wenk also has written some juicy dialogue for Washington, including a monologue about individual responsibility he delivers to the young artist in a project stairwell that the actor bites into with obvious relish. (It’s only somewhat marred by the cliche of him putting a gun muzzle to his own temple and goading the younger man to pull the trigger. “Five pounds of pressure is all it takes!” he says.)

“The Equalizer” is a guilty pleasure for anyone who enjoys that old-school, blue-collar American chivalric hero with a dark past. The one who was in “The Quiet Man” and behind the mask in Batman. He’s the kind of guy who cauterises his own wounds, never permits collateral damage when he’s on a killing spree, wears a knit polo to a showdown with four heavily armed tactical fighters, and reads great books of literature to honour his beloved dead wife.

He’s cool, with moral clarity and he’s three moves ahead of everyone. No wonder he’s such a welcome sight in 2018 America and no wonder Washington wanted another go-around.

MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer

The Tribune | Weekend | 21

Friday, July 20, 2018

film

review

Bask in the effervescent insanity of ‘Mamma Mia 2’ MAMMA MIA 2 RUNNING TIME: 114 MINS

“M

amma Mia! Here We Go Again “ is a wholly ridiculous movie that I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s the kind of movie that feels and sounds like a summer vacation should: Fizzy, lively, low-stakes and soundtracked by ABBA. This is a world where things generally just work out, where folks are kind and willing to help, where everyone has perfect beach hair, where characters just “know” they’re pregnant after one bout of morning sickness, and where old flings and family members are not only welcome to suddenly sail back into lives they’ve abandoned but greeted with joy and a song. Who’s got time for bitterness and jealousy in these Greek isles?

The dialogue may be ridiculous, the plot may be questionable, and the musical numbers may be staged and stitched together like a manic fever dream (including a uniquely crazy rendition of “Waterloo” with Lily James and Hugh Skinner prancing around a French restaurant). But “Mamma Mia 2” wears its happy heart so earnestly on its fringed suede sleeve that it almost doesn’t matter. Like an all-inclusive resort, it might be a little cheesy and there is surely some cooler and more authentic option out there with less green screen and more character development, but easy can be its own kind of fun.

(l-r) Jessica Keenan Wynn, Lily James and Alexa Davies in a 1979 flashback scene. (Photos/Jonathan Prime/Universal Pictures via AP)

(l-r) Julie Walters, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried and Christine Baranski return 10 years after “Mamma Mia!” for the sequel.

And this all-inclusive resort has Cher. And Andy Garcia. And Colin Firth playing Leonardo DiCaprio to Stellan Skarsgard’s Kate Winslet at the bow of a boat packed to the gills with a mass of people singing “Dancing Queen.” And minimal singing from Pierce Brosnan. And a final showstopper that’s so fun, you might be disappointed there isn’t an encore.

But the real reason this bonkers movie works so well is the incandescent Lily James. She plays a younger Donna (who 40 years later is played by Meryl Streep), during a very eventful summer in 1979 where she both finds her calling and meets (and sleeps with) the three men who all could very

possibly be the father of her daughter, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried). It should be said that two of the three suitors are uncomfortably overeager to get Donna into bed as soon as they meet her.

The flashback portions are told in tandem with what’s happening in the present day, where Sophie is preparing for the grand opening of the hotel Donna. Seyfried is good, if underserved, and her story picks up considerably when Tanya (Christine Baranski) and Rosie (Julie Walters) arrive, but it’s the ‘79 portion that you want to keep going back to (at least until Cher shows up for the last 10 minutes).

James, who is always strong no matter how big her role (from “Cinderella” to “The Darkest Hour”), gets a real star turn here. She also has a sweetly appealing voice that’s (thankfully) more 90s Disney than modern folk singer. And with some more talented singers in her male counterparts, young Bill (Josh Dylan), Harry (Hugh Skinner) and Sam (Jeremy Irvine), you find yourself actually looking forward to their songs instead of bracing for them.

English screenwriter and director Ol Parker took over directorial duties and slowed the pace considerably from Phyllida Lloyd’s impossibly energetic “Mamma Mia!” where there was rarely a scene where someone was running, skipping or bounding with joy. In “Here We Go Again,” which almost sounds like a threat, or at least bemused resignation, there is actually downtime and breathing room, which can drag at times. This is a movie that very much requires you to be in the “right mood.”

And perhaps the most surprising thing about this whole sequined bellbottomed experience is you might even find yourself getting a little emotional.

But not too much, this is vacation after all.

22 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 20, 2018

literary lives – john ollands

Solving one of the Great War’s

enduring

mysteries

Sir Christopher Ondaatje reviews an extraordinary novel exposing the mystery surrounding the shooting of a national hero and famed poet on the Western Front of World War I.

J

ohn Hollands and I were both born in 1933, and were both sent to Blundell’s School, a West Country Public School in Devon, England, founded in 1604, educating the Archbishops of Canterbury and also R D Blackmore, the author of “Lorna Doone”. We were both in lower 5A class, and we both had two passions, cricket and English. We were lucky in the second of these passions because we had three very good teachers: S J “Sam” Burton, David Brooke Smith and T R K Jones.

They didn’t just teach us about English

Best-selling author John Hollands holds up a copy of his newest book, “The Man Who Shot Siegfried Sassoon”. literature – Thomas Hardy, Blackmore and Shakespeare – they taught us about the romance, the rhythm, and the power of the English language.

And somehow it stuck with us.

In 1951, just before Hollands left school, one of the masters asked him, “What are you going to do with your life?” “I want to be a novelist”, the young Hollands replied. “Don’t be so

damn silly”, the master said. “You can’t just become a novelist. You have to do something with your life so that you will have something to write about.”

And so the young Hollands volunteered for the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment – because he knew they were going to be deployed, and he was sent out to Korea as a platoon commander.

Korea in the mid-1950s was a particularly nasty war, and Hollands returned with a Military Cross – and also with something to write about.

That first book, “The Dead, The Dying, and the Damned” (1956) went on to sell over three million copies – an extraordinary achievement for a first novel. With this success behind him, Hollands travelled extensively in Europe and then undertook a roundthe-world trip on a motor scooter.

After being jailed in Turkey, he spent time in India, including a trip up the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan. In Australia he continued his search for more writing material by taking jobs as a tree-feller, a gold miner, a beggar, a bush swamper, and a metal grinder.

All this led to another best-seller, “The Gospel According to Uncle Jimmy”.

Back in England he married and had two sons. Over the years he has had various occupations from journalist to pool table operator and has written several more books, among them “The Exposed”, “The Court Martial”, and “Heroes of the Hook”.

Wastage “Deaths continue in abundance Leaving a silence hardly serene, And generals with no conscience Fuel the slaughter as routine.

Yet among men most gallant, Who fall regularly in the cause, Are poets of the rarest talent Too precious to waste on wars.”

– D J Hollands

Now, Hollands has produced another war story, about another war, and possibly his best novel to date.

Unsolved mysteries abounded during the Great War of 1914-1918: the Angel of Mons incident; the disappearance of the USS Cyclops, and who killed the Red Baron. But the most intriguing of all was known as the Siegfried Sassoon “Protest”.

In 1917, Sassoon was a junior office in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. He soon became a national hero when he was awarded a Military Cross. He became

The Tribune | Weekend | 23

Friday, July 20, 2018

known throughout the Western Front as “Mad Jack”, and he was also Britain’s leading war poet.

Banishment “I am banished from the patient men who fight.

They smote my heart to pity, built my pride.

Shoulder to aching shoulder, side by side, They trudged away from life’s broad wealds of light.

Their wrongs were mine; and ever in my sight They went arrayed in honour. But they died, Not one by one: and mutinous I cried To those who sent them out into the night.

The darkness tells how vainly I have striven To free them from the pit where they must dwell In outcast gloom convulsed and jagged and riven By grappling guns. Love drove me to rebel.

Love drives me back to grope with them through hell; And in their tortured eyes I stand forgiven.”

– Siegfried Sassoon, 1886-1967

Yet, without any warning, Sassoon suddenly changed his attitude towards the war and issued a public protest against it, urging troops to stop fighting. This produced a national uproar. The Military Establishment excused it on the grounds that Sassoon was suffering from shell-shock, but others feared that it would lead to mutineers in the army.

One man in Sassoon’s platoon became so involved in the dispute that he was court-martialled, and his twin brother swore that he would kill Sassoon in revenge. His motive and the reason why he only wounded Sassoon instead of killing him have never been explained.

How did Sassoon manage to survive the shooting, and why did someone try to murder him in the first place? Equally mysterious is why, having just been nominated for a Victoria Cross, did Siegfried Sassoon suddenly make a widely publicised “Protest” against the war, urging British troops to lay down their arms? Were these incidents connected and, if so, what inspired them?

War hero and poet Siegfried Sassoon in 1915

Siegfried Sassoon used poetry to describe the horrors of the trenches in WW I.

Siegfried Sassoon at the Press Bazaar, aged 11, in 1898.

John Hollands has written an historical novel that goes a long way to solving these mysteries, using information from veterans of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers who served with Sassoon.

Surely Sassoon’s “Protest” is a curious and unique occurrence in British military history, and the general background to his “Protest” remains obscure, especially with regard to the influence of pacifists like Bertrand Russell and Lady Ottoline Morrell. Sassoon’s own account of his service in the Great War – “Sassoon’s Journals” (1916 -1917), “Memories of a Fox Hunting Man” (1928), “Sherston’s Progress” (1936) and “Siegfried’s Journey” (1945) – were written years after the events took place, and parts of his story were either omitted or were a mixture of fact and fiction. Sassoon was so wary of what he wrote that his first work was anonymous.

John Holland’s achievements in “The Man Who Shot Siegfried Sassoon” are extraordinary. He has tapped previously untapped sources of information, namely disabled veterans of the Great War who served in the ranks of the Welsh Fusiliers – men whom he first met on a visit to the Rhondda Valley in Wales in 1960. Their recollections and opinions had hitherto been ignored. It was as if their thoughts and knowledge were of no consequence, even though some of them were quite aware of what had happened within their regiment.

Some years ago the Daily Express said of Hollands: “Only when people as courageous as Hollands dare to write the truth about war will the miracle come when it will be no more.”

This book, “The Man Who Shot Siegfried Sassoon” will surely, in time, be regarded as one of the best war stories ever written.

NEXT WEEK: The history of the world’s favourite flavour • Sir Christopher Ondaatje is an adventurer and writer resident in the Bahamas. A Sri Lankanborn Canadian-Englishman, he is the author of several books, including “The Last Colonial”.

24 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 20, 2018

history

Chinese find suggests human

relatives left Africa earlier

NEW YORK (AP) — Stone tools recovered from an excavation in China suggest that our evolutionary forerunners trekked out of Africa earlier than we thought.

Until now, the oldest evidence of human-like creatures outside Africa came from 1.8 million-year-old artefacts and skulls found in the Georgian town of Dmanisi. But the new find pushes that back by at least 250,000 years.

“It’s absolutely a new story,” said archaeologist Michael Petraglia of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany, who did not participate in the study. “It means that early humans were getting out of Africa way earlier than we ever realised.”

That exit came long before our own species, Homo sapiens, even appeared.

The researchers believe the tools were made by another member of the Homo evolutionary group.

The items included several chipped rocks, fragments and hammer stones.

The 96 artefacts were dug up in an area known as the Loess Plateau, north of the Qinling mountains, which divide the north and south of China.

Some of them were as old as 2.1 million years, according to the study in Wednesday’s journal Nature.

“We were very excited,” said Zhaoyu Zhu, a professor at the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, who led the field work. “One of my colleagues suddenly noticed a stone embedded in a steep outcrop. After a short while, more artefacts were found — one after another.”

The tools were distributed throughout layers of dirt, suggesting our unidentified ancient relatives came back to the same site over and over, possibly following animals to hunt.

Researchers also found bones of pigs and deer, but were not able to provide proof that the tools were used for hunting.

Some experts not involved in the research think that the findings need to be taken with caution.

Scientists examine a pointed piece of quartzite rock that was unearthed from the oldest layer of dirt at a site in the Loess Plateau in China.

(Photos/Zhaoyu Zhu via AP)

A stone flake that was found in an archaeological site in the Loess Plateau in China.

A big core of quartzite rock found in the Loess Plateau.

The landscape of the sampled area in the Loess Plateau, in China, where researchers found 2.1-million-year-old stone tools.

“This could be, frankly, one of the most important (archaeological) sites in the world.”

“I am skeptical,” said Geoffrey Pope, an anthropologist from William Paterson University in New Jersey. “I suspect this discovery will change very little.”

The problem, he said, is that sometimes nature can shape stones in a way that they look as if they were manufactured by hand. Scientists know, for example, that rocks smashed together in a stream can acquire sharp edges.

But Sonia Harmand, an archaeologist at Stony Brook University in New York, disagrees.

“This could be, frankly, one of the most important (archaeological) sites in the world,” said Harmand, who studies stone tools.

• The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

EMILIANO RODRIGUEZ MEGA Associated Press

The Tribune | Weekend | 25

Friday, July 20, 2018

history

What’s our legacy going to be - Paradise lost?

Forgotten facts Paul C Aranha

L

ast week I wrote that I was proud to be Bahamian and pointed out that unless we Bahamians change, improve the way we are, the country we leave our descendants will be far worse than what our ancestors left us.

Let’s go back to the Eleutherian Adventures. In 1648, they arrived on an undeveloped island, lost their tools and almost all of their supplies

when their ship ran on a reef and was destroyed. Yet they managed to survive and their descendants prospered and created Harbour Island, leaving a vibrant community for future generations.

I single out Harbour Island because my wife and I spent last weekend there. We were part of a party of six and we woke up each morning to the sound of the ocean and the sight of Pink Sands Beach.

We were part of a birthday celebration and enjoyed delicious meals wherever we went – Aquapazza, Dunmore Beach, Pink Sands, Rock House, The Landing and Sip Sip. It

was our first time at Sip Sip and it was as great as everybody said it would be. Wherever we ate, not only was the food good the people were friendly and always helpful. Paradise found.

Over the years I have spent many hours walking the streets of Dunmore Town, back in the days when ‘shank’s mare’ was the standard way of getting around. But, today, the ubiquitous golf cart is king-of-the-road. They are everywhere. So many of them – along with cars, trucks and boats and yet more decrepit golf carts - none of which looked likely to ever move again - littering nearly every yard in the neighbourhood and polluting the

environment. Added to this is the fact there were several places where I had to hold my breath, as we drove by. I was glad that I didn’t have to walk by those places.

Golf carts on Briland, in themselves, are not bad.

I don’t visit the Out Islands as much as did when I was flying and I suspect that similar situations have appeared elsewhere, but I saw, for myself, one of my favourite places that had changed so much, over a relatively-short time. I am moved to ask what are the people of Harbour Island going to leave for their children and their children’s children? Paradise lost? I hope not.

Yesterday’s solution: anGer, annoy (across or down)

26 | The Tribune | Weekend

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

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

r o F I N G

the alphabet is used 0901 322 5607 0901 322 5601chambers you have to comple Halve your Target Time!

TarGeT

r e e r o F I N G

Both today’s words in a moment

21st grid too! Use the giv Friday, July 20, 2018

*Calls cost 75p plus your telephone company’s letters and black sq century network access charge. below the grid to st dictionary

(1999 edition)

grid is ‘rotationally symmetrical’ – in ot words, it looks the s you turn the page u down. solution tom

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HOW many words of four letters or more can you make from the letters shown here? In making a yesterday’s sol word, each letter usedthe The Target BlackAsquares: caNmay yoube crack 35 once only. each must contain the grid 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 2 alphabeater? each uses B 39, 40.

28, 38, centre letter and there must be at number represents a letter words across: Questio leastin one nine-letter word. No or black square. as in Time,CDuchy, 16 Pav theplurals main or verb –forms ending in “s”.

alphapuzzle, every letter of

Exits,D Jet, Fajita, body of the alphabet is used. But Jerk, Aching, Ya Today’s TarGeT Query, Cash, chambers E 23 Pixe you have to complete Good 14 very good 21; excellent 28 the Fearsome.

21st (or more). solution tomorrow. grid too!

Use the given Luck, F Quip, Awake, Ugl letters and black squaresSidekick, Racy, J century GAbide, yesTerday’s soLUTIon 12 Tw Ochre, below the grid to start.

The dictionary creep crepe cupid deep drip Jinx, H Vehicles, Ic grid is ‘rotationally (1999 drupe dupe epic epicure jeep in other Rungs, Hike. pedicure peer symmetrical’ piece pieced– pied I 25 edition) words,PreJUdICe it looks the same if extra letter c pier pierce pierced J 181 2 you turn theprude page upside 0907 price priced pride pried HOW many words of four letters down. solution pureed puritomorrow.(Deduct minu or more can you make frompuce thepure puree K three each extra18 clue lette recipe ripe rupee letters shown here? In making a yesterday’s solution LFull solutio word, each letter may be used squares: call 0907Black 181 2585 for2, 4, 6,0907 M 3181 2 Yesterday’s Yesterday’s once only. each must contain the 8, 10, 12, 15, 18, 22, 26, today’s Target solution *Calls cost 80p per N 80p38, per minute 39, 40. centre letterAnswer and there must be at*Calls cost28, Sudoku Kakuro Answer plus your telephone c your telephone company’s network across: Question, least one nine-letter word. No plusnetwork O 6access ch access charge.

Time, Duchy, Pave, plurals or verb forms ending in “s”.

P

Exits, Jet, Fajita, Verb,

*SP: Spoke – Helpline 202 3390 Jerk,0333 Aching, Yak,

CRYPTIC PUZZLE Across 1 The shooting season? (10) 6 American leaves a field event with a record (4) 10 Like books after printing and before censorship? (5) 11 A leading Roman? (9) 12 Spring after spring, it never fails to surprise me (4,4) 13 The French and English turn a great deal (5) 15 Dames in confusion look younger (7) 17 Newspaper feature could make it clear (7) 19 Its root goes into a stew (7) 21 Important city may well attract interest (7) 22 A guard to face (5) 24 Offered to alter the rent deed (8) 27 Tell people you’ve had enough, then keep quiet (3,2,4) 28 It isn’t corruption: it is corruption (5) 29 Cunning, in the main (4) 30 Urge a chap to become a publicity man (5,5)

Down 1 Aspersion on the staff, perhaps (4) 2 Hard places to grow plants in (9) 3 South African by birth? (5) 4 Watches teachers marking correctly? (7) 5 Chap unfit to work on a tough paper (7) 7 I do it wrongly, being a fool (5) 8 She’s possibly recalled in a famous children’s story (10) 9 Closing period? (4,4) 14 Is outwardly better, though done in an offhand way (10) 16 Without an outward appearance? (8) 18 She may take the wheel with dazzling effect (9) 20 Best alternative in the open air (7) 21 Reckons wrongly it’s a child’s game (7) 23 Pen has the French way of writing (5) 25 A bonus for a bit-part player (5) 26 Let it be one sort of square in another (4)

Yesterday’s Easy Solution Across: 1 Redress, 5 Beget, 8 James Watt, 9 One, 10 Huff, 12 Stranger, 14 Caxton, 15 Sadism, 17 Peaceful, 18 Hold, 21 Tub, 22 Henry Ford, 24 Later, 25 Penance.

Down: 1 Rajah, 2 Dim, 3 Else, 4 Scanty, 5 Betrayal, 6 Georg Biro, 7 Theorem, 11 Fox Talbot, 13 Together, 14 Capital, 16 Turn up, 19 Dodge, 20 Hymn, 23 Own.

Yesterday’s Cryptic Solution Across: 1 Coterie, 5 Annie, 8 Alabaster, 9 Was, 10 Nude, 12 Seashore, 14 Limpid, 15 Reckon, 17 Rest cure, 18 Brio, 21 Eve, 22 Acetylene, 24 Steak, 25 Shebeen.

Down: 1 Chain, 2 Tea, 3 Roan, 4 Either, 5 Arrested, 6 New Yorker, 7 Eastern, 11 Damascene, 13 Gimcrack, 14 Largess, 16 Briefs, 19 Ocean, 20 Byre, 23 Eye.

EASY PUZZLE

Across 1 Discoverer of radium (5,5) 6 Woodwind instrument (4) 10 Extensive mental view (5) 11 Dogmatic (9) 12 Protection (8) 13 Nucleus of key personnel (5) 15 Lean back (7) 17 Shortage of rain (7) 19 Arctic sledge dogs (7) 21 Father of modern bacteriology (7) 22 Civilian clothes (5) 24 Barbaric act (8) 27 Olympic ten events’ contest (9) 28 Soak (5) 29 Middling (2-2) 30 English railways pioneer (10)

Down 1 Step (4) 2 Available means (9) 3 Shirk (5) 4 Ignorant (7) 5 As an alternative (7) 7 Scottish television pioneer (5) 8 Basic (10) 9 Valuable (8) 14 Ancient Greek inventor (10) 16 Bring into being (8) 18 Magnitude (9) 20 Species of onion (7) 21 A root vegetable (7) 23 Point of concentration (5) 25 Social class (5) 26 Rotate rapidly (4)

Today’s TarGeT Good 14 very good 21; excellent 28 (or more). solution tomorrow. yesTerday’s soLUTIon creep crepe cupid deep drip drupe dupe epic epicure jeep pedicure peer piece pieced pied pier pierce pierced PreJUdICe price priced pride pried prude puce pure puree pureed puri recipe ripe rupee

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

*SP: Spoke – Helpline 0333 202 3390

PLay Mor Q 20

Query, Cash, Pixel, Luck, Fearsome. down: Quip, Awake, Ugly, Roe, Sidekick, Racy, Jazzy, Ochre, Abide, Tweak, Jinx, Vehicles, Ice, Zest, Rungs, Hike.

extra letter clues

0907 181 2560 (Deduct three minutes for each extra clue letter heard)

Full solution

0907 181 2558

R S T U V W X Y Z

38 6 24 5

1

*Calls cost 80p per minute 21 plus your telephone company’s network access charge.

m

2

3

22

2

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PLay More Crosswo

The Tribune | Weekend |27

Friday, July 20, 2018

animals

A tribute to Nesta, a special dog

O

Animal matters | KIM ARANHA

ver the years I have featured special dogs on this page.

All too frequently, as is the case today, it is as a farewell to a special dog that has brought so much into this world and to the people he shared his space with.

Nesta was found under a rusting car that was up on blocks. The vet estimated he was about three weeks old; poor little one could barely walk.

Becky Armbrister found Nesta. At the time she was working at the Bahamas Humane Society as an administrative assistant. It was actually her father who spotted him first. They had gone to Millennium Village to run an errand. It was pure coincidence, and a lucky day for that poor little pup. He was so hungry he devoured his first bowl of food, in spite of his tender age. The vet suggested that they wait before feeding him any more because it might shock his tiny body. After a thorough examination by the Bahamas Humane Society vet, Becky was told that had she and her dad not found him, he probably would have been dead in a few hours.

Becky already had four dogs at home, so the thought of keeping him was not in her mind, until she went back the next morning. I will use her own words here: “I left him at the shelter the first night and rushed in to

see him the next morning. That tiny little face was looking back at me with the sweetest expression as soon as I got there.” And that was the beginning of a great relationship that was to last his entire life.

As Nesta was too young for a shelter environment, Becky and then boyfriend, now husband, Etienne took him home, and fell in love with him.

Whenever anybody expressed a genuine interest in giving Nesta a home they would find excuses, until they finally admitted to themselves that they could never part with him. He was very much “their boy”. When they got married, Nesta was there in a special collar, beautifully behaved, playing the all-important roll of “furry son”.

As the years went by, Nesta became a celebrity, making several PSAs for the Humane Society promoting spay and neuter programmes and beach behaviour for dog owners. He loved other dogs and was very direct at making canine friends. All he ever wanted to do was play. Life was good.

When Nesta got a human sister, he was cautious at first, standoffish and nervous, but never aggressive. Eventually he became her greatest protector; no stranger was allowed near the car if his Phoenix was on board. When the person moved on, Nesta would have to conduct an examination to be sure she was OK by sniffing her. She was welcome to use him as a pillow, and she loved to drink her bottle propped

PET OF THE WEEK dies’ man...for lady dogs, that is!

Jammin’ He’s neutered as are all adoption dogs and cats from the BHS, but with Marley he really does prefer female dogs

By The Bahamas Humane Society

“D

on’t worry, be happy...” and come adopt Marley from the Bahamas Humane Society.

Marley is about three years old and thinks himself quite the la-

for company over male. And no cats, please, in his new home.

“Lean on me,” he says with his soulful eyes, letting you know he’d make a great guard dog.

He’s very friendly with people he knows, cautiously wary of those he does not. Marley is very smart and has some training but

up against his watchful body. Phoenix’s bath time concerned him, and he would come rushing over to be certain no harm would come to her.

I asked Becky how he felt if little Phoenix reached out to grab him, she said: “He wasn’t crazy about it, but he didn’t threaten her. We had to teach Phoenix that it was something he didn’t like as he would let her get away with anything and we wanted her to respect his space. He was part of our family too and needed to feel comfortable in his own home.”

Just before he turned nine, he was diagnosed cutaneous lymphoma. It was a terrible time for his family. They are blessed with precious memories of this special boy who, in spite of his size, was afraid of flies and cats, attacked seaweed and loved to sniff the flowers. His size did not get in the way of wanting to be a lap dog, and his great joy was jumping up and rolling on a freshly made bed.

would love to learn more. He’s welcome at the BHS as long as need be as it is a no-kill shelter, but Marley hopes you’ll some him “One Love” and adopt him today. Adoption hours are 11am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, and 10am to 4pm, and Saturday, or you can call 323-5138 for more information. Marley doesn’t wish to be “Waiting in Vain” and hopes you’ll come meet him soon!

Marley with BHS volunteer Anton (Photo/Patricia Vazquez)

There is another baby on the way, one who sadly will not know Nesta’s protective love. But once the new little one arrives and is settled, Becky and Etienne plan to go to the shelter to choose a new rescue puppy. Unlike so many people who get rid of dogs when they have babies, this family feels it is important for their kids to grow up with a dog, and their house just would not be complete without one.

Nesta can never be replaced. He was sweet, gentle and caring; a special boy in so many ways. When asked what they wished to say about their loss, these are their words: “We love royal Bahamian potcakes. There is nothing like them and we look forward to making another one a member of our family.”

I am sure Nesta will send them the right foundling as he watches down from the Rainbow Bridge. RIP big boy!

28 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, July 20, 2018