08172018 WEEKEND

Friday, August 17, 2018

art books poetry history fashion puzzles culture gardening food

Weekend

SHORELINE CHIC

Page 14 & 15

Taking on the Universe Beauty contestants do battle pages 20 & 21

02 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, August 17, 2018

entertainment

End summer

with a splash

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Writer acadet@tribunemedia.net

S

ummer may be coming to an end, but not without a splash if Pupstar Entertainment and Events has anything to say about it.

The organisers who introduced the Bahamas to its first ever Floatilla last year are gearing up a second round, to be held Saturday, August 25. And to make things a little more exclusive this year, the beach bash will take place at a secret location for which guests will be given a special parking location via text message or e-mail before the event’s date.

With shuttle services available, party-goers will transported to the thrilling island event inspired by the popular Florida festivity called Flotopia (now Deltopia), a social gathering that originated in Santa Barbara, California, in 2013.

The event encourages participants to bring their floats for an all-day beach experience with entertainment and

The Hilton celebrates island nostalgia

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson@tribunemedia.net A NEW event is seeking to bring back the good ole days when Bahamians sat around eating flour cake, telling folktales and listening to homegrown music.

To resurrect that bygone era, the British Colonial Hilton will play host

activities around the clock, as well as food and bar facilities.

“I can honestly say that every single person that attended last year enjoyed the event. We are constantly asked to repeat Floatilla as well as our Sundance event multiple times a year, but we feel that it may not have the same impact as it does hosting once per year. It creates a bit of a craving Guests enjoy the first ever Floatilla for each event,” said Pupstar’s president, Alicia “Puppy” Robinson. local deejays such as DJ Ignite and The inaugural Floatilla exceeded DJ Beatz. Miami deejay Dr Esan will her expectations and she and her team return once again to bring the jams are hard at work to make the second to these shores. Vendors will include one even better.

“We have succeeded in making Vell Monkey Foot, Just a Pop, Island this event an ‘all water’ party with a Lifestyle with Sun Bum, Vidacayo, and floating bar, floating DJ booth and Allure Swimwear with the latest and floating cabanas, so there is no need to hottest swimsuits. leave the water. Guests are also given “This will definitely be our signature prizes for challenges and the most Summer event moving forward and we creative floats. We will have a speare considering hosting the event to cial performance by one of Nassau’s start the season as opposed to ending favourite local artists, but we are keepit. There is no limit when it comes to ing the name a surprise. We have also growth. Our international following stepped it up a notch by adding a giant has continued to grow and our goal slip and slide to a host of other giant for this event is to assist with booting beach games,” said Alicia. tourism just as we do with Sundance,” Floatilla Bahamas 2018 highlights will also include guest host Triz, and said Alicia. to the Rake, Scrape N Scorch Festival on August 25, from 12noon to 8pm.

The festival will feature native dishes so that international guests and locals alike can receive an authentic experience, said the organisers.

“Gone are the good ole’ days when you can still hear folklore and mince on a piece of flour cake. We need to bring back the foundation on which we were built on for future generations to gather and appreciate. It’s more than just culture; it’s about our heritage,” said Rakel Dean, marketing and leisure manager at the British Colonial Hilton.

The British Colonial Hilton is teaming up with Kalik to present this event to celebrate its 30-year anniversary

while also commemorating the Bahamas’s 45th Independence.

Ms Dean said they saw a need to commemorate these very important occasions.

Guests can expect to be swept off their feet by The Rhythm Band; have their taste buds teased by vendors such as Conch n’ Cone, Corn Diggity Dog, The Batter Girls, The New Duff, PopStop 242, Pulpy, and many more.

“What makes this festival unique other than its name – ‘Rake, Scrape n’ Scorch’ – is that it’s the first cultural festival hosted by the Hilton. It culminates our 45th Independence and is everything Bahamian. We are bringing back the good ole days backyard style and it’s an event that the young and the old can enjoy,” said Ms Dean.

Outside of Pupstar’s large events, Alicia said she and her team are also really passionate about their ongoing outdoor cinema movie nights.

“We have upgraded our screens in terms of size and quality and have invested in special, portable outdoor furniture to also enhance the comfort aspect of our screenings. In addition to the upgrades, we have also increased the number of screenings per month, adding venues such as Louis and Steen’s, Studio Cafee and Philosophy Smokehouse to our growing list of outdoor cinema locations,” said Alicia.

In addition to Sundance in November, the Pupstar team is set to launch a new annual event called Diner en Blanc.

“So much culture in one (place) will make for an unforgettable experience in the heart of Downtown.

Having the opportunity to celebrate Bahamian culture at a brand destination such as the Hilton and providing our guests with this local outlook is extremely gratifying.”

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Friday, August 17, 2018

Inside Weekend

My perfect Bahamian weekend Anthony Smith Director of Miss Bahamas Universe Q: Saturday breakfast or Sunday lunch?

Interview 4-5 Illusionist Edwourral Daxen dreams of magical career

Art 7 - 9 Atlantis’ Art Walk celebrates success with creative tourism, plus Long Island native finds success in world’s porcelain capital

Food 10 Reach your health goals with Clean Eats 242

Books 11 - 12 Bahamas-based author offers a guide to becoming ‘the best writer ever’

Fashion 14 - 15 Enjoy shoreline chic with a new generation of Bahamian handbags and accessories

Poetry 17 Bahamas youth gets poetic, plus the Miscellaneous Poetry Tour gears up for its next stop

Culture 18 Remembering what Nobel laureate V S Naipaul taught us

Gardening 19 The intriguing background of bananas

Pageants 20 - 21 Miss Bahamas Universe 2018 introduces its ‘Empowered 11’

Literary Lives 22 - 23

Andrew Carnegie – a ‘robber baron’ or philanthropist?

History 24 New clues to why the Vikings vanished

Forgotten Facts 25 Paul C Aranha remembers when Grand Bahamians flew to school

Puzzles 26

Animals 27 Kim Aranha asks, ‘How much do animals feel?’ , plus Pet of the Week

“Saturday breakfast. I am an island boy and I grew up with my grandmother. I was always accustomed to boil fish, stew fish, so everything was home-made. Saturdays take me back to that traditional breakfast with my family on the island.”

Q: Wine, Kalik, rum or cocktail?

“Definitely wine…white and sweet. I’m a cheap wine drinker. I love a glass of Moscato or Lamothe Parrot!

Q: Beach or sofa?

“Beach. The water is therapeutic for me.”

Q: What could you not do without?

“A good book of biographies and espionages. I am great fan of Tim McCourt and his series of biographies about his life growing up in Ireland.”

Q: Weekend away: where would you go?

“It depends on the season. If it is summer I would visit the Exumas or Abaco, specifically Green Turtle Cay where most of my family is from.”

Things 2 Do this weekend Friday

• Rock N Roar Dance Party Time: 9am - 3pm Venue: Ardastra Gardens Bring your kids ages 6-13 to join in on the fun. There will be animal encounters, zoo hikes, flamingo show, crafts, games, water play and dance party. Admission is $25 per child and lunch is available for $5. Group discounts available for groups of 15 or more.

Saturday

• Summer Shopping Experience Time: 11am - 3pm Venue: Cia Monet’s Sip & Shop The Making Moves Summer Marketplace is an opportunity to shop for back-to-school and even early Christmas deals. The event features an assortment of clothing, accessories, handbags, bath and body products, and spa services.

• Queen of Peace Fair 2018 Time: 12noon - 8pm Venue: Queen of Peace Roman Catholic Church, Faith Avenue The fair will feature lots of food, games, raffles, movies, a bouncing castle and live entertainment.

• Bahamas Speed Dating Time: 6pm - 9pm Venue: To be announced Bahamas Speed Dating is the first event on the Bahamas Date Club’s calendar. This is a dating experience for professionals looking to meet that special someone. Mix, mingle, find a match or perhaps just a new friend. Registration is $35.

• Presidente Summer Powder Beach Party Time: 6pm Venue: Western Esplanade Tickets are $15 and come with one free Presidente beer upon entrance.

• Jack-a-Palooza Summer Music Festival Time: 7pm Venue: Philosophy Smokehouse Bar & Grill, Nelson Road A fun-filled night of drinks, music and dancing. All cocktails mixed with Jack Daniels are free. Live entertainment by three DJs and Willis and the Illest.

• Da SPOT Live Improv Comedy Show Time: 8pm Venue: The Dundas Centre for the Performing Arts

Join Da SPOT cast for season 12 of their live improv comedy show.

Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at the Dundas Box Office or by calling 393-3728.

• Drive-in Movie at Tailgater’s Time: 8pm Venue: Tailgater’s Bar & Grill, Bay Street Enjoy an adventure with “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider”. Admission is $10 and includes a bag of popcorn.

Gates open at 7pm.

Sunday

• Jazz Under The Stars Time: 6.30pm - 10pm Venue: #50 Central Drive East, Coral Harbour Paradise Jazz Band presents an event featuring Tanisha Sweeting (vocals), Brandin Johnson (piano/ electric bass guitar), Eric Boxerman (piano), Travis Rolle (electric guitar), Krystoph Deveaux (electric bass guitar/trumpet), Sean Cunningham (drum set) and Zaavan Colebrook (percussion). There will free valet parking, wine and hors d’oeuvres.

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Friday, August 17, 2018

interview As one of the country’s few professional magicians, he has several tricks up his sleeve to leave local audiences spell-bound. He tells Cara Hunt how he fell in love with this unusual career and how he hopes to one day work with the world’s greatest illusionists.

Edwourral

I

Daxen

f he were not an entertainer delighting children and adults alike with his feats of magic and larger-thanlife personality, Edwourral Daxen said has no idea what path his life would have taken.

“I was born to be an entertainer,” the 34-year-old told Tribune Weekend. “If I wasn’t a magician, I’d be some sort of actor or doing something creative like that, because I just know that I would not have been happy doing a traditional job.”

And it turns out his journey towards a creative life ended up taking a magical route.

“I remember falling in love with David Blaine when I saw his performances and that was really what pushed me to want to learn all I could about magic. I started reading books and watching DVDs and just learning everything that I could about magic.”

Edwourral admitted that he was worried he may have left his magic education a bit too late in the game.

“I was noticing that a lot of the really famous magicians had started when they were really young. I was about 19 and thought I might have been a bit old,” he said.

But his love of all things illusion and sleight of hand eventually helped him overcome any concerns he might have had.

“My very first trick that I mastered was a card trick. I don’t remember the exact name of

the trick, but what I used to do was get a volunteer to give me four cards and then I would turn four aces into their cards,” he explained.

“Everyone who saw my tricks had the exact reaction that I was hoping for; their minds were blown and they thought it was amazing. That reaction is what makes me love being a magician and it made me want to do this not just as a hobby, but I wanted to do it as a career and be able to live off it.

“But as you know, it can be very challenging to make a living on something like this in the Bahamas; you have to be creative in the jobs you get.”

Edwourral first started getting paid gigs at local restaurants.

“There used to be an ice cream parlour in the Prince Charles Shopping Centre called Scooby Doo’s and I used to do tricks and host parties for the kids.

Additionally, I used to work at Bennigan’s. The lady who owned Bennigan’s wanted there to be a magician in the restaurant and so she hired me and I used to go table to table and perform acts.

One of the big ones I used to do was the fire wallet trick. This is where I open a wallet and instead of money, fire comes out,” he said.

The gigs cemented the idea that making money as a magician could be done, and ever since then he has been able to fulfil his dreams of a professional

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Friday, August 17, 2018

“...their minds were blown and they thought it was amazing.

That reaction is what makes me love being a magician and it made me want to do this not just as a hobby, but I wanted to do it as a career and be able to live off it.” magician’s career through a combination of private functions and shows.

“I have to say that it is much easier to perform for a group of adults than it is to perform for a group of kids, because children are, believe it or not, a much harder audience. First, most children have a very limited attention span and so if you hear a magician say he has a performance for an hour, most kids run away because that is way too long. You want to start with like a 30-minute, 40-minute show and see if they are still drawn in and then you may decide that you want to expand. You really have to read kids and see how to direct the show. Those are the types of intricacies you have to consider that really most people just don’t think about,” he said.

While a real magician never reveals his secrets, Edwourral said he can admit that things sometimes do go wrong on stage and there are instances when even the most practiced tricks just can’t be pulled off.

“I remember this one time my dad hired me to perform at his church function. I was doing this trick where I poured water into newspaper, but the newspaper didn’t get wet. But this women ran up on stage to help and poured the water out and she got soaking wet, and everyone in the audience saw it, so I had to play it off like

she was my assistant and we had planned it,” he said.

Two magicians he admires and would love to work with are Paul Harris – described as “the most innovative magic mind of our day” – and renowned memory-training specialist Harry Lorayne, who also wrote the magic tricks for another magician he admires – Doug Edwards.

But on a local front he is preparing to work with two local magicians.

On Thursday, August 23, he will be performing the first in a series of weekly magic shows with Charles Dames from the Mystery Magic Incorporation and ‘Bahamagician’ Christopher Thornbury. The show

is tailored for adults and will begin at 9.30pm at the Bistro Underground in downtown Nassau. Admission is free.

“The show is called ‘Magic Underground’, which gets it’s name from the location as well as the symbolism of magic being underground,” he noted.

“The idea came when I saw what some of the performances they were doing in Pompey Square and it was because you sometimes have to create the gigs you want yourself if you aren’t getting the ones you want, so that’s how we came up with the show. We are still tweaking it, but we are excited.”

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section

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Friday, August 17, 2018

art

Long Island native sculpts his future in the Far Feast

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson@tribunemedia.net

A

listair D Stevenson has just completed his Bachelor’s degree in Ceramic Art and Design from the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute (JCI) in the world-renowned porcelain capital of Jingdezhen City, China.

Upon graduating, Mr Stevenson was awarded a Silver Place Award for the 2018 JCI Outstanding Works exhibition along with the first place award from the JCI International Students exhibition, again for outstanding work.

Mr Stevenson said that although it has been a challenging and successful journey thus far, he is extremely proud to have the honour of being the first Bahamian to have earned a degree in Ceramic Art and Design from JCI. Despite five years of intense studies in China, Mr Stevenson has also managed to maintain his own artistic practice by participating in solo and group exhibitions both in the Bahamas and China. He was invited to be the first artist-inresidence for the Ex Nihilo Artist Residency in New Providence for 2015, and he participated in two other international ceramic art residencies – one at Guldagergaard International Ceramics Research Centre in Denmark in 2017, and the other at the Kohila Wood Firing Symposium in Estonia this year.

In addition, he contributed to spread cultural awareness of the Bahamas by representing Creative Nassau twice at the annual Jingdezhen International Ceramics Fair in 2015 and 2017, and once as a representative during the UNESCO Creative Cities Sub-Network Meeting held in Icheon, South Korea, earlier this year.

Mr Stevenson’s approach to creating art stems from his life

Alistair D Stevenson is the first Bahamian to have earned a degree from Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, located in the world’s porcelain capital.

growing up in Long Island, where he spent much time observing and appreciating nature. His work reminds people of ocean life by inducing the idea of its primitive, yet elegant beauty as well as its relevance to modernday society.

His goal is to continue his education this Fall at the China Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing where he will pursue a Master’s degree in Sculpture focusing on Sculpture Materials and Concepts.

08 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, August 17, 2018

art

A success for creative tourism Art Walk concludes 2018 Summer season

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Writer acadet@tribunemedia.net

A

fter a successful “true true” Bahamian experience this Summer, the Art Walk at Marina Village is wrapping things up for now and hosting its finale event next Saturday, August 25.

For the past few months, Atlantis’ Marina Village has been the place to be on every second and fourth Saturday of the month. Visitors and residents alike have enjoyed the varied and authentic selection of crafts and music by Bahamian artisans as well as locally grown produce and products.

Designed by the late Jackson Burnside, Art Walk at Marina Village was created to complement the master artist’s vision of providing those who visited the country with a unique slice of the Bahamian experience.

Last year, the Art Walk was finally brought to life with the help of artist Antonius Roberts and Pam Burnside, the widow of Mr Burnside, and Ed Fields, Atlantis’s senior vice president for public affairs.

Saturdays at the Marina Village became filled with a warm and welcoming community of artists who proudly displayed their work and educated guests on the country’s rich cultural heritage.

Participating artisans included Allia Dean of Always By Allia; Andrew Burrows of My Bahamas Sponge; Candis Marshall of Mega Mergers’ recycled tyre products; Lorette Evans of Sasha’s Foxy Paws’ pet clothing;

Artist Antonius Roberts was instrumental in bringing Art Walk to life, alongside Pam Burnside and Atlantis’ Ed Fields

Friday, August 17, 2018

Doramae LeFleur and her Androsia products; Ebony Peterson with her conch shell designs, and many more.

“It is a wonderful cornucopia of Bahamian cultural talent that is enjoyed by all persons – local and from abroad visiting, working and living on Paradise Island and Nassau who constantly pass through the Marina Village. This shows the power of cultural tourism,” said Mrs Burnside in an interview with Tribune Weekend.

She believes the popularity of the Art Walk has been firmly established these past few months, with vendors welcoming back repeat visitors. For Mrs Burnside, each Art Walk experience is an affirmation of her late husband’s dream of diversifying the Bahamas’ tourism product through the arts.

“I am very grateful to Atlantis for providing the opportunity for Art Walk to take place, and I personally consider Art Walk as a successful tribute to Jackson’s vision that by the year 2020 more persons would visit the Bahamas for our art, culture and heritage, rather than merely for our sun, sand and sea. It is also an affirmation of the Creative Nassau mission to celebrate and promote Bahamian art, culture and heritage from the inside out. We are honoured to have been asked by Atlantis to partner with them, as the venue is the perfect platform for this,” she said.

Mrs Burnside said people strolling through the Art Walk are always amazed to see unique local products of high quality; they are happy to engage with the vendors, listen to their stories, and are overjoyed to know they are taking a piece of the Bahamas back home with them.

“This is the important component of creative tourism: connecting with the people. This makes their visit special and keeps them coming back. Also, every Art Walk provides opportunities for the artists and artisans to develop and improve their products, so we ourselves are happy to see the artists’ success and growth because of the enthusiastic positive feedback they receive from patrons.

It is a win-win for everyone,” she said.

The Art Walk team were more than grateful to be able to extend the Art Walk season into August this year after being offered the option to move the event inside the Coral Towers corridors in order to mitigate weather risks like rain showers and extreme heat.

“This is also a wonderful experience.

We are always sorry to come to the end of the season, but look forward to starting up again in November,” said Mrs Burnside.

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Friday, August 17, 2018

food

Eating good

the clean way

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Writer acadet@tribunemedia.net

F

or 28-year-old Sara Oliver Knowles, the inspiration to start her now thriving food business came from wanting to give Bahamians easy access to healthy yet affordable, well-balanced meals.

“After sharing this idea with a very good friend of mine by the name of Sitirah, her words, ‘Your gift will make room for you’, placed the icing on the cake for Clean Eats 242,” said Sara. She believes she can advance the healthy lifestyle movement here in the Bahamas with her company Clean Eats 242.

It was also after moving to Nassau from North Andros, becoming a certified pharmacy technician that Sara’s interest in health-conscious eating habits grew. Then, she got first-hand experience in the culinary field when she worked as a chef at the Chives restaurant from 2010 to 2017.

“The number one benefit of eating healthier is weight loss. A lot of people turn to eating a healthier diet when it comes to weight loss. Another benefit is it helps lower the risk of heart disease and maintain blood pressure and cholesterol,” she said.

“I’ve been in the kitchen since I was a little girl, and with my mom and grandmother as chefs I was always summoned to the kitchen along with my other female cousins to help prepare for whichever event they were planning. It wasn’t until I started working at Chives and learning about healthier food options that my love for the kitchen really grew,” said the Nicholls Town native .

With Clean Eats 242, located just off Cowpen Road, Sara offers healthy meal preparation and catering services. From cherry pie fridge oats and sweet potato pancakes with caramelised pecans for breakfast, to ground turkey zucchini boats and herb-roasted salmon topped with cucumbers and dill over roasted sweet potato and broccoli for dinner – Sara tries to stay creative.

“I offer nutritious and well-portioned meals that help with your overall health. Persons may use my service to help with weight loss or to help with special diet plans the doctors may have put on them.”

“I offer nutritious and well-portioned meals that help with your overall health.

Persons may use my service to help with weight loss or to help with special diet plans the doctors may have put on them.

So far I’ve had all positive feedback.

Seems as if a lot of Bahamians are now trying to get healthy, and I love it,” she sad.

Since she was a little girl growing up in Andros, Sara said her goal was to always make her parents proud. She would take note of how hard they worked just to make sure the family had everything they needed. She is determined to return the favour.

“I always knew that I wanted to make them proud. My mom is a lunch vendor at the local high school In North Andros.

My stepfather is the landscaper. My father, now deceased, was a mason – all self-employed hard workers that inspire me daily. After losing my father in 2008 to a sudden death of heart (disease), it inspired me to always be health conscious,” said Sara.

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Friday, August 17, 2018

books

Become the best writer ever in

15 easy steps Bahamasbased author publishes guide

M

ore than a decade ago, one of Fay Knowles’ sons said to her: “Mum, you should share your writing experience with others. Give me some content and I’ll put a website up for you.”

This website has now led to the publication of Fay’s writer’s guide “How to be the Best Writer Ever!”

– an informal guide and source of inspiration for new and not so new writers worldwide. It is available as an e-book and in paperback from Amazon.

Fay, who originally hails from Scotland but made the Bahamas her home many years ago, has been writing since the age of nine and trained as a newspaper reporter in her teens. Her short stories have been published in the UK’s The Lady magazine, and in The Broadkill Review out of Delaware; her poetry has appeared in the UK’s Evergreen magazine, and her articles have been published in British and Bahamian publications.

She also has several other books available on Amazon and from other major online book retailers.

“All those years ago I had thrown some ideas together for the website and sent them to my son. He uploaded them in sections on the site, and the seeds of a writer’s guide were planted,” Fay explained. “I had a button online for visitors to leave their e-mail addresses if they wanted to be notified when the website content would be available in print.”

Fay’s blog, www.fayknowles. blogspot.com, eventually replaced the writer’s website. However, she still had a subscribers’ list of active or aspiring writers from the website who had been eagerly waiting for her to publish the promised writer’s guide.

“Now, many years later, I delved back in my mind to all the writing experience and training that I’ve had over the years and wrote about it. I used the original

Author Fay Knowles

The top 10 books on Apple’s iBooks-US

information from the website as a foundation,” she said.

“I wanted to help those who longed to write books, articles, short stories, poems or screenplays, and others whose writing career was going nowhere. My promise has been fulfilled with the publication of ‘How to Be the Best Writer Ever!’ It has come a long way since I first put a few tips online about writing.”

Fay said her guide strives to outline the craft and how to become the best writer ever in 15 straightforward and easy to understand chapters that enlighten and inform, inspire and encourage, educate and advise.

iBook charts for week ending August 12 1. Crazy Rich Asians

by Kevin Kwan 2. Girl, Wash Your Face

by Rachel Hollis 3. The Chase by Elle Kennedy 4. Tailspin by Sandra Brown 5. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn 6. The Other Woman

by Daniel Silva 7. The President Is Missing by Bill Clinton & James Patterson 8. All We Ever Wanted

by Emily Giffin 9. The Perfect Couple

by Elin Hilderbrand 10. The Money Shot

by Stuart Woods

By The Associated Press

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Friday, August 17, 2018

books

From Reese Witherspoon to SJP, the rise of celeb book clubs NEW YORK (AP) — Jimmy Fallon remembers a summer a few years back when it seemed everybody was reading “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn.

“Everyone had that book. If we had people over, or went on vacation poolside, people had that book wrinkled and curled up. I read it with my wife and we read every chapter together and we’d be like, ‘(Gasps) This is great!’ It was the world’s smallest book club,” he laughed.

This summer, Fallon decided to expand his book club of two to include his late-night audience. In June, he launched “Tonight Show Summer Reads.” Fallon presented five book options on his show and instructed viewers to go online and vote for their favourite. The results exceeded his expectations with 140,000 votes. The winner was “Children of Blood and Bone” by Tomi Adeyemi.

“Any way to engage the audience and to do stuff with them is always more fun,” said Fallon.

He also enthusiastically tracked how the books performed on Amazon after a mention on his show. The company confirms he had an impact.

“When a celebrity decides to get behind a book, we generally see a lift in sales,” said Chris Schluep, an editor at Amazon. “For instance, ‘Children of Blood and Bone’ has been selling well this year. But the week after Jimmy Fallon selected it as the first ‘Tonight Show’ book club selection, it sold nearly three times the number of print, Kindle and Audible books that it had sold in the previous week at Amazon.”

Fallon isn’t the only celebrity to follow in Oprah Winfrey’s footsteps with a book club. Reese Witherspoon has made such a success of her monthly literary picks that publishers are now putting Reese stickers on her selections.

“It’s fantastic and we have a great experience,” said Witherspoon, who has bought the rights to many of her picks to adapt for film or television.

One of her selections, “Little Fires Everywhere” by Celeste Ng will be a

Actress Reese Witherspoon with two novels she selected for her book club, “Something In The Water” and “Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine”. (Ballantine Books/Penguin via AP) limited series on Hulu starring Witherspoon and Kerry Washington.

The Oscar winner has also partnered with the audio producer-distributor Audible on audio recordings of her selections.

Emma Roberts has turned her lifelong love of reading into a pet project she calls Belletrist. A website and social media for Belletrist celebrate all things books. Each month they feature a new book to read and even an independent book store to check out.

“Belletrist is my baby,” said Roberts, who runs the site with her partner, Karah Preiss.

She says there is “no criteria” for books she features because her personal taste is so varied, but she does tend to learn toward highlighting female authors.

She wants to create a community for Belletrist followers to share thoughts and ideas about what they read.

Sarah Jessica Parker is so committed to reading that she’s partnered with the American Library Association to share

her own suggestions. The goal, she says, is to not only get people to read but to also support their own local libraries.

When Parker was approached by publishing house Hogarth to start her own imprint, her respect for writing initially made her think it wasn’t a good idea.

“I didn’t think I had the experience and had too much respect for people who’ve been in publishing for a long time,” she said. But Parker then thought it could be a way to help champion works in the literary fiction space which isn’t always as commercial. The first novel printed by SJP for Hogarth, “A Place for Us” by Fatima Farheen Mirza, is a New York Times best-seller.

Parker said she also enjoys posting about books on social media because it’s a safe topic.

Books are the “one thing I can talk about on Instagram that’s not controversial,” she said. “Everybody wants to talk about their favorite books or their feelings about books and share title

recommendations. I mean, it’s a huge exchange of information and enthusiasm and it’s really the easiest part of my relationship with social media certainly.”

Like Witherspoon, Roberts and Parker are open to the idea of giving a book they recommend the Hollywood treatment.

“One of the most exciting things about reading is thinking about how to bring it to life. I’m always imagining the show or the movie. We’re in an exciting time,” said Roberts.

Parker stresses her goal first and foremost is to help the author.

“I’m in it really for the genuinely purest of intentions — to introduce new authors to readers. And if the opportunity exists for there to be a discussion about any television or film rights, I would certainly enter in to those conversations. But that isn’t in any way my incentive.”

ALICIA RANCILIO Associated Press

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Friday, August 17, 2018

celebrity The Weekend Fashion Report Teen Choice Awards

SPLIT

FAIL

HIT

SPLIT

FAIL

Normani Hamilton

Madelaine Petsch ”Riverdale”

Storm Reid ”A Wrinkle in Time”

Bebe Rexha

Lele Pons host

Karin says: “Without the black lace this would have been a winner. But the lace is just a bridge too far. It makes what could have been a fun summer ensemble look cheap and confused. Also, I do not like the huge clunky platform sandals with this outfit.”

Cara says: “It’s a floral explosion! It’s black lingerie!

It just doesn’t know what it wants to be. Why do people feel they have to add so much extra stuff? The floral pants with a cute floral non-bralette top would have been so much better.”

Karin says: “Now this is how you do a casual yet stylish shirt dress! This is edgy and cute, and perfectly ageappropriate. I love the print and the snazzy purple boots to match. And of course her hair is fab. What a teen style maven!”

Cara says: “I really like this outfit; it’s young and cute.

Her hair is awesome. The only thing I am not feeling are those ugly boots. But I guess she can’t win them all. Still, compare this to most of us at 15.”

Karin says: “I really like the big checkered skirt; it’s got drama and flair. I just don’t like the ‘Tommy Hilfiger’ band. Don’t be a walking advertisement, ladies. It’s tacky. Otherwise, the sparkly bandeau top is cut and I love the long pony tail.”

Cara says: “The jury is still out on whether letting her black undies peek out was a fashion faux pas or just part of the outfit’s look. I like the idea of this ensemble, but I’m not sold on the execution. In theory, it’s cute.”

Karin says: “OK, I love that Bebe embraces being slightly bigger than your usual Hollywood starlet, but that doesn’t mean she has to squeeze herself into unflatteringly tight Barbie pink latex pants! She must have squeaked every time she moved.”

Cara says: “It’s like a wad of bubble gum popped all over her and got stuck and she has only managed to peel off the chest part. I am also sure I had a Barbie doll with that same outfit as a kid. It’s a bit trashy for real, but I’m low-key feeling it (blame the 80’s kid in me).”

Karin says: “Ah, the queen of Vine. And somehow she’s still a thing in 2018 long after Vine has died. Anyway, this has to be one the most hideous dresses we’ve ever had in the Fashion Report. It’s like some red pleather couch melted into her little floral dress and they fused together.”

Cara says: “I’m not even going to bother commenting.

Clearly this is a joke. I refuse to believe someone designed this, that someone sewed this together and someone actually purchased this monstrosity. It’s horrid in every way.”

PHOTOS/JORDAN STRAUSS/INVISION/AP

With Karin Herig and Cara Hunt

16 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, August 17, 2018

celebrity The Weekend Fashion Report HFPA Grants Banquet

FAIL

FAIL

SPLIT

FAIL

HIT

Alfre Woodard ”Luke Cage”

Joey King ”The Kissing Booth”

Amber Heard ”Aquaman”

Regina King ”Seven Seconds”

Karin says: “I’m as much in favour of a comfy pair of flats as the next girl, but Alfre, these Payless sandals aren’t it. They ruin her entire look.

The silver and black dress is not hideous – it’s not fabulous either – but it could work. But alas, those shoes...”

Cara says: “I am not feeling this look at all! The dress makes her look a little wide, to be honest. I don’t hate the shoes; they would be cute for the beach or a Saturday runaround, but I agree, not for a dressy event.”

Karin says: “She even looks embarrassed by wearing it. Now, I’m still a bit traumatised by how bad her movie was, and this ensemble is not endearing her to me any further. It looks like she ambushed a waiter somewhere, cut up his uniform and with the remains stitched herself a bizarre dress on the quick.”

Cara says: “This dress just has too much going on. It’s like Lil’ Bo-Peep wanted a fashion upgrade and went to a seamstress who didn’t have a clue and just put together some mismatched horrid mess.”

Cynthia Erivo ”Bad Times at the El Royale”

Karin says: “This looks like a Klimt painting gone wrong.

Now, I’m sure there are plenty of pretty dresses featuring prints by the famous Austrian artist, but this is not one of them. It also looks like the dress was not meant to be that short; like it’s several sizes too small.”

Cara says: “I don’t think print is nice. In fact, I think it’s gaudy and loud and confusing, and the style of the dress is just boring and uninspiring. I would expect Amber to have better taste than this, but then again...”

Karin says: “Simple, elegant and a stunning colour! That reddish orange looks fantastic on her. And the dress has both sleek, classic lines, as well as some modern, unusual touches at the shoulder. The midi length really works on her, too.”

Cara says: “Oh, what a cute dress! That colour is really flattering on her and I love how simple it is, yet the oneshoulder detail makes such a statement. Now this is one I wouldn’t mind having in my closet.”

Karin says: “I’m not totally sold on the cups showing above the neckline, but everything else looks really nice. OK, so it looks a lil’ like she just stood up from a table and his holding a giant napkin. But the deep blue in combination with the black looks fantastic with her bright hair colour.

Cara says: “The only nice thing I can say about this look is that the blue and black fabric is lovely. The style of the dress is just bad. It looks hideous. There is no saving grace or winning factor here.”

PHOTOS/RICHARD SHOTWELL/INVISION/AP

With Karin Herig and Cara Hunt

The Tribune | Weekend | 17

Friday, August 17, 2018

poetry

Bahamas youth gets poetic

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson@tribunemedia.net

T

HE second annual Bahamas Poetry Competition could focus on issues surrounding addiction, gun violence, conflict resolution and national pride.

Now that the first cycle of the competition has finished, organiser and founder Jermaine Rolle is going back to the drawing board, brainstorming topics that can get the creative juices of talented Bahamian writers flowing.

The competition came to a climax recently with a special awards ceremony held at the Paul Farquharson Conference Centre where 45 entrants were recognised for their submissions. There were 30 finalists and 15 individuals selected for honourable mentions.

Vary of fake online poetry competitions that only seek to “extract money from unsuspecting writers”, Mr Rolle decided to launch the local competition to give young Bahamians an avenue to express themselves as literary artists.

The contest has three divisions: primary, secondary and a young adults division. Since launching in February of this year, the contest has received considerable interest from those in the different categories.

Ten finalists were selected from the three divisions. The young adult division (18-30) entrants wrote on the topic of domestic violence. The high school division wrote about “The Pros and Cons of Social Media”, and the primary school division focused on bullying. All of the finalists had three opportunities to win awards.

Videos were uploaded to the contest’s YouTube page and winners were selected based on the number of views, comments and likes they received. During the awards ceremony the videos from the top three competitors were played, as well as the video from the top writer and the People’s Choice Champion.

“The ceremony also paid respect to the legendary poet, playwright and cultural giant James Catalyn. Members of James Catalyn and Friends

Grand champions: (l-r) Jon-Byron Bain, Kayla Rolle and Brittne Johnson

Ebony Johnson, writing champion in the high school division

Nikera Cartwright, writing champion in the young adult division

Second place overall: Karissa Spence of Sadie Curtis Primary Third place overall: Utah Taylor Jr of Nassau Christian Academy Writing champion: Shamarco Wallace of Columbus Primary People’s Choice champion: Karissa Spence of Sadie Curtis Primary

High School Division Grand champion: Kayla Rolle of St George’s High School Second place overall: Deja Kemp of Anthia Knowles, the People’s Choice Jack Hayward High School champion in the young adult division Third place overall: Dariq Chase of Aquinas College accepted an award on his behalf,” said Writing champion: Ebony Johnson Mr Rolle. of St Anne’s School “A total of 196 persons entered People’s Choice champion: Deja the competition. The competitors Kemp of Jack Hayward High School

came from five different islands: New Young Adult Division Providence, Grand Bahama, Abaco, Grand champion: Jon-Byron Bain Eleuthera, and Cat Island. Public and Second place overall: Anthia private school students took advanKnowles tage of the opportunity.”

Third place overall: Nikera The winners are as follows: Cartwright

Writing champion: Nikera Primary School Division Cartwright Grand Champion: Brittne Johnson People’s Choice champion: Anthia of E P Roberts Knowles

ARTISTS INCREASE ENERGY LEVELS FOR MISCELLANEOUS POETRY TOUR

Members of Nassau’s creative community gather for spoken word performances.

NEARLY 100 hundred poetry lovers recently filled the quaint space at the Biggity Boutique & Bistro to witness “Miscellaneous” spoken word and poetry talent from across Nassau perform.

The Miscellaneous Poetry Tour (MPT) strives to provide a safe space for creatives to revitalise the spoken word community.

“The first show was dope,” said DeAngelo Whyms, also known as Harsh Reality, the host of the Miscellaneous Poetry Tour kick-off event. “Poetry enthusiasts were hungry,” said. “The people had been waiting for that level of energy, that level of quality performers, and MPT 2018 gave them exactly what they had been waiting for.”

The next event is scheduled for August 23 when featured artist B’Jon will grace the stage at The Current inside the Baha Mar resort.

The Miscellaneous Poetry Tour made its debut last year with the intent to provide creatives with a platform to share some of their most intimate thoughts without ridicule, questions or fear.

“It’s crucial for events like MPT to be a part of the Bahamian community,” said Disha Fraser, who is considered the visionary of the MPT. “It is a platform for Bahamians to exhibit talent that extends beyond tourism and banking industries. It gives Bahamians a voice when our vote does not seem to matter, or when our country does not seem to belong to us. During the MPT events, our voice matters and we all belong.”

Tickets are available online at http://www.MPT2018.eventbrite. com.

18 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, August 17, 2018

culture

Remembering what

Sir Vidia taught us

By DR IAN BETHELL-BENNETT

L

ast Saturday, Sir Vidia died.

He was a Caribbean writer (much as he might hate this claim) who caught the awful pain of Caribbean gender dynamics and emasculation in a way few others have. How does one come to terms with the loss of such a paragon of contradiction and of incredible talent, vision and awful insight?

V S Naipaul, knighted in 1990, was born in Chaguanas, Trinidad, in 1932 and died in London on August 11. He was a writer and critic, a lightning rod for criticism, yet a person who knew the Caribbean too well. He was born to an Indo-Trinidadian family who had come to the region after the abolition of slavery as indentured labourers. A scholarship student at Oxford University who never returned to Trinidad, but could depict with such unflinching merciless accuracy the shortcomings of the Caribbean, and especially Caribbean post-colonial leaders.

I came to V S Naipaul in West Indian Literature class at COB in the 1980s and was shocked by how complicated yet comical his “Miguel Street” (1959) was. It was a book that caught every failing of Bahamian society, yet it was not Bahamian. It caught the gender-based violence, the internalised self-hatred, the awful violence and one-upmanship of the streets. It was a book that I would come back to often as a student and then in later years. It caught the horrible impact of respectability politics well after the age of Victorianism had passed away in Britain but thrived in the Caribbean.

It captured the devastation of family relations and the repetition of models of home life.

The character of Bogart returns to Miguel Street to be “a man among we men”. Yet this is loaded with multiple levels of meaning and social dysfunction. Bogart leaves his wife to have a baby with another woman and then leaves her because he wants to be a man among men. The irony here is that Naipaul describes what has often been blamed on women not keeping

their legs crossed, not knowing how to choose a man, yet this is the general expectation of masculinity in the region.

Naipaul imbues the tragedy of Caribbean masculinity with such emotion and realness. He was awful in his depiction of social decay and neglect, as well as corruption. If there are two books that show the need for connections and community they are “Miguel Street” and “A House for Mr Biswas” (1961).

The universality yet specificity of Naipaul’s work made him a Nobel laureate in 2001. The academy praised his “incorruptible scrutiny in works that compels us to see the presence of suppressed histories”.

His “Mimic Men” (1967), much like “The Middle Passage” (1962) was cutting in its criticism of the Caribbean, especially the English-speaking Caribbean that Naipaul had left behind him.

He once stated: “The history of the islands can never be told satisfactorily.

Brutality is not the only difficulty. History is built around achievement and creation; and nothing was created in the West Indies.”

So, his condemnation for the West Indies is clear. Yet his interest in it is also clear. His crucial time spent in Trinidad formed the writer and Nobel Laureate. He cut as deeply in fiction as he did in criticism and travel writing.

“Mimic Men” and “A House for Mr Biswas” are compelling stories, but terribly hostile and tragically unkind. In many ways, similar to “Miguel Street”, they depict the mimicry so common in the postcolonial state as well as the utter emasculation of so many family structures and, one could venture to say, the colonial/postcolonial system.

Biswas was totally emasculated by his world. We get first-hand view of the tragedy of Caribbean masculinity through the various mishaps along the street.

Naipaul’s ability to capture the gender dynamics of so much of West Indian culture and society is remarkable. He could present with such tragic humour the ingrained nature of violence against women in his story,

where the wife kept the cricket bat her husband used to discipline her welloiled and clean. The social commentary is unparalleled as well as stinging.

The gendered view in his work is haunting and unforgiving as Biswas is brought down to inhumanly small size V S Naipaul, a by his mother-inTrinidad-born Nobel law and her agents laureate, died on of repression, as August 11 at his he called them, the London home. He little gods. The awful was 85. (Chris Ison/ cynicism, satire and PA via AP) irony with which his work was often written could lay bare an entire society, exposing every aspect of its hidden tragedies. society. It is sad to see the emasculaI return to “The Maternal Instinct”, tion of Biswas, but also horrible to the short story in “Miguel Street” understand that so many mothers, where Laura, who has eight children wives and grandmothers undermine by seven different men, becomes a their male charges with scathing and victim of her own hope of breaking pointed injurious treatment and comthe cycle. When her daughter became ment that leaves the entire society pregnant, had the baby and drowned, destroyed. The work shows how devshe lost her spirit. astating class, race and colonial gender The gender politics of the book politics can be to the human spirit. speak loudly of how policed women’s I am constantly reminded of Nassau sexuality is in so many postcolonial streets and their characters, the men Caribbean societies. Yet, Laura is a who think they should beat their tragic character because, notwithstand- wives, the wives who think that if their ing the social criticism heaped on her, husbands don’t beat them they don’t she dares to hope and dream, and to love them and the absolute failure of invest in her children. The slap of her empathy in most social interactions, daughter’s pregnancy and death is a especially those in religious institutions blow to the entire street. The tragedy is where we are so busy judging, policing not that she has been so harshly judged and condemning that we lose sight of by such a hypocritical society or that our own humanity. she cusses and carries on at her chilIf we read “Miguel Street” today, we dren, but that the single motherhood/ see all of Nassau collapsed into around poverty cycle is tenacious and outdoes 200 pages of vignettes that are accesmany. Perhaps this is a reality that sible and utterly human. The writer political and religious leaders need to may have lost kindness, but his cruel understand when they condemn single wonder was never lost. His eye missed mothers brought up in poverty for not nothing and his pen laid his experikeeping their legs crossed. ences on the page, sometimes gutted, Naipaul’s work is beguiling yet other times understandingly human, unflinching in its harsh and painbut always with incredible depth of ful painting of Trinidad and Tobago insight clarity and pain.

The Tribune | Weekend | 19

Friday, August 17, 2018

gardening

Banana background The banana as we know it today may soon face worldwide extinction, but Jack Hardy says there may be hope to be found with backyard farmers.

L

et us stop by our supermarket produce section for a few moments. We will see that certain fruits are clearly labelled with their varietal name – Anjou, Comice, Granny Smith, Red Delicious – but tomatoes are mostly sold anonymous.

There are hundreds of potato varieties but only a few are identified, the stress being put on the type – red, white, baking – and where they were produced. When it comes to dessert bananas you will find a Chiquita label but not the variety. It’s Cavendish.

When commercial banana production started in the 19th century, several varieties were grown and over a period these were whittled down to the one that had the necessary qualities - good flavour, thick skin, slow ripening, and disease resistance

– and banana production became a monoculture. Every banana plant is a clone of its predecessor because most bananas have lost their ability to produce seeds.

The winner was Gros Michel (Big Mike), grown on tall plants that bore large plump fruits with a strong banana taste and resistance to the disease Yellow Sigatoka. Gros Michel dominated the banana industry until the late 1950s when it was attacked by a form of soil-borne fusarium wilt called Panama disease and was replaced by Cavendish - developed in England of all places - which had great qualities for the producer but tasted very bland. It came in tall and dwarf forms, the latter being particularly suited to windy areas. It was – most importantly – resistant to Panama disease.

Diseases are quirky things. Unable to get their way they mutate into a different form called a race. The Panama Disease that attacked Gros Michel was Race 1. There is now Tropical Race 4 and it is attacking Cavendish, along with Black Sigatoka.

Bananas are a $36-billion industry, the largest producers being India, Brazil and Ecuador. Provision for the American market comes from Honduras, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the South American states bordering the Caribbean, and some Caribbean islands. These areas were developed

by United Fruit Company starting in 1899. The company was not only competitive but ruthless. Its domination in Central American countries led to the derogatory term ‘banana republic’. United Fruit Company for decades represented the ugly face of US commercial hegemony, bribing government officials and politicians handsomely but keeping field labour wages at a pitiful minimum. United Fruit virtually ran the countries they invested in and made use of their police forces and armies to subdue protests, sometimes with bullets. In 1970 United Fruit Company morphed into United Brands Company and in

1984 became Chiquita Brands, a much friendlier face that takes the welfare of its workers into account.

The problem with crop monoculture is the possibility of losing everything virtually overnight. Chiquita is taking stringent steps to protect its Cavendish banana plantations against the new races but is probably only stemming the tide until disaster strikes.

The change from Gros Michel to Cavendish was made when banana production was considerably less than it is now. A change of main cultivar might very well take years and involve a distinct shortage of bananas for a period along with higher costs.

It should be noted that the market for dessert bananas is mostly in North America and Europe. Banana consumption in Asia and Africa mostly involves green or cooking bananas.

One type of cooking banana is plantain, popular in South America and the Caribbean.

Chiquita Brands has introduced Chiquita Minis for the US market, aimed particularly at children and their lunch boxes. Chiquita Minis are Manzano bananas, called Apple bananas in most of the Englishspeaking world and Sugar bananas in The Bahamas. The flesh of Manzano bananas is much sweeter than Cavendish but the fruit ripens quickly and has a very thin skin. It is therefore picked early and is nowhere as sweet as Sugar bananas grown in Bahamian back yards and enjoyed at

full ripeness. We do not see Chiquita Minis in our supermarkets because export to The Bahamas is a step too far for the fast-ripening fruits.

Chiquita Brands also produces Grand Nain, a banana that grows midway between tall and dwarf Cavendish and is referred to as the Chiquita banana. Unlike Manzano, the Chiquita banana is a Cavendish cultivar.

If the worst comes to the worst, what will the situation be in the Bahamas? I am sure the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources is taking stringent measures to ensure our islands are unpolluted by banana diseases of all types, but I did come across a suspected case of Black Sigatoka in Treasure Cay, Abaco, recently.

If supermarkets have reduced supplies from the US and cannot keep up with demand, they will expect local farmers to increase their production, a blessing in disguise.

Even if a disease is rampant in the industry, backyard growers usually are the last to be affected and sometimes remain completely immune. It would be a good idea to plant bananas if you do not do so already. If you do have bananas you may wish to add more varieties. The day may come when you have to sleep under your banana plants with a loaded shotgun.

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

20 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, August 17, 2018

pageants

Taking on

the universe Miss Bahamas aims for nextlevel pageantry

T

he 11 young women vying to be the next Miss Bahamas Universe were formally introduced to the country last Sunday. The reveal took place at the new Fiona Theatre, an amphitheatre at the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas.

Contestants opened up to the audience through one-on-one interviews with host Chester Robards. The audience got a unique opportunity to hear each young woman discuss her platform and give insight into her life and her “Chasing the Sash” experience.

Platforms discussed by the women included animal abuse, colourism, entrepreneur empowerment, cancer, and sexual abuse, among others. The range of causes impressed and engaged the audience, as the contestants in some cases revealed how these issues have touched them personally.

Anthony Smith, newly appointed national director under the Miss Universe brand, said: “We must move out of smallness and pettiness if we are genuine about getting the respect we collectively need in pageantry.”

He also lamented the fact that after more than five decades, the Bahamas is still fighting to establish its rightful place on the Miss Universe stage as a title holder or least in the line-up of semi-finalists.

“That would be a huge start, given the Miss Universe telecast reaches more than 130 million viewers,” said Mr Smith.

“The guarantee when our Bahamian ambassador participates is always great press, and the Bahamas sash that she wears proudly is flashed

Samia McClain

Gabriela Collie

Shauntae Miller before millions of curious travellers.

Pageantry is equally as important as Junkanoo and sports. It is a sport.”

The Miss Bahamas Universe pageant is slated for Sunday, September 16.

Sponsors who have come on board to make the pageant a success include Midwestern State University, Biore, Jergens, New York Dress, Shoreline Distributors, The Beauty Shack, Commonwealth Fabric, The Shoal Bistro, Lux, Brightly Awake, Vell Monkey Foot, Toastmasters Club 1600, and The Bold Catalog.

The title winner will receive a $70,000 prize package, which includes an all-expense paid, once-in-a-lifetime experience to represent the Bahamas

Ianthe Kellman

Selvinique Wright

The Tribune | Weekend |21

Friday, August 17, 2018

PHOTOS/TERREL W CAREY

at the Miss Universe pageant in Bangkok, Thailand, this December.

Additionally, the new queen is awarded a four-year scholarship to attend Midwestern State University; a full wardrobe; local and international speaking engagements; cash prize; luxury jewellery; air travel; personal coaching and media training; makeup; skin and hair care products, and a whole lot more.

The Miss Universe pageant, which debuted in 1952, is considered to be among the most prestigious international pageants in the world. Up until 2015, it was owned by US President Donald Trump.

This year’s theme is ‘World View’, which presents an opportunity for our young ladies to learn about other countries and their history,” said Mr Smith.

“It also allows them to immerse themselves in information on both local and global events. This will

“Pageantry is equally as important as Junkanoo and sports. It is a sport.” greatly help the young woman who competes in the Miss Universe pageant in late Fall.”

This year’s crop of young ladies range from college students and athletes, to entrepreneurs and working professionals, or a combination of those designations. They are: Samia McClain, Danielle Grant, Vernique Chandler, Gabrielle Collie, Ianthe Kellman, Raven Hepburn, Selvinique Wright, Shantera Brown, Shauntae Miller, Deyevette Nagee and Dimarcia Bethel.

For more information about tickets, visit the website at www.missbahamaspageant.com or the Facebook page ‘MissBahamasPageant’. Online voting opens on Monday, August 27, so friends, family, supporters and fans have an opportunity to choose a favourite contestant through a special ‘People’s Choice’ vote that will fasttrack their contestant into the top six as the competition preliminaries and categories progress.

Devyevette Nagee

Vernique Chandler

Danielle Grant

Raven Hepburn

Shantera Brown

Dimarcia Bethel

22 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, August 17, 2018

literary lives – andrew carnegie

A ‘robber baron’ turns philanthropist Sir Christopher Ondaatje recommends Peter Krass’ biography of Andrew Carnegie – one of the major figures in American history, a ruthless businessman who ultimately gave most of it away.

“Y

ou cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he be willing to climb a little himself.”

The story of Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), the Scottish immigrant’s son who arrived in America with nothing and rose from the slums of

Carnegie poses for a photo in 1913.

Pittsburgh to become the wealthiest man in the world, embodies the American dream. This is the ultimate tale of the “poor boy made good” – and a tale made even better by his giving all his fortune away. In doing so he set the gold standard for future philanthropists. The development of his belief in unrestrained capitalism and the growth of his steel empire coincided closely with the industrial development of the US itself, and this gives his life still more of the quality of fable.

“The way to get rich is to put all your eggs in one basket and watch the basket.”

But Carnegie’s life also embodied the harsh reality of the American dream. He was a robber baron, a ruthless capitalist who lived in luxury while his mill workers laboured seven-day weeks in hellish conditions. He wanted to be a champion of the working people, but once he gained power, he slashed their wages and crushed their unions. These contradictions, and particularly the crises of conscience that troubled Carnegie throughout his life, drive Peter Krass’s painstakingly researched book. He declares a personal interest in his subject as his own great-grandfather worked in the Carnegie mills and lived and died in

the surrounding slums, but Krass is not wilfully unsympathetic. His biography is a careful attempt to reconcile the grasping money-maker whose business practices shortened his great-grandfather’s life with the generous benefactor whose legacy enriched so many others.

Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1835, the son of a politically radical hand-loom weaver. In 1848, his family auctioned all their possessions and set sail for the New World.

Their poverty made the young Andrew determined to make his fortune, and within 20 years, aged just 33, Carnegie had amassed $400,000 (nearly $5 million today). He had seen that steel was the future.

His rise mirrored America’s own transition from sleepy agricultural country to great industrial power.

Krass, who has written books on business and investment, provides a thorough account of how Carnegie built his empire. He gives a real sense of Carnegie’s boundless energy, his optimism, and his loyalty to his family and friends, but also of his arrogance, vanity and sense of superiority – the diminutive Scotsman (he was only 5ft 3in) came to be known as ‘The Great Egoist’ within the steel industry.

Although he criticises Carnegie’s greed and ruthlessness, Krass recognises that his self-belief was also vital to his success.

“People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents.”

Krass is particularly interested, however, in his subject’s self-doubt and crises of conscience. In December 1868, when he was in his early 30s, Carnegie wrote himself a letter, which he kept all his life. In it he set out a plan to give up business within two years, go to Oxford to “get a thorough education” and then take control of a newspaper in order to promote “public matters especially those connected with education & improvement of the poorer classes.”

He had worshipped money, but now he considered that “the amassing of wealth is one of the worst species of idolatry” and that to continue much longer with business “must degrade me beyond the hove of permanent recovery.” Nonetheless, he still enjoyed the privileges and entrance to society that money bought, and he had no intention of giving it up while he was earning $100,000 a year.

The Tribune | Weekend | 23

Friday, August 17, 2018

There were another three decades of business before he began to distribute his wealth, and his actions during these years rarely reflected the tortured social conscience of that letter. He dominated the American steel industry, and used the turbulent labour relations of the time to break the unions even as he publicly supported them. By 1900, Carnegie’s company produced more steel than the entire British steel industry. He eventually sold out to J P Morgan for a personal profit of $250 million. Together with the titans of the Gilded Age – Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Ford, Mellon, Frick, Harriman, du Pont, Morgan, Fisk, Guggenheim, and Hearst – he changed the face of America.

“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get the credit for doing it.”

Carnegie’s first philanthropic project was a relief fund to provide pensions for the retired and aid for those who had been injured in his mills. He became a pioneer in pension funding, but, Krass asks, “why did he wait until now to create a pension for his workers? How many who could have benefited were long since dead?”

Indeed, it was not until his workers had finished making him money that Carnegie contemplated using his surplus profit to help them. Nevertheless, when Carnegie set about getting rid of his fortune, he did so with as much gusto as it had taken to accumulate it.

By the time Carnegie died in 1919, he had given away over $350 million (more than $3 billion today). Philanthropy was not always a balm to his spirit; after spending millions and working tirelessly to try to “hasten the abolition of war, the foulest blot upon our civilisation,” he was crushed by the outbreak of the First World War. Some projects, such as his plan to create model housing for the poor, never came to fruition. But the list of Carnegie’s achievements is astonishing: by 1908 he had funded over 1,400 libraries throughout the world (”If the young do not acquire a taste for reading, what will they otherwise acquire?”).

Museums, concert halls and educational grants still bear his name, and his major trusts and foundations continue his work. The Carnegie Foundation remains a key philanthropic player today.

“The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.”

Carnegie was born into poverty in this house located in Dunfermline, Scotland.

In his biography, Peter Krass refuses to paint Carnegie as either fairy tale hero or robber baron.

Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is just one of many institutions that were funded by and carry the famed entrepreneur’s name.

Carnegie is credited with revolutionising the steel industry and shaping the America we know today.

Peter Krass refuses to see Carnegie as either fairy tale hero or robber baron. He concludes that Carnegie’s legacy outweighs the suffering of his workers, without excusing his more unsavoury business practices.

Carnegie’s own conscience, at any rate, was soothed by his charity. He wrote, aged 78: “When I go for trial for the things done on earth, I think I’ll get a verdict of ‘not guilty’ through my efforts to make the earth a little better

Carnegie at age 16 with his younger brother Thomas. than I found it.” He may have been proved right.

NEXT WEEK: An Irish writer whose works explored the inner feelings of women and their problems relating to men.

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

24 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, August 17, 2018

history

Why did the Vikings vanish?

New clues to fate of lost Greenland colony WASHINGTON (AP) — Clues to the mystery of why Viking colonies in Greenland flourished and fell have been found in the DNA of medieval walrus bones housed in more than a dozen European museums.

For almost 500 years, the Norse descendants of Erik the Red built churches and manor homes and expanded their settlements on the icy fringes of European civilisation. On Greenland, they had elaborate stone churches with bronze bells and stained glass, a monastery, and their own bishop. Their colonies at one time supported more than 2,000 people.

And then they vanished.

Scholars have long wondered why.

“Why did they flourish and why did they disappear?” asked Thomas McGovern, an anthropologist at Hunter College in New York. “And did their greatest success also contain the seeds of their demise?”

Researchers who visited museums across western Europe to assemble a rare pile of artefacts — fragments of medieval walrus skulls — reported in a study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B that the fate of these medieval outposts may have been tied to the demand for walrus ivory among rich Europeans.

The study revealed that during the height of the Norse settlement — from about 1120 to 1400 — at least 80 per cent of the walrus samples were directly sourced from Greenland.

“It’s possible that almost all the walrus ivory in western Europe during the High Middle Ages came from Greenland,” said Bastiaan Star, a

THE FAMOUS 12th century Lewis chessmen were made from walrus tusks supplied by Vikings in Greenland.

The ruins of the Hvalsey Church, part of an abandoned Viking colony in southern Greenland.

PHOTO/CHRISTIAN KOCH MADSEN VIA AP

scientist at the University of Oslo and one of the study’s authors. “This result tells a very clear story.”

A dozen years ago, many historians believed that the changing climate of medieval Europe was the main reason Norse settlements in Greenland expanded and went extinct. This view was popularised in Jared Diamond’s 2005 book “Collapse.”

But evidence such as walrus bones at archaeological sites in Greenland and historical documents — including church records of tithes paid in walrus tusks — suggested another possible factor: that the Vikings’ descendants thrived on a lucrative trade in walrus tusks, which were sold to Europe’s elite and carved into luxury items, such as ivory crucifixes, knife handles, and fancy dice and chess sets.

Archaeologists suspected that famous ivory artefacts from the Middle Ages — such as the Lewis Chessmen, a set of expressive and intricately carved statuettes from the 12th century now housed in the British Museum in London — were made from walrus tusks from Greenland. But they could not get permission to bore into these

A STATUE of Leif Eriksson, Son of Erik the Red, in South Greenland

precious artefacts for genetic analysis.

James Barrett, another study author and an archaeologist at the University of Cambridge, was “opening dusty boxes and poring through museum catalogues” in galleries in Norway, France, Germany, Ireland, and the

UK when he realised that the tusks were often sold attached to fragments of walrus skulls — and that the bone could provide the DNA he needed.

Barrett didn’t get access to the Lewis Chessmen, but his hunt produced 23 medieval artefacts for analysis, after examining hundreds of related objects.

“This is the first study that conclusively shows that Greenland walrus exports obtained a near-monopoly in Europe,” said Poul Holm, an environmental historian at Trinity College in Dublin, who was not involved in the study.

McGovern, also not part of the study, said of the research: “It’s changing the story that we’ve been telling for years.”

If walrus ivory was the key to Greenland’s medieval wealth, experts now suspect a collapsing market for the ivory may have helped doom the outposts. The Norse Greenland settlements vanished in the 1400s, sometime after life in continental Europe was badly rattled by the onset of the Black Death and the beginning of the Little Ice Age, an era of cooler climates.

These calamities undermined demand for walrus ivory, said Barrett.

After “a bonanza tied to the novelty of bringing exotic products to the market” in Europe, Holm said, “the fading allure of the product locks the society in decline.”

CHRISTINA LARSON AP Science Writer

The Tribune | Weekend | 25

Friday, August 17, 2018

history

Flying to

school

H

Forgotten Facts | PAUL C ARANHA

ow easy it is to forget.

Remembering seems to take effort, but forgetting just happens.

Perhaps one really never knew most of what one assumes he/she has forgotten.

In a modern book about events in 1930s Nassau, an American author set the scene by explaining that there were only two centre of population – Nassau and Freeport. He probably did not forget that Freeport is a 1960s creation. More likely, he never knew.

My first job, after I finished school in 1954, was with Esso Standard Oil, in their marketing department, and I did business with countless unseen customers throughout the Out Islands. As I learned the trade, I was promoted to Out Island salesman and spent much of the working week putting faces to familiar names. In this way, I learned a lot of Bahamian geography.

Demand for fuels was growing rapidly and the oil companies (Esso, Texaco and Sinclair) were hardpressed to find enough 54-gallon drums to fill orders. It was time to think about installing large storagetanks at strategic points around the archipelago and using a tanker, of suitable size, to deliver fuels in bulk.

Esso was the first to move in this direction, but before we could ask for the money it would take we had to do a thorough market survey to show return-on-investment. ‘Experts’ from our head office in Havana descended on Nassau and spread out to all the major islands, with me along as their guide.

I learned a lot about how experts measure traffic flow and calculate the potential market, but was shocked with the report that came back from Havana. The experts decided that the potential market was not as big as what we were already selling. They had never had to deal with islands that had no cars but still needed lots and lots of gasoline, kerosene and Diesel oil. Their eyes had not seen, and they had not counted, the hundreds of outboard-motor boats.

Fortunately, local management understood our Bahamian market and insisted on including tanks and an inter-island tanker in the next year’s budget request, all based on a second, one-man re-survey of our known customers.

West End, Grand Bahama – the then ‘capital’ of the island – was one of the early beneficiaries of this new programme and Harold “Sonny”

The cover of Paul Aranha’s latest book, “Bahamas Airways - the Rise and Demise of a British International Air Carrier” Waugh became our distributor for the island. Once the storage tanks had been installed, fuels were shipped from Esso’s Hog Island depot in a 10,000gallon barge that was towed by the m/v Rock Sound and, later, by a larger, specially-built shallow-draft tanker, the m/v Inagua Cay, and people living anywhere on Grand Bahama no longer needed to look to Nassau for their fuel.

The day came when Wallace Groves came up with the idea of Freeport and I remember my first visit to the site, as part of an Esso team. Esso did not invest in Freeport and I was probably too young to understand that pine

Shipwreck from only WWII battle in America found off Alaska ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Daryl Weathers remembers trying to pull men from the sea off Alaska’s Aleutian Islands after a US Navy destroyer hit a mine left by the Japanese following the only World War II battle fought on North American soil.

The explosion, which ripped the stern off the USS Abner Read, also covered many of the men in oil, which prevented some from being rescued.

“They were so slippery, you couldn’t get ahold of them,” the 94-year-old

Weathers said this week from his home in Los Angeles.

The remaining 250 crew members made the ship watertight, and it limped back to the West Coast for repairs.

Only one body among the 71 men killed was recovered.

Nearly 75 years later, scientists using multi-beam sonar have discovered the 75-foot stern about 290 feet below the Bering Sea. The scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego,

The destroyer USS Abner Read at sea. (US Navy/National Archives via AP) and the University of Delaware found it last month during a research mission funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

trees (for they were the only things there) could be turned into a city.

So many Bahamians do not remember, and cannot believe, how important West End used to be, which has been brought home to me by the number of people who have read my new book, “Bahamas Airways - the Rise and Demise of a British International Air Carrier”, and are amazed by a photo of Larraine Reiss boarding a Bahamas Airways DC-3 at Freeport to fly to West End every morning, because that’s where the school was.

• For questions and comments, e-mail islandairman@gmail.com “To hit success is obviously extremely joyous for everybody.

There’s lots of cheering you know, it’s like scoring a touchdown,” said Andrew Pietruszka, an underwater archaeologist with Scripps.

The euphoria ended with the realization that it was the final resting place for US service members. Those aboard the research vessel held a wreath-laying ceremony to honor the dead.

There are no plans to raise the stern. “We take the protection of these wrecks seriously because we believe that they are war graves,” said Paul Taylor with the Naval History and Heritage Command.

MARK THIESSEN Associated Press

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.

CRYPTIC PUZZLE Across 1 Taking money out for retirement (10) 6 A musical character to have on the staff (4) 10 Stable unit in the market (5) 11 A ruinous craft (9) 12 Beat this for a political slogan (8) 13 Test the patience of a good man at a meeting (5) 15 Distances covered by a number of vaults (7) 17 It is pressed into use when distribution by air is required (7) 19 Make another entrance in a more entertaining way (2-5) 21 Main roads? (7) 22 It sounds - like fruit (5) 24 Writer is about to approve a colour (3-5) 27 Head teacher is a source of interest (9) 28 How pointless to follow a girl in a state (5) 29 Rush in three directions at once! (4) 30 It necessitates a lot of extra work in the theatre (5,5)

r c U I L B TarGeT THe aLPHa

Excellent: 10 mins Yesterday’s solution: sHoes (across) HeeLs (down) 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

Yesterday’s Easy Solution

Down 1 Beheaded, it would be Across: 1 Impetus, 5 Crisp, 8 Ad even more venomous (4) nauseam, 9 Run, 10 Elbe, 12 In 2 Not altogether how an person, 14 Absorb, 15 Accrue, 17 Grandeur, 18 Pert, 21 End, undergraduate is 22 Extricate, 24 Surly, 25 Exalted. working? (2,1,6) Down: 1 Image, 2 Pen, 3 Girl wasn’t well brought 3 True, 4 Seeing, 5 Commerce, up (5) 6 In reserve, 7 Penance, 4 A dour disposition is, to us, 11 Bystander, 13 Drudgery, hard to bear (7) 14 Algiers, 16 Subtle, 19 Tweed, 5 Its aura somehow appeals 20 Diva, 23 Art. to those who like mountain holidays (7) 7 Poem attributed to husband (3,2) 8 Enthusiasm experienced Yesterday’s Cryptic Solution by a new poker player? (5,5) Across: 1 Pibroch, 5 Sugar, 9 Standards are judged by 8 Cassandra, 9 Mar, 10 Nile, them (8) 14 Piece of rough material that 12 Good hand, 14 Debtor, 15 Armies, 17 Stickers, 18 Emma, could be smoother (5,5) 21 Goa, 22 Dodge City, 24 Stein, 16 Retaliates and strikes a 25 Express. player (4,4) Down: 1 Pecan, 2 Bus, 3 Oral, 4 Hudson, 5 Standard, 18 Void contest? (5,4) 6 Gymnasium, 7 Reredos, 20 Decorate from top to 11 Lubricate, 13 Looked on, bottom, or bottom to 14 Dosages, 16 Bridge, 19 Abyss, top (7) 20 Keep, 23 Ice. 21 Everything in the show is superficial (7) 23 Untie tricky knot (5) 25 They fly or take a train (5) 26 Fuel considered all right in church (4) Down Across 1 Portend (4) 1 Very comfortable 2 Harm (9) situation (3,2,5) 3 Absurd 6 Continued proceedings (5) pain (4) 4 Enthusiastic 10 Discourage (5) reception (7) 11 Attractive (9) 5 To voice (7) 12 Hearth (8) 7 Porcelain (5) 13 Metallic ringing 8 Battle (10) sound (5) 9 Gambling card 15 Infest (7) game (8) 17 Scornful 14 Crowning language (7) ceremony (10) 19 Shock 16 Restore grossly (7) confidence to (8) 21 Old hand (7) 18 Pleasant (9) 22 Accumulate (5) 20 One part of serial (7) 24 Unique (8) 21 Extremely 27 To place forceful (7) between (9) 23 Garret (5) 28 Confusion of voices (5) 25 Brownish yellow (5) 29 Small cut (4) 26 Oversupply (4) 30 Amelioration (10)

EASY PUZZLE

STUCK? CALL FOR A CLUE

the alphabet is use

chambers

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letters and black s

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(1999 edition)

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Vow, Junta, Plumbs, Today’s TarGeT Boxers.

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The Tribune | Weekend | 27

Friday, August 17, 2018

animals

Step into

their shoes any things in the news make me wonder. I like to try and imagine what it is like to be certain people in the situations they find themselves; how it must feel, however do they cope?

I often find myself wondering what life and the world must be like from an animal’s perspective. We still really only have a limited knowledge of what each individual species can understand.

How much can, for example, a manta ray grasp? A while ago, Atlantis released yet another huge manta ray back into the wild after several years in captivity in their tank. I am not sure if these mantas come to Atlantis injured and are held for rehabilitation or if they are captured merely to adorn their tanks… either way the queries I have will still apply.

When a manta is captured, does it process what it happening? We assume that it knows fear because it tries to escape, but once it is in the tank, fed and cared for, does it know happiness? Does it form any bonds with the fish in the tank? And when it is released, is there fear of the unknown when the helicopter gently rests the net into the sea and the manta swims off? Is the manta relieved or uncomfortable in this new

environment? It is overjoyed at the prospect of restored freedom or intimidated by the space around and beneath it?

These questions apply to most of the wild animals that are taken into safe harbour to be rehabilitated. I suppose that mammals will have a more definite response to nurture than aquatic animals.

How much thought process do various animals use and how will we ever be able to find out what really goes on behind those frequently expressive eyes?

We have a pretty good idea of what dogs think and how much they can understand, and frequently I am absolutely amazed at what they do understand. There is absolutely no doubt that dogs can feel joy, sadness, fear, apprehension, affection and contentment, but to what degree? I know that when I have been away (be it for a weekend or a month) my dogs are joyful and happy; they vocalise their happiness, wag their tails, run around the room, and go into my suitcase looking for those treats they have learned to expect.

Their behaviour when I bring out my suitcase to pack is one of dejected sadness because they are smart enough to have learned that the suitcase is the precursor to mommy going away.

Many other little moments during the course of the day prove to

PET OF THE WEEK years old and was found on the Awesome Ana street before being brought

By The Bahamas Humane Society

“G

ood morning, Nassau! My name’s Ana, though I’m known officially at the Bahamas Humane Society as ‘Found Stokescabana’. I’m about three

to the BHS. Though I arrived with another dog, I’d really prefer to be an only child in my new home as I am picky about who I like. Unless you’re human! I do like humans and I’m very sweet and friendly with them. I’ll probably be best as a yard dog but I won’t complain if you invite me into

The capacity of love between an elephant mother and her calves has been well documented in nature. me that my dogs actually think and process things mentally. I read somewhere that a dog can comprehend as much as a four-year-old child. Not all dogs are created equal; I think that some dogs do comprehend way more than we ever give them credit for.

I have seen dogs at the shelter run up to the fence when potential adopters come to visit…tails wagging, barking, even smiling, then slump down dejected when the prospective home walks by. But what has that dog understood? Is it looking dejected because it did not get a pat or a treat?

Or has it understood that yet another day will go by without a home? Lets take it one step further, do they know what “home” is? Our homebody dogs definitely know what home is, but have you ever noticed that every potcake knows immediately and exactly what a sofa is for, and after jumping up and making itself comfortable, knows that a pillow it for his head!

Does the captured baby elephant miss its mother? Yes, emphatically, yes! Does that baby know sadness and fear? Absolutely! We have seen

your home. Do you have a place for me with you? If so, come in to the BHS to meet me or call 323-5138 for more information. Adoption hours are 11am to 4pm, Monday to Friday. and 10am to 4pm on Saturday.

Don’t forget to ask for ‘Found Stokescabana’ because they won’t know it’s me if you just ask for Ana (but that’s my name, really...). See you soon!”

it all too often: animal families torn apart by ruthless hunters, plundered, captured and killed. We have seen the videotapes to prove that mental anguish exists in the animal world too.

Frankly, what seams to divide us more than anything else is their lack of speech as we humans recognise it. However, they do speak to each other and communicate. Are humans the dummies here as we simply have not learned to speak dog or cat or horse?

Is this a case of “what did that bunny just say to you?” It will take many years for us to learn what animals are saying and thinking.

Meanwhile it is a very productive exercise to try to put yourself in their shoes for a spell. When you and your dog or cat are together, look at them and think, “what is it like for him right now”, as he looks at you, what is he thinking?

This is the first step towards empathy and compassion, two emotions we can never have too much of.

PHOTO/PATRICIA VAZQUEZ

M

Animal matters | KIM ARANHA

28 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, August 17, 2018