08252017 weekend

Friday, August 25, 2017

art gardening film fashion music food puzzles history animals

Weekend

EAT FRESH Pages 8 & 9

Battle of the beauties Clash in contest conclusion Competition, pages 14 & 15

02 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, August 25, 2017

life through a lens (PHOTOS/SHAW

N HANNA)

Party with a paintbrush

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Writer acadet@tribunemedia.net

G

uests were invited to paint, drink and party all night long as ParticiPAINT celebrated its third successful edition.

Hosted by the creative group 3rilogy – which consists of Bahamian artists Stefan L Davis, Jamaal Rolle and Allan P Wallace – the event was held at The Art Room on East Bay Street last Saturday.

The art party was powered by ALIV and Absolut Vodka, and featured live art and entertainment, including by prominent photographer Scharad Lightbourne, also known as DJ SL, who kept the mood “grown and sexy” while spinning tracks.

One patron told Tribune Weekend: “I love art, and every chance I get I attend exhibitions. I was invited by a friend to attend ParticiPAINT and of course I agreed. It’s different and the environment was nice and chill. I will definitely attend again if it’s held again.”

Another guest spoke about the consistency of all the artists, congratulating 3rilogy on a job well done.

“I must say, I have been seeing these guys at a lot of events and I am not tired yet.

I attended an all-white party this Summer where the artists created a live painting for the crowd while Rihanna’s ‘Wild Thoughts’ played in the background. It was really cool and I am hoping all of the artists keep up the good work; don’t stop. This wasn’t my first ParticiPAINT event and it won’t be my last,” the guest said.

Have you taken a selection of photographs that might make a Life through a lens feature page? If so please submit it to weekend@ tribunemedia.net for consideration

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Friday, August 25, 2017

Inside Weekend Interview 4 - 5 Cara Hunt talks history with Reece Chipman, the new chairman of the Antiquities Monuments & Museums Corporation

Art 7 Leanne ‘Victoria’ Key is bringing back the age-old art of hand lettering

Food 8 - 9 Chef Emmanuel Gibson says, ‘Lettuce Eat Fresh’ with new salad bar

Fashion 11 - 13 London-based Bahamian designer promotes ethical fashion, plus Amari Mitchell Bespoke makes suits for the confident gentleman

Film 17 Netflix’s ‘Death Note’ reviewed

Education 18 The importance of the Bahamas’ journey to Expo 2020

Gardening 19 Jack Hardy answers readers’ questions

Weddings 20 The Wedding Salon is a one-stop shop for all your décor needs

Music 21 Alpheus Finlayson brings together the country’s most respected guitarists, as well as world-renowned bassist Doug Wimbish his ‘Guitar Fantasy’ fundraiser

Literary Lives 22 - 25 Sir Christopher Ondaatje revisits the riddle of the source of the Nile

Forgotten Facts 25 Paul Aranha remembers a Westward Villas avenue called ‘Rugby’

Animals 27 Kim Aranha examines marine fishing laws, plus Pet of the Week

Cover | Oneofakind Photography

My perfect Bahamian weekend Cherry Charlton Legal secretary Q: Beach or sofa?

“The sofa. It is just more relaxing and a more intimate atmosphere.”

Q: Saturday breakfast or Sunday lunch?

“I would have to say Saturday lunch. Sunday is the day for my family, but Saturday is a day you can relax, throw on something casual and go have a nice lunch with a glass of wine with your friends.”

Q: Rum, wine, cocktail or Kalik?

“Can I say all? Well,

except the Kalik. Beer for some reason gives me a headache.”

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

“The good Lord above. He is my strength who takes me through daily life.”

Q: Weekend away, where would you go and why?

“NYC, it’s the city that never sleeps. After a casual day in the Bahamas, I’d love to be able to walk the streets of Manhattan.”

Things 2 Do this weekend Friday • Lobster Fest at Luciano’s Time: 6pm (continues until Sunday) Venue: Luciano’s of Chicago Enjoy three courses of succulent lobster flavours, each optionally paired with a white wine. It’s $55 per person for dinner, plus $20 per person for the wine pairing. Call 323-7770 to make a reservation.

• Drive-in Movie Time: 7.30pm - 11pm Venue: Tailgater’s Sports Bar & Grill Attend a showing of “Wonder Woman” starring Gal Gadot and Chris Pine on one jumbo screen and your choice of listening through the outside audio or live radio stream through your car. Tickets are $10 per person and come with a bag of popcorn.

• One Blood - Summer Old School Party Time: 9pm Venue: Smugglers at Pirates Museum Enjoy music by Selecta Ty and Selecta 3D. The dress code is ‘irie casual’ and admission is $15.

• ThrowBack 90’s Party Time: 9pm - 2am Venue: Sharkeez Bar and Grill Enjoy all your favourite hits from

TLC, Mary J Blige, Tupac and Naughty By Nature, as well as old school reggae from Beenie Man, Supercat and Patra.

Saturday

• Fit For a Cause: Book Drive & Fitness Charity Event Time: 7am - 1pm Venue: Energy Fitness Bahamas, The Squash Club, Village Road The back-to-school fundraiser will include classes in spin, yoga and Pilates. They are $15 for adults and $5 for kids. All of the proceeds will be donated to a local charity to assist with purchasing school items for children.

• End of Summer Bash Time: Mall at Marathon Venue: 10am - 2pm The mall celebrates back-to-school with activities like karaoke, face painting, a bouncing castle, and giveaways (while supplies last).

• Solomon’s 4th Annual Back To School Trade Show Time: 12noon Venue: Solomon’s Super Centre Spin and win a free month of membership for your kids at some of the leading dance, athletics and education clubs. There will also be health and nutrition specialists on

hand, hair braiders and barbers.

• Guitar Fantasy Time: 8pm Venue: Pirates of Nassau SEE PAGE 21

• Marijuana Bahamas’ Meet and Greet Time: 9pm Venue: Golden House, Caves Village Sign the petition, get educated about the movement, and have fun with like-minded people. There will be performances by guest artist.

• Mayweather vs McGregor Time: 8pm - 2am Venue: Pirate Republic The galley will be pumping out the delicious eats and beers as the UFC fight is shown on big screens.

There is a $5 entrance fee and includes one drink ticket.

Sunday

• The King & Queen’s Sceptre Pageant Time: 7pm Venue: Workers House, Tonique Williams Darling Highway It’s a biggest and baddest female impersonation and male pageant in the Bahamas. Tickets are $40 and theme is ‘Haunted Love’.

04 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, August 25, 2017

interview Looking beyond the ever-popular Junkanoo, Reece Chipman wants to use his position as the new chairman of the AMMC to promote other important aspects of Bahamian culture. He tells Cara Hunt that the country has much to offer when it comes to historically significant sites.

Reece Chipman

A

s the newly appointed chairman of the Bahamas Antiquities, Monuments & Museum Corporation (AMMC) Reece Chipman has a new focus these days – how to ensure that Bahamians become appreciative of their history and cultural heritage.

The Member of Parliament for Centreville recently sat down with Tribune Weekend to discuss the AMMC’s mission, which is to protect, preserve and promote the historical cultural resources of the Bahamas in a financially sustainable and responsible manner through strategic partnerships.

“Our main priority is to ensure that our culture heritage is sold in a way that we can appreciate it first on a national level and then on an international level. Because if we appreciate who are and we can showcase that to our visitors, it is one way to guarantee that they will come back,” he said.

However, he noted that it is equally important that Bahamians visit and appreciate the cultural sites under the AMMC’s umbrella.

Mr Chipman added that that the corporation wants to increase experiences where the public can be exposed to the country’s historical sites. He noted that ever since his appointment, he has also taken the opportunity to revisit many of the sites and has enjoyed seeing them with fresh eyes.

“Even though I have seen many of them, there have been improvements and I would like to see them through my children’s eyes and through so many different types of perspectives such as cultural, educational,

entertainment, and so this has been a wonderful experience for me,” he said.

“We really do have a lot of sites that people can go to see, from the historic villages such as Adelaide and Gambier, to the country’s blue holes, the museums and the lighthouses, and we really want Bahamians, from children to adults, to understand and embrace these areas,” he said.

To further inspire Bahamians to embrace their past, the AMMC has created the Living History programme which is designed to add an entertainment component to the historical sites. This includes such events as the cannon firings at the forts. Also this month, there will be a new exhibit at the Pompey Museum called ‘From Slavery to Independence – Struggle for Freedom in the Bahamas’. It is hoped that experiences such as these will help make history come alive for visitors.

“It’s something that we want to do, which is take people back in time to moments like those Sunday dinners where grandma used to cook for the entire family. You can visit (sites like) the lighthouse, but at the same time we want people to be able to see them with a greater appreciation for what their purpose was,” he said.

“We also want to create opportunities for Bahamian artisans to showcase their products at these venues for both locals and tourists alike.”

Junkanoo, of course, will always have its place in Bahamian culture, he said, but noted that it is equally important to explore other cultural expressions.

“Yes, Junkanoo has its place, but

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Friday, August 25, 2017

PHOTOS SHAWN HANNA

Today at 11.30am at Fort Charlotte, the AMMC will be staging a historical cannon firing.

The next one is scheduled for August 30.

it is also time to find value in our other resources. We have to find the other aspects of who we are and also promote them.”

Additionally, he said that the AMMC will be working with the Ministry of Education and the University of the Bahamas to create avenues for career paths that may have previously been considered not viable for the Bahamas.

“These careers would be considered things like archaeology, anthropology, genealogy, social studies. We know that

a lot of students may not feel these are viable career options for the Bahamas, but we want them to know that there are opportunities in these careers, and not just to have a job, but to have a sustainable career where they can make the salary which they need to have a comfortable life,” he said.

He noted that careers in areas such as architecture and town planning are vital to ensuring that the essence of Bahamian heritage is not lost even as the country continues to grow and expand.

“They are so important to our cul-

“Yes, Junkanoo has its place, but it is also time to find value in our other resources.

We have to find the other aspects of who we are and also promote them.”

ture, because the style of buildings in a country adds to who the people are, and as we do town planning, it is important restoration is made to all of our historic sites so that they can be preserved because they really do add to the visual impact of the country. For example, when you walk in to a traditional styled Bahamian home it gives you that warm feeling of knowing how many of our parents lived in the days when the front room was turned into a bedroom and the days where people sat around the pump, and it is that feeling and history

which needs to be preserved.”

Mr Chipman noted that the AMMC also wants to develop cultural appreciation in students as early as possible.

“One of the things we are looking forward to doing is implementing clubs in all of the schools – primary junior and high school – in the new school year. This will give them a chance to engage in historical preservation, the need for town planning and architecture, and really foster their interest in these areas of culture,” he said.

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Friday, August 25, 2017

section

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Friday, August 25, 2017

art

Letters from the heart

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson@tribunemedia.net

L

eanne ‘Victoria’ Key is bringing back the age-old art of hand lettering with inspiration from 21st century

platforms.

While the emerging artist said she has no idea where it will take her, she is happy to have discovered this passion project which also represents a fairly unexplored market niche in the Bahamas.

“It’s an undertaking you pursue that you’re interested in, that you’re passionate about. You enjoy doing it but you’re not exactly 100 per cent sure you’d like to take it on full time,” she told Tribune Weekend.

“You may not be good at it, but your goal is to become proficient and to see where this passion takes you.”

However, Leanne said she is becoming gradually better at this new-found art where simple letters of the alphabet are turned into intriguing pieces of art.

“I’ve always been interested in art, for as long as I can remember. I’d watch my grandmother sew for hours and I was always the kid with the tricked-out project assignments. However, in junior high art was my first choice for my elective but I was forced into technical drawing which was my first introduction to lettering,” she said.

While in senior high school, Leanne was advised by her guidance counsellors to pursue more academic programmes despite her artistic talents.

“The male classmates had me design backpacks, book covers, and sometimes temporary tattoos that included hand-drawn logos from famous brands. I didn’t realise that there was actually a niche market for that kind of art in the Bahamas until very recently,” she said.

With no formal training,

Leanne has been on a quest to learn everything she can about hand lettering, sometimes spending hours watching tutorials on learning platforms like YouTube and other social media sites.

“Hand lettering is the only art form I practice consistently. However, I’m big on crafting and will learn proficiency in almost any art form to get a project done. I’ve sewn projects, re-purposed furniture and even remodelled my bedroom floor using a technique called découpage (decorating an object by gluing coloured paper cutouts onto it in combination with special paint effects and decorative elements),” she said.

“Hand lettering allows me to use my natural handwriting to create works of art with words. I’m a doodler and can do so for hours if left undisturbed. I also love that anywhere there is text is used, hand lettering can be utilised. I am not limited to one medium either; I can use paint, chalk, pencil, pens, markers, charcoal. Any medium that can be manipulated and controlled can be used in hand lettering.”

Friends have always nudged Leanne to begin lettering because they were aware of her gift for it.

And since pursuing this new passion of hers, she has done hand lettering for proposals, weddings and coffee houses.

Most recently, she said a bride contacted her to do all of the signage for her wedding on mirrors using liquid chalk – a task she is “super excited about”.

“The internet is an incredible resource for inspiration, but working on projects for my friends over the years has really been the greatest inspiration,” she said.

Leanne said still will continue to improve in this chosen medium and encourages other aspiring artists to find and pursue their passions.

“Everyone has that idea in their heads that they toy with when they’re bored at work; do that.

Like me, you’d be surprised to see where it goes,” she said.

08 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, August 25, 2017

food

‘Lettuce eat fresh’ New salad bar “With our open kitchen opens in eastern concept...people may come here Nassau and order one thing, but then

By CARA HUNT cbrennen@tribunemedia.net

E

mmanuel Gibson has been a chef for the past three decades and is now using his wealth of experience to provide Bahamians with a tasty and healthy new dining experience.

His new restaurant, Manuelo’s Lettuce Eat Fresh, opened about a month ago with the aim to provide patrons in the eastern area of the island with a dine-in or take-out salad bar and sandwich shop with fresh and tasty options.

The restaurant, located on Solider Road near the Bernard Road junction, features an open kitchen concept, where patrons can either select from a set menu or use the expansive salad bar to make their own creations.

“I have been a chef since 1986.

I just had that passion in me. It actually started when I was working as a dishwasher and I realised

they can actually see another dish being prepared that tempts them, and then it will inspire them to come back and try something that they have seen.” that I wanted to enter the culinary field,” Chef Gibson told Tribune Weekend. “And that’s when I began my career and I continued to grow and developed my skills.”

Over the years, he has amassed quite an impressive resume.

“I started working at the Crystal Palace for a while and then I left there and joined the Defence Force for about 11 years. While I was with the Defence Force I also spent a year stationed at Government House where I was the cook for then Governor General, Sir Orville Turnquest.”

After his stint at Government

House, Chef Gibson went to New York where he enrolled in culinary school.

After he got his degree, he returned home to Nassau where he spent five years teaching culinary arts at the then College of the Bahamas.

Following the five years at COB, Chef Gibson switched things up a bit and became the chef in a private home in Lyford Cay, before landing a job at the exclusive One&Only Ocean Club. He started as a sous chef and worked his way up to become the first Bahamian executive chef

Friday, August 25, 2017

PHOTOS SHAWN HANNA

The Tribune | Weekend | 09 at the resort. Seven years later, he left One&Only to once again work as a private chef, dividing his time between a home on Paradise Island and one in the Hamptons, New York.

“After all those experiences I really thought it was time to realise my dream of opening my own place, and this is the result of that,” he said showing Tribune Weekend around Manuelo’s.

“The name was a play on my own name and then I wanted to convey the healthy aspect of the restaurant in the name as well,” he explained.

“I have to say that after all of my years as a chef, opening the restaurant came easy to me, once I got the necessary capital. I had a wealth of experience and knowledge that really helped me in creating the menu’s concept, and so it was really not as challenging as I thought that it would be. We wanted to provide a variety of tasty options and inject as much freshness as we could into all of our ingredients.”

Chef Gibson said the restaurant is best described as a salad chain, something which he says is not that common in the Bahamas.

“I have seen snippets of salad bar concepts like some of the sandwich restaurants, but my restaurant is a sandwich bar with a twist. We also have a very broad menu with a lot of options which may be something that would not work at every restaurant, but I think that with our open kitchen concept it really does work, because people may come here and order one thing, but then they can actually see another dish being prepared that tempts them, and then it will inspire them to come back and try something that they have seen.

It’s important to keep your customers excited,” he said.

Since the opening, Chef Gibson said he has relied primarily on word of mouth and repeat customers, but said that business has been growing steadily.

“There are some things that we want to change or tweak, but I have been happy with the way that the business is growing.”

Chef Gibson pointed out that even though the restaurant is considered a salad bar, it is not a fast food eatery.

“Speed is something that we have to work on, but the menu dishes that we offer also are things that require time to prepare, such as our flat bread pizza or salmon; they take a minimum of 25 minutes. We cook everything to order and that adds to the freshness of the dishes,” he said.

The restaurant’s menu includes breakfast items such as waffles, omelettes and crepes, and lunch options such as custom salads, pasta, burgers and wraps, chicken and seafood dishes, as well as soups.

10 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, August 25, 2017

Helping the Community section

ON CALL FOR EMERGENCY TOP-UPS

S

OCIAL media is all abuzz with the unveiling of a new app introduced by the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC).

The BTC Lend app, now available to pre-paid mobile customers, is designed to assist persons who are in need of a top-up but are short on cash or simply can’t make it to a top-up vendor. These persons now no longer have a problem.

“In love with this BTC Lend app,” said one Facebook user. “When I’m lazy to get up and top-up minutes I can borrow and pay back before time.” While another noted: “Man wait, so BTC giving out loans now.

This is the best.”

Any pre-paid mobile customer can request a loan. Once their phone is topped up on a regular basis, they will be invited to download the app and become eligible for a loan. Using the BTC Lend app, customers can request credit advances or recharge loans if their accounts are nearing a low balance and they can’t afford to pay for a top-up or are not near a top-up vendor.

Once the loan is approved, the amount is added to the customers’ account and they can call, text and even access data. Customers will be encouraged to pay back the loan within a week’s time, but no more

“BTC always gets excited when we are able to deliver a product which meets the needs of our customers...Our customers tell us the problem and we find the solution.”

Helping the Community

than 30 days after.

Vice President for Mobile Alphanique Duncombe said if persons consistently pay back the loan through normal phone cards or top-ups, they will have the chance to ‘level up’ their lend status and increase how much they can borrow the next time around. She likened the venture to a video game, the better you play, the quicker you move up through the levels.

“BTC always gets excited when we are able to deliver a product which meets the needs of our customers. We are constantly talking to our customers. The ideas come from them. Our customers tell us the problem and we find the solution. In this case, our customers said they had no way of topping up late at night or when out of cash. The mobile product team began to search for a viable solution to solve this problem and came up with BTC Lend,” said Ms Duncombe.

She believes BTC Lend is an innovative way for the company to support customers and ensure they will never have to worry about running out of credit in any situation. Whether they have big news to share or an emergency, they will never have to miss that important call or text.

“It’s a unique advantage for BTC customers, and it’s all part of our goal to totally revolutionise the customer experience and keep them connected, especially when it matters most,” said Ms Duncombe.

And BTC Lend is here to stay, she said.

It is a permanent feature for pre-paid customers with further enhancements on the way. This product will also soon be available to customers via dialling *200#.

This is expected to expand the reach of the product and make it more accessible to consumers.

The perks are not only for pre-paid customers, as the lending component will also be made available to postpaid customers. The BTC team is also currently working on additional enhancements to the existing post-paid product. Post-paid customers can look forward to experiencing some of these enhancements in September.

– Alesha Cadet

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Friday, August 25, 2017

fashion

Bahamian designer embraces ‘ethical fashion’

W

illique, the Bahamian-owned, London-based bespoke handbag brand, is fast establishing an international reputation for craftsmanship and design, whilst championing the idea that luxury can be part of the slow fashion movement.

So what exactly is slow fashion? The movement is gaining momentum within the industry. Representing ethicality, sustainability and “green” ideals within fashion, the core values include diversity, ethical practises, resourcefulness, quality and slowing down consumption.

Recognising that it can be difficult to find luxury leather goods that are both bespoke and cruelty free, Bahamian designer Anya Willique has forged links with an innovative alternative leather company.

Anya was born and raised in Bahamas and later migrated to the Turks and Caicos Islands. She ascribes her love for the ethics of the slow fashion model to her childhood experiences and extensive travelling, including spending years pursuing an education in the US and UK. Having arrived to London from America to continue her degree in business, Anya found beauty and inspiration in London’s vibrant culture and the city’s juxtaposition of old and modern architecture.

“In the Caribbean you are surrounded by the vibrancy of nature, respect of resources and extremely talented artists Designer practising skills such as weavAnya Willique ing, embroidery and art – and

Handbag designs

by Willique PHOTOS/WILLIQUE

never receiving recognition.

When I moved to London, I was excited to see a wealth of emerging designers and brands really embracing and successfully pioneering an ideal that is very much close to my heart,” she said.

With international press exposure in publications such as UK Pride, E-Luxe, Caribbean Posh and She Caribbean, within the first year of inception the Willique brand has already gained the attention and support of the Royal Prince’s Trust and had the opportunity of gifting merchandise to the MOBO (Music of Black Origin) Awards guests.

So what does the rest of 2017 hold for Willique?

Anya will be joining other emerging fashion designers who champion ethical and sustainable practises for the inaugural Eco Fashion Week Australia (EFWA), which will take place in Perth, Australia, in November. The brand will also be one of the

leading sponsors for the Bahamas International Film Festival this December.

“I just never understood the concept of fast fashion. The idea of mass produced items and the accompanying controversy and (often compromise on quality) I cannot be a part of.

With Willique, I have built personal relationships with my manufactures, sourcing and team over time. I love both luxury and ethicality, so it’s therefore very obvious in which direction to head to. The Caribbean is never directly looked at being a pioneer for sustainable fashion, and Willique plans to change that,” said Anya.

With more brands and designers such as Stella McCartney and ASOS embracing the idea of slow, eco fashion and bringing it mainstream it has never been so on trend to be green.

To discover more about Anya and her luxury leather goods range, visit www. willique.co.uk

12 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, August 25, 2017

fashion

Suits for the confident man Bahamian brand goes the bespoke route

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson@tribunemedia.net

H

aving grown up with a mother who was a teacher by day, but who tailored clothing in her free time, an aunt who designed clothing for some of Florida’s elite, and a father whose uniform always reflected his value system, Bahamian designer Mitchell Rolle has been surrounded by fabric and the influence of what it represents almost all his life.

“I truly believe that a gentleman should know who he is and dress accordingly. Amari Mitchell is for the gentleman who is confident, understands his value and environmental influence.”

So when he found himself with an urge to create his own fashion line, the medical practitioner was not in the least bit surprised. His clothing line Amari Mitchell Bespoke, named after his son, officially launched back in April.

Amari Mitchell Bespoke, Mr Rolle explained, provides sophisticated and elegant custom suits, distinct dress

shirts, coats and accessories that are vintage inspired with international influence. All garments are carefully designed by Mr Rolle and then handcrafted by some of Europe’s finest artisans.

“The influence of my brand has been inspired by my wonderful family and the art of suggestion by close friends, and most often strangers.

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Friday, August 25, 2017

While having a great understanding and knowledge of the importance of sartorial representation, that ability developed my skill set. I truly believe that a gentleman should know who he is and dress accordingly. Amari Mitchell is for the gentleman who is confident, understands his value and environmental influence,” the designer told Tribune Weekend.

Mr Rolle said his brand has been gradually growing and garnering attention locally amongst lawyers, doctors and soon-to-be grooms.

The uniqueness and elegant style of the brand is what Mr Rolle believes has stimulated an interest in his Florida clientele. It was in Florida where he officially launched the line, and also where he developed the idea to assist those who are not as fashion savvy when it comes to their personal style.

“My plans are to continue to design and tailor high-quality garments that stimulate lasting impressions, using the finest Italian fabrics around Europe. I would truly love to indulge in women’s tailoring. As God has created such a well-balanced being, I would love to add value to such a beautiful creature as proportions dictate the balance of any garment. My long-term goal at the moment is to open a boutique where my clients can come in, have a glass of wine or scotch to their liking, while discussing design and fabrics. Presently, we travel to offices, homes and hotels,” he said.

With roots in Cat Island and Exuma, Mr Rolle said he was raised like a true island boy.

His parents and guardians instilled in him principles of respect and self-value that have stuck with him up to this day.

He cherishes his upbringing and it is one of the reasons why he is offering one of his valuable bespoke suits to a deserving student in Florida.

“The expansion of my brand has been initialised, as Amari Mitchell Bespoke is presently (represented) in a prestigious Catholic school in Ocala, Florida. I was blessed with the honour of sitting with the board of directors and the Diocese to establish the Amari Mitchell Bespoke Award for the young gentleman in this senior year who has exhibited his ability not only to achieve academic excellence, but balance his ability to be community or school involved,” he told Tribune Weekend.

“I (operate) under the belief system that a good moral character will get you in doors that academics cannot. The award itself is a custom-designed bespoke suit valued over $1,700 which that young gentleman can wear to prom.

I would love to eventually expand this award back home, in the Bahamas, where young men would be required to achieve academic success while developing the moral fibre that is truly needed in our school system today.”

For more information, follow Amari Mitchell Bespoke on Instagram @amarimitchellbespokewear and for inquiries e-mail sales@ amarimitchellbespokewear.com.

Weddings by MAHAL IMAGERY

Designs by Amari Mitchell

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Friday, August 25, 2017

celebrity With Karin Herig and Cara Hunt

SPLIT

SPLIT

SPLIT

SPLIT

Darby Stanchfield ”Scandal”

Dania Ramirez ”Once Upon a Time”

Yvette Nicole Brown ”The Mayor”

Bellamy Young ”Scandal”

Karin says: “I actually like this. I’m not crazy about the grey..are those culottes?...they might have worked better in another colour. But overall it’s something new and fresh, nothing we have seen before quite like this. It just works for me.”

Cara says: “This is just a mismatched mess. The sleazy top doesn’t go with the office attire skirt, which doesn’t go with the handbag or the shoes. I really don’t like this look.”

Karin says: “I think if this had been a romper I would have liked it better.

As it is, it looks like a cheap little dress with huge puff sleeves. I don’t like the shiny material and I really don’t like the bubblegum pink accessories.”

Cara says: “This is different and it’s cute. The print is nice and the neckline is something unique. The metallic belt and the hot pink shoes and bag are cute extras. I personally would have gone with gold, but to each her own.”

Karin says: “I normally don’t like allover leopard print, and while this is nothing special, she actually looks very nice and manages to pull it off. However, she goes and ruins it with those brown boots (just why?) which make her legs look stumpy.”

Cara says: “I am all for leopard prints.

And this is fine, if not a bit boring.

Looks like a nightie I have, but anyway... I don’t like the boots with the dress, but they are cute and so are the hoops. The whole look is just ‘let me throw this on and go’. Love her hair though.”

Karin says: “It’s sweet; a little too sweet perhaps. The mint green is very pretty and the eyelet fabric looks all summery and breezy. But it’s maybe a tad too long and her whole styling, including the limp hair, just doesn’t quite work with the whimsical nature of the dress. It’s an almost hit, but not quite there.”

Cara says: “I want to like this dress, I do, because it’s a lovely colour, the fabric is pretty, but the style of the dress just does not work for me. The hemline hits at that awkward length, and I don’t know how I fell about the ribbon at the neck. But it is a sort of sweet dress.”

PHOTOS/RICHARD SHOTWELL/INVISION/AP

The Weekend Fashion Report Summer TCA Disney/ABC Red Carp

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Friday, August 25, 2017

film

review

Netflix’s ‘Death Note’ gets lost in translation DEATH NOTE 106 MINUTES

Lakeith Stanfield, left, and Nat Wolff in a scene from “Death Note.”

JAMES DITTIGER/NETFLIX VIA AP

W

hen “Death Note” begins, we learn that Seattle teenager Light Turner has a crush on a cheerleader at his high school. So when these two wouldbe lovebirds finally talk for the first time and really open up to each other, Turner has to be honest: “It’s going to sound a little crazy,” he tells her, “but I have a death god.”

Well, not to be too judgy, but, yeah, that actually does sound a little crazy.

Even so, our hero manages to get his companion intrigued and not make a swift exit to calculus. If you don’t have your own death god, you might also want to check out “Death Note” — until you tap out about three-quarters in and run off to calculus.

The film , a live-action adaptation of the popular Japanese manga-turned-anime, is about a supernatural notebook that gives the owner the power to kill anyone they like. All they have to do is write the name of someone while picturing his or her face. (There are dozens more rules, of course, but who bothers to really read instruction booklets anyway?)

The book, which appears literally out of the sky, comes with its own demon and that turns out to be a 9-foottall dude with glowing red eyes, spiky hair and a penchant for eating apples.

He has the chilling, unhinged voice of Willem Dafoe, which makes him extra creepy. (Forget apples, Dafoe’s gnawing on the scenery).

The original manga — conceived and written by Tsugumi Ohba and il-

Lakeith Stanfield as “L”

Nat Wolff as Light Turner lustrated by Takeshi Obata — has already been turned into a 12-volume book series, a TV series and even a stage musical, among other properties.

This time, it’s directed by Adam Wingard and the story has been moved to Seattle. The hero (Light Yagami) is now a super-bright, loner (Light Turn-

er), played by Nat Wolff, trying to keep some sort of acting realism in a film that gets gradually unmoored from reality (as films with apple-eating demons tend to do.)

Turner teams up with the cheerleader (Margaret Qualley, who is pretty terrific as she unwinds her inner crazy) to mete out final punishments, first to high school bullies, then going wider to terrorists, drug dealers, serial molesters and gang members. “We can change the world,” they claim, giddy after 400 deaths.

Not everyone is happy with the sudden slayings of the world’s worst people, especially Turner’s cop dad and a mysterious and quirky freelance detective (Lakeith Stanfield, whose unsubtle performance has unfortunately been inspired a little too much by comics).

They go hunting for whoever is putting them out of business.

The reason “Death Note” is so popular is that it raises tough philosophical questions — Who deserves death?

How do you determine guilt? What crime calls out for instant karma? Put aside the demon, and those questions are timely in an era of drone strikes and debates over collateral damage.

But this thriller-inclined version of “Death Note” doesn’t dwell enough on such questions and instead becomes increasingly strained by its own insanity and clogged by clunky dialogue. Taking its time to establish characters, it then rushes headlong into a montage of bodies piling up, a cat-and-mouse chase, stunts worthy of 007 and ends as a twisted love affair with shades of “Macbeth.” It’s tried to cram in too much and be too many things.

Aside from great visual effects, basic stuff gets weird, like a swarm of FBI agents who are tracking a crucial suspect not bothering to listen in or trace his cellphone. These same top-notch feds also get confused by who exactly is wearing a top hat. The film’s use of cheesy songs by Air Supply and Berlin doesn’t help, either.

Netflix has faced criticism for the Westernisation — or “whitewashing” — of the original material, only a few months after Paramount Pictures suffered a flop with its “Ghost in the Shell” with Scarlett Johansson, who stepped into another cherished Japanese title. But the biggest problem with “Death Note” is maybe that the filmmakers this time simply didn’t get enough notes — or too many.

MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer

18 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, August 25, 2017

education

The road to Expo 2020

BY DR IAN BETHELL-BENNETT bethellbennet@gmail.com

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s a country, to progress we must put the throttle in gear. If there is no forward movement then we become stagnant and lose our relevance. As an economy, we must be ready to fly into the future with creative design and technology, and a soundly constructed space where creativity and development can happen.

Government looks to the University of the Bahamas (UB) for guidance and direction, with opportunity creation and thinking to meet the needs of tomorrow’s communities on our islands.

For example, we must think differently about the way we rebuild our islands after hurricanes, because we know that if we design and build as we did before, the homes and settlements will continue to be destroyed by each passing hurricane.

This is called design thinking with cultural understanding and specificity.

The Danish have had to design seawalls and other mechanisms to keep water out of their towns and cities; they live below sea level. The Bahamas is quickly becoming below sea level, but has refused, thus far, to change its conceptual design and the way it envisages the ocean that surrounds it as well as the way it inhabits the low-lying islands we call home. As a driver of this and to address challenges of mobility, opportunity and development, the thinking must be sufficiently forward-thinking that we are not kept in the 20th century as we seem to be currently.

The Dubai Expo 2020 provides this small country along with its neighbours the opportunity to grow and develop with the aid of universities and centres of design and social empowerment.

UB, however, must be funded and sufficiently engaged in research and development to be able to attract students and to allow them the freedom to create and produce. It cannot be a stagnant place where the paradigm of industrialisation still drives the thinking. It must be technology focused but also environmentally aware.

UB and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, along with other members of the community, have been working on projects to participate in the world fair

University of the Bahamas students plan for Expo 2020.

(Photo/Michael Edwards)

HOK’s 438-hectare master plan for Expo 2020, which was inspired

by Dubai’s “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future” theme.

or expo that will be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2020.

The Bahamas is slated to be a country of focus.

The students from UB have been working for more than a year to design a pavilion that takes on all the challenges of the future and to adapt the building and planning aspects to fit the Bahamian reality of tomorrow where a rise in sea levels, increased severe weather and changing food patterns will force the country to change the way it

rests in nature.

The government of Dubai has sat down with the former government of the Bahamas and offered the country a unique opportunity to be a featured country and to have an entire pavilion. The Bahamas is the only country that has used students in art and architecture to design the pavilion. The designs are in their final stages and should be off to Dubai soon.

Since the first meeting with the Cabinet, midnight oil has been

burnt, pencils have been sharpened down and eyes were exhausted after computer designed elevations were done and redone. The students met the challenge admirably and showed how they could integrate traditional styles with new and longer-lasting, more resilient materials that can withstand the hurricanes that threaten our shores.

Dubai has committed to educating our young people. It has committed to providing scholarships and money to support the creative design aspect of the pavilion. The former government seemed poised to take the adventure to the next level because there seemed to be an understanding of the huge exposure this would be for the country as well as for any individual businesses.

Since the Bahamas began this journey, other Caribbean countries have picked up on the benefits a relationship with Dubai can bring and have formed alliances with the government of Dubai.

The Bahamas has fallen behind. St Kitts and Nevis has seen the opportunity and has signed on with Dubai to open consulates and to send students there on scholarships provided by the government of Dubai. St Kitts joined this venture much later than the Bahamas, but jumped at the opportunity to build its national capacity.

Let us work to transform our sluggish economy into a more vibrant, technology-driven, mobile culture where the world can come for design thinking to the Caribbean. The Bahamas can be, though it retards its own growth and development, a star for investment in youth and development that attracts multinational corporations to its shores. Our students are onto a great opportunity which can jettison the country into the 21st century, or they can follow the road most trod and leave as so many young people do because there is no vision for the future. We must build the future we want to see. Dubai is eager to work with the Bahamas.

Expo 2020 and partnering with the government of Dubai is a serious part of the Bahamian future, not only because they seek to partner and develop Bahamian innovation, but also because we build our human capacity.

The Tribune | Weekend | 19

Friday, August 25, 2017

gardening

Dear Jack...

Readers have their questions and comments answered by Jack Hardy.

A reader of Jack Hardy’s grows watermelons in five-gallon self-watering buckets on a trellis.

Q: Hello Mr Hardy,

A: Dear KT,

I just wanted to drop you a line to say how much I enjoy your articles and advice. Though I am not planting myself I have a sister who is very diligent about it and I always pass on your tidbits to her. Keep up the good work.

It is very much appreciated.

– Regards, AN (a farmer in mind only)

A: Dear AN,

Thank you so much for your kind words. I was a teacher for over 40 years and came to realise how important a word or two of encouragement means to youngsters. It works for old men like me too!

Q: Good morning Mr Hardy,

I read your weekly columns in The Tribune and found them very helpful and I am most appreciative. One week you had a column about planting different salad seeds in a box/bucket – is this the time of year to plant them? (April) – SD

A: Dear SD,

October is the time to plant lettuce.

Lettuce likes cool weather and will turn bitter when conditions are too warm.

Keep reading The Tribune and I will remind you when it is time to start your lettuce seeds.

Q: Good day Mr Hardy,

Read your articles in the Weekend Tribune with much interest, as I seem to be growing pineapples lately. Don’t know how this happened but it started out with one plant which has now

multiplied into many. I have several mature looking plants but don’t seem to get the production of fruit from them as I would have thought since they seem to look healthy enough. After reading your article about growing in pots I will try to find some flowers of sulphur to add to the pot. Didn’t find it in one nursery. Can you tell me where to find it locally and if there is another name I might find it under. Saw all kinds of sulphur products but wasn’t sure if they were the same. Also would like to know if I can also add some of it o the soil around those currently planted in the ground. We do have an irrigation system but we use the city water to irrigate our yard so they may not be getting the acid they need. Any other suggestions on getting them to yield more? Any help here would be much appreciated.

– KT

Sulphur is an element and is sold as a yellow powder sometimes called ‘flowers of sulphur’. I am surprised your nursery does not have it. You may try a hardware store. Sulphur is used as a disinfectant for livestock (particularly chicken) so any animal husbandry outlet (government?) should have it.

Sulphur can reduce the alkalinity of soil by a whole point but takes time to break down and produce sulphuric acid. That means it would be a waste of time putting it in the soil with your almost mature pineapples. When you do get some sulphur you can mix it into potting mix ahead of time for when you transfer sets into their growing pots.

You did not mention Miracid.

The excess Miracid from spraying the foliage of your pineapple plants will reach the soil and acidify it little.

When we start with virgin potting mix we should have a pH of 7.0. The use of Miracid and sulphur reduces the alkalinity a little further and into the range pineapples like. Note too that strawberries are acid lovers and are cultivated in almost the same way as pineapples. If your grow pineapples it makes sense to grow everbearing strawberries as well.

A note about size: The most commonly available variety of pineapple in the Bahamas is sugar loaf that has fairly small plants and fruits – but exquisite sweetness. You cannot expect sugar loaf to grow to the size of fruits from Nicaragua and Honduras that you find in the stores.

Q: Jack,

With reference to your summer planting in today’s Tribune. I grew all my tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers this year in self-watering five-gallon recycled oil buckets that I made. This made watering these plants as easy as just keeping the water reservoir at the bottom filled with water. I had no problem with the peppers and tomatoes but have had problems with cucumbers in the ground and in the self-watering pots. Mould was a serious problem and cucumbers never developed properly.

– MR

A: Dear MR,

When cucumbers are planted in the soil they are grown in ‘hills’ or raised areas to promote good drainage. Put cucumbers into self-watering containers and they have too much moisture.

Try your cucumbers in containers that have drainage holes in the bottom of the container.

Q: Jack,

Here are some photos of watermelons I am growing in five-gallon self-watering buckets on a trellis.

A: Dear MR,

I’m impressed! You give me the hope that I will still be able to grow watermelons even when all my gardens have become lawn and all my growing will be in pots. But I am not as handy at construction as you obviously are. Well done!

20 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, August 25, 2017

weddings

A one-stop shop for all décor needs

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Writer acadet@tribunemedia.net

D

Decorations by The Wedding Salon Charlez Greenslade wants to change the wedding planning game in the Bahamas with a one-stop shop for all your décor needs.

esigned for the couple whose desire is to get everything done in one place, the Wedding Salon, located in Golden Gates, focuses on floral and event design. It carries an extensive inventory of décor items, including linens, furniture, vases, pedestals, arbours, arches, and more – all available for rental, or couples can opt for the full service with installation. In addition, the company also provides floral arrangements, bouquets, boutonnières, lighting and drapery.

Charlez said one of the best things about her job is that she gets to build relationships with her clients. Knowing that a client trusts her to be a part of a very important day in their lives may bring a lot of pressure with it, but it is also very rewarding.

“My very first wedding décor job, unpaid of course, was in 2008 for a family member. Along with my mother, we set out to bring the couples’ coral and gold beach themed vision to life. Compared to my current production, this presentation was horrendous, but at that time we were so proud, especially since the bride was equally as pleased with what we had done. As we all know, weddings held in 2008 were much simpler than they are today. However, that wedding got the wheels turning, and by 2010 we had booked our first paid wedding,” said Charlez.

Giving an example of the challenges she faces, Charlez said she was approached by a couple just four days before their wedding date for full service décor, as the bride-to-be’s original plans had fallen through. She was given a photo of the couple’s ideas.

“Immediately, I (jumped) into ac-

tion, securing all of the flowers I would need for the wedding. This meant going to every local floral wholesaler to find what was available in her colour scheme at such short notice. I prepared linens and scheduled staff to work the event. Ultimately, the result was outstanding. My bride commented that she had been so nervous wondering if I’d be able to get it done, but it was better than she could have imagined,” she said.

“Another memorable wedding would be earlier this year in April when I laid my father to rest. I had a wedding the following day. He and I were extremely close and my client knew that. I could tell that she was very worried that I wouldn’t be able to do it during such an emotional time.

But as usual my team and I didn’t disappoint and the couple was overjoyed, and have been referring clients to me ever since.”

With her love for designing, organising and facilitating events continuing to grow over the years, Charlez decided to study marketing tactics as well, featuring her work on social media and at bridal shows.

“I’ve learned the importance of executing work that speaks for itself, ensuring that the décor is one of the most talked about elements of every event that I design. My ultimate desire for every event is to ensure that the entire experience is fun, relaxed and exceeds the client’s expectations. While weddings are our specialty, we provide décor services for any and all occasions, corporate events, birthdays, showers, christenings, proposals, retirements, et cetera, not only in Nassau, but also on Family Islands of the Bahamas, including Eleuthera, Exuma and San Salvador,” said Charlez.

And The Wedding Salon has not only received local attention, but international buzz as well. It was featured in two publications of the Munaluchi bridal magazine.

The Tribune | Weekend | 21

Friday, August 25, 2017

music

Dreaming of a ‘Guitar Fantasy’ Alpheus Finlayson hosts prominent musicians in unique concert

Birthday boy Alpheus Finlayson

D

T

o celebrate his 70th birthday and fulfil a decades-long dream, the Bahamas’ track and field historian Alpheus “Hawk” Finlayson is bringing together the country’s most respected guitarists, as well as his nephew, world-renowned bassist Doug Wimbish, for a one-night only ‘Guitar Fantasy’ fundraiser.

Tomorrow night, master guitarists such as Fred Ferguson, leader of the Tingum Dem band and former member of the celebrated Baha Men, will hit the stage. Also appearing will be Pat Carey and Dave Mackey, who both gained prominence in their careers as members of the funk and disco group T-Connection, which scored hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and other international charts in the late 1970s.

Rocky Saunders and multi-instrumentalist Dr Harold Munnings will also perform for an event which promises to be a night of outstanding musical artistry.

The concert kicks off at 8pm at Pirates of Nassau.

The idea of hosting a concert for the best guitarists came to Mr Finlayson, a local insurance expert, avid sportsman and music enthusiast, nearly 30 years ago.

Mr Finlayson, who is particularly fascinated by the enchanting sounds of the guitar, has over the years travelled the world to attend concerts featuring some of the best guitarists ever recorded.

One of his trips took Mr Finlayson to the infamous B B King Blues Club in New York, where he

Fred Ferguson, leader of the Tingum Dem band was first exposed to the idea of a ‘Guitar Fantasy’ concert. That incident left him determined to do bring a similar event to the Bahamas. That was 15 years ago.

This month, Mr Finlayson celebrates his 70th birthday and feels this is the perfect time to check this item off of his to-do list. For the past seven months, he and his planning team have been preparing for an historical evening of musical mastery, “an experience that will probably never happen again in our lifetime.”

“This birthday is most important for me, because if you lived right, you were promised 70 years.

I celebrated my 30th birthday in Toronto seeing the great Sammy Davis Jr. I got married on my 32nd birthday,” he said.

“I had planned to celebrate my 50th visiting the Ivory Coast, but we had a party at our home, and

Who is Doug Wimbish?

Dr Harold Munnings my 60th in Osaka, Japan, at the IAAF World Championships. I had a renewal of vows there in addition to a lunch that friends from all over the world attended.”

Mr Finlayson said last year his daughter Alexis suggested he should celebrate his 70th birthday with a road race and walkathon, with funds to be donated St George’s Anglican Church. But instead he chose to fulfil a dream he had since 1989.

Tomorrow night’s concert will also feature husband and wife duos Paul and Tanya Hanna and Clinton Crawford and Naomi Taylor-Crawford. Also, sultry songstress Nikki Carter, who is expected to charm the crowd along with Bahamian legend Ronnie Butler.

Tickets are $100 for general seating and $150 for VIP seating, which includes hors d’oeuvres and two complimentary drinks.

oug Wimbish, who will be joining a lineup of the Bahamas’ best guitarists for tomorrow night’s concert, is best known as the bassist for the legendary rap label Sugar Hill Records, backing the Sugar Hill Gang and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, and pioneering the black rock band Living Colour.

Wimbish has lent his innovative and creative bass grooves and sounds to a roster of world-renowned musicians.

Considered a pioneer in hip hop bass playing and in the use of bass effects, alternate tunings and extended hand techniques, Wimbish’s mastery of the bass is unparalleled. For more than 35 years, he has been one of the most sought-after electric bassists, collaborating with many of the world’s most talented musical artists.

Wimbish has recorded, produced, and toured with artists like The Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger, Jeff Beck, Herb Albert, Annie Lennox, Madonna, Carly Simon, Seal, Al Green, George Clinton, Lauryn Hill, Kanye West, Tarja Turunen and Mos Def. Joining the Grammy award-winning rock band Living Colour in 1991, Wimbish recorded and toured the world with the group. In September 2016, Living Colour performed at the historic grand opening celebration of the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington, DC. Living Colour’s highly anticipated sixth studio album, “Shade”, will be released on September 8, 2017.

Wimbish performed in the Bahamas with the Sugar Hill Gang in 1981, and in the mid-80s recorded with the British industrial dub funk group Tackhead at Compass Point in New Providence.

Born in 1956, Wimbish is the third child of Moses and Ida Viola Wimbish (née Adderley), grandson of Diana Finlayson and nephew of Alpheus, Roosevelt and Spence Finlayson of Nassau.

His three siblings are Diana, Victor and Michael Wimbish.

Marissa Knowles, who resides in Nassau with her husband, engineer Lambert Knowles, is the eldest of Wimbish’s four children, who include Evan, Doug Jr and Nova Wimbish.

22 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, August 25, 2017

literary lives – alexander maitland

Searching for the source of life Sir Christopher Ondaatje encounters the English author, artist and lecturer – and revisits the riddle of the source of the Nile and the myth that John Hanning Speke “discovered” Lake Victoria.

PHOTO/PETER DANBY-SMITH

A

lexander Maitland was born in Scotland in 1940 and was brought up in his grandparents’ house on the outskirts of a village close to the River Clyde.

He was a restless and insatiably curious small boy – totally unaffected by the Second World

Alexander Maitland is the official biographer of explorer John Hanning Speke

War – and spent much of his time exploring the fields and woodlands that surrounded the house.

His father took part in the D-Day landings, and served in both France and Germany. Besides roaming far and wide in what was then largely unspoilt country, the young Maitland developed his interests in music, drawing and reading books on natural history, big game hunting and travel. A relative in Perthshire, who lived beside the River Tay, taught

Maitland the rudiments of fly-fishing, and shooting, and persuaded his mother to give him an air rifle for his eighth birthday.

At school, Maitland’s favourite subjects were art, English literature, history and French, after which he went on to study architecture in Glasgow at the Glasgow School of Architecture and Glasgow School of Art. He left Scotland to work in London in 1962 and met explorer Wilfred Thesiger in 1964. Although Mait-

The Tribune | Weekend | 23

Friday, August 25, 2017

land knew next to nothing about Arabia and the Middle East, both he and Thesiger visited Kenya for the first time in 1961 and shared an enthusiasm for big game and books about big game hunting. They soon became friends. In those days, Thesiger was still adding to his already extensive library, and before setting off for Iran, Afghanistan and Kenya he would sometimes ask Maitland to obtain certain books for him. Among these was a rare and inscribed copy of Neumann’s “Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa”, and a seven-volume collection of press cuttings about Ethiopia assembled by the then British Minister Sir Sidney Barton, whom Thesiger had met at Haile Selassie’s coronation. Of course this relationship would eventually blossom into three acclaimed biographies of Thesiger between 2004 and 2010, and it was because of this that Maitland was invited to be on the BBC’s “Excess Baggage” radio programme with me and Sara Wheeler on October 8, 2011. It was the first time we had ever met. I had spoken at the Cheltenham Festival on my recent book, “The Last Colonial”, as had Sara Wheeler on her book “Access All Areas”.

Curiously, I had wanted to meet Alexander Maitland for some years, as his first book in 1971 was “Speke and the Discovery of the Source of the Nile” – a book that I had read and studied before making my own journey to the source of the Nile in 1996 and writing my book. I remember disagreeing with some of his conclusions – not only about discovering Lake Victoria, but also that Lake Victoria was itself the source of the Nile – the world’s longest river. It isn’t. The Nile in fact is sourced by two reservoirs – Lake Victoria and Lake Albert – which are in turn fed by two mighty rivers: the Kagera and the Semliki respectively.

At the time it was well known that Speke’s family did not want a biography to be written about him, and Maitland had found out that two highly respected authors – Elspeth Huxley and Alan Moorehead – had already been turned down by the family. Nevertheless, despite the bleak prospect of starting a book, Maitland persevered and the Speke family finally agreed to help him.

Almost seven years later, Maitland’s biography was published following research into Speke’s personal letters, untapped sources in Scotland,

At 4,187 miles, the Nile is the longest river in the world.

Sir Christopher Ondaatje in 1996, one mile from Isamilo Hill near Lake Victoria

and including the unpublished second edition of Speke’s second book, “What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile”, which includes extra pages describing Sir Richard Francis Burton’s visit to Jerusalem which delayed his return to England from East Africa in 1859.

Maitland and I had much to talk about, but we never finished our conversation – that is until I accidentally met him on the King’s Road in London early one October morning in 2016. We vowed to meet again and did this last summer in London. The full story behind Speke’s “discovery”, his second expedition to the lake regions of Africa with James A Grant in 1860- 1863, has never been told. As Maitland explained to me, he was shown Speke’s manuscript journal of his second expedition which contained sexually explicit, unpublished descriptions of his sojourn at the court of King Mtesa of Buganda. Sadly, incredible as it may seem today, Maitland omitted most of these descriptions from his book in deference to the wishes of elderly members of Speke’s family.

“Perhaps I should have attempted to change their minds. As it was, having been given the opportunity to write Speke’s biography at the age of 23, I had no wish to offend or upset his descendants, who had shown me unfailing kindness, and, despite their previous, deeply-entrenched reservations, had gone out of their way to give me encouragement and support.”

What a pity! It is probable now that the world will never know the real truth behind one of the Victorian era’s most celebrated explorers.

However, Alexander Maitland went on to publish “A Tower in the Wall: Conversations with Freya Stark” (1982); “Robert and Gabriela Cunninghame Graham” (1983); “The Highland Year” (1988); “Wild Thyme and Saladelle” (1993), and eventually “Wilfred Thesiger: A Life in Pictures” (2004); “Wilfred Thesiger: The Life of the Great Explorer” (2006, 2007 and 2011) and “Wilfred Thesiger in Africa” (2010).

“By 1992 Wilfred Thesiger’s sight was failing so much that he could no longer read or write unaided. This made his life at Maralal in Africa Continued on page 24

24 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, August 25, 2017

Continued from page 23 increasingly difficult, as he grew more and more dependent on his Samburu and Turkana families for assistance. As a distraction, I suggested that we might try to produce a book on conversations ... but this did not appeal greatly to him.

I then suggested that he should dictate to me a postscript to his autobiography, “The Life of My Choice”. Thesiger had written all his books by hand and had never dictated anything before. He liked the idea, but had serious misgivings about producing a book, as he put it, ‘out of thin air’. Nevertheless, after much persuasion he agreed to try. The first chapter was dictated in London, and the rest of the book he dictated at Maralal in 1992 and 1993. I read aloud his letters and diaries, which he used to construct the narrative. He found the work fascinating, occasionally frustrating, and he was remarkably patient, except when people of all ages interrupted our work, as they frequently did, to ask for money.”

The success of “My Kenya Days” encouraged Thesiger to attempt several other books, including “The Danakil Diary” (1996) and “Among the Mountains” (1998), both of which were composed or re-written from his diaries and letters.

In 1992, Thesiger asked Alexander Maitland to write his official biography, but insisted that it should only be published after his death. The biography was published in 2006, and followed in 2010 by “Wilfred Thesiger in Africa”, a collection of essays by various contributors, which, together with an exhibition at the Pitt-Rivers Museum in Oxford, marked the centenary of his birth.

Eager for more conversation and more argument, I had another lunch with Alexander Maitland in June this year. I was very anxious to tackle him on his first biography of John Hanning Speke, and particularly the title of his book, “Speke and the Discovery of the Source of the Nile”, published in 1971.

Thus, I asked Maitland the question that had been burning in me for the past six years:

“You are the official biographer of John Hanning Speke and have had access to his letters, journals, and unpublished manuscripts, and written the only recognised biography published in 1971. Do you now think he was right in claiming the discovery of Lake Victoria and that it was the source of the River Nile?”

A map showing Lake Victoria, the Kagera River and the Semliki River, and the watershed of the Nile.

PHOTO/GUY YEOMAN “THE SECRET NILE”

Maitland’s answer to me was diplomatic and delivered with a heavy slice of humility:

“In the 1960s, Speke’s claim to discovering the source of the Nile was still accepted without question. It never occurred to me at that time (nor as far as I know, anyone else) that the hydrography of the White Nile and its sources needed to be reinvestigated and reappraised. On the other hand, Speke was a controversial and enigmatic character

about whom relatively little was known.

The motive for writing a biography was not to challenge Speke’s discovery, but to find out more about Speke himself.

“You travelled in 1996 from Zanzibar to Lake Victoria and Lake Albert.

Your fascinating book, ‘Journey to the Source of the Nile’, contains new and important information. For example, about the Kagera river as a main feeder of Lake Victoria and the Semliki river which drains the Ruwenzori, Ptolemy’s “Mountains of the Moon”. Today,

computer reconstructions and satellite photography enable us to view the Albertine Rift and Lake Albert in great detail from an aerial perspective. Obviously none of this had been available to Speke in 1863; nor was it available to me in 1965 when I began my research and write the first draft of his biography. Only some years later was my attention drawn to an intriguing note, one of 78 handwritten corrections in Speke’s own copy of ‘What Led to the Discovery of the Source of the Nile’ that he had wondered about the significance of the Kagera.”

Maitland’s answer is accurate. The Nile is the longest river in the world at 4,187 miles. It is a river which represents the cradle of a civilization and whose movements still dominate the landscape of Egypt. It was home to many separate kingdoms and cultures before European explorers entered this part of Africa. Only recently have outsiders penetrated these lands which have suffered wars, genocide and political depredation which have resulted in great poverty and starvation.

Before 1858, the great geographical question had always been, “Where did all this water come from?” In the course of the centuries, Roman legionaries, Portuguese Jesuits, adventurous Scots and erudite Frenchmen all tried to solve the riddle. ‘The Father of History’ Herodotus quoted a story that the Nile rose from two great equatorial lakes, which in turn were fed by two snow-capped mountains. Thus, following the discovery of two snow-capped mountains on the Equator (Mount Kilimanjaro in 1848 and Mount Kenya in 1849), the Royal Geographical Society chose Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke, two officers in the Indian Army, to lead a British quest to find the source.

In 1857, the two men set out from Zanzibar. They travelled with an awkward caravan of over 200 porters and an escort of Baluchi soldiers, and their journey was a gruesome story of sickness, desertions, arguments, and impositions by petty chiefs. Nevertheless, after 225 tortuous days, the two men staggered to a hill from which they saw Lake Tanganyika. They were the first Europeans to find the lake, but they had no idea what part, if any, it played in the geography of the Nile. Exploring its northern end in dug-out canoes, they noticed that the head of the lake was walled up by a circle of forested mountains and that the substantial Ruzizi River flowed into and not out of it.

The Tribune | Weekend | 25

Friday, August 25, 2017

Forgotten facts Paul C Aranha Speke incorrectly calculated that the lake surface was only 1,800 feet above sea level – much too low for it to be a possible reservoir for the Nile. Having returned to camp, Burton rested and mistakenly allowed Speke to lead his own small expedition north. On August 3, 1858, Speke reached the summit of Isamilo Hill, near present-day Mwanza, and saw the vast water of the Nyanza, which he christened Lake Victoria in honour of his Queen. He announced jubilantly that he had discovered the lake and the source of the White Nile.

The sardonic Burton denounced Speke’s claim with ridicule.

Despite its eventual acceptance by the Royal Geographical Society and a second commission for Speke (this time with James Augustus Grant) to verify his “discovery”, a dramatic story followed – Speke’s first sighting of Rippon Falls; Baker’s discovery of Lake Albert; Speke’s suspected suicide; Livingstone’s final fruitless journey to Lake Tanganyika; and finally Stanley’s two missions (one to find Livingstone, and the other to confirm Speke’s claim and to reach the mouth of the Congo River).

These are the historical facts and Alexander Maitland’s gripping biography of Speke covers most of this fascinating drama. And when we discussed this story again I wondered what Maitland had to say about Speke’s claims.

“Your ground-breaking research, and Guy Yeoman’s excellent book ‘The Quest for the Secret Nile’, offer compelling proof that the Nile does not originate in Lake Victoria. We now know that the White Nile has two distinct sources which ultimately merge in Lake Albert. The late 19th century German explorers Kandt and Baumann showed that the Nyabarongo and Ruvubu rivers carry rainfall from the Nile-Zaire watershed to their confluence and the mighty Kagera river, which enters Lake Victoria from the west; and from there to Lake Albert, along the Victoria Nile. Likewise, the catchment from the Ruwnzori snows, and the eight volcanoes forming the Virunga Massif, is carried north by the Semliki river to Lake Edward; and from Lake Edward to Lake Albert. Finally, as your research and Guy Yeoman’s has shown, Speke’s intuitive claim that Lake Victoria was the source of the Nile was unwittingly, but effectively contradicted by his perceptive remark that the Virunga volcanoes were ‘the turning point of the Central African watershed’.

“Perhaps with all the knowledge available to me today I should re-write my 1971 biography of Speke. It would be a fascinating experience.”

I urge Alexander Maitland to do this. Not only would he be able to present the complete biography of one of the Victorian era’s greatest explorers, but also to explain to geographers and historians today the true mystery of the source of the River Nile.

NEXT WEEK: French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac • 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 “Journey to the Source of the Nile” and “The Last Colonial”.

Portion of an old map of the Cable Beach area

Rugby – an English public school and an avenue in Westward Villas

A

s far back as I can remember there have been complaints about incorrect names on some of Nassau’s street signs. The writings of Sir Etienne Dupuch, Paul Albury and Seighbert Russell have addressed the subject – and I do so now.

Just as it seems impossible to mention the words ‘Bahamian culture’ without their being followed by the word ‘Junkanoo’, so the name J S Johnson brings to mind the word ‘insurance’. But there was a time when Mr Johnson had a pineapple farm ‘Out West’. This farm became the subdivision we know as Westward Villas.

The roads in Westward Villas were given ‘English’ names. The east-west streets are named after counties in England – Devonshire Street, Yorkshire Street and Hampshire Street. The names of the north-south streets reflect

great names in English education – Oxford Avenue, Cambridge Avenue, Eton Avenue, Harrow Avenue and Rugby Avenue.

One day, an incorrect sign was erected on Rugby Avenue, and for several years people thought the road was named Ruby Avenue. But not too long ago a new sign appeared, bearing the correct spelling – Rugby – and I thought the battle had been won, but I was wrong. A few days ago, I saw that we are back to Ruby. It would be interesting to read the old conveyances for properties on this avenue, for I suspect they would describe the lots as “fronting on Rugby Avenue”.

Not far away there is Malcolm Avenue, a street that runs from Skyline Drive to the waterfront.

Sandals Resort is on the east side of the northern portion of this street and Cable Beach Manor is on the west. I looked for a street

sign, but saw none. I do remember, however, that the northern portion of this street, between West Bay Street and the waterfront, was re-named in the 1970s when a group from the town of Nassau an der Lahn in Germany, including its mayor and his wife, holidayed here in the 1970s.

It was given the name “Nassau an der Lahn Weg” and boasted one of the longer street signs on this island. I think the longest is “Murphyville Circular Road”, near Palmdale.

Perhaps this German street name was too much of a mouthful to survive, but that would not explain why Malcolm Avenue seems to have been forgotten and why so many of our street signs have incorrect spellings.

• E-mail comments and responses to islandairman@ gmail.com

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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.

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Yesterday’s Cryptic Solution Across: 1 Forge, 4 Evinces, 8 Gut, 9 Escalator, 10 Trips up, 11 Ceded, 13 Raisin, 15 Stocks, 18 Pages, 19 Regimen, 21 Priceless, 23 Tub, 24 Riposte, 25 Order.

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The Tribune | Weekend | 27

Friday, August 25, 2017

animals Animal matters Kim Aranha

Marine fishing laws

Coffee and Creamer

By The Bahamas Humane Society

PET OF THE WEEK

PATRICIA VAZQUEZ

R

ecently there have been quite a few photographs on people’s Facebook pages showing dead stone crabs amongst their summer spearfishing catch. In a few photos the proud diver is holding the dead animal up in the air.

However, there are laws about the catching of stone crabs, and they are as follows: 1. There shall be an annual closed season for stone crab extending from June 1 to October 15 (inclusive).

2. No person shall, during the closed season, take, have in his possession, buy or sell fresh stone crab.

3. No person shall take, have in his possession, buy or sell any stone crab the claw of which measures less than four inches in length.

4. No person shall take, buy or sell any female stone crab. Period. Ever.

There has been significant discussion about whether or not there is a law pertaining to the fact that you can only take one claw and then must return the live crab to the sea where it will grow another. Some of my sources swear that it is law, however, I have been unable to find it written anywhere or to verify it.

One thing that is unequivocal is that to catch and or kill a stone crab or any size in the month of August is against the law. The stone crab closed season lasts for four and a half very essential months. People need to be aware of this and also need to understand that the female is protected at all times.

Whether or not it is only law to restrict yourselves to remove one claw only (the largest) and then the crab be thrown back is not really the issue. The responsible thing to do is to take the large claw and throw the creature back to the sea to regenerate another claw and to keep the species plentiful for decades to come.

C

offee drinkers, rejoice! The Bahamas Humane Society has the perfect pair of teenage pups for your addiction. Coffee and Creamer are a pair of eight-month-old potcakes available for adoption. They’re both friendly and playful, and get along well with the other pups in the adoption area. They’re also part of a one-day extension of the Free Teenage Pup Special at the BHS. If you’ve been planning to adopt before the school year starts, this is your final weekend to do so. Come in and meet Coffee and

Creamer, or call 323-5138 for more information. Adoption hours are 11am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, and 10am to 4pm on Saturday. Coffee and Creamer look forward to sitting down with you!

• Looking for a way to help the BHS but unable to adopt right now? Please consider sponsoring an adoption. The adoption fees help to recoup some of the costs of spaying/neutering and vaccinations. Donations can be made at the BHS, by mail to PO Box N-242, or online at www.bahamashumanesociety.com.

I sometimes wonder if those who go out spearfishing actually know what a stone crab is, or if, in their excitement, they think that they are actually spear-

ing a “strange looking” crawfish. If this is so then we need to spend more time educating these fishermen before they go out there and pillage.

Another very interesting topic of conversation is one that pertains to the laws of crawfishing and the limits set for foreign spear fishermen and Bahamian spear fisherman.

The recreational Bahamian boat with all Bahamian fishermen on board can bring in 250 lbs, which to me is grossly over what a moral catch should be. Most people like to be able to carry about 20 crawfish home, have one dinner and others to freeze; 250 lbs is a huge amount and in my opinion should be reduced.

A foreign recreational vessel is allowed a lot less. In fact, a foreign boat with foreigners fishing is only allowed a total of 10 crawfish tails. The same applies to a charter boat with foreign nationals on board.

Where this law becomes unclear, and needs to be clarified with an official ruling, are the limits on a Bahamian-owned boat with Bahamian divers but one foreigner amongst the group.

Does that one non-Bahamian status fisherman automatically deny the five or six Bahamians their rights?

I have tried very hard to find somebody who either can and will or is in a position to be able to make a ruling.

Everybody has his or her own opinion. I have a print-out of the law, but it does not specify if there is one non-Bahamian on board. I reached out for clarification, but the person who could answer my questions is on pre-retirement leave...not sure if that means they will ever return to their position; it is not a term that I am familiar with.

So in the meantime, I think that all Bahamians going out fishing or conching need to leave the foreign girl or boyfriend on the dock, waving a fond goodbye/ That won’t make you wildly popular with your foreign significant other, but when you come back with a boat-load of goodies they will be grateful.

It is my objective to get an official and permanent ruling on this issue. I will prod and ask as many people as I can. When I do find out, I will make sure that my readers are the first to know.

Meanwhile, please remember that there is a grouper season to be obeyed, that turtles are permanently protected, and that sharks are protected as well, and make a point to never take anything from the sea that you do not plan to eat.

In closing, I ask that the only marks you make on our marine resources are your footprints in the sand.

28 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, August 25, 2017