10092020 WEEKEND

Friday, October 9, 2020

Weekend

photography art gardening food history entertainment puzzles animals ANTOINETTE BUTLERSMITH Pages 04 + 05

Where’s Wally?

Pioneering Bahamian TV show returns

pgs 08 + 09

02 | The Tribune | Weekend

photography

A Rose-Coloured Lens Magnificent beaches

B

EAUTY is all around us in the Bahamas, on land and in the sea.

But many of us are too busy with everyday life to pause and really see and enjoy the astonishing sights that surround us.

Veteran photographer ROLAND ROSE captures both the ordinary and extraordinary and puts it in frame for us so we can see our environment in a new light.

No oil needed here.

Look at those magnificent beaches, do we want them covered in black oil? Ten years ago, BP spilled 200 million gallons of oil into an area the size of The Bahamas (see map). This could happen to us.

Friday, October 9, 2020

The Tribune | Weekend | 03

Friday, October 9, 2020

Weekend

My perfect Bahamian weekend

Inside

2 Photography 4-5 Interview

Digital nomad Antoinette Butler-Smith

6 Puzzles 7 Food

Q. What’s your favourite weekend menu?

“Friday and Saturday are usually dubbed take-out days so we’ll probably order pizza or fish/conch snack. Now on Sunday we do the typical Bahamian Sunday meal, Fried Fish, Baked Pork Chops, Crab and rice, macaroni and Cole slaw, yes we make up for Friday and Saturday lol.”

School bus converted into restaurant

8-9 Entertainment

Where in the world is Wally returns

10 Culture

Big Bruh wants to take back the blocks

11 Gardening Water matters

12-13 Literary Lives

The novelist who defined an American era

14 Forgotten Facts 15 Animals

Hidden treasures

16 Art

Young artist catching the eye

AKIA CAN’T STOP THE MUSIC

By JEFFARAH GIBSON Tribune Features Writer jgibson@tribunemedia.net DISTANCE has no bearing on artists coming together to create hits. Bahamian artists Akia Knowles, who lives in Hong Kong, and Sketch Carey are proving this, having recently joined forces on the new sultry single “I Can’t Stop”.

Since the release of her Christmas EP, “Christmas at The Langham”, in 2018, Akia has been hard at work in the studio working on new music. The new song is a smooth R&B/Soul duet that captures the essence of love at first sight.

“The story behind this song was inspired by my first love. I could not stop thinking about him. I could not eat. I could not sleep. I did not want to

Author Q. What will you be binge watching?

“Lately I’ve been enjoying the Marvel Series ‘Luke Cage’ so I’ll be between that and ‘Blindspot’, Netflix and chill kinda weekend.”

Beaches whose beauty is worth saving

Abaco parrots

Anna Lewis

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Q. If you had to be quarantined with a celebrity who would it be and why?

“If I had to be quarantined with a celebrity it would be Michelle Obama because I would be delighted to finally speak with her on

be away from him. He was constantly coaster. You will feel happy, sad, crazy, angry, resentment, hurt, closure, etc. on my mind and I knew a lot of “I bared my soul in this series, people could relate to that feeling. and you’ll understand the emotion of “The giddiness and excitement that the love story I’m conveying.” you experience where you cannot Akia is no stranger to working stop thinking about them with producer Sketch as or cannot stop playing they both collaborated in the fool for them is the 2015 for her smash single feeling,” she said.

“Broken Hearted”.

It is this concept “Sketch is always fun and feeling the song to collaborate with. I communicates that have been working with Akia believes makes ‘I AKIA Knowles him for over five years now.

Can’t Stop’ universal.

Every time we work together “I think they can appreciate something magical happens. He is this single simply because it is so quite the creative and great producer. relatable. There are three more volumes It’s really good working with someone to be released after ‘I Can’t Stop’. With who pulls the best out of you.” each volume, the idea behind it was Akia moved to Hong Kong earlier his to show the various emotions that year after residing in China where she were experienced in my personal story. was the resident singer at the Langham I did not want to create a fairytale Hotel in Shanghai. Now she is carving love story, because real life there her own path in Hong Kong in spite of are ups and downs, hurt, happiness, the pandemic-induced lull in the industry. excitement, and pain. ‘Stories of Love’ “Honestly because of COVID, it in a nutshell is an emotional roller

her experiences in her role as First Lady in the White house being a black woman especially given the times that we are in racially.”

Q. What do you miss most because of social distancing?

“I truly miss being able to travel freely especially on vacation without all of the COVID testing, masks wearing and social distancing. As a Bahamian, I consider our nationality very sociable, so not being able to embrace or even shake the hands of a stranger will take some getting use to.”

Q. If you could go anywhere in the world for a COVIDfree weekend where would it be and why?

“The perfect weekend for me not having to worry about COVID would be right here in the 242. I love my Bahamas. It’s Truly Better in The Bahamas.”

(musical scene in Hong Kong) is slightly non-existent right now. However, this worked out in my favour because it is boosted my popularity. I am one of the few artists that are doing live performances and that is only because of my ability to perform without a band. I am super grateful my mom forced me to play the piano. It has been my saving grace,” she said.

Adjusting to life in Hong Kong has been a walk in the park for the singer.

“I look at Hong Kong as the perfect blend of The Bahamas and China. I use that analogy because I still get to experience island life (because Hong Kong is an Island) with beaches, shorts, and slippers yet I still have that metropolitan city living,” she said.

As for where the road leads her next, she said: “Time will tell.”

The new single is available on all music platforms. For more information, contact Edgy Management at edgymanagementbahamas@ gmail.com or 813-8397.

04 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, October 9, 2020

interview

Antoinette Butler-Smith When the pandemic hit and forced people around the world to find a new way of working, Antoinette Butler-Smith was ahead of the game. She talks to Cara Hunt about her life as a digital nomad - and the health challenges that prompted her to find a new lifestyle.

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ELF-proclaimed digital nomad Antoinette Butler-Smith was already a step ahead when it came to working remotely as the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

For the past eight years, she has worked as crypotrader and owner of a drop shipping company.

She also inspires others to lose weight through her healthy lifestyle programme.

And she has done it all from the comfort of her home and her laptop.

“I was definitely prepared for the challenges that people are now facing, because everything I do, I can do remotely from anywhere in the world and make a living doing it,” she told Tribune Weekend.

Antoinette has a business degree and worked at the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce for many years helping small businesses secure grants and funding and expanding the organisation’s membership.

It was a challenging career which she enjoyed, but unfortunately beneath the surface her health had started to deteriorate.

“I was overweight and I had developed what I thought were hemorrhoids but were actual anal fissures,” she explained.

“I had to have a surgery to remove them and my doctor explained that I had to make some changes if I wanted to be healthy. My mother had died from breast cancer in her 50s and so I knew that I had to make the changes,” she said.

And change she did - first her diet and then adding exercise to her daily routine.

“I didn’t step foot in a gym or have a trainer, I just did my research and changed my diet and in six months I had lost 70 pounds and I have never looked back.”

Not only did she change her physical life she also changed her professional life as well.

When her contract with the Chamber was up, she decided to follow her passion for investment trading.

“I knew that I wanted a career that would be challenging, but at the same time would be recession proof and a career that would allow me freedom and flexibility while I did it,” she explained.

She educated herself on the topic and today is an active trader of cryptocurrency and stocks. She owns stocks in major companies such as Tesla, Facebook and Amazon, precious metal and oil.

Her job has allowed her the flexibility and opportunity to travel to more than 35 countries around the world.

Another income for her is her drop shipping company.

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Friday, October 9, 2020

Drop shipping is where a store owner doesn’t keep the products they sell in actual stock, instead it purchases them from a third party and has it shipped directly to the customer. It is a way to lower the operating cost of an actual store.

Antoinette’s store specialises in health and beauty supplies.

“I did a lot of research before I did this to be sure it works and is lucrative,” she explained.

“You have to be willing to put in the work ahead of time and it takes time to build your business. But being a digital nomad is all about having freedom and flexibility and if you are at a job working hard for someone else, you can be at home working hard for yourself. I am so free in my mind, right now.”

The flexibility she has with her job has also meant that she has the time and the ability to help others in their own weight loss and healthy lifestyle journey.

“Being healthy is a way of life that you have to embrace. I am a

“I was definitely prepared for the challenges that people are now facing, because everything I do, I can do remotely from anywhere in the world and make a living doing it,”

certified weight loss coach and I help persons learn what they need to eat and how to prepare food and stay healthy. I have a strong following on my social media sites which are there for support. There are more than 3,000 people in the group and a large number of them have had major weight loss.”

During these challenging times of COVID-19, she has also helped people deal with remaining healthy.

“People are stress eating; they may not be able to exercise they are going through a lot and so I started a special program to help people get through this as a way to just give back. I am passionate about weight loss and passionate about giving back.”

Passion is what she attributes to being successful, whether it be a cypto-currency boss or a weight loss master.

“Whatever you are attracted to is what you will be and what you will put out to the universe,” she says.

“You have to be focused on what you want 24/7 - when persons want to buy a house they are focused and ready to do whatever the bank tells them they need to do to get that house. When I was starting my business, I was focused on learning everything I had to and when I knew I had to lose weight and get healthy, I focused on that 24/7.”

26 8 Connote; 11 Utensil; 13 Friday, Banquet; 15October Crafty; 16 Origin; 17 Acrid; 20 Axe.

26 Feature gets negative points (4) 27 Doctor finds cultivating a tree is most dull (9)

06 | The Tribune | Weekend

uoP l i m tnu

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

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

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

TODAY’S TARGET Good 14; very good 21; excellent 27 (or more). Solution tomorrow

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

BATTLESHIPS CRYPTIC PUZZLE Across 1 Superior associates (5,5) 6 Huts may be built in this way (4) 10 Comes close to having a listening device fitted in quarters (5) 11 Its object is to encourage capital growth (4,5) 12 It was once the talk of India (8) 13 French city one confused with Ur (5) 15 Content with piano on hire (7) 17 Stalks out of the kitchen garden (7) 19 Row with the French continues bitterly (7) 21 Runs ten cars perhaps (7) 22 Northern vessel is not so old (5) 24 West Asian seen to prepare for war with inane resolution (8) 27 I see trial may be held in Hebrew (9) 28 House doctor out perhaps (5) 29 Call back from a screech-owl (4) 30 Render duet badly but not put off (10)

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Down 1 Departed to travel northeast (4) 2 Alien lame from World War Two battle (2,7) 3 Competitive experiments (5) 4 Attached to a refined redhead (7) 5 He turns out to be an oriental conqueror (7) 7 He believes he comes from behind us (5) 8 The winner’s apparently inferior to the runner-up (6-4) 9 Begin an unusual run as top of the bill (4,4) 14 He is bound to learn his craft (10) 16 Girl to sign for earnings (8) 18 A great man in history (9) 20 As in Leo perhaps from the deep? (3,4) 21 Firm politician is first on before he introduces acts (7) 23 Deserving of wealth? (5) 25 When it reacts saltpetre may be extracted (5) 26 Stimulate one to start piano and stick to it (4)

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Yesterday’s Easy Solution Across: 1 Scallop, 5 Grasp, 8 Underhand, 9 Ban, 10 Dire, 12 Live it up, 14 Squint, 15 Dreary, 17 Bad faith, 18 Peal, 21 Ear, 22 In triumph, 24 Tipsy, 25 Charger.

Down: 1 Sound, 2 Aid, 3 Lurk, 4 Placid, 5 Gadgetry, 6 Arbitrate, 7 Panoply, 11 Round trip, 13 Insanity, 14 Subject, 16 Static, 19 Lehar, 20 Lima, 23 Mug.

Yesterday’s Cryptic Solution Across: 1 Nervous, 5 Cedar, 8 Withdrawn, 9 Tip, 10 Lobe, 12 Seaports, 14 Taurus, 15 Cruise, 17 Bewilder, 18 Deal, 21 Tea, 22 Enactment, 24 Niece, 25 Erasmus.

Down: 1 Newel, 2 Rat, 3 Odds, 4 Skated, 5 Conspire, 6 Determine, 7 Riposte, 11 Blue whale, 13 Bull’s-eye, 14 Tibetan, 16 Relate, 19 Lotus, 20 Etna, 23 Elm.

EASY PUZZLE

Across 1 Make written copy of (10) 6 The chances (4) 10 Detached (5) 11 Player (9) 12 Bitter harangue (8) 13 Consent to (5) 15 Obliteration (7) 17 Expertise (7) 19 Distinguished conductor (7) 21 Mythical flying horse (7) 22 Serious by nature (5) 24 Spice used in curry powder (8) 27 Two-faced (9) 28 Exhaust supply of (3,2) 29 Brief record (4) 30 Dentifrice (10)

Down 1 Cost in lives or injury (4) 2 Detest (9) 3 Fragrant (5) 4 Grovelling person (7) 5 In a frenzy (7) 7 Raise objection (5) 8 Attuned to urban living (10) 9 Very cheaply (3,1,4) 14 Leave (10) 16 Indefatigable (8) 18 Undue hurry (9) 20 Constantly busy (2,3,2) 21 Flawless (7) 23 Hemmed in (5) 25 Fit out (5) 26 Fencing sword (4)

FIND where the fleet of ships shown is hidden in the grid. The numbers to the right of and below the grid indicate how many of the squares in that row are filled in with ships or parts of ships. The ships do not touch each other, even diagonally. Some squares have been filled in to start you off.

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B F Q R R U E T J G W U U R L B S W G O L

9, 2020 C U O

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Friday, October 9, 2020

food

Dining in the Moonlight

By ALESHA CADET . Tribune Features Writer . acadet@tribunemedia.net

A

NEW arrival in Carmichael Road is catching the eye - a big yellow attraction called the Moonlight Diner.

In the form of an actual school bus, the new restaurant is a sight to see for those in search of breakfast and lunch.

“Throughout the years, we’ve had opportunities to experience a myriad of business. However, this is the first time that we are venturing into the food service industry,” said Clety Hanna, co-owner of the Moonlight Diner in partnership with Andrew Hanna.

He tells Tribune Weekend, the inspiration for the new venture was based off of finding a need and filling it, especially during a time like today.

“Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, people are forced to become creative and think of different ways to do business. The idea of the Moonlight Diner came from trying to fill the need of a 24-hour eatery. And the concept of a bus was to do something different,” said Mr Hanna.

He said when he and Andrew initially purchased an old school bus and proceeded to convert it, people laughed because they could not see the vision.

“They thought that it was not possible for us to do it. However, we believed that with God’s help, all things are possible. With a lot of hard work, we were successful in bringing the idea to fruition, and to God be the glory,” he said.

“We increased the height of the bus by raising the roof one foot, removed the engine and the front of the bus and replaced it with the back of another bus.

It was certainly a challenge. Now it’s completed with a full kitchen and dine-in area. We want to thank Linda Hanna, Suzette Williams and all of the family and friends who supported us.”

Just two weeks in operation, the diner now offers a menu that includes chicken and waffles, stake and eggs, pork chop and eggs, breakfast burritos, pancakes, french toast, omelettes, grits and tuna, burgers and fries, grill chicken sandwiches, Philly cheesesteaks and more.

“Everything on the menu is cooked to order, so it’s fresh, hot and tasty. Business has been moderate with new and returning customers. We know that it will improve. But right now due to the social distancing restrictions, we are not offering inside dining, only outside on the deck dining and takeaway is available,” said Mr Hanna.

“The bus is unique and people like the concept and appreciate the experience. Moving forward, it’s our goal to continue to improve with the quality of the product and service. To also increase the operating hours and to do our best to satisfy each customer.”

Supporters on Facebook have shared encouraging comments regarding the business, with one person saying: “The innovation just keep getting better, our people are inventors and history makers. We have it in us just have to pull it out, kudos.”

The Tribune | Weekend | 07

10 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, October 9, 2020

culture

Taking the blocks back

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

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ike many Bahamians, gospel artist Clifford “Big Bruh” Riley was left horrified by the spate of murders involving women and children which have taken place over the past few weeks.

His anger has promoted him to write a song and call for a movement to end domestic violence and crime in general under the theme Take the Blocks Back.

“I was so angry and so upset when I heard about that little boy being shot,” he said, referring to the shooting death of seven-yearold Reyes Williams who was shot outside his home last month.

In May, ten-year-old Lorencia Simmons was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting and last month eight-year-old Ednique Wallace and her mom Alicia Sawyer where both killed in what police suspect was a domestic incident.

And last week father and son 35-year-old Jamoric Green and four-year-old Jeremy Green were killed in Eleuthera.

In June, DaNayla Roberts was sitting in her grandmother’s lap on the woman’s front porch in Hatchet Bay when gunmen opened fire nearby. The child was wounded in her abdomen. After receiving treatment in New Providence, she was airlifted to a hospital in Texas where she underwent surgery and a series of rounds of physical therapy.

“I was so angry when I heard these things,” he said, “and I am angry that we aren’t all angry enough to do what we can about this to affect change.”

He said that violence against women is something he particularly finds upsetting.

“Women are the backbone of this country, behind every successful man is a woman and she is the foundation of the home. We need to bring the family back together, particularly in the inner city.”

The singer noted that there are a lot of broken persons in the country.

“They may look good on the outside, but there is chaos on the inside,” he said.

Big Bruh feels that the best way to address this chaos is by understanding your worth and living in truth.

“If a man doesn’t understand who he is as a man and as a king and a priest, how can he be

expected to respect women and children, he is just lost and headed on a journey of destruction to every one he comes into contact with.”

He added that it is important to have a relationship with your true father and creator, however he is represented in your life.

“As a society, we need to understand that men are fighting for affirmation, and they need to be reminded of their worth and their purpose and who they are called to be and how they are are supposed to act because of that worth,” he said.

GOSPEL artist Clifford “Big Bruh” Riley

The Tribune | Weekend | 11

Friday, October 9, 2020

gardening

Water: quality and quantity both matter

W

hat is water? Water is two

hydrogen atoms bonded with one oxygen atom, dihydrogen oxide.

Simple, right? So, any water will do when watering indoor plants, tender seedlings, or fruit trees? Yes and no (yeah, nature, there are many variables).

Water is a universal solvent, it makes up an average of around 60 percent of the human body (this too is variable by age, body type, etcetera… nature), it is found in liquid, gaseous, and solid forms.

Fascinating stuff, it is essential to life as we know it.

Water is essential to plant growth (even desert plants!). A mass of plants, such as found in the Amazon basin, which is the largest grouping of plants on earth (for now… unless the radical clearing of forest for pasture land is slowed it may not be for very long), actually creates water, hence the name “rainforest”. Rainforests exist on all continents to some extent.

In New Providence, water is more abundant in the west than in the east. This is partly due to the wind, tide, surrounding ocean, prevailing weather patterns, but also on a smaller scale it is due to the native pine forest, and less human development.

A large grouping of trees (forests) also allows for the protection of groundwater and wetlands and are essential in creating a buffer between human development and a deluge of too much water.

Many of us have had experience with some form of flooding, concrete jungles will do that as will the misuse of land. Highly developed areas do not benefit water storage or usage unless that water is safely stored or allowed to run off into a reservoir of sorts.

Rainwater catchments, in my opinion, ought to be mandatory on all new buildings, because water is life. No one will survive without clean water.

The same goes for plants in the garden and inside the home or office. While some plants are fully adapted to brackish or salt water, as with mangroves that are not only the most important plant for protection against salt water intrusion, but also provide nurseries for fish, and can you imagine life without fish or fresh water?

Too much water leads to not enough available airspace for some species, not enough water and well, some species will shrivel up and die. Water with contaminates can also be harmful to plant

material. That beautiful specimen plant in the corner office or the living room is very susceptible to impurities or additives in the water. Brown tips can be caused by too much water, not enough water, and a surplus of compounds like salts such as chlorine that is used to sanitize water, if above a certain level can be detrimental to plant growth.

Spathiphyllum, or the peace lily, is highly susceptible to excess salts in the water. Therefore, we always recommend to not water indoor plants with the city water supply, and instead we recommend using purified water, or rainwater. If you have issues with tip burn on indoor plants, it could be the water that is being used rather than the amounts being given. Rainwater is ideal for indoor plants and for tender seedlings.

Landscape plants have developed a tolerance to higher levels of salts in the water, and well water or (for some) city water will suffice and not create problems. In hydroponics, aquaponics, and commercial large-scale greenhouse production lines, water purity and exact levels of salts, nutrients and the like are key to uniform and predictable plant growth.

Have you noticed that rains tend to immediately green up the landscape? A hint of atmospheric nitrogen is part of that cause, and plants watered with rainwater will always do better than plants watered with municipal supply, or well water.

I highly suggest storing rainwater if you are growing herbs and vegetables, even if only a few gallons, but the more the better! Plants with not enough water become flaccid (soft, wilting). Plants with enough water become turgid (firm, swollen).

Plants with too much water will also wilt, this is usually due to the cells bursting or the roots rotting, from not enough airspace.

Too much water on fruiting plants can cause issues with the final fruit product, as with tomatoes that split their “skin”. This is usually caused by inconsistent watering, too little followed by too much.

So, not only is the amount of water important to healthy plant growth, but the source of that water is equally important with regards to sensitive species, which includes many species used as indoor plants (peace lily, Dracaena, Philodendron, Alocasia, etcetera), and also to many vegetable or fruiting plants (strawberry, tomato, etcetera).

Store that rainwater! Stay away from using municipal water supplies, and if you have not got rainwater available, then purified water is the next best bet. I wish you all well over the coming lockdown weekend, and I hope that all of us gardeners get to spend enough productive time in the garden! Grow on, get gardening, and as always, I wish you happy gardening!

12 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, October 9, 2020

literary lives

John Steinbeck 1902-1968

Sir Christopher Ondaatje delves into the literary career of the American author who wrote thirty-three books and won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Many of his works are considered classics.

“The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true.”

John Steinbeck John Steinbeck was born on February 27, 1902, in Salinas, California.

He was of German, English and Irish descent. Steinbeck’s paternal grandfather, Johann Adolf Großsteinbeck, shortened the family name to Steinbeck when he emigrated from Germany to the United States. His father was the Monterey County treasurer; and his mother a school teacher who instilled in her son a passion for reading and writing. The Steinbecks lived in a small rural valley 25 miles from the Pacific Coast. Young Steinbeck worked on ranches in the summer, and later with migrant workers

on sugar beet farms where he learned the harsher aspects of migrant life and the dark side of human nature. Both gave him material for his future literary works.

He graduated from Salinas High School and studied English Literature at Stanford University near Palo Alto – leaving without a degree in 1925. He went to New York, getting part-time work, but no one was interested in publishing his writing. Disappointed, he returned to California working as a tour guide in Lake Tahoe where he met Carol Henning – his first wife. The married in Los Angeles in January 1930 and for a while eked out a living manufacturing plaster mannequins. That didn’t last and when their money ran out they moved back to Pacific Grove, California, to a cottage owned by his father on the Monterey peninsula.

Steinbeck’s parents were very tolerant of his writing ambitions and gave him not only free accommodation but paper and interest-free loans that allowed him to write. They also accepted welfare, and for a time lived on fish they had caught from a small boat in the sea. They shared what they had with friends in much the same plight. Carol Henning became the model for Mary Talbot in Cannery Row. “Where does discontent start? You are warm enough, but you shiver. You are fed, but hunger gnaws you. You have been loved, but your yearning wanders in new fields. And to prod all these there’s time, the Bastard time.”

John Steinbeck In 1930, Steinbeck met the marine biologist Ed Ricketts who was to become a close friend and mentor over the next decade. Ricketts had an encyclopaedic knowledge of a great many subjects and became a proponent of ecological thinking. He had a huge influence on Steinbeck and Steinbeck’s wife began working in the biological laboratory in Monterey which Ricketts operated – selling samples of small animals, fish, rays, starfish, turtles and other marine forms to schools and colleges. All three had a

common love of music and art. Ricketts strongly influenced Steinbeck’s writing.

Steinbeck published four works between 1929 and 1933: Cup of Gold (1929) loosely based on the life of the privateer Captain Henry Morgan; The Pastures of Heaven (1932) – 12 connected stories of a valley in Monterey; The Red Pony (1933) – a short book on his childhood; and To a God Unknown (1933) about the life of a homesteader in California. It wasn’t until 1935 with Tortilla Flat that he received any real recognition, also about homeless men in Monterey after the First World War. It won the California Commonwealth Club’s Gold Medal and was eventually made into a 1942 film starring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield.

With the proceeds, he built a small ranch in Los Gatos, California. Spurred by this success, he wrote a series of California novels about ordinary “Dust Bowl” people during the Great Depression: In Dubious Battle (1936), Of Mice and Men (1937), and The Grapes of Wrath (1939).

Of Mice and Men is a drama about two migrant agricultural labourers in California and was produced on stage starring Broderick Crawford and Wallace Ford.

It was later adapted as a film in 1939 starring Lon Chaney and Burgess Meredith.

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Friday, October 9, 2020

The Grapes of Wrath is still considered to be Steinbeck’s greatest work. Set in the Great Depression, it describes a family of sharecroppers driven from their land because of dust storms. Sympathetic to the workers’ plight, it won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and was later adapted as a film directed by John ford, starring Henry Fonda and Jane Darwell. Both Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath were produced by two different movie studios at the same time in 1939.

Ed Ricketts’ friendship with Steinbeck has been the subject of much controversy. There may have been something homoerotic between the men. They took frequent trips together along the California coast to collect the specimens which Ricketts sold for a living. Their joint book about a collecting expedition Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research was not a success and did not sell well (it was republished in 1951 as The Log from the Sea of Cortez under Steinbeck’s name only and is still in print today).

Carol Steinbeck accompanied Ricketts and Steinbeck on their 1940 journey, but the Steinbeck marriage was beginning to crumble even as Steinbeck worked on the manuscript. They divorced a year later in 1941, and in 1942 Steinbeck married Gwendolyn “Gwyn” Conger. The second marriage produced two sons: Thomas Myles and John Steinbeck IV. Steinbeck’s close relationship with Ricketts ended in 1941 when Steinbeck moved away from Pacific Grove and divorced his wife Carol. Ricketts was Steinbeck’s model for the character of “Doc” in Cannery Row published in 1945.

During the Second World War, Steinbeck wrote The Moon is Down (1942) about an unnamed country in Northern Europe, later presumed to be Norway, and its resistance against the Nazis.

Steinbeck received the King Haakon VII Freedom Cross for his literary contributions to the Norwegian resistance movement.

In 1943, Steinbeck was a war correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune and also worked with the Office of Strategic Services. He accompanied commando raids with Douglas Fairbanks Jr, which launched small-unit operations against German-held islands in the Mediterranean. He returned from the war with shrapnel wounds and psychological trauma. He wrote screenplays for Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat (1944) and A Medal for Benny (1945).

In 1944, homesick for his 1930s life on Pacific Grove, Monterey, he wrote Cannery Row (1945) which became so popular that in 1958 Ocean View Avenue in Monterey, the setting of the book, was renamed Cannery Row – the name it still holds today.

The Pearl, a short story, was first published in the December 1945 issue of Woman’s Home Companion. It recounted a story Steinbeck first heard in La Paz in 1940. It too was made into a film in Mexico with the help of screenwriter Jack Wagner. While there, he was inspired by the story of Emiliano Zapata and wrote the screenplay for the film Viva Zapata! (1952), directed by Elia Kazan and starring Marlon Brando and Anthony Quinn.

she received her divorce from Scott. It was his final marriage.

East of Eden, which Steinbeck considered to be his best work, was published in 1952. It returned him to the best seller lists and some highly remunerative Hollywood work. With the success of the film Viva Zapata!, Steinbeck decided again to work with the director Elia Kazan on the East of Eden film, which was made in 1955 and starred James Dean.

The book and film deals with the nature of good and evil in the Salinas Valley and is based on Steinbeck’s own maternal ancestry.

“Man is the only kind of varmint – sets his own trap, baits it, then steps in it.”

John Steinbeck

Travels with Charley: In Search of America (1962) was Steinbeck’s travelogue about his road trip with his dog Charley – and is a sad look back at his lost youth and roots. Steinbeck, perhaps, knew he was dying and wanted YOUNG John Steinbeck to see the country he Steinbeck made remembered one last time. the first of many He only wrote one more trips to Russia in 1947, this time with novel, The Winter of Our Discontent the photographer Robert Capa. He had (1961), examining the moral decline of earlier joined the League of American America. The book was not a success.

Writers, a communist organisation, in Surprised by the critical reception of the 1935. He was one of the first Americans novel, Steinbeck did not attempt another to visit Moscow and other parts of the work of fiction in the remaining six years USSR since the Communist revolution. before his death.

A book, A Russian Journal, was published in 1948 with Capa’s photographs, “It seems to me that if you or I must the same year Steinbeck was elected choose between two courses of thought to the American Academy of Arts and or action, we should remember our dying Letters. and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure on the world.”

In May 1948, Steinbeck got news that his friend Ed Ricketts had been seriously John Steinbeck injured in California when a train had struck his car. He made the emergency Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel trip to California only to learn that RickPrize for Literature in 1962 for “his etts had died hours before he arrived. realistic and imaginative writing combinWhen he returned home, his wife Gwyn ing as it does sympathetic humour and asked for a divorce which became final keen social perception”. The selection in August 1948. Both Ricketts’ death was heavily criticised and described in a and the divorce forced Steinbeck into a Swedish newspaper as one of the Acadperiod of deep depression. emy’s biggest mistakes.

In June 1949, Steinbeck met Elaine Scott, the wife of actor Zachary Scott, in Carmel, California. They married in December 1950 almost immediately after

“Scandinavia paid its wartime debt to Steinbeck with the award of the Nobel Prize. It was the period when the new Jewish school of New York fiction ... was

ascendant. ‘The New York Times hailed Steinbeck’s achievement with a breathtaking denunciatory editorial, questioning the mental abilities of the Swedish judges ... Steinbeck duly made his acceptance address a counter-attack on ‘an emasculated critical priesthood singing their litanies in empty churches’. Fight back as he might, the Prize was dust in his mouth.

He wrote no more fiction.”

John Sutherland Lives of the Novelists (2011) Fifty years later, in 2012, the Nobel Prize opened its archives and it was revealed that Steinbeck had been a “compromise choice” among a shortlist containing Steinbeck, British authors Robert Graves and Lawrence Durrell, French dramatist Jean Anouilh, and Danish author Karen Blixen. The committee believed Steinbeck’s best work was behind him by 1962, but one committee member, Anders Österling, believed that with the release of his novel The Winter of Our Discontent, Steinbeck had regained his position as a social truthteller and an authentic realist fully equal to his predecessors Sinclair Lewis and Ernest Hemingway.

In September 1964, President Lyndon B Johnson, awarded Steinbeck the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In 1967, at the behest of Newsday magazine and despite failing health, Steinbeck went to Vietnam to report on the war. His sons served in Vietnam before his death, and Steinbeck visited one son in the battlefield.

Steinbeck died in New York City on December 20, 1968, of heart disease and congestive heart failure. He was 66 years old and had been a lifelong smoker.

An autopsy showed nearly complete occlusion of the main coronary arteries.

In accordance with his wishes, his body was cremated and interred on March 4, 1969, at the Hamilton family gravesite in Salinas, with those of his parents and maternal grandparents. His third wife, Elaine, was buried in the plot in 2004.

• Sir Christopher Ondaatje is the author of The Last Colonial. The author acknowledges that he has quoted liberally from Wikipedia;John Steinbeck: A Biography (1995) by Jay Parini; and Lives of the Novelists(2011)

by John Sutherland.

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Friday, October 9, 2020

history

Abaco Parrots

Forgotten facts | Paul C Aranha

“F

ar afield in the Caribbean” is a book that I would not have bought. I might have picked it up, to check the index for any reference to The Bahamas, but there is no index. Fortunately, my daughter gave me a copy and I found several paragraphs about the Abaco parrot.

First, a word about the author, the late Mary Wickham Bond. Her husband was the ornithologist James Bond (1900-1989), an expert on Caribbean birds, after whom Ian Fleming named his 007 spy. “In 1964, Fleming gave Bond a first edition copy of You Only Live Twice signed, “To the real James Bond, from the thief of his identity”. In December 2008, the book was put up for auction, eventually fetching $84,000.”

Her husband was at the Lucerne Hotel, on Frederick Street, when he heard from an Abaco sea captain, that there were parrots on Abaco. He went to Abaco and was told he needed to go to Eight Mile Rock Bay, a long way down the coast.

Jim signed up for a birth on the Priscilla, for his next trip to Abaco. The Priscilla, though owned by a Mr Farrington, well known in Nassau for his striking appearance, was controlled by the Bahamas government and carried passengers, freight and mail, to and from the out islands. She was old-style vessel, but everyone loved her, for her meals of bread and butter, fried fish, big helpings of “grits”, and stewed fruit.

They set out, on schedule and about 2 A.M., the wind came up, accompanied by fierce rain squalls an the priscilla could not make Cherokee Sound.

They were forced to enter an opening in the reef, miles from Cherokee, and they set out to walk to the settlement. The going was difficult – over coral ledges, around mangrove swamps and across long stretches of loose sand.

Eventually, they reached Cherokee, where Jim put up in a native house and made arrangements with two fishermen, to take him to Eight Mile Rock Bay, the next day.

Abaco is a long island with extensive pine forest, the southern end is almost an island, in itself, joined to the larger section by a neck of land. They sailed south, along the coast and landed at Crossing Rocks, because the surf was too heavy to go on.

Lifted by the great rollers, the skiff almost capsized. All the food fell overboard, the bread was ruined, but they saved the tins. The nearest habitation was the Hole-in-the-Wall lighthouse, twenty miles to the south, and Eight Mile Rock Bay was a good dozen miles. The only means of getting there was to walk. Once, they stopped to refresh them-

was sure he could drink three, but one completely satisfied him.

Toward the end of the afternoon, the men led Jim to a deep hole, in the ground, about a hundred yards inland from the beach. It was five or six feet across, with a tree growing out of it. Below was a cave where, the Abaconians said, they could get away from mosquitoes, so they shinnied down the tree into what Jim described as “the most extraordinary place I have ever seen!”

The cave was as big as a cathedral, dripping and dank and swarming with thousands of bats. Passageways, between the stalagmites and

THIS WEEKEND IN HISTORY Friday, October 9 • In 1967, Marxist revolutionary guerrilla leader Che Guevara, 39, was summarily executed by the Bolivian army a day after his capture.

• In 1974, businessman Oskar Schindler, credited with saving about 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust, died in Frankfurt, West Germany (at his request, he was buried in Jerusalem).

• In 2009, President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for what the Norwegian Nobel Committee called “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”

Birthdays: Actor-TV

personality Sharon Osbourne is 68. Actor Tony Shalhoub is 67.

stalactites, led to mysterious chambers, where one could easily become lost... there were bats, but no mosquitos.

The following morning, as soon as it was light, Jim climbed the tree and poked his head above the ground. There were the parrots – all over the place. Right in front of him, within yards of the cave!

Today, a motor road runs almost the length of Abaco. Anyone can drive, in a short time, over those miles that had to be walked, in Jim’s day, to see the parrots of Abaco, now frequently mentioned in tourist pamphlets, as an added attraction of the island.

Actor Scott Bakula is 66. Movie director Guillermo del Toro is 56.

Former British Prime Minister David Cameron is 54Movie director Steve McQueen is 51.

Rock singer David Lee Roth is 66.

Actor Bradley Whitford is 61.

Saturday, October 10

• In 1991, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Anita Hill accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexually harassing her.

• In 1910, Theodore Roosevelt became the first former U.S. president to fly in an airplane during a visit to St. Louis.

• In 1968, Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, was launched with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Fulton Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham aboard.

The government of Panama was overthrown in a military coup.

• In 1913, the Panama Canal was effectively completed as President Woodrow Wilson sent a signal from the White House by telegraph, setting off explosives that destroyed a section of the Gamboa dike.

• In 1973, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, accused of accepting bribes, pleaded no contest to one count of federal income tax evasion, and resigned his office.

• In 2004, Christopher Reeve, the “Superman” of celluloid who became a quadriplegic after a May 1995 horse riding accident, died in Mount Kisco, New York, at age 52.

Birthdays: Actor Peter Coyote is 79. Actor Charles Dance is 74. Rock singer-musician Cyril Neville (The Neville Brothers) is 72. Author Nora Roberts is 70.

Singer-musician Midge Ure is 67.

Sunday, October 11

Birthdays: Singer Daryl Hall (Hall and Oates) is 74. Actor David Morse is 67. Actor Joan Cusack is 58. Actor Jane Krakowski is 52. Rapper MC Lyte is 49. Golfer Michelle Wie is 31. Rapper Cardi B is 28.

– The Associated Press

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Friday, October 9, 2020

animals

Hidden Treasures

By KIM ARANHA Animal Matters

came upon it very slowly and quietly, you might be lucky enough to see him outside of his cave, but the slightest sound, current or shadow would send him slipping fluidly into his “safe place”. I would sit very quietly for hours waiting for a glimpse of him and my patience was often rewarded, I always felt that I had seen something quite magical.

When I was older and went away to school, the very first place I would visit when returning home would

be my Octopus’s garden at the end of that little point. Friendly, my potcake, would lie patiently under the shade of the casuarina trees as I waded out along the rocks to catch a glimpse of my multi legged friend.

If I didn’t see him, I was always reassured to see the array of shells in front of his cave that proved that he was still in residence.

It was near that point that I saw the largest shark I have ever seen in my life, of course, like every good fish story, I was alone, I yelled as loudly as I could in the hopes to share the sight with someone, but nobody heard me. The water was shallow and there was an area of shallow between two 12-foot deep channels between sandbanks. The shark intended to get from one channel to the other and when I saw him a large amount of his back was visible as was his tail and all of his dorsal fin. Over the years there was always a copious amount of large sharks in that area. I assumed that this one was the big hammerhead who hung around and we affectionately called “Charlie” . I will never forget that sighting.

How remarkably privileged I was to be able to enjoy the small, and large, splendors of the sea growing up.

I wish the children of today had the same opportunity and experiences... golden childhoods in the islands are hard to come by nowadays.

PHOTO of Shadow with BHS staff member Linda Gill-Aranha by Patricia Vazquez.

Walks and beach trips sound pretty good, too! Do you need a Shadow to go in and out with you? Come and meet me! Or call 323-5138 for more information. I look forward to meeting you.”

• Pennies, pennies, pennies!

They will cease being legal currency on December 31, 2020. What better way to move them along than to donate them to the BHS! There are several drop-off points around town (BHS, Fox Hill Nursery, Captain’s Table, Sandyport Medical Centre... to name a few). Got buckets worth? Call 323-5138 to arrange a pick up!

W

ith all the COVID uproar, and the latest news from Washington DC, plus the uncertainty of what the next few weeks were going to bring us as far as restrictions and lockdown were concerned, I found my mind in a complete whirl as to finding a suitable topic for this week’s paper. I kept putting it off because for the first time ever my mind felt too cluttered with all these other thoughts and concerns to be able to concentrate on what exactly to write about.

Some years ago, I wrote about the Beatles song “In an Octopus’s garden”. I have always loved that song, it is cheerful, and for me paints a whimsical picture of a place under the sea where we could just possibly escape all the worry and disruption of the past six months.

In that article from long ago I described my childhood in the Berry Islands in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I was home schooled in those days, I believe that I learned more from the hours I spent exploring the sand banks, rocks and bush than I did sitting at a desk a book in one hand, a pencil in the other.

My home, Bird Cay, was a small island that was just over three miles long. For many months (after my older relatives went away to school) I was the only child on the Cay. I had my beloved potcake Friendly for company and together we would roam the sand banks at low tide.

I could spend hours watching the busy marine life in just one sand bank “hole” left behind by a sleeping stingray during the high tide.

Small fish would scurry in and out of old broken down, abandoned conch shells. What looked like a useless, moss covered remnant of a shell had become a palace for a family of small fish... little sea crabs in their elaborate pointed shells would congregate outside the “front door” of these conch shell palaces to feast on the microscopic bits of food discarded by the fish family. Sea worms would build mounds with a hole at the top and if you disturbed them water would gush out…I never dug down to see who lived in there for fear of disturbing a sleeping worm.

THE BEATLES song “In an Octopus’ Garden” has lived on beyond its debut - even becoming a children’s book created by Beatles drummer Ringo Starr.

Each pool of water on the sand bank held a world of life scurrying around and hiding from my approaching shadow.

There was an octopus on a small point that jutted out from the island into the deeper water. He lived in the jumble of stones on the side of the rock point, in quite shallow water.

He was not very big, but he had a small cave and it was always so easy to find because of all the discarded shells around the entrance. If you

pet of the week

SHADOW

By THE BAHAMAS HUMANE SOCIETY

“Well, I’m not a full shadow, more like a shadow with a little sun dappled throughout! I’m about eight months old and ready to move out of the Bahamas Humane Society and into a home of my own. I wouldn’t mind another dog for company as I’m used to sharing space with the other pups here. I’m smart and trainable and would be happy to cuddle with you on the sofa while you watch your favourite show.

16 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, October 9, 2020

art

Art takes a person’s mind off of life’s many stresses

By ALESHA CADET Tribune Features Writer acadet@tribunemedia.net

F

OR Wedlear Eugene, art is not just his work, but a way to improve his wellbeing.

He believes art takes a person’s mind off life’s stresses and puts the artist in a zone that allows one to focus on the good

in life. “ My artwork has grown tremendously, and a lot of things I was afraid of doing that is art related, I got more accustomed and comfortable with. I’ve faced my fears all due to the help of my instructors, and never doubting myself through it all,” he said.

“The fear of me painting was something I’ve been dealing with from high school years. And I had to seek help to get me out of that situation. For every time I start a new piece I see improvement, even if it’s the little ones. Using my eyes to have a more colourful imagination helps me to learn more about complementary colour, warm and cold colours,

and how to apply them. What I like the most about being an artist especially during a time like this, is that I get more time to plan out future work and do a lot more practicing and freestyle work.”

He said for the past years he has had a lot of help with his artwork. This assistance has boosted his creative confidence, as he learned new skills, styles and techniques. The artist believes if it wasn’t for his instructors, he wouldn’t have been at this point in his art journey.

“Persons like Preston Hanna, Timothy Nottage and Charlton Strachan are the individuals who helped me gain confidence. They play a huge role my journey, and I’ve seen my work grow by taking their advice, observing and applying myself to their teachings and mentorship. Last year, I placed second in the Central Bank’s open category art competition. The fear I had when it comes to paint is long gone now,” said Wedlear.

His newest works include a collaboration wall mural entitled Wall of Hope. Describing the piece in detail, Wedlear said it is based upon black world influences such as Bob Marley, Muhammad Ali, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King.

“Bob Marley impacted the world with his music.

Marley’s influence was not limited to simply making music for the sake of entertainment. He was most noted for using his music to spread the message.

Muhammad Ali’s unique legendary performances electrified the boxing world. His outsized personality and refusal to conform to expectations of how a public figure should act, particularly one of colour.

He transcended sports and made himself a global icon. Mandela, South Africa’s first black president, spent nearly a third of his life as a prisoner of apartheid, yet he sought to win over its defeated guardians in a relatively peaceful transition of power that inspired the world. All of these black world influencers had different impacts,” he said.

“I always wanted to know how it feels to work on a huge project so I challenged myself and the

challenge really helped me to learn more about colour schemes. This mural I am working on, I’ve used acrylic paints, created stencils out of cardboard, airbrush paints, and spray paints.”

Wedlear, who is of Haitian descent, said just before the global pandemic, he had a scheduled art show planned for his works to be featured at the Central Bank Art Gallery.

“The Central Bank and the curator were willing to assist me by providing the space so we can get it going. But, things happen and I had to move on. I’ve reached out to several local art pages (on social media) so I can get featured to help sell my pieces but out of those several only one answered.

Sometimes I wonder if it’s because of my nationality or because I am young artist. I’ve gotten featured on many international art pages on Instagram. So it makes me wonder at times. That’s why I don’t ask for help anymore locally. I just do what makes me happy and to whomever likes it thank you and I gladly appreciate it.

The feedback I’ve been getting for those who have seen my recent works are encouraging and positive. They have commented on my recent piece and say they are impressed, and can see a lot of improvements,” said Wedlear.

He believes it is very important for creative entrepreneurs to keep focused during this time because it can bring about more ideas.

“A creative entrepreneur is someone who uses their creative or intellectual knowledge and skills to earn a living, usually in a business or as a freelancer.

This differs from traditional entrepreneurship that has mainly focused on manufacturing and industrial products. So in that case, it’s very important for creative entrepreneurs to stay focused during this time.

During this time it can be a huge advantage for creative entrepreneurs to do more,” said Wedlear.

See more of Wedlear’s work on Instagram at art. unity.