HEARTICALLY YOURS

It is easy to see why disaffected Anguillian and Caribbean workers in Anguilla at this time may think of current trends in the labour arena as a return to slavery, ironically during the 200th anniversary of Britain’s abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave. Another irony is that in this 40th anniversary of the Anguilla Revolution, Anguillians are at risk of becoming even less than “waiters and busboys” as they find themselves no longer able to command high prices for their labour.

Nothing at all is wrong with ‘Tranquility Wrapped in Blue’. In fact I find that tourism marketing slogan far more appealing and consistent with the Anguilla brand than the current ‘feeling is believing’ However, this week I am in Dominica fine-tuning the art of watching the green and other non-active pursuits in my annual pilgrimage to the land of mountains and rivers.

On the surface, and for visitors, Anguilla may seem a sleepy place where the only action is that of the tranquility being wrapped in blue. However, if you want to keep up with the myriad of programmes and activities planned for this milestone year, you may seriously consider pasting this article on your refrigerator or bedroom wall.

“…Imagine no possessions You may say I’m a dreamer
I wonder if you can But I’m not the only one
No need for greed or hunger I hope someday you’ll join us
A brotherhood of man And the world will live as one.”
Imagine all the people (John Lennon, 1971)
Sharing all the world...

Mrs. Agatha Petty left the pain and suffering of illness behind on the morning of Saturday 6th January 2007. Surrounded by her children, in her own bed at home on Roaches Hill, she quietly slipped away to journey with the ancestors. She was a small woman whose passing will leave a huge, gaping hole in many lives including my own because it is difficult to find a person as caring and selfless as my friend Gatha.

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Traditionally New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are family occasions that provide moments for reflection, sometimes remorse about things past, sometimes resolution about improvements that people want to make in their lives. As I approach that golden age with rapidity I now wish to reduce, my reflections go further back, in fact to early childhood in Nevis where Old Year’s Day, as we called it then, was a time for playing pranks in the community.

“Yuh better tell us right now who ti fuh or yuh gotta lef dis house right now.”

“I tell you the truth. A angel come an tell me that I gon have a baby – a special baby.”

He has really been around for millennia but since September 11, 2001 it seems as though the devil has been making more frequent appearances in all kinds of places and, of course, whenever Satan has been sighted the mass media have found his appearance newsworthy. Even before the catastrophic events of that day, MSNBC writer Michael Moran in a 1998 article on how the USA and more specifically the CIA cultivated Bin Laden noted, “Osama bin Laden, our new public enemy Number 1, is the personification of blowback.

There is a Vincentian opposition politician who has been promoting the idea of a kinder, gentler St. Vincent and all I can do is to hope and pray that he one day makes it to office and can have those qualities reflected in his government policies. As we approach the end of 2006 and it sometimes feels like “the end”, the question is, what does it take to make a kinder, gentler Anguilla?

The construct of gender allows for the examination of social relations between men and women and social interpretations of and responses to maleness and femaleness that have become entrenched over time. In spite of the various fields of study, the multiplicity of historic texts, the broad knowledge of differences between Biology and Sociology and the wide diversity of cultures enjoyed by the human race, the victims of gender based violence still tend by and large to be women.

This week I had planned to let you know what I spent last week doing in Brazil but the pleasure of returning home on Sunday night was marred by the shocking news of Lord Anything’s passing. I heard about it while travelling home on American Eagle one week later and to be truthful the shock is taking a little time to wear off.

I am sending this article from a hotel room in Rio de Janeiro where I woke up with Bankie Banx on my mind. I laughed, wondering if Bankie had taken to harassing me in my sleep now and it did not dawn on me at all what the date was until I checked my email to find the following article on Bankie, written by mutual friend, Vancouver resident, annual Moonsplasher and fellow Dune-ite Ester Webster.

My most recent, most idyllic visit to the Nature Isle of Dominica gave me a glimpse of my favourite island wrapped in the vibrant and colourful madras of Creole Heritage and Independence celebrations. While the Dominican wob dwyet /Wob Douillette is very pretty and quite intricate, I have questions about National Dress and would like to hear your views as we will need to address such matters in our culture policy.

It is quite possible that their lyrics would have been very different if they had attended the Anthony Browder lecture on Sunday which demonstrated how the writers of the Holy Bible borrowed from Egyptian culture and stories told many millennia before the Christ and in their own interests presented these stories as original. However, today I highlight the work of two brothers from the hood, James (J. Kid) Brooks of South Valley and Conrad (Bubbly Lovely) Hodge of Roaches Hill.

On Sunday 29th October at 5.00 p.m. the Athlyi Rogers Study Centre will be presenting Anthony T. Browder, author and scholar, whose work is ranked among the most notable of 20th and 21st century researchers and documenters of Africa’s contributions to world civilizations. Helping us to do that are Cable & Wireless, Rainbow Radio FM, Brookland Island View Apartments, Old Caribe Restaurant at the Anguilla Great House, Benjamine Group of Companies, the Dune Preserve and Johnnos.

Anguilla has lost one of its great storytelling culture bearers in the person of the late Jessie Rogers of Island Harbour, who was laid to rest last week. Heartically Yours takes this opportunity to extend condolences to the widow and family of this beloved elder who captivated me on many an afternoon as I sat with them on the verandah listening to tales of a seaman who had been travelling the world before I was born.

In the world of medicine, these two things may or may not be related and you will have to continue reading Dr. Hodge’s column to see if they are. However, in this column all kinds of things that have absolutely no relationship to each other are sometimes thrown together for your amusement or annoyance or just plain interest.

From Lopinot to Les Coteaux

The CARIFESTA event was supposed to have been a community festival in Lopinot, North Trinidad, featuring parang music with the parang players going from house to house in parade. I thought it was a good idea for some of the band members who had not yet been exposed to parang music to see and hear some of the different stringed instruments and the percussion instruments of the parang bands. Before Lopinot, I had associated parang with places like Palo Seco but that was just my ignorance. I decided to go with the band and a few other members of the contingent joined us.

This is a subjective report because I was part of it but the people who witnessed Anguilla’s performance on the first country night on the CARIFESTA Grand Market stage thought that the Anguillian performances were befitting of the occasion and some of them, including a couple of Anguillians who saw the performance live on television said that they came to Lopinot to see us again.

On Saturday 16th, that’s this Saturday, Campus B at the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School will be turned into a preview of CARIFESTA IX, or at least, Anguilla’s participation in it. For the almost unreasonably low sum of EC $10, Anguillians will have an opportunity to see some of the cultural delights that the 34-member contingent will be taking to Trinidad and Tobago for CARIFESTA IX.