Bahamas and Books

Friends vs. father time.

2010-09-08T02:40:00.002-04:00

Fresh off a really hard time of a year ... I'd say one of the most stressful of my life so far ... I've had the distinct blessing of being able to take one of those vacations that's really one of my favourites: time for Jan and I alone, but time to reconnect with old friends, too. Pardon, then, the "me" orientation of this reflection, but it has helped to think along this lines in the process of learning to cope with it all.

Besides the Mediterranean cruise we'll be taking, we're seeing my old Madrid flatmate I haven't seen in 19 years, one of my very best friends ever in Barcelona (in Sant Cugat to be precise), a friend with Bahamian connections in Rome, another friends who runs the Logos bookstore in Calgary in the Cinque Terre, my "boss" from Quito and his wife in the UK and hopefully another friend from Bank of London and South America days. I'd have to classify virtually every one of them as "old friends". Relationships that go back years and years and years.

On the flight over from JFK to BCN I spent a lot of time reflecting on what makes these friendships different and durable vs. the folks that come and go and go and come and fill up lots of my time in the present (and by present I don't mean right now ... I mean at any given time).

I've come up with a couple ideas. Let's try them out ...

First and foremost, these are friends who have never asked of me to conform to their ideas. (My next post may address some of that). We can have knock-down, drag-out verbal battles with some of them and it just doesn't matter. No insult given, none taken. Some are liberal, some conservative. Some deeply spiritual, some not. Some from similar cultures, some from very very different backgrounds.

Then, virtually every one of them is in a stable marriage relationship, with their first wife! And except for one, we were friends before they got married. So the element of loyalty (to use one word for it) is a player in this equation.

These people don't require anything of me, and I have no expectations of them. In other words, it's not giving and receiving that cements the relationship.

Respect ... for my ideas and me for theirs. Not agreement, mind you. Just the simple understanding that to be friends we can't be carbon copies. Don't forget either that they come from all over ... Spain, Argentina, the UK. And that's only the ones we'll see on this trip. I have other similar friendships that have stood the test of time that, were we all living together, would still be current (I think).

I don't know what strange chemistry got any of these friendships going, but I do know that the fact I am loved and respected unconditionally by anybody at all touches me greatly.

Here's hoping I'm worthy of every one of them.

Jumping Back In ... The Bahamas Passport Office Saga.

2009-02-04T07:48:00.004-05:00

I haven't posted for months. So sue me. I'm not the only pseudo-blogger out there who takes a break!

But there are a couple/three (as my grandma would have said) things I want to say something about, so here goes with one of them:

On December 18th 2008 I submitted my ratty, well worn, analog, nearly expired passport together with a renewal application to the passport office here for replacement with a shiny new, smaller e-passport.

First, it's a confusing experience if you've not been there before. At the time there was no indication of where to present what, no signs on the wall explaining anything, and not even the receptionist had a sign over the dark, mirrored glass hiding who (or what) might be behind it.

I arrived at around 1:30 PM and, since it was straight ahead, ended up doing what I was supposed to do, left my documents with the receptionist and received a number hand-written on a sticky post-it note. The call-up number display on the wall wasn't lit and apparently wasn't working.

Over to the banks of plastic chairs to wait to hear my number - something which was almost impossible since the sole person attending the one active window out of six on the long wall could hardly be heard when he called them out.

We Bahamians are such delightfully social animals that at least whatever number he called out was being repeated loudly by those closest to the window, so I settled in to a conversation with an ex-colleague who I hadn't seen in years and got to meet her fine young son.

Again - at this point there is nothing on the walls explaining the process. No flyer handed out with the post-it-note number. And little guidance from the people around you since most of them are in the same boat.

OK ... by 3:00 or so (reasonable, I guess, given that there was only person staffing the windows) I'm called, fingerprinted, photographed and handed the filing receipt, but with a pick-up date of Feb. 2, 2009.

Ouch ... that's 7 weeks in the future!

I tell the guy that I have to travel on Jan 23rd, and that I've had the tickets since mid November. "No problem," he says, "just bring in the ticket at least a week before you're to travel and you should be able to get a travel document".

It sounded straightforward ... so I paid my $50.00 to absolutely delightful (I really mean it) cashier, and left. And Christmas came and went. And the New Year came and went.

I happened to be in the Oakes Field area about 10 days before the trip, so I stopped in. Got told it was a heck of a lot more iffy than I had been led to believe. The first receptionist who dealt with me was very pleasant, told me to bring back the filing receipt and ticket. So I did, the next day. Someone else, not nearly as pleasant, tells me I need a formal letter of request as well. I go back to the bank, write the letter, head back out and realise I'd left the ticket back at the office! Another 1 hour round trip ... this time with ticket, letter and filing receipt.

I dropped it all off on the Thursday before the trip, and we assured it would be considered by the Head of the Passport Office and someone would call me. Four roundtrips - four hours of Wulf Road traffic - and still I'll live with crossed fingers until I have the new passport in my hands!

Next Tuesday no-one has called, so I head out to check. Receptionist checks and says come back after three o'clock on Thursday (remember I'm travelling Friday ...).

In the meantime I'm in panic ... checking whether I could cancel airline tickets and reservations at Disney, etc. But Thursday at three I'm there. All they'll say at the beginning is that they're "trying to get you straight Mr. Roberts". Scary!

For an hour or so no-one really tells me much of anything. Sweaty palms!!!

Around 4:50 Mr. Franklyn Dames, the guy in charge, comes out to say they had found my application misfiled and not to worry, they'd take care of me. So sorry.

Didn't stop me from worrying! There I sat for another 15 minutes or so still wondering if I'd be travelling the next day or not.

Then around 5:10 or so Mr. Dames comes out, sits down next to me, and assures me that I'd be going home with my new, blue, e-passport! We had an interesting conversation and I can't say enough about my appreciation for how this saga all ended up.

Bottom line, I guess, is that we hear so many horror stories - and this one isn't pretty all the way from start to finish - but it was indeed refreshing to be handled courteously by smiling civil servants even at the end of a long stressful day. Totally unexpected, but totally welcome. And I went home around 5:30 ready to fly on the 23rd.

And when I get one of those "round tuits" I'll tell a positive story about BahamasAir, too!

Paul Potts (& Maske) at Atlantis.

2008-08-23T10:46:00.000-04:00

We had anticipated a fantastic concert on Friday night, and we weren't disappointed.

The opening act, Maske, was an electric string trio from Australia. Excellent musicians. Fun. Pretty.

The transition to Paul Potts was handled spectacularly with Maske accompanying Paul on "The Prayer".

On his own after that with, unfortunately, canned music he still startled with the depth of emotion that he brings to his singing. He virtually vibrates with it, and it comes across splendidly.

It's not that I don't like Bocelli, for example. Technically he may even be superior to Paul. But he's not as easy to "feel" as anyone knows who has ever seen Paul's "Britain's Got Talent" audition version of Nessun Dorma.

It was his encore on Friday night, and every bit as moving.

Too bad the audience wasn't larger. Maybe just over half the theatre was full. Maybe Atlantis set the price a bit steep.

In any event, this was an extremely rare splurge for us, but thank you Kerzner Iternational, it was everything we had hoped!

"Plus ça change" ... Some reminiscing about the days when "Snail" Mail wasn't.

2008-04-22T07:34:00.000-04:00

In this case, the rest of the phrase ... "plus c'est la même chose" [the more it remains the same] doesn't apply.

"Disgusted with Third World Government Services" in today's Nassau Tribune writes that even his electric bill takes 20 days - 20 days! - between postmark and placement in his Post Office Box.

For those readers who are not familiar with the way things work here ... there is no home delivery of mail in the Bahamas. You either rent a box at the main post office or one of the satellites, or you get your mail via General Delivery. In either case you have to schedule mail pickup into your routine.

This is not necessarily a bad thing all around. My dad used to love his regular "hails" on his morning rounds downtown and as a boy I remember being with him as he and his friends exchanged updates about family, politics and even religion while clutching a handful of bills, letters and postcards.

It was a slower time, and "going to the post" was almost a social activity for some men. I guess the women visited at the grocery store - when men never ventured!

But I digress ... the point here is that there is no excuse for mail which is dropped off at the main post office - already franked - to take 20 days to make it from one part of the building (which ain't too big, folks) to the mailboxes.

I don't understand. The rest of the world has speeded up but what we now call "snail mail" has indeed slowed down.

35 years ago at college in Massachussets my Mom wrote a couple pages every Sunday afternoon . Dad mailed it on his Monday morning rounds before 7 a.m. and I got it on Thursday or Friday OF THE SAME WEEK!! I specifically remember being desperate for funds once, calling home on Saturday. Dad went to the Royal Bank of Canada Bay & Vic on Monday morning, bought the draft, mailed it and I got it on Friday.

Try that now.

When I was studying in Madrid letters from home took exactly a week. What was mailed here on Monday, reached there the next Monday. And I was living on the northwest outskirts of the city in the middle of the scrub.

[A funny aside ... my sister was also studying in Mass. at the time, so my mother wrote essentially the same letter to both of us using carbon paper ... added a personal note at the end, and mailed two separate letters. Kids today won't easily relate - as their mom's would likely type it into the PC and print out two crisp copies.]

The US isn't much better at this mail thing by the way. At work we get correspondence from mainland Europe or the UK within about a week. From Miami we're lucky to get it within 3. It just seems to hit the skids once it reaches MIA and "mañana" takes over!

So much for progress...

Predestination and Starbucks.

2008-04-21T07:20:00.003-04:00

OK. So Nassau has about 200,000 plus residents.

The new NAD airport authority wants to host two specialty coffee shops at NIA. (Kudos by the way for what's been done out there so far).

Today's Request for Proposals ads reads like a prescription for Starbucks:

- Proponents must have at least two (2) current locations similar to the proposed operation, which they have operated within the last three (3) consecutive years
- At least two of the proponent's current locations have to have generated at least $500,000 in average gross sales in the last two years

I don't actually know if the Starbucks operation here (essentially a locally owned franchisee) can meet those standards or not. But no-one else can for sure.

Caffè Caribe at Logos Bookstore was doing specialty coffees long before Starbucks moved in - since 1996 actually - and we did it with our own experience, capital and sweat equity - a fully Bahamian operation in every way. But we'd not qualify under NAD's RFP. Not that we'd be interested, but still ...

Do these guys think they're still in Vancouver - area population about 2 million?

Why bother to RFP if you write the thing at all if you have a predestined winner?

This is NOT a realistic background proposal if you're looking for local participation - I see there's nowhere in the RFP where it says the experience must be either local or Bahamian.

So folks ... my prediction, FWIW: look for a "Toomanybucksforme" at NIA soon - one in the US Departure Section and one in the Domestic / International Terminal.

How NOT to get your way?

2008-02-12T07:43:00.001-05:00

Two stories in today's local papers ... and a third that ties in nicely ... have me wondering if there are lots of folks in our society who are a bit like tone-deaf candidates at an "American Idol" audition. They just aren't reading the feedback they get from reality.

Tying all this together ...

In dealing with yesterday's stabbing of a student at a local school the police spokesman restated the need for us to provide training in alternative forms of conflict resolution. Anger management, if you will.

Yes and No ... what we do need is some basic instruction in "brought-upsy" to use a good Bahamian term! This stuff has to be learned at home ... that beating someone up doesn't get your way. That killing them certainly doesn't.

But then you have ... The adults who don't seem to know any better ...

A father is now in a very public fight for custody of his son [while never making clear why the mother is not deserving].

A family already well known for conflict in public has sued the local and international arms of UPS and everyone remotely connected therewith.

These folks don't seem to understand that the court of public opinion can be a very harsh judge indeed.

I just don't understand why, as a society, we seem to think that arguing with the public and suing the pants of anyone who walks will somehow get us what we want. Notice I said what we want. Not necessarily what we need. Not what's best for everyone involved. No. I want what I want and I want it now and someone else better fix it for me!

"Of all my mother's children ..." You know the rest.

I don't know, perhaps we are indeed unduly influenced by North American media, where it seems so much more important to people to argue in the court of public opinion than where it really matters. Natalie Holloway's mother proclaiming "Joran did it" doesn't make it so, though it seems somehow she thinks constant repetition might indeed change reality. I understand the pain involved, but still ...

Uh Uh. Repeating a statement ad nauseum doesn't increase its veracity. The principle of "innocent until proven guilty" is disposable as long as it is inconvenient? Or is it only true for me? People don't seem to see how illogical it is to insist that others cut us slack while we keep the leash as tight as possible.

Aaargh! This feels like a rant. I guess it is. I shouldn't do it.

But everyone else is ranting!

Perhaps what's important to most of us is just what "makes me feel better" ... and ranting or stabbing or suing may do just that. But only short term.

We have to keep reminding ourselves that there are long term implications to whatever we do today:

Kids will remember if we "dis" their mother in public.

People will avoid doing business with you if they come to know (as they will in this tiny country, folks) that you will try and remedy even human mistakes by harassing them to death publicly.

Solve a disagreement with physical violence and you can end up in Fox Hill.

Write weird observations in a blog and they can come back and bite!

Logical conclusions, all, but too easily forgotten in the "heat of the moment".

OK ... so none of this is new and I'm certainly not the one who invented it, but some things just need to be repeated until they do become reality. (See Aruba rant above)

CALM DOWN, FOLKS!!

p.s. By the way ... I'd love to be able to hyperlink to articles from The Tribune. No can do yet.

Accusations of Sensationalism don't equal Censorship!

2008-01-25T07:52:00.000-05:00

So I find myself a bit at odds this morning with several things in the newspapers, a couple of them related in a rather strange way.

Paco Nuñez takes exception in the Tribune (and reproduced in the letters section of the Guardian) to the Prime Minister's observation that the local press seems sometimes a bit too preoccupied with crime and those are the headlines that seem most days to figure most prominently at the top of the front page.

I must be getting old or something ... I find myself pretty well in agreement with the PM - at least on the observation that the Press sometimes sensationalises.

And if the Press pretends it doesn't, it loses credibility all on its own.

Certainly a response which essentially cries "Censorship" is taking the "best defense is a good offense" truism a bit too far indeed.

As much as I would champion the role of the press and value its freedom I said a couple weeks ago that headlines are sometimes a bit out of hand.

Many many years ago a couple kids at a school pretty close to the the Tribune dropped a couple cherry bombs in the boys toilet and blew it to high heavens. As far as I can remember it didn't make it to the newspapers, as messy as it was!

I can see the headlines today ... "Messy explosion at private school places children's lives in danger!" In bold 48 point type.

Close to Censorship?

2008-01-25T07:26:00.000-05:00

According to the first paragraph of a piece by Taneka Thompson in today's Tribune, Dame Joan Sawyer is supposed to have warned that "Those who publicly bad-mouth the judicial system 'impinge upon the respect' of the Court of Appeal or any court of justice and can be cited for contempt of court ..."

If that's what she said, and assuming that's what she really meant, one hopes the eminent justice is cognizant of the fact that those words can easily be interpreted as a threat to freedom of expression.

Larry Smith on Crime - I've got an easy solution, but Pardon me, Larry, is that a bias showing?

2008-01-24T13:02:00.000-05:00

Larry Smith writes, as usual, an eminently well considered article on the subject of crime. Read it here: What to do About Crime in the Bahamas

We flap our gums a lot about all this, and there is just too much navel gazing (Larry quotes the repeated commissions and study groups).

All that is needed is to enforce the law. Period. It's one thing that is not done in the Bahamas.

Last week heading to the Airport took us from 7:50 am to 9:20 am to travel about 13 miles. During that drive we watched repeatedly as cars pulled out from the lines and flew up the right hand lanes. In one instance when they reached the intersection there was a policeman there directing traffic. All he did was come over and speak to the driver, who was then allowed to peel off into the traffic to repeat the offense once more.

That's just one example. Most of my Bahamian readers can reel off countless others.

So I repeat ... unless and until we are willing to enforce the law AND to allow ourselves to be subjected to said enforcement, we can forget about all the other theoretical solutions out there.

What reduced crime in New York? Zero tolerance. What will reduce crime in the Bahamas? Same t'ing bro'!

By the way ... Larry quoted a pretty shaky statistical correlation in his article between Societal Health and Popular Religiosity from the Journal of Religion and Society. Wasn't it Mark Twain who quoted Disraeli as saying there are three types of untruth - lies, damn lies, and statistics? (Check out this book from 1954 updated in 1982: How to Lie with Statistics )

Unfortunately, as usual, even the most basic of personal experiences can counteract their implied claim that religion is somehow detrimental to society. As much as one might want to malign the correlation between crime and "fundamental" religious belief, in my experience the most religious areas of, e.g., the US are the safest. Iowa, anyone?

Is there perhaps something else at play which is not even detected due to the established bias of the "statisticians"??

Let's not forget, please, that much of what we take for granted in modern society is the result of "religious" campaigning.

Go no farther than the influence (sadly unheralded as it still is) of William Wilberforce. Where would we be in terms of crime if we didn't have universally free education, for just one example.

Check out these books by Rodney Stark for an alternate view:

The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and
Western Success

and

For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations,
Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery

A marvellous play on words ...

2007-10-22T13:15:00.000-04:00

This post really is about the Bahamas and Books:

THIS looks like fun this weekend: http://soularize.net

N. T. Wright, Brennan Manning, and one of the bunch whose "Divine Nobodies" I really enjoyed: Jim Palmer.

As much as we have a tendency to complain about how little there is to do in Nassau besides sand, sun and sea, these things do come along and we really ought to make the most of them!

This is an incredible range of authors and subjects, each of which is worth your while in some way or another. It's not a question of feeding on your usual fare 'cause there are no alternatives. Man!

All'Italia

2007-09-07T12:47:00.000-04:00

So we're off to Italy for two weeks ... land of the leaning tower of Pisa, pizza and pasta. Don't forget risotto, gelato and vino, either.

We'll fly in to Milan, head off to Florence, then a couple days in the Chianti hills, down to Rome, maybe hit Pompeii, possibly over to the Adriatic to visit Moana Higgs Carminucci who grew up with us here, then on up to Venice and back to the Cinque Terre (Vernazza) before heading up to Lugano, Switerland for business.

Hopefully we haven't bit off more than we can chew.

Watch here for photos and updates ...

BC's Brilliant!

2007-08-17T07:55:00.000-04:00

If ever a comic tickles my funny-bone it's likely to be BC.

Hart plays with words like a consummate juggler with 5 knives in the air at the same time!

Today's strip is incredible ... it needs to be read and re-read to catch all the twists.

Only comic strip I ever enjoyed more was "Snake Tales". Here's the Wikipedia entry (very minimal): Snake Tales Wikipedia It's another of those strips you just have to "get" to get. Does anybody know if this guy is still drawing? Haven't seen any for ages.

Apostle Paul Rejection Letter

2007-07-06T13:50:00.000-04:00

Jan and I are here in Atlanta for the Logos Bookstore Association annual general meetings and then a booksellers convention and the Atlanta Gift Show.

More about all that later ...

In the meantime, I ran across this hilarious link which has personal significance for me:

http://jimost.wordpress.com/2007/06/25/apostle-paul-rejection-letter

Many years ago I did my master's thesis at Middlebury/Instituto Internacional in Madrid on the Spanish Law of Religious Freedom of 1967 and its effect on non-catholic Spaniards ("La Ley de Libertad Religiosa del 1967 y su efecto sobre los acatolicos Españoles¨). As part of that process I got excited about what I saw in a couple of evangelical churches there and was challenged by some of the folks I met to work among them. I wrote off to a prominent Stateside mission board, offering that I intended to attend Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary (I had attended Gordon College) and then I would be available for training and eventually for the mission field, hopefully in Spain.

I got a letter back saying they were concerned about the fact that it had come to their attention that there were professors who held to a "post-millenarian view of eschatology", and steering me to Columbia Bible College instead.

Ooops ... end of interchange with those folks.

And here I am 33 years later in banking and bookselling in the Bahamas (love that alliteration!).

Must have been a God thing!

It's still Rosie!

2007-05-29T09:29:00.000-04:00

It's been a looong time since an update.

But ... the more things change in some areas, I guess the more the stay the same.

Ah, Rosie, Rosie, Rosie ...

Rosie logic ... ???

2006-09-14T21:28:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I think logic should still be a part of standard school curriculum everywhere.

Some people really, really seem to need it.

Rosie O'Donnell, the liberal equivalent of Mel Gibson (though she didn't seem to be drunk at the time), up and says on her new gig ... The View, on US network ABC ... "Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America." [click on the quote for an excellent link on the subject in the Say Anything blog]

Last time I checked "just as" is still a statement of equivalency. Unless of course it depends on what the meaning of "as" is.

Who knows?!? These types of idiotic statements by people who never switch on their reflective genes are what's dangerous to civil discourse in the U S of A. And of course they're equally dangerous here in the Bahamas. Or anywhere, for Heaven's sake! [sorry, Rosie]

My recommendation? Forced reading of
"Don't Believe Everything You Think".
Here are the 6 things Kida says are dangerous about what we think:
- We prefer stories to statistics.
- We seek to confirm, not to question, our ideas.
- We rarely appreciate the role of chance and coincidence in shaping events.
- We sometimes misperceive the world around us [and don't even realise it]
- We tend to oversimplify our thinking.
- Our memories are often inaccurate.

An almost amusing quote ...

2006-08-28T07:46:00.000-04:00

No matter your opinion of the men, this is intriguing ... and were it not for the circumstances, it would be beyond hilarious:

"It is very sad to be dying, and on top of that, be visited by Hugo Chávez."

(From today's Miami Herald column by Carlos Alberto Montaner, about Castro)

What the h... is Bahamianisation? Really?

2006-08-22T20:02:00.000-04:00

So ... this subject continues to leave me perplexed rather than anything else. OK ... maybe sometimes a little bit upset. OK ... it makes me mad!!!

I just don't know what it's all about, unless it's simply and only for political consumption. It's certainly not reality. And it won't help anyone get or keep jobs.

Sometimes I wonder if the people who "shoot out the lip" about having been victims of discrimination against Bahamians by employers ... particularly foreign employers ... can see beyond the end of their noses.

If they would only stop focusing short, they'd know about all the Bahamians who have been sent abroad by those same employers. I'm one. And I can name any number of others without even trying hard. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count those I know personally who have benefited from postings abroad by their accounting firms, banks, trust companies, etc. And those are only the ones I know about. And to kill that other bugaboo ... they're every colour in the spectrum.

One guy has held two positions in Nassau that were the result of "work permit" ads - one quite senior. In one case the Englishman's personal effects - labelled for Nassau - were stopped on the docks in Manila. Years later he was still upset! Just to show that foreign employers are more than willing to save money by hiring a Bahamian rather than swing for the rent and vehicle allowances, etc. they have to pay the "import". And before you say it ... this company has a fixed pay scale worldwide for each executive grade. So no savings on that score by hiring a "cheaper" Bahamian.

Not saying there aren't exceptions to this stuff ... but good policy - let alone life decisions - should never be based on the exceptions.

Instead of constantly crying "woe is me" the short sighted naysayers should ask themselves if maybe ... just maybe ... they are not employable for reasons other than the fact that they are Bahamian. They could perhaps change those aspects of personality - their basic aproach to life - that deny them what they consider to be the "good positions".

One [white] Bahamian aquaintance of mine years ago made a career of alienating pretty well every potential employer. If he considered himself capable of handling a job, then it should have been his. Said he. And he threatened lawsuits. 'Cause after all he also had a law degree. And in this little town pretty soon every human resource professional around had heard of him and avoided him like the plague. If he was willing to be belligerant before getting hired, it was a pretty good bet he'd be a "problem employee". Eventually he moved to the US ... and got treated pretty much the same, for what it's worth.

So ... it's not about nationality, is it? It's about character and ability and potential and willingness to learn and work one's way up.

Some of us went overseas low on the totem pole. We could have taken the tack that, after all, we had degrees ... MAs, even PhDs. But we learned the ropes ... did what we were asked. And we went beyond that. And pretty soon we had bosses that didn't want to see us go. We got promoted up against others who appeared to be better qualified on paper. And we were in somebody else's country. And we waited for work permits. And they were granted fairly. In part because each of those governments knew that part of the "tit-for-tat" was that their nationals were being sent abroad to other places for training and experience which would later be valuable to them.

The only influence we could bring to bear was who we were. What we could do. How hard we were willing to work.

We've received training in countries both more and less developed than our own. We've been away for short periods and long ... and we've been everything from trainees to management. Some of us got language training. Some of us got further education at our employers' expense.

In due time we came back home to contribute. To raise our families. To do what we could for our little corner of the universe.

I ask myself where I would be today had I been treated by my host countries overseas the way Bahamian politicians seem to be proposing. You just can't have it all. As much as you'd like to. If we're going to treat others this way, we shouldn't expect much better ourselves.

In my humble opinion, in one short month the politicians have managed to pretty well kill any hope we might have had of becoming a serious international finance centre.

Think it through, folks. There are consequences to all this.

And why doesn't the story of Bahamians overseas get told more often? Hunh? Why? Is it only politics? Or does the media love to feed only on the negative? 'Cause it gets people worked up? Why not tell the good stories. Of the Francises, the Wells, the Fountains, the Havens, etc. etc. etc. who have been away, done the hard time, and come back. Of the others that are still there, learning, accumulating experience.

Where's that story??

Finally: "Rising Tide. The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America"

2006-08-07T09:22:00.000-04:00

It was my frustration with the US media's nonsense over hurricane Katrina last year that got me to dive in to this. I got to the point that if I heard another "worst natural disaster in American history" or "storm of the century" remark I just knew I'd throw something at the TV or radio or rip up the newspaper or magazine or whatever.

First up ... "American history"? What's that? We've got like 200 years or so of the kind of presence on the continent that might be capable of recording this kind of information for posterity.

Second ... the idea that the kind of mess that was Katrina needed to be reported in superlatives is beyond me.

I can't pretend to be aware of the whole panoply of history, but I was aware (partly because it happened around my birthday) that the Galveston hurricane of 1900 was horribly more deadly. See "Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History".

"Rising Tide" is a hard slog. I won't try and convince anyone otherwise. On the other hand, it's worth every re-read of a pithy comment, or double-take at a surprising fact. And if when you're done you want to learn more, there's an excellent bibliography at the back.

Barry's epic - and it is just that - covers not just the flood which dispaced almost a million people (in a nation 1/3 of it's current size) and inundated many times more millions of acres in up to 30 feet of water. It's an incredible commentary on the national society of the day, on New Orleans politics and personalities (the "Big Easy" was by far the most influential city in the South at the time and was, essentially, the cause of much - if not all - of the upstream disaster). This alone is worth the price of the book. Was it ever more colorful or interesting anywhere else? Still is.

Barry gives insight into the national politics of the day (and I had forgotten - or never knew - that the Republicans owned the black vote back then). The disaster was the launching pad for the presidential ambitions of Herbert Hoover (and many think he would never have been president without it). He's a terribly interesting recurring character, by the way.

Sometimes there are flashes of brilliance in the way Barry turns a phrase or expresses a concept. But at other times the text is about as clear as the Mississippi mud of which he writes. Never mind. You'll learn of the engineering history of the Mississippi, and of the fascinating personalities who fought over their theories, sometimes in the most incredibly violent of ways.

The economy of the South and integration of ex-slaves is given a rather different treatment by Barry than what one is accustomed to in popular films and media. The thought comes across quite clearly that were it not for the 1927 flood, integration - at least in the Mississippi Delta states - would have taken a much different turn. Many assume that the black exodus from the South to the North had to do with the Civil War or, later, the legal racial discrimination which was so prevalent. Not the vast majority. It was the 1927 flood, which left a devastated economy and destroyed the infrastructure in the Mississippi Delta, and particularly on the east bank all the way up beyond St. Louis. No houses, no jobs, no home-town - why hang around?

So ... dive in. I don't think I've ever felt more educated by a book. Take it in small doses if you will, but you'll end up knowing a heck of a lot more than virtually every news anchor out there, as far as I can tell!

Happiness is ... the Bahamas??

2006-08-01T08:15:00.000-04:00

Say what?
Yup ... according to the University of Leicester, as reported in the Nassau Guardian yesterday and splashed on TV screens everywhere, we're no. 5 in the world "league table" of content.
Do these guys listen to the same talk shows we do??

Back to Books

2006-07-30T22:25:00.000-04:00

For those who read this for the books ... hold on a coupla three days.
First, I want to post a piece on our cruise.
Then, I'd like to write a couple notes about our trip to Colorado Springs, Boulder and Denver.
The first stop was to visit Susie P, a missionary to South Africa who was a friend of ours in Quito. We've maintained contact ever since.
We also stopped to visit a childhood friend of Jan and myself, Janice M who lives with hubby Geoff in Littleton, CO.
Then Boulder for the Logos Association Conference. Lots of great book stuff there. It'll probably be a long post ...
And on to Denver for the ICRS, formerly known as CBA ... the Christian Booksellers Association convention.
So ... stay tuned. There's good stuff ahead.

Another one off the payroll ...

2006-07-30T17:59:00.000-04:00

Well, a happier theme to this post.

Son Brendan graduated from Gordon College on May 13th.

It was a day to remember for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which was the incredible rain and floods. The ceremony had to be moved from the usual Quad to the Bennet Center (gym) which didn't do a bad job of accomodating the majority of celebrants.

Besides the rain, we had to deal with a couple other screwups to the schedule.

Neil couldn't get there Friday night thanks to the weather, so I had to get my mother and Jan to the Bennet Center early, get down to Logan Airport for Neil and back to campus before 9 AM ... so of course we didn't get to check out of the hotel until after graduation.

And after graduation my mother had a terrible time in the pouring rain trying to rush over to Lane Student Center for the reception and a chance to meet the profs. and Brendan's fellow grads. In the rush Mom's athsma got the best of her and she had to stop off in the lobby of Wilson Hall, I had to rush for the car and get her. By then we knew we had to get back to the hotel to finish packing and check out.

Through all this our friends, the Pomazons (we go back to the early 80s when we lived in Malden and then Salem, MA) were trying to put together some sort of lunch encounter before we had to get to Logan for a 6:30 flight to LA.

After about a dozen phone calls they graciously offered to go get some Quizno's so we would be a bit less anxious. Meeting somewhere was out of the question given the pelting rain, which just wouldn't give up.

In the end Pomazons and Roberts had a marvellous visit and enjoyed a great cake in the warm, dry Pomazon kitchen. And 90 minutes of breathing time before the madness of the airport.

Long story short ... we made it to Logan, flew uneventfully to LAX, boarded the Carnival Pride for Mexico on May 14th ... and while we were waiting to pull away from the pier Amalia Pomazon called to update us on the flood. It ended up invading their basement and it turned out we got out of there just an hour or two before the roads became impassable.

So, Brendan. What for most graduating classes is a rather unremarkable day turned in to something unforgettable.

We'll make it up to him with a visit to Homecoming in October ... Gordon is "alma mater" to both of us.

Colyn Roberts, '72

A Paul for All ...

2006-07-17T20:39:00.000-04:00

It's been a couple months.

My absence from here began with a graduation and a family trip. More about those later.

During our trip, though, we got the devastating news that Paul Cartwright had passed at 58.

It's hard to write about Paul without hyperbole ... he was special in just about every way that matters. And he had a great voice. And a screwey sense of humour. And he was a natural mimic who could "put on" just about any accent he'd ever heard ... including some foreign languages he didn't know!

But what I will forever remember about Paul is his faithfulness to his calling.

Paul was one of the most natural counsellers that God ever put on the face of the earth. People from all walks of life, colours, creeds and origins found in him someone who could relate to them and offer appropriate advice.

Paul was convinced that he was called to help those who didn't have an obvious financial access to counselling, and he served at the Christian Counselling Centre, a ministry of Calvary Bible Church here in Nassau.

He could have had great financial success in private practice, but Paul (and wife Priscilla, too) was convinced that if he bloomed where he was planted, his needs would always be supplied.

And that was true. We've lived close enough to them to know it is. We've seen it.

Paul was one of the "Divine Nobodies" that Jim Palmer talks about in an upcoming book by that name. Someone who's a bit of an unsung hero. The best kind, in my opinion.

His blessings weren't necessarily financial or material. At Paul's funeral a packed church and a quiet undercurrent of assurance were testimony, though, to just how blessed he really was.

And in a strange way ... and I don't know exactly how to express this ... Paul's legacy will make itself manifest.

Look forward to it.

Count on it!

"To Own a Dragon" and a word or two about life without rules.

2006-05-06T16:45:00.000-04:00

I didn't warn anyone this one was coming, but it got to the top of my reading pile and just kinda of leaped into my hands ... and then I couldn't put it down.

Donald Miller is one of my favourite authors these days.

Between the verbal ADD of "Blue Like Jazz" and the depth of "Searching for God Knows What" there's his marvellous way of communicating life - and life-lessons - in "Through Painted Deserts" (previously published as "Prayer and the Art of Volkswagen Maintenance") and now this easily digestible treatise about boys growing up without a father's input "To Own a Dragon", focused on how maybe God "as father" fits into that picture.

But don't be fooled into believing this isn't for girls or women or guys whose dads were around. There's so much universal truth told - in Don's inimicable simple, straightforward, often ROFL funny style. Man, I wish I could write like this!

In general, though, I love Don's approach to life as a Christian. Here's a special quote from his website donmillerfans.net that puts into words - in a way anyone can understand - what it must mean to approach life as a Galatians Christian:

I am not a “how” guy in any way. this is a constant criticism of my work, because so many want steps on how to live based on my perceptions. i’d rather live in the tension than have the false comfort that i am “doing life right.” for what ever reason, i perceive “steps” and “points” as a mental trick, to get me to “do” something so i can feel like I actually understand an issue, rather than grapple with the tension the actual question entails.

Wow! Think about that. 'Tain't simple. But it sure is profound.

PS ... I'm heavily in to Lamin Sanneh's "Whose Religion is Christianity". Deep. Brainy. Such a different approach. Stay tuned ...

Lawyers vs. Engineers (or vice-versa)

2006-05-03T22:18:00.000-04:00

One of the funniest lawyer jokes I've heard was about the engineer who was sent to hell by mistake.

Typically, he couldn't leave well enough alone and soon had Satan fixed up with cold running water as well as hot, "fired up" an air-conditioning system and generally was improving the place.

When God got wind of the mistake, he insisted Satan return him to Heaven. When, for obvious reasons Satan refused, God threatened to sue.

Of course Satan wasn't terribly worried. "God," he said. "Where are you going to get a lawyer?"

It may not be the best segue to this article in Business Week recently (can you tell I'm behind on my reading??). But having an engineer son I'm well aware that their brains do indeed work differently from those of lawyers.

And what's true of the US Congress & politicians is also sadly true for the Bahamas ... most of them are lawyers. Without people who understand how the world works (store owners, entrepeneurs, hoteliers, indeed engineers) in Government very little that's rational comes out of Parliament - or Congress, or the Diet, or Las Cortes or whatever it's called in your home country.

What say?

We call it a "Rage". Descriptive indeed.

2006-04-29T20:14:00.000-04:00

Just to "prove" it's not always idyllic on the bay ... this is a photo taken this afternoon of the waves crashing on the barrier islands about 5 miles north of us here.

Truly spectacular. And unusual indeed for April.

Bahamas Bucks what??

2006-04-20T17:02:00.000-04:00

Larry Smith writes some thoughtful, researched and sometimes ROTFL funny columns in The Tribune. This is one of them: A Bahamian Political Review

This one kinda starts off in the same vane, but then veers into some rather currently conventional comments on Brokeback Mountain, Censorship, Religion, "Gayness" etc.

OK ... no real bone to pick with the column (any more than normal!) apart from the rampant generalisations - but they're equal opportunity generalisations, so we'll let 'em pass.

But a couple thoughts and comments about the whole Brokeback/Censorship/Gay Agenda controversy:

First ... Pastor Lyall Bethell, Apostle [??] Cedric Moss and Pastor Allan Lee wrote a letter to the editor which missed the point on censorship by a mile. In comparing the voluntary restraint of the Tribune in not printing pornographic photographs with the coercive imposition by government of a movie ban, they really don't quite get the point.

No matter what one's views on morality, the example of Jesus ... the really Christian approach to these things ... doesn't even come close to what I see the established church trying to do in the Bahamas today with marches on cruise ships and an extremely narrow focus on only ONE aspect of sexual sin. (To his credit, Cedric Moss has been very vocal in recent years about other condemnable aspects of the films passed for viewing).

I simply don't see anywhere in Holy Writ where Jesus used - or recommended the use of - civil government to impose an agenda on society. Matter of fact he ate with tax collectors and sinners without condemning them beforehand ... it's what got him trouble with the established clergy of his day.

It is not ... repeat NOT ... the Church's job to change society in any other way than by the attempted persuasion (dare I say conversion ?) of one person at a time ... and that, largely by example (see John 13 guys).

NOW ... to the point of the latter part of Larry's current article: While the Western press would have us believe that "gayness" is innate, the science is still not clear. Indeed, accompanying the original study noting the brain differences between gay and straight men was the qualifyer that it was not certain which came first ... that brain differences may indeed develop as a consequence of a lifestyle (as it does with other learned behaviours).

But be that as it may ... what REALLY concerns me ... is suppose we find (as studies have already shown) that criminals have brain differences. Do we then excuse criminal behaviour?

The horror of this scenario is that rapists, murderers and plain old "tiefs" would have to be excused by the justice system, wouldn't they? Not their fault!

So ... IF a behaviour is wrong (and I'm not pronouncing on gayness here, understand - it's immaterial to the essence of the question) it's wrong. PERIOD.

Don't people have ANY control over their impulses? Do we HAVE to always give in? Do we have no responsibility for our actions?

Again, I want to make it clear I am not pronouncing here on my personal view of a particular aspect of morality. But the questions need asked.

And there are serious implications in the answers which various societies eventually reach by consensus.

I see what they mean ...

2006-04-20T16:23:00.000-04:00

From The Nassau Guardian's website today: www.thenassauguardian.com

A kinder komment on Kerzner

2006-04-10T17:35:00.000-04:00

I sometimes get very tired of Atlantis bashing.

The Royal Towers certainly isn't the prettiest thing to ever grace a skyline ... at least from the New Providence side of the bridge.

But there's no denying that the Bahamas of the last 13+ years would not have been possible without the Kerzners.

I see and hear sooooo many negative remarks ... including one pseudo Bahamian poster on the Cruise Critic website's boards who said, in as many words, that [she] wished the man's island would sink into the sea!

Sweetie ... there wouldn't much of a tourism infrastructure left in place if it hadn't been for the "Russian Jew from South Africa" to quote from Larry Smith's "Tough Call" of Dec. 2005 (click on the text of the paragraph to see the whole hilarious article).

"Of course, we had to find a Russian Jew from South Africa with the smarts to build a replica of an Out Island village on Paradise Island, where a single drink costs $14 plus tip. But we managed to do it, and now tourists can safely browse the marina shops and listen to Bahamian music without fear of being harassed, cursed or spat upon."

And just in time to put the lie to those who continue to say the Kerzners give little back, Butch and co. donate $250,000 for a swimming pool/facility at St. Anne's - one of the local Anglican secondary schools.

Here's the article from the archives of the Nassau Guardian: Kerzner gives to St. Anne's

Say whaaaaaat?

2006-04-06T13:47:00.000-04:00

Wow! I'm still trying to digest *** this article *** in today's Nassau Guardian by former policeman, politician and leader of the Abaco Resistance, Errington Watkins.

This is pure claptrap, born of ignorance [i.e. a lack of knowledge] of the outside world.

Father forgive him, for he knows not what he says.

¡Basta ya!

Read it and weep.

Hyprophetically Speaking ...

2006-04-05T13:33:00.000-04:00

This could actually be a fun thread here, if anyone else jumps in.

Given that our population is scattered over so many islands ... and that for years individual settlements on some of those islands were so separated from each other physically ... different dialects and accents grew naturally.

When I was a boy I could tell which settlement someone from Eleuthera was from just by their accent, and sometimes by word usage. I always used to think the folks from Point (that's Palmetto Point to the uninitiated) sounded so erudite ... they'd never say "I got your letter." It was "I received your letter." People from the Current were ever so sing-songy and "chile" was thrown in every other word, pronounced "choile".

'Conians (Abaconians) dropped the "H" off of ham and added one to "eggs" for "'am 'n' haigs" ... and they still do today. Some, as do Eleutherans, switch "v" and "w". Indeed we had a recent Prime Minister who always spoke about how important the "vimmen" were to his party! (Still does)

Besides that there are some phrases which we just seem to have a ton of fun messing around with.

"Old timers disease" ... when you forget a lot.
"High precious blood" can be really serious.
"Very close veins" are uncomfortable for some women. And some men, too.
How about "he spent three successful days in the intensive care unit"? I dunno ... maybe he did.

Today I heard a frequent caller on the noon-time call-in show begin a question with "hyprophetically speaking". I couldn't help but think that may even be something close to a true true "freudian slip".

In church I've heard of the "whale in the temple" and the "cup a rat" (Oh yeah, "th" often becomes just "t" ... like an old friend of Norwegian extraction used to say, too. He was right at home speaking to Bahamians.) How about "the hodour of the erntment filled the room"? (prounouncing "oil" as "earl" is not a Bahamian exclusive!) And the fact that the three wise men brought "gold, frankenstein and myrrh"?

Leave a note with translations, if you can.

It'd be fun to see what others have heard and experienced (and say themselves ...)

All of this reminds me of a pastor from California who couldn't say "wash" for the life of him. It always came out "warsh" or "warshed".

Kind of hard on a preacher, dontcha think?

For some wonderful exposure to things culturally Bahamian read here about Patricia Glinton Meicholas.

Roll over DaVinci

2006-04-03T20:33:00.000-04:00

.
O.K.

The paperback of the DaVinci Code is now available, so all those folks who didn't want to spend the money for the hard cover can now spend less for a great fiction read.

But ... be not mistaken ... that's all it is.

In keeping with my contrarian bent ... check out this site:

www.thedavincidialogue.com

And hold your breath for more noise with the release of the movie later this month. If it's as good as most of Ron Howard's stuff it'll be well worth the ticket.

Oh ... and if you haven't read any of Dan Brown's other books, a fave is Digital Fortress. Tons of fun ... and it helps that a huge chunk of the book is set in Sevilla.

Oh ... and why would DaVinci roll over? OK .. so people don't really roll over in their graves. But I bet if he were here the so-called "code" named after him would have him doubled over with laughter. The man was way too smart to skate on ice this thin.

Enough mixed metaphors for one post ...

Look out for ...

2006-04-02T17:20:00.000-04:00

One of the things which always fascinates me is the accuracy of what I'll call "received wisdom" ... what we see on TV, hear on the radio, see in the newspapers, etc.

This is kinda consequential to my last post. In hopes that people will stop and think when they hear things like "worst hurricane ever" attached to Katrina, or the continuing bugaboo that somehow religion is for people who don't/can't think, or that Christianity has been destructive for society, etc.

So over the next few weeks I want to look at a couple things.

First will be Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America by John Barry. That one beat Katrina by a country mile.

Next, I came across a provocative title while reading Books & Culture Magazine (one of Christianity Today's titles) - Lamin Sanneh's Whose Religion is Christianity?: t he G ospel Beyond the West. Take a look at some of his other titles by clicking here

By the way, the article which quotes from that book is fascinating in and of itself: Saints Rising Is Mormonism the first new world religion since the birth of Islam?

After all that I want to take a look at a couple of sociologist Rodney Stark's books: the provocatively titled For the Glory of God How Monotheism led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts and the end of Slavery and The Victory of Reason How Christianity led to F r e edom, Capitalism and Western Success.

The common thread here is that there are alternative views to the "big voices" out there, and we ought to give them serious consideration.

Religious racism?

2006-03-23T16:00:00.000-05:00

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Looks like I'm on a roll with the newspaper thing. Didn't intend it that way.

Today it's the Tribune's turn. I wish I could direct you to the articles itself on their web site, but as far as I know, they still don't have an active one. www.tribunemedia.net is empty.

Anyway ... today's Religion Section sports an article by Petura Burrows which in essence is about racism in religion here. And it's obvious that the background premise came out of one corner only: that there are - somewhere in the Bahamas - white churches who exclude ... or simply don't have ... black members. Never mind the wealth of unintegrated black churches.

Why would someone start out with such a misconception in the first place? Is this the Bahamas - with an 85/15 black/white split? Or the US? Can't we tell the difference between media coverage of "reality" Stateside vs. life here in the Bahamas?

Where I worship, my experience is that black and white have always shared values, the same communion loaf and the same communion cup. Since forever. At least as long as I can remember. Black and white all minister, participate, sing and pray together.

The point is not that it's perfect. It's not. I'm not saying it always was or is as it should be. The culture at large - and it's shifting emphases and acceptabilities - has always played a part in how people get along. Once upon a time in Bahamian churches, ladies sat on one side, and men on the other.

It's been a looooong time since there were any exclusively white churches in the Bahamas. Maybe never in living memory. And yet we still waste ink and paper writing about phantom concepts borrowed from someplace else - some other time. And "yuck up people wexation" over nothing.

On the other hand, it would never occur to anyone - would it? - that any of the vast majority of Bahamian churches which have no whites in attendance are "racist".

How balanced - how thoughtful - is that?

"Guardian" of Goof ... ooops - Good ... Grammar ?

2006-03-20T12:48:00.000-05:00

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I don't know who the headline writer is over at the Nassau Guardian, but every now and then there's a confusing-slash-hilarious twist to some of them.

Today's paper had two marvels:

1) The front page of the business section screams out "Chickens come home" in, like, 42-point type.

Well ... the story ain't about chickens or coops. Nor my first reaction: bird flu. It's something about some companies which used to be based here but owned by Canadians and run from Canada. I guess their [ex] CEO or someone is wanted for assault in Canada. What???!!??

2) Even better ... "Officers fight to be scrutinised" has to be one of the most confusing headlines ever when one reads the opening paragraph: "Two female officers caught in fight [sic] at the East Bay police station could face disciplinary action."

And here I thought they just really, really, REALLY wanted to be looked at closely !!

But it didn't stop there ...

3) This is just bad grammar ... in the Lifestyles section, about the book "Boy Crazy!", the headline "Boy-crazy girls? If your [sic] a parent, you need help". Yup ... Mr./Ms. Headline-writer, "your" in need of a different spell-checker.

4) And in an article on the passing of Oleg Cassini he apparently underwent a sex-change operation in the first two paragraphs - being referred to several times as "she" - but I guess the operation was reversed for the rest of the piece! Apparently he did die a "he".

Merry Monday everybody ... check your spelling! Peruse your proclamations!

Oceans Digital from Cable Bahamas (click for more info.)

2006-03-17T07:17:00.000-05:00

__________________________

I read an article in one of the newspapers earlier this week about Cable Bahamas' new digital service. I couldn't tell by the end of it whether they had found three people who didn't like it, or just "spun" what their interviewees said to make it sound like criticism. In either case, it seems like scraping the bottom of the barrel to me.

For anyone reading this overseas, understand we have one local television channel ... the unfortunately named ZNS-13. Miami VHF stations can be pulled off over-the-air with a huge deep-fringe aerial antenna and super-booster ... but only on good days, when the wind is blowing west to east! UHF stations are even harder, and since High Definition/digital services are carried on that band, there's not a lot of hope for direct transmission. Enter Cable Bahamas.

I for one appreciate what they have done for in-home entertainment in the Bahamas. Others may have done as well, but what continues to please is that they do try and stay "cutting edge".

Back to their digital offering ...

It's good stuff. A great selection of channels. Top quality picture overall. Price in-line with satellite and many stateside providers.

But a few "observations":

1) TV sound in a modern home is as important as the picture. Too many channels don't re-transmit the sound correctly. Some carry only the left stereo channel, some the right, some don't seem to be tuned in properly at all.

2) It's disconcerting to try watching some channels where it seems they're pulling in the picture from one satellite/service and the sound from another. I've seen PBS-NY out of phase by at least two seconds on occasion. Weird.

3) Drop-outs. Picture-freezes. 2-5 second interruptions. I know in the digital world you either have a signal or you don't. There's no such thing as fade. But I've heard enough people comment about this that maybe it should be looked in to. I've watched digital TV for hours stateside with nary a ripple, so it's not inherent in the transmission system.

And now in April we have High Definition to look forward to. I'll sign up if I'm convinced that it won't be that in name only. We'll have to receive at least a 720p resolution (when available) and the sound has to be fixed.

Keep up the good work guys ... and I'll start saving for my super-flat widescreen.

Hey ... before I invest too much, will Oceans Digital ever retransmit 1080p?

Gilead

2006-03-14T21:18:00.000-05:00

Marilynne Robinson's fantastic little Pulitzer Prizewinning book retelling a 76 year old Iowa country reverend's written legacy to his six year old son of his second marriage, is riveting.

It's a whole ton of other things too.

I guess I picked it up in part because, being married to an Iowan, I love the State. The rolling [NOT flat, despite popular misconception], bucolic farmland, charming small towns and civilized "big cities" are so unlike what Hollywood and TV portrays of the US that it's mind boggling. In part it's my knowledge of Iowa that made "Gilead" such a surprise. Or should I say it's what I thought I knew of Iowa.

But - of course - Gilead may be in Iowa, but it's not about Iowa at all.

This book breaks misconceptions of many different kinds ... Iowa wasn't always a bastion of "conservative" political values; a female author can't adequately or believably voice the feelings and concerns of caring fatherhood; that theology can't be fascinating and motivating; that people don't change, just to name a very few.

At the turn of every page the encounters with unexpected life insights make one sit up, find a scratch pad and pencil and write things down.

At this particular point in my life, I found this paragraph particularly deep:

"So my advice is this - don't look for proofs. Don't bother with them at all. They are never sufficient to the question, and they're always a little impertinent, I think, because they claim for God a place within our conceptual grasp. And they will likely sound wrong to you even if you convince someone else with them. That is very unsettling over the long term. 'Let your works so shine before men,' etc. It was Coleridge who said Christianity is a life, not a doctrine, words to that effect. I'm not saying never doubt or question. The Lord gave you a mind so that you would make honest use of it. I'm saying you must be sure that the doubts and questions are your own, not, so to speak, the mustache and walking stick that happen to be the fashion of any particular moment." p. 179, emphasis mine

I know too many people who are "fashionably agnostic"; whose politics is class or race related rather than rational or considered. For whom peer pressure trumps good sense.

What I find so absolutely wonderful about Gilead is that a 76 year old man, whose first impulse is conservative, judgemental and fearful faces his demons, his past and pre-conceptions and passes on to his son a remarkable record of growth and positive advice.

So I guess there's hope for me ... there's another 20-odd years to go ... LOL!

Ethereal Evenings

2006-03-14T19:52:00.000-05:00

_______

It's only fair to balance the morning sunshine with some evening moonshine, don'tcha think?

Here's a shot taken tonight as the moon rose over the same scene looking east from the balcony. The little light on the horizon is a passing yacht.

Sooooo peaceful.

Morning Matters

2006-03-10T12:21:00.000-05:00

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One of the net positives of the unexpected blessings of the home by the sea that we found ourselves in three years ago is that we get up and get going a lot earlier than we used to in Blair.

The motive? To avoid the incredible mess of traffic along Eastern Rd. which doesn't clear up until nearly 9 AM ... a subject for another time, I guess. But the "commute" which used to take 5 mins. and should take about 10 mins. often extends to 45 if one doesn't pull out early enough.

So we get to see the sun rise.

Besides the two occasions we've seen dolphins swimming east (the last was about a week ago ... and they were no more than 200 feet out ... indeed the dogs next door were barking at them) we often want to just sit and drink in the beauty of the early morning over the sea. Every day it's different - stormy, calm, turquoise, orange, rose - never the same two days in a row.

This is the time of year when the sunrises are the most spectacular for some reason ... I guess it's about halfway through the winter to summer arc travelled by old sol.

Here are three samples of the view looking east ... click on them for full size images ... well worth the effort.

Enjoy!

________________________________________________________________

Why take the whole box when you can just pick and choose?

2006-03-07T12:09:00.000-05:00

____________________________________

What follows is a post I couldn't help but make over on Bahamapundit. It's a bit out of context here, so go take a look at the full post, which is more than interesting. Click the title to go straight to it.

QUOTE:

This is all fascinating, especially when tied to Nicolette Bethel's recent Guardian article asking whether "Wendy's" is "a part a we cultcha". (Is spaghetti Italian? Or Chinese?)

Much of the present discussion seems coloured by contemporary fashion which does not smile on anyone in the "intelligentsia" speaking positively of Christianity - or colonialism. There can be nothing positive in either, can there?

Both the pessimistic "any time in the past was better than the present" and the incredibly arrogant "we are living in the most enlightened times in history" are patently wrong. The latter seems to be what drives much of the condemnatory comments in this discussion. The former is behind a lot of the rebuttal.

One of the main reasons Christianity was so successful in the first century C.E. [trying hard to be PC here!] was that it blasted through the social restrictions on slaves and women among other things (just to narrow the range down a bit) which were a huge part of the Greco/Roman civilization of the day.

And there is soooo much more to consider before casting our views in concrete ...

Can we really equate "judeo-christian" culture with "Christianity"?

Does "colonialism" really equal Christianity?

What part did William Wilberforce play in the abolition of slavery? What absolutely DROVE him to his position? Was there anything "colonial" about what he did ... how he worked out his convictions?

What about Shusako Endo's take on on Christianity in Japan? Read "Silence" and "Deep River" (among others) by Japan's leading modern (Christian!) novelist.

Why are various branches of Christianity growing so quickly in parts of Africa, Korea, China, Latin America? What do they offer that their new adherents crave? Is it simply neo-colonial or something much deeper?

To be intellectually honest we must consider the other side of the question where one can find historical sociologist Rodney Stark's very accessible body of work. He began his career from a decidedly agnostic position on religion (though I don't know if that's where he's at today - he teaches at Baylor FWIW). Some of his books include "THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY"(quite old), the fascinatingly titled "FOR THE GLORY OF GOD: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery" (can anyone say "even-handed"?) and "THE VICTORY OF REASON: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism & Western Success" (which kind of flies in the face of some of the back and forth in this discussion).

As to cultures which have been transformed by [non-culturally specific] Christianity, I would prefer to leave judgement in the hands of that culture itself as to whether it is a net positive or negative. We might well lament the passing of certain elements of an imagined idyllic existence in the Amazon rain forest ... but if you've lost your husband/wife, child, mother, father, etc. to inter-tribal warfare, you might have a different take on things!

And don't let's start on why most indigenous Latin Americans so quickly fed at the "colonial" trough! Suffice it to say it wasn't the size of the invading armies.

Bottom line: If what one wants is an amorphous entity on which to attach all the evils of society as well as the personal suffering and discontent of one's own life and that of everyone else, Christianity is a great target! It doesn't fight back nowadays, and it's not fashionable to defend it. So is "Colonialism". These are wonderful wellsprings for the nihilistically inclined.

On the other hand, none of it explains the ills, attitudes or mores of contemporary Bahamian society - which as Mr. Allen makes clear, is NOT a monolith by any means.

If we remain ignorant of history ... the WHOLE story ... we are indeed condemned to re-live it.

UNQUOTE

Counting Potcakes instead of Mittens!

2006-03-05T19:26:00.000-05:00

____________________________________________

Christine Aylen was reading to her son from a British counting book. "What are those she asked?", pointing to some mittens.

"Hands", says he.

So ... "My First Bahamian Counting Book" was born. And now our kids can count things they're familiar with.

Neat book.

Ironically, the picture of Christine signing her book at Logos Bookstore on Saturday March 4th is taken with a refugee [tourist] from Minnesota! Wonder what her kids (she's got 5 of them) will make of the coconut palms?

Milo & Reba

2006-02-18T12:57:00.000-05:00

So it's been a while...

I've been wanting to introduce our eclectus parrots on here ... and this is as good a time as any, I guess.

Reba MacLectus (she's a redhead, whadya want!!) will be 3 years old April 1. She's fearless and alot of fun. She's an eclectus roratus vosmaeri ... see the characteristic yellow strip on her tail feathers?

Milo (short for Milagro) will be two in September this year. He's a Solomon Island eclectus ... alot smaller than Reba. In some ways sweeter, but as is typical for eclectus males, not as confident as the females (read: "he's nervous").

They both talk a little ... and whistle a lot.

Dontcha love 'em??

Mystery of Christmas?

2005-12-21T12:02:00.000-05:00

____________________

Of course TV isn't reality. Thank God!

But two things I've seen lately have struck a chord.

The first was the Christmas episode of 7th Heaven, where a character - a college student even - demonstrates an almost chilling lack of knowledge about the roots of Christmas. To the point that when the 6 year old twins ask her if she knows the difference between Santa Claus and the Christ Child, she is befuddled. If it hadn't been so plausible it would have been sad. Wait ... it was sad!

Everyone gets the commercialism, but there's a whole chunk of civilization out there that doesn't get the roots.

It seems that Maureen Maher on CBS's 48 Hours Special last night "The Mystery of Christmas" either falls into that category of ignorance, or came at the subject from a decidedly skewed point of view. Or maybe, she was just narrating what was written for her without any critical analysis. In either case, the contents of that program were absolutely inexcusable coming from the news division of a major [US] network.

One would think that this kind of reporting would approach the subject matter from the majority scholar view and then counterbalance with fringe elements like John Dominic Crossan. Instead, as usual in TV "journalism" they go for the colorful & photogenic and then perhaps sprinkle in some actual facts. Crossan is "cute" and has a wonderful accent. Never mind that his "scholarship" has been repeatedly discredited and that he ALWAYS comes out of left field.

Sorry CBS ... but you've given me one more reason to not trust the media.

I know there are elements of the nativity story that aren't easy to digest. There are indeed parts that don't hold up to the scrutiny of the [current] historical knowledge of the subject. But guess what ... the Gospels have been "harmonised" more times than you can count (most "scholarly" objections do not honestly look at explanations which don't fit their prejudices), and the more we discover about history, the more it tends to confirm, rather than refute, scripture.

Why not report that?

I can deal with balance. I can't deal with analysis - especially journalistic analysis - that deliberately hides parts of a story which don't fit the spin.

Ramble, Ramble, Ramble. Spew??

2005-11-03T13:49:00.000-05:00

Well now ...

Some days you'd just like to spew.

This is one of them for me ... and it's not that there's a dearth of things to spew about in this Bahamaland.

But I've resolved to be as positive as possible here, so let's see how this comes out.

1) Can someone please reset the traffic light at the corner of Shirley St. and Fowler St/Kemp Road? It'd help an awful lot with the "rush" hour [a misnomer if ever there was one!] traffic into town.

2) Please Lord, make the Unions of this country less selfish. And please help us/them to provide for those who have suffered the wrath of Wilma, for next year, it may be us.

3) When, oh when !?! will our politicians (Potcake and Poodle), commentators, reporters, etc. ... indeed the proverbial "person on the street" in the Bahamas realise that the population of this country can fit into 3 (three ... count 'em, three!!) large football stadia?? To continue to pretend that we should have the structure & institutions of a nation of millions is sheer lunacy. Heavens ... in its heyday, IBM had more employees that this country has citizens!

Better stop while I'm ahead.

Sunday School Picnic 2005

2005-10-15T14:55:00.000-04:00

It was a gorgeous day ... Friday Oct. 14th 2005.

We took off on the Majestic Lady from the Paradise Island ferry dock for Robinson Crusoe Beach on Rose Island. The view back at the fantasy of Atlantis was spectacular ... the rose tinted stucco against the robin-egg blue of a wispily-clouded sky.

Fantastic October weather.

When we got there, the views were well worth the trip.

The kids had a blast in the

sawdust ... it was a mad grab
for candy & cash...

When you're homeless,
any port'll do!
Why conform??

On the way back, some of the adults were NOT on their best behaviour:

Into the Blue the movie.

2005-10-02T16:24:00.000-04:00

"After the Sunset" - the last big Hollywood production filmed in the Bahamas - was so culturally off-kilter that I was totally prepared for another whacked-out Hollywood vision of the Bahamas - part Margaritaville, part Jamaica, mon.

It seems that they can never just let us be ourselves.

There's a history to this stuff ... in my memory it'd include the
confusion of the Beatle's "Help", and even "Thunderball" wasn't
particularly true to who we are. Let's not get in to "My Father the Hero" and other such romanticised cut-and-paste photographic and cultural mish-mashes.

The Mandalay Pictures production "Into the Blue" with Paul Walker, Scott Caan, Jessica Alba and Ashley Scott is such an exception to the "let's recreate reality in our image" Hollywood mentality.

Besides the fact that the story was thoroughly enjoyable, if not totally predictable, it was fun to be watching a movie set in the Bahamas that pretty well just puts us out there as we are. Even if at times it really looks like something filmed for the Ministry of Tourism (the photography is fantastic ... but pretty real).

Most amazing of all, for me ... they didn't make the Bahamian characters sound like Jamaicans - with one prominent exception, but I think the [Jamaican] actor just couldn't help it! The dialect is as authentic as it gets ... one leaves wondering what non-Bahamian audiences will think of words like "Mudda-sick" and "boongy"!

Bottom line ... go see this movie!

One more year under the belt.

2005-09-09T07:52:00.000-04:00

Aha ...

Without specifying a date ... I just completed another birthday. Maybe that's why I haven't posted anything lately. Maybe I'm now officially old enough to forget.

No such luck. It's just that other priorities have reared their ugly head. Nothing interesting enough to write about.

I should write a couple words to close out the "The Last Word ..." discussion, which maybe I'll do later this weekend.

And if there's enough peace at the house tomorrow (Saturday) as [re]construction continues, I think I'll introduce you to our eclectus parrots, Reba MacLectus and Milo (short for "Milagro") whose first birthday's coming up on the 21st.

Peace

2005-08-25T15:27:00.000-04:00

The serenity of my brother-in-law's farm in Iowa.
Photo: Neil Roberts

Us vs. Them

2005-08-25T07:00:00.000-04:00

.
"Whenever we locate evil 'over there' with 'them,' we render ourselves innocent and proud. They are of the devil; we are of God. No one is more likely to commit injustice than those who think themselves incapable of doing so, those who are certain that God is on their side and vice versa."

p. 142, "The Last Word and the Word After That", Brian D. McLaren

Velvet Elvis

2005-08-22T21:17:00.000-04:00

Read this book.
It's by Rob Bell.
ISBN #031026345X
You've never before read anything like it.
It'll stretch your brain.
If you take it seriously, it'll change your world.
And your future.
BTW, it's not about Elvis.
More later.

MORE ON THE "LAST WORD"

2005-08-21T21:18:00.000-04:00

Been away for a week at a Bible Conference in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Back to that in a day or two when we get back to Nassau.

In the meantime, I’m a bit farther into McLaren’s interestingly expressed ruminations on hell.

I can’t say I disagree with everything that gurgles up from the sometimes contrived dialogues – some of it’s about as “scriptural” as you can get.

On the other hand, what I find distressing are the arguments from emotion, feeling and conviction as well as from strictly human views of human justice – without clear acknowledgement that perhaps God’s point of view is quite different.

Not that I don’t understand “where it’s coming from”, but it’s a set of presuppositions that’s almost as easily assailed as the extreme fundamental positions he constantly whacks at with his verbal bat.

In his “deconstruction” of hell, he seems to posit that the concept of such a “place” (or thing, or whatever you want to call it) is of human origin … since one can find echoes of our modern concept and bits and pieces of various aspects of it in different cultures and different ages. In other words, somehow we (modern Christians, essentially) have managed to synthesise hell.

Personally, I don’t think this recognizes another possibility … which is clearly evidenced in Romans 1 a la Blaise Pascal’s suggestion of a “universal God shaped vacuum” - that there might actually be a "universal concept" of hell.

Don Richardson (of “Peace Child” fame) wrote another interesting book on aspects of this possibility “Eternity in their Hearts”, examining apparently auto-genetic versions of a “God becoming man” myth occurring in primitive cultures around the world (e.g. the Quetzalcoatl of the central Mexican cultures).

So … nothing against the idea of “deconstructing” hell, but what if it’s something from deep inside the human psyche?

Bottom line here … I'm not comfortable with arguments from whatever we feel or think and then making the facts fit. There’s a particularly egregious example of this on pg. 77 of the book, where there’s a rather cavalier reinterpretation of Jesus’ use of the words “eternal life” – it so easily becomes “life of the ages” in the mouth of one of the book’s chief apologists. Maybe he’s right, but I’d like a bit of a better explanation than just an “I think that Jesus means …”

Frustrating, all of this. Because I agree with so many of McLaren’s propositions … especially that we often read into scripture words and concepts that simply aren’t there! (Back to pg. 77 where we are reminded that Jesus says many chose the “broad way that leads to destruction”. How many sermons on hell have those of us in “fundamentalist” circles heard preached from that passage?!?)

I’m not quite finished … final judgement is suspended for now.

PS – I’m also looking at a reader preview edition of George Barna’s “Revolution” from Tyndale. Easy reading. Heavy stuff. Due October. Don’t miss it.

The Last Word and the Word after that.

2005-08-09T15:54:00.000-04:00

Wiley's Jossey-Bass imprint has some fantastically intriguing titles in their list of Religion titles.

I'm looking forward to getting my mind around
The Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters for example.

Interesting story ... I seldom wear slogan-oriented t-shirts, but I have a promotional one the folks at Jossey-Bass kindly handed out at a recent booksellers convention. I was wearing it - un-self-consciously - in the Mall at Millenia in Orlando at the Cingular Store. A British tourist and his family who were browsing exited the store with a breezy "May the Force be with you, Brother." It took me a couple minutes to figure out why. If my wife hadn't been with me, I might be scratching my head yet!

In the meantime, I'm deep into this third in the "New Kind of Christian" trilogy by Brian McLaren. I'm not always convinced by the theology / doctrine he seems to be espousing - though you can't always tell what his personal position is.

I supposed that's part of the genius of McLaren's writing.

That and the fact that anyone who can make a discussion of the theology of hell interesting deserves a read.

Dinner with a Perfect Stranger

2005-08-07T22:29:00.000-04:00

It only takes a long 1/2 hour to read.

I'm sure there are plenty of cinics who won't even consider the possibility that the subject - an unexpected dinner with a business-suited Jesus - could be absorbing.

But they'd be wrong.

And they'd miss out on what is an incredibly well written, succinctly expressed, example of popular Christian apologetics. The kind a regular guy (or gal) can grasp.

You may not agree with what "Jesus" has to say, but you won't be able to claim you don't understand it. And you might be surprised to find satisfying answers to quite a few questions you may have been asked, or asked yourself, about life and faith.

All in all, a surprising find.

Caffeinated Progress (?)

2005-08-05T20:38:00.000-04:00

__________________________

I don't really know what it means. I suppose it could inspire a rant. Or the most profound of observations about globalisation - or the exploitation of labour in poorer countries. Oh the possibilities!

But as of yesterday, the Bahamas is the newest country (and the smallest) to host Starbucks.

It's located at the new Marina Village at Atlantis (click the What's New? link at www.atlantis.com).

Charming place, really. Both the Village and the new store.

I may not be the world's biggest Starbucks fan (the coffee I mean), but I have to admit that their commitment to training and service - like Atlantis itself - should be a net plus for the country.

I'll post some photos eventually for those who are curious.

Humility vs. Wisdom

2005-08-04T15:56:00.000-04:00

_____________________________

The two ought not be mutually exclusive.

If you're smart, you'll be humble.

Selwyn Hughes (www.everydaywithjesus.com) quotes Eccl. 7:19-24 in his devotional today. It's powerful stuff.

Personally I'm not about to pretend to be wise, but I do want to be humble enough to recognise that my life is really a lot more like what Paul describes in Romans 7, than some gloriously victorious conquest over the overbearing human tendency to NOT do what's right.

Hughes quotes a friend of his and Chuck Swindoll respectively:

"When people criticise me, I am thankful they don't know how bad I really am, or they would have much worse to say."

And ...

"Give God thanks that people are just hitting the visible, not the whole truth".

Think about it. Be honest. Be wise.

Construction / Destruction

2005-08-03T14:11:00.000-04:00

_________________________________________________

Is construction the same just about everywhere? Beyond frustrating?

The comedian Gallagher (the guy who got laughs smashing watermelons all over his audience) used to have a routine about it. He wondered out loud where all the contractors go when 1/2 the job is done.

In our case I almost - some days - wish they would disappear.

Didn't Robert Burns say something about the fact that the plans of mice of and men "gang oft aglay"? We had it all planned and laid out ... they'd re-do the balcony, then the railing (I was blown through it 15' to the ground getting ready for Hurricane Frances last Sept.), then we'd replace all the windows, do the platform at the top of the stairwell, etc., etc.

Something happened to all the thens ...

This got pushed back. That got delayed. We traveled. A wrecked shipment of glass. One thing and another and I came home one day at lunchtime and there were 5 trucks out front!!! Everyone at once. All on top of each other.

So now it's all happening simultaneously. Slowly. Two or three "hurricane-proof" windows a day (www.ultimatedoor-window.com). A section or two of railing a week. Masons. Pneumatic drills. Noise. Dust. Drapes and sheets on whatever we can protect. NO PEACE.

The hilarious thing is the parrots. Reba MacLectus (the redhead, in case someone was wondering) has learned to imitate an electric drill biting its way into concrete. Ear-splitting! I hope she forgets it soon and returns to "hello" in 3 dozen different inflections and the occasional "pretty, pretty, pretty". Her "younger brother" Milo [short for Milagro ... that's another story] sometimes makes an attempt, but mostly just squawks.

So ... Pray for Peace. In the world. But especially around here!

Kick start!

2005-08-01T21:33:00.000-04:00

_____________

Today is Emancipation Day in the Bahamas ... a rather low-key celebration [it's too blinkin' hot] of the first day of legal emancipation which happened on the first Monday in August in 1834.

It's also the first day of Crawfish Season ("spiny lobster"). And a lazy day at the house getting used to the Powerbook. After so many years of PCs, it ain't easy!

The picture is the sunrise view from our balcony ... which is currently in reconstruction along with all the windows in the house. Ugh. Driving us nuts. Dust everywhere. We were thankful for a day of relative peace and a refreshing swim at high tide.

Been talking with Neil (son no. 1 and a computer engineer) on and off for a while about the desire to include a blog in the updated version of www.logosbahamas.com.

[Wait! No. Don't go there unless you've already seen it. One of the secure hosts we used is dead and the site is ooooogly, like one of my childhood friends would have said. Wait for Neil's new, neat version! Soon.]

What'll I write about? Dunno specifics. Plans, though, are to talk lots about books, which are a passion. Fiction. Thoughful books in general. And if there's a twist - something unusual - all the better.

Hold on, then ...